“Who Are You When You Are Dreaming”; MoCA Seeks High School Artists to Submit their Creations
MoCA Westport’s 2022 High School Student Art Exhibition: Identity 
MoCA [Museum of Contemporary Art] Westport invites all high school students to submit works of art for a 2023 High School Student Art Exhibition on view at the Museum from January 13 - February 26, 2023.
Submissions should express the theme of Who Are You When You Are Dreaming, an open-ended concept created by the Teens at MoCA council. Guidelines are as follows:
• All high school students may submit one work, and all works will be accepted. Participation is not limited to a specific town or region.
• Art may be a drawing, painting, digital/graphic image, photograph, sculpture or video. • All two-dimensional work must be framed and ready to hang.
• Work may not exceed a maximum of 30 inches in either height or width.
• Submissions are due by midnight on Sunday, December 18, 2022.
“Our high school exhibition is always a highlight – the level of talent and creativity of students across the region is outstanding. Once again, we thank our high school teachers for their support in bringing this annual exhibition to fruition,” commented Ruth Mannes, MoCA Westport’s Executive Director.
The High School Student Art Exhibition will be on view concurrent with an exhibition featuring works from the Westport Public Arts Collections (WestPAC), in collaboration with the Westport Arts Advisory Committee (WAAC).
There is an entry fee of $10/entry. Funding to waive this fee is available; contact Liz Leggett, Director of Admissions at liz@mocawestport.org for details. Further information on artwork drop-off and pick-up, and the submission process, is available on mocawestport.org.
ARKAI Duo Heads to Staples Orchestra for Two Day Residency Program
(Front) Violinist Jonathan Miron, (Rear) cellist Philip Sheegog. Contributed photoARKAI will conduct a two-day residency program with Staples High School Orchestras in October.
ARKAI is a dynamic duo featuring violinist Jonathan Miron and cellist Philip Sheegog. Winners of the 2021 Astral Artists National Auditions, their diverse genre-bending music forges new possibilities for violin and cello. Miron and Sheegog met at Juilliard where they joined forces to conduct performances at acclaimed concert halls around the world.
Their workshops will include performances interspersed with inspirational talks exploring concepts of life as 21st-century performing artists, finding one’s creative voice through curiosity, listening as an art, and sharing tips on using music technology within a diverse and rapidly-evolving world. Additional workshops will be interactive, including playing one of ARKAI's original tunes with the orchestras and introducing aural learning and improvisation.
This program, coordinated by Music for Youth, is brought to Staples High School by the Town of Westport through an allocation of a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act funding to local non-profits arts organizations. The Westport Art Advisory Committee organized the application process.
Susan Lloyd Debuts Art in Drew Friedman Art Space for October
The Westport Book Shop is pleased to welcome artist Susan Lloyd as guest exhibitor for the month of October at the Book Shop’s Drew Friedman Art Place.
Susan is exhibiting an assortment of her two-dimensional shell art works, including mirrors and mosaics. “I’ve been making shell art for about 15 years now. My work started out more traditional, but has evolved to include skulls (plastic reproductions), old dolls, and Saints (because of their stories, and not for religious reasons). The color, shape and texture of the shells are all very important in the design of my work, as is the variety of shells used,” said Susan. Traditional shell art dates back to the Victorian era, with souvenir shell-covered boxes from Europe, and sailors’ Valentines from Barbados.
Susan is an exhibitor at the Annual Sanibel Shell Show, the oldest of its kind in the country, every March. She holds degrees in sculpture, studying jewelry and metalsmithing. “I am pretty handy with glue and a pair of tweezers,” said Susan.
Susan Lloyd’s artwork will be on exhibit at the Book Shop through October 31, 2022. All artwork on display is available for purchase (unless specified otherwise).
To see more of Susan’s work, visit her website: www.slloydshellart.com
Westport Book Shop, a nonprofit used book store, is downtown Westport’s only source for gently used and antiquarian books, vintage vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and audio books. It is located at 23 Jesup Road, right across Jesup Green from the Westport Library.
The Book Shop’s “Drew Friedman Art Place” is an area of the store dedicated to exhibiting the work of community artists year-round, on a rotating basis. Miggs Burroughs, a Trustee of the Drew Friedman Community Arts Center, and a founding member of The Artists Collective of Westport, is curating these exhibits, which change monthly.
The art exhibit is open to the public during the Book Shop’s business hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from Noon to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays).
Documentary Photographer, Former Westporter to Give Lecture on Cuba Travels
Contributed photo. Press Release: International documentary photographer, Daryl Hawk, will present a photo documentary and lecture entitled “Into the Heart of Cuba” to the Appalachian Mountain Club on Tuesday, September 13th at 6:30PM. This special event will take place at the Saugatuck Congregational Church, 245 Post Road East in Westport.
Daryl was one of the first Americans to travel alone without any restrictions and unlimited access to all areas. Riding in a 1953 Chevrolet for 2 weeks, he fell in love with this unique country within hours of his arrival. “The visual stimulation that I experienced from dawn to dusk was truly exhilarating. I have never seen such a perfect combination of beautiful light, color and the friendliest and most welcoming people in all of my travels. Explorers all have stories to tell. Mine is told through the lens of a camera. I am a visual explorer.”
Daryl has made six trips to Cuba between 2016 – 2022. He started his Cuba journeys in the capital of Havana where the day to day street life and architecture was his main focus. He then made his way to the rural Vinales region which is world renowned for tobacco plantations. From there he continued to head east through the cities of Cinfuegos, Trinidad, Santa Clara, Camaguay, Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa, the most eastern point in Cuba. The stunning architecture, colorful cars from the 1950s, remote caves, environmental portraits of people from all walks of life, and dramatic landscapes are all covered in the presentation.
Daryl travels to Cuba with the goal of shooting documentaries for magazines and television and will share his nonstop, day to day adventures, experiences, discoveries, and valuable lessons he learned on these incredibly spiritual journeys. He will discuss his style, philosophy, and various techniques he uses when photographing subject matter. Equipment, lighting on location, environmental portraits, and travel tips on planning a trip to Cuba will all be covered as well.
For the past thirty years, Daryl has explored some of the most remote and isolated places in the world telling stories with his camera. He is a photographer, travel writer, lecturer, and explorer whose articles and photographs often appear in numerous national magazines and publications worldwide. He is a member of the Explorers Club, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and member of the Professional Photographers Association. He has been featured several times on NBC’s “Today Show” and Fox 5 television.
Daryl owns and operates “Unconventional Travelers”, a small personalized tour company that focuses on inspiring travelers to the world in a new way by experiencing first hand other cultures and lifestyles. These stimulating photographic explorations inspire and connect people with some of the world’s most beautiful places. For information on trips for 2022 and 2023 to Cuba www.unconventionaltravelers.com.
He is the author of five published photography books. “Distant Journeys” consists of 150 color images from the Arctic, the Andes, Patagonia, Antarctica, Bhutan, New Zealand, and much more. “Quiet Moments” includes Hawk’s favorite 120 black and white photographs taken over the past 25 years. Nature and nautical landscapes and abstracts, New York City scenes, and misc. travel landscapes and portraits are all highlighted. “White Pond” is a tribute to a small lake in southern New Hampshire. “Manhattan”, is a color retrospective with 200 landscapes, buildings and street scenes of New York City. His latest book, “Into the Heart of Cuba” consists of 450 images from his recent circumnavigation around Cuba.
Daryl is also the former host and producer of the television show “The Unconventional Traveler” which featured some of the worlds’ leading explorers, travel photographers and filmmakers sharing their work from various expeditions and documentaries. He produced over 100 shows over a 10 year period and some of his guests included Jane Goodall, Buzz Aldrin, Reinhold Messner and George Schaller.
For more information on this event, please contact Eleanor Sasso at (203)216-6814 or easasso7@icloud.com. Daryl Hawk is a former resident of Wilton and Westport.
Westport Country Playhouse Announces Comedy/Drama “4,000 Miles”, Beginning August 23rd
(L-R): Lea DiMarchi as Bec; Mia Dillon as Vera; David Kennedy, director; and Clay Singer as Leo. Photo contributed by Cynthia AstmannPress Release: Westport Country Playhouse will stage “4000 Miles,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award-winning comedy/drama, written by Amy Herzog and directed by David Kennedy Playhouse associate artistic director, from August 23 – September 4. The four-member cast for “4000 Miles” features Mia Dillon as Vera Joseph with Clay Singer as Leo Joseph-Connell, Lea DiMarchi as Bec, and Phoebe Holden as Amanda.
After completing a cross-country bicycle trip from the west coast, 21-year-old Leo crashes at the Greenwich Village apartment of his feisty 91-year-old grandmother Vera. Although these unlikely roommates are not always in harmony on issues of age, family, love, sex, and politics, they find an emotional connection that gives each a purpose.
“’4000 Miles’ is a profoundly compassionate look at two somewhat lost people and the moments in which they find each other, even across the enormity of a multi-generational divide,” said Kennedy. “And it may be one of the wisest plays I’ve encountered in a long time.”
Mia Dillon, a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, first appeared onstage at Westport Country Playhouse in the 1979 pre-Broadway tryout of “Once a Catholic” for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Other Broadway credits include “Our Town” (with Paul Newman), “Crimes of the Heart” (Tony Award nomination), “Da,” “Agnes of God,” “The Miser,” “The Corn is Green,” and “Hay Fever.” Other Westport Country Playhouse credits include “Lettice and Lovage,” “A Song at Twilight” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Our Town,” “Return Engagements,” “Angel Street,” and “Speed-the-Plow.” Hartford Stage credits include “Seder” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Engagement Party,” and “Cloud 9” (CT Critics Circle Award). Recent film work includes “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” and the soon to be released “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.”
Clay Singer spent the past year with the Broadway National Tour of “The Band's Visit.” Credits include “Into the Woods” (Barrington Stage), “Single Rider” (Off-Broadway), and “Twelfth Night” and “Man of La Mancha” at Westport Country Playhouse. Singer is a graduate of Westport’s Staples High School, and an alumnus of Staples Players.
Lea DiMarchi’s select regional theater credits include “Oleanna” (Katonah Classic Stage); “The Miracle Worker” (Judson Theatre); and “As You Like It,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and “Into the Woods” (Texas Shakespeare Festival). Film/TV work includes “Hawaii Five-0” (CBS),”FBI” (CBS), and “This Is the Night” (Blumhouse). Born and raised in Honolulu, DiMarchi trained at Carnegie Mellon. leadimarchi.com
Phoebe Holden is a Taiwanese-American actor and writer from Taipei. She received her BFA in acting at NYU Tisch, where she studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing. Selected theater credits include Caroline in “I and You” (Syracuse Stage), Petra in “En Folkenfiende” (NYU Tisch Stageworks), and Claire in “Faculty Portrait” (IRT Theater).
Playwright Amy Herzog’s other plays include “After the Revolution” (Lilly Award), “The Great God Pan,” and “Belleville” (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist; Drama Desk Nomination). Herzog is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Helen Merrill Award, Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, and The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. She has taught playwriting at Bryn Mawr and Yale, and has an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Directing “4000 Miles” is David Kennedy who is in his fourteenth season as Playhouse associate artistic director. He has directed Playhouse productions each season, including “The Invisible Hand,” which received the 2016 Connecticut Critics Circle (CCC) Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, and for which Kennedy won the CCC honor for Outstanding Director of a Play. He was previously with Dallas Theater Center, and was founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The creative team includes Arnulfo Moldanado, scenic design; Maiko Matsuhima, costume design; Carolina Ortiz Herrera, lighting design; Fitz Patton, sound design; Michael Rossmy, intimacy coach; Sean Sanford, props supervisor; Dana Tanner-Kennedy, dramaturg; Tara Rubin, Casting, CSA, Claire Burke, CSA, casting; Shane Schnetzler, production stage manager; Gwen Sewell, assistant stage manager; and Lauren Lambert, production assistant.
Production Sponsor is the Eunice and David Bigelow Foundation. 2022 Season Media Sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio.
Performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (No Wed. or Sat. matinees during preview week). Special series include Taste of Tuesday (August 23), LGBT Night Out (August 25), Post-Play Dialogues (August 25 and 30), Opening Night (August 27), Sunday Symposium (August 28), Backstage Pass (August 31), Thursday TalkBack (September 1), and Open Captions (September 4). Running time is approximately 100 minutes with no intermission. For the Playhouse’s 2022 season only, plays will be consolidated to a two-week performance schedule instead of the usual three-week run. More info at https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/4000Miles/.
Single tickets for “4000 Miles” start at $30 during preview performances (August 23 - 26), and beginning August 27 Opening Night, tickets start at $50 and are subject to change based upon availability. Buy early for best prices. For information on special offers, including discounts for students, senior citizens, educators, military and first responders, Indigenous peoples, professional playwrights, and groups, as well as options for pay-what-you-will and Westport Library and Bridgeport Library passes visit www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/box-office/.
All play titles, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.
All audience members must wear a mask while inside Westport Country Playhouse. For updates on Covid-19 health and safety protocols at the Playhouse, visit https://www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/covid19safety/
For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
Westport Olympian Julia Marino Honored with Art Piece at Saugatuck Station
Westport Police Department: The Westport Police Department is proud to honor Olympic Silver Medalist and Westport resident Julia Marino. Julia medaled in Women’s Slopestyle Snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter games and the Westport community could not have been more excited.
To recognize Julia’s outstanding accomplishments, local artist Miggs Burroughs created a lenticular art piece featuring Julia which will be on display at the Saugatuck Train Station for the next year. The piece will be unveiled at the Saugatuck Train Station at 10:30 a.m. today.
Join us in once again congratulating Julia and please enjoy Miggs’s beautiful work when you visit the train station.
“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” Hits the Bedford Middle School Stage Friday
After several weeks of rehearsals, local middle schoolers and other teens in the Westport Summer Teen Theatre are excited to present their final performance of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” from the Bedford Middle School stage. The show will begin at 6:30 Friday evening in the school’s auditorium, with tickets available at the door with cash or check ($15/adults, $10/children). Contributed photo.
Wanna Have Fun? Cyndi Lauper Coming to Levitt Pavilion September 30th
From the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts:
THE LEVITT PAVILION GALA IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE LEAD SPONSORSHIP OF THE CLAUDIA AND ARTHUR COHEN FOUNDATION
Cyndi Lauper is a groundbreaking Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning songwriter and performing artist with global record sales in excess of 50 million. Her iconic voice, influential punk glamour, and infectious live shows have catapulted her to stardom. Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist with her first album, She's So Unusual, and became the first woman in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album. Since then, Lauper has released ten additional studio albums, yielding timeless classics like “Time After Time” and “True Colors,” and the anthemic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” She’s been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, seven American Video Awards, and 18 MTV Awards. In 2013, Cyndi Lauper became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score (music and lyrics) for Kinky Boots. She contributed a Tony-nominated song to the score of the Broadway musical SpongeBob SquarePants and is currently writing the score for the Broadway adaptation of the 1988 feature film Working Girl.
A pillar of female success, Lauper was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, released a New York Times best-selling memoir, and continues to collect impressive accolades across the music industry and beyond. In 2018, Lauper designed and launched a sold-out Home Decor Collection with Grandin Road and added a guest starring role on CBS’ hit TV show Magnum PI to her acting resume. In 2018, she received the “Icon Award” from Billboard at its 13th annual Women In Music event and brought down the house with a rousing tribute to Cher at Kennedy Center Honors.
In January of 2022, Cyndi Lauper‘s smash debut 1983 girl-power anthem, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” joined the YouTube one billion views club. And in May, Sony Music Entertainment officially went into production for a Cyndi Lauper documentary titled “Let The Canary Sing,” a feature-length film that promises to explore the singer’s 30-plus year career. The film, which is being made in partnership with Lauper herself, will be directed by award-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood, who most recently directed the Emmy-nominated two-part documentary, “Laurel Canyon.”
In addition, Lauper is tireless in her advocacy work. She has been an activist since day one, always fighting for the underdog - especially women, people living with HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ people. Her commitment runs so deep that she started her own charity, the True Colors United in 2008 to bring an end to homelessness amongst LGBTQ youth, who make up to 40% of the youth homelessness population. Over the past 10 years, the True Colors United has had an indelible impact on ending youth homelessness in America. From playing a lead role in securing $167.5 million in new annual federal funding from Congress to invest in 46 communities across the country, which Cyndi powerfully testified in support of in the U.S. Senate, to training close to 2,000 homeless youth service providers for free over the past year to inclusively work with LGBTQ youth, Cyndi and the True Colors United are fundamentally changing how the country is working to prevent and end youth homelessness for the 4.2 million youth who experience it each year.
Member pre-sale active now.
On sale to public on Saturday, July 23 at 9AM (ET)
Note: “Gala + Concert Tickets” and Sponsor Packages Include Access to the Pre-Concert Gala Cocktail Party at Don Memo and Walrus Alley.
The 2022 Gala Cocktail Party is graciously sponsored by Roz & Bud Siegel.
The Heida Piano Competition Returns to MoCA Westport
Press ReleaseMoCA Westport will once again bring four rising stars in the piano world to Westport, CT to compete over the course of three days in one of America’s most celebrated cultural events, the 2022 Heida Hermanns Piano Competition. The competition will take place from August 11-13, 2022.
The competition was originally scheduled to take place in January 2022 but was postponed due to COVID-19.
The four finalists were selected through an extensive international application process that included video submissions of individual performances. Selected candidates include Katharine Benson (U.S.), Nathan Cheung (U.S.), Aaron Kurz (U.S.), and Artem Kuznetsov (Russia).
Judges for the final in-person competition include pianist Frederic Chiu of Beechwood Arts & Innovation and a previous Heida winner (Chairman of the Jury); Sara Davis Beuchner, one of the leading concert pianists of our time; and Argentine/American celebrated pianist Mirian Conti. Video audition jurists included Sahun Hong, Zhenni Li, and the 2019 Heida winner, Priscila Navarro.
The esteemed Alexander Platt will serve as the Artistic Director for the Heida Competition. Platt has built a unique career spanning the worlds of symphony, chamber music, and opera as conductor, music director, curator and host. Based in Chicago and New York, he is Music Director of the La Crosse Symphony, the Waukegan Symphony and the Wisconsin Philharmonic, he serves as the music director of the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York during the summers, and is the Curator of Concerts at MoCA Westport.
Platt said of the Competition, “After a hiatus of over two years we are so thrilled that the Heida is back, and better than ever. In addition to four illustrious finalists, we shall be hosting all their performances at our beautiful MoCA campus, with our vintage Hamburg “D” grand piano now beautifully restored by Ivan Brunner, a skilled technician in the Hamburg Steinway traditions, who actually used to take care of the instrument when it was regularly used at Carnegie Hall.”
The winner receives a cash prize of $10,000, and each of the other finalists will receive a prize of $2,500.
Prior winners include celebrated pianists who have gone on to perform in the world’s most important halls, such as Spencer Myer, Frederic Chiu, Josh Wright, Timur Mustikimov, and Yue Chu.
The 2022 Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition will also spotlight the unjustly neglected music for solo piano of the important African-American composer, Nathaniel Dett. Born in Canada, Dett studied and made his career in the United States, and is one of the great American composers of the 20th century and a trailblazing figure in the history of Black composers of classical music. Clipper Erickson, the distinguished American pianist and a recognized scholar of Nathaniel Dett and his music, will serve as Artistic Advisor to the Heida 2022, and will lead a free lecture on Dett on Friday, August 12 at the Westport Public Library.
In addition to the finalist’s performances, the three-day event also includes master classes at the Westport Public Library and performances by the jury.
Tickets can be purchased for individual events or as a three-day package. Please visit theheida.mocawestport.org to learn more and purchase tickets. Tickets for the original January 2022 date will be valid for the August events.
The competition will take place within the context of MoCA Westport’s visually stunning exhibition, Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse, on view through October 2, 2022.
MoCA Westport deeply appreciates the sponsors of the competition who help to bring the event to fruition. Sponsors for the Heida include Beechwood Arts and Innovation, Kristin Foster, Lance Lundberg and Terry McGuinness, Lux Bond & Green, Laura and Dogan Perese, and Cindy and John Vaccaro. MoCA Westport also thanks WSHU for serving as a media sponsor of the Heida competition.
About the Heida Competition
Heida Hermanns, the founder of the Connecticut Alliance for Music, Inc. (CAM), was a pianist, teacher and philanthropist. She was born in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1906 and received her first piano lessons from her mother. At the age of 15, she enrolled at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik. Her teachers included Egon Petri, Artur Schnabel, Carl Friedberg and Isabella Vengerova. She made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic at age 18 and toured Europe as a recitalist and concerto soloist through the 1920s and early 1930s.
Heida Hermanns immigrated to the United States in 1936 and made her New York debut at Town Hall in 1942. In the late 1940s, she moved to Connecticut and helped start the Friends of Music, an organization that presented chamber music concerts. Ms. Hermanns was also a founder of Performers of Connecticut that arranged performance opportunities for young musicians and sponsored the Heida Hermanns Young Performers Competition, known today as the Heida Hermanns International Music Competition. As audiences and memberships grew, the name was changed to Connecticut Alliance for Music, Inc.
Levitt Guests enjoy Ballet under the Stars
As the sun dipped below the treeline, the lawn of the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts became cooler while members of the Connecticut Ballet warmed up to dazzle the audience with dances spanning across time and genres into the evening. WestportLocal.com photo