Culture

My soul screams

at this insanity.

My entire being

trembles with tears

How could we

allow this hate?

Having successfully put on our first of two productions for 2016, Guiulford Center Stage needs just a few more actors for the fall.  We were pleased to have many of you from Brattleboro and other towns visit us this past weekend for our one-acts.  Though we’re particularly aimed at making Guilford Center a more viable village, and enjoying the fact that many of our actors and audience members are from Guilford, we are also rewarded by the participation from other towns.

This past weekend’s shows had actors from Westminster West, the West River Valley, Brattleboro (of course!) and Bernardston, Mass., among other towns, along with our Guilford ones.  

West Brattleboro, Vt. – Painters Collin Leech and Lori Schreiner are showing their work in a combined summer exhibit at All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist. An opening reception this Saturday, June 11, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., offers the public an opportunity to meet the artists and learn about their creative process while enjoying refreshments provided by the All Souls Arts Committee.

Showing a variety of large-format and smaller impressionist or expressive landscapes, Collin Leech has been working in a variety of mediums for many years, including oil, encaustic, ink-and-pastel drawing, and acrylic. “This year I have been working on combining these mediums in new ways,” Collin explains. “I have also been thinking about the ways my relationship to the landscape around me is changing.” She attended LaGuardia School for the Arts in New York City and went to Maryland Institute College of Art, taught for many years at Brattleboro’s River Gallery School, and now teaches encaustic collage and plein air painting at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River.

“Hurray for all kinds of things!” – Buoyed by that vague yet uplifting slogan, comedian Jon Gnarr galvanized the disaffected voters of Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2010. What began as political satire in the face of dysfunctional, corrupt and out-of-touch government, eventually became more than a joke, as Gnarr captured the hearts of voters in the 2010 race for mayor of Iceland’s largest city. His surprising campaign is the subject of the documentary “Gnarr,” which will be shown at the Latchis Theatre this Saturday, June 11, at 4 p.m.

It’s impossible not to see similarities with our own political scene, although what’s happening here is certainly less amusing than Gnarr’s campaign. Still, for all its lightness and humor, “Gnarr” touches a chord – people are tired of politics as usual and are looking to outsiders to shake things up. Not all outsiders possess the kindness, humor and common touch of Jon Gnarr, and that’s why, even though Reykjavik is thousands of miles away, “Gnarr” hits home.

Guilford Center Stage begins its second season with the premiere of a pair of one-act plays by Guilford playwright, Michael Nethercott, who also directs the production.   “Nocturne Titanica” is a unique take on the sinking of the Titanic. “The Lace Jury” is based on the first American all-women jury of the 20^th century.  Interestingly, the historic events on which the plays are based happened within 6 months of each other in 1911 and 1912.

There will be three performances: Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm, and a matinee on Sunday, June 5 at 2 pm. at Broad Brook Grange.