Monday, February 6, 2017

Seymour veteran addresses Valley Arts Council meeting

Marine Corps veteran Bob Kukiel of Seymour, a painter and Valley Arts Council member, talks about his art work at a meeting Monday night at the Center for the Arts in Derby. He said the painting above depicts Soldier's Heart, a post-Civil War term for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 


Stay tuned for more information about the meeting in the next issue of The Valley Voice newsletter.

Paul Winter Consort to perform benefit at Assumption Church in Ansonia


ANSONIA - The seven-time Grammy-winning Paul Winter Consort will present its first concert of 2017 at the Church of the Assumption to benefit Massaro Community Farm of Woodbridge. 
This will be the culmination of a yearlong campaign celebrating Massaro's 100 years of farming in the neighboring Woodbridge and Ansonia communities.

The 5 p.m. concert will be preceded by a pre-concert reception at 3 p.m., which will include live music, hors d'oeuvres, a silent auction, and a champagne toast to Massaro’s centennial. 
After the concert there will be a meet-and-greet reception with the musicians.

The church is at 61 N. Cliff St.

“We are very excited to be able to partner with the Church of the Assumption in Ansonia in bringing this event to the area as part of Assumption's 'Sundays at Five' music series,” said farm executive director, Caty Poole. 
“Originally, the Massaro family’s farm straddled both Woodbridge and Ansonia, so it’s particularly fitting to host the concert at this church.”
Proceeds for this gala concert will benefit Massaro Community Farm’s Centennial Campaign, an effort to raise funds for a pavilion/program learning center, improved safety paths and parking, and continued food donations to the community. In 2016, the farm donated more than 9,000 pounds of organic produce to local hunger relief agencies.

"I have many reasons for being excited about our concert in Ansonia”, said Paul Winter, “the opportunity for our Consort to play in the extraordinary acoustic space of the Church of the Assumption, and to celebrate Massaro Community Farm, this remarkable oasis
of nature, food, and community. Now, more than ever before, we need contexts like these, for gatherings like this, to affirm the multifaceted efforts of all people concerned about the future of the planet." 



This information is taken from a press release from Nicole Mikula, event coordinator.

Valley Shakespeare Festival to stage comedy at Shelton restaurant

'The Merry Wives of Windsor' 

SHELTON - Join Valley Shakespeare Festival for the first show of its fifth anniversary season and meet the “Real Housewives of 1597” in the outrageous comedy, “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”  
VSF returns to Caloroso Eatery and Bar, 100 Center St., March 1 and 2 with this, its latest, “Shakespeare in the Bar” production.

The play features one of the Bard’s most beloved characters, Sir John Falstaff, aka “The Fat Knight.”  
Sir John first appears in Shakespeare’s history plays Henry IV, Parts I and II.  
Falstaff, a rowdy, lecherous, hard-drinking, money-swindling, but good-hearted old soul became Queen Elizabeth’s favorite of Shakespeare’s characters. She so enjoyed him that she commanded Shakespeare to write a play focusing on him in which he falls in love.  
And she was so impatient to see him again that she commanded it be completed in two weeks!

The plot revolves around an aging Sir John down on his luck and looking, as always, for an easy way out of his financial difficulties.  
He alights on an idea to woo two well-to-do married women. Sadly for him, the two he chooses are not only faithful to their husbands, but also friends, so that when they reveal his advances to one another, they conspire to turn the tables on him and teach him a lesson he will not easily forget.  Add one jealous husband, one young marriageable daughter and her three suitors to the brew and you get one madcap, fast-moving, boisterous and bawdy concoction of craziness!

This light-hearted look at love and marriage, jealousy and revenge, and class envy will leave you laughing out loud at how some things just never change.

Tickets are on sale now.  
Admission is $20 in advance for Table seats, $15 in advance for Bar seats, and $25 at the door.

Purchase tickets at www.vsfestival.org  or by calling Valley Shakespeare Festival at 203-513-9446.


This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival.

CT Junior Boxing Olympics slated at Ansonia Armory