Highlands PAC Youth Theatre

Highlands PAC Youth Theater

Joi Chapman

Highlands Performing Arts Center’s new Artistic Director is spotlighting the children of the community. Be sure to attend the PAC Youth Theater’s production of Fame Jr. starring Highlands School middle-schoolers on Thursday, November 3.

Richer days are here for Highlands school children. Thanks to 100 percent funding from Cullasaja Women’s Outreach, Highlands Performing Arts Center has recently launched the PAC Youth Theater Program in collaboration with the Highlands School. The PAC Youth Program promises to expand the horizons of the school, while providing a unique and tremendous opportunity for students to explore and learn theater. The course is under the tutelage of PAC’s new Artistic Director, Joi Chapman, who will bring instruction and experiences to students that encompass all disciplines of theater – acting, directing, analyzing text, light and sound technique, publicity and costumes. It’s the goal of the program to integrate theater into the school curriculum and, by extension, into life. Research shows that children who sing/dance/act/play are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and achieve better standardized test scores. It’s the kind of education that encourages their creativity and thinking processes. By giving kids an opportunity to work on characters, memorize lines, and dig deep into plots, themes, and choices, they’re also strengthening critical thinking skills. The arts can be the best, most therapeutic, life-changing form of personal expression and booster of self-confidence. That theater also a provides a path to enhanced cognitive, motor, and social development is simply one more plus. The program is designed to encourage students to develop a higher sense of aspiration and a better image of themselves. As PAC Executive Director Mary Adair Trumbly explained, “All of this translates to ‘thinking’ students who become ‘thinking’ adults, which is good for our community.” As leader of the program, Chapman brings a unique skill set and extensive background to her task. A woman of many talents, Chapman sings, acts, choreographs, and plays clarinet, saxophone and piano. In her earlier years in her native Ohio, she choreographed and directed the color guards of several high school marching bands. Later as a teacher in the Sarasota public school system, Chapman instructed musical theater and choir to middle and elementary school children.

Teaching is clearly a passion. “The best part of my job is making music with children, and watching them meet and exceed their goals,” Chapman said. She also performed with several area theater companies, and, with two colleagues, started a theater company – Rise Above Performing Arts. Fast forward to 2020. Chapman’s husband landed a job working as a guidance counsellor for the Job Corps in Cherokee. This allowed the couple the opportunity to move closer to family living east of Asheville. About that time, PAC Executive Director Mary Adair Trumbly contacted Chapman to inquire about forming a partnership with the Highlands School. Their connection must have been immediate because as Chapman told me; “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work in Highlands. Having visited before, I knew I would love spending time here.” For more information, visit HighlandsPerformingArts.com.

by Marlene Osteen

Happy Paint and Liquid Joy

The complex elements woven into artist Diane McPhail’s March 2008 cover are testament to the passion at the heart of all her endeavors.

The Laurel’s March 2008 cover, here revisited and critiqued, invites you to dive into the warmth and energy Diane McPhail releases into the world through her art, writing, speaking, and humanitarianism. Diane’s warm colors tease us with the promise of Spring and Summer. The painting is one of those divine iconic pieces that lends itself to a variety of occasions: the romantic, heart-red of Valentines, a firework of summer dahlias, the Fall’s leaf palette, and the nostalgic reds of Christmas. “I painted this in the Fall, the year before it was the Laurel cover,” says Diane. “I survived a bilateral pulmonary emboli. It was a terrifying, life-threatening situation. After hospitalization and the beginning of recovery, I went back to my studio with my O2 tank, and I painted those fall blooms out of pure joy for being alive.” So, if you felt a warm rush when you viewed this artwork, that’s because it’s slathered in happy paint and liquid joy. Knowing that, if you had only one word to describe this painting, what would it be? While thinking on that, let’s explore more elements. On first viewing, where did your eye settle? The flower arrangement? The vase? The leaning red flower? It’s rare to see the underside of a flower in a painting. Do you think it was intentional? What term best describes the leaning flowers: Spent? Resting? Wilting? A hint of death and transfiguration? If you chose the last, the artist would concur. Living, and its companion, Dying, are interwoven.

Diane, in case you didn’t know, has a Doctorate in Ministry which explains why she is so astute in things spiritual and philosophical. She scatters her own brand of sacred in the world. The set up for this still life was created by her students on a retreat. The dominant fabric is an Indian Sari that Diane got on one of her many visits to India while she prepared her doctoral thesis.

That red sari segues us back into color. While the dominant pigment is red, the other two primaries, yellow and blue, complete a primary palette. Add to that a splash of green. In fact, there’s olive green everywhere. You just can’t see it. It’s the underpainting. Complementary colors work when painted side-by-side or one over another as long as the underlying color is dry. The undertone of green harmonizes with the red and pulls the painting together. Look at the painting again and see if that warm olive catches your eye more than before.

Did you note the interesting linework? Is that a product of fabric folds, a play of light and shadow, or something else? With your finger, trace the linework from the bottom of the painting to its top. Was it largely a series of diagonal tracks? Do you find the diagonal and organic lines more interesting than horizontal and vertical? Why? Diane is a walking metaphor of positive thinking. Here, in her words, is a moving explanation of her work: “As a painter, I never plan ahead. I just launch. I start laying out shapes and forms, usually in a deep olive green (that famous olive green we discussed). I block in shadows with a big, wide, long-handled brush. I work from the shadows, moving into the light.” Working from the shadows, moving into the light. Think of how many ways those words shade, lighten, and color every moment of the day – like painting out from negative thoughts, while brightening the positive ones. Diane delights in sharing stories and insights. To see more of her work, visit dianemcphailart.com. For her novels, visit dianemcphailauthor.com, The Book Nook or Shakespeare & Company. Find her small work at The Bascom Gift Shop. For a studio appointment, contact dianecmcphail@gmail.com.

by Donna Rhodes

With Home for the Holidays, Mountain Theatre Company celebrates the season in grand style. Find more information at mountaintheatre.com.

Mountain Theatre Company is continuing their new tradition of a holiday show this December. After the incredible response to last year’s holiday spectacular, MTC is already anticipating this season’s Christmas show to be a big draw to Highlands and Cashiers. Come celebrate the season as Mountain Theatre Company makes magic in the mountains this December and transforms the Playhouse stage into Santa’s North Pole workshop. Sing along to your favorite holiday songs while being dazzled by high energy choreography, beautiful costumes, a triple-threat cast, and incredible live musicians. This show is sure to be a smash. It promises to feature classic holiday tunes such as I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Go Tell It On The Mountain, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, O Holy Night, and too many more to list here! The show is being written by MTC’s Executive Artistic Director, Scott Daniel, and if you’ve seen a Scott Daniel original, you know you’re in for a holiday treat. MTC aims to make Home For The Holidays your new annual family holiday tradition, a production audiences of all ages will want to make sure they come to see year after year. Daniel says, “Imagine Radio City Music Hall, throw in some fluffy sweaters and as much glitz, glam, and campy comedy as the Playhouse stage can hold, and that’s what we’re going for!” Audiences will recognize some of their favorite performers from the 2022 Mainstage Season on the Playhouse stage for this grand finale to MTC’s historically successful year. There’s certainly a lot to celebrate as MTC looks back at this season, and much more success and opportunity to come as they look forward to 2023.

So, gather the whole family, put on your fuzziest holiday sweaters, and come celebrate the holidays at the historic Highlands Playhouse this December. Mountain Theatre Company’s production of Home For the Holidays will run at The Highlands Playhouse from December 16 through 31.

by Lindsay Garner Hostetler, Director of Marketing and Outreach, Mountain Theatre Company

Light Up Your Life

There’s magic in Bevan Schiffli’s candles, and sweet, soothing scents. Contact Bevan at naturalselectionhighlands@gmail.com.

How’s your spelling? Not the word-spelling kind, but the sweet spells and smells that are cast from teacup candles at Natural Selection. There are seven (more coming) soy candle creations, each with its own spell or charm. Get one for a giggle. Light it and inhale a deep breath of feel good and joy. Bevan Schiffli, Natural Selection’s owner, started making her designs during winter snow-ins. She says, “I love little teacups. I started collecting punch cups at thrift stores. I’ve amassed boxes of eclectic alternative spiritual elements. I use them in the candle cups, floating them on top as the wax hardens.” Each cup has one of the following themes: Inspiration (sparks creativity); Cool Calm Collected (CCC lessens anxiety and distress); Head Over Heels (love spell for the self, or a partnership) Divine Feminine (all about female empowerment and confidence) Health and Wealth (good for the obvious) Crystal Baller (to open the third eye and heighten psychic ability) Lucidity Over Adversity (clarity and strength) As soon as Bevan put her candles on the shelves, they sold like mad. She’s even making (for a few dollars more) custom designs and commissions.

But there was a lot of planning and work behind her overnight success. She had to perfect her soy recipe, the right amount of herb or spice or essential oil. To that she added a crystal or stone appropriate for the spell. Voila! A beautiful, fun, fragrant work-of art.

On Bevan’s design table is a holiday family gathering/ancestral love idea. Stay tuned to Natural Selection’s social media for its unveiling. Candles and additional products are shippable. Give Bevan two weeks lead time for custom work. She will also wrap with hand

Bevan Schiffli

stamped papers and trim with adorable ties. Bevan also enjoys offering a line of pre-made candles that she designs for the area: Main Street Candle (when matching our town’s personality to scents, the earthy; fragrance of amber musk and sage are a perfect match); Sunset Rock Candle (leather, tobacco, amber, and musk); Whiteside Candle (pear and redwood); Nantahala Woods (evergreen and birch wood); Appalachian Christmas (evergreen, spearmint, and eucalyptus); Next time you need something spelled, visit Natural Selection and light up a world of magic and fragrance – and light up your life. Call her at (828) 421-3546 or visit Facebook or Instagram: Naturalselectionnc.

by Donna Rhodes

Thanks from the Art League

The Art League of Highlands-Cashiers takes stock of a wildly successful year and invites everyone (artists and art-lovers) to celebrate its good fortune – November 7 at 11:00 A.M. at the Bridge at Mill Creek in Highlands.

November is normally the month that The Art League of Highlands-Cashiers goes quiet for a few months, the month that it takes stock of the season just past and looks forward to next season.

2022 was a special year, and this November, we aren’t quite ready to let it go. It was a year of note, and it left us excited. November is also, of course, the month of Thanksgiving, and in 2022 the Art League has much for which to be thankful. We are thankful for The Bascom, a jewel of the visual arts, in which the entire community can be proud, and that graciously hosted our monthly board and general meetings; For our membership: those renewing in 2022 and the many new members, resulting in significant growth; For the talented regional artists that spoke at our monthly meetings, and whose presentations were both informative and entertaining; For our hard-working board that welcomed new members, bringing renewed energy and fresh ideas; For the Art League’s Summer Colors Fine Art Show, its most successful member show ever, far exceeding expectations; For our new website, artleaguehighlands-cashiers, which offers expanded exposure for member artists and enhanced information for visitors; For the newly-formed Publicity Committee that began publishing an enhanced newsletter; And for our sponsors that enthusiastically embraced the Art League’s first-ever sponsorship program. Yes, the Art League has much for which to be thankful in 2022. Maybe that’s why we’re not quite ready to let it go. While many of our seasonal residents are away, a group of full-time members decided to continue meeting the first Monday of each month over the winter to keep the momentum going. They plan to gather for lunch and fellowship. Anyone is welcome to come, Art League members or not. The first of these meetings will be on November 7 at 11:00 A.M. at Bridge at Mill Creek. Come join us! Stay tuned for emerging 2023 plans!

by Zach Claxton, The Art League of Highlands-Cashiers

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A November To Remember

Talented kids, the glories of Medici Florence, and the sweet sounds of Soul set the pace for a spirited November at the Highlands Performing Arts Center.

La Traviata by Verdi

On Thursday, November 3, at 7:30 P.M. the partnership of the PAC Youth Theatre and the Highlands School will present Fame Jr; starring the middle school students. The show is under the direction of Joi Chapman, PAC Youth Theatre Artistic Director and Highlands School’s Music & Drama teacher. For most of these students, it’s their first time performing in a musical. Broadway Jr. productions are based on the original Broadway productions, written specifically for grades 6-9. Great Art on Screen returns on Friday, November 4, at 5:30 P.M. with Botticelli: Florence and the Medici. Florence in the era of the powerhouse Italian statesman, politician and patron Lorenzo de’ Medici, was the heart of Renaissance art and culture. One artist, above all others, was able to evoke the lights and shadows of this unforgettable era: Sandro Botticelli. The MET Opera’s second live via satellite opera of the season takes place on Saturday, November 5, at 12:55 P.M. – La Traviata by Verdi. Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta – one of opera’s ultimate heroines –in Michael Mayer’s vibrant production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy. Tenor Stephen Costello is her self-centered lover Alfredo, alongside baritone Luca Salsi as his disapproving father and Maestro Daniele Callegari on the podium. Get your tickets now for A Motown Christmas by the Masters of Soul, the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 25, at 7:30 P.M. Masters of Soul is a celebration of the legendary songs and performers that defined Motown and soul music. This 90-minute show features stylishly costumed, fully choreographed performances of both male and female groups backed by a live band. For many, Masters of Soul is the ultimate stroll down Memory Lane. For younger generations, the show offers an opportunity to experience an era in our country’s history that produced many of the greatest music acts ever recorded. Based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the 10-person cast consists of three lead male vocalists and three lead female vocalists backed by a four-piece band of seasoned musicians who’ve been touring together for decades. Masters of Soul has performed to numerous sold-out audiences and garnered rave reviews across the country at venues ranging from community theaters and universities to performing arts venues and concert halls. Tickets are available for all shows online at HighlandsPerformingArts.com. Highlands Performing Arts Center is located at 507 Chestnut Street.

by Mary Adair Trumbly, Highlands Performing Arts Center