From Robert Frost, to jazz to a toy yo yo , you can find it all and more at Opera House Arts in Stonington this season
By WABI News Desk
Published: Jun. 18, 2024 at 7:41 AM EDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
STONINGTON, Maine (WABI) - Opera House Arts in Stonington has a packed scheduled for its summer season.
Artistic Director Kathryn Markey joined us on the TV5 Morning Show to talk about the wide variety of performances coming to the coast.
World Premiere
Three people cross paths at the garbage dump in their small town. Amid cardboard boxes, beer cans, and discarded mirrors, we and the characters learn about connections and what it means to really be seen.
Made possible by a gift from the Anahata Foundation and two anonymous donors
Location: Stonington Opera House
Tickets: $29 – $49 *
* Under 17 half off, Hanco*ck County students free
Showtimes:
Thursday, June 20 at 7pmFriday, June 21 at 7pmSaturday, June 22 at 7pmSunday, June 23 at 2pm
Wednesday, June 26 at 7pmThursday, June 27 at 7pmFriday, June 28 at 7pmSaturday, June 29 at 7pmSunday, June 30 at 2pm
Monday, June 24 at 6pm
Free Film Screening
Join us for the Maine premiere of We Can Get There from Here and a chance to win sweet Patagonia Workwear gear.
Help us kick off our summer movie nights with a Patagonia Workwear film about the Deer Isle Oyster Company who is finding new ways to make a good living on a living planet.
Show up early for a snack and stay late for a post-film discussion.
Location: Stonington Opera House
5pm: Opera House Lobby Opens with snacks
6pm: We Can Get There from Here film screening
6:30pm: Discussion with Abby Barrows, Deer Isle Oyster Company and filmmakers
7pm: Post Premiere Oyster shuck party with champagne at 44 North
Friday, July 5 at 6pm
Tickets: $400 Premier Seating, $250 General Seating
Location: Stonington Opera House
Join us as we transform the historic Opera House into a Roadside Music House for this year’s Annual Benefit Gala, “Rockabilly Rumble” with Sam Jones and his Rockabilly Rumble band. Drinks, hors d’oeuvres, supper, and artisanal menu by Applecroft Catering included, with specially curated wines from the private cellar of David Stephens and Gina Podesta and a live and silent auction. Rockabilly attire suggested.
Tuesday, July 9 at 7pm
Join Halcyon for their third annual family performance! This year’s lively musical rendition of Robert McCloskey’s beloved Make Way for Ducklings brings the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard (and Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack!) to life. In collaboration with actor Ben Meader, Halcyon combines music, story, and illustration for an hour of joy, humor, storytelling, and beautiful music. Designed for children of all ages, musical selections include classical favorites, folk tunes, and nostalgic songs from childhood.
Halcyon is a Midcoast Maine-based artist collective and string quartet that designs and presents multimedia performances that combine live music with science, film, art, and spoken word.
Six-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill returns to Deer Isle – where he headlined our 2007 festival and was a Visiting Artist at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts – to explore two facets of his expansive musical life.
Underwritten by Rich and Mary Howe and George and Liz Zentz
Location: Stonington Opera House
Tickets: $29 – $49
Tuesday, July 16 at 7pm
World of Wonder is a journey around the world that occurs in the most magical of all places, yourself.
World of Wonder is a program designed for the whole family, theatre that charms audiences of all ages with the actor’s imagination, the mime’s skill, and the conjuror’s craft. Beginning with the amazing and lost art of shadowgraphs or hand shadows, Leland conjures up an amazing menagerie of silhouettes using only his hands. He is recognized in conjuring circles as an expert on the history of this antique art. Imagine discovering a felt ring that allows Leland to become twenty four comic characters from around the world in a matter of minutes. Discover classical magic from the Far East as a Japanese magician lets folded paper butterflies fill the air with color in a beautiful homage to Old Japan.
Wednesday, July 17 at 7pm
Tickets: Adults $20 | Under 17 $10 | Hanco*ck County Students FREELocation: Stonington Opera House
DownEast New Music is an organization dedicated to bringing dynamic performances of chamber music by living composers to DownEast Maine. DownEast New Music celebrates the exciting and diverse body of music by young American composers.
Community is built around the WORLD PREMIERE of Waldoboro-based composer/pianist Conrad Winslow’s (Homer, AK, b. 1985) new work Made from Stony Ground (2024), written for sextet of clarinet, cimbalom, piano, violin, cello, and double bass. Winslow uses monophonic textures and brings disparate voices together into near unison, reflecting new civic possibilities and the ways communities come together. As we listen to the various lines converging, we are inspired to think about what it means for diverging ideas and voices to join and become a singular whole.
With similar inspiration, Carlos Simon (Atlanta, GA, b. 1986) composed where two or three are gathered… drawing from his childhood attending a small church where coming together and holding space for community meant finding a larger purpose, even when numbers are small, like the intimate violin and cello duo the piece is scored for. Starting with a meditative character, the mood gradually transforms into one of jovial energy.
In Anthozoa (2018), Gabriella Smith (Berkeley, CA, b. 1991) finds community in the ocean, taking inspiration from the vibrant ecosystem that forms around coral reefs. Using clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, Smith recreates the soundscape present underwater, giving us an entrancing visit to another world – an imagined version of a far-off reality.
We visit another imagined reality in new cosmologies by Andean-Irish composer inti figgis-vizueta (Washington, D.C., b. 1993). Relying on the improvisatory and interpretive processes in her music, figgis-vizueta asks us to imagine a new history for indigenous people, one free from violence and colonialism. By imagining a new history for her community, figgis-vizueta gives us a chance to think of a new future as well.
By bringing together music written by young American composers from across the country, we look for common ground, shared experiences, and hope as we move forward into the unknown.
Co-artistic directors Clare Monfredo (cello) and Edward Kass (double bass) will be joined by Conrad Winslow (composer/pianist), John Diodati (clarinet), MuChen Hsieh (violin), and Nicholas Tolle (cimbalom).
Emmy-winner (NYPD Blue), IRNE-winner (Man in the Ring), and Tony-nominee, Gordon Clapp, stars as poet Robert Frost, who “barded” around the country for nearly 50 years giving sold-out talks to mixed crowds of poetry readers and non-readers alike. Arguably the nation’s first superstar poet, he quipped, “What began in obscurity is ending in a blaze of publicity.”
A beguiling rascal on the platform, the poet “re-lives” his verse from memory, relates his “wild surmises” on science, politics, and religion, and speaks to the purpose and meaning of art. Then, inviting us home, he drops his mask, shares losses and regrets, considers the sources of his poetic inspiration, and picks up his pencil.
July 22 & July 25, 2024
Tickets: $39 – $59 | Under 17 half off | Hanco*ck County students freeLocation: Stonington Opera House
Friends of OHA and stars of the Great White Way return to the Opera House stage with full voices and open hearts. Join us for two nights of class and high spirits, as they sing the world`s greatest show tunes and hidden gems of the American musical theatre.
Tuesday, July 23 at 7pm
*Please note this concert takes place at the Stonington Town Fish Pier
Flash! in the Pans is a community steel drum band based in Blue Hill. During the summer, Flash! performs outdoor concerts for local non-profit organizations across Downeast Maine. The lively music celebrates the national instrument of the republic of Trinidad & Tobago and invites everyone of all ages to dance & mingle with friends & neighbors! For more information and summer schedule, visit Flash! on the web at flashinthepans.org or on FaceBook.
Tuesday, July 30 at 7pm
Featuring spectacular magic, juggling, physical comedy, and tons of audience participation, Andrew Silver presents a one-of-a-kind exhibition of skill and comedy. By adapting techniques and themes from the new vaudeville clowns, Andrew has created a masterpiece of modern performance for every age level.
Saturday, August 3, 2024 at 8:30pm
Tickets: $5
Get ready for an unforgettable night under the stars and on the big screen at the Stonington Ball Field! Join us for our annual showing of “JAWS.” Bring your own lawn chair (and plenty of bug spray). It’s the perfect opportunity to experience this classic summer movie in a whole new way. Tickets are just $5, and Hanco*ck County students get in for free! Park along the fence or across the street at the Community Center and get ready for a thrilling evening. The movie will start at approximately 8:45 pm. Don’t miss it!
Rain date is scheduled for Sunday, August 4.
Showtime: Saturday, August 3 at 8:30pmLocation: Stonington Ball FieldRun Time: 2 hours, 4 minutesRating: PGYear: 1975
adapted from the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Who wins the battle of beauty versus brains? Cyrano is a swordsman, philosopher, poet, and raconteur—everything that the love of his life, Roxane, would want. There’s just one colossal problem: his nose, rendering him unworthy of her affection (or so he believes). Enter Christian, a handsome, yet tongue-tied, young cadet equally smitten by Roxane. Surely together this unlikely pair can win the fair maiden’s heart. A cast of five plays a multitude of roles in this imaginative version of the classic tale.
Tuesday, August 13 at 7pm
In Japanese, ori means “to fold” and gami means “paper”. Using origami, music and audience participation, Kuniko Yamamoto provides a magical introduction to Japanese culture and the art of simplicity. In “Origami Tales”, mythological character masks & puppets, amazing flowers and a dragon — all made from origami — set the stage, while Kuniko shares heartfelt stories from ancient Japan.
Tuesday, August 20 at 7pm
John Higby is the Yo-Yo Guy! He has performed his unique high-energy comedy yo-yo show in 26 countries from New Zealand to Japan, holds the world yo-yo champion title and 4 Guinness World Records. He has been featured on David Letterman, Discovery Channel’s Time Warp, Comedy Central, The Guinness World Record Show, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman on PBS, and even has his own Topps trading card! ESPN magazine coined him “Unsung Hero” of 2008. The Yo-Yo Guy is an interactive performance with yo-yos, unicycle, and a giant yo-yo that John walks on! Specializing in family shows, this show is great for all ages!
Tickets:
Adults – $12
Under 17 – $5
Saturday, September 7 at 7pm
Tickets: Adults: $25 | 17 and under: 1/2 priceLocation: Stonington Opera HouseAges: All ages!
Breakin’ Strings is a Nashville recording group based out of Maine and now VT. The band consists of 5 members who play a cross between traditional bluegrass with some major jam-grass vibes.
Cliff Gelina, the leader and lead vocalist has been compared to the sounds of Chris Stapleton. Cody Howe has been compared to the guitar licks of Tony Rice. Sam Acus is a Mandolin protege that rips his fretboard up at every show. They play every note they feel, and feel every note they play. This band brings so much dynamics with the sets they play and such great original tunes. Amanda Gelina plays bass and also sings lead and harmony. Steven Peterson plays banjo and also sings harmony as well.
Breakin’ Strings was an IBMA Showcase band in 2022. They have been featured in The Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, The Bluegrass Standard, Nashville Voyager Magazine ect. They recorded their first album in Studio A in Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN. Titled, “Hangovers & Heartaches” available everywhere online. A Breakin’ Strings show is not a show to miss. Guaranteed at some point you will see them break a string. Breakin’ Strings brings a fun jam-packed flavor to bluegrass music with great instrumentals, Great vocals, great harmonies, and a hard drive Bluegrass sound. With that being said, when they play a balad, you are frozen in your seat in awe. This band is dynamic. Catch a Breakin’ Strings show soon!
Maine’s Breakin’ Strings is another bluegrass act starting out 2024 with a new single. It’s one written and sung by guitarist Cliff Gelina called Stones, with harmony from his sister, Amanda.
The two siblings grew up in bluegrass, performing with The Gelina Family Band all through their youth. Amanda had been part of Breakin’ Strings some 15 years, and rejoined late last year in a band reshuffling that also brought Sam Acus in on mandolin. It’s a great sign when a band stays together long enough for a member to leave to raise a family, and then come back in.
Cliff’s gruff and distinctive voice is the band’s defining sound, placing them in a setting somewhere between purely traditional bluegrass and the rock-inflected jamgrass style that has become so popular in recent years. Further support comes from Amanda on bass, Acus on mandolin, Cody Howe on lead guitar, and Steve Peterson on banjo. All five members share harmony vocal duties.”Written by: ~ Bluegrass Today
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