Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Opera in Lansing?  To some that might be as miraculous as the marvelous events in the play.  But Musical Director Doreen Alsen says it was simply a matter of finding the right child to play Amahl, the crippled boy whose story 'Amahl and the Night Visitor' tells. 

"It's always been in the back of my mind that we have the talent here in Lansing to do opera," she says.  "We've been held back by the fact that we couldn't find a young person musical and mature enough to play the part of Amahl, the crippled boy.  Mr. Menotti's will is quite explicit that he does not want a small grownup to play Amahl.  We have a young girl, Catherine Miller, who is doing a fabulous job with it.  It's because we found Catherine that we were finally able to say this is the year."

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SMART TALK
by Dr. Verbos Metikulos

POINSETTUH: I feel sorry for this poor Mexican shrub every winter.  It gets planted and nurtured, filling towns and villages with its beauty before getting shipped north, where ignorant Americanos will call them poin-SET-ahs, or even worse, point-SET-ahs, as if they're never seen the name in print.

At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we can usually treat this problem by simply asking the patient to look carefully, perhaps for the first time, at the word.  Unlike many, this word is pronounced exactly the way it's spelled: poinsettia (poin-SET-ee-ah).  Note the penultimate letter; also note that the fifth letter is an S, not a T.  It's really not that difficult.

My colleague Laconia Crisp says she's apt to think the ignorant gringo pronunciation of poinsettia are simply a lower class of people, but they're more likely just poor readers.

And poinsettia isn't even a Spanish word.  Mr. Joel Poinsett, an American diplomat and amateur botanist, named the plant after himself in the early years of this great country.  So have some respect.

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What if your dream life were more fulfilling than reality - which would you choose, and how would you tell which is which?   These questions are explored in the magical and poetic I BECOME A GUITAR, a world premiere play by Portland, Oregon playwright Francesca Sanders running on the Kitchen Theatre Main Stage from January 14 to February 8.

SMART TALK
by by Dr. Shirley Glibb

AT THE PRESENT MOMENT:  It hardly seems fair:  At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, some patients say at the present moment, and we label them temporal retentives.  After all, they can't commit themselves to saying now.  That hardly seems retentive, but we treat them in the same clinic as those who say twelve midnight and four A.M. in the morning.

The at the present moment sufferers also evade now by saying at the present time, or worse, at this moment in time, whatever that is.  They could at least say at present, at the moment, or at this time.

Help us help them.  Send your contributions today, and support our Edwin Newman Clinic.

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December 8, 2008 (ITHACA, NY) – For many students of English literature, studying Shakespeare is a challenging task. Homeschooled teens in Ithaca, however, are bringing Shakespeare’s classics to life this Fall—and they are enjoying the process of doing so.

Fifteen teens are participating in a 10-week theatre workshop that is the product of a new partnership between the Hangar Theatre and the Northern Lights Learning Center.  The collaboration has emerged from a shared philosophy of arts-integrated learning that is at the core of both organizations’ missions.

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You need Java enabled to view the crossword applet. If you do not have Java installed you can obtain it from java.com. If do have Java you may need to check your security settings to make sure that applets are enabled, especially if you are viewing the puzzle from your hard disk. In Windows XP you may be able to enable the applet by clicking on the yellow bar at the top of the window and selecting "Allow blocked content".

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