About Town: Shakespeare on the Lawn, Art in the Woods, and a Movie

Good morning! Another beautiful summer week – is this the best weather or what?? I am loving the combination of warm, dry sunny days and cool nights. Especially as I live in an old house with no AC. Speaking of AC, if this weather has you thinking about installing it, or upgrading your existing system, don’t forget that Concord Light offers rebates for putting in energy-efficient systems. The higher the efficiency, the higher the rebate. You can get all the details at www.concordma.gov; look under “Opportunities” and click on “Lighting and Appliance Rebates” and you’ll get the form.

All this fabulous weather makes you just want to spend as much time as possible outdoors, and I have a great way for you to do that: this weekend and next, on Saturday and Sunday, our own will perform on the library lawn at 2 pm. They will be presenting “Midsummer Mechanicals: Scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare. Basically they’ve taken the five comic parts from the whole play, and distilled it down to just under an hour, a perfect length for taking time to stop and enjoy the day. It’s being directed by Robert Runck, a man who loves directing Shakespeare, and among its nine actors are Concordians and Miranda Cashman. Additionally, dancers from the School of Ballet Arts will portray the fairies as well as a number of other roles. My friend and local gal Maya Calabria is one of them; chances are you may recognize several young girls among the dancers.

The cool thing about Shakespeare is his amazing use of language: double entendres and sly turns of phrase make his plays delicious to take in, and this performance is just long enough to give you a taste of the bard. Between the fine acting and lovely dancing, I’ve no doubt this is a diversion worth your time. Check out all the details here.

Walden Art

Thanks to the weather, I’ve also been doing a lot of my exercising outdoors, some of which consists of walking through the woods. Artist Amy Ragus also has a hankering for our woods, specifically Walden Woods. She takes photos on her walks and then makes collages of them; they’ve been described as “kaleidoscopic mosaics.” Her goal is to capture the moods, feelings and movements of the season, and she does so beautifully. Right now, her Walden art is appearing out at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, along with lovely images of the Fruitlands as well, through August 14. She also has some pieces here in Concord at the Thoreau Farm Trust, but there is limited access to that exhibit, and it coincides with the annual happening over there.

You can also see posters of her Walden collages over at the shop at Walden Pond. For more information on Amy’s show at the Fruitlands, go here.

Family Movie Time

If you find yourself at the end of a long week tired of thinking up new ways to entertain the kids, our very excellent library is here to rescue you. Tomorrow at 1 p.m. they will be showing the family-friendly movie “Space Buddies,” a Disney movie that combines dogs and space travel. Who wouldn’t want to see that?? Throw the kids in the car and get yourself to the for a little R & R in the cool quiet.

Enjoy your weekend, and don’t forget to check out Maureen’s column on Tuesday!

Do you have something you would like to share? Contact me at stefanieac@comcast.net or Maureen at mcb23@comcast.net, and we will be happy to help you spread the good news. And follow us on Twitter: Maureen is @cosmo1162, I’m @stefanie3131.