Celtic concert in summer series

     BRISTOL MILLS -- By popular request, Castlebay, along with harpist Mary Chamberlain, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Bristol Congregational Church, Bristol Road (Route 130).

     The repertoire of Castlebay -- Celtic harpist and vocalist Julia Lane and fiddler, singer and composer Fred Gosbee -- includes Gaelic as well as traditional and original Maine music. Castlebay recently returned from a month-long tour of Scotland.

     Chamberlain has shared her love of music and teaching talents in schools and privately for many years. She served as choir director in Camden and is director of music for the Bristol church, where she plays harp, organ and piano. She recently performed at South Britain Congregational Church in Connecticut.

     The evening will include harp duets and guest appearances by two talented young musicians. Admission to the Friday Evening Summer Concert series is a suggested donation of $8 or free for children. Bristol Congregational Church is located five miles south of Damariscotta. For information, call 563-6843.

River Company opens ‘A Phoenix’

     DAMARISCOTTA -- River Company will open “A Phoenix Too Frequent” by Christopher Fry, directed by John Price of New Harbor, Friday, July 8, in Porter Meeting Hall of Skidompha Public Library, Elm Street entrance.

     “A Phoenix Too Frequent” is a humorous retelling, in verse, of the legend of the matron of Ephesus, based on a version of the story set down by Petronius, a third-century Roman writer and historian. The story deals with the lingering passion of a recent widow for her late husband, a passion so strong she determines to follow her recent love to Hades and join with him there among the Shades. She is accompanied in this prospective journey by her maidservant.

     The events that interfere with the widow’s noble selflessness, and the resolution of the conflicts and temptations that emerge between the nether world and present one, make for a delightful theatrical interlude.

     Featured in the cast are Jennifer Parlin of Round Pond as Dynamene, the loyal widow; Gary Robbins of Richmond, as Tegeus, a sentry on duty; and Jean Phillips of Damariscotta, as Doto, the worldly and somewhat cynical handmaiden.

     For performance times and ticket information, see the calendar of events.

Dutton shows at Miles

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Boothbay Harbor artist Sandra Dutton’s works will go on display Saturday, July 9, at Miles Memorial Hospital, River Road. Featured will be several portraits and scenes around Boothbay and Southport.

     Dutton’s paintings, writings and contemporary quilts were featured on Kentucky Educational Television’s “Mixed Media” in the spring of 2003. In the 1970s, she exhibited paintings in San Francisco and Modesto, Calif., Cincinnati and Atlanta, winning many prizes. She was named one of San Francisco’s Best Designers for her contemporary fabric designs by Taylor and Ng.

     Through the late 1980s and 1990s, she chaired the English department at New York Institute of Technology in Central Islip, Long Island. At present, she writes and paints at her home. Her novel for children, “Capp Street Carnival,” was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux; and a picture book that she has written and illustrated is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin. Last March, a videotape of Dutton reading “Capp Street Carnival” was featured on Local Access Channel 7.

     Dutton holds a doctorate in rhetoric and composition and an associate bachelor’s degree in fine arts. The show will run through Friday, Aug. 19.

Stained glass exhibit at Round Top

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Distinguished stained glass artist Albinas Elskus will present a 50-year retrospective at Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1. The exhibition will open with a reception from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Friday, July 8.

     Elskus was born in Lithuania and studied art and architecture in Darmstadt, Germany. After immigrating to the United States, he completed an apprenticeship in stained glass in Chicago. His stained glass windows illuminate numerous highly notable buildings, including the National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. His Maine stained glass commissions include Holy Family Church, Lewiston; Notre Dame de Lourdes, Skowhegan; and Miles Memorial Hospital Chapel and Cove’s Edge Chapel in Damariscotta. His work has been widely exhibited including at the Vatican Museum and Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

     Elskus is the author of “The Art of Painting on Glass: Techniques and Designs for Stained Glass.” The Stained Glass Association of America has acknowledged his work through a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is represented locally by Gold/Smith Gallery in Boothbay Harbor.

     The exhibition will continue through July 30. For hours and contact information, see the Ongoing Exhibits listings.

‘I Do! I Do!’ at The Opera House

     BOOTHBAY HARBOR -- The husband-and-wife team of Perry and Dalene White will perform the musical “I Do! I Do!” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday, July 8-10, at The Opera House in Boothbay Harbor, 86 Townsend Ave.

     Filled with songs, comedy and familiar truths, this popular show follows the sometimes rocky course of a marriage across the decades. Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the same team that created “The Fantasticks,” penned this lively, lyrical look at love across the years. ‘’I Do! I Do!’’ is different from the standard lavish Broadway musical and features only two stars, one set and no chorus. The story follows the lives of a husband and wife from their wedding night to their 50th anniversary.

     Perry and Dalene White are traveling from Illinois, where both are on staff at Monmouth College. They have performed “I Do! I Do!” for the Monmouth College alumni event the past two years. The duo met in 1990, while performing together in a production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and have worked together on a number of theatrical productions.

     Tickets for Saturday and Sunday, $17 adults and $15 senior citizens and students, are available at the door or by calling 633-5159. The Friday night performance is a special benefit performance for the Overboard Players, Boothbay Harbor’s new community performance group. For Friday night tickets, contact Michael Feldmann at 633-3431.

Two old friends at the Waldo

     WALDOBORO -- Two old friends -- Allan “Mac” McHale and Emery Hutchins, affectionately known as Mac and Hutch -- will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, July 8, at the Waldo Theatre, Main Street.

     Tickets are $15 for all orchestra seats, $13 for adults in the balcony, and $11 for children 12 and under in the balcony. Call 832-6060 for reservations.

Sounds of Summer continues

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Variety spices up the Sounds of Summer Series at Round Top Center for the Arts with performances of stride blues and jazz by guitarist Bradley N. Litwin Saturday, July 9, and with mime and dance artist Karen Montanaro Friday, July 15.

     Both performances will be at 8 p.m. in the Darrows Barn on the Round Top campus, Business Route 1. The Montanaro Friday night event is a departure from the usual Saturday schedule.

     Litwin styles himself a contemporary, Delta blues, stride and jazz guitarist. Combining a rompin’ stompin’ finger style with smooth vocal treatments, Litwin emerges with a sound all his own.

     Montanaro’s performances celebrate the expressive potential of the human body, blending the arts of mime and dance with rare physical and emotional power. Currently a principal dancer with the Portland Ballet Company, Montanaro teaches at the company’s affiliated school, Portland School of Ballet. For 15 years, she collaborated and performed extensively with her late husband, world-renowned mime and performing artist Tony Montanaro.

     In addition to her performance, Montanaro will present a free demonstration/workshop for children attending Round Top’s Art Camp.

     Tickets for Sounds of Summer events are available at the door or in advance at $17 or $15 for Round Top members; call 563-1507.

The Salad Days of summer

     NEWCASTLE -- Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts will celebrate its 11th annual Salad Days event Saturday, July 9.

     For a $25 donation to the nonprofit center, attendees will receive a beautiful artist-made earthenware salad plate, lunch and a visit to the studios of this internationally well-known ceramic artists’ retreat. A buffet lunch of all-you-can-eat healthy summer salads will be served from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., and a pottery sale, wood kiln opening and open artists’ studios will run to 3 p.m. Maine-based musicians will entertain during the outdoor event.

     Salad Days raises money to support Watershed’s community programs, including the Mudmobile, which takes clay art workshops to schools and community centers throughout the state. Local restaurants in Damariscotta, Boothbay Harbor, Wiscasset, Waldoboro and beyond donate their best salads for the picnic, and several local groceries and farms, as well as Watershed’s own gardens, provide fresh greens and vegetables for salads made by Watershed’s artist kitchen staff.

     The pottery sale and wood kiln opening will include work by clay artists from around the country and abroad who are part of the Watershed residency program, as well as many of Maine’s resident ceramic artists. The Watershed studios will be open to the public to visit with the artists in residence.

     Since last September, Watershed Center resident artist Meredith Host has individually crafted each of the 500 salad plates of earthenware clay dug from the natural clay deposit at Watershed. She hand built the plates and molded them with interesting textures, then glazed and fired the plates.

     Watershed Center is located off Route 1 on Cochran Road, opposite the Route 27 South turnoff to Boothbay Harbor. For information, call 882-6075 or send an e-mail to salads@ watershedceramics.org.

New exhibit opens at Colonial Pemaquid

     NEW HARBOR -- The Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site and the Friends of Colonial Pemaquid have announced the schedule for the summer lectures and living history events planned for the Colonial Pemaquid site, located on the Pemaquid peninsula.

     The highlight of the summer is the opening of a new exhibit, “Guns, Politics, and Furs: Pemaquid and the defense of the Eastern Frontier 1667-1761,” based on archaeological work in the area done by Neill DePaoli and associates.

     The opening ceremony will be 2 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 9, on the Colonial Pemaquid grounds, adjacent to Fort William Henry. A sampling of 18th-century food and drink will be served at 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

     For information, contact Pat Harrison at 677-3569.

Waldo has punk show, conductors benefit

     WALDOBORO -- The Waldo Theatre, Main Street, will present two very different concerts this weekend. To make reservations for either, call 832-6060.

     Broad Bay Music punk show

     The Waldo’s Broad Bay Music Festival rock series will continue 6 p.m. Saturday, July 9, with a punk music show. Featured will be Portland-based punk groups The Leftovers, Blackcat and Company Anthem, as well as last summer’s Waldo Battle of The Bands winners, Murder Weapon. Camden band Nickname for Richard and up-and-coming Bangor ska band The Seal Man Investigation will open the show.

     Doors will open at 5 p.m.; reservations are encouraged. Tickets are $12 all seats, general admission. The concert is a chem-free all ages show; no outside food or beverages are permitted.

     Conductors Retreat benefit

     Musicians of the Conductors Retreat at Washington’s Medomak Retreat Center will perform during a benefit gala Sunday evening, July 10, at the Waldo. There will be a champagne reception at 7 p.m., followed by the concert at 8 p.m.

     The evening is a benefit fund-raiser for both the Conductors Retreat at Medomak and the Waldo Theatre. The Conductors Retreat is one of Maine’s best-kept secrets. Forty professional and student conductors from around the world live and work together every summer at Medomak Camp. The musicians, a vital part of an unusual training program for the musical and community leaders of today and tomorrow, will present a program of chamber music at the Waldo.

     Tickets are $20 for all seats.

Artists give Youth Promisez

     DAMARISCOTTA -- An art show, sale and auction to benefit Youth Promise will be held Saturday and Sunday, July 9 and 10, under a big top tent on School Street.

     A young artist’s show also will be held, with prizes awarded on Sunday afternoon. There is no admission charge for the art show and sale. Girl Scout Troop 2140 will provide lunch both days.

     Saturday evening, a wine and elegant hors d’oeuvres reception with live jazz music will be held at 6 p.m., with the auction to follow at 7. A local jazz band will provide the music. Tickets for the reception and art auction, $25 each or $40 for a couple, are available via Youth Promise and at Maine Coast Book Shop, Main Street.

     All proceeds will benefit Youth Promise, a nonprofit, youth-serving organization founded in 1994 by Judge Michael Westcott. The organization’s programs include Mentor Assisted Community Service, Mentor Assisted Community Service, School Alternatives for Youth Suspensions, Jump Start (a decision making program), a One-Maine grant aimed at reducing teen-age smoking and binge drinking and the TLC Coalition, the Healthy Maine Partnership serving Lincoln County.

     For information and tickets, call Youth Promise at 563-6123.

Big time blues at The Opera House

     BOOTHBAY HARBOR -- The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, 86 Townsend Ave., will come alive 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, when Little Charlie and the Nightcats take the stage.

     Digging deep into roots traditions, the Sacramento-based blues, swing and jump masters offer a powerful mix of blues styles and offbeat humor. Having released nine albums, most recently “Nine Lives,” the band continues to tour the country. It remains one of the hardest working bands touring today; next week, they also headline blues festivals in Chicago and Quebec.

     Doors open for general admission seating at 7:30 p.m., and The Opera House’s historic second-floor lounge will open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $17, available at the door or by calling 633-5159.

Jazz trio at Little Brown

     ROUND POND -- Jazz artists Carole Stone and Muriel Havenstein will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, at Little Brown Church, Main Street. Bassist Al Doane will make a trio for this evening of popular standards.

     Stone’s sophisticated vocals have been heard in many clubs and venues along the Maine coast. Known as producer as well as singer, Stone has organized jazz and dance collaborations at the Waldo Theatre, Maine Festival and Chocolate Church. She produced Havenstein’s 80th birthday gala, “Muriel in Concert,” in 2003, as well as the compact disc from that performance.

     Havenstein’s swinging pianoforte is a staple of Maine jazz. Her credentials span a lifelong career in music, with decades of performance in the area. She recently appeared with Noel Kaletsky and Scotty Philbrick in the special benefit concert for Damariscotta’s Skidompha Public Library. “The Midcoast Monster,” as she is affectionately called, has been honored by Gov. John Baldacci for her contribution to Maine arts.

     Doane’s versatile bass work is another Maine staple. Host of the jam at the Bridgeway Restaurant in Portland for 40 years, Doane has played with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Herb Pomroy, Teddy Wilson and Sonny Stit.

     Little Brown Church is rustic and pillows are advised. Donations are requested in lieu of tickets. For information, call 529-5537.

Kahn featured in films, panel

     DAMARISCOTTA -- The work of world-renowned architect Louis Kahn will be featured in a panel discussion of eminent architects at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, at Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1. The Kahn panel discussion is the second event in the 2005 Summer Lecture Series.

     Architect William Thompson will moderate the discussion. Panel members include Henry Wilcots, project director of Kahn’s state buildings in Bangladesh; Winton Scott, Portland architect and Kahn’s student; and Christopher Glass, architect, writer and Bowdoin College professor of architecture.

     Films about Kahn will be presented at Skidompha Public Library, which co-sponsors the event: “My Architect: A Son’s Journey,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7; and “Spent Light: Louis Kahn and the Salk Institute,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 12. A $5 donation will be requested at the downtown library.

     Admission to the Lecture Series is $9 or $7 for Round Top members. Lectures are held in the Darrows Barn for the Performing Arts. Parking is free. For information, call 563-1507.

More classes at Round Top

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Illustrator and portrait artist Joyce Steel will offer two eight-week classes Wednesday and Thursday evenings, beginning July 13 and 14, at Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1.

     The Wednesday evening class is called The Word and the Image -- The Fine Art of Illustration and will meet from 6 to 9 p.m. Students will begin by examining written texts, their own or others’, to determine a significance they wish to convey visually. Designed for intermediate to advanced drawing students of adult or high school age, the course will focus on illustration rather than creative writing, although students are encouraged to develop their own written work for illustration.

     On Thursdays, the class is The Eyes Have It -- Portrait Drawing, also meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. Students will begin with quick sketches and move on to longer studies and finished renderings. Beginners will learn basic skills in this class, which also will be rewarding for intermediate and advanced students of high school age and older. For the first class, students should bring a large newsprint pad, preferably rough finished, soft drawing pencils (HB or B), charcoal or conte sticks and a kneaded eraser.

     Steel holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in design from the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford and also studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Studio Arts Centers International in Florence, Italy. She has taught art for more than 25 years in private and public schools.

     The fee for either class is $200 or $175 for Round Top members. For the portrait class, students also will be responsible for a share of the $40 model fee when applicable. For details and to register, call 563-1507.

Curtain rises on drama adventure camp

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Lincoln County Community Theater & Orchestra has created a Summer Drama Adventure Day Camp for children. Students age 10-17 (or entering at least the 5th grade in September) are invited to apply.

     LCCT’s mission is to teach theater basics over the course of two weeks, which will culminate in a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” There are many parts to fill and LCCT is inviting actors and technicians of all skill levels to join.

     Producer and coordinator Susan Ghoreyeb said the camp should be a lot of fun for the actors/campers and staff. The camp will teach children theater arts and production with an emphasis on learning to be on stage and backstage, “with a little bit of Shakespeare thrown in for the bargain.”

     Workshops and rehearsals are scheduled for each day at the downtown Lincoln Theater and instructors include various theatrical professionals and talents from the Midcoast. Deborah Beam will direct the camp and the instructional staff includes Ellie Hinds, Nancy Durgin, Kevin Brown, Rory Craib, Carol Teel and Kim Fletcher.

     The Summer Adventure Drama Camp will run from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays Aug. 8-12 and 15-19 There will be two performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22.

     Fees are $125 per child for the full two weeks of camp, $150 for two children from the same immediate family or $175 for three or more children from the same immediate family. Space is limited to 40 campers.

     Contact Fletcher, executive director of LCCT, at 563-3424 or Ghoreyeb at 563-8030 for information and for an application; or send e-mail to lcct@tidewater.net or ghoreyeb@lincoln.midcoast.com. Applications may be printed from the Web site: www.lcct.org.

Author, illustrator, photographer at fund raiser

     WALDOBORO -- On Saturday, July 23, at 10 a.m., nationally acclaimed photographer William Hubbell, popular Maine humorist and columnist Tim Sample, and his mother, Leah Sample, will present A Maine Coast Sampler in the Meeting Room of the Broad Bay Congregational Church on Main Street in Waldoboro.

     Hubbell has made a photographic journey of Maine’s coastline exploring its sheltered bays, coves and anchorages. The result is a beautiful and very useful guide entitled Safe Harbor.

     Leah Sample has written a children’s book about a boy named Jay and his imaginary friend during a Maine summer. Tim created the book’s illustrations, revealing yet another of his many talents. Tim has authored many books during his Maine-focused career. Town residents may be especially fond of Saturday Night at Moody’s Diner, a collection of stories and tales.

      Tickets are $10 and proceeds benefit the library. Tickets are available at the library or at the door the morning of the event. Copies of books and recordings will be available for sale and for autographs.