Press Releases
To learn more about Opera House Arts performers,
performances, and commissioned work, contact:
Linda Nelson, Executive Director
lnelson@operahousearts.org or 207.367.2788

“MACBETH:” 8TH ANNUAL
“SHAKESPEARE IN STONINGTON” AT OPERA HOUSE

STONINGTON – Oh, the terrible vulnerability of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the face of their own ambitions. In Opera House Arts’ 8th Annual Shakespeare in Stonington production of “Macbeth” August 14-17, these famous characters are not professional villains, but children playing with something much stronger than themselves. This original, professional production delivers “a scary good time,” according to director Jeffrey Frace: employing the supernatural to explore social issues and illuminate character. OHA’s “Macbeth” will include a dense and eery sound design; an animated set in “steam punk,” Victorian-era fashion; and puppets used alongside professional actors to heighten the role of Fate. On Friday, August 15, a Talk Back with the director, actors, and guest panelist Dr. Richard Bruchner of the University of Maine at Orono, facilitated by award-winning journalist Alicia Anstead, will follow the show.

Director Jeffrey Frace (OHA Productions: Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Hamlet) spent a week in residence teaching Shakespeare at the Deer Isle-Stonington schools earlier this year, and returns to Stonington with an Actors’ Equity ensemble cast, including veterans of Ann Bogart’s SITI Company, International WOW Company, and Aya Ogawa's Knife Inc., which represents a “who’s who” of New York City’s experimental theater scene.
"I've assembled a group not just of actors, but of multi-layered artists with backgrounds in music, dance and visual arts,” Frace said. “We work as an ensemble-- everyone comes to rehearsal every day and contributes, whether or not he or she is in the scene. It's like we're one giant storyteller with sixteen arms and legs--the commitment to creating a living world through this text is palpable, and thrilling."

The Shakespeare in Stonington series annually places great emphasis on bringing clarity to the performance of Shakespeare’s language, and on the humor and physicality of his storytelling. “There are stories many never hear buried beneath the murders in Macbeth,” Frace noted. “The puppetry, magic tricks, and fantastical staging of this production serve to illuminate the many facets of this well-known tale.”

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s later plays, written and first performed between 1605 and 1606 for King James I. Macbeth and his bloody ascension to the Scottish throne in 1040 were an important part of Scottish-English history; and Shakespeare succeeded in producing for James a drama which portrayed these historic acts in a manner that validated James’ royal Stuart lineage. Shakespeare drew heavily but not entirely from Holinshed’s written history of these events. He added the three “weird sisters,” or witches, as emblems of hostile powers which operate beyond man in nature; and created Macbeth as an ambitious but noble hero: one who yields to a deep-laid, hellish temptation and commits one crime necessarily impelled upon the other, without never completely losing the stamp of his native heroism.
“This play shines a bloody spotlight on the awful consequences of actions born of blind ambition, lust for power, and simple retaliation,” said Judith Jerome, Co-Artistic Director of the Opera House. “Small wonder, then, that in this last year it has been one of the most-produced of Shakespeare’s plays.”

Macbeth is played by Jorge Rubio. Rubio has an MFA in acting from the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker, and fluent in many dance styles, including capoeira, salsa, samba, and Afro-Brazilian. Lady Macbeth is played by Melody Bates, returning to the Opera House for her third role after previously appearing in Taming of the Shrew (Hortensio/ Gremio) and Twelfth Night (Olivia/ Aguecheek).  She has numerous other theater and film credits, and has also appeared on TV in “As the World Turns” and “The Guiding Light.”

In addition to his OHA credits, director Jeffrey Frace most recently directed Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre; and King Lear in Nashville, TN. He has appeared as an actor in over 50 professional productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Culture of Desire, Hay Fever and War of the Worlds – Radio Play with Anne Bogart & SITI Company. This fall, he joins the faculty of the School of Drama at University of Washington, Seattle.

On Friday, August 15, journalist Alicia Anstead will facilitate a post-show Talk Back. For the last 20 years, Anstead has been an arts and culture reporter, editor and educator, and is best known locally for her arts writing in the Bangor Daily News. She is a also the editor of the national magazine Inside Arts, published by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in Washington, DC. Anstead holds a B.A. in literature from American University in Washington, DC, and an M.A. in English from the University of Maine. She was the 2008 Arts and Culture Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where she will teach in 2008-2009. She will be joined on the panel by Frace; Bates; Jerome; and special guest Richard Brucher, Ph.D. Brucher is a professor at the University of Maine at Orono, where he specializes in teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in Shakespeare, drama, and staging history.

Shakespeare in Stonington is made possible through the generous support of Judy and Ray McCaskey, as well as that of an anonymous donor.

Macbeth opens Thursday, August 14 at 7 p.m., with nightly shows Friday and Saturday, and a special family matinee Sunday, August 17 at 2 p.m.  Tickets are available online at www.operahousearts.org, and advance reservations are strongly recommended. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for those on a fixed income, $15 for those under 17 years of age; island students are free thanks to the Mary McGuire Island Students Free Fund.  The Opera House will provide free car pooling for local students wishing to attend. Please call the Opera House box office, 367-2788, for additional information.

The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original live performance events that integrate professional performers with community members; screens first run and independent movies; and hosts special community events and dances. For more information call 367-2788 or visit the Opera House’s website at www.operahousearts.org.

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BY POPULAR DEMAND:

COMMUNITY PLAYREADING OF “MEN’S LIVES”
RETURNS TO OPERA HOUSE, WITH FISHERIES DISCUSSION

STONINGTON – Opera House Arts (OHA), in collaboration with Penobscot East Resource Center, will bring back, by popular demand, a community playreading, including a post-show Talk Back, of “Men’s Lives” on Tuesday, August 19 at 7 p.m. “Men’s Lives” is Joe Pintauro’s stage adaptation of the acclaimed book by Peter Matthiessen, which focuses on the lives and struggles of Long Island fishermen. The staged reading, first presented in May 2008 as part of OHA’s “Our Own” Community Playreading Series, is directed by Peter Richards, a long-time summer resident of Stonington who is currently working as an actor and director in New York City. The reading features community members Jake Adams, Garrett Aldrich, Bob Burke, Bob Harris, Doug Johnson, Joel Walther, and Veronica Young. Robin Alden, Executive Director of Penobscot East, will lead the Talk Back.


Peter Richards, who will direct a command performance of Opera House Arts' community playreading of "Men's Lives" August 19.

“I’ve been wanting to direct ‘Men’s Lives’ in Stonington for some time,” said Richards in May. “The struggles of the baymen to preserve their more than 300-year-old way of life has a lot of resonance with what’s happening with the in-shore fisheries in Maine right now.”

Matthiessen wrote and published Men’s Lives: The Surfmen and Baymen of the South Fork  in 1986, and actively engaged in the struggles of the fishermen and families of these Long Island communities against the corporate pollution and federal regulations that eventually caused the demise of their way of life. Award-winning playwright Joe Pintauro adapted the book for stage in 1992, and it premiered at a theater in one of the affected communities on Long Island. Library Journal has called “Men’s Lives” “a finely written . . . observation of a passing culture . . . a somewhat melancholy portrait of frontier characters bowing to modernism, but it is also a masterful celebration of craft, of pride in one's work, of community, of endurance.”

The August 19 performance will be followed by a Talk Back, facilitated by Robin Alden of Penobscot East Resource Center, with the reading participants, the director, and other community members engaged in local fisheries. “Fishermen here are currently facing challenges that also threaten their traditional way of life,” said Alden. “Long Island fishermen faced a similar situation almost 30 years ago, and this drama gives us a powerful opportunity to reflect on how to change the outcome here, now.”

The “Our Own” Community Playreading Series is in its eighth year, and continues on October 1 with a selection of new One Act Plays by Maine Writers. Everyone, regardless of experience, is encouraged to participate in the “Our Own” playreadings, which require only 15 hours of rehearsal time and no memorization. The series presents an excellent opportunity to read new and classic plays; and to explore drama, direction, and performance through scripts while working with guest directors. To participate, please call 207-367-2788.

Penobscot East Resource Center works to secure a future for fishing communities from the Penobscot Bay Islands east to Jonesport by fostering community leadership and making community science projects possible. Penobscot East’s mission is to energize and facilitate responsible community-based fisheries management, collaborative marine science, and sustainable economic development to benefit the fishermen and communities of Penobscot Bay and the Eastern Gulf of Maine. For more information, please go to www.penobscoteast.org.

The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original, live performance events and films that celebrate and extend Maine’s cultural legacy; and that integrate professional performers with community members. OHA also screens first run and independent movies; hosts special community events and dances; and runs performance and community leadership-building programs for teens and adults. For a full schedule of events and more information, please go to www.operahousearts.org. 

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MAINE MASTERS WEEKEND AT STONINGTON OPERA HOUSE

Including premiere of film biography of artist Stephen Pace, with the artist present

STONINGTON – Opera House Arts (OHA) has scheduled a “Maine Masters Weekend” August 21-24. “Maine Masters Weekend” will feature a unique, pre-recording concert by acclaimed pianist and “Maine Master” Paul Sullivan and his new jazz ensemble (see separate release, distributed August 1); as well as an opportunity to see the complete Maine Masters Film Series, including the premiere of a new film on Stephen Pace on Sunday, August 24 at 7 p.m. Pace, who with his wife Pamela was until recently a seasonal resident of Stonington, is scheduled to appear at the Sunday evening premiere.


Painter Stephen Pace, profiled in the premiere of a new film in the Maine Masters Series, with his wife Pamela at their Stonington home. The series will screen in its entirety August 21-24 at the Stonington Opera House. Photo courtesy Kane-Lewis Productions.

The Maine Masters Film Series, filmed by Kane-Lewis Productions of Sedgwick and produced by the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), documents some of Maine’s most accomplished and acclaimed visual artists through interviews in their studios on their lives and work.

“I have long focused on ordinary people, or lesser-known people doing extraordinary things,” filmmaker Richard Kane said in a recent interview with NewEnglandFilm.com regarding his involvement with the series.  “I might have a larger audience if I’d chose a subject like Bob Dylan, but I’m attracted to what is common and finding the beauty and truth in that.”

The schedule for the film screenings is as follows:

  • Thursday, August 21: Robert Hamilton; William Thon; Dahlov Ipcar
  • Friday, August 22: Harold Garde; Alan Magee; Alice Pierce
  • Sunday, August 24: Clark Fitz-Gerald; Lois Dodd; Stephen Pace

The three Sunday films, including the Stephen Pace premiere, include soundtracks composed by Paul Sullivan.

The series was conceived by two principle members of the UMVA: Brooksville’s Rob Shetterly, a painter and dedicated political activist known for his series Americans Who Tell the Truth; and Deb Vendetti, an arts educator and filmmaker, formerly with the Farnsworth Museum. The Maine Masters Project is produced by UMVA and funded in part by grants through the Maine Community Foundation, particularly the Marshall Dodge Foundation, Brimstone and the Belvedere Fund, including some generous individual contributions. For more information on the series, contact Robert Shetterly at 207-326-8459.

The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original, live performance events and films that celebrate and extend Maine’s cultural legacy; and that integrate professional performers with community members. OHA also screens first run and independent movies; hosts special community events and dances; and runs performance and community leadership-building programs for teens and adults. For a full schedule of events and more information, please go to www.operahousearts.org.  

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OPERA HOUSE ARTS’ SPECIAL FILM PRESENTATION:
“TRACES OF THE TRADE”
Members of the DeWolf family, featured in the film, on hand for post-show discussion

STONINGTON, MAINE—Opera House Arts’ (OHA) is proud to present a special screening of the new documentary film Traces of the Trade on Friday, August 8, at 7 p.m. This screening, and discussion with members of the family portrayed in the film, will be hosted by OHA at Heritage House on Route 15A in Sunset.

In Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, the DeWolfs. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide.

The DeWolfs sailed their ships from Bristol, Rhode Island to West Africa with rum to trade for African men, women and children. Members of the DeWolf family will be on hand for a discussion after the screening.

“This is more than one family’s painful reckoning. This is the nation’s story—one that strips away the North’s heroic mantle by revealing a broad pattern of Northern complicity in the slave trade,” wrote Cecelia Goodnow in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“According to the filmmakers, Traces of the Trade was created to act as a catalyst for heart-to-heart dialogue, education and action—and this is exactly the kind of community event that deeply interests us,” said Linda Nelson, OHA’s Executive Director. “Obama’s candidacy and other current events are forcing us as a nation to get real with each other on issues of race in America, and the history portrayed in this film is one of the terrible barriers we face as we try to do so.”

2008 is the bicentennial of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade. This special screening and discussion will offer a chance to discuss how we as individuals and communities might take this as an opportunity to face the past, to understand its impact on present day race relations, and address this unresolved legacy. Efforts in other states and communities have included book discussion groups; the creation of task forces to research local histories of slavery; special school curricula; support for campaigns to end modern slavery, which still exists in many parts of the world today; and, in six states to date, legislatively-enacted resolutions of apology for their roles in slavery. A similar resolution in the U.S. Congress is gaining momentum.

This special screening is made possible through the efforts of Bob and Maurine Tobin. Admission is by free will donation at the show. For more information, go to www.tracesofthetrade.org or call the Stonington Opera House, 207-367-2788.

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POET DANIEL HOFFMAN TO READ

STONINGTON, MAINE—Opera House Arts’ (OHA) is proud to present award-winning poet Daniel Hoffman in a special evening of his own work and that of his late wife, Elizabeth McFarland, Thursday, August 7, at 7 p.m.

Hoffman was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1973-74. He has published 11 books of poetry, most recently, Makes You Stop and Think: Sonnets (George Braziller, 2005); as well as seven volumes of criticism, an autobiography, and translations from Italian and Hungarian literature. Among the many distinguished awards Hoffman has received are: the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry from The Sewanee Review; the Hazlett Memorial Award; the Memorial Medal of the Maygar P.E.N. for his translations of contemporary Hungarian poetry, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2005, Hoffman received the Arthur Rense Poetry Prize "for an exceptional poet" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Elizabeth McFarland was poetry editor for Ladies Home Journal as well as a poet. From 1948 to 1962 she published some 900 poems by authors like Maxine Kumin, Randall Jarrell, W.H. Auden, John Updike, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Marianne Moore, and is renowned for turning many of the top poets of her day into household names. Hoffman recently published a collection of McFarland’s best lyric poetry, Over the Summer Water, from which he will also read.

Admission is $10 and tickets are available at www.operahousearts.org,  or by calling the Stonington Opera House, 207-367-2788.

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PAUL SULLIVAN LIVE IN COMMUNITY RECORDING

SESSION AT STONINGTON OPERA HOUSE

STONINGTON – Paul Sullivan is recording his first live album, and wants his friends and neighbors to be part it in a special performance at the Stonington Opera House Saturday, August 23, at 7 p.m.

 Sullivan has assembled some of his jazz friends from across the country, including Paul Lieberman (saxophone, flute), Eliot Wadopian (bass), Bill Friedrich and Seth Kearns (percussion), and gospel singer Theresa Thomason, to perform new music composed by Sullivan.

“It’s a new, bigger sound for me,” Sullivan says of the music. “I’m excited to share the stage with some of my friends who are truly incredible players. It’s been great fun writing music for these folks, and I’m looking forward to finally having a jazz album.”
Sullivan also noted that live performances often bring out the best in musicians: “Performers and listeners are completely interactive. When musicians play in a recording studio there is sometimes a bit of a vacuum. But when we are getting feedback from an audience we’re compelled to go further, dig deeper. It’s always so much more exciting.”
Tickets for this event are available online at www.operahousearts.org, or by calling Opera House Arts at 207-367-2788.

The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original live performance events that integrate professional performers with community members; screens first run and independent movies; and hosts special community events and dances. For more information call 367-2788 or visit the Opera House’s website at www.operahousearts.org.

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TWO AMERICAN PIONEERS BRING FLAMENCO TO

ANOTHER DIMENSION AT THE STONINGTON OPERA HOUSE
Sam Lardner and Juanito Pascual in “Mediterrageous!”

STONINGTON, MAINE—Opera House Arts’ (OHA) is thrilled to present two pioneers in the flamenco tradition, Sam Lardner and Juanito Pascual, at the Stonington Opera House on Saturday, August 2, at 7 p.m. Lardner and Pascual will perform an inspirational musical journey titled, “Mediterrageous!”

“Lardner is a modern-day musical Hemingway,” Christopher Buckley has written in Forbes Magazine FYI.

Sam Lardner is a native of Connecticut who has lived in Barcelona, Spain for the past 11 years. He was first bitten by the flamenco bug during a folk festival in Sevilla in 1997, and has been on a collision course with tangos and bulerías ever since. His new band, Barcelona, has been thrilling audiences in New England for the past two seasons. Last summer, Sam was the International Spotlight Artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and in May he was featured on the main stage at the 18-day Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. Sam’s brilliant and completely unique fusion of traditional flamenco forms and melodic Americana storytelling mark him as bold innovator in traditions often marked by strict adherence to defined norms. His clear voice and engaging stories merge seamlessly with the flamenco guitar that accompany him. National Public Radio has called Lardner, “One of the hottest flamenco guitarists to emerge in recent years.”

Jonathan “Juanito” Pascual has turned many heads during his rapid ascent within the world of flamenco guitar. His Midwestern upbringing and his degree from the New England Conservatory of Music often belie the fact that it was Spanish guitarists who first discovered Jonathan’s talent and tagged him with this endearing nickname, a distinguished show of praise and acceptance among flamenco artists. Pascual’s playing reveals exceptionally fine, intricately skilled expression, and his compositions have an excellent combination of well-honed fingering, resonating strength, and absorbing, dramatic silences. He has played with a lengthy list of distinguished flamenco artists form Spain and the U.S. and has participated in many noteworthy cross-genre collaborations with artists such as soprano Dawn Upshaw and jazz musicians John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, and Jamey Haddad. He has been a featured artist in festivals and concert halls throughout the country including the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, New York’s 92nd St. Y, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Together, Juanito Pascual and Sam Lardner have concocted a rousing celebration of their love for the flamenco tradition. Mediterrageous! promises to be one of this summer’s best bets for major fun, great music and pure alegría. Additional information on Sam Lardner & Barcelona is available at www.myspace.com/samlardner and www.samlardner.com.

Tickets for the one night only show are $15 and may be purchased online at www.operahousearts.org or by calling or visiting Opera House Arts’ box office, on the corner of Main and School Streets in Stonington, 207-367-2788.

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COMMUNITY READINGS AND LIBRARY EXHIBITS OF “MACBETH”

Shakespeare in Stonington expands community integration of the Bard’s classic works

STONINGTON – Award-winning journalist Alicia Anstead will facilitate two community readings of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” July 28-29 at the Blue Hill Public Library and August 5-6 in Stonington, as part of Opera House Arts’ (OHA) 8th annual Shakespeare in Stonington production of the play. OHA is donating copies of the Folger Library edition of “Macbeth,” along with related books and videos including Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World; Garry Wills’ Witches and Jesuits; Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare; and a graphic novel version of the play for exhibits in the Blue Hill, Deer Isle, and Stonington Public Libraries. The exhibits and community readings are part of an expanded community integration program for Shakespeare in Stonington, which included a residency by director Jeffrey Frace, an affiliate with the New York City-based SITI Company, in the Deer Isle-Stonington schools in March.

“If you’ve ever thought, ‘Wait, if Shakespeare is using English, how come I can’t understand it?’ then these community readings are made just for you,” said OHA’s Co-Artistic Director Judith Jerome. “Even those who are already under the Bard’s spell like to read the plays before we see them–the language is so rich and the themes are so relevant to our times. The community nights at the library are a chance for the new reader, the skeptical reader and the experienced reader to come together to deepen and ‘brush up’ their Shakespeare.”

During the two-night library sessions, Anstead will lead the readings, facilitate discussions and present short live performances of selected scenes with professional actors. Participants will also be invited to an evening of screenings of various film versions of “Macbeth,” including “Scotland, PA,” a modern version adapted for the screen by Maine playwright John Cariani.

For the last 20 years, Alicia Anstead has been an arts and culturereporter, editor and educator, and is best known locally for her arts writing in the Bangor Daily News. Her work has taken her to Europe,Africa, South America, Southeast Asiaand the Middle East. Although her primary focus has been arts and culture, Anstead has written about politics, health, education, the environment and, in 2003, she reported from Iraq. She is a senior contributor to the Bangor Daily News in Maine and editor of the national magazine Inside Arts, published by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in Washington, DC. Anstead holds a B.A. in literature from American University in Washington, DC, and an M.A. in English from the University of Maine. Sheisa fellow with the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, with the National Endowment for the Arts Cultural Editor Program at Duke University, and was the 2008 Arts and Culture Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where she will teach in 2008-2009. 

Shakespeare in Stonington, a series of professional original productions of the Bard’s classics now in its eighth season at the Stonington Opera House, annually features some of the country’s brightest young talent, including members of Director Anne Bogart’s renowned SITI Company, often placed in combination with local residents. The series is sponsored in part by the generous underwriting of Ray and Judy McCaskey, with additional underwriting by an anonymous donor to support the expanded community integration program in addition to the production.

Community readings of “Macbeth,” which are free and open to the public, will take place 7 p.m. Monday July 28 and Tuesday July 29 at Blue Hill Public Library, and 7 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 5 and 5 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 6 in Stonington at a location to be announced. Opening night of the Shakespeare in Stonington production of “Macbeth” is 7 p.m. Thursday, August 14, with regular performances 7 p.m. Friday, August 15 and Saturday August 16, and a family matinee 2 p.m. Sunday August 17 at the Opera House.

Tickets for the production are $25 for adults, $20 for those on a fixed income, $15 for those under 17 years of age, and Island students may attend free with advance reservations.  The Opera House will provide free car pooling for local students wishing to attend. Please call the Opera House box office, 367-2788, for reservations and additional information. Tickets are now also available online at www.operahousearts.org.

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NEW ORLEANS—CULTURE, CRISIS, & COMMUNITY:

THE 8th ANNUAL DEER ISLE JAZZ FESTIVAL

AT THE STONINGTON OPERA HOUSE

From New Orleans, saxophonist and Mardi Gras Indian chief Donald Harrison; the Hot 8 Brass Band; a second-line parade; movies; panels; jazz clinic; and more

STONINGTON, MAINE—Opera House Arts’ (OHA) eighth annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival, July 24 thru 27, 2008 at the Stonington Opera House, is an expanded version of the event focusing on the music and cultural life of post-Katrina New Orleans; and on the ways New Orleans’ unique musical culture is being used to rebuild the city and its local communities. This year’s  festival features saxophonist and Mardi Gras Indian chief Donald Harrison, who will also be the Guest Artist in Residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts July 21 – August 2nd, and his quartet; and New Orleans’ own Hot 8 Brass Band. The festival will open Thursday, July 24 with a special screening of a classic film, “All on a Mardi Gras Day,” and will include studio sessions at Haystack with Harrison; a panel discussion facilitated by noted jazz critic Larry Blumenfeld, and a reading from his book-in-progress; two concerts; a jazz clinic, post-show party and jam session with the Hot 8; and a unique “second-line” parade along Stonington’s Main Street working waterfront. [A complete schedule of events is attached at the end of this release.]

“New Orleans: Culture, Crisis & Community” builds upon the resounding success of the past seven years and forcefully advances the festival’s goals: to bring world-class jazz musicians to Down East Maine; and to involve these musicians with local community members in dynamic and down-to-earth ways. This year’s festival explores the significance of culture, and especially music, to community development, recovery, and sustainability in New Orleans; and asks how some of this knowledge might be used to the advantage of rural communities in Down East Maine as they struggle with the disappearance of the fisheries which are their historic lifeblood; affordable housing; and jobs. Extending his role as volunteer producer of the festival, Larry Blumenfeld has drawn inspiration for this edition from his work as a Katrina Media Fellow with the Open Society Institute.

The Deer Isle Jazz Festival has been breaking new boundaries and enriching the state’s cultural life since its inception in 2001. The debut event drew fans from throughout the New England region to hear, among others, the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman. Since then, the 250-seat former vaudeville house with its charmed acoustics has played host to Brazilian singer Luciana Souza in duets with guitarist Romero Lubambo and pianist Fred Hersch; saxophonist Greg Osby’s quartet, including pianist Jason Moran; standard-bearing vocalist Andy Bey; French horn player Vincent Chauncey; free-jazz hero bassist William Parker; Latin jazz innovator Arturo O’Farrill; and the legendary Houston Person and Randy Weston. “Stonington is a perfectly natural setting for jazz,” Alicia Anstead wrote in the Bangor Daily News. “Far out on the town dock, the music coming from the Opera House slipped and slid through the air.”

Donald Harrison, who headlines the festival Friday night and, in a collaboration between Haystack Mountain School of Craft and OHA, is Musician in Residence at Haystack July 21-August 2, is one of the most confident and convincing improvisers in jazz today. Harrison began his career with the legendary Art Blakey, one of the most celebrated jazz drummers and bandleaders in U.S. history. The boundary leaping New Orleans alto saxophonist’s distinctive broad toned sound is immediately recognizable as his own, regardless of the environment in which it is being heard, be it bebop, hardbop, New Orleans R & B or funk. Harrison has managed to forge his variegated influences and extensive experience into a uniquely personal style. He has co-lead a band with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and appeared over the last 20 years with luminaries of the jazz and cultural worlds such as Lena Horne, Spike Lee, and Latin jazz giant Eddie Palmieri; as well as with the smash hip–hop groups, Jazzmatazz, The Notorius BIG, and Digable Planets.

Harrison is the originator of the Nouveau Swing style, which merges acoustic swing with modern R&B, second-line, hip-hop, New Orleans African American roots culture, and reggae rhythms.

CBS Sunday Morning recently called Harrison, “one of the most important musicians of the new millennium,” and the Chicago Tribune hailed him as “… one of the more innovative bandleaders New Orleans has produced in the past 20 years.”

At the same time, Harrison, Big Chief of the Congo Nation and son of Big Chief Donald Sr. in what jazz critic Larry Blumenfeld has called “[New Orleans’] least understood tradition, and, these days, perhaps its most essential: Mardi Gras Indian culture,” has become increasingly active in his work to rebuild New Orleans. Harrison is famous for his suit and costume creation, part of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tradition of “masking.” These rituals, which date to at least the mid-1800s, are an African-American homage to the Native Americans who once sheltered runaway slaves; and to the spirit of resistance. His ground-breaking recording, “Indian Blues” captured the essence of Mardi Gras Indian culture within a jazz context. His latest New Orleans recording, “The New Sounds of Mardi Gras,” updates New Orleans music. It puts the sounds of Mardi Gras into Hip-hop, R&B, and Funk, and marks Harrison’s debut as a rapper.

“I'm going to continue to mask in beads and feathers,” Harrison said in an interview during Mardi Gras this past year. “I'm going to play my saxophone. If enough people do their part, everything will endure. But that's the question: Will people be allowed to do their part?”

At the Stonington Opera House, Harrison’s quartet will include pianist Victor Gould; bassist Max Moran; and drummer Joseph Dyson.

On Saturday night, July 26, New Orleans’ Own Hot 8 Brass Band will take to the Opera House stage before taking to Stonington’s Main Street in a second-line parade Sunday, July 27. The Hot 8 Brass Band hasepitomized New Orleans’ street music for over a decade. The band plays the traditional Second Line parades, hosted each Sunday afternoon by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, infusing their performances with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world. The members of the Hot 8 Brass Band were born and raised in New Orleans and many began playing together in high school. Members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have toured in Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, England and Sardinia. The Bandperformsannually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, world and jazz festivals across the US and Europe,and werefeatured in the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke. The Hot 8 has released three critically acclaimed recordings and is featured on the latest Blind Boys of Alabama recording on Time-Life Records.

The Hot 8 Brass Band is keeping the brass band alive by providing opportunities for students and the public to learn about and experience a unique cultural tradition, and will lead both a free clinic and a second line parade during their time in Stonington. The band toured the program Finding Our Folk, in which they worked with young people to harness their historical and cultural traditions and to promote individual and community strength, development and self-determination. In May 2008, OHA brought two members of the Hot 8—band leader Bennie Pete and trumpet player Shamarr Allen—to in-school residencies at Deer Isle-Stonington and George Stevens Academy.

The Hot 8 Brass Band has beenpartof an important relief project following Hurricane KatrinaSAVE OUR BRASS! is a local grass-roots project that has brought music and instrumentsto shelters, temporary trailer parks, and communities across the Gulf Coast.

Second line parades are the descendants of New Orleans’ famous jazz funerals and they carry many of the same traditions with them as they march down the streets. Second lines trace their roots back to the 19th century and the fraternal societies and neighborhood organizations that collectively provided insurance and burial services to members, especially among the African American community. The “first line” of a funeral consisted of the people who were an integral part of the ceremony, such as the members of the club or krewe, or family and friends of the deceased. The “second line” originally referred to people who were attracted to the music. Led by a “Grand Marshal,” the band and mourners would move to the burial site, with the band playing a dirge to signal the struggles, the hardships, the ups and downs of life.On the way back, the music became more joyful. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances would become the second line and dance with wild abandon. The second line, usually sporting umbrellas and handkerchiefs, became traditional at these jazz funerals. Today, second-line parades are held outside the funeral tradition each Sunday from September through May, sponsored by social aid & pleasure clubs; they are an important element of community bonding and even political action in post-Katrina New Orleans.

In addition to the two traditional jazz concerts, the 2008 Deer Isle Jazz Festival includes a variety of free and participatory events to provide participants with the opportunity to experience and understand the ongoing crisis in New Orleans—and how music and culture can play vital roles in community development, recovery, and survival. Please see the full festival schedule for details.

The expanded 2008 Deer Isle Jazz Festival is made possible with support from the Maine Humanities Council; the Maine Arts Commission; the New England Foundation for the Arts; the Open Society Institute; Annie and Chuck Holland; and Jack Shaw and Ellen Shockro.

Tickets for the festival may be obtained online at www.operahousearts.org, by calling or visiting Opera House Arts’ box office, on the corner of Main and School Streets in Stonington, 207-367-2788. Tickets are $25; $20 fixed income (students, senior citizens, sliding scale); and $15 under 17 years of age. Island Students Free with advance reservations. A festival pass is available for $65. Tickets for the Saturday night post-show benefit party and jam session are $50 and must bereserved by calling 207-367-2788.

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“LIVE for $5” WEDNESDAY NIGHT SERIES AT OPERA HOUSE

OPENS WITH MAINE’S OWN JUGGLING FOOL, MICHAEL MICLON

Weekly performances to include storytelling; dance; Indonesian Gamelan music; and a Maine klezmer band!

STONINGTON – “Comedy on Purpose,” by Buckfield, Maine’s own Michael Miclon will open Opera House Arts’ (OHA) “Live for $5” performance series at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 9. The six week long “Live! For $5” Wednesday night series consists of hour long, live performances designed so that all family members, regardless of age, can enjoy live theater for the same price as a movie. Each show is followed by a Talk Back session with the artists.
“It is unprecedented to see some of these performers for a $5 ticket,” Co-Artistic Director Carol Estey said. “Thanks to the underwriting of the Whitman Family Foundation, this series is very accessible and has become increasingly popular over the years. We hope people continue to discover the joys of live theater through this series.”
Michael Miclon has brought his high energy antics to some of the finest theaters and special events across the United States and Europe, with such highlights as the Kennedy Center and the White House in Washington D.C., The Keller Theater in Germany, The Victoria Jungfrau Hotel in Switzerland and the Festa Americana in Italy.
“Comedy on Purpose,” with everything from wacky characterizations and sight gags to, in fact, juggling--and plenty of costumes, props and audience participation--provides “laugh till you cry” fun for the all ages.
“[Miclon] provided our audience with some of the best laughs they had ever had . . . one of the most relentless offerings of visual comedy I have ever seen and deservedly falls in the ranks of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd . . . !” writes Don Kinnear of the Strand-Capital Theater.
Miclon will also be Opera House Arts’ sponsored guest artist-in-residence at the annual Island Arts Camp July 7-11, co-sponsored by OHA, the Reach Performing Arts Center, and Seamark Community Arts. The Arts Camp guest artist works intensively with the two oldest groups of the 96 students, ages 6 through 13, who attend the camp each year.
In addition to “Comedy on Purpose,” Live! For $5 will feature legendary Boston street storyteller Brother Blue (July 16); teen participants of OHA’s free SummerStage program performing their own stories with David Neufeld (July 23); Lorraine Chapman, touted as “One of the top 25 choreographers to watch in 2008” by Dance Magazine, and Friends in an evening of modern dance (July 30); Gender Wayang, bringing unique Indonesian gamelan music (August 6); and Tzena! Tzena, the warm and witty Klezmer band from Bangor playing Eastern European dance music and more (August 20).
Tickets for all LIVE! For $5 Wednesday night performances are available only at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original live performance events that integrate professional performers with community members; screens first run and independent movies; and hosts special community events and dances. For more information call 367-2788 or visit the Opera House’s website at www.operahousearts.org.

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FREE ACTING PROGRAM FOR TEENS

STONINGTON – Opera House Arts’ is pleased to announce its annual SummerStage program, a free acting intensive for students ages 14-19, July 19-23, 2008. Openings remain for teens to register to work with this year’s guest director, acclaimed character actor and comedic storyteller David Neufeld.

Described as “a cross between Mark Twain and Gary Larson (The Far Side)”, David Neufeld’s original stories mix the tradition of voice and character acting with modern, often comic situations. David Neufeld has performed for over a million people of all ages throughout the U.S. and abroad since 1980; and he is founder of the New England Modern Storytelling Festival. His physical style of acting, incorporating illusion, stagecraft, and character voice provides a depth to his performances that engages even large groups of high school students.

Neufeld will lead the SummerStage participants in a five-day intensive on personal story-making and performing. The students will perform their work on Wednesday, July 23, as part of the Opera House’s Live for $5 intergenerational theater series. The program is free for all students and requires registration. Please call 207-367-2788 to register.

In addition to Stonington SummerStage, Live! For $5 will feature legendary Boston street storyteller Brother Blue (July 16); Lorraine Chapman, touted as “One of the top 25 choreographers to watch in 2008” by Dance Magazine, and Friends in an evening of modern dance (July 30); Gender Wayang, bringing unique Indonesian gamelan music (August 6); and Tzena! Tzena, the warm and witty Klezmer band from Bangor playing Eastern European dance music and more (August 20).

Tickets for all LIVE! For $5 Wednesday night performances are available only at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is open year round. Opera House Arts (OHA), a 501 C 3 community nonprofit organization, produces original live performance events that integrate professional performers with community members; screens first run and independent movies; and hosts special community events and dances. For more information call 367-2788 or visit the Opera House’s website at www.operahousearts.org.

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