This week’s edition!
Arts
Coming to L-A next week: Maine Conference on the Arts
Keynote speaker Crystal Williams is a poet, essayist, and Vice President for the Office of Diversity at Bates College.
Focused on the intersections of creativity, industry, art and innovation, the Maine Arts Commission’s second Maine International Conference on the Arts will take place at Lewiston’s Gendron Franco Center and Bates Mill complex on Thursday and Friday, October 6 and 7. Advance registration, which confers a 15% discount on conference attendance, closes on September 30.
Intended for artists, arts organizations, arts educators, community developers, and policymakers, the conference is designed to provide networking, inspiration, and learning for Maine artists and communities. It was made possible by a statewide collaboration of Maine arts organizations and the Commission’s special international partnership with New Brunswick, Canada.
“We create world class art in this state, and Maine has a deep culture and long history of driving industry and innovation through creativity,” said Julie Richard, Executive Director of the Maine Arts Commission. “We need and deserve a world class arts conference.”
Maine chef to appear on Food Network reality show
Shaun “Yaz” Yazbek will compete on “Chopped” on Tuesday, March 1.
Shaun “Yaz” Yazbek will compete on the Food Network reality show “Chopped” next month. Yazbek will compete with three other chefs in an episode titled “Truck Stop Stars,” pitting the four competitors against each other for a $10,000 prize.
The show, now in its 27th season on Food Network, gives four chefs a mystery basket of ingredients, which then must be turned into a dish. The show is broken into three courses: an appetizer, an entrée, and a desert. Chefs are given different mystery ingredients for each course. After each course, one of the chefs is eliminated by the panel of judges who base their results on creativity, presentation, and taste.
F.A.B. Winter Dance Showcase breaks new ground
This year’s F.A.B. Winter Dance Showcase on March 1 features a diverse line-up, including a piece that incorporates elements of traditional Franco-American dance.
The ninth annual “F.A.B.” Winter Dance Showcase will take place on Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Franco Center in Lewiston. The event, whose name stands for “Franco-American and Bates,” is produced by the Franco Center in association with Bates College.
F.A.B. aims to bring the mid-Maine dance audience together with artists from around the region. Visually stunning and kinetically mesmerizing, the event energizes Lewiston’s most beautiful auditorium with a kaleidoscope of dance styles.
Josh Ritter concert set for March 2
Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter performs acoustic versions of his acclaimed songs on Sunday, March 2 at Bates College’s Olin Arts Center.
Touring behind a 2013 recording celebrated for its fresh approach to the weary theme of love gone wrong, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter will perform on Sunday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall at Bates College in Lewiston.
Named one of the “100 Greatest Living Songwriters” by Paste magazine in 2006, Ritter is an American musician and author known for his distinctive Americana style and storytelling lyrics. The Bates concert is part of an acoustic tour presenting Ritter’s songs in stripped down, intimate arrangements.
Franco Center Comedy Series continues Feb. 7
Michael Cho
The Franco Center’s stand-up comedy series will resume on Friday, February 7 at 8 p.m. with headliner Michael “The Korean Comedian” Cho and warm-up sets by New Hampshire comics Greg Boggis and Matt Barry. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
The show is the second of five monthly stand-up comedy nights taking place through May at the Franco Center, in addition to an evening with comedian Bob Marley, who returns with two back-to-back shows on the night of April 12.
Public Theatre presents “Tigers Be Still”
From left: Cast members Rebecca Hart, Joseph Tisa, Anna O’Donoghue, and Noah Witke, from the Public Theatre’s upcoming production of “Tigers Be Still,” opening Friday, January 24.
If the idea of facing a new day has ever sent you back to bed, start your New Year off with a smile by seeing The Public Theatre’s production of the quirky and uplifting off-Broadway comedy “Tigers Be Still.”
Running January 24 through February 2, the play provides a heartfelt and humorous look at how we survive the tough moments in life and help each other get back in the game. With the success of the play in New York, playwright Kim Rosenstock has since become a writer on HBO’s “Girls.”
Bates Museum of Art features collage, shaman objects from Vietnam
Paper masks used in shaman rituals of the Yao people of Vietnam.
In an exhibition believed to be the most extensive of its kind in the United States, the Bates College Museum of Art will present in January an extraordinary selection of painted scrolls, masks and other objects used in the shamanist ceremonies of five ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam.
“How to Make the Universe Right: The Art of the Shaman in Vietnam and Southern China” will open at 6 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, with a talk by Trian Nguyen, associate professor of art and visual culture at Bates, in Room 104 of Olin Arts Center. The exhibition is based upon recent research by Nguyen. A reception will follow the lecture.
CMMC WHA Gallery features Duplessis, Ness
“Truck” by Irene Duplessis
The works of two painters are on display at the Central Maine Medical Center Woman’s Hospital Association (WHA) Rotating Art Gallery through January 9.
“Buffalo Fence” by Melanie Ness
Paintings by Irene Duplissis and Melanie Ness are on display in the main lobby hallway near CMMC’s 60 High Street entrance.
Duplissis has been painting professionally for many years. She has devoted much time to teaching art locally, participating in workshops and developing her own talent. Her work, which frequently depicts the character of New England, can be seen at her gallery in Auburn, as well as in private collections throughout the United States and abroad.
Museum L-A hosts Great Gatsby Party
- Museum L-A will host a fun and elegant Great Gatsby Party on Friday, November 22 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.
Featuring a decadent tower of “bubbly,” a chocolate fountain, a cash bar, and light refreshments, the event will evoke Jay Gatsby’s jazz-era parties in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel of 1920’s America, “The Great Gatsby.” Guests will be treated to a free glass of “bubbly” to toast the evening.
The Mike Willette Swing Band
Providing the music will be the Mike Willette Swing Band. The 13-member ensemble will perform “a musical history of Big Bands from the 1920s through the 1970s,” says vocalist Mike Willette. “It will be music you can dance to.”
Ron Leeman of Lighting Concepts works on a chandelier that once hung in the Empire Theatre’s lobby. The restored chandelier will be featured at Museum L-A’s Great Gatsby Party on Friday, November 22.
Also on display will be a historic chandelier – recently restored by Lighting Concepts of Lewiston – that once hung in the lobby of Lewiston’s Empire Theatre. Opening in 1903 with an appearance by Raymond Hitchcock, a prominent Broadway star of the time, the Empire transitioned over the years at its 142 Main Street location (near the current site of Pedro O’Hara’s) from play house to movie house to church before it was demolished in 2005.
The 1920s was a time of Prohibition, the national ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol ushered in by the 18th Amendment. The ban proved difficult to enforce, and widespread public disdain led to the proliferation of underground activities and establishments – including speakeasies – that distributed and sold alcohol illegally.
Museum L-A, Franco Collection present exhibits featuring local veterans
This photograph of the funeral of Edmond Leblond, said to be the first local man to die in World War I, taken at Auburn’s St. Louis Church in October of 1918, is among those now on display at the Franco-American Collection.
Museum L-A and the Franco-American Collection at Lewiston-Auburn College are collaborating to present two exhibitions honoring local veterans and the contributions of Twin City residents to the country’s wartime efforts.
This photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, taken by Army photographer William J. Burns of Lewiston, is among those now on display at Museum L-A.
The Franco-American Collection’s exhibit, called “Sous les Drapeaux: Under the Colors,” features the stories of local Franco-American veterans who served in conflicts from World War One to Korea. Exploring themes of identity and patriotism within the Franco-American community, the exhibit was curated by Atrium Art Gallery Coordinator Robyn Holman and Franco-American Collection Coordinator James Myall.
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