BY WENDY ELLIOTT
welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca
NovaNewsNow.com
Camp Triumph benefit
Wolfville native Jordan Sheriko, finishing his first year at Dalhousie Medical School, has a group of his fellow students lined up to perform “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” May 10-11.
The Class of 2011 Dal Med Players will be on stage at Sheriko’s old school, Horton High, for one evening and one matinee performance. Approximately 20 young medical students will take part and are rehearsing as they write their year-end exams.
All proceeds will benefit Camp Triumph, which is running for three weeks this summer to benefit children in families with a chronically ill family member.
The May 10 show is at 7 p.m., while the matinee starts at 2 p.m. May 11. Tickets range from $10 to $50.
Book launch
Author John Stiles will launch his new novel at The Wolfville Memorial Library Friday, May 16 at 2 p.m.
His hero, Jarod Palmer, is a 32-year-old Toronto writer waiting for his big break, though a small one will do. Haunted by his story of tragic teenage sweethearts in small-town Nova Scotia — featuring the unforgettable Lana Banana — Jarod is infected by the ancient mariner’s curse on all young unpublished novelists to “tell the tale.”
Taking the Stairs is fast-moving, risky and infectiously fun. Stiles’s novel follows Jarod’s path through the bustling streets of Toronto as he endures odd jobs that pay the rent while trying also trying to finish his first novel. This is the story of his self-discovery, a coming-of-age for the soon-to-be-evicted.
Stiles was born in Wolfville. His debut novel, The Insolent Boy, received acclaim in Canada and the U.S. He was written two collections of poetry: Scouts Are Cancelled: The Annapolis Valley Poems (2002) and Creamsicle Stick Shivs (2006).
He currently lives in London, England. A documentary about his struggles as a writer (strongly resembling Taking the Stairs) is currently on the festival circuit. It has appeared at Toronto’s Hot Docs and won the Atlantic Film Festival’s top documentary prize.
See the Lion King
The Lion King is coming to the Wolfville School gym on May 8–10 at 7 p.m.
All tickets are $6 and can be purchased at the door or by calling the school at 542-6055. Wolfville’s elementary students, directed by Thea Burton, are expected to present another one of their spectacular productions.
Award-winner
Robert Bringhurst’s essay collection Everywhere Being is Dancing, which was published by Kentville’s Gaspereau Press, was selected as the winner of this year’s Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, one of seven BC Book Prizes awarded annually.
Stage Prophets
St. Joseph’s youth theatre group, the Stage Prophets, which encompass over 80 youth from Windsor to Berwick, are preparing to present another musical production. They plan to bring a Disney musical to life on stage.
With the success of last year’s production Children of Eden, the group is looking forward to presenting Beauty and the Beast at the Festival Theatre in Wolfville May 16 at 7 p.m., May 17 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and May 18 at 7 p.m.
With a wide variety of animated costumes and elaborate stage designs, Beauty and the Beast promises to be an entertaining and moving experience. It’s a family play that will appeal to young and old and delivers an inspiring message.
Tickets are priced at $15 and are available at the Acadia Box Office, Box of Delights, Wolfville, M&M Meats, New Minas and Designer Café, Kentville and St. Joseph’s Church Office.
Professional gallery
Artist Tony Myers’ amazing recent printmaking work is in his show “Journey to the Border” at the Ross Creek Centre.
Myers’ work draws on the traditions of Western relief printmaking from medieval woodcuts and examines the border between the physical and spiritual worlds in work that is strong, expressive and moving. His current work includes an exploration of the “language of birds” and the bird as messenger, primitive spirituality and mankind’s relationship to nature.
It will be on display until June 22.
Curator talk
Acadia Art Gallery director Laurie Dalton will give a free public talk on the Acadia Print Series’ featuring 18th and 19th century prints from the permanent collection.
These rare prints are being exhibited for the first time at Acadia University. The exhibit showcases the important role of social and political satire in Britain, and the important role that these prints served in the public’s cultural, social and political awareness.
The selection of prints touch on issues of political reform in Britain, pursuits of Napoleon in Europe, along with social satire of other political and public figures.
Dalton’s talk is Friday, May 9 at 1 p.m. The exhibition runs until June 30.
On screen
The Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville will host Fundy Film’s screening of War Dance May 7, 7 p.m. A group of displacement camp children in war-torn Uganda compete in their country’s major cultural event, the annual Kampala Music Festival. The film celebrates the spirit of these children and their passion for music.
For anyone who can't make it to this film May 7, it will be screened again to the public June 25 during an international development conference's activities at the Al Whittle Theatre.
Fundy Film screens The Band’s Visit. An Egyptian police band travels to Israel for an Arab culture centre opening and, instead, finds itself lost in a tiny Israeli desert town. May 11: 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 12: 7 p.m.
Tickets are $8, available 30 minutes before the screening.
www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.
Book reading
Florida writer John Chambers was born and bred in Halifax. On May 6, 7-9 p.m., he will give a talk and hold a book-signing at the Box of Delights in Wolfville. His new book is Victor Hugo's Conversations with the Spirit World: A Literary Genius's Hidden Life.
Chambers describes himself as a sort of "native grandson in absentia" of Wolfville. His grandfather, John Darby Chambers, spent most of his life in Wolfville, for many years running a store at the corner of Central Avenue and Main St. He was mayor twice and is primarily remembered, or so Chambers’ father told him, for having the roads paved and owning the first automobile.
Chambers’ father was editorial cartoonist Robert Chambers, working at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and Mail-Star in Halifax for 40 years.
For details about Chambers’ book and his own life, visit
www.newpara.com or drop in to his Wolfville reading.
Lucas in concert
Lucas Porter, Grade 12 student at Horton High School, will take part in a benefit concert shortly for the school’s Safe Grad program.
In addition to Lucas on piano, the concert will feature the Horton String Ensemble and Horton Choir. The concert is set for May 7, 7 p.m. at the Performance Centre at Horton. Tickets are available at the school or at Cochrane’s Pharmasave in Wolfville, $10 for adults and $8 for students.
Cape Breton Square set
This year’s fifth annual Cape Breton Square set dance will be May 10 at the Wolfville Lion’s Hall. Doors open at 7 p.m. for a “how-to” lesson with Christy Hodder and Cape Breton fiddler Dara Smith. The dance officially gets underway at 7:45 p.m. and there will be a break in the middle of the evening for a mini ceilidh.
Tickets are $8 per person or $35 for large families. Contact Christy Hodder for the fiddle workshop with Dara Smith, 542–3416.
Kiss Army comes out
The Kiss tribute "Dressed 2 Kill" is on stage May 10 at the Kings' Arms Pub in Kentville, at 9 p.m.
In full costume and make-up, Dressed 2 Kill is looking to prove that Kiss is one of the best live acts in the world. Cover is $4 at the door.
Best covers
South Shore rockers, Short Notice, are coming to the Valley May 17 at the Kings' Arms Pub, Kentville at 9 p.m. Short Notice aims to make people see why the Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia nominated them as cover band of the year.
Playing classics both old and new plus some originals, this will be their first Valley show in some time.
Coming up
May 7 - 10
West Kings presents Grease, 8 p.m.; May 10 at 2 p.m. Tickets at West Kings, 847-4440, or Pharmasaves in Kingston, Middleton and Berwick. Tickets: adults $10, students $7
May 9
Garrett Mason and The Vibrations, Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville
May 10
Kiss tribute Dressed 2 Kill, Kings’ Arms Pub, Kentville, 9 p.m.
Until May 17
Don’t Dress for Dinner, CentreStage Theatre, Kentville, 8 p.m., matinee May 11 at 2 p.m. Reservations 678-8040
May 24
Smokin’ Entertainment spring fling with Tara Lee Combs, the Cuban Assassins, Subspecies; KAPS Lounge, Kentville, 8 p.m. Advance tickets only $5, 691-4747
Until June 30
Acadia Print Series’ featuring 18th and 19th century prints from the permanent collection, Acadia Art Gallery, Wolfville.
