Simon & Garfunkel Tribute by Aztec Two-Step at JCC Fanwood
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A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, March 14, 2019 Page 19 Fanwood Poetry Reading to Feature McBride, Saunier FANWOOD – The Carriage House teaching artist living in the Philadel- Poetry Series invites the public to at- phia area. She has published four tend a free event on Tuesday, March 19, collections of poetry and was the 1991 at 8 p.m., featuring distinguished poets Bucks County Poet Laureate. She won Bernadette McBride and Hayden the 2011 Rattle Poetry Grand Prize, Saunier in the Kuran Arts Center on the 2011 Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize, Watson Road, off North Martine Av- and the 2013 Gell Poetry Prize. Her enue, adjacent to Fanwood Borough acting resume includes film and tele- Photos courtesy of Premiere Stages Hall. (GPS use 75 N. Martine Avenue). vision appearances in The Sixth FINALISTS...The 2019 Premiere Play Festival finalists are, pictured from left to Bernadette McBride is the author Sense, Philadelphia Diary, House of right, Amy Berryman, Kari Bentley-Quinn, Vincent Delaney and Tammy Ryan. of four books of poetry and was the Cards, Mindhunter, and Do No Harm, 2009 Poet Laureate of Bucks County, and numerous roles at regional the- Pennsylvania. She’s the poetry editor atres such as the Guthrie Theatre, for the Schuylkill Valley Journal and George Street Playhouse, Walnut Premiere Play Festival taught creative writing and literature Street Theatre, Interact Theatre, and TWO- STEP...On Saturday, March 16, at 8 p.m., Aztec Two-Step 2.0 featuring at Temple University for many years. People’s Light and Theatre Company. Rex Fowler & Friends, with narration and multimedia by Tony Traguardo, are A former singer in an Irish/Celtic The Carriage House Poetry Series Finalists Announced to perform The Simon & Garfunkel Songbook: an Evening of Songs & Stories. The band, as well as a journalist, Ms. was founded in 1998 at the Patricia show will take place at the JCC of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains. McBride conducts community writ- Kuran Arts Center, an historic 19th UNION – Premiere Stages, the pro- globes and the best fudge around. Also ing workshops and programs in the century Gothic Revival structure that fessional theatre company in residence working in the shop are Michelle’s son, Philadelphia area. She was a second- was once a carriage house, hence the at Kean University, has selected its four Tommy, back from his second stint in Simon & Garfunkel Tribute place winner of the 2006 Interna- name of the series. The March 19 finalists for the 2019 Premiere Play rehab, and Lauren, home from college tional Ray Bradbury Writing Award. reading is free and open to the public. Festival, an annual competition for to tend to her ailing mother. As the By Aztec Two-Step at JCC Her poems have appeared in numer- An open mic will follow the featured unproduced scripts that offers develop- summer blends into winter, a bond be- ous journals in the U.S., the U.K. and performance, so individuals are in- mental opportunities to playwrights with tween Tommy and Lauren forms that SCOTCH PLAINS – On Saturday, FM radio, rock historian and author. Canada, and on PRI’s The Writer’s vited to read one poem of their choice. strong affiliations to New York, New threatens to change everyone forever. March 16, at 8 p.m., Split Level Con- Now emceeing, and the show’s narra- Almanac with Garrison Keillor. For online directions, and the 2019 Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Set in the not-so-distant future, Ms. certs will present The Simon & tor and multimedia director, is Mr. “I often incorporate music into my Carriage House Poetry Series calen- Delaware. Berryman’s Walden imagines a world Garfunkel Songbook: an Evening of Fornatale’s longtime friend and protégé poems and public readings since these dar, visit All finalists will receive professional where climate change has intensified Songs & Stories performed by Aztec Tony Traguardo, WCWP radio host arts are so very kindred,” Ms. carriagehousepoetryseries.blogspot.com/ readings directed by John J. Wooten, and scientists are recommending that Two-Step 2.0 featuring Rex Fowler and Long Island Music Hall of Fame McBride said. Or call (908) 889-7223 or (908) Producing Artistic Director of Premiere humans colonize other planets. Cassie, & Friends, with narration and multi- co-founder. A sing-along is always in Hayden Saunier is a poet, actor and 889-5298. Stages, as part of Premiere’s 15th an- a NASA botanist, returns from deploy- media by Tony Traguardo. The show the mix. nual Spring Reading Series today, ment in space and is shocked to find her will take place at the JCC of Central Aztec Two-Step burst onto the scene March 14 through Sunday, March 17, sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, New Jersey, 1391 Martine Avenue, in 1972 and became staples of progres- and will be considered for expanded engaged to an Earth Advocate. As the Scotch Plains. sive FM radio and college radio, help- POPCORN development in Premiere’s mainstage twins grapple with questions of rivalry Tickets are $32 in advance ($35 at ing to usher in the folk-rock music of Fighting with My Family season. Readings are offered by invita- and love, humanity hangs in the bal- the door) and are available online at the 1960s into the ’70s and beyond. tion only. To request admission to any ance. jccnj.org, by calling (908) 889-8800, Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman went on Truth in Wrestling of the readings, please call (908) 737- What happens when your best friends ext. 253, or by email to to spend a lifetime making music to- 3 popcorns 4077 or email [email protected]. lose their home but refuse to leave it? [email protected]. gether. However, after 47 years of re- This year’s finalists are: Hyannis by And how much do we really owe (or This show will celebrate the iconic cording and non-stop touring, Neal has One Popcorn, Poor — Two Popcorns, Fair — Three Popcorns, Good — Four Popcorns, Excellent Kari Bentley-Quinn, a former finalist know?) our neighbors? Mr. Delaney’s songs and career of Simon & retired following the passing of his for the O’Neill National Playwrights Foreclosure poses questions to those Garfunkel, as well as their contribu- wife. He and Rex shared a wholehearted By Michael S. Goldberger stage is set for a troublesome rift in Conference and Playwrights Realm answers in a sharply comic look at a tion to American pop culture in the decision that the ATS legacy should be film critic the heretofore proudly close brood Writing Fellowship; Walden by Amy modern collapse that shows no sign of 1960s and beyond. The music speaks carried forward, so Rex with his new Watching director Stephen who all but have a framed tapestry on Berryman, winner of the LA Short Film ending. for itself, but so does the storyline of wife Dodie Pettit and bassist Steven Merchant’s Fighting with My Family, the parlor wall declaring, “The Fam- Festival’s Best Drama Award for You In Ms. Ryan’s The Wake, Maggie and the Songbook show, which was origi- “Muddy” Roues, have embraced a busy about a tightknit family of profes- ily That Wrestles Together Stays To- Are Everywhere, which she wrote, co- Rosemary rent a beach house in Florida sional wrestlers whose two youngest gether.” produced and starred in; Foreclosure to scatter their sister’s ashes six months nally created by the late Pete Fornatale, touring schedule, earning overwhelm- members have aspirations of making It is to director Merchant’s credit a renowned pioneer of progressive ingly enthusiastic reviews. by Vincent Delaney, a past recipient of after her death, only to find themselves the bigtime, I of course had to think of and thanks to a fine ensemble cast the Reva Shiner Comedy Award and and their respective partners staring my father. Daniel Goldberger, a truck- that what might have devolved into a ing company owner who submerged predictable, made-for-TV melodrama McKnight and Bush Fellowships; and down a hurricane. As the strong winds Trent Johnson to Perform in into the Polish underground in 1939 rises above its seemingly formulaic The Wake by Tammy Ryan, a past win- and rain bands begin, strange encoun- just before the Nazis confiscated his parts, tapping with insight into the ner of the Francesca Primus Prize and ters with wildlife signal something more trucks and painted swastikas on them, heart of family dynamics and aspira- Carbonell Award. Two of this year’s is going on. Filled with humor and Festival of Organists Mar. 17 was a kind but serious man. Even his tions. The Knights/Bevises are work- four finalists are past winners of the heart, The Wake explores grief, family, WESTFIELD — Trent Johnson, Christmas Spectacular Show at Radio jokes more often than not made a ing-class heroes…folks trying to Premiere Play Festival: Ms. Ryan in and America’s shifting cultural and en- well known in Westfield as the Music City Music Hall. point, which played quite entertain- carve out a living for themselves…in 2010 for Lost Boy Found in Whole vironmental climates. Director and Conductor of the Orato- Four other prominent organists are ingly against Mom’s rather satiric sense search of a safe place where their Foods and Mr. Delaney in 2016 for Las One of the four plays will be selected of humor. Thus it is an anomaly I’ve mutual love can flourish unhampered. Cruces. for an Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) rio Singers, will be one of the fea- featured in the concert, titled “Pipe never figured out that my Dad loved And if there’s a little bit of distin- tured organists in Crescent Concerts’ Dreams”: Ron Thayer and Edwin professional wrestling.