Flash back to the roaring 1920's as a 10-year-old orphan boy is delivered to his swinging, eccentric Auntie Mame while she is hosting a cocktail party for her wildly flamboyant friends. Thus begins 18 years of fantastic adventures as she proves that life can be a banquet. The Jerry Herman score includes the title song, "If He Walked Into My Life" and "We Need A Little Christmas." Some of Mame's wild, adventurous spirit is inside everyone who lives for the moment and believes that "life is a banquet!"

Directed by F. George Paris
Music Direction by David Irvine
Choreography by Sharon A. Wilcox

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have...(mystery chords!) Alfred Hitchcock’s THE 39 STEPS, Broadway's most intriguing, most thrilling, most riotous, most UNMISSABLE comedy smash! The mind-blowing cast of 4 plays over 150 characters in this fast-paced tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure. WINNER! 2 TONY AWARDS® !  HILARIOUS FUN FOR THEATRE-LOVERS OF ALL AGES!

Thursday, November 5 at 8:00pm

Friday, November 6 at 8:00pm

Saturday, November 7 at 2:00 & 8:00pm

Opening Reception to be held October 18 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Exhibit runs from October 18 through November 13.

Come care for your neighbors in need and enjoy a two-mile leisure walk for families and walkers with an abundance of fun activities for everyone.  Proceeds benefit children and families in need in Middlesex County served by The Connection.  Susan Bysiewicz is the Honorary Event Chairperson and Desiree Fontaine of WTNH-TV will be this year's emcee.  We look forward to see you there! 

10:00am – 4:30pm Daily; Sunday, 12:00pm-4:30pm

10:00am – 4:30pm Daily; Sunday, 12:00pm-4:30pm

10:00am – 4:30pm Daily; Sunday, 12:00pm-4:30pm

10:00am – 4:30pm Daily; Sunday, 12:00pm-4:30pm

City Lights Gallery hours

Showtimes are at 8:00pm AND Midnight

It’s Alive! Following last fall’s smash hit production, The Rocky Horror
Show returns to the Playhouse. Experience this new Bridgeport tradition
for the first time, or come “do the Time Warp Again!” Recommended for
Mature Audiences.  Tickets and showtimes at www.playhouseonthegreen.org

10:00am-5:00pm

The Discovery Museum’s Big Read Mystery Lab will bring out your inner
detective, whether you’re a puzzle ponderer by nature or not. Visitors can
gather clues and examine evidence to solve totally fictional, historically
hokey “Crimes of Science”. Included with general admission.

The works in this exhibition reflect the visions of Swedish women who broke from their traditional roles of women, mothers and homemakers to explore their creativity as textile designers, weavers, painters, sculptors and glass artists. Their art resonates with dream-like images of free-flying birds evoking flight and escape from domestic confinement, year-round idyllic visions of midsummer blossoms, and spare Nordic landscapes filled with greenery, water, space, and light.  

Women's Work, Women's Dreams celebrates a remarkable legacy from a country whose art and artists are little known to American viewers.  The Benton Museum is grateful to Samuel and Ann Charters for sharing their extraordinary collection of Swedish Art and Art Glass and for curating this exhibit.

Gallery Hours: 

Thursday & Friday: 10 am - 4:30 pm

Saturday & Sunday: 1 - 4:30 pm

The Benton will be closed:

November 23 - December 2

Three decades of wars have deeply marked the entire culture of Afghanistan, yet artistic expression, particularly through carpets, has been maintained in spite of hardships including displacement to refugee camps.  

In traditional Afghan carpet-weaving, patterns tended to be geometric or floral, reflecting the Islamic rejection of anthropomorphic depictions.  However, by the mid-1980s, in response to the 1979 Soviet Invasion, Afghani weavers, principally women, were creating carpets that showed Russian tanks, helicopters and guns.  The subtle geometric borders often contained rows of bullets and grenades.  Most recently, these "war carpets" have included references to the American conflict and even to 9/11.  Although many of the carpets have Arabic or Persian woven into their designs, the Afghani who created them found a market for these rugs in the West.  In part this may be presumed anti-war sentiments but also, while the rugs are generally traditional in design and relatively inexpensive, they are nonetheless a contemporary artistic expression of a century old craft.  

In this exhibition of over fifty contemporary Afghan carpets showing both war and traditional designs, the rugs offer a commentary on modern Afghan history and, in their maintenance of a vibrant tradition, a measure of hope for the future.

Gallery Hours:

Thursday & Friday: 10 am-4:30 pm

Saturday & Sunday: 1-4:30 pm

The Benton will be closed:

November 23-December 2

Join Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner Lupo Passero  for an introductory class on herbal medicine.  Lupo will discuss a variety of safe and natural remedies to help support your family’s immune system for the upcoming winter months.  Many of the remedies shared are items you can find in your pantry and everyday kitchen items such as garlic, onions and ginger.  Lupo will also demonstrate how to make herbal syrups and healing herbal teas.     CT Educators may earn .2 CEUs.   

Guest performers Lauren Basney (Yale School of Music) and David Kim (graduate program, Harvard University) in concert. Vigil's music explores a range of textures and expressive nuances within the confines of a generally soft and slow musical aesthetic. Presenting works for violin and piano due, solo violin, and piano four-hands, this programs exposes a more intimate and austere side of his musical sensibility.

Event Details:

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Central High School

Bridgeport, Connecticut

For brochure in English or Spanish and to register for this unique event, please visit: www.gsofct.org/pdf/membership/formLibrary/Nuestra_Voz_Latina_07-01-09.pdf

Solve infectious disease mysteries by examining interactive patients, analyzing lab tests and identifying culprit microbes. Running Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. through Jan. 31.

Hartford Public Library Exhibit

The American Mural Project (AMP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world – a mural 120 feet long, 5 stories high, and up to 10 feet deep. Over 10,000 people have worked on it since artist Ellen Griesedieck conceived of it ten years ago. This exhibition at Hartford Public Library will feature some of the finished pieces of the mural, as well as a scale model and plans for elements in progress. Visitors will also have the chance to work on an eight-foot paper-pulp sculpture, one of many AMP is now sending across the country to be painted before their eventual installation in the mural. Throughout the month of the exhibit, AMP will also be coordinating projects with kids from local schools, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Hartford Stage, and other arts organizations around the city.

The Artist’s Vision

In the American Mural Project, Ellen Griesedieck celebrates the engineers and ironworkers, heart surgeons and athletes, cattle workers and craftsmen, and many others who have defined our nation through their work. Ellen paints on a large scale but with an intimate relationship to each of her subjects.

To make the mural as large in spirit as it is in size, Ellen asked people in all 50 states to contribute. Thousands of artists, scientists, teachers and children from coast to coast have responded. Children have worked together with remarkable people, including the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, an inner-city dance troupe, scientists of the 2003 Mars Explorer Rover Mission, survivors of a Japanese-American internment camp, and an intergenerational foster-home community.

About one quarter of the mural is finished. Collaborative projects are in progress around the country, and work on the mural’s new home, in the Whiting Mills complex in Winsted, CT, is about to begin. With soaring ceilings, open floor plans, and long rows of windows, this 19^th century complex of mills and warehouses is an ideal setting for a monumental mural about working Americans. The future includes a visitor’s center with spaces for a theater, studios, and classrooms, as well as a woodland park for outdoor summer concerts and special events.

“What I Want to Say,” a program of premieres and a retrospective repertory mix, will be presented by the Judy Dworin Performance Project as the culmination of the company’s 20th anniversary season on November 5, 6, and 7 at the Charter Oak Cultural Center.

Dworin’s dance-theater works are known for social commentary and compelling, humanistic warmth. Cutting across boundaries of gender, geography, and governmental decree, she testifies for those whose voices have been stilled or muted by history and failures of civil rights and criminal justice. Whether questioning or condemning authority, her dance-theater works convey inspiring stories of perseverance, transcendence, and hope through movement and gesture, poetry and song.

The program’s “retro-mix” includes repertory that steps off the pages of history: the chant-dance “Are You Good Goody Good?” from “The Witching Hour,” an exploration of 17th-century Puritan hysteria in Wethersfield; and “Radium Girls” from “Hotlicks,” about turn-of-the-last-century clock face painters encouraged to restore their brush points by licking them and who playfully painted their mouths for glow-in-the-dark effect. Other repertory selections delve into recent history, such as the effects of radioactive rains in Chernobyl and the bold demands and demonstrations undertaken by mothers of “the disappeared” in Chile and Argentina.

New and recent works draw upon Dworin’s ongoing teaching residency and artistic collaboration with incarcerated women at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, with those who have served their sentences, and their young and adult children.

Hayrides are available every WEEKEND in November as well as SCHOOL holidays. Rides begin at the W.O.L.F. Cabin and are $2.00 each.

Noon-3:00 pm

Bring your antiquest and collectibles to the 2nd Annual Antiques Appraisal Day and find out what they're worth! For a nominal donation of $5 per item (4 for $15) find out the value of your personal treasures. This event is run by the Simsbury & Farmington Valley Civitan, a charitable civic organization.

Hunt Hill Farm invites you to “A Home Town Holiday” at The Silo Gallery, the theme of this year’s 37^th annual Christmas tree beginning Saturday November 7^th, at 44 Upland Road, New Milford, CT.  View the 27 ft. towering tree decorated with hand-crafted wooden ornaments by folk artist Joy Gaiser.  Adorning the tree are 21 well-known New Milford buildings, over 40 snow-capped pine trees and a moon with the silhouette of Santa and his eight reindeer at the top.  Gaiser’s garland of festive picket fences and snowflakes made by 4^th graders at Sarah Noble Intermediate School add the finishing touches to this spectacular tree!  The New Talent Gallery will feature artist Diana Luscombe for a second year, displaying her “Healing Strokes” paintings and a new line of note cards.  Silo tastings from The Silo Cooking School will be served throughout the exhibit’s opening day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Joy Gaiser and her father started “Handmade by Dad and Me” in 1985 consisting mostly of Christmas ornaments, wooden jewelry, birdhouses, home decorations and historic buildings of New Milford.  After her father passed away in 1997, Joy’s husband John took over the task of cutting the wood, formerly her father’s job, so the business could continue and renamed it “Dad and Me Too”.  The husband and wife team with the help of their daughter and Joy's sister worked over a year to complete the ornaments in time for this year’s show.  Over 200 additional ornaments and decorations made by the artist will be for sale in The New Talent Gallery.

Diana Luscombe’s acrylic paintings continue to be inspired by scenes from nature.  Her study on birds has progressed with more sensitivity to detail compared with last year's paintings which were derived primarily from memory and imagination.  After a serious car accident over two years ago resulted in Diana being paralyzed, painting became an emotional release for her.  She is having fun with her new endeavor and is amazed at what flows from her paintbrush!  Prior to the accident, being an artist had never crossed her mind.  The gift of painting, Diana says is “an emotional and spiritual place for me to heal and let go because it’s peaceful.”   It also is much needed “me time” for the painter who is married with two young children, all who are extremely supportive of her efforts.  “Hannah is my biggest fan!  With Cole, I just have to keep his fingers out of the paint!”  Donations from her “Healing Strokes” exhibit will go towards a handicap accessible van for Diana.

This holiday season, plan on spending some extra time on the farm to see all that The Henderson Cultural Center has to offer.  Find your traditional Silo favorites like Marzipan Stolen and Holly Berry Wreaths under the tree.  View a slice of Skitch’s life touring The Skitch Henderson Museum.  Stop by The Silo Cooking School to register for a holiday cooking class including; Gingerbread House Making, Rick Rodgers’ Thanksgiving Bash, Christmas Cookie Workshops for all ages and more!  A Home Town Holiday is free and open to the public.  Hunt Hill Farm hours are Wed. through Sat., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday’s noon to 5 p.m.  For more information, please call Valerie Culbertson, Silo Gallery Director at (860) 355-0300 or visit their website www.hunthillfarmtrust.org. 

Stanwyck Cromwell

Journey (2):  A Renewed Consciousness

Downtown Library, 3rd Floor

November 6, 2009-January 15, 2010

Artist Reception November 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

The American Mural Project will create the single largest piece of indoor collaborative artwork in the country.  A mixed-media painting and relief sculpture, it will ultimately be housed in the Whiting Mills Complex in Winsted, CT and measure 120 feet long, 5 stories high, and up to 10 feet deep. This exhibition features some of the huge finished pieces of the mural, a scale model, drawings and plans for elements in progress, and an eight-foot sculptural element.

Downtown Library

October 26-November 29, 2009

Artist Reception Friday, November 13, 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Join a gathering of poets and poetry lovers to commemorate the birth of Hartford poet Wallace Stevens, 
sponsored by Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library with help from The Friends & Enemies 
of Wallace Stevens. Marjorie Perloff, contemporary poetry critic and Professor Emerita of English at Stanford 
University will be the featured speaker.
 
Downtown Library
Saturday, November 7, 6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m.
 
Tickets for the bash are $45.00 per person.  Send check payable to Connecticut Center for the Book, 
500 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103, or reserve a ticket and pay at the door by contacting Kat Lyons 
at klyons@hplct.org or (860) 695-6320.  R.S.V.P. by November 2, please.  For more information, 
contact James Finnegan at jforjames@aol.com or (860) 508-2810.

Celebrating 300 years 1711-2011.

Fashion Show from Old Stone Thrift Shope with a selection of vintage clothes.

Saturday 11/07/09. Tickets must be reserved or purchased in advance at the church office

203-467-2907

Entertainment and Light Lunch, with the opportunity to shop after the show.

All donations will be to the Old Stone Church Anniversary Fund.

Exhibition tour of Mrs. Delany and her Circle at 12pm

10:30 am --
Picture This! Drawing Nature

Saturday, November 7, 10:30 am to noon, Peabody Museum of Natural History Saturday, November 14, 10:30 am to noon, Yale Center for British Art.

Exercise your powers of observation in this unique two-part program. At the Peabody participants will sketch plants and animals in the galleries. At the Center, children will explore the botanical drawings and paper cuts in the exhibition Mrs. Delany and her Circle, and will their own illustrations. The program is free and most appropriate for visitors 712 years of age. Registration is required. Register online at ycba.yale.edu/education. For more information, call 203 432 2858.

2 pm --
The Man in Grey (1943)
Directed by Leslie Arliss (not rated 90 minutes). Two strangers meet at an estate auction in England during World War II and discover connections in their family histories.
Lecture Hall

Harrisonburg Epilepsy Awareness Stroll

 The Crucible - This classic Arthur Miller play uses some of the events of the Salem Witch Trials to examine social themes that still resonate today.