Month: November 2015

Exciting news! The Beardsley Zoo on Noble Ave. in Bridgeport is the the temporary home for “Rochan,” a 16-month-old male Red panda.

Rochan is visiting from the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston while his exhibit space is being renovated. Look for him near the exit of the South American Rainforest Exhibit.

Hailing from the Himalayas and the mountain ranges of southwest China, Red pandas resemble raccoons and prefer colder climates. They are solitary animals and are nocturnal by nature. As an adult, Rochan, which means “bright” in India, is expected to weigh 10-12 lbs. Like their larger and better-known black and white cousins, Red pandas primarily eat bamboo but will occasionally eat fruits, berries, young leaves, and certain tree bark.

Red pandas are vulnerable in the wild, with fewer than 10,000 adult Red pandas in existence. For more information visit http://www.beardsleyzoo.com. For more area event information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Explore the world of dreams as interpreted by regional and national artists at the Westport Arts Center’s annual group member exhibition that will remain open through January 9, 2016. Viewing this evocative show is free and open to the public.

The exhibition showcases the imagination and masterful techniques used by this select group of artists at the height of their contemporary practice. The theme DREAMscapes is a simple prompt for the artists to delve into the philosophical, emotional, historical and metaphysical imagery of dreams and cosmic phenomena.

The exhibition was juried by Alexandra Munroe, Ph.D, Samsung Senior Curator of Asian Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Munroe is a pioneering authority on modern and contemporary Asian art and transnational art studies.

Munroe selected the works of art from more than 260 entries, including regional, national and international artists. The exhibition features 45 diverse interpretations of the DREAMscapes theme, including photography, printmaking, sculpture, video, collage/mixed media, digital and drawings. All of the works are available for sale.

The theme DREAMscapes inspired hundreds of the region’s artists to respond with works ranging from pure abstract to landscape paintings, and from surrealist assemblages of dream-like imagery to realist renderings of contemporary dysfunction.

For more information, please call 203/222-7070 or visit www.westportartscenter.org. For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Food Network Star Chef Robert Irvine is taking his brand of no nonsense cooking on the road in an all-new multi-media and multi-sensory theatrical experience coming to the Palace Theater in Waterbury, on Friday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets to the event are $48, $38, and $28 and can be purchased online at http://www.palacetheaterct.org, by phone at 203-346-2000, or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main St.

This all-new, stage show features dynamic off-the-cuff cooking challenges, never-before-seen videos, interactive social media components, a Q & A segment, and a whole heaping of audience participation. Chef Irvine will have no prior knowledge of the culinary challenges he faces throughout the night, each of which will be chosen at random by audience members selected to spin the show’s digital challenge wheel. Once the challenge is issued, Irvine will bring more audience members onto the stage to help him complete the task at hand. In between each challenge, patrons will get a glimpse of rare videos that include interview footage of Robert retelling experiences from his military service, working for the royal family, his shows on Food Network, and his charity work. From start to finish, the production boasts that there are no recipes, no scripts and no holds barred.

Hardcore foodies and fans can upgrade their theater experience by purchasing a $158 VIP ticket package to the show, which includes access to a private cooking seminar, food tasting, and meet and greet opportunity with Chef Irvine before the show, as well as gold circle seating to the main event. Limited quantities are available for purchased online, in person and by phone at the Box Office.

For more information on Robert Irvine and his tour, visit www.chefirvine.com or www.palacetheaterct.org.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will host, Setting the Table for the Holidays: Edward’s Table on November 15th at 2 p.m. where tabletop guru Edward Lent will share a wealth of table setting and entertaining ideas, just in time for the holiday season.

Whether you are planning a joyous family gathering or a year-end “need to impress” business party, holiday entertaining will be at your fingertips with Edward’s Table. Throughout his 20-plus year career, Lent has worked with Tabletop industry giants such as Noritake, Mikasa and Simon Pearce. His philosophy, “Stop keeping your dinnerware hostage. Let me show you how to set the mood and set a table with today’s trends and tips using what you probably already own.”

While setting thousands of tables, Lent developed a unique sense of entertaining styles. He is a renowned expert in the visual merchandising industry, whose table setting and merchandising work has taken him around the country and around the globe, including Europe, Japan and South America. Lent holds a degree in Art Education and was associate editor of the industry trade journal Tableware Today

Tickets for the event are $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Proceeds will go to support the Museum and its artistic, cultural and educational programs.

For reservations please contact: info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or 203-838-9799 ext. 4. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. Tours are offered Wednesdays through Sundays, at Noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for children. Children under 8 are admitted free. For more information, visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or call 203-838-9799.

For more area event information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

On Saturday, November 14th, the Klein in Bridgeport will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with an unprecedented concert featuring resident performing arts companies that regularly perform in the historic 1,450-seat theater. This is the first time that all of them have appeared together on the Klein’s stage. The emcee for the event is the popular television personality and musician Paul Shaffer, longtime bandleader of “Late Night with David Letterman”.

Featured companies are: Greater Bridgeport Symphony (which has performed at the Klein for the past 70 years), New England Ballet, Fairfield County Children’s Choir, Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras, student singers and dancers from the Klein’s innovative after school program ASK as well as from All Stars Project of Bridgeport, and noted jazz musician Joel Martin, creator of “Jazzical” and the Klein’s annual “Footsteps of Peace” concerts. Also included are special appearances by Mayor Bill Finch, George Mintz, president of the Bridgeport chapter of the NAACP, Kathleen Maher, executive director of the Barnum Museum, a segment about Fairfield Theatre Company, which has presented over 100 concerts at the Klein in recent years, representatives from the Barnum Festival, and others yet to be announced.

During the concert each company will perform its own segments. They will all assemble together in a spectacular musical finale. The concert will be held at the Klein on Saturday, November 14th at 8 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Klein’s box office, on-line at http://www.info@theklein.org, or by calling 800-424-0160. Tickets are priced at $75 / $40 / $25 and $15.

As a thank-you to patrons of the resident companies that are performing that evening, the Klein and its performance partners have also announced a special subscription discount offer in a package of 4 upcoming events at the Klein. By calling the Klein box office, patrons who purchase tickets to all four of the following events will receive a twenty per cent discount on the entire package. The events in the package include:

WYNTON MARSALIS AND THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ENSEMBLE (November 5th), presented by Fairfield Theatre Company

THE KLEIN@75: THE CELEBRATION CONCERT (November 14th)

BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY with the MENDELSSOHN CHOIR (December 12th) performed by the Greater Bridgeport Symphony

24TH ANNUAL NUTCRACKER PERFORMANCES (December 19th and 20th) by New England Ballet Company

RESTAURANT PROMOTION: The Klein is also conducting an exclusive discount offer through 4 restaurants in downtown Bridgeport. Beginning October 15 and running until the day of the concert, patrons of these restaurants can receive a card with a discount code entitling them to 15% off the ticket price of the November 14th concert. Participating restaurants are: Trattoria ‘A vucchella, Two Boots, Joseph’s Steakhouse, and the Holiday Inn. This promotion is in collaboration with the Downtown Special Services District of Bridgeport.

ABOUT THE KLEIN:

The Klein is a 1,450-seat historic American theater that was built in the 1930s with funds willed to the City of Bridgeport by Jacob Klein. Designed by local architect Leonard Asheim, the auditorium was built in the Art Deco style and features bronze doors, a marble lobby, inlaid wood and geometric motifs.

After opening its doors for performances in 1940, The Klein has played host to programs ranging in scope to symphonies, operas, theater, folk, blues and rock concerts, local dance recitals and political debates. It also operates ASK, a tuition-free after school program where up to 100 Bridgeport students receive instruction in music, dance, drama and acting for the camera. In earlier years, the Klein has hosted such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Arthur Fiedler, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul Robeson, Milton Berle, Victor Borge, and Gloria Swanson. More recently such diverse musical acts as Vienna Boys Choir, Alice Cooper, B.B. King, Boz Scaggs, Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal, Herbie Hancock, George Carlin, Peter Frampton, Boyz II Men, the B-52s, the Parris Island Marine Band, comic Elizardi Castro, and satiric comedy group Capitol Steps have appeared on the Klein stage.

The Litchfield Historical Society’s upcoming exhibition House of Worth: Dressing Litchfield will highlight the Society’s collection of original 1916 and 1918 house of Worth watercolor on paper fashion sketches.

Sent through postal mail to Litchfield seasonal resident Julia Chester Wells, these sketches allowed Worth’s client to peruse and purchase garments from the fashion house without undertaking travel to Paris during a time of world war.

Join the Litchfield Historical Society in exploring the house of Worth, Litchfield’s trendsetters, and the changing face of fashion during the 1910s. This temporary exhibition will make available to the public a selection of the original sketches, as well as period garments from the Society’s collection.

The Litchfield Historical Society is located on 7 South St. in Litchfield, for more information www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com