Newest Artist-In-Residence on the New England Trail performs free show Wednesday

The Connecticut Forest & Park Association’s latest New England Trail Artist-in-Residence, Ben Cosgrove, will perform and talk about his upcoming residency Wednesday night at the Wesleyan University science center. Ben composes and performs music inspired by New England landscapes, and will spend the next 12 months writing and performing music inspired by the New England Trail (NET). 

The New England Trail, from Long Island Sound
to Mount Monadnock. Plenty of parking!
(Click to embiggen.)

The New England Trail runs 215 miles from the Guilford shore to the Massachusetts/New Hampshire Border, ("from the Sound to the Summits"), and in 2009 became one of just eleven federally-designated national scenic trails. It's comprised primarily of the historic Mattabesett, Metacomet, and Monadnock Trail systems and passes through 42 communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Middletown.

The New England Trail Artist-in-Residence program is a project of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the National Park Service. The artists help to create and deepen people's connections to the land, particularly the shared resource of the New England Trail. Past artists include poet David K. Leff, and photographers Xiomaro and Barbara Bosworth.

Ben performs regularly all over the country, writes scores for films, plays, radio, and television, and has produced several well-received albums of original instrumental work. He says the strongest forces guiding his compositions are his deep interests in landscape, place, and ecology.   

Wednesday's event is co-sponsored by Wesleyan University’s Earth & Environmental Science Department. Further details here on CFPA's web site.

When: Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm  

Where: Exley Science Ctr. Lobby (Lawn Ave. side) 265 Church St.  (Parking may be available at Lot D on Lawn Avenue.)   RSVP: RSVP recommended Price: FREE

Video: title track to Ben's album "Salt"

Wesleyan Theater Play!

Wesleyan University’s Theater Department presents

Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown (1926)

Wednesday, November 16 through Saturday, November 19

Middletown, Conn. - Wesleyan University’s Theater Department presents Eugene O’Neill’s The GreatGod Brown (1926) as the fall semester’s department production. Performances will take place fromWednesday, November 16 through Friday, November 18 at 8pm; and on Saturday, November 19 at 2pm and 8pm in the CFA Theater, located at 271 Washington Terrace on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown. This refreshing new adaptation is directed by Associate Professor Yuriy Kordonskiy and designed by Professor Jack Carr, Adjunct Associate Professor Marcela Oteiza, and Artist in Residence Leslie Weinberg. Mr. Kordonskiy is an internationally-lauded actor and director (please see below for more information).

Tickets for The Great God Brown are $8 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff, and non-Wesleyan students; and $4 for Wesleyan students. Tickets are available at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center at 45 Wyllys Avenue. For more information, please call the box office at (860) 685-3355 or visit www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.


About The Great God Brown


In this experimental play, Mr. O'Neill explores the elements of expressionistic theater through the use of multiple masks that create a dramatic clash between the public and private personas of the characters. The rivalry between Billy Brown, a successful but mediocre architect, and Dion Anthony, a talented but dissolute artist; their love for the same woman, Margaret; and the conflict between their exterior and interior lives create a tale of loneliness, suffering, a search for identity and an everlasting quest for the meaning of life.





Portrayed with a physical and visual flair that will mesmerize audiences, this contemporary production of The Great God Brown delves into the depths of Mr. O’Neill’s mind through this tragedy of love and reveals raw emotions.



Click here to watch a preview video of The Great God Brown on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yICTm_cvw40

About Yuriy Kordonskiy

Yuriy Kordonskiy studied acting and directing in Russia, in St. Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts. He has taught, performed, and directed internationally since 1989. As a performer and director, he toured in more than 20 countries and conducted workshops in Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Romania. His recent directing credits include his original play Disappearance and House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca (Maly Drama Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia), Uncle Vanya by Chekhov, The Marriage by Gogol and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (Bulandra Theatre, Bucharest, Romania), A Cabal of Hypocrites by Bulgakov, Peer Gynt by Ibsen and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (Wesleyan University), A Diary of a Madman by Gogol (West End Theatre, Gloucester, MA), and Canterbury Tales by Chaucer (Riverside Theater, New York), among others. His productions have won numerous international awards including Golden Light (St.-Petersburg), Best Production (Union of European Theatres, Palermo), Best Production, Best Director, Special Prize of Romanian Ministry of Culture (Bucharest, Romania). He has taught acting and directing at Columbia University, George Washington University, and Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

About the Wesleyan University Theater Department


Wesleyan University’s Theater Department explores theater from both a scholarly and practical viewpoint, emphasizing a worldview of performance in a liberal arts context. Sponsored productions reflect the diverse interests of faculty and students, offering direct participation in creative endeavors where process, performance, and understanding are equally stressed. The department has two theater facilities: the Theater in the Center for the Arts, a modern, highly sophisticated 400-seat space, and the Patricelli ’92 Theater, a flexible, recently renovated studio space.

Arts Events Monday - Wednesday 5/04-06

The Buttonwood Tree presents its weekly Open Mic at 8 p.m. Monday night. Hosted by Jennifer Schafer Wood, it's an opportunity for local poets, authors, singers and musicians to "do their thing." Sign-ups begin 30 minutes before the microphone "opens." For more information, call 347-4957.

Professor Anthony Braxton presents his "Large Ensemble Music" concert at Monday 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. Students and invited guests perform Braxton's music, some of which is thorny and complicated, other pieces that are "straight-ahead" and melodic, all of which is uniquely Braxton. The event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday is "Cinco de Mayo" and Jazz at Public celebrates with an evening of "Latin Jazz" from 6 - 9:30 p.m. with vocalist Theresa Wright (pictured.) Joining her will be an all-star band including Don DePalma (keyboards), Bob Laramie (bass), Rob "The Drummer" Gottfried (drums, naturally) and Greg Allen (congas, percussion.) Public is located at 337 Main Street, in part of the old "Bob's Store" building.

The "Celebration of Silent Sounds" takes place Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the World Music Hall at Wesleyan. "Silent Sounds" is the literary magazine for the Middletown Public Schools grades 6-12 and features one-act plays, short stories and poetry. The authors, poets and playwrights will read from their works and you'll be both amazed and pleased by the quality of the writing. The event, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts and the Middletown Public Schools Cultural Council.

Also on Tuesday, the Wesleyan Wind Ensemble, aka "WesWinds", Peter Hadley, music director, performs its Spring Concert at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. The program, titled "Blue", features works by Frank Ticheli (U.S., born 1958), David Holsinger (U.S., born 1945) and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", featuring pianist Jose Garcia-Leon. The event is free and open to the public.








The final presentation in The Russell Library's "Screwball Comedy Film Series" is "The Thin Man", the 1934 classic starring (from left to right) Myrna Loy, Asta (screen name), and William Powell. Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name, the movie became the first in a series of 6 featuring the same lead characters. It, also, is the blueprint for the style of movie that blends murder, mayhem and comedy (not to mention the basis of other shows such as"Moonlighting.") The screening takes place at 12noon in the Hubbard Room - bring your lunch and the Library will provide soft drinks and dessert. Hosting the event is Richard Alleva, film critic for Commonweal magazine and Assistant Head of Children’s Services at Russell Library. For more information, call 347-2528, extension 135.