Arts There & Here This Week

Wednesday June 23:

The 3rd Annual Riverwood Poetry Festival takes place from Wednesday through Sunday June 27 in venues throughout central Connecticut. 

Opening night takes place at 6:30 p.m. in the Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford.  "Traprock", a Noh play written by Middletown resident Jean-Ann Wertz (pictured left), will be presented as a staged reading with a cast of John Basinger, Tony Palmieri, Matthew Pollack and me with some fascinating original music and sounds by Michael Pestel.  The evening will also feature excerpts from "A Lesson Before Dying" written by Romulus Linney with a cast of Juming Delmas and Thomas Cornell. An Open Mike follows the staged readings.  To find out more, call 860-249-1207.


Subsequent readings and performances will take place in South Windsor (Thursday), West Hartford and Berlin (Friday), Middletown (Saturday) and Hartford (Sunday).  You can view the entire schedule (and it's an impressive one) by going to www.riverwoodpoetry.org. 


Thursday June 24:

The Middletown Symphonic Band, Marco Gaylord, music director, presents a free concert at 7 p.m  outdoors at the Village at South Farms, 645 Saybrook Road in Middletown. The event is open to the public - in the instance of rain, the concert will take place on Thursday July 8.  For more information, call 860-344-8788.  To learn more about the MSB, go to http://middletownsymphonicband.org.

The Middletown Teen Theater presents "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in the Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, LaRosa Lane.  The musical comedy, written by William Finn (music and lyrics) and Rachel Scheinkin (book), won 2 TONY Awards - the show features audience participation and some particularly funny songs.  For ticket information, go to www.middletownteentheater.com.

Friday June 24:
Thus begins a busy Summer weekend.  You can start in New Haven on the Green when ARTFARM's "Circus for a Fragile Planet" is presented at 1:45 p.m.  It's one of the free events at this year's International Festival of Arts & Ideas.  For more information, go to www.artidea.org. 

The Greater Middletown Chorale presents "Summer Serenade", its 5th Annual Benefit Event, at 6 p.m. in the Wadsworth Mansion at the Long Hill Estate, 421 Wadsworth Street.  The evening will feature food, drink, music, a live auction, a special Lantern Lighting on the Lawn and more.  For ticket information, go to www.gmchorale.org or call 860-633-6198.  

Cold Stone Creamery, Riverview Center, hosts "Raise the Roof", a fundraiser created by Artists for World Peace and the Good Hope Foundation (in Tanzania) to help raise funds to construct a roof for a community health center in Moshi, Tanzania.  The event will feature live music, African crafts and, of course, ice cream. The good folks at Cold Stone will donate 25% of their proceeds to the cause. One never needs a reason to eat ice cream but this is a very good one.  The event takes place from 6 - 9 p.m. 


The Buttonwood Tree presents Shawn Taylor & Wandering Roots in concert at 8 p.m. Taylor and band play original music that blends folk, country blues, bluegrass and more. To find out more and get a taste of the music, go to www.shawntaylortunes.com. 

Summer is here and the time is right for the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival.  The 18th Annual Festival, which raises money for the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang Camp (started by Paul Newman) for children with life-threatening illnesses, has 4 sessions (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon) and is loaded with great musicians.  This year features long-time favorites such as the Galvanized Jazz Band (pictured), the great boogie-woogie pianist Bob Seeley and saxophonist/clarinetist Dan Levinson plus a special appearance by composer/pianist William Bolcom and his wife Joan Morris.  To find out more, go to www.hotsteamedjazz.com or call 1-800-348-0003.