Connecticut Travel

When you can’t dig the dirt outdoors, garden inside. Tovah Martin teams with Westport’s new Nordic home furnishings store, Eleish van Breems, at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, February 24 at Eleish van Breems at 22 Railroad Street in Westport to demonstrate a new spin on indoor gardening that elevates houseplants to art.

The author of The Indestructible Houseplant and nationally recognized brown thumb buster, Tovah shares the secrets to greening your living spaces with foolproof plants. “Tovah’s take on bringing the outdoors in melds beautifully with our Scandinavian inspired use of light and natural materials.” says interior designer Rhonda Eleish “In this information packed event, Tovah will discuss her latest book and create for us several compliment-fetching containerscapes ranging from 18th century Swedish pottery and baskets to contemporary silver and copper vessels.”

Eleish van Breems is proud to be a sponsor of the Westport Historical Society’s 2016 Garden Tour and all proceeds from the sale of “The Indestructible Houseplant” at the Nordic by Nature event will go towards the tour, now celebrating its 25th anniversary. “Forget the homely plastic pots,” says Tovah, “we show you how to live with nature beautifully.”

Tovah Martin’s passion for gardening inside her home led to her most recent books, The Unexpected Houseplant (Timber Press, 2012) and The New Terrarium (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2009). These newest publications are added to more than a dozen titles that Tovah has authored including Tasha Tudor’s Garden (Houghton Mifflin, 1994). Tovah’s successes, foibles, and travels are enjoyed by gardeners everywhere through her articles inCountry Gardens, Traditional Home, Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, Cottage Journal, Better Homes & Gardens, at Home magazine, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, Flower magazine, Horticulture, Coastal Living, Coastal Home, Old House Interiors, Early Homes, Westchester Home & Garden, This Old House Magazine, and The Litchfield County Times as well as many other publications. Recently, she proudly served as the 2012 Writer-in-Residence for Victoria magazine. In other media, Tovah has appeared on the CBS Early Morning Show, the Martha Stewart Show as well as many other broadcasts including the PBS television gardening series “Cultivating Life,” where she served as editorial producer.

Among the most moving moments in her life occurred when Tovah was awarded an Honorary Membership in The Garden Club of America and the Litchfield Garden Club in May 2010 and when she became the recipient of the GCA’s medal for outstanding literary achievement. In 2013, she received the Gustav Mehlquist Award—the highest honor bestowed by the Connecticut Horticultural Society.

For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Westport Country Playhouse’s Family Festivities Series will present “Charlotte’s Web,” a musical based on E.B. White’s story of the friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a spider named Charlotte, on Sunday, February 28, for three performances, at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. Running time is approximately one hour. Produced by TheaterWorksUSA, the show is recommended for grades K – 5. Tickets are $20.

Wilbur has a problem: how to avoid winding up as pork chops! Charlotte, a fine writer and true friend, hits on a plan to fool Farmer Zuckerman. She weaves in her web a solution which not only makes Wilbur a prize pig, but ensures his place on the farm forever. This treasured tale, featuring mad-cap and endearing farm animals, explores bravery, selfless love, and the true meaning of friendship.

Family Festivities shows are presented on selected Sundays from November through April. Family Festivities Corporate Sponsors are Pitney Bowes and Northwestern Mutual. Family Festivities Partner is Darlene Krenz. The Family Festivities Series is also supported by the Westport Young Woman’s League.

Upcoming Family Festivities presentations are “Moon Mouse: A Space Odyssey,” on Sunday, March 20, 1 and 4 p.m., a cosmic adventure with music about Marvin, the mouse, produced by Lightwire Theater; and “Are You My Mother?,” on Sunday, April 10, 1 and 4 p.m., a musical based on P. D. Eastman’s whimsical and well-loved picture book, produced by ArtsPower.

In conjunction with the Family Festivities Series, the Playhouse will once again host a book collection for Read to Grow, Inc., a statewide nonprofit organization that helps parents take an active role in their children’s literacy development by providing free children’s books to families with limited access and to community resources that serve them. At each Family Festivities performance, bins will be located in the Playhouse lobby for donations of gently used and new children’s books which will be given to families and programs in the greater Fairfield County area through Read to Grow. During last season’s Family Festivities series, the Playhouse collected nearly 300 books.

Everyone in the audience requires a ticket. For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse). For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Superstar comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy will reunite on the RFD-TV presents: We’ve Been Thinking Tour to bring an unforgettable night of comedy to Torrington’s Warner Theatre on Friday, March 4. During this momentous event, both comedians will deliver a laughter-packed evening of all new material before they come together on stage for an uproarious encore you won’t want to miss!

Jeff Foxworthy is one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country. He is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy Award nominee and bestselling author of more than 26 books. Widely known for his redneck jokes, his act goes well beyond that to explore the humor in everyday family interactions and human nature, a style that has been compared to Mark Twain’s.

Larry the Cable Guy is a multiplatinum recording artist, Grammy nominee, Billboard award winner and one of the top comedians in the country. He has his own line of merchandise and continues to sell out theatres and arenas across the United States. He is the spokesman for Prilosec OTC and most recently launched his own comedy channel on SIRIUSXM with Jeff Foxworthy.

For tickets call the Warner Box Office at 860-489-7180 or visit warnertheatre.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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