Month: March 2014

The Vintage Players marks its 20^th anniversary with three performances of Brian Friel’s award-winning play, Dancing at Lughnasa, on April 25, 26, and 27 at the Green Street Arts Center in Middletown. This hauntingly beautiful memory play is a semi-autobiographical reminiscence of the impact of change on the lives of five sisters and their family in a rural Irish community during the summer of 1936.

Jane McMillan founded the Vintage Players in 1993 specifically to present Dancing at Lughnasa. She saw the original production at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1991 and came home determined to stage it in Middletown. Little by little over two years the play took shape, and the Vintage Players presented a staged reading of Dancing at Lughnasa in April 1994. In the early years the organization was greatly strengthened by the help of Richard Kamins and the late Doris Hallie, and although actors have come and gone, the core group has stayed together. John Hall and Lynne Fiducia from the original production are part of this 20^th anniversary show.

Over the years the Vintage Players has staged 18 plays, including Wit, The Dead, The Curious Savage, The Torchbearers, Juno and the Paycock, Driving Miss Daisy, and Chasing Manet. With the addition to the company of actor/director Carolyn Kirsch in 2005, the group has moved from “script in hand” presentations with little sets or props to more professional productions.

Dancing at Lughnasa is set in Ireland’s Donegal County in the fictional town of Ballybeg. Brian Friel has infused his writing with reflective memories of his mother and her sisters. As seen through the eyes of a 7 year old, now grown, a narrator embraces the poetry and humor of this master playwright, and we are able to join the family as these indomitable women struggle with social mores, the Catholic Church, and the coming industrialization of cottage industry.

Under the direction of Vintage Players founder Jane McMillan, the 20th-anniversary cast includes John Hall, Linda Kaskel, Carolyn Kirsch, Pat Farrell, Lynne Fiducia, Terri Klein, Nat Holmes and Gerry Matthews. Music is by Ceol go Maidin. Assisting the production are Cookie and Eggie Quinones, Peggy Welsh, Marian Katz, Susan Hall,  Ellie Howard, and Cora Rodenheizer. Tate Burmeister is the Technical Director.

Performances are Friday, April 25 at 7 pm; Saturday, April 26 at 7 pm; and Sunday, April 27 at 3 pm. All performances are at the Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green Street, Middletown. RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY and may be made by calling Claudia Wolf at 860-685-7797. All performances are free, but donations are welcome. All proceeds will benefit the Children’s Programs of Green Street Arts Center and Oddfellows Playhouse.

$158,483 grant supports the creation of an Intel Math Institute to provide intensive professional development for area K-8 teachers

IntelMathBrochure

Teachers – Apply here by April 21, participants will be notified of acceptance by April 30.

Middletown, Conn. – Wesleyan University’s Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science has been awarded a CT State Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant to create an Intel Math Institute for Middletown and Meriden teachers starting this summer. The Institute will include a content-intensive, 80-hour math course with ongoing academic year professional development and arts integration workshops to support teachers in linking Common Core concepts to classroom instruction.  Participants will be mentored in implementing math standards and practices, as well as improving pedagogy knowledge and understanding for math classroom instruction. The project involves teaching artists from Wesleyan’s Green Street Arts Center who will take the intensive math course alongside the teachers and develop workshops for K-8 educators that integrate the arts into math instruction.

“This award is very exciting,” says PIMMS and Green Street Arts Center Director Sara MacSorley. “It embodies the direction of the partnership of PIMMS and the Green Street Arts Center. We want to create a space for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. This is the first time we’ve formally integrated the arts into a math professional development opportunity. The arts, like science and math, build skills in observation, visual thinking, pattern recognition, and problem-solving – all valuable skills for the next generation.”

The Institute will be co-taught by Wesleyan Assistant Professor Christopher Rasmussen and Math Education Specialist Sharon Heyman, currently the only CT-based Intel-trained instructors.

“I am proud and thrilled that Wesleyan has been awarded a Connecticut State Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant to implement an Intel Math Institute,” says Wesleyan President, Michael Roth. “We have long practiced interdisciplinary math and science education on campus, and we are eager to share what we’ve learned with teachers from across the state.”

PIMMS, with 35 years of demonstrated experience in delivering high-quality professional development for math and science teachers, will lead this partnership.  Sara MacSorley, who will serve as Project Coordinator, cited the award as a model for the State’s commitment to maintaining the competitiveness of its workforce through improved instruction in mathematics and science with an arts integration twist.

About PIMMS

Wesleyan University’s PIMMS began in 1979 as a joint effort of a diverse group of volunteers from education, business, government, and industry to foster increased understanding and appreciation of mathematics by Connecticut high school graduates.  It was established under the direction of Robert A. Rosenbaum, the University Professor of Mathematics and the Sciences.  In 1983, the organization broadened its scope to include science and began the PIMMS Fellowship Programs. In 2012 PIMMS joined the Green Street Arts Center in a strategic move to develop a new partnership to provide integrative teaching and learning opportunities in art, math, and science. 

 About the Green Street Arts Center

The collaborative spirit of Wesleyan University, the City of Middletown, and the North End Action Team helped create the Green Street Arts Center in 2005. Being located in Middletown’s historic North End allowed the Center to become a beacon of change for the community and a gathering place for people from all walks of life to come together through art. Since opening, more than 20,000 people have experienced Green Street’s programs in the visual, performing, and media arts.

For more information about the Green Street Arts Center or PIMMS, please call 860-685-7871 or visit www.wesleyan.edu/greenstreet.

Email: gsac@wesleyan.edu

Address: 51 Green Street, Middletown, CT 06457

Spring is coming and we are ready at Green Street with a new growing and gardening-themed class for kids and their parents.

Call us today to sign up you and your children for our springtime Rainbow Music Class with Miss Veronica Voorhies.

Bond with your children through the joy of music! Children will learn basic music concepts like rhythm and pitch. Families will take away music activities that they can do at home. Classes include songs aligned with the pre-school curriculum, percussion (drums, rhythm sticks, egg shakers), movement (scarves), and a story time about gardens.

Classes are on Saturdays from 10:30-11:15am starting April 5, 2014. You pay $60 for a 7-week class, families with multiple children receive 25% off per sibling. Classes are best suited for children from 6 months-5 years old and at least one adult must stay for class.

Please call or email the Green Street Arts Center today to sign up 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu – Register by April 1st, space is limited. Class contingent on minimum enrollment.