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P H I L A D E L P H I A & T H E M A I N L I N E ’ S FAV O R I T E W E E K LY
Year 29, No. 24
Celebrating 29 Years of Community News
Iconic Newport Jazz Festival Now 60 Brings Classic Jazz Standards and Global Jazz Performance in Philly
February 19 – February 25, 2014
Dr. Tererai Trent to Speak at Agnes Irwin
he iconic festival, Newport Jazz Festival, turns 60 and takes the show on a road with Philadelphia performance and debut at the Merriam Theater on Sunday, March 9 at 8 p.m. The Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 pays homage to jazz luminaries such as Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, and Duke Ellington, whose classic jazz standards where first recorded at the festival, reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary jazz artists. The program also provides a progressive exploration of global jazz with Brazilian, Gypsy, Latin influences. Newport Jazz Festival features multi-gender, multi-national, and multi-generational stellar line-up of musicians selected by festival founder/producer George Wein. Led by music director, clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen, Philly native and five-time Grammy-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker joins multi-Grammy nominated vocalist Karrin Allyson, guitarist Mark Whitfield, pianist Peter Martin, drummer Clarence Penn and bassist Ben Allison. “I’ve put together some excellent all-star ensembles in the past, but this group is really special to me,” adds George Wein. “These musicians come from different parts of the country, different parts of the world and from different eras of jazz and they offer an excellent census of where the music has been, where it is and where it’s going. Together, they rep-
Zimbabwe-Born Advocate for Girls’ Education to Mark International Women’s Day he once ostracized and poverty-bound Zim babwean Dr. Tererai Trent, who taught herself to read and write from her brother’s books, will share the riveting story of her journey to attain an education during The Agnes Irwin School’s celebration of International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 6. The p ro g r a m i s Dr. Tererai Trent will speak to the public free and open on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in the to the public. West-Wike Theatre at Agnes Irwin. During her visit, sponsored by Agnes Irwin’s Center for the Advancement of Girls (CAG), Dr. Trent will talk about education, gender challenges, raising children, poverty, aid in developing countries, and the four P’s of women in leadership: power, passion, purpose and procreation. “Tererai Trent is the perfect speaker to celebrate International Women’s Day,” said CAG Director Mariandl Hufford. “Her power as a presenter is borne from her great passion that all girls receive an education. But her story gives us so much more than that: it cuts to the heart of our shared humanity; hers is a story of great courage, persistence and resilience. Tererai inspires us to know that what we aim for is within our reach.” Dr. Trent will speak to the public on Thursday, March 6 at
See The Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 on page 10
See Dr. Tererai Trent at AIS on page 3
T Bishop Michael Curry to Speak Page 5
New Horizons Programs for Seniors Page 9
Celtic Connections at Neumann Page 16
The iconic festival, Newport Jazz Festival, turns 60 and takes the show on a road with Philadelphia performance and debut at the Merriam Theater on Sunday, March 9 at 8 p.m.
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“Arsenic and Old Lace” Serves Laughter at Walnut Street Theatre Find Great Arts & Cultural News Inside!
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alnut Street Theatre continues its landmark 205th season with Broadway’s classic madcap comedy, “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Directed by Charles Abbott, this 75th Anniversary production begins previews on March 11, opens on March 19 and runs through April 27 on the Walnut’s Mainstage. Drama critic Mortimer Brewster is engaged to the lovely Elaine Harper... but will she fit in with his ‘unusual’ family? Abby and Martha Brewster are known throughout Brooklyn for their many acts of kindness and charity. But Mortimer has just learned that his charming spinster aunts have taken to relieving the loneliness of old men by inviting them in for a nice glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch” of cyanide! And, his brother believes that he’s Teddy Roosevelt! What else can go wrong? Audiences will find out in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” one of the American theatre’s funniest comedies. Written by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, “Arsenic and Old
Lace” premiered on Broadway in January, 1941 and ran for 1444 performances. The show gained popularity after the film version was released in 1944 starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. Members of the original Broadway cast, including Jean Adair Damon Bonetti and Jennie Eisenhower in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Photo/J. Urdaneta Photography
(Martha Brewster), Josephine Hull (Abby Brewster), and John Alexander (Teddy Brewster), were given permission to leave the stage production for a short while to reprise their roles in the film. A Broadway revival came in June, 1986 at the 46th Street Theatre. Kesselring was a native New Yorker. During his career he wrote twelve plays, four of which were produced on Broadway. “Arsenic and Old Lace” was his most successful. The play’s original title, Bodies in Our Cellar, was changed by producers before See “Arsenic and Old Lace” on page 10