Weare News : arts

Concert to raise money for library

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:24:00 GMT

Though the damage in town due to the April flooding was great, the community’s volunteer response to help repair it has been just as great.

The latest event to benefit the library as it works to repair the Children’s Room will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, at Center Woods Elementary, with a concert performed by Parents Choice Award-winning entertainers Ben Rudnick and Friends.

This is the third and final event put together by the Volunteers for the Weare Public Library, after a successful carwash and show by the Bedford Youth Performing Company.

So far, the events have raised more than $2,000, thanks in large part to the more than 30 volunteers who have contributed to the planning of each fundraiser, including everyone from parents to high school students.

Rudnick’s show aims to bring together people of all ages by providing a variety of styles he describes as an “amalgamation of bluegrass, folk and rock with some reggae/calypso tossed in because it’s fun to play.”

While children may not recognize the styles, Rudnick is confident they will enjoy the atmosphere.

“Our music is generally aimed at the family unit with kids and grandparents in tow,” he said. “The kids are free to run and dance and engage anyway they like and the parents and grandparents appreciate the playing, enjoy the tunes and recognize the well-known covers that we liberally sprinkle throughout our sets.”

He is also excited to play for a good cause, hoping to please his old fans, and maybe earn a few more along the way.

“Our band comes out of the school of thought that our fans and those who care about what we do is something of a community,” he said. “We love being part of this community, and helping when we can always feels like a very good thing to do.”

Ben Rudnick and Friends to perform for library

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:35:00 GMT

Summer will begin in Weare with the high-energy blend of happy upbeat acoustic music that has won Ben Rudnick and Friends national awards.

The Volunteers for the Weare Public Library will present Rudnick and his band in concert at Center Woods Elementary School in Weare at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 24.

This benefit performance will be a family event, featuring old favorite songs and some of Rudnick’s original compositions. All his music brings audiences together.

“Not only did kids love the show,” said Betsy Siggins Schmidt of Club Passim, “but the parents (and the grandparents) were singing and dancing as well.”

Ben Rudnick and Friends have released four successful children’s albums, but his concerts appeal to a wider audience.

As Buzz McCain of the Washington Post commented, “Ben Rudnick refuses to pander by making ‘children’s music,’ with the result being a disc of sophisticated melodies, precise instrumentation and witty lyrics that delight the whole family.”

This band has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, Club Passim in Boston and theaters from Maine to Ohio.

They have won four Parents’ Choice Awards and the John Lennon Songwriting Award. Their music crosses genres, ranging from bluegrass to swing, rock and folk, to jazz. Samples of their latest album, “Grace’s Bell,” are available at www.benrudnick.com.

This benefit performance is part of a major fundraising effort the Volunteers began after the Weare Public Library Children’s Room flooded on April 16.

All their activities will benefit the restoration of children’s services at a time when library circulation usually soars. Summer Reading Club officially kicks off on June 18, and despite space limitations, Children’s librarian Cora Jo Ciampi plans to offer a full range of programs for children through grade 6 this year.

Library trustees would like to reopen the Children’s Room as soon as causes of the recent flood can be identified and drainage improvements are scheduled.

The work of the Volunteers will facilitate improvements that will prevent future disasters and assure Weare’s children a safe, cheerful place for the enjoyment of books and activities.

Advance tickets for this event will be available through Volunteers for the Weare Public Library, and at Colburn’s North Country Convenience Store and Dodge’s Country 3 Corners Store in Weare.

They are $7 with a $17 family maximum.

Tickets the day of the event are $8 with a $18 family maximum. The performance will be at Center Woods Elementary School, corner of John Stark Highway North and Center Road in Weare.

John Stark High School students to perform ‘Children of Eden’

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:15:00 GMT

The musical “Children of Eden,” music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by John Caird, will be performed at John Stark Regional High School in Weare on March 15, 16, 17, 23 and 24, at 7 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on March 25.

The composer and lyricist Schwartz is well known for composing other hit shows such as “Godspell” and “Wicked,” and the music for “Children of Eden” is just as fun and inspirational.

Composed of two acts, the play is based on a collection of stories from the Bible as it follows the character of Father, played by senior David Reynolds, through the creation of the Garden of Eden and the story of Noah’s Ark.

The first act focuses on Adam, played by senior Eric Bartolotti, and Eve, played by senior Alice Yen, and their discovery of the Tree of Knowledge. It continues through their banishment from the garden and the birth of sons Cain, played by junior Rob McCardell, and Abel, played by senior Christopher Pike. The audience watches Adam, now in the role of “father,” revisit his own rebellion through his son, Cain’s actions.

When the conflict between father and son explodes, Cain has his brother’s blood on his hands and is cursed by Father. The second act then jumps ahead in time through the opening show stopper “Generations” as the story then turns to Noah and his family.

Noah, also played by Bartolotti, and his wife, Mama Noah, played by John Stark’s choral teacher, Emily Jaworski, find themselves part of Father’s plan to cleanse the Earth of the race of Cain with a giant flood and start anew.

Each of Noah’s sons must bring a wife from the race of Seth on the ark to join them. Ham, also played by Pike, chooses Aphra, played by junior Laura Sevigny, and Shem, played by junior Ben Mueser, chooses Aysha, played by senior Adrien Kordas.

Father’s hopes become challenged when the youngest son Japheth, played by Rob McCardell, falls in love with a daughter of the race of Cain, Yonah, played by senior Jeanne Clark, and finds his love returned.

He sneaks her to the ark, but when the rains do not stop and Yonah is discovered, Noah finds himself with a tough decision. Through these hard times, the characters must rediscover their love for one another and what family truly means. Even Father, who turns out to be a very “human” God, learns a lesson about love.

The largest aspect of the play in both size and importance are the storytellers, whose job it is to narrate the story through song and dance.

Storytellers include seniors Alice Yen (Act II), Adrien Kordas (Act I), Jeanne Clark (Act I), Lindsay Burns, Kasi Allison, River Clegg, Chris Fitzpatrick, Meredith Gourley, and Rochelle Neveu, junior Sevigny (Act I), sophomores Bartolotti and Sarah Walton, and freshmen Toni Allison, Wade Croteau and Maureen Menard.

The storytellers are also aided by dancers Amber Finn, Chandelle Bailey, Jen Leclerc, and Raven Widger. The cast includes an additional set of young actors from the Weare and Henniker middle and elementary schools

including Tristan Cole, Joshua Gagnon, Courtney Flaherty, Paul Flaherty, Keith Nieman, Emily Sorey, Kyle Auger and Chloe Wojewoda from Weare along with Billy Howard, Charlie Howard, Molly Glover, Robert Dunn, and Carson Dunn from Henniker. With toe tappers like “Generations” and “Ain’t it Good,” a wide and diverse cast, and themes of forgiveness, love and family,

Tickets will be $5 for students and senior citizens, and $7 for adults.

They will be available at the door or can be reserved by calling the performing arts office at John Stark Regional High School at 529-5314.