“Things My Mother Taught Me,” Public Theatre, Lewiston

Oct. 25-28, Thursday-Sunday, 7:30pm/Thurs.- Sat, 3pm/Sat, 2pm/Sun, “Things My Mother Told Me,” Olivia and Gabe are taking the “next step” and moving into their first apartment together. Imagine their surprise when their parents “drop by” from 800 miles away with unsolicited advice on life, love and cleaning products! Is an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment big enough to hold the love, laughter, wisdom and worry of four parents? “Funny and touching, this comedy will make you laugh out loud and fall in love all over again,” see site for ticketing details, The Public Theatre, 31 Maple Street, Lewiston. FMI: 207-782-2211, www.thepublictheatre.org.
Oct. 25-27, Thursday-Saturday, 7:30pm, “Colby College Fall Play: ‘Set in the Living Room of a Small Town American Play’,” the story of a group of middle- and working-class suburbanites living in Illinois in 1947, all enmeshed in their own tragedies. The play is rooted in the American drama of the 1940s and 1950s, and it playfully explores that style, as well as the pursuit of the American dream, free, Colby College, Strider Theater, 4520 Mayflower Hill, Waterville. FMI: 207-859-4520, www.colby.edu.
Oct. 26, Friday, 5-8pm, “Art Walk LA,” featuring Storytelling at select venues, along with the usual complement of visual art exhibits and gallery receptions that characterize every Art Walk LA. October’s storytelling-themed event will feature John Bear Mitchell, Penobscot storyteller; the Best of The Corner, with short, original, first-person stories by several local tellers; Halloween stories read by Bates College students; and the photography and stories of Ned Castle’s HIGHLOW Project, a collaboration between the artist and youth served by the Vermont Coalition of Runaway Homeless Youth programs (co-sponsored by New Beginnings). Art Walk activities and events are free and open to the public.* The Storytelling schedule is below. Friday, October 26: 5:00-8:00 pm HIGHLOW Project: Photographs & Stories of Youth At Risk (mature themes, some explicit language) L/A Arts Gallery, 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston 5:30-6:00 pm Halloween Story Time with Bates Students Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon Street, Lewiston 6:00-6:30 pm Penobscot Storyteller John Bear Mitchell Rinck Advertising, 113 Lisbon Street, Lewiston 6:30-7:00 pm The Best of The Corner – Original, 5-minute stories from local storytellers; some adult content Rinck Advertising, 113 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Downtown, Lewiston. FMI: www.laarts.org.
Oct. 26-27, Friday-Saturday, 7:30pm, “You Can’t Take It with You,” at first, the Sycamores seem mad, but if they’re mad, the rest of the world is crazier. In contrast to the delightfully eccentric Sycamores are the unhappy Kirbys. Young Tony Kirby has fallen in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore home on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by the clash between families convinces Alice that marriage is out of the question, but Tony will not give up. In the end, father Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores and love triumphs. A classic comedy, “You Can’t Take It with You” is one of the most popular and successful plays of all time, $15/adult, $10/senior citizens, $10/18 and younger, Studio Theater at the The Center, 93 Main Street, Waterville. FMI: www.acattheatre.org.
Oct. 26-28, Friday-Sunday, 7:30pm/Fri. and Sat, 2pm/Sun, “Not About Nightingales,” by Tennessee Williams, an early work by the revered playwright that caused a sensation in Houston, New York, and London. This is a raw, sprawling dramatization of real events at a Philadelphia prison in 1937. Convicts who led a hunger strike to protest conditions were locked in a scalding cell where four of them died. The sympathetic treatment of blacks and homosexuals was revolutionary for the time of the premiere and may explain why the play remained unproduced for sixty years, $12/adults, $10/seniors and students, Hallowell City Hall, Winthrop Street, Hallowell. FMI: 207-626-3698, www.gaslighttheater.org.
Oct. 27, Saturday, 7pm, “Vienna Union Hall Masquerade Ball,” raise some funds for maintaining the Vienna Union Hall and have some fun while doing it! Kick off your blues and dance to the music of the “Burnin’ Band” and “The Ice Out Band” as they play some great old and new rock for the first Vienna Union Hall Masquerade Ball. Costumes are encouraged but not required. Snacks and beverages provided, $10, $18/couple, Vienna Union Hall, 5 Mountain Road, Vienna. FMI: 207-293-2674, www.facebook.com/Vienna-Union-Hall-360533927398187.
Oct. 27, Saturday, 7:30pm, “Bow and String Orchestra Baroque Concert,” under the direction of Greg Boardman, a concert of baroque music for strings by Bach and Telemann, the event is a benefit (the fourth annual) for the Jubilee Center of Lewiston. The viola da gamba will be especially featured along with violins, violas and celli, as Mark Nordberg performs the Suite in D Major for Viola da gamba and Strings by Telemann. This piece puts the solo instrument in front of the accompanying orchestra in a dramatic overture, followed by a group of lively and stately dance tunes that feature what the lead instrument is capable of in its range of pitch and color. The viola da gamba (“viola held by the knees”), an ancestor of the violin family, was just beginning to lose its popularity at the time of Telemann. It is played with a bow and has frets on the fingerboard for finger placement. The music of Bach will be represented by what arranger Mark Nordberg entitles Concerto for Seven. Three joyous instrumental pieces from three different cantatas by Bach are arranged for two violins (Mary Hunter and Jessie Boardman), two violas (Nathan Hillman and Greg Boardman), two violas da gamba (Mark Nordberg and Barbara Oliver) and cello (Mary Randall). Completing the program will be Bach’s Ricercare for Three, originally a keyboard piece from A Musical Offering, arranged for string trio, and played by Greg Boardman, violin, Nathan Hillman, viola, and Barbara Oliver, cello, $15, free/students, Trinity Episcopal Church, 247 Bates Street, Lewiston. FMI: 207-344-3106, trinitylewiston.org.