Mar 3, 2024 | Music, News, Regional Arts Events
New Work Documents the Struggle of Generations to
Establish and Protect the Constitution’s 19th Amendment
The Susquehanna Valley Chorale (SVC) will present a brand-new choral work for their spring performance, Amendment: Righting Our Wrongs, on Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 17 at 3 pm at Stretansky Hall on the campus of Susquehanna University.
This new choral work celebrates women’s suffrage through underrepresented voices and brings to the forefront those who still fight for the right to vote today.
William Payn serves as Conductor and Music Director of the 60-member ensemble and David Cover serves as Accompanist.
The first part of the performance features pieces which promote awareness and advocacy for voices that have gone unheard. It will include songs such as: Light of a Clear Blue Morning with words and music by Dolly Parton and soloist Kathi Beiter and Everybody Says Don’t with words and music by Stephen Sondheim and featuring Dick Adams on guitar, Jack Lawton on drums, bass guitarist Chris Wheeland and David Cover on synthesizer.
The second part of the performance will feature the new choral work, Amendment: Righting Our Wrongs which was composed by Melissa Dunphy and features cellist, Jonathan Dexter. The work includes six movements: The Quest, All Men Are Created Equal, We Hold These Truths, Identity Politics, Pledging Allegiance, and Amendment.
The SVC is proud to be part of the consortium that commissioned this important work.
Melissa Dunphy specializes in composing vocal, political, and theatrical music. She first came to national attention when her large-scale work The Gonzales Cantata was featured in The Wall Street Journal and on The Rachel Maddow Show. Dunphy is the recipient of an Opera America Discovery Grant for Alice Tierney, commissioned by Oberlin Conservatory. Other recent commissions include works for Experiments in Opera, the BBC Singers, VOCES8, and Cantus. Dunphy is also a Barrymore Award-nominated theater composer and Director of Music Composition for the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Dunphy has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.M. from West Chester University and teaches at Rutgers University. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Matt; the Dunphys are co-hosts of the popular podcast The Boghouse about their adventures in Philadelphia colonial archaeology.
Several local organizations will offer resources at the performances including the League of Women Voters of Northumberland County and Transitions of PA. The League of Women Voters of Lewisburg will serve as ushers.
Sponsors for the performance are Elsbeth Steffensen and Walter Bruce in Memory of Richard Steffensen, Co-sponsors are Lois and Tom Clark and Leta Jo and Fred Maue, and Underwriters are Ruth Anderson and William Payn, Harmonious Endeavors, Barb Walzer, and Diane and Ted Meixell.
Tickets for the performance are $25 for adults and $10 for students.
Tickets are available online at SVCMusic.org, by calling 570-547-0455 or at the door.
For more information about this performance and future performances, visit SVCMusic.org.
Feb 25, 2024 | Bloomsburg, Kids, News
Calling all Crafters, Makers, Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artisans of Bloomsburg. The annual Makers Faire is just around the corner. Join us on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum for an event like no other.
Registration will be open until April 1st.
The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum will host the annual Maker’s Faire on April 20th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at our Museum. We would love to take this opportunity to show off everything you love to make! Whether it involves crafts, baking, cooking, art, technology, or science, all makers in the community are invited to participate.
The Maker Faire is an all-ages event driven by the creativity and imagination of the local community. Here tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors can come together and display their skills to the community!
Many have described the Maker Faire as the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth – a family showcase of invention, creativity, resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement. It is a place where people show what they are creating and share what they are learning.
The Call for Makers closes on April 1st. Have something to show off? Groups or individuals of any age can sign up to participate! Come join us and demonstrate your creative prowess. The application to join can be found at bloomsburg.makerfaire.com.
Shelby Kellner, The Museum’s Assistant Director, had a few words about the upcoming event, “The Bloomsburg Mini Maker Faire is not just an event; it’s a community-driven celebration that brings together like-minded individuals who share a passion for creativity and ingenuity. This day underscores the importance of fostering a culture that values hands-on learning, collaboration, and the pursuit of knowledge. Attendees can expect a day filled with inspiring exhibits, hands-on activities, and opportunities to connect with fellow makers. The Bloomsburg Mini Maker Faire provides a unique platform for individuals of all ages and backgrounds to showcase their inventions, share expertise, and engage in interactive experiences. From robotics and 3D printing to traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology, this event celebrates the diverse spectrum of making.”
Follow the development of the Bloomsburg Mini Maker Faire event on Instagram @bloommakerfaire, as well as its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BloomsburgMakerFaire.
The Bloomsburg Mini Maker Faire is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit Bloomsburg.makerfaire.com and https://the-childrens-museum.org/ or you can call 570-389-9206.
Bloomsburg Mini Maker Faire is independently organized and operated under license from Maker Media, Inc.
Feb 25, 2024 | Music, News, Regional Arts Events
The Weis Center for the Performing Arts will welcome tenThing on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center.
Formed in 2007 by Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth as a fun and exciting collaboration between musical friends, the ten-piece, all-female brass ensemble tenThing have firmly established themselves on the international scene to great acclaim.
tenThing are celebrated for their commitment to outreach and access to music through a diverse repertoire that spans from Mozart to Weill, Grieg to Bernstein, and Lully to Bartok. The group work closely with Norwegian guitarist and arranger Jarle Storløkken in the arrangement of scores for the ensemble, enabling them to play pieces of differing instrumentations.
tenThing first came into prominence thanks to performances all over their native Norway, eventually delighting a huge national audience by opening the 2011 Norwegian Grammy Awards. Soon after, the group drew international attention after their highly successful appearance at the BBC Proms at London’s Cadogan Hall. Elsewhere in Europe, they have performed at a wide range of prestigious festivals and concert halls, including the Schleswig-Holstein, Beethoven Bonn, Gstaad, MDR Musiksommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Bodensee, Engadin, Merano, Thüringer Bachwochen, and Bremen festivals in Central Europe, the Merano and Sienna festivals in Italy, the NCPA Beijing May Festival, and Moscow’s House of Music.
In Spring 2017, the ensemble embarked on their American debut tour, which included concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and at the renowned Wolf Trap Festival. Since then, they have returned to the USA on two occasions including with a Holiday-themed program in December 2022. Their next visit to the USA sees the ensemble celebrate Women’s History Month in March 2024.
TICKETS
Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors 62+ and subscribers, $15 for youth 18 and under, $15 for Bucknell employees and retirees (limit 2), free for Bucknell students (limit 1) and $15 for non-Bucknell students (limit 2).
Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-577-1000 or online at Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice.
Tickets are also available in person from several locations including the Weis Center lobby (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and the CAP Center Box Office, located on the ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
For more information about this event, contact Lisa Leighton, marketing and outreach director, at 570-577-3727 or by e-mail at [email protected].
For more information about the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, go to Bucknell.edu/WeisCenter or search for the Weis Center on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
Feb 25, 2024 | Music, News, Regional Arts Events
The Weis Center for the Performing Arts will welcome folk/blues/gospel ensemble Martha Redbone Roots Project on Tuesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center.
The performance is sponsored, in part, by the News-Item.
Martha Redbone is a Native American and African American vocalist/songwriter/ composer/educator.
She is known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues and gospel from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky, that is infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn.
Inheriting the powerful vocal range of her gospel-singing African American father and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern Cherokee/Choctaw culture, Redbone broadens the boundaries of American roots music.
With songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Native and Black woman and mother in the new millennium, she gives voice to issues of social justice, bridging traditions from past to present, connecting cultures and celebrating the human spirit.
Her album The Garden of Love- Songs of William Blake, produced by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder/Grammy Winner John McEuen is an unexpected twist – “a brilliant collision of cultures” (The New Yorker) – features Redbone’s magnificent voice, Blake’s immortal words and a masterful cornucopia of roots music (blues, gospel, bluegrass, soul and traditional Southeastern Woodlands). Featured on NPR’s All Things Considered the album released on her own indie label imprint rose to the Top Ten on Amazon Folk Charts for several weeks and has become the bedrock of her live shows bringing audiences to their feet with her fiery old-time mountain gospel singing and foot-stomping energy.
Redbone and her long-term collaborator/husband, composer/pianist/producer Aaron Whitby are called “the little engine that could [by their] band of NYC’s finest blues and jazz musicians” (Larry Blumenthal/Wall Street Journal). From grassroots beginnings at powwows across Indian Country and in the underground clubs of NYC Redbone has built a passionate fan base with her mesmerizing presence and explosive live shows. Her debut Home of the Brave – “Stunning album, the kind of woman who sets trends” (Billboard) – garnered extremely positive critical attention while her sophomore album Skintalk – described as the soulful sound of “Earth, Wind and Fire on the Rez” (J Poet/Native Peoples Magazine) – took her music to Europe and the Far East. Albums Skintalk and The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake are included in the Library Collection and “Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture” exhibits in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.
Redbone is Composer for the Public Theater’s 2019 production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuff, a revival/reimagining of the 1976 classic choreopoem by the late Ntozake Shange. Redbone joined the all-women-of-color Creative Team to celebrate the author’s historical work and legacy, and enjoyed a 4-week extended run through December that received rave reviews with notable mentions for their team’s original compositions and score — “supreme music…brilliant” (NY Daily News).
Redbone and Whitby’s recent work is Bone Hill – The Concert, an interdisciplinary musical theater work inspired by the lives of Redbone’s family in the hills of coal-mining Appalachia. A multi-racial Cherokee and African American family, they are permanently bonded to their culture, identity and the mountain despite its violent past and the ever-changing laws of the land that threaten to extinguish them. Commissioned by Joe’s Pub/NEA and Lincoln Center for the Arts, Bone Hill – The Concert is touring extensively nationwide and is a recipient of the NEFA National Theater Project Creation and Touring Grant and National Performance Network Creation Fund. Other theatrical commissions include compositions for the Goethe Institute / New York Theater Workshop collaboration, Plurality of Privacy; Primer for a Failed Superpower directed by Rachel Chavkin; a Chinese-American musical collaboration Flood in the Valley which premiered in Beijing in 2018; New Musical work, Black Mountain Women, currently in development at the Public Theater.
Over the years Martha has performed and recorded with many great artists including; Bonnie Raitt, George Clinton, Judy Collins, Joan Osborne, Steven Van Zandt, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Nona Hendryx, Lisa Fischer, Steve Martin, David Amram, Randy Brecker, Tony Trischka, John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Carter Cash, Ben Sollee and Tom Chapin amongst many others.
Martha guest lectures on subjects ranging from Indigenous rights to the role of the arts in politics and Native American Identity at many institutions including New York University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to name a few. Redbone includes workshops and motivational talks with grade school children as part of her touring schedule on numerous reservations including Red Lake, Minn., Cherokee, N.C., Yuma, Ariz., and Menominee, Wisc., among others.
An exemplary ambassador for both Native and African-American Youth for the National HIV/Aids Partnership, she was awarded the Red Ribbon Award for Outstanding Leadership presented on World AIDS Day at the United Nations in 2005. Currently Martha advocates for Why Hunger’s Artists Against Hunger and Poverty program which raises and awareness of poverty and hunger in the United States and abroad. Redbone is an Advisory Board member of the ManUp Campaign, the global youth movement to eradicate violence against women and girls for whom she served as the indigenous affairs consultant and creative advisor. She is particularly proud of her accomplishment in working with founder Jimmie Briggs and the Campaign’s Board of Directors to include an Indigenous North American contingent (independent of the USA) to the roll call of 50 countries taking part in their Youth Leadership Summit held at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Redbone serves as an Advisory Board member of The Carlisle Indian School Project, Association on American Indian Affairs, Voices- A Peoples’ History of the United States/Howard Zinn, a 2016 Fellow of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and is the 2018 MAPfund and 2018 Creative Capital awardee.
Redbone and Whitby are the 2020 Drama Desk Award recipients for Outstanding Music in a Play and the 2020 Audelco Award recipient for Outstanding Composer of Original Music and Score for Public Theater revival For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuff by Ntozake Shange. Redbone is an Awardee of Creative Capital, NEFA, NPN, NACF, MAPFund and NYC Womens Fund for Music.
PRESS REVIEWS
New York Times (John Pareles)
“Martha Redbone’s voice held both the taut determination of mountain music and the bite of American Indian singing.”
Huffington Post (Dusty Wright)
“An organic, gorgeous feast for ears and minds.”
The New Yorker
“A brilliant collision of cultures.”
Anastasia Tsioulcas covering globalFEST for NPR:
“Redbone combines folk, Appalachian, soul and Native tradition in a group of settings of poetry by William Blake — a startling idea, perhaps, but one that brims with potency and freshness.”
Village Voice
“Poised to be Americana’s next superstar.”
TICKETS
Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors 62+ and subscribers, $10 for youth 18 and under, $10 for Bucknell employees and retirees (limit 2), free for Bucknell students (limit 1) and $10 for non-Bucknell students (limit 2).
Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-577-1000 or online at Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice.
Tickets are also available in person from several locations including the Weis Center lobby (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and the CAP Center Box Office, located on the ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
For more information about this event, contact Lisa Leighton, marketing and outreach director, at 570-577-3727 or by e-mail at [email protected].
For more information about the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, go to Bucknell.edu/WeisCenter or search for the Weis Center on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
Feb 18, 2024 | News, Regional Arts Events, Theater
Community Theatre League Presents:
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
March 1 & 2 at 7:30 p.m.
March 3 at 2 p.m.
TICKET COSTS:
$30 – $50 plus fees
TICKET CONTACT INFORMATION:
Box Office Phone: 570.326.2424
Online: CACLive.com/Cinderella
Williamsport, February 16, 2024 – Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the beloved classic fairytale, comes to life March 1 to 3 on the beautiful historic stage of the Community Arts Center with a magical and enchanting twist. This timeless tale tells the story of a kind and gentle young woman named Ella (Cinder Ella), who, with the help of her fairy godmother, overcomes adversity and captures the heart of a prince. The Broadway version, originally adapted for the stage in 2013, features stunning costumes, memorable songs, and a modern take on the beloved characters. Audiences can expect a captivating experience filled with romance, humor, and the enduring message that dreams can come true.
As Cinderella herself would say, “Impossible things are happening every day.”
“Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a tale that resonates with the young and the young at heart,” says Director Marie Fox. “Our production promises to bring a fresh and enchanting perspective to this beloved story, featuring a talented cast and a creative team dedicated to delivering a magical experience for our audience.” This production boasts a cast of over 40 talented local performers, each bringing their superb talent and passion to the stage. Their dedication and skill promise to elevate this rendition of Cinderella to new heights.
“We are particularly thrilled to be performing on the beautiful historic Community Arts Center stage once again,” says Executive Artistic Director Seth Sponhouse. “This iconic venue adds an extra layer of magic to our production, and we can’t wait to share this enchanting experience with our community. The partnership between CTL and the CAC is one that adds so much value to our community as a whole.” This performance continues a collaboration between the Community Theatre League and the Community Arts Center to bring exceptional arts and entertainment to Williamsport.
To see a complete cast list, learn more, or get tickets for this magical event, go to CACLive.com/Cinderella. Tickets are also available through the Community Arts Center Box Office at 570.326.2424.
The Community Arts Center is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennsylvania College of Technology, a national leader in applied technology education.
The Community Theatre League, located at 100 W. Third Street, Williamsport, is a Williamsport-based theater organization dedicated to providing quality live performances and fostering a vibrant arts community. With over 46 seasons of engaging productions, CTL continues to be a cornerstone of cultural enrichment in the Williamsport area.
CTL’s slogan is “Enrich, Educate, Entertain.” Learn more at ctlshows.com.
Feb 18, 2024 | News, Regional Arts Events, Visual Arts
By: Carrie Heath, February 14, 2024
The Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center is thrilled to announce FREE Digital Art classes for children and adults! It’s time for some iPad fun while working on your digital art skills!
The classes will be held on Friday, February 23rd. The children’s (ages 10-17) class will be from 4-5PM. The adults’ class will be from 5-6PM. During this hour long class,
students will focus on learning fundamentals of digital art in Procreate, which will be transferrable to other digital art programs. Dig into layer styles, brush effects, symmetry
options, and any digital art questions you may have. Students of any skill level are welcome!
Teacher Emily Swan is a graphic designer, illustrator, digital content creator, and instructor. She began teaching in 2009, primarily focusing on Cartooning, Illustration,
and Digital Art. Currently, Swan is the creator and showrunner of the Doodle Crew art stream, co-host of Sketching Shakespeare art and discussion stream, and a member of
the In Addition, and Surprise Attack Book Club podcasts. When she’s not teaching, Swan can be found working on illustrations and traveling to sell her art at Comic Cons.
More of Swan’s art can be found across the internet at: aSwanNamedEmily.
No experience needed. iPads provided by the Gmeiner. Each class is limited to 12 students. Pre-registration is REQUIRED. For questions or registration, please contact
the Gmeiner director at 570-724-1917 or [email protected]. The Gmeiner is located at 134 Main Street in Wellsboro, behind the Green Free Library.
