"The Christians"

April 29, 2018 — In another of their typical thought-provoking productions that stay with you long after the play is over, theatre KAPOW is presenting "The Christians" by Lucas Hnath at the Derry Opera House in Derry, New Hampshire.

Pastor Paul (Bill Westenberg), announces the church's debt has finally been paid off and attendance has increased exponentially since they began as a storefront chapel twenty years ago. He then launches into a sermon that questions the traditional Christian belief about the afterlife. The popular assistant pastor, Joshua (Michael Domeny), expresses his dismay over Paul's position, and ultimately leaves the church, in the end taking a large portion of the congregation with him.

Briefly stated, the play is a debate between fundamentalism and more progressive church doctrine, but there's much more to it than that. Playwright Hnath's genius is in presenting the two sides of the argument without a conclusion. That's left to the audience.

Rounding out the cast are Peter Josephson as the church elder, Anja Parish as an unhappy congregant, and Carey Cahoon as Pastor Paul's wife, Elizabeth. Matt Cahoon directed, and Carey and Matt are responsible for the excellent production design. The choir consisted of Amelia Hanson, Jake Hudgins and Matt Kasnetz, directed by Maria Franciosa. Once again, Tayva Young's lighting expertise has enhanced a tKAPOW production.

All performances were superb, as we've come to expect from tKAPOW. The originality and talent of this small company is truly a gift to New Hampshire.

Driving Miss Daffodil

April 22, 2018 — The first car show of the new season (second if I'm allowed to include the tracked machine show from February) was a rally and parade in Newport, Rhode Island. The event was called "Driving Miss Daffodil" and was sponsored by the Audrain Automobile Museum on the final day of the week-long Daffodil Days. Participating cars gathered in a parking area at Easton's Beach and were there about half an hour for viewing and photography. More time would have been better as sixty-five cars drifted in, the last just in time for the start of the parade. Cars were decked out in artistic arrangements of daffodils. Highlight of show was a beautifully restored 1936 Packard that transported a couple of very important Rhode Island citizens.

The day was bright and clear, in the 50s and windy, but it felt good after a very cold April up to now. The cars left on a parade from the beach to the Audrain Museum in downtown Newport. They filled two large parking lots where there was opportunity for more pictures. There was also a performance by the Rhode Island Ballet Theater at the nearby Bellevue House. Gardens around the property were filled with daffodils. It's been much too cold for growing this spring, so the flowers must have been raised in greenhouses and transplanted.

I've posted photos and videos of the cars, flowers, parade and parts of the ballet performance at this link:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/daffodildays/

Lexington Revolutionary War Observance

April 16, 2018 — A week before Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts holiday observing the start of the Revolutionary War, I came to Lexington to see the full-dress rehearsal of the Battle of Lexington reenactment. I had seen the reenactment before, and was contemplating seeing it again on Patriots' Day morning, an annual event that begins at 5:30 a.m., an ungodly hour, especially if you live an hour's drive away, and the crowd is so dense you need to get there no later than 4 a.m. to stake out your spot, or you won't be able to see anything. But this full-dress rehearsal has almost everything the Patriots' Day reenactment offers, just not as much shooting, and it's at 2 in the afternoon. The crowd is smaller, Lexington Green is not roped off as it is on Patriots' Day, and it's easy to find a good vantage point for viewing and photographing the action.

My video and photos of this event, including a tour of the Hancock-Clarke House, can be seen at this link:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/lexington18/

The weather forecast for Patriots' Day was becoming more and more dire as the day approached, so my hopes of seeing the reenactment were diminishing. I decided to return to Lexington two days before Patriots' Day to see another reenactment in Tower Park of a running battle between local militias and retreating British. This event featured lots of musket and cannon fire on a clear but unseasonably cold April day.

Another video and photos of this event, along with a tour of Munroe Tavern, can be seen here:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/redcoatretreat/

I'm glad I saw these two events, because the weather on Patriots' Day lived up to the worst of the forecasts, with soaking, wind-driven rain all day. This was also the day of the Boston Marathon, held in the worst weather in recent memory.