"Who Dunnit" At The Ashtabula Arts Center

 
September 17, 18, & 19, 2010 

Performance Times: Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Advance Sale Ticket Prices: General Adm $10, Seniors/Students $9, and Children under 12 $8

Does it bring back memories to hear the words, “Miss Scarlet in the library with a rope?” That’s right! It’s from the favorite board game Clue! You can now share with your entire family those fun times you had playing Clue as a kid when you see Ballet Theatre Ashtabula’s murderously funny tale “Who Dunnit?” The ballet, a spoof in the tradition of Agatha Christie and the famous Clue game will present notorious suspects to share their darkest secrets of their wicked past! You’ll love the silly yet dastardly efforts to hide motives and murderous deeds as one by one, the characters die...either by foul play or their own mishap! You and your family can play detective and solve the crime along with this cast of zany characters and watch as the answers unfold to the intriguing questions, “What happened?,” “What could have happened?” and “What really happened?” Order your tickets today and get ready for the fun! (440) 964-3396.

Community Members Invited to Audition for College Chorus

The Allegheny College music department invites community members to audition for the fall season of the College Chorus, a group that combines Allegheny students with singers from Meadville and surrounding areas.

Rehearsals will culminate in a public performance on Saturday, Dec. 4. The concert repertoire will be classical music in a variety of seasonal works, including pieces in Hebrew, Latin and English.

The College Chorus rehearses on Mondays from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Allegheny choir room on the second floor of the Henderson Campus Center. The first rehearsal is on Sept. 6. After the Sept. 20 rehearsal, membership will be closed for the spring season.

Chorus members must successfully pass a brief audition given individually at the beginning of the first rehearsal they attend. Those who audition successfully are expected to attend a minimum of nine rehearsals, including the final rehearsal on Nov. 29.

Interested singers are encouraged to contact Ward Jamison, Allegheny director of choral activities, at 332-3305 or wjamison@allegheny.edu.

Carousel Carver Headed For Conneaut Lake Horse

by Lisa Byers, www.meadvilletribune.com

George Nowack has a deep admiration for Conneaut Lake Park. He considers the park a symbol of his American heritage and who we, as a nation, are today.

“I am passionate about my American heritage,” Nowack said. “We are starting to lose sight of who we are as a nation and as people. We need to do what we can to carry on those earmarks of our history. They are the symbol of who we are.

“Conneaut Lake Park is very symbolic of that.”

Nowack is doing his part to see that the tradition of Conneaut Lake Park lives on for years and years to come.

The director of the Rising Galleries at the Yolanda G. Barco Oncology Institute and a renowned carousel animal carver, Nowack is in the finishing stages of a hand-carved carousel horse he plans to unveil at the institute on Oct. 1. The horse is an exact replica of the lead horse that once resided at the Conneaut Lake Park carousel.

Nowack said the armored horse measures 6 1/2 feet tall and is more than 7 feet in length. It is made up of 76 pieces laminated together.

The horse will eventually be mounted on a platform built from discarded wood from Conneaut Lake Park’s historic Blue Streak roller coaster, which is currently being restored.

“I am very blessed to be able to do this,” Nowack said. “The interest has been remarkable.”

Nowack has done some of the work on the carousel horse in front of audiences at the Conneaut Lake Historical Society, the Meadville Market House, Kennywood Park and Idlewild. As the horse travels so does the story and the history of Conneaut Lake Park, Nowack said.

“That’s what I have planned for him,” Nowack said of the horse. “Everywhere he has gone, he’s carried the tale of Conneaut Lake Park and the region with him. Conneaut Lake Park will always serve as reminder of who we are and who we can be as a person and as a nation.”

The idea of carving the carousel replica first came about on Aug. 11, 2007. Nowack said he has worked a total of about eight weeks on the animal, between 12 and 16 hours per day. He said he has about a month’s worth of work remaining before he will hand it over to his wife, Carolyn, to be painted.

“This is very important to get him finished and to get him on the road,” Nowack said. “We’re at a crossroad with the park right now and are getting very, very close to seeing a rebirth. I think he can help.”

Nowack couldn’t give an exact figure, but said he has carved “a lot” of different carousel horses and other animals over the years. The Conneaut Lake Park replica is one that will always remain near and dear to his heart.

“The message he carries is a very important one,” he said. “It’s a very dynamic piece, one of the more dynamic pieces I’ve ever done.”

Nowack is unsure what will happen to the horse following its unveiling on Oct. 1. He said he has had a lot of interest in purchasing the animal from as far as San Diego.

“I think he will be doing a lot of traveling,” Nowack said.

Nowack said he believes the original lead horse now resides in California. It was housed at Conneaut Lake Park from about 1912 to 1987, when it was sold. Sep 19 2010 - 3:00pm

Folk Free For All In Fredonia

FREE Admission (ticket required)
Folk in Fredonia Music Series 

Fredonia folk music favorites Carmen & Dick Gilman invite their musician friends from throughout the state to join them on the Opera House stage for an afternoon of great music, dance and a humorous story or two!

There also are raffles, drawings for door prizes and loads of fun and laughter.

The unofficial kickoff to the Folk in Fredonia Music Series, this event is great fun for the whole family!

Although admission to this event is FREE, tickets are required and may be reserved by calling the Box Office at 716-679-1891.

Playshop Theatre to Open Season with Two Solo Performances

Allegheny College’s Playshop Theatre will open its 2010-11 season with two original solo performances— “The End is Near!” by Dan Crozier and “Are We There Yet?” by Corey Rieger—on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11, at 8 p.m. Both plays will be presented each evening in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre at the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts.

An associate professor of theatre at Allegheny, Crozier premiered “The End is Near!” in August at the ATHE Micro-Fringe Festival in Los Angeles. The play explores his interest in the creative process.

“The initial focus of the piece was cosmology and physics,” said Crozier, a veteran solo performer and professional actor. “I wanted the play to be about literally everything, and I started with Einstein’s thought experiments. I liked this idea because it’s similar to what we work on in theatre. We take thoughts and words and create images and action.”

Roberta Levine of Meadville will direct the Playshop Theatre’s production of “The End is Near!”

“Are We There Yet?” is a comic production by Rieger and his first solo performance since his Allegheny senior project in 2001. The play offers a humorous take on answering the “big question,” which Rieger describes as “meaning, life, the nature of reality, art, science, the beginning and the end.”

Rieger has performed with such companies as Theatre 40 in Los Angeles and the Court Theatre, Greasy Joan & Co. and the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, all in Chicago. He has also performed at numerous regional theatres, including the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Company, Madison Repertory Theatre in Madison, Wis., BoarsHead Theater in Lansing, Mich., and Ninth Wave Theatre in Galway, Ireland. Rieger’s film and television credits include “The Bridge to Nowhere,” directed by Blair Underwood, and “The Beast,” starring Patrick Swayze.

Michael Mehler, an assistant professor of theatre, is designing the production’s lighting. Mallory Harney, an Allegheny junior from Gaithersburg, Md., is the stage manager.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7.50 for non-Allegheny students, senior citizens and Allegheny employees. Although admission is free for Allegheny students with identification, they are asked to make reservations. Patrons are cautioned that this production contains strong language. For more information or to order tickets, contact the Playshop Theatre box office at (814) 332-3414.

GSWPA Accepting Nominations for Board of Directors

Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania’s (GSWPA) Board Development Committee is pleased to announce that they are currently accepting nominations for positions on the Board of Directors from candidates in Clearfield, McKean, Greene, Fayette, Washington, Bedford and Somerset Counties. Board member positions are available in three-year terms.

GSWPA’s Board of Directors provide strategic leadership, advocacy, decision-making, partnerships and policy development/oversight. Board members should believe in the mission and vision of Girl Scouting, become a registered member of the Girl Scout Movement and accept the Girl Scout Promise and Law. The Board of Directors plays a role in setting the organization’s strategic direction, evaluating corporate goals and successfully addressing its challenges. Attendance and participation are required at a minimum of four Saturday meetings a year at a central location in Western Pennsylvania.

Nominations must be postmarked by Nov. 1, 2010 to be considered by the GSWPA Board Development Committee. To request an application, please email Karen Duncan or call 800.248.3355 ext. 1006.

Enter The First YouRoc! Video Contest

by Nora Brown

Can you tell a Rochester story in two minutes or less?

VisitRochester wants to see YouTube® videos about what makes Rochester a great place to live, a great place to visit and a great place to have fun. Share your story about Rochester, big or small, in two minutes or less.

Quotes- from Greg Marshall, Sr. Vice President and Director of Marketing of VisitRochester

- "We feel there is no better way to enhance our online presence than to engage those who live and study here."

- "The YouTube contest allows us to benefit from a wide range of positive impressions and talent which we can then share with the world through online and social media. I'm hopeful this contest is the first of many similar projects that will help us spread a positive image of Greater Rochester to all who need to learn of this great community."

Quick Facts -First place receives $1,000 cash prize.

-Three runners-up will receive a Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera.

- Videos must be up loaded by October 18, 2010.

- Videos must be two minutes or less.

To participate - Create a video two minutes or less showing what you love most about Rochester.

- Go to www.visitrochester.com/YouRoc to enter the contest.

- For more details visit www.youtube.com/visitrochester or www.visitrochester.com/YouRoc.

-To view entries go to www.youtube.com/visitrochester.

Single Voice Reading Series Opens with Award-Winning Poet

Award-winning poet Andrew Hudgins will read from his work on Thursday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Tippie Alumni Center on the Allegheny College campus. The free public presentation is part of the college’s Single Voice Reading Series.

Hudgins has published six acclaimed books of poetry, including “American Rendering: New and Selected Poems” and “Shut Up, You’re Fine: Poems for Very, Very Bad Children.” He also authored “The Glass Anvil,” a collection of literary essays.

Hudgins’ honors include the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his works “Saints and Strangers” and “After the Lost War: A Narrative,” respectively.

Hudgins serves as Humanities Distinguished Professor in English at Ohio State University. He holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa.

For more information about the Single Voice Reading Series, contact Associate Professor of English Christopher Bakken at cbakken@allegheny.edu.