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“Phantom of the Opera” Page 6
Developmental Disorders Presentation Page 9
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. 27
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March 12 – March 18, 2014
Actor Gavin Whitt to Portray Dizzy “Separation of Religion & State – A Fading Gillespie in “Last Call at the Downbeat” Constitutional Dream”
At the Society Hill Playhouse Beginning April 4 507 South 8th Street in Philadelphia – the first two weekends in April. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m. on April 4, 5, 11 and 12, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on April 6 and 13. Tickets, available in advance via www.jazzbridge.org, are $25 and can be picked up at theater’s “will call” box office. Born in South Carolina, Gavin Whitt holds a Master’s Degree in Acting from London’s prestigious East 15 Acting School. He’s worked with a number of companies in the Philadelphia and Baltimore area, including Allens Lane Theatre Company and the Ambassador Theater Company in Washington, DC. With Ambassador, Whitt played in “Karna and Kunti,” performed at the Embassy of India in Washington, in celebration of the 100th birthday of famed writer Rabindranath Tagore. Actor Gavin Whitt will portray legendary trumpeter Dizzy “Last Call at the Downbeat” Gillespie, in “Last Call at the Downbeat” – an original show is a fascinating look back at about the jazz pioneer’s famous stint at Philadelphia’s trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s Downbeat nightclub in November of 1942 – starting April 4, time in Philadelphia. As one of the founders of modern in the Red Room of the Society Hill Playhouse. jazz, Dizzy got his professionctor Gavin Whitt will portray al start here with the Frankie Fairfax band, legendar y trumpeter Dizzy working with Bill Doggett and the rest of the Gillespie, in “Last Call at the city’s finest. His gig at the legendary PhilaDownbeat,” an original show delphia nightspot, the Downbeat, long a landabout the jazz pioneer’s fam- mark at 11th and Ludlow Street – and a stone’s ous stint at Philadelphia’s Down- throw away from the famed Earle Theater – beat nightclub in November of 1942. This began when Gillespie was fired by bandleader charming and swinging show will play in the Lucky Millinder while playing the Earle. Red Room of the Society Hill Playhouse – See “Last Call at the Downbeat” on page 12
A Friends’ Central Filmmaker Invited to White House Page 11
Celebrating 29 Years of Community News
Burton Caine, Constitutional Lawyer, Speaking at Freethought Society March Meeting he Freethought Society (FS) is hosting Temple University professor and prominent constitutional lawyer Burton Caine as a speaker on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, at 7 p.m. His presentation, “Separation of Religion and State – A Fading Constitutional Dream,” will take place at the Ludington Library at 5 South Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The first clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that government “shall make no law The Freethought Society (FS) is respecting an establishment of religion.” hosting Temple University professor The Supreme Court, and prominent constitutional lawyer Burton Caine as a speaker on in its first decision Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. on the subject, interpreted this to impose “a wall of separation” between religion and state, prohibiting government from giving even one cent to, or for the benefit of, religion. The Court quoted Thomas Jefferson, that doing so would even be “sinful.” In a series of baffling formulas, the Court has since effectively abandoned the Wall and the result is often that majority religions win and minorities lose. Caine will examine these serious Constitutional violations and how they affect the nontheist.
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See Burton Caine to Speak at the Freethought Society on page 12
GFS Choir to Kick Off Costa Rican Tour with Free Local Concert March 21 n Friday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m., the German town Friends School Choir will launch its spring concert tour to Costa Rica with a performance at Christ Church, Second and Market Streets, in Old City, Philadelphia. The concert is free and open to the public. The concert program will feature Maurice Durufle’s Requiem, newly re-scored for choir and string orchestra. It will also include Eric William Barnum’s Afternoon on a Hill, folksongs from Bosnia, Ireland, Haiti and Costa Rica, and contemporary Gospel selections. The Germantown Friends School Choir is an ensemble of 45 students selected by audition from grades 10-12. Directed by Stephen Kushner, the Choir performs frequently throughout the year, often collaborating with many of Philadelphia’s leading professional musicians. Recently, the group has performed with the Singing City Choir, with members of the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra, and with the Yale Glee Club, whose music director, Jeffrey Douma, praised them for singing “with an impressive sense of ensemble, beautiful voices and an obvious joy in what they do.” The Choir has also sung the Philadelphia premiere of “somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. The GFS Choir has a long tradition of traveling nationally Members of the soprano section of the Germantown Friends School choir rehearse for their and internationally, including concert tours to China, England, March 21 concert and upcoming Costa Rican tour. Scotland, France, Scandinavia, Canada, Poland, Russia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Puerto Rico. In 2008, the Choir toured the southern United States, culminating in an extended stay in New Orleans where, in addition to their concert, the students volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, helping to rebuild homes that were destroyed in hurricane Katrina. This will be the Choir’s first tour to Costa Rica.
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