Tag: things to do in CT

Spring into spring at Bent of the River Audubon

Bent of the River Audubon located on 185 East Flat Hill Road in Southbury is celebrating the return of spring migratory birds this April with several programs that are sure to help you enjoy this annual migration.

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On April 4 for example at 6:30 p.m., Bent of the River is hosting a program called “Timberdoodling”! Participants will meet in the Bent of the River Parking Lot (members free, non-members $5) to observe one of North America’s most intriguing mating displays as the male American Woodcock struts, peents, flies, and whistles his way into the females favor. Past walks have proven very successful in witnessing this impressive display. In addition, we are also likely to see the courtship flight of Mourning Doves, and hear the classic “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all” call from our resident Barred Owls, all with a background symphony of Spring peepers. This is a very popular program and registration is limited so register soon. Rain cancels this event. Registration is required. Please email Jim Drennan at jdrennan@audubon.org or call (203)264-5098 ext. 303.

On Tuesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. the Land Management Staff of Bent of the River will present information on how Audubon manages sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife at the Kingsley Room in the Southbury Public Library on 100 Poverty Rd. in Southbury. This free event will include information on how to improve landscapes at home to provide better habitats for birds and other wildlife. The focus of this evening will be on shrub and grassland habitat species including butterflies, dragon flies and the plants they need to survive and thrive. This presentation is perfect for gardeners interested in improving their gardens and landscape while spending less maintenance time! The meeting is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Please email Jim Drennan at jdrennan@audubon.org or call (203)264-5098 ext. 303.

Jewels of the Blue — Eastern Bluebird management will be the topic of discussion on Thursday, April 17 at 7 pm at the historic barn at Bent of the River Audubon Center. The cost for this program is $3 for members and $5 for non-members. It has been estimated that the Eastern Bluebird population has decreased 90% since the mid 1800’s due to the introduction of the starling and house sparrow from Europe. These species are more aggressive than the bluebird and will kill both adults and eggs to take over the nesting location. However, since the late 1960’s, populations have been recovering due in large part to the popularity of constructing bluebird nest boxes designed to keep starlings out and educating the public about how to deal with house sparrows. Bent of the River land manager, Jim Drennan, will lead a discussion on how best to attract, care for, and manage your bluebirds, and relate the challenges Audubon faces caring for their 25 Bluebird nest boxes. If time permits, there will be a walk into the meadow to observe bluebird habitat.
Registration is required. Please email Jim Drennan at jdrennan@audubon.org or call (203)264-5098 ext. 303.

For more information about Bent of the River visit http://bentoftheriver.audubon.org. For information on the Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com.

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CONNfection- Connecticut Food and Wine Showcase

The Waterbury Neighborhood Council will host the second annual CONNfection event, a showcase featuring Connecticut made food and wine, on Thursday, March 27, from 6p.m. – 9p.m. at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased by phone at 203-346-2000, online at www.palacetheaterct.org, or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main Street in Waterbury.

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CONNfection attendees will have the delight of sampling some of the best home grown and homemade products that Connecticut has to offer, including pasta, sausages, artisanal breads, gourmet olive oils, specialty condiments and relishes, biscotti, cookies, chocolates, cupcakes and more.

Guests will also have the opportunity to sample a variety of beer and wine from local breweries and vineyards, as well as Onyx Moonshine, the first legal moonshine to be brewed in New England. The list of vendors scheduled to appear include 1249 Restaurant, The Bites Company, Fascia’s Chocolate, The Grotto Restaurant & Mrs. G, recent “Cupcake Wars” winner Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes, La Molisana Sausage, The Olive Oil Factory, Pasta Gallery, The Provender of New Morning Market, Saha Sauces LLC, Sweet Confections by Regina LLC, Sweet Maria’s, and more to be announced.

CONNfection is sponsored in part by The Good Life Wine and Spirits, as well as the City of Waterbury’s Arts and Tourism Commission. Proceeds from the event will be used by the Waterbury Neighborhood Council for their work on behalf of all Waterbury neighborhoods, including downtown where the Palace Theater is prominently located.

For information on Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com

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Women Make A Difference at Wesport Historical Society

As part of the Westport Historical Society’s Women Who Make A Difference program, there will be a presentation on Kimberly Wilson on March 20 from 12 noon to 1:15. If you’ve ever wanted to meet Harriet Tubman or one of the other African American women who made black history, come to the WHS for Westport actress Kimberly Wilson’s one- woman show “A JOURNEY…”

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Wilson’s performance uses song, movement and dialogue to bring to life Tubman, a runaway slave who led hundreds of other slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, as well as former slave and Abolitionist leader Sojourner Truth, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and the poet Maya Angelou.

In addition to presenting such iconic historical figures as Tubman and Parks, Wilson also includes an African queen and a slave woman, who are intended to be representative of the African American experience. African Queen, who endures a brutal journey on a slave ship, is a reminder of the rich native African culture and heritage in place before the start of the slave trade, Wilson says. The slave woman, the actress says, represents the struggles of slaves in a strange land with a strange language, crushed by the destruction of family and culture, and surviving through courage, hope, hard work and never-ending faith.

Sojourner Truth was a former slave from New York who became an outspoken advocate for the rights of both blacks and women and helped recruit black troops for the Union Army during the Civil War. Fast-forward 100 years to Rosa Parks, who, with many others, helped “kick-off the Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala. bus, spurring a city-wide bus boycott and forcing the city to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses. Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and author Maya Angelou is also an important Civil Rights Era figure whose poems and books emphasize looking to the future with hope and courage, Wilson says.

Actress, singer, poet Kimberly Wilson was a member of theater companies in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. She is now an active member and Board Treasurer of the Theatre Artists Workshop in Norwalk, CT.

This event is sponsored by Catamount Wealth Management, Catered Lunch included $15, WHS Members $12, For Reservations 203-222-1424 or visit http://westporthistory.org. For area information: www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

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Playtime at the Palace – Stamford Center for the Arts

A brand new series featuring bubbles, puppets, slapstick, and more, Playtime at the Palace will continue to delight children of all ages in March and April at Stamford’s Palace Theatre. From Puppet Playground to Story Pirates, entertainers will charm families with up-close-and-personal performances on Sunday afternoons. All shows start at 3 PM and last approximately one hour.

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On March 9, for example the program is Story Pirates (Adults: $20; Children under 12: $15) Stories by kids, for kids! Story Pirates will delight and surprise with puppets, catchy songs and outrageous sketches, all the while motivating kids to pick up a pencil and write down their own fantastic adventures. Story topics run the gamut, from kung fu ninja babies fighting crime to cats flying and tickle-monsters who rule the world.

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The Silent Slapstick (All tickets: $10) program is scheduled for March 30 and is sure to have your kids laughing themselves silly! This program features uproarious ’20s comedy films, presented with a live pianist! Lincoln Center’s famous silent film accompanist/historian Ben Model will present 3 short slapstick silent comedies making this an ideal opportunity to introduce youngsters to inventive visual humor. This program will be presented in the Palace Cinema.

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The P.i.E. Puppets in Education (All tickets: $15) will perform on April 6. This program will show your children how to put on their very own puppet show! The Monkey Boys team will teach them how to create a show with their own stuffed animals and learn how to create puppets through simple construction techniques! Some of these will be used in a short show at the end of the class.

Tickets may be purchased online at www.scalive.org or charged by phone with major credit cards by calling The Palace Box Office at 203-325-4466. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Palace Theatre box office in downtown Stamford, open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The 2013-2014 season is made possible by Palace Theatre’s Season Sponsors Seaboard Properties, Inc. and the Whittingham Family.

For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

About the Palace Theatre

The vision of the Palace Theatre is to be the regional arts center for exciting entertainment that enhances and enriches the cultural, educational, economic, and social life of the community. The Palace strives to achieve this vision by demonstrating integrity in all work and relationships, providing service and quality in all activities, fostering and promoting diversity of thought, ideas and culture, providing stewardship for the Stamford Arts community, emphasizing outreach in our community, and offering creativity in all endeavors.

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TheatreWorks New Milford -Celebrating 50 Years of Neil Simon

On Friday, February 28, TheatreWorks New Milford will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Neil Simon’s first and longest-running theatrical hit, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, by kicking off its 2014 season with that very show. The curtain goes up at 8:00 p.m. on a three-week run.

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In this classic, comedic romp, newlyweds Paul and Corie Bratter are proof positive that opposites attract. He’s a straight-as-an-arrow lawyer; she’s a free spirit. But they quickly discover married life is no paradise, having to endure a new apartment that’s falling to pieces, surprise visits from Corie’s overly protective mother, and the antics of their eccentric neighbor-in-the-attic, Velasco. Paul doesn’t understand Corie’s impulsiveness, while she wants him to be more spontaneous. Maybe running “barefoot in the park” would be a start?

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Neil Simon is arguably the greatest living comedic American playwright, and this is his first ‘hit’ production, that kept audiences laughing on Broadway for nearly four years straight in the 1960s. There are references to things from the past, and it is set it in 1963 to reflect that, but the comedy never gets old.

The production features six of the finest actors from across the region: Daniel Willey (Harwinton), Jessica Alex (New York, NY), Jeff Savage (Northfield), M.J. Hartell (Brookfield), Jonathan Ross (Thomaston), and Kevin Sosbe (New Milford). Besides Director and Co-Producer, Tom Libonate and Co-Producer, Glenn R. Couture, the show’s crew consists of Co-Producer and Co-Set Designer Richard Pettibone, Costume Designer Susan Pettibone, Technical Director Scott Wyshynski, Stage Manager Kathy Bolster and Assistant Stage Manager Abby Hambidge.

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BAREFOOT IN THE PARK runs March 1, 7,8,9 14,15,16. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, with two 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinees on March 9 and March 16. Tickets for all shows are $23 for reserved seating.

Students and Military personnel with ID will be admitted for just $18.

On Thursday, February 27, senior citizens are invited to a FREE dress rehearsal at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, March 6 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 WWW.THEATREWORKS.US or by calling the box office at (860) 350-6863.

TheatreWorks is an award-winning, regional theatre company located in the Litchfield Hills on 5 Brookside Avenue, just off Route 202 (next to the CVS), in New Milford, Conn.

For information about the Litchfield Hills, where to stay, dine and what to see visit www.litchfieldhills.com

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Cover Story: The New Yorker in Westport at the Westport Historical Society

The Westport Historical Society located on 25 Avery Place in Westport is hosting an exhibit, Cover Story: The New Yorker in Westport and “Can’t Tell a Book by its Cover…” through April 26.

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This exhibition focus’s on the fact that between 1925 and 1989, 13 New Yorker artists living in and around Westport-Weston produced a remarkable 695 covers for The New Yorker Magazine. Some 44 of the covers actually depict Westport scenes.

These two exhibits share the covers and the story-behind-the-story, focusing on the influence of The New Yorker’s “idea man” turned Art Editor , James Geraghty, who–with wife Eva–first lived on Rayfield Rd, Westport before moving to Old Redding Rd. in Weston. Throughout the Geraghty era (1939 to 1973), often with an element of wit, The New Yorker’s cover images mirrored the commuter lifestyle of his Connecticut-based artists, including Garrett Price, James Daugherty, Perry Barlow, Alice Harvey, Helen Hokinson, Edna Eicke, Arthur Getz, Reginald Massie, Whitney Darrow, Jr., Charles Saxon, Albert Hubbell, Donald Reilly and John Norment. Curator Eve Potts draws from artifacts, anecdotes and correspondence provided by the families of Geraghty and these artists, who also did innumerable drawings for the magazine.

Never, as visitors will see in “Can’t Tell a Book by its Cover…” in the Mollie Donovan Gallery, was that more true than the Aug. 31, 1946 New Yorker, a single-story issue. The story? Hiroshima, by writer John Hersey, who shortly thereafter moved to Turkey Hill South (the home later sold to Andy & Martha Stewart) in Westport.

Hersey , considered the “Father of the New Journalism,” not only was a member of Geraghty’s local New Yorker Friday afternoon bowling team (Westport Bowling Lanes, in winter) and golf team (Longshore, in summer), he served for a period of time on the Town of Westport Board of Education.

The Westport Historical Society is open Monday – Friday 10 – 4 p.m.and Saturday 12 – 4 p.m. For more information http://westporthistory.org. For information on Fairfield County www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

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