On view through Sun 10/9
View gorgeous watercolor paintings at the Fall Art Show @ Penitentiary Glen. After you view the lovely art, stroll through the Glen — definitely one of NEO’s most beautiful parks. [Pictured: Waterlily by Billie Richards.]
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Wednesdays @ 9:30PM
Get the blues every Wed at the Parkview Nite Club. Blues Jam is hosted by Michael Bey and the Bad Boys of Blues. Join the jam and enjoy some food (the kitchen’s open ’til 11PM).
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Wanna go car-free? Brookings recently analyzed zero-car households in the U.S. Who’s going 100 percent car-free? How are they getting around? Why is this lifestyle becoming more and more impossible?
Read Thinking About Ditching Your Car? You May Need to Think Again.
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Sat 8/27 @ 8AM
Adults — go on a 9K dash (or 5K walk). Kids — join the free kids’ dash. It’s all to benefit Maggie’s Place, an organization that provides hospitality for pregnant women that are alone or on the streets. Race is @ Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on Sat 8/27/11. Get those running shoes ready.
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Saturdays @ 11:30AM
Sundays @ 3:30PM
Have a young one? Bring them to Weekends with Wee Ones @ Lakewood Public Library’s Madison branch. Spend time clapping your hands, tapping your feet, singing nursery rhymes, and, of course, sharing books. The Library will provide materials and ideas for families wishing to continue the fun at home. Free. Offered every weekend of the year. There is no need to register. For families with kids under 2.
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VIDEO: Lanes for Change
Come Bowl, Party & Change Lives
Betsie Norris has a special connection to Adoption Network Cleveland. Many executive directors are passionate about the mission of the non-profits they helm, but Norris has a special connection with hers. Betsie was an adoptee herself, and in 1986 she searched for her birthparents. Much to her surprise, she found that her birthmother had married her birthfather not long after her birth and they had three sons. She was welcomed into the family with open arms. During the process of searching for and reuniting with her own family, she realized that there was a lack of resources for adoptees, birthparents and everyone whose lives had been changed by adoption. In 1988, with a small group of volunteers, Norris founded Adoption Network Cleveland. Over the years, the organization has grown, with the generous help of supporters and volunteers, into a thriving 501(c)(3) non-profit that offers services to everyone from adoptees and birth parents to foster children and parents considering adoption. Now, Norris is asking everyone in Cleveland to get involved in supporting the members of our community who are touched by adoption.
Check out this exclusive Cool Cleveland video where Sean Tuttle interviews Betsie Norris, executive director of Adoption Network Cleveland, about their upcoming fundraiser, Lanes for Change 2011.
A bowling party with a purpose, Adoption Network Cleveland’s 4th Annual Bowling Fundraiser “Lanes for Change 2011″ offers everyone the opportunity to come together, have fun, celebrate and raise money that will ensure that our community has access to resources and support during any part of the adoption process. Lanes for Change 2011 is Sat 8/27 at Freeway Lanes of Parma, 12859 Brookpark Road, Parma. Sign-in begins at 9:30 a.m. and bowling is from 10 a.m. – noon. Register today and set up an online fundraising page where your friends and family can sponsor your bowling skills, or call (216)-482-2312 to register by phone. Event features honorary chair WEWS Channel 5 Anchor Danita Harris.
Can’t attend Lanes for Change? Never fear. Cool Cleveland reporter Julie Cajigas and her husband will be bowling and would love your support on their fundraising page. Let’s see if Cool Cleveland readers can pledge $1,000.00 to Adoption Network Cleveland. Click Here to donate. If every Cool Cleveland reader donated just $1, Adoption Network Cleveland would receive nearly ten times the $1,000.00 goal!
“Adoption Network Cleveland was the first place where I ever felt like I wasn’t alone,” says Kate, an adoptee who benefited from their services. Her words and the words of others served by Adoption Network Cleveland are the most persuasive argument for bowling your heart out at Lanes for Change 2011 that anyone could ever present. A birthmother named Liz shared, “People don’t understand what you go through having given up a child. I couldn’t put a price on what Adoption Network Cleveland has done for me; finding and meeting him was one of the greatest days of my life.” Adoption Network Cleveland helped her find the son she had put up for adoption. In 2010 alone Adoption Network Cleveland facilitated 38 birthparent searches, served over 4,000 people in Northeast Ohio and engaged more than 270 volunteers for over 2,700 hours of service. The organization is making a major impact, won’t you join in?
If you can bowl on Sat 8/27, you’re in for a treat! In 2010, the bowling alley was filled with families, children, couples, individuals and corporate teams – and lots of smiles. You can come alone, with family, with friends or with your very own team! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to register. The day will include two hours of bowling, snacks, music and prizes. All teams that raise over $250 prior to the event will receive a reserved lane, have a photo taken at the event, and receive additional door prize raffle tickets for every $50 raised. The registration fee for adults is $35, $15 for youth age 6-17 and free for children five and under. All participants will enjoy 2 hours of unlimited bowling (with or without bumpers!) with complimentary shoes, food, music and the chance to win great door prizes.
“I hope to see you there,” says Cool Cleveland writer Julie Cajigas. “I will be showing off my historically poor bowling skills, raising money for Adoption Network Cleveland and celebrating the people in my life who have been touched by adoption.”
Lanes for Change 2011 is Sat 8/27 at Freeway Lanes of Parma, 12859 Brookpark Road, Parma. Sign-in begins at 9:30 a.m. and bowling is from 10 a.m. – noon. Register online or by phone at (216)-482-2312 . For more information about Adoption Network Cleveland, visit http://www.AdoptionNetwork.org. If you can’t attend Lanes for Change 2011, please consider donating as a Cool Cleveland reader Here.
Sean Tuttle is a Senior at the University of Akron. He is a member of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), and committee head of fundraising and philanthropy for PRSSA. He will earn his degree in Public Relations with a Minor in Sports Management in December 2011.
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VIDEO: Junior Jitterbugs Head To Washington
Cleveland’s Junior Jitterbugs are off to Washington, DC to compete in the International Lindy Hop Championships. Cool Cleveland’s Susan Petrone talks with Valerie Salstrom of Get Hep Swing, who has been teaching these middle-schoolers from Cleveland’s Denison Middle School the finer points of swing dancing.
Watch what these kids can do here.
When Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Petrone is not writing an arts or culture article for Cool Cleveland, she writes fiction. Her first novel, A Body at Rest, was published in early 2009 by Drinian Press. An excerpt from the novel and some of her published short fiction are available at http://www.SusanPetrone.com.
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More World Class Culture
Welcome to the mid-sized city with big shoulders and a bounty of world-class cultural offerings, virtually 24/7/365. In fact, we’d be clogging up our calendar and your mobile device if we listed everything. So feel free to drill down for more cool stuff happening at these incredible institutions:
* Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum There’s nothing like it in the world. Plan to spend 3 hours or more exploring the permanent collection of guitars, stagewear, lyric sheets and cool ephemera. Rotating exhibitions attract over 700,000 people every year, including their annual American Music Masters programs and Induction ceremonies.
* PlayhouseSquare The second largest performing arts center in the country attracts over 1 million people per year to over 1000 annual events, featuring Broadway shows, plays, musicals, opera, ballet and contemporary performing arts.
* The Cleveland Museum of Art One of the largest and most comprehensive art museums in the world, the CMA attracts over 630,000 annual visitors to it’s blockbuster exhibits and permanent collections. And with free admission to the galleries, why not? Their astounding $350 million renovation and expansion will add 30% more space for events, a cafe and amenities.
* The Cleveland Orchestra Internationally respected as one of the top 3 orchestras worldwide, and in between their annual world tours to Europe, the Far East and the US, over a half million people visit the incomparable Severance Hall to hear The Cleveland Orchestra, or their their summer home, Blossom Music Center, which also features rock, folk and pop concerts.
* Cleveland Metroparks and Zoo It’s not called The Forest City for nothing. Surrounding the metro Cleveland area is a ring of interconnected parks, nicknamed The Emerald Necklace. Find out why over 20 million people visit annually for hiking, golf, picknicking, fishing, boating, recreation and events.
Any day of the week, any week of the year, something cool is going on in the Cleveland area!
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Sun 8/28 @ 1 – 4PM
Learn the right way to bike at the Basics of Transportation Bicycling workshop offered at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Scoop: “Offered by the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op, this course will cover what every cyclist should know to use their bike safely, confidently and comfortably—whether for commuting through the winter or going to the grocery store on a sunny day. The course will include a bike tour of University Circle.”
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REVIEW: Convergence-continuum’s FIVE FLIGHTS on opening night
Convergence-continuum’s FIVE FLIGHTS on opening night
In its New York run, Adam Bock’s FIVE FLIGHTS was called “an intricately constructed comedy about love and grief that is incredibly funny, surprisingly touching and soaring with joyful humanity.” I wish I could say the same thing about the convergence-continuum production. Unfortunately on opening night, with some members of the cast fighting to just remember, let alone make sense of their lines, the pauses, stumbles, and oft panicked looks on their faces took much of the very breadth out of the production.
The script, which is about religion, belief, love and loss, is divided into four sections: “The Narrative,” “A Vision,” “The Mad Scenes,” “The Conclusion… plus,” and “A Little Dance.”
The plot revolves around three adult siblings whose father, in an act of devotion to his recently dead, bird-loving wife, builds an aviary in his wife’s honor to house a bird which landed on him during her funeral. He perceives the feathered creature to be his wife’s reincarnation. After both the bird and the father die, a decision must be made about what to do with the now decaying edifice, which, in reality, is a metaphor for the various flight patterns each of the lives of the participants take.
The decision is left to three siblings, two of whom we meet during the play. The deciders are sensitive Ed, who was hurt by a gay relationship gone bad; his sister Adele, who is steered into decisions by her love for Olivia, a fanatical preacher of charismatic religion who wants the site for her church; and Jane, the compulsive wife of Bobby, the never seen brother. The confusion is compounded by the entrance of Tom, a hockey player who falls in love with Ed.
Zak Hudak (Ed) and Clinton Elston (Tom) shortly after first meeting look at each other. Hudak with his huge deer-caught-in-the-headlights eyes and Elston in his macho way move forward, try and figure out how to wrap their arms around each other, awkwardly move their bodies in formations that would create the right contact points, figure whose nose goes to the right and whose to the left, and awkwardly kiss. Then all hell breaks loose and the duo is a tangle of flying body parts. It is a classic bit of theatricality… hysterically funny yet sensual.
Besides the kissing scene, Clyde Simon’s direction gives a fun interpretation to viewing a ballet in which the characters’ eyes and heads bob in time to Tchaikovsky’s music. Unfortunately, the timing was not exactly right, so the effect was somewhat lost.
Simon, who relishes titillation, inserts a nude locker room and shower scene. Though it may appeal to some of the con con audience, the nudity adds little to the development of the play itself.
Hudak gives a nice textured performance as the conflicted Ed. A master at facial comedy, he creates a humorous, often pathetic yet appealing characterization. Elston as Ed’s want-to-be lover is convincing, and has both the physicality and the macho hockey player mannerisms needed for the role. They play well off each other.
Elaine Flagler is overly strident as Jane. She screams most of her lines in a hysterical high pitched whine. The usual competent Laura Hammer (Olivia) stumbles through her lines. It’s hard to tell whether the blanks spaces in dialogue are caused by her forgetfulness or she is getting the wrong cues. Jaclyn Cifranic (Adele) has some nice moments, but never seems comfortable in the role. Robert Branch as Andre, Tom’s hockey playing buddy, has some funny moments but has an off-putting accent.
Capsule Judgment: Based on the opening night performance, it’s pretty hard to judge con con’s FIVE FLIGHTS. After the cast learns their lines, the delightful and meaningful script might take flight. As of now, it, like the aviary in which it takes places, is in need of some repair.
Roy Berko, who is a life-long Clevelander, is a Renaissance man. Believing the line in Robert Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken,” each time he comes to a fork in the road, he has taken the path less traveled. He holds degrees, thought the doctorate from Kent State, University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University. His present roles, besides husband and grandfather, are professor, crisis counselor, author and entertainment reviewer… Read Roy Berko’s complete bio here
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Posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011, in Commentary, News, Performance, Review, Roy Berko, Theatre | No Comments »