Month: February 2016

On February 19, TheatreWorks New Milford will debut the contemporary comedy Seminar by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Theresa Rebeck.

In this provocative comedy, four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting comedy that took Broadway by storm.

Seminar runs February 19,20 26,27 March 4,5,6 11,12. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, with a 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinee on March 6. Tickets for all shows are $23 for reserved seating. Students and Military personnel with ID will be admitted for $18.

On Thursday, February 18, Senior Citizens are invited to a free dress rehearsal at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. is TheatreWorks’ Pay-What-You-Want night. At this performance, you name the price for your ticket.

Reservations can be made online at theatreworks.us or by calling the box office at (860) 350-6863. For more information on the Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com

About Theatre Works
TheatreWorks is an award-winning, non-Equity theatre company, named Best Community Theater in Connecticut by Connecticut Magazine. TheatreWorks is located at 5 Brookside Avenue, just off Route 202 (next to the CVS), in New Milford, CT. Parking is located behind the Catherine E. Lillis Administration Building at 50 East Street, New Milford.

The Torrington Historical Society will host a presentation titled “Slavery in Connecticut” on Wednesday, February 17th at 6:30 p.m. The program, which will take place in the Society’s Carriage House Gallery, 192 Main Street, is being presented by Dr. Karl Valois, a noted historian. Admission is free for Torrington Historical Society members; $3 for non-members.

Dr. Karl Valois will lecture about the origins of slavery in America and how Connecticut and the North benefited from slavery. Among the topics to be discussed will be: the distribution of slaves throughout the state; the prominent citizens who became slaveholders; the nature of the slaves’ work; and the important forces of the antislavery movement that successfully agitated for the gradual abolition of slavery in Connecticut.

Karl Valois has taught at the University of Connecticut, Torrington since 1987. He was awarded a Yale University Fellowship and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. Karl Valois has published more than two dozen articles, edited two textbooks on European History, and written small books on the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He has appeared frequently on radio and television, hosting his own weekly public television series (“Historically Speaking”). Dr. Valois also appeared in the Torrington Historical Society’s documentary, Pursuit of Precision: The History of the Hendey Machine Company. He has lectured on slavery and abolitionism in Connecticut at Yale and co-chaired a symposium on the Civil War at UConn. In 2004, Dr. Valois was invited to Oxford University to lecture during a week-long conference on Women’s History and to participate in the re-enactment of the historic Lane Theological Seminary Debates in Oberlin, Ohio.

Attendees to this program will also have an opportunity to view a traveling exhibition which is currently on view at the Society. Making Freedom: The Life of Venture Smith, In His Own Words tells the compelling story of Smith, an African who was captured and enslaved for decades in New England prior to purchasing his freedom and the freedom of his family. Venture Smith went on to become a successful businessman in Connecticut prior to his death in 1805.

For more area event information visit www.litchfieldhills.com

On February 18, from 10:30 a.m. through 11:30 a.m. visitors to the Greenwich Historical Society are in for a special treat with a tour with one of the curators of the current exhibition on display, 50 Objects that Illustrate Greenwich history. Admission is free of charge. In this program led by exhibition curator Karen Frederick, visitors will have the opportunity to examine (along with the many other items on display) why an 18th-century, homespun shirt with a bullet hole, a bill of sale for a three-year-old slave boy and a congresswoman’s carefully preserved scrapbooks all represent important turning points in the town’s history.

Visitors will have the chance to ask questions, learn more about the selection process and to share their own responses to these unique objects. The exhibition, created in honor of the town’s 375th anniversary, provides fascinating insights into how choices made by earlier residents still resonate today and why it’s so important to collect and preserve items that document the local story of Greenwich Connecticut. After the tour, coffee will be served.

For more information about where to go and what to see and do visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

The White Silo Winery located in the scenic village of Sherman Connecticut on the edge of the Litchfield Hills is hosting their annual Hot Chocolate Festival on Sunday, February 21 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Make sure to sign up for this event that will feature 4 types of Hot Chocolate made with Guittard Chocolates – White, Milk, Dark and Mexican Hot Chocolate. Participants can top off their cups with homemade marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate curls, chocolate powder and chocolate chips. This is a perfect way to warm up to winter at this cozy farm winery.

The price is $20 per person. It includes one glass of wine to sip with or after your hot chocolate(s) and plenty of finger foods. This is an open format event with no official “chocolate guidance” so you can come by anytime 1 – 3 PM. Advance tickets are required and limited so do not wait to purchase – we expect to sell out quickly. To purchase tickets click here.

For more area information www.litchfieldhills.com

Litchfield County Auctions & Appraisals is Connecticut’s premier estate Auction House, featuring fine art, antique & modern furniture, silver, rugs, jewelry & couture, pottery, porcelain, glass, Asian art & antiques, antiquities, ethnographic arts and more. LCA’s 10,000 sq. ft. gallery is located on the main road, just a mile south of “The Green” in historic Litchfield, nestled in the beautiful hills of Litchfield. They present fresh-to-the-market property from Estates and Collections in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and beyond.

Growing out of Weston Thorn’s successful antiques business that began in the early 1980s, LCA held its first auction in 1994. Year by year, sales have grown from that first auction of just over one hundred thousand dollars to sales over a million dollars, and from lot counts in the low hundreds to sales featuring over 1000 lots. Many major collections have been sold over the years, including property from the collection of Mike Nichols & Diane Sawyer, the estate of Opera Diva Anna Moffo, the estate of celebrated photographer Horst P. Horst, the estate of renowned collector Alice Lawrence and many others.

On Wednesday, February 10 day one of a two day auction will begin and will feature two sessions; session one will have Ancient, Asian and Tribal Art and Session two will have silver, rugs, lighting and antiques. On February 11, session one will consist of decorative items and session two will feature fine art, both traditional and modern.

The viewing of items is available February 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 425 Bantam Road in Litchfield. For more information visit the website at https://www.liveauctioneers.com/litchfield-county-auctions. For more area event information in the Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com