MuseFlashes

Published on May 09, 2008

Folk lion Bill Staines to perform at Nacul

The Pioneer Valley Folklore Society has snagged New Hampshire folk artist Bill Staines for a Sunday night concert at the Nacul Center in Amherst.

Staines has been a fixture on the national folk circuit for over 40 years. In addition to his own 26 albums, his songs have been recorded by the likes of Peter Paul & Mary, Makem and Clancy, Jerry Jeff Walker, Priscilla Herdman, The Highwaymen, Nanci Griffith and others.

Grammy-winning Griffith has said, "Bill Staines has been my hero since 1977. He carries on where Woody left off, carrying on the tradition of stories and characters you wish you knew."

Staines songs have been published in four songbooks, and his 2003 memoir "The Tour: A Life Between the Lines" chronicles his life on the road, logging 65,000 miles a year to bring his music to festivals, colleges, clubs and coffee houses all over the country.

Staines makes a stop at the Nacul Center, 592 Main St. in Amherst Sunday night at 7 p.m. Admission is $12 at the door or in advance from Food For Thought Books in Amherst. More information about the artist is available at the Web site, www.acoustic music.com/staines.

Improv pioneer and Group Creativity Saturday at the Jones

In his 20s, Vanderbilt family scion David Shepherd was obsessed with theater, but not what he considered the staid, predictable theater of the ladies who lunch. Taking a cue from Brecht and also the tradition of the traveling Italian masked improvisational comedy of commedia dell' arte, he dreamed of creating theater more relevant to the average Joe, more up-to-date, more funky - in a word more alive.

On July 5, 1955 in a storefront in Chicago's Hyde Park the dream spilled over into reality when Shepherd and coproducer Paul Sills presented the first show by the Compass Players, a collage of improvised skits and scenes that would become the forerunner of Second City and Saturday Night Live.

The cast that first night in 1955 included Shepherd, Sills, Roger Bowen (Colonel Henry Blake in the movie MASH), Elaine May (author of films such as "Primary Colors," "The Birdcage" and "Heaven Can Wait") and Barbara Harris (Tony Award winner and an actor in such films as "Nashville" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels").

Others who launched careers at the politically and socially relevant theater included Alan Alda, Mike Nichols, Alan Arkin, Shelley Berman, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

While The Compass' run lasted a brief year and a half, Shepherd's run continues. From his home base in Belchertown he travels the country and works with his ensemble Group Creativity to create new ways to hold up a mirror to life through improvisational theater, which these days includes incorporating video into the mix.

His story and legacy is the topic of the finale in this spring's Valleywood II series of talks and presentations celebrating the digital arts in the Pioneer Valley. At the program Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Jones Library, 43 Amity St. in Amherst, Shepherd will present clips from his projects and a half-hour documentary on his life, and members of Group Creativity will lead the audience in several improv exercises.

Admission is $10 for the public; $8 for members of the sponsoring Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce; and $5 for students. For more information, call A-Z International's Amy Zuckerman at 253-4124.

- BONNIE WELLS

Fiber Art Center ends Amherst run

The Fiber Art Center on South Pleasant Street in Amherst, which included a retail store, gallery and classes focused on fiber arts, is closing after seven years in business.

A prepared statement from the Foundation for Fiber Art Inc. Board of Directors attributes the closing to both the economic climate and funding challenges.

"Throughout its history the Fiber Art Center has been a wonderful place for community and a source for inspiration. It saddens us to close the doors on this important community resource," the statement reads.

The closing is another blow to the arts community in Amherst, following last summer's departure after 27 years of R. Michelson Gallery, which displayed and sold art from well-known artists. Amherst also lost Alfredo's Photographic Gallery to Northampton in the past few years, a venture that later closed.

The board thanked the hundreds of members, sponsors, staff, volunteers, instructors and artists who brought the center to life.

It opened its doors at 79 South Pleasant St. in June 2001.

Its first executive director, Susan Loring-Wells, resigned last November.

The store featured primarily fiber art from more than 200 artists, but also exhibited and sold sculpture, jewelry, handbags and prints. The center also regularly hosted classes for adults and children, such as dollmaking and weaving for kids, all of which have been canceled.

The final exhibit featured tapestries from Maximo Laura, which had been scheduled to run through the end of June.

- SCOTT MERZBACH

UMass theater professor takes stage at the Curtain

In a theater twofer coming up at the University of Massachusetts next week, audiences will not only get the premiere peek at a new play by professor Julian Olf, but will also get to see Olf's first public appearance as an actor since his work in New York City's LaMama nearly 40 years ago.

Olf's "People Almost Always Smell Good in the Art Museum," created for one performer, is set in a crowded pub, where one man attempts to communicate his views on life, art, dogs and snails to a pal who begs to differ. The play will be featured in the fall 2008 issue of the Massachusetts Review.

Also on the theatrical agenda is Olf's short play "Unaired Public Radio Segment," billed as an edgy satire on the voyeurism and packaging of violence by the media.

Both plays will be presented May 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. in the Curtain Theater at the UMass Fine Arts Center. A suggested donation of $20; $10 for students and seniors will benefit the Massachusetts Review on May 16, and the UMass theater department on May 17.

Starlight Youth Theater stages 'The Wizard of Oz'

Dorothy, Toto and the gang will follow the yellow brick road to Oz next weekend when the Hadley Park and Recreation Department presents Starlight Youth Theatre's production of "The Wizard of Oz" at Amherst Regional Middle School.

The story of a tornado that lifts Dorothy Gale and her little dog Toto off the Kansas farm of her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry and sets her down in the fantastical land of Oz began as a book by L. Frank Baum. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published in 1900. The 1939 film starring Judy Garland has become an American classic and has led to numerous adaptations and spin-offs, including Broadway's "The Wiz" and "Wicked."

Starlight's production, directed by Cyndy Strycharz, features a cast of 60 local children, ages 6 to 17, complete with a Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man, munchkins, witches, both good and bad, and, of course, that faker the Wizard himself.

Music ranges from the poignant "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to the rousing "Munchkinland" and "We're Off to See the Wizard."

Starlight presents the show May 16 and 17 at 7:30 with a matinee May 18 at 2 p.m. at the Amherst Middle School at 170 Chestnut St. Tickets are $10; $7 for children. For information and reservations, call Kissy Mathewson at 253-9511.