Celtic Festival slated at Seymour Middle School

SEYMOUR - The Naugatuck Community Band will present a Celtic Festival at 7 p.m. March 12 at Seymour Middle School, 211 Mountain Road.

The concert is a celebration of Irish, Scottish, and British music.

The Seymour Culture and Arts Commission is sponsoring the event.



This information is shared from the community band's Facebook event page. 

Valley Shakespeare Festival in Shelton adapts French comedy

SHELTON - Valley Shakespeare Festival is making a brief departure from the works of its namesake for its next “Theater in the Bar” production with Moliere’s bawdy comedy “Tartuffe.”

Fans of VSF are well-acquainted with the way the company’s Artistic Director Tom Simonetti likes to adapt the classics for a contemporary audience while retaining the work’s authentic language.  
“Tartuffe” presented a special challenge as it was not only written in the 17^th century, but also in Moliere’s native French.  

Many English translations have been published in the subsequent 350-plus years and, after much research, Simonetti created the version audiences will enjoy on March 10 and 11 at Porky’s Café, 50 Center St.

Jeremy Funke, VSF’s perennial and lovable Ebenezer Scrooge will play the title role, the unscrupulous lecher and houseguest- from - Hell, Tartuffe, who will stop at nothing to take his host for all he is worth. 

Dave Herigstad, last seen in the company’s summer production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as Oberon, the all-powerful King of the Faeries, will do a “180” and portray Orgon, Tartuffe’s brainwashed host who is feeling his age and looking for redemption anywhere he can find it.  

Jessica Breda, a long time VSF favorite who has played multiple roles with the company, will take on Dorine in “Tartuffe,” the out-spoken, feisty, no-nonsense maid to Orgon’s wife, and the only one with the finesse and courage to save her employers from certain devastation. 

Audiences will no doubt recognize many other returning cast members as well as meet some new ones in Valley Shakespeare Festival’s “Tartuffe,” an irreverent and hilarious look at family, morals, religion, and all the usual issues faced by families throughout the ages.  

Tickets are $20 per person for table seats and $15 per person for floor seats and are available for purchase online at www.vsfestival.org or by phone by calling 203-513-9446.  

This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival, a non-profit theater company dedicated to bringing free and low-cost theater to the communities of the lower Naugatuck Valley.

Club recognizes Shelton native as part of anniversary celebration

SHELTON - As part of its year-long 60^th anniversary celebration, the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley will be recognizing the life of someone who has been positively affected by the Club on a regular basis throughout the year. 

This month we recognize Robert ‘Bob’ Zuraw. Bob is a Shelton native who became a member of the Boys & Girls Club soon after the Club’s incorporation in 1956. Bob spent many afternoons participating in the various activities offered by the Club.

Bob graduated from Shelton High School in 1965 and went on to attend Ithaca College in New York. There he was an active member of the student body serving as the Senior Class President in 1969. After graduation Bob served as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Reserve and later went on to build a successful career in petroleum marketing, with companies such as Getty Oil and Standard Petroleum. 

Bob has been and remains an active member of the community, dedicating his time to working with the youth of Shelton and surrounding towns. His involvement in several local sports programs as well as the Connecticut Special Olympics has made him a model citizen. Bob is an active member on the Board of Directors for the Parent Child Resource Center as well as President of the Paul Pecylak Memorial Scholarship Committee, which provides scholarships to players of the Shelton High School men’s basketball team. 

In the past Bob has served on several different local committees and dedicated countless hours to supporting the youth of our community. 
He credits his Boys & Girls Club for having a positive impact on his life. Bob still resides in Shelton with his wife Sandra. He is the proud father of his two children Victoria and Lucas, and enjoys spending time with his three grandchildren, Samantha, Shawn, Ava. 

We are looking for stories about anyone whose life was positively affected by our Boys & Girls Club. Stories are welcome all year long, from Club members, past members, friends, and family. 
If you have an experience you’d like to share with us, please email Press@BGC-LNV.org, or call Ann Wheeler at 203-924-7462. 
All are invited to our 60^th Anniversary Gala Nov. 10 at The Waterview in Monroe. See our website for details at www.BGC-LNV.org.


This is a press release from the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.

Crisco, firefighters discuss status update on regional fire training schools

HARTFORD - State Sen. Joseph Crisco, Jr., D-Woodbridge, met earlier this week for about an hour with more than a dozen fire chiefs and volunteer firefighters to update them on the status of financing and building several regional fire training schools across Connecticut, including one in Beacon Falls. 

State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco

State bonding for some new fire training schools – including one to be built in the Pinesbridge Commerce Park in Beacon Falls - was approved in principle in 2012, but the funds have not been released by the State Bond Commission. 

That school would serve firefighters from Beacon Falls, Ansonia, Seymour, Shelton, Derby, Orange, Woodbridge, Oxford, and Bethany.

Crisco said he is committed to pursuing state bonding for the Beacon Falls fire training school.

“These volunteer firefighters are saving local communities millions of dollars by not having communities build, staff and maintain their own professional, full-time fire departments,” Crisco said. 

“Five of the seven towns that I represent have all-volunteer departments. These delays in bonding for a new training facility for them have gone on too long.”

State Rep. Linda Gentile, D-Ansonia, agrees. “Our volunteers put their lives on the line each and every time they respond to an incident, and any money we can get to train them is a wise investment in their safety and in public safety,” she said. 

This is a press release from Crisco's office.