Page 18 Thursday, December 27, 2007 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION A&E Year in Review Part 2 of 3 May – August May the room. A film made in a graphic- described the selection process, say- The third-annual Movies in May design class flashed images condemn- ing, “We choose pieces based on Film Festival took place at multiple craftsmanship and how well an as- sites this year, including the Scotch signment is completed. We also look Plains-Fanwood High School for samples of different types of (SPFHS) Television Studio, Fanwood work.” Memorial Library and Scotch Plains ~Georgia Mierswa Public Library. June This year’s festival featured a new In June, actors and siblings twist, as filmmakers made public ser- Elisabeth and Andrew Shue returned vice announcements (PSA) promot- home for the premiere of their new ing the two libraries’ alliance. movie, Gracie, based on Elisabeth’s High-school student Jeremy perseverance in fulfilling her dream Cimafonte, who spliced old footage of playing competitive soccer as a with exciting graphics and edited it youth and the Shue family’s struggle into a new short, took home first in to cope with the tragic loss of their the PSA competition. brother William. The South Orange ~Michelle H. LePoidevin natives arrived at Maplewood The- Later in the month, the Westfield ater for the premiere, which raised High School gymnasium hosted the more than $100,000 to renovate the annual K-12 art show. Artistic pieces Columbia High School (South Or- lined one of the sidewalls and were ange) athletic facilities. spread throughout the room in a maze- “This is the highlight,” producer like arrangement that helped lead on- Jessica Cain and co-star Andrew Shue told The lookers to each individual section. Westfield Leader and The Times. “To Upon entering, visitors would notice Westfield come home and be able to celebrate the colorful paper cutouts and shapes our youth in a film…it’s very mean- created by second-grade students. An K – 12 Art Show ingful.” enormous sculpture by an eighth- After everyone was seated, Andrew grade class, decorated with bits of ing censorship while haunting music addressed the crowded theater, de- watercolor paint trays and shards of played in the background. scribing Gracie as “the most expen- CDs, could be seen from anywhere in Art teacher Annora Happe-Conway sive home movie ever made.” The entire production was filmed in vari- ous locations throughout , Year In Photos including Maplewood and Westfield, where a residence stands in for the Victoria McCabe for The Westfield Leader and The Times Shues’ former home in South Or- PUT ME IN, COACH...At the premiere of Gracie, which took place in Maplewood, longtime Columbia High School (South May Through August ange. Filming on Lawrence Avenue Orange) soccer coach Gene Chyzowych smiles after takes the soccer-ball handoff from her brother, Andrew. took place in the fall of 2006. ~Christie Storms cally passed away in March while exploring the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove, a In Mid-June, then-Northside 510-foot-long former Navy support Year In Photos Trattoria hosted a screening of Chi- ship off Key Largo, Fla. nese Coffee, a play-turned-movie Profits from the benefit concert written by Westfield resident Ira went to the William and Nicholas May Through August Lewis. Walsweer Scholarship Fund to offset Chinese Coffee was first produced the costs of college education for Mr. as a stage play at the Actor’s Studio in Walsweer’s two sons, who are 5 and New York, where Mr. Lewis played 7. one of the two leads. Tim, Mrs. Walsweer’s brother-in- “Roy Scheider came to one of the law, came up with the idea of turning performances,” the show into a Mr. Lewis recalled benefit concert. for the intimate au- “When bad things dience at the happen, we all Trattoria, “and told want to do some- me afterwards that thing,” Tim told Al Pacino stood The Leader/Times. and watched the “The love and whole play. I later support of this found out that community has THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...Dolores ‘De’ Collins Benjamin, above, the founder of Pacino wanted to been fantastic. We a choral group for African-American youth in 1939, tells her story in Barbara do the play; he very all really appreci- Kukla’s “Sounds of Music.” Mrs. Benjamin, a resident at Ashbrook Nursing and much wanted it for ate it,” Tim said. Rehabilitation Center in Scotch Plains, continues to conduct during the center’s himself because ~Cassie Lo book party held in her honor. the world of these July characters spoke to him on such a per- The summer sonal level.” months brought Michael J. Pollack for The Westfield Leader and The Times Trattoria owners the annual classic- COFFEE BREAK...Jamie Lynn Drohan, the director of operations, host and Chris and Tim car shows, movies producer for Westfield and Union’s local Comcast cable networks, interviews Boyle provided Westfield resident Ira Lewis, the writer of play-turned-movie Chinese Coffee, and concerts in the which was shown in a special screening at then-Northside Trattoria. cocktails and parks, downtown theme-related hors Steve Willis jazz grooving on d’oeuvres of rice Westfield street dumplings, tuna Self Portrait corners and and other delica- weekly entertain- cies. One sure sign that spring has ar- ment coming to the Stuart Snowden rived in the Scotch Plains area is the Village Green in of Stuart’s Audio/ Scotch Plains-Fanwood Arts Associa- Scotch Plains. Visual in Westfield tion (SPFAA) Members’ Show, exhib- While local resi- and his crew ited annually at the Scotch Plains Li- dents soaked up all worked to turn the brary. the activities, the restaurant’s This year, the show welcomed ap- newspaper made backroom into a proximately 50 pieces of members’ art- sure not to miss the giant screening work. The submissions vied for awards opportunity to room and placed a in six artistic categories. Paula Pearl of Fanwood won first meet a few amaz- plasma TV in the place in pastels for “Golden Field,” a ing local women front room of the reproduction of a digital photograph and hear their sto- restaurant for the taken of a field in Tewksbury, below. ries... Courtesy of Tim Glynn AT PLAY...The Crossroads in Garwood hosted a benefit concert in memory of overflow viewing Steve Willis earned first place in the In 1939, Jonathan Walsweer, a 38-year-old Westfield resident who perished while diving area. graphic category for his graphite “Self Portrait,” above. Dolores ‘De’ off Key Largo, Fla., in March. The concert raised money for the children of Mr. Mr. Lewis said Collins Benjamin, Walsweer and wife, Regina, to attend college. Above, The Play Trains’ Pat and Chinese Coffee, from her Newark Tim Glynn, brother-in-law of Mrs. Walsweer, entertain the crowd. which stars Pacino living room, and the late Jerry founded a choral Orbach, is about group for young “the struggle to African-American SATURDAY MORNING LIVE...Joey Piscopo, son of Joe Piscopo of “Saturday stay true to your Night Live” fame, left, and George Wendt spend some quality time in Westfield’s men. Mindowaskin Park during the shooting of Saturday Morning in 2004. own nature in a Nearly seven world that is relent- decades later, Mrs. lessly trying to de- Benjamin’s group nature you.” – the North Jersey On June 19, the Philharmonic film was released Paula Pearl Glee Club on DVD in a boxed (NJPGC) – is the collection of Golden Field oldest African- Pacino’s most per- American arts or- sonal work. ganization in the ~Susan M. Dougherty state. Westfield’s The Play Trains, the Because of the work of Mrs. Ben- Brothers Band and Nate Brown took jamin, now 94, her role in the found- farmhouse store the stage at The Crossroads in ing of the NJPGC became the sub- the Garwood on June 9 to raise money in memory of Westfield resident 17 CONTINUED: YEAR IN REVIEW like no other store in Westfield Jonathan Walsweer, 38, who had tragi-

WAR AND PEACE...In May, the Choral Art Society of New Jersey, under the direction of James Little, held a program featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Theresienmesse” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ arrangement of juxtaposed poetry about war and peace, entitled “Dona Nobis Pacem.” STARTS JAN. 7

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