Someone played a piano in the rehearsal barn while people waited for the show to start, sitting on benches under shady trees. Children worked the concession stand offering homemade strawberry shortcake.

The Hackmatack Playhouse in Berwick, Maine, is an old red barn with a faintly dusty smell, antique farming tools and exposed beams. It’s the perfect setting for “Our Town,” a play about the simple life. The first show of the season, it runs Wednesday through Saturday until July 4.

Children’s Museum hosts textile arts exhibit

Dover was once known as one of the textile capitals of the nation. The Children’s Museum is revisiting the city’s legacy in Gallery 6 with a summer exhibit called “A Continuous Thread,” on display through Sept. 6.

The new art display complements the museum’s recently completed Cochecosystem exhibit, which shows visitors the natural life on the river as well as its industrial past. In contrast, the museum’s Gallery 6 showcases three fiber artists with a contemporary take on the medium.

Sometimes loyal customers of the Portsmouth Fabric Company get stuck in a sort of sewer’s block. Owner Gretchen Rath said they walk through the high aisles of colorful and patterned fabric bolts to the Brick Wall Gallery in the back of the shop to find inspiration.
“They’ve got ideas they need to get out,” Rath said. “It’s just very satisfying to be creative and to know that what you’re doing is not anything anyone else is doing.”

This month, the Portsmouth Fabric Company is hosting a textile art exhibit, sales and charity events to celebrate 30 years of providing sewers with materials to create quilts, garments, home decorations and art.

The Brick Wall Gallery and the upstairs studio will feature a retrospective of works by regional fabric artists who have shown at the company over the past three decades. The exhibit will run through Sunday, July 26.

Trade paperback publisher Picador chose a big personality to anchor “Violence,” the first entry in its “Big Ideas, Small Books” series. Slavoj Žižek is referred to as the “Elvis of Cultural Theory,” and like any good rock star, has a model for a wife. A self-described Marxist Communist, Žižek has run for president in his native Slovenia, written several books that marry sociological theory with pop culture, and continues to teach and lecture all over the world. 

Taste of the Nation sets fundraising record in fight to end childhood hunger

When Bill Shore and his wife Debbie founded Share Our Strength in 1984, they knew success would hinge on their steadfast belief that everyone is capable of making a difference in the fight to end childhood hunger. 

Twenty-five years later, people around the nation continue to reaffirm that belief—including the 1,000 guests gathered on the lawn of Strawbery Banke Museum on the evening of June 24. The 15th annual Taste of the Nation Portsmouth raised more than $115,000 for the fight against hunger, a new record.

108 Sound Studio, 1988
starring: Barbara Anne Constable, Christopher J. Hart and Claudia Angelique Rademaker
written and directed by: H. Tjut Djalil (Jalil Jackson)

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is the most American movie ever. To be more specific, it’s an expensively, maybe even carefully constructed meta-prank about America, pop culture and other topics best left unaddressed by giant talking robots. “Revenge” can only be a goof. That it would make a boatload of money was a given, and with that goal out of the way, director Michael Bay, stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox and the rest of the people responsible for this travesty must have had some other endgame in mind. Laughing with and at everything that is great and stupid about modern life in America seems as reasonable an explanation as anything presented in the movie, though that’s damning with faint praise indeed.

The Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival

One of the Seacoast’s long running cultural events, the Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival will take place on Sunday, July 5, at Prescott Park. The festival runs from noon until 6 p.m. and will once again feature an array of local and regional talent performing over four 75-minute sets. Sorry, fans of vocal jazz—the emphasis of this year’s event is purely on the instrumental side. The list of performers includes Billy Novick’s Blues Syncopators, and saxophonist Fred Haas and guitarist Dave Newsam leading a segment titled the “LA4 Tribute to saxophonist Bud Shank.” Then there’s The Press Room Trio of Ryan Parker, John Lockwood and Les Harris Jr. performing with guests Trent Austin on trumpet and David Wells on saxophone, plus the Seacoast Big Band, directed by Dave Seiler.

Everything about singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves’ new album, from the title and cover art to the lyrics and melodies, gushes with pending tragedy. Released in April, “Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away” suggests the infirmity and transience of the fleeting things we take for granted. Cleaves tried to make that theme inhabit every aspect of his record.

“I just learned early on that in order to make an impression on people, in order for people to remember my songs, I had to really strike them in the heart and really move them,” he said. And striking the heart means stoking the tragic.

A new N.H. Seafood brand will help residents purchase local fish. Can it help preserve our local fishing industry?

Travel anywhere on the Seacoast and you’ll see fishing boats along the shore. But where to eat their fresh fish? Good luck with that. About 11 million pounds of fish, including just over 3 million pounds of fin fish, landed on the New Hampshire coast last year, and nearly all of it left the state after being unloaded on the pier.

Like most of us, I didn’t have a clue that our fish are heading down the interstate. But for those who’ve been watching the industry consolidate over the last 30 years, it’s like standing by while trucks full of money disappear down the road. And seeing 400 years of tradition being sold to out-of-staters. And, for some reason, saying “no, thanks” to an affordable supply of fresh healthy food, only to buy it back a few days later and older, at a higher price.

piercing the budget

Fairness was in the eye of the beholder at the State House last Wednesday when the N.H. House and Senate grudgingly approved the 2010-11 budget. House Bills 1 and 2 contain the state’s general fund spending and revenue, respectively. Earning few cheers, the legislation has been called everything from a legitimate compromise doing the “least possible harm” to an illegal “dung heap.”

With demand for services up and revenue down, legislators faced a $500 million projected shortfall in the general fund, which comprises about one third of the state’s $11.6 billion biennial budget. The other two thirds come from federal funding, dedicated funds, and a host of one-time monies like the federal stimulus package. Use of short-term dollars is not new in the budget balancing act, but neither is criticism of the technique. Detractors say it fails to address a “structural deficit” that always leaves budget writers with problems.

Michael Jackson and the speed of information

On the afternoon of Thursday, June 25, Michael Jackson’s fame peaked with the sharp spike of fascination that comes moments after the death of a celebrity.

First reporting the story was TMZ.com, the Jerry Springer of entertainment Web sites. While Fox News, CNN and MSNBC were starting to post news of the singer’s collapse, TMZ had already declared Jackson dead. (For the first 40 minutes, CNN listed the singer as suffering “serious cardiac arrest.” Well, yeah. It’s always serious when your heart stops beating.)

catching up on local news

list of properties that could be sold or leased includes several nearby sites

With gentle waves rolling over its sandy expanse in Rye, Jenness State Beach is a popular destination for local residents and out-of-state visitors. But it’s not popular enough to suit the government stewards who currently own it.

When the N.H. Division of Parks and Recreation released a draft of its 10-year strategic and capital improvement plan on June 8, one particular item caused public distress. The report indicated that a number of state recreation areas—27, to be exact—do not meet the core criteria to qualify as state parks. Parks and Recreation is now considering options to sell, lease, transfer or decommission those locations.
Several Seacoast parks are on the list, including Jenness State Beach in Rye, North Hampton State Beach, Kingston State Park and White Island at the Isles of Shoals. All four of those sites were identified as underperforming park system properties that are surplus to the state’s needs.

Even if the state opts to get rid of the properties, however, it doesn’t mean they’ll go away completely. The state will explore possibilities for giving the parks to conservation groups or engaging in public-private partnerships to maintain them. Selling the properties to private developers is a possibility, but it’s not the preferred one.

Locals can enjoy live performances of plays in high definition and surround sound through a new partnership between The Music Hall and one of the world’s leading theater producers of Shakespeare, international classic drama, and contemporary playwrights: the National Theatre of London.

The Victorian theater will be one of more than 100 venues around the world to broadcast the series, which kicks off on Thursday, June 25, with Nicholas Hytner’s new production of “Phèdre.” The other shows in the pilot season include Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well” on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., and “Nation,” about two teenagers thrown together by a tsunami, on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. Broadcasts will also feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with artists.

Portsmouth gallery closing its doors, but starting a new project

Three of the four artists who own the ellO gallery and shop were sitting in the backyard of their downtown Portsmouth location on June 20, after roughly 20 participants in their pinewood derby had left. Anticipated rain showers never came, and despite heading toward their closing reception on Friday, June 26, the owners were as optimistic about the future as ever.

Glenn DiLando, John Fanning and John Winters are beginning ellO Projects when the ellO gallery closes at the end of this month for financial reasons. The fourth owner, Byrdy DiLando, will take the time to focus on her clothing line, which has been difficult while working at the gallery and two other jobs to keep it afloat.

Standing in his spacious third-floor studio at the Button Factory in Portsmouth, artist Marshall Carbee proudly displays a recent painting. In earthy shades of brown and red, like western soil at sunset, the piece depicts a plant budding from underground roots. Its title? “First Green Painting in the Modern World, 2008.”

The painting is not green in color, but in its materials. Carbee used a hemp canvas with no frame and petroleum-free paints derived from natural earth pigments. For a primer, he used a soy-based gesso—a non-toxic, non-hazardous, zero-VOC product Carbee helped create. That product, called Carbee Soy Gesso, is now available to all artists.

“It’s the first of its kind,” Carbee proclaims. “There’s nothing like it.”

With the publishing industry reporting a decline in overall book sales last year, many were surprised to hear that 28-year-old Reif Larson secured nearly $1 million from Penguin Press for the rights to his debut novel.

How good could it be? The book was released this summer and it’s that good. Larsen will read from “The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet” at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m.

Twelve-year-old genius cartographer T. S. Spivet feels like he doesn’t fit in with his family on a ranch in Montana. One afternoon, he receives a phone call from the Smithsonian announcing that he has won the prestigious Baird Award. Sneaking out before dawn the next morning, T.S. hops a freight train with his sights set on Washington, D.C. His adventures and observations come faster than he can map them all.

Perhaps the most important discovery is one that brings him closer to home. While heading eastward, T.S. reads a secret family history that follows an ancestor’s trip west. He finds places more difficult to map than the physical world—states of loss, love and loneliness.      

The book combines a coming-of-age story with an on-the-road adventure through the eyes of a smart and sensitive child who adults can relate to and even learn about themselves from.

The Ceres Bakery egg wrap is the finest kind of fast food: fresh, delicious, and made from real stuff by real people. It changes from day to day, sometimes with more mushrooms, or broccoli, or red peppers, and some optional meats as well, but the heavenly simplicity of it is unwavering—eggy, cheesy goodness all wrapped up in a little breakfast football. Grab it and go long!

It may, in fact, be our ideal food.  It has no bones or gristle or other inedible parts; it’s soft, so you can eat it even if you don’t have teeth or are too lazy to eat chewy foods; it’s portable, so you can eat it as you walk; and to top it off, it has a very high cheese-to-mass ratio.
Breakfast-on-the-go, thy name is egg wrap!

Lisa Hamilton finds western dairymen, ranchers and grain farmers bucking the trend to grow big 

When northern California author and photographer Lisa Hamilton set out to write “Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness,” she admits she had a “Capital ‘M’ Message” in mind. After spending several years getting to know the three farmers she profiles in the book—a dairyman from rural Texas, a grain farmer from rural North Dakota, and a rancher from rural New Mexico—she says she decided to “quiet myself and let their stories take over.” What emerged is an intimate look at the lives of three farming families that remain amidst a rising tide of efficient, faceless food production.

How did you choose these farmers?