Culture

We are inviting artists throughout the region to participate in our new logo contest. We are looking for artists to design a new logo for use by the Arts Council of Windham County & for our Gallery Walk! Our logo contest is being supported by a number of sponsors including the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce, Latchis Theatre, Mondo Mediaworks, River Gallery School, T.J. Buckley’s, and Zephyr Designs.

Guilford Center Stage announces open auditions for its October premiere of To Their Appointed End: the One-Act Plays of Jean Stewart McLean.  There will be two sessions of auditions: Saturday, May 20, from 10 am to Noon, and Wednesday, May 24, from 6 to 8 pm, at Broad Brook Grange in Guilford.  William Stearns directs the production.

West Brattleboro, Vt. — The gallery at All Souls Church UU is showing a new series by local artist Kay Curtis through the end of June. The eight drypoint monoprints, with multiple layers of colored pencil and crayon, each have a specific theme in the series entitled “Queen Anne’s Lace: The Circle Comes Around.” A set of eight smaller experimental prints, created before the “Queen Anne’s Lace” series was launched, as well as a large jazz-themed painting, are also on display. The public is invited to an artist’s reception on Saturday, May 6, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., hosted by the All Souls Arts Committee.
 
Kay’s distinctive whimsical style is used in these works to tell the story of life, a rather grand undertaking whose inspiration came to her spontaneously. The artist believes that key events in her life are serendipitously aligned with the subject matter.

We at Guilford Center Stage are particularly proud to be presenting a play by a Guilford playwright, Michael Nethercott, this coming weekend at Broad Brook Grange.  When we chose the work, we had little idea how powerful the setting — the French Resistance in World War II — would be in 2017!  Those of us fortunate to be attending rehearsals are seeing a skillful playwright/director at work, with a company of 11 wonderful actors.

When I first moved to Southern Vermont in 1976 (Weathersfield) I quickly became involved in contra dancing and the rich and inviting culture of live music that fueled dance floors in church halls, granges, town halls and rural dance barns.  It doesn’t take much for me to remember those nights at Palmer’s Dance Barn in Unity, the Acworth and Dublin town halls, Chelsea House, Green Street School and many others.