Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Running to Places Theatre Company (R2P) continues its 2010 Season with the family favorite You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at The State Theatre of Ithaca.  The show runs May 21-23, and final preparations are under way.

The show brings to life the familiar characters from the classic comic strip Peanuts – Charlie Brown and his kite, Linus and his blanket, Snoopy and The Red Baron, Schroeder and his piano, Lucy and her advice stand, and Sally and her New Philosophy. The iconic inhabitants of creator Charles Schultz’s world bring back vivid memories for Director Joey Steinhagen. “How else could a Sunday morning start?” recalls Steinhagen. “You roll out of bed, grab a bowl of cereal, and pull the comics out of the paper. I always saved Peanuts for last, since it was my favorite.”

The Circus is coming to town!  Vidbel’s Olde Tyme Circus, brought to you by Niki’s Party Place, The Entertainment Zone, and Cayuga Radio Group, will be at The Shops at Ithaca Mall on Sunday, May 16th and Monday, May 17th, 2010.  Experience this spectacular array of entertainment – the Olde Tyme way.

Acrobatic acts, clowns, a magic show, and so much more will create a show you won’t want to miss.  In the Risley Act, Michael Ashton juggles family members with his feet during the big top show’s one-ring circus.  Susan Vidbel Ashton is the lady flying high in the air and will close out the show with her breathtaking “Cloud Swing” display of strength and beauty. 

Take five women playwrights, add seven directors and 19 actors (all genders), toss lightly for under two hours and presto, it’s a night of laughter, a few tears, and even some mystery as Theatre Incognita wraps up its inaugural season with 'A Room of Their Own: Plays from 3'rd Floor (1996-2006)'.

Theatre Incognita’s spring 2010 tribute to 3rd Floor Productions concludes with the revival of seven short plays plucked from the women’s playwriting collective’s decade-long repertory. Performances are Fri & Sat at 8 pm and Sun at 4 pm May 14–16 and May 21–23 in the Legacy Foundation Gallery of the Community School of Music and Arts (330 E Martin Luther King Jr Street, one block east of the Ithaca Commons).

It's dangerous to want to marry a princess.  If you can't learn their secret their father will sentence you to death.  Plenty of suitors have failed before, but the hero of 'Twelve Dancing Princesses', at Lansing Middle School this weekend, has a secret weapon: a somewhat doddering, but friendly fairy godmother.  If he learns the secret he can choose from among the king's twelve daughters.  Telling much more of the plot would be a spoiler, so you'll have to see for yourself.  The Middle School drama opened on Wednesday, but still plays through tomorrow (Saturday, May 8th) night.

"It's an adaptation from the Brothers Grimm," says director Audrey Hummel, who is the Family & Consumer Science teacher at the Middle School.  "It was a three page story, and the playwright decided to give all the princesses a distinctive personality.  So they're not just one big lump."

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SMART TALK
by Dr. Molto Breve

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION:  At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, therapists in the William Safire Center are worried.  They treat patients who profess concern for the environment yet can't talk about it.  The doctors are worried because they know this planet needs articulate advocates.

Environmental pollution and toxic pollution are as redundant as human ecology.  Any pollution affects our environment, and by definition, pollution is toxic, just as the science of ecology must automatically consider human involvement.

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‘Spring cleaning’ takes a personal bent in LOSING MYSELF, a new play with music and dance by Kitchen Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Lampert. LOSING MYSELF will be at the Kitchen Theatre for ten performances only, May 26 through June 6.

Playwright Lampert is known for her original small-cast musicals (PRECIOUS NONSENSE, TONY & THE SOPRANO, BED NO BREAKFAST, COMFORT FOOD, and THE ANGLE OF THE SUN) and also for her personal narrative pieces, including THE SOUP COMES LAST, a perennial favorite at the Kitchen Theatre.

It's only two weeks until the gala opening of the first annual East Shore Festival Of The Arts (ESFOTA), which will be showing in the Lansing Town Hall and Lansing Community Library from May 14 through June 18.  The exhibit is the brainchild of local artist Robin Schuttenberg, who has taken the lead on making the show happen.  26 artists from Tompkins County and nearby will show 80 works of art, and a gala opening, free and open to the public, is planned for Friday, May 14th featuring artists, music, wine, and food.

"People talk about 'a horse of a different color.'  I like to say this is going to be an art show of a different color," Schuttenberg says.  "I'm getting to do whatever I want with no preconceived ideas of how things should be.  I think we're a little more laid back and we're trying to make it accessible for everyone.  I want families to come and bring their kids and look at things, and enjoy the music and the evening and each other's  company."

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SMART TALK
by Dr. Will S. Sert

ENORMITY:  Some staff at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, myself among them, argue that enormity does not mean great size; it only means monstrous evil.  We warn that referring to the enormity of the President's job may sound politically hostile, or at least confusing.

Yes, it may, says the staff majority, but enormity has also meant enormousness for over 200 years, so I suppose we have to live with it.

Enormousness sounds as uncomfortably bloated as uncomfortableness, so why not speak and write clearly and use immensity or magnitude, if that's what we mean?

Those of us in this linguistically conservative position like to point out that it proves that the majority isn't always right.

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The Tompkins County Public Library announces the opening of an exhibit featuring the work of Ithaca fiber artists Liese Bronfenbrenner and Elizabeth Mount.

On display in the Library’s Avenue of the Friends from May 4 through May 25, this exhibit will include a selection of exquisitely designed and crafted dolls.

The Wells College Choral Ensembles will celebrate their 50th Anniversary under the direction of their founder and conductor, Crawford R. Thoburn, when they present their annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 9 at 4:00 p.m. The Concert will be held in Barler Recital Hall on the Wells College campus in Aurora, N.Y. The three singing groups—Women’s Ensemble, Men’s Ensemble, and the mixed voice Concert Choir—will present a wide variety of choral works from the sixteenth century to the present. Admission to the concert is free, and the public is cordially invited to attend this landmark event.