VENU Magazine #9 Sept/Oct by VENÜ MAGAZINE

Contemporary Culture

September/October_CT-NY Edition

Jessie Mackay

Rob Brooks

Melissa Barbieri

Stan Moeller

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Contents 22 / Boutique Magnifique Catherine H. — The destination for fashion perfection 24 / Spotlight Tina Sloan: Jumping in with both feet

26 / Gordon’s Good Reads The place to find a good read

28 / From Ice Axe To Laboratory The first in a series of articles profiling the Research Fellows of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy 32 / Bravo Celebrating the glorious theaters of Fairfield County 36 / Events + Gatherings 44 / Architecture The many faces of modernism 46 / Travel An unforgettable experience 50 / Motoring A Fast Car, A Good Car, the “Best in Class”... W.O. Bentley 53 / Boating Everlasting beauty, Hinckley’s Picnic Boat

Cover: Swoon is a street artist originally from Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of figures. Swoon, real name Caledonia Dance Curry, studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and started doing street art around 1999. Swoon regularly pastes works depict realistically rendered people, often her friends and family, on the streets in various places around the world. Usually, pieces are pasted on uninhabited locations such as abandoned buildings, bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs. Her work is inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets.

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Contents 56 / Apetite Chef Anthony Goncalves of Restaurant 42 60 / Music All Van Müller ever wanted was the music [60] Mia Fanali: Let me introduce myself [61] 62 / Fashion Profile: Eva Franco beyond the hemline 66 / On Every Street Samuel Owen Gallery brings some street cred to Greenwich 72 / Art Christo unfurls his imagination [72] Jane Sutherland’s Little Dancer [74]

78 / Dance Jimmy Locust: Dance with a Star 81 / Film Howard and Karen Baldwin: The Interview 82 / Comic Relief Introducing Bari Alyse Rudin: In future issues she will be profiling many of her favorite comedians

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83 / Decorative Arts On the Block 84 / Stage Hartford children’s theater comes of age 86 / Fiction A Trojan Horse 88 / Last Word It’s not a fad, It’s a movement

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Artists, designers, photographers, writers, illustrators, etc., if you’ve got it, flaunt it! We’re interested in hearing from all of you that have some great things to share...

...Get in touch!

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9 September/October_CT-NY Edition

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Catherine H. — The Destination For Fashion Perfection

Shop Talk

Searching for the ultimate clothes shopping experience? Try this on for size -- a charming boutique filled with stunning selections so impeccably tailored, you will be completely captivated. A shop where you will be welcomed with such gracious warmth and helpful hospitality, you’ll have an astonishing feeling of being in just the right place at exactly the right time.

by Robin E. Glowa

When Catherine Hiriart opened Catherine H. in downtown Milford, CT, two years ago, she hoped to find a following for the fashions she painstakingly seeks out. Her amazing artistic sensibility, honed by her European upbringing ( in the Basque region of France) and extensive experience in the fashion industry have made her an expert at locating highly original, ultra feminine clothing lines. “I love originality”, says Catherine, “my buying is a very personal affair, but my selling is even more so...I seek out the ultimate pieces for my clients as well as pieces that fulfill my vision of beauty. I look for the fabrics, the trims, the unique details, the cut and quality that is exquisite, so that women can look and feel fabulous.” “ I buy from both US and European designers who are creating the most beautiful pieces, many who make organic and eco conscious clothing as well”, adds Catherine. “I carry classic to cutting edge clothing for a wide range of sizes and I absolutely insist on the best fitting designs possible. I try everything on myself to be sure of the fit and the quality. I want to offer clothing that my clients love, that is just for them, completely unique and perfectly enhances the body. This is why I buy only a few pieces from each designer, so you will not see the same clothing wherever you go!” Catherine selects pieces suitable for every moment of a woman’s life, from shimmering champagne silk pants, stunning, body hugging, little black dresses, a recycled petal pink cashmere sweater embellished with cream colored skull and crossbones, pearl buttons and ruffled cuffs, an adorable bomber jacket made of faux python skin with hot pink accents, casually elegant t-shirts that

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are impossibly soft, silky, sensuous charmeuse tops, to darling, delicately detailed dresses that caress the curves. Spectacular accessories include a handmade white leather bracelet clasped with antique buttons and garnished with cascading semi-precious stones, a cowhide belt dusted with gold leaf, chunky, waist cinching studded belts, a camouflage fabric messenger bag glammed up with silver mesh, striking cuff bracelets that are fiercely feminine, regal oversized rings, dramatic abstract earrings and handmade, animal free shoes in rich shades of purple, green, silver and red. Catherine’s vision is a smashing success and the little boutique is now open seven days

a week, frequented by fashion loving followers who drive from as far as Manhattan to fill their closets with gorgeous garments and amazing accessories and to bask in the attention that Catherine and her staff lavish on customers. Come experience the sheer joy of a superlative shopping experience. Catherine H. 19 West River Street, Milford, CT 203- 783-3037, www.catherineh.com Open 7 days a week and by appointment 11:00-5:30, until 7 on Thursday. Sat: 10-5:30 Sun: 12-4

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SPOTLIGHT

TINA SLOAN: JUMPING IN WITH BOTH FEET by William Squier

The legendary actor Laurence Olivier is credited with stating that “the character begins with the shoes.” What Sir Laurence meant was that choosing the right footwear was his first step toward determining how to play roles as diverse as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Bronte’s Heathcliff and Dracula’s Van Helsing. But, a closet full of shoes suggested something very different to contemporary television star Tina Sloan. A lifetime’s worth of stilettos, slingbacks and sandals reminded the actress of the many life experiences that have shaped her own character, especially recent years. And they inspired her to create Changing Shoes, an autobiographical play and subsequent book in which Sloan passes on all that she’s learned.

Tina Sloan divides her time between an apartment in New York City, a home in Hobe Sound, Florida, and another in Darien, Connecticut, that’s been in her husband Steve McPherson’s family since 1778. Sloan was born in the winter of 1943 in Bronxville, NY, a well-to-do suburban village only fifteen miles north of midtown Manhattan. But, the entertainment industry that eventually lured her down to the big city might as well have been a million miles away. Like many children Sloan took part in the plays and pageants that were put on at her Catholic grammar school – even playing St. Bernadette of Lourdes at one point. But, the desire to go into show business didn’t surface until she saw the actress Betty Hutton in the film The Greatest Show on Earth when she was 9 years old. “That’s what I want to do,” Sloan remembers thinking. “I wanted the magic of it all.” Still, Sloan was cautious at first about expressing her desire to become an actress, in part

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because of conflicting messages sent to her by her mother. Though Sloan describes the woman as “a free spirit” who was “dramatic and glamorous and highly emotional,” she made it clear to her daughter that she thought of the acting profession as “déclassé” (though Sloan suspects that her mother may have harbored a secret longing to be an actress herself). It wasn’t until college that Sloan surprised her family by lobbying to attend drama school at Northwestern University. “I remember going into a phone booth at Manhattanville College and pleading ‘Please let me go,’ she says. “My mother just laughed and said, ‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous, dear.’ In those days women got married and had children. I knew it was over.” Sloan spent her time at Manhattanville pursuing a major in English Literature (her heady sounding senior thesis was titled The Hindu Upanishads Influence on T.S. Eliots Four Quartets) and a minor in flirting with boys. In her final

year however, friends Susan Kennedy and Kathy MacDonald asked Sloan to tryout for an original musical that they’d written and were about to stage. She hesitated because, to begin with, she couldn’t carry a tune. “I remember sitting in a dark hallway outside the audition and thinking, ‘Do I dare to go in there?” she says. “Then, it was my turn and I just went in. I can still see the color of the room, the piano and the two writers. Then, I read some lines and saw them light up! I could feel that I was right for it. No one knew that I had acting talent until the moment that I did!” The writers made up for Sloan’s lack of vocal ability by assigning most of her songs to others in the cast. Five performances later she was hooked on acting. Sloan looks back on that seminal experience as a kind of blueprint for risk-taking she’s engaged in ever since. Sloan says she found the courage to pursue a professional acting career on a visit to a family

friend a bit later. She and her mother were still at odds over her desire to go into show business. So, she escaped to Paris for the summer, where her parents hoped she might come to her senses. Instead Sloan fell under the spell of Aga Church, a stylish, single woman whose example of selfreliance inspired her to defy her mother and start making her own decisions. She celebrated her new independence with the purchase of her first pair of expensive designer high heels at Chanel. Over the next decade Sloan studied with acting teachers like Bob McAndrew, whose other students included Liza Minnelli and Tom Selleck, and Warren Robertson, who also coached the likes of Diane Keaton and Christopher Walken, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. And friends in New York came though with a stage role that once again proved to be life altering. The play, The Labor Party, centered on a group of pregnant women and, fortunately for Sloan, the tiny part she played began with the scene-stealing line â&#x20AC;&#x153;My water broke!â&#x20AC;? That got her noticed by an agent who, in turn, hustled her off to the famous Ilene Ford modeling agency where she immediately landed job on a lucrative television commercial. That commercial launched her career on the small screen and soon the phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;a Tina Sloan typeâ&#x20AC;? became part of every casting agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shorthand. Eventually she landed in daytime drama where, after stints on Somerset (where Sloan played the first character on a soap opera to have an abortion), Search for Tomorrow and Another World, she was cast as one of the central characters on Guiding Light, nurse Lillian Raines. Guiding Light kept Sloan gainfully employed

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for nearly three decades as her character evolved from a young starlet to a grandmother. Along the way there were occasional guest starring roles on primetime television, including an appearance on Law & Order â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a must for every New York actorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resume. And Sloan was seen in the films like The Guru, The Black Swan and two written and directed by Woody Allen, Celebrity and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Only rarely did she find time

On television Sloan gradually realized that her characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storylines were dwindling as attention was paid to younger actresses and she became, in essence, invisible. to return to the theater, usually to help out a friend who had written a play. On Guiding Light Sloan was at the center of several television â&#x20AC;&#x153;firsts.â&#x20AC;? She began her run with a storyline about sexual abuse and incest. Her character was also the first in daytime drama to deal with breast cancer, and was even shown discovering the lump on camera. But, her most

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significant â&#x20AC;&#x153;firstâ&#x20AC;? was one that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in the soap operaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s script. Sloan found herself dealing both onscreen and off with the realities of growing older. On television Sloan gradually realized that her characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storylines were dwindling as attention was paid to younger actresses and she became, in essence, invisible. In the real world she found herself devoting more and more time caring for her elderly parents at the end of their lives and worrying about her son, who spent eight years in Iraq as a Captain in the Marine Corp. She attempted to take control of her life by, on one hand, committing to ambitious physical challenges like running in eight marathons and hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. There were also days when Sloan confesses that she gave in to the stress of it all and hid in her apartment eating ice cream and watching old movies over and over again. Changing Shoes is the chronicle of how Sloan survived that rocky period in her life. The stage version of her story came about when she met Joe Plummer, an actor, director, and the head of Poor Tom Productions, an all-male Shakespeare troupe. It was 2003 and Sloan was a student in an adult education class that Plummer was teaching. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My particular way of teaching Shakespeare is to have people read the plays out loud,â&#x20AC;? he explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tina caught my ear.â&#x20AC;? Sloan became a fan of Plummerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stage productions. After several years he approached her about joining his theaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She said that instead sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to be onstage,â&#x20AC;? Plummer remembers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tina, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an all-male Shakespeare company.â&#x20AC;? What Sloan said next >> continued on page 59

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4/- .QVM )Z\ +WV[]T\QVO ZMXZM[MV\[ \ITMV\ML PQOP Y]ITQ\a KWV\MUXWZIZa IZ\Q[\[ XZW^QLQVO IZ\ KWV[]T\QVO [MZ^QKM[ IVL KWTTIJWZI\QVO _Q\P U][M]U[ IVL OITTMZQM[ \W XZMXIZM IVL QV[\ITT M`PQJQ\QWV[ CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

BOOKS

GORDON’S GOOD READS The place to find a good read...

by Gordon Hastings

About Gordon’s Good Reads I am a lover of books, all kinds, with a library filled with volumes. A personal rule is that no book gets on my library shelf unless I have read it! Fiction, Historical Novels, Biography, Non-Fiction, Memoirs all have their place. Finding a good read has often come from a recommendation and that is the main reason for Gordon’s Good Reads. My idea for this blog is not to critically review books but simply to share the wide panorama of titles I have enjoyed. I hope to spark an interest for your reading list and I understand that no two tastes are the same. The titles include current best sellers but also go back over the years to great titles you may have missed and also include many of the classics, which I have read again or picked up for the first time. The beauty of the writing and their place in time sets these works apart. I always welcome your comments at gordonsgoodreads.wordpress.com

C.J. Sansom - Masterpeice Mysteries - Historically Impeccable Heartstone, the latest in the C.J. Sansom Shardlake Tudor England mysteries carries forward the authors great images and twists and turns of the reign of Henry VIII and the characters developed that are always tangential to the Throne, the Queen and the Court. Heartstone is no exception. I have read and enjoyed three other of the Matthew Shardlake mysteries. The first in the series is Dissolution, published in 2003. Shardlake is a retired attorney turned investigator charged with solving the murder of one of Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners during King Henry VIII’s closing of all of the monasteries in England. Sansom’s attention to historical detail is so excellent that the book could qualify as a historical novel! You will also meet Shardlake’s able assistant Jack Barak. What a team indeed! The characters Sansom develops and the localities he describes place you firmly in Sixteenth Century Tudor England. Sansom kindly pub-

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lishes for the reader maps of the setting of the plot! Move on to the second Shardlake mystery, Sovereign, published in 2006. Shardlake and Jack Barak are called upon to solve yet another murder this time within King Henry VIII’s Court. They undercover a plot against the King Himself! You will meet the fifth wife of Henry the VIII, Catherine Howard, and be plunged into a question of the legitimacy of succession to the English Throne! It only gets better and better. Want more? In Revelation, published in 2008, King Henry VIII is wooing his sixth wife Catherine Parr. Archbishop Cramer is suspicious that Lady Catherine has reformist sympathies. She is also resisting the King’s affection! Sansom’s physical descriptions of the King leave little wonder as to why it is a hard choice for Catherine. Add to the plot a young boy who because of his religious zealotry has been placed in the Bedlam hospital for

the insane. If he is released, he will be burned at the stake as a heretic! Enter Shardlake and Barak who while investigating the murder of a friend discover a direct connection to the imprisoned boy! One more Sansom mystery that will lead you page by page into the late evening, enjoying every minute. There is a fourth in this series titled Dark Fire (2004) but I am now so consumed with the opening pages of Heartstone that Dark Fire will have to wait. Sansom authored another novel, Winter in Madrid (2006) set during the Spanish Civil War. Some reviewers have called it a Hemingway without the romance! I have not read that work. I commend C.J. Sansom to lovers of extremely well written mysteries and do not discount the value of his accurate historical perspective. A painless way to discover the world of Sixteenth Century Tudor England and the life and wives of Henry VIII. I like Dissolution best of all.

gordonsgoodreads.wordpress.com

Gray Lady Down by William McGowen Gray Lady Down Down, What The Decline and Fall of The New York Times Means For America (2010) by William McGowan leaves little optimism for the newspaper that for generations has set the standard for American journalism. In this book, McGowan longs for a return to a New York Times under the stewardship of the legendary Executive Editor and newspaperman A.M. (Abe) Rosenthal and Publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. McGowan lays the continuing problems at the Times squarely at the feet of Arthur Sulzberger Jr. who began his reign as publisher in 1991. The author establishes through reference after reference that the Times continues an ethos of reporting with an “attitude,” something that Rosenthal would never allow. For decades, Rosenthal with the full support of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger established and cherished independent news reporting at the Times, “clearly and sometimes defiantly separate from the editorial and opinion pages.” Arthur Sulzberger Jr. according to McGowan brought his personal 1960s political views and attitude to the Times and hired and promoted reporters and editors who clearly supported his personal focus. “The newspaper left the American mainstream to become obsessed with causes and societal change” to the point where McGowan establishes through the Times own reporting that during the 1990s the line between news and opinion was clearly crossed. The “reporting with attitude” not only determined what was covered by the Times but who covered it and from what point of view. As you read Grey Lady Down, you may think it to be a “hatchet job.” Sadly, as you progress through example after example from the Times own pages you will see otherwise. The reporting of the Duke University Lacrosse Team rape accusation according to McGowan is one of dozens of unsettling examples of how a story was covered by the Times based upon reporter’s perceptions. McGowan makes strong cases in story after story that the “point of view” came from the “attitude” established in the corner office.

McGowan strongly believes that now more than ever America needs the Times of A.M. Rosenthal. He correctly states that the New York Times continues to set the daily national news agenda. Whoever reports the news, print, broadcast, or cable, the day begins with what is on the front page of the New York Times. “The Times will continue to wield enormous influence over what the average American reads, hears and sees. Whether it appears in the paper or on a digital screen, it will continue to be the polestar for American journalism.” Quoting Times Columnist Thomas Friedman from Grey Lady Down, “The reason why Rosenthal was obsessed with keeping editors and reporters from putting their ‘thumbs on the scale’ was because he believed a ‘straight’ New York Times was essential to keeping democracy healthy and our government honest.” McGowan does not see a return to the “Golden Age” during Times Executive Editor Bill Keller’s watch.

The Final Storm by Jeff Shaara

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill Long ago I joined the chorus calling Pete Hamill a New York City Treasure. I enthusiastically expand the geography to a National Treasure! Pete Hamill again earns those accolades with his new novel Tabloid City! If you have an ounce of New York City in your DNA you will be captured by Hamill’s intimacy with his beloved turf. Tabloid City is set within 24-hours of life in New York. Terrorist plot, a daily afternoon newspaper in its last days, the legendary editor, typewriters, reporters who can not write without a cigarette, society ladies, an embittered disabled veteran, lost love, misplaced affection and a very old man who in his dying days does the right thing! There is a line in Tabloid City that perfectly describes Hamill. The copy refers to Sam Briscoe, editor of the The World. “You’re such a lucky man, Sam. You didn’t get the world secondhand. You didn’t take a course in it. You Lived it!” That is Pete Hamill! The Wood! (You will see).

Remembering the 67th anniversary of D-Day, I completed the fourth book in Jeff Shaara’s historical novels on World War Two. The Final Storm, which has just been released is the story of the War in the Pacific culminating and with the greatest emphasis on the battle for the island of Okinawa. Okinawa was to be the last stepping stone before an invasion of Japan. The Japanese land invasion was of course preempted by the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb. Shaara, as always, magnificently tells his war epochs by placing the reader in the boots of the soldier, slogging through the life and death drama of war. It would be impossible to put down The Final Storm without the greatest empathy and understanding of the men who gave everything to defeat the Japanese, not only on Okinawa, but on all of the Japanese held Pacific Islands. The book also provides dramatic personalized insight into the decision and the actual dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. The earlier books in this Shaara collection concern the North Africa Campaign and an introduction to Eisenhower and Rommel in The Rising Tide, the European Invasion and D-Day in The Steel Wave, and the great march across Europe including the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge in No Less Than Victory. It would be difficult for anyone with an interest in WWII to overlook these four volumes. Shaara’s portrayal of the reality of war through the prism of historical fiction is in my view unequaled. Then again, having read his father Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels, you know it is in the genes. If your interest lies with the Civil War you will want to read Jeff Shaara’s Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure. Also do not overlook his great novel on the American Revolution, Rise to Rebellion. Here is a promise. After reading a Shaara novel you will regard all service men and women with awe, respect and gratitude.

Now in the on-line cue at gordonsgoodreads.wordpress.com Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner, Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy, and The Wings of a Dove by Henry James

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NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles profiling the Research Fellows of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, Inc., a national non-profit public charity based in Connecticut

Alliance For Cancer Gene Therapy Research Star: Clodagh O’Shea, Ph.D. Photo: Courtesy of SALK

From Ice Axe to Laboratory

“For me, it’s about the moment when you know you’re the only person who has ever discovered something new and unique. It’s extraordinary!” Introducing Clodagh O’Shea, Ph.D. -- Clodagh is an assistant professor at the USCD Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, La Jolla, California. Her avocation is technical ice and rock climbing! Clodagh is an Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) Research Fellow and the recipient of a multi-year research grant from the nationally renowned Stamford, Connecticut based not-for-profit foundation. Her area of research is developing viral therapies for many different types of cancer. O’Shea is a native of Ireland having completed her undergraduate work at University College in Cork Ireland in Biochemistry and Microbiology. She is the first member of her family to attend college. She further distinguished herself at Imperial College/Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, England where she received her Ph.D in Immunology. She then completed four years of post-doctoral work at the University of California San Francisco in Oncology. She has been published in dozens of medical journals. While at the Imperial College in England she heard founding ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member Frank McCormick speak and Clodagh became convinced that cancer cell and gene therapy in her words, “ Could change the world.” That lecture charted the future course for O’Shea. Dr. Frank McCormick is currently the incoming president of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research at the University of California San Francisco. “FOCUS AND WILL KEEP ME GOING” Clodagh is among a group of young research scientists funded by ACGT who see discovering new treatments and finding a possible cure for cancer as a daily quest requiring a laser-like focus not unlike climbing a sheer ice face in the Andes or Patagonia. Does being an ice climber and a scientific researcher share much in common? “Actually I think about it all the time. They are not dissimilar. It is looking at big challenges along the way, some you do not expect, and being able to break them down into individual steps. It takes a lot of mental commitment, focus and the will to keep going.” In ice climbing the most challenging and difficult face is a W17. The technical description of a W17 is sustained and overhanging with no rests, extremely

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rare, near mythical! Not at all unlike the challenges that face researchers like Clodagh in the fight against cancer. Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy was founded in 2001 by Greenwich, Connecticut residents Barbara and her late husband Edward Netter. Barbara succeeded Edward as president in 2011. A decade ago, the Netter’s daughter-inlaw died of breast cancer and as the Netter’s witnessed the ravages of the cancer itself and the devastating effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments they became determined to find a means to discover a new approach to cancer treatment and therapies. Cancer cell and gene therapy is a highly complex and scientific pursuit that works on the basic premise of finding a way to make the human cell in-hospitable to the creation and multiplication of cancer cells. The development of the breast cancer drug Herceptin nearly 20 years ago was accomplished through early genetic and cancer cell research. Barbara Netter shares her husband’s vision. “We are driven by our mission to support the extraordinary potential offered by cell and gene-based therapies to accelerate effective and safe treatment of all types of cancer. We have never wavered from our belief that molecular medicine is the new paradigm to treat cancer and that the source of cancer, the genes, is where research should be focused. It is our hope and belief that the answers lie in the hands of brilliant researchers like our Clodagh O’Shea.” COULD THE COMMON COLD VIRUS BE THE PATH TO A CURE? A recipient of the 2007 ACGT Young Investigator Award, Dr. O’Shea describes her work: “Most commonly used cancer chemotherapies are little more than DNA poisons that slow down tumor growth but do not ultimately cure patients. Chemotherapy also has devastating side effects. There is a desperate need to identify new drugs and combinations of therapies that abate cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.” Dr. O’Shea’s approach is to employ the help of a small DNA virus, called adenovirus, (the common cold virus), to understand and treat cancer. Recently, research has shown that in every human cancer there is a tumor suppressor gene, p53 that is inactivated due to mutations or loss. Yet there is still no effective therapy to treat patients based on the loss of p53 because it is extremely challenging to tackle something that is no longer there. However, it

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Director since its founding. “These researchers first and foremost are incredibly well qualified. Before even applying to ACGT for grant support they have dedicated their lives to their education and the field of science. They undergo a rigorous multi-step scientific review process overseen by the prestigious ACGT Scientific Advisory Council. They have attained Research-Star status in our minds because they have separated themselves from the pack by being committed to trying new approaches where no-one has traveled before. Their passion and dedication is inspiring. While not every new idea is successful, we at ACGT believe that taking risks and encountering new scientific frontiers is the approach that will eventually solve the cancer puzzle, piece by piece.” Clodagh O’Shea’s research could impact the treatment of many different cancers and ACGT has, over the past ten years, awarded in excess of 22-million dollars in grants for work on cancer cell and gene therapy dealing with all forms of cancer including lymphoma, lung, ovarian and brain cancers. Those grants have attracted an additional 58-million dollars in complimentary funding. Seventeen human trials have been approved with over 100 cancer patients participating. Other ACGT Fellows are conducting research at MD Anderson, Houston, Texas, Stanford University, Stanford, California, Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Rochester, Minnesota, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania among others.

has been discovered that just like cancer cells, the cold virus relies on inactivating these same suppressor genes to reproduce in infected cells.Dr. O’Shea’s research focuses on using these viruses to multiply only in the tumor cell and implode them from the inside out. The most important finding so far is that the adenovirus brings along another protein that neutralizes the loss of p53 through a completely different mechanism. By understanding this pathway and the virus mechanism, new viruses are being genetically engineered. These viruses can selectively kill tumor cells and also reawaken the immune system to recognize that a tumor is present which needs to be eradicated, both locally and at sites of distant metastases. It proves that science can be serendipitous. By studying one thing, Dr. O’Shea’s lab not only found what they were looking for, but in addition, something completely unexpected. “YOU HAVE TO AIM HIGH” What keeps this adventurous young research fellow passionate about science? “Scientific research is a celebration of life at its deepest level. To understand even the slightest pathway to treatments and possible cures for cancer and to be able to share that information with others is an amazing experience. Like climbing, once you begin you can never be negative. Even in the slow going you understand that every step forward counts because it increases your knowledge and confidence. While in the laboratory knowing that I can actually help someone by using that acquired knowledge is uplifting and encourages me to keep moving. I know that my work as a research scientist will eventually relieve suffering through new and break-through therapies. You have to aim high, right? It’s a huge problem to tackle and I don’t even care if we are going to be foot soldiers or captains. That’s not what is important to me. It’s the battle itself and if I can contribute in any way I’ll feel that it’s been worth it.” Why does ACGT refer to their young Research Fellows as ResearchStars? Margaret Cianci of Riverside, Connecticut has been ACGT’s Executive

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“I AM OPTIMISTIC” When asked about a time line for a cancer cure breakthrough O’Shea shared this perspective. “I am an optimist with a dash of realism. I think that we will see certain cancers going from a terminal disease to a treatable chronic condition within the next twenty years. The treatment of certain leukemia’s is an excellent example of that transition. I think for certain tumors we will see potential cures within the short term. These include treatment of early detected breast and lung cancers while others such as brain cancer will be more difficult. We need to further understand how to use viruses through cell and gene therapy in combination with other drugs as was the case in the development of the HIV cocktail treatment. For example, can we capitalize on the advances in our understanding of cancer and therapeutic viruses by using new genome assembly technologies to create optimized tumor killing viruses? The genome elements of viral cancer therapies could be designated as individual Lego pieces and then, just as a child plays with Legos, used to assemble different combinations until the different cocktails are developed to treat various cancers. “Cancer research is an ongoing daily project that requires tremendous resources,” says O’Shea. “It is discouraging to see Federal cutbacks in funding. Like a climbing expedition you can get there but you need tremendous support to accomplish your goals. We are dealing with cancer and all bets have to be on the table so that we can attain these goals in a way that we can willingly and aggressively take the necessary risks to find answers.” It is not surprising to discover that Clodagh, the ice climbing ACGT Research-Star is a caring person. She is also a sharing person. In the small print in her curriculum vitae you read. “Mentor, masters and doctoral students, Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, and Outstanding Mentor, Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math Science and Technology.” O’Shea continues to climb the difficult, unknown and rewarding route to a potential cure for cancer while at the same time she’s securing climbing rope and encouraging the work of others.

Meet Clodagh O’Shea On April 19, 2012 The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy will celebrate its tenth anniversary and honor its co-founder, Edward Netter, (left) at a New Frontiers Tribute dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich. For additional information call 203-358-8000 Ex. 705. At the evening’s reception guests will have the opportunity to meet Clodagh O’Shea and her colleague ACGT Research Fellows along with all of the members of the ACGT Scientific Advisory Council who will gather from throughout the nation. You will find complete details of the mission and accomplishments of The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy at www.acgtfoundation.org.

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Bravo!

Celebrating The Glorious Theatres of Fairfield County by Martha S. LoMonaco, Ph.D. Guest Curator, Bravo! A Century of Theater

It was an odd conversation. I was invited by Fairfield Museum and History Center Executive Director, Mike Jehle, to discuss a potential history exhibition on theatre in Fairfield County. In my experience, no one, outside of major collecting institutions--the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum immediately come to mind--does theatre exhibitions. Theatre history, my chosen field, is a tiny discipline that engages relatively few people outside of us theatre practitioners and avid fans who assiduously document this most ephemeral art. The problem with theatre—unlike the visual arts, where a painting or sculpture can potentially last forever—is that the art vanishes as it is created. We historians strive to capture that art and freeze it in time so that people not privileged to have witnessed it will glimpse the glories of a mesmerizing production or an actor’s transformative performance. Our usual medium is the written word, which we supplement with illustrations to help readers visualize and perhaps even hear the three-dimensional richness of this art that is here today, gone tomorrow. With that in mind, I listened to Jehle, not quite believing what I was hearing. He was asking me to join a task force of theatre professionals who would meet and discuss the possibilities for such an exhibition. Since I had a year-long sabbatical from Fairfield University, where I am professor of theatre, to write a book, I felt I had a bit of extra time and agreed to join the conversation. I also relished the opportunity to dig into the riches of local theatre history, an area which I had always wanted to explore further. In a few short months, my book had been shelved and I was entering a new world—that of museum curator. It has been great fun but also daunting—just how do you convey the excitement of live performance on museum walls? With the help of my best friend, Mara Williams, a museum professional, we figured out how to celebrate the history of theater in Fairfield County and help visitors understand the intense, complex process that goes into the art of making theatre. We’ve managed to put together a rich tapestry of costumes, props, original set and costume designs, photographs, letters, posters, playbills and film clips that will tell the story of the County’s nationally prominent theatres— Westport Country Playhouse, Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theatre, and American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy (ASFTA). ASFTA, founded in 1955 in Stratford, was the first theatre built on the East Coast dedicated to staging Shakespeare’s plays. The Westport Country Playhouse, now a regional powerhouse of national importance, opened in 1931 as a premiere summer stock theatre introducing the latest Broadway hits to Connecticut audiences. Lucille Lortel, who opened the White Barn Theatre on the Westport-Norwalk border in 1947, nurtured the careers and creativity of playwrights from across the globe and invited audiences to participate in the process of developing new work. Equally important are the actors, playwrights, directors, designers, and producers who made these theatres their artistic homes. To better understand what they do and how they do it, we have five theatre arts interactive areas where visitors explore the art of playwrighting, acting, directing, and designing. How does a playwright shape a text that will engage and delight an audience? What does a scenic designer take into consideration as she creates the world of a play? How does a costume display the inner psyche of a character? How does the magic of light transform a stage? What artistic and practical choices do actors and directors make to shape and sustain vibrant performances? Visitors are invited to perform short scenes, written by featured playwrights or which they write and direct “on the spot,” in the miniature White Barn theatre recreated in the center of the exhibition. My digging into the riches of local theatre history had me looking at the County’s theatre roots back in 19th century Bridgeport, where America’s finest 32

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plays and players came “direct from New York” in the famous star tours that crisscrossed the nation. The Barrymores, Edwin Booth, and other luminaries played Bridgeport in everything from Shakespeare to melodrama. Between 1870 and 1928 there were at least twenty theatres presenting a wide range of entertainments from legitimate theatre to vaudeville, burlesque, operetta, and the newest turn-ofthe-century attraction, moving pictures. P.T. Barnum, Bridgeport’s Favorite Son, may have built its earliest theatre, Barnum’s Recreation Hall,in 1883, but it was Sylvester Z. Poli (1859-1937) who was the city’s greatest theatre entrepreneur. Poli ran the largest theatrical chain in the East, which, at its height, boasted thirty-four splendid venues from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. He built or re-built six of Bridgeport’s theatres (including Barnum’s) between 1901 and 1922, where he produced vaudeville as well as dramatic stock. His grandest theatres—the Palace and the Majestic—opened on Bridgeport’s Main Street with great fanfare in 1922. Poli’s Palace, with 3600 seats, featured motion picture “photoplays” accompanied by a 22-piece orchestra and vaudeville acts. The smaller Majestic, with 2400 seats, was designed for musical shows and straight drama. A companion exhibition of photographs by Jay Misencik of these beautiful theatres--which today are dark and deteriorating--will be on view in the Museum’s Ruth Carlson Horn Gallery through November. Poli’s empire crumbled as changing trends in entertainment, precipitated by “the talkies,” combined with the economic woes of the Great Depression, transformed all of his theatres into movie palaces by the end of the 1930s. In the meantime, however, legitimate theatre began to regain a foothold in the County through the efforts of producer Lawrence Langner and his wife, actress Armina Marshall, who opened the Westport Country Playhouse in 1931. It was to be a summer tryout house for New York’s Theatre Guild, a non-commercial venture dedicated to producing serious, full-length new plays. The Playhouse quickly became a force among the new summer stock theatres mushrooming throughout the northeastern United States and it outlasted most of them.

From top left; clockwise: 1) Katharine Hepburn as Portia, 5 Morris Carnovsky as Shylock, and Richard Waring as Antonio in the American Shakespeare Festival’s 1957 production of The Merchant of Venice. Photo by Friedman-Abeles. 2) Morris Carnovsky in the first of his three appearances as King Lear at the American Shakespeare Festival, 1963. Photo by Friedman-Abeles. 3) Lucille Lortel greeting guests at her White Barn Theatre, 1947. Photo by Robert L. Hill. 4) The Westport Country Playhouse’s 1931 opening production of Dion Boucicault’s The Streets of New York, directed and produced by Lawrence Langner with stars Dorothy Gish and Rollo Peters. Photo courtesy Westport Country Playhouse. 5) The Westport Country Playhouse, shortly after it opened in 1931, with grazing sheep maintaining the true barn theatre atmosphere. Photo courtesy Westport Country Playhouse. 6) Katharine Hepburn and Robert Ryan rehearsing for their starring roles in Antony and Cleopatra for the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy, 1960. Photo by Martha Holmes.

At the turn of the new millennium, Westport shed its summer stock status in favor of resident repertory theatre. With a revitalized building and the visionary leadership of Joanne Woodward, Anne Keefe and, currently, Mark Lamos, the Playhouse has become a nationally acclaimed theatre proudly celebrating its 80th anniversary. Lucille Lortel, popularly known as “the Queen of Off-Broadway” and certainly the most glamorous producer in 20th-century America, launched her career as a theatrical entrepreneur on her Westport estate when she converted a disused barn into a tryout house for experimental new plays and invited discerning audiences to help in their development. The White Barn Theatre, which opened in 1947, premiered over 180 American and foreign plays in its 54 seasons, including plays by Edward Albee, Athol Fugard, Eugene Ionesco, and Tennessee Williams. The Barn was committed “to sponsor, encourage and develop new forms of theatre art,” which included experimental operas, concerts, dance, puppetry, and cabaret acts. Lortel’s rich panoply of performers included Geoffrey Holder in his American premiere and one-woman shows featuring Eva Le Gallienne, June Havoc, and Donna McKechnie, among many others. Lawrence Langner also was responsible for the founding of the exhibition’s third featured theatre, the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy (ASFTA), which opened in Stratford in 1955. ASFTA was not the first theatre dedicated to producing the work of William Shakespeare in the United States, but it was the first built on the East Coast and the first to attract the biggest names in theatre and film to its stage. Although plagued throughout its thirty-year history by financial and administrative difficulties, ASFTA attracted major talents who reinterpreted Shakespeare for 20th-century American audiences and sought to develop a markedly American, as opposed to the more traditional British, approach to the work. Featured in the exhibition are Katharine Hepburn’s star turn in Antony & Cleopatra (1960); The Merchant of Venice (1957), co-starring Hepburn and the great actor and educator, Morris

Carnovsky; Carnovsky in his three appearances as King Lear, often cited as the most important American performance of a Shakespearean role in the second half of the twentieth century; and the brilliant pairing of James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer in the 1981 Othello that left Stratford for a triumphant tour and Tony-award winning season on Broadway. Our exhibition ends with a tribute to the other esteemed theatres—community, university, and professional—that have graced Fairfield County stages then and now. As the resident director and producer of one of them—Theatre Fairfield at Fairfield University—I want visitors to see more live theatre. I also hope that my tiny discipline of theatre history will have found a new audience who, having savored the riches of the past, will now support the new plays and stars of tomorrow.

Bravo! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County September 25, 2011 through March 18, 2012

Fairfield Museum and History Center 370 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT 06824 Telephone 203-259-1598 www.fairfieldhistory.org

Museum Hours Mon - Fri 10:00 - 4:00 p.m. Sat and Sun 12 noon - 4:00 p.m. General Admission Free for Fairfield Museum members. Adults: $5 Seniors: $3 Students (6-22): $3 Free for children age 5 and younger.

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The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans F LORENCE G RISWOLD M USEUM OCTOBER 1, 2011 — JANUARY 29, 2012

AT THE

An exhibition examining the photographer’s lasting impact on American culture. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm

and Sunday 1pm to 5pm Open Columbus Day, Monday, October 10, 10am to 5pm Admission: $9 Adults, $8 Seniors, $7 Students Children 12 and under are free In October, admission is $14 Adults, $13 Seniors, $12 Students and includes entrance to the outdoor exhibition, Of Feathers & Fairy Tales Enchanted Birdhouses.

Media Partner:

96 Lyme Street Old Lyme, CT Exit 70, off I-95 860.434.5542 FlorenceGriswoldMuseum.org

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events + gatherings

FCBUZZ IN HOMETOWN DARIEN by RYAN ODINAK

Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County

few years ago when director Sam Mendes came to CT to film Revolutionary Road he found Darien the perfect place to cast actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a film about a couple who finds themselves raising a family in suburban Connecticut. Their artistic inclinations made it hard for them to find like-minded people in conventional 1950’ society. Unfortunately they end up having an existential crisis that doesn’t turn out so well. But today in Darien it wouldn’t be so hard to find lots of people involved in making art and sharing arts experiences. If the story were set in 2011 it might have a happier ending. The houses of the fifties still make up the comfortable neighborhoods of Darien and it is still a perfect place to live and raise a family. So it makes sense that the fifteen square mile town, with a population of only about twenty-thousand, would grow its arts and culture scene around a single arts center which is a place for children and adults alike to connect to their own creativity and to their community in a personal hometown way. Founded in 1975, the Darien Center is the hub of arts activity in the town and a place where you can find opportunities in just about every arts discipline. With New York so close, this “bedroom” community focuses on building greater appreciation

Clockwise from top left: The Darien Players and Cabaret; Visual Arts workshop for children; Let’s Put on a Show! Art, Dance & Theatre Production Summer Workshop; Visual Arts workshops for adults; Dance instruction for all ages; Mural project at Artworks in downtown Darien

for the arts by getting people involved in making art themselves. Although there is a professional staff and excellent teachers, the Center is run by people from the community who form a board of directors and committees that represent the diverse activities which attract 800 students of all ages each week. The arts start early in Darien with pre-school classes in art, dance, and Kindermusik for beginning music lessons. Classes for older kids and adults include private music lessons and classes in dance, martial arts and Pilates. Visual arts classes teach drawing, cartooning, puppet making and painting. There is a summer camp, and special programs like “Drum World” and a youth mural project. These all culminate with celebrations including dance concerts and an annual art exhibit.

There is a performing arm of the organization, and the Darien Players and Cabaret offer opportunities for community actors to get on stage. They present fully produced plays throughout the year as well as staged readings. The Players mix it up by presenting other theatrical events, including comedy nights. A local improvisational group called “Significantly Inconsequential” recently presented an improvisational evening that engaged the audience in interactive games. Another recent performance combined a screening of a film fresh off the festival circuit along with a live staged reading. The Darien Arts Center also presents professional performers on the Weatherstone stage through their “entertainment” programs. Concerts like the “Ragtime Evolution Quartet,” presented over the summer, provide an opportunity for the community to come together and often sing along. Thousands of area residents come out to encourage and support all these events and to see their neighbors perform throughout the year.

To find out what’s happening in Darien and the other cities and towns of Fairfield County visit www.FCBuzz.org presented by the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. This arts and culture resource offers ticket and event information for music, theatre, visual arts, history, lectures, literature, kids and families, classes, workshops, special events and much more. For more information contact the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County by emailing info@CulturalAllianceFC.org, or calling 203-256-2329 or visiting our Web site at www.CulturalAllianceFC.org.

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VENÜ Magazine Soars into New York - June 9, 2011 VENÜ contemporary culture magazine celebrates 1st anniversary and expansion into New York with a gala launch party at the 42 restaurant at the top of the Ritz Carlton hotel in White Plains

Photos: REGINA MADWED, CAPITOL PHOTOINTERACTIVE

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events + gatherings

Greenwich Harbor Yacht Showcase September 9, 10 & 11, 2011

Carlisle Collection Partners with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to Fight Breast Cancer

he Carlisle Collection celebrates the 13th year of its Fabric of Hope silk scarf program and partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® by unveiling the 2011-2012 scarf. Carlisle’s Fabric of Hope program is part of the fashion line’s ongoing commitment to the fight against breast cancer. Since 1998, the Carlisle Collection’s team of designers has created a luxurious, one-of-a-kind silk scarf representing their commitment to women’s health and wellbeing. By all accounts, each scarf is a work of art and this year is no exception! The 2011-2012 design features a floral and butterfly design in royal blue, fuchsia, green and purple: www.carlislecollection.com/ about/fabric-of-hope/ “Each year, the Fabric of Hope program enjoys tremendous support from our clients, who make donations through our consultants, payable to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in the amount of $125 or more. They receive the Fabric of Hope scarf as a gift with their donation,” says William Rondina, CEO, Chairman and Founder of Carlisle.“We are very proud to have created a charitable program in which 100% of the donations go directly to Komen for the Cure. To date, contributions from our Fabric of Hope program have totaled more than $1.8 million.” “Susan G. Komen for the Cure is thankful for its 13 year partnership with The Carlisle Collection," said Katrina McGhee, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer for Komen. "Their support over the years has made a difference in the lives of women facing breast cancer and will continue to do so." To make a donation and receive a scarf, please contact your local Carlisle representative. If you don’t currently shop with Carlisle, you can still make a donation and receive the scarf by contacting Diana Meyers with Carlisle at (212) 246-2555, Ext. 3520; dianam@connaughtgroup.com

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ne of the most prestigious boutique yacht shows in the northeast, the Greenwich Harbor Yacht Showcase, will once again be held at the beautiful Delamar Greenwich Harbor on September, 9, 10 and 11, 2011. The weekend kicks off with a preview party, Friday, September 9, 6 – 8 p.m., to benefit Audubon and its efforts to protect and restore the Long Island Sound. The showcase continues Saturday, September 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, September 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Extraordinary yachts on view and a variety of family friendly activities, such as kayaking and canoeing excursions, face painting, fly fishing demos, plus nature games and a live animal show for young and old alike. Admission is FREE Saturday and Sunday. Refreshments from top area restaurants available for purchase Saturday and Sunday. For further information, call TMK Sports & Entertainment at 203-531-3047 or visit www.thedelamar.com

SAKS FIFTH AVENUE GREENWICH TEAMS UP WITH CANCERCARE FOR THE KEY TO THE CURE CHARITY SHOPPING WEEKEND

o help raise both money and awareness for women’s cancers, Saks Fifth Avenue Greenwich will partner with CancerCare and host the 2011 Key To The Cure, a charity shopping weekend taking place Thursday, October 20 through Sunday, October 23. To launch this year’s event, Saks Fifth Avenue Greenwich will host a Key To The Cure kick-off celebration on Thursday, October 20, featuring lunch, a fashion show, and, of course, shopping. Saks will also offer a limited-edition Key ToThe Cure T-shirt designed by Elie Tahari, available beginning Friday, October 1 and retailing for $35 in Saks stores, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores and on saks.com. 100% of the purchase price of each shirt sold will be donated to local charity partners. Grammy and Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson has been named the 2011 Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund ambassador for Saks Fifth Avenue’s 2011 KEY TO THE CURE campaign. In support of this program, Ms. Hudson will appear in a national public service announcement (PSA) wearing the Elie Tahari limitededition T-shirt. The Key To The Cure PSA will appear in major fashion and lifestyle magazines in September and October. Details of the event, including contribution amounts, will be announced closer to the event date. Saks Fifth Avenue initiated its charity shopping weekend in 1999. Since then, the company has donated over $30 million to women’s cancer research and

treatment organizations throughout the United States. Organizations benefiting from these funds include: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund, Cleveland Clinic, Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Nevada Cancer Institute and many others.

“Under the Stars” with Television's Regis Philbin “Under Stars” with Television's RegisCT Philbin July 15,the 2011, Belle Haven Club, Greenwich,

July 15, 2011, Belle Haven Club, Greenwich, CT

ven the legendary Regis Philbin of “LIVE! With Regis and Kelly” needs a hospital once in a while and there’s no better thequality legendary Registhan Philbin of “LIVE! With “The Regis and place ven to find healthcare Greenwich Hospital. Kelly” needs a hospital once in a while and there’s no abetter care is spectacular,” said the Greenwich resident. “You can’t find place to find quality healthcare than Greenwich Hospital. “The more beautiful and hospitable hospital in America.” carewas is spectacular,” Greenwich resident. “You can’t find a That the messagesaid fromthe Philbin – the master of ceremonies beautiful and hospitable in America.” a sold-out at themore “Under the Stars” fundraiser hospital – as he encouraged That was the message from Philbin – the master of ceremonies crowd to open their hearts and their checkbooks to support neonatal at the “Under Stars” fundraiser and pediatric care atthe Greenwich Hospital. – as he encouraged a sold-out crowd to open their hearts and their checkbooks to support neonatal and pediatric care at Greenwich Hospital.

Time to party!

Spectacular views of the Long Island Sound provided the perfect Timefortothe party! backdrop annual dinner dance that drew more than 350 views ofand theNew LongYork Island Sound provided the perfect guestsSpectacular from Connecticut to the scenic Belle Haven for the aannual dance thatwith drew more than 350 Club. backdrop Revelers enjoyed festivedinner night of dancing The Stingers guests from Connecticut and New York to the scenic Belle Haven Band along with live, silent and wine auctions. Club. Revelers enjoyed a festive night of dancing with The Stingers Proceeds from the event benefit Greenwich Hospital’s Pediatric Band along live, silent and wineIntensive auctions. Care Unit. The Department and with its Level III Neonatal Proceeds from the event benefit Greenwichand Hospital’s Pediatric hospital offers a comprehensive range of inpatient outpatient Department and its Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. programs to meet the health and development needs of children The hospital offersadolescence. a comprehensive range of inpatient and outpatient Ally Verdi Roach, Suni Unger, Frank Corvino (president and chief executive officer at Greenwich from birth through Hospital), Joy and Regis Philbin, Maura Corvino and Deborah Wood. Roach, Unger and Wood programs to meet the health and development needs of children were the event Ally Verdichairs Roach, Suni Unger, Frank Corvino (president and chief executive officer at Greenwich from birth through adolescence.

Hospital), Joy and Regis Philbin, Maura Corvino and Deborah Wood. Roach, Unger and Wood were the event chairs

Max Grover, Michele Brendel, and Danielle Clark Max Grover, Michele Brendel, and Danielle Clark

Bryan Bailey, John Unger, Kelly Watts, Jessica Bailey, and Kristin Duda Bryan Bailey, John Unger, Kelly Watts, Jessica Bailey, and Kristin Duda

Man So Lee, Mary Lee, neonatologist Modestus Lee, MD, Lai Ming Yu, MD, and Harrison Lee Man So Lee, Mary Lee, neonatologist Modestus Lee, MD, Lai Ming Yu, MD, and Harrison Lee

Stylianos Theofanidis, MD, medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, with event chair Committee members Mini Nunna Deborah Wood, Theofanidis, who is also aMD, NICU nurse and Jenn Bagg, Caroline Martinez, with Lisa and Stylianos medical director of motherthe of twins who Intensive spend time in the Dave Henkel Neonatal Care Unit,NICU. with event and chairDonna Bailey Committee members Mini Nunna Deborah Wood, who is also a NICU nurse and Jenn Bagg, Caroline Martinez, with Lisa and and Donna Bailey mother of twins who spend time in the NICU. Dave Henkel

Alex and Ellen Wilk Alex and Ellen Wilk

Master of ceremonies Regis Philbin Whitney and Park Duncan at the podium. Master of ceremonies Regis Philbin Members of the Under the Stars Committee at Under the Stars Whitney and Park Duncan at the podium.

Members of the Under the Stars Committee at Under the Stars

Photos: ELAINE UBIÑA

Media Partner: VENÜ Magazine

Photos: ELAINE UBIÑA

Media Partner: VENÜ Magazine

19 CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

19 39

GREENWICH HARBOR

DELAMAR GREENWICH HARBOR

Sept. 9- 11

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For more information or for sponsorship opportunities contact Janine Bahar at 203,869.2002 ext 403 or jbahar@ofals.org

Limited Seating Tickets on Sale Now

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events + gatherings

2nd Annual Westchester Concorso d’Eleganza

October 2, 2011 11am-5pm Depot Square Tuckahoe, NY

n celebration of Italian style, art, and engineering, the Westchester Italian Cultural Center will host a spectacular car show on Sunday, October 2, featuring rare and classic models from Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat, and others. For an entire day, an extraordinary collection of the finest autos, many from privately owned collections, will be shown exclusively at the 2nd Annual Westchester Concorso d’Eleganza. The Concorso d’Eleganza is an event for the entire family with entertainment, delicious Italian food, prizes, awards, activities galore, and raffles. The Grand Prize for the 2011 Raffle is a US Supercar Tour – a one-day driving experience that allows the winner and a passenger to drive as many as five exotic “supercars” on a 120-mile road course in one of several cities throughout the United States. This unusual experience is courtesy of Vulcan Motor Club, and includes round-trip airfare for two to one of the US Supercar Tour cities. Other prizes include a Taste of the Track from Monticello Motor Club and a Formula One office chair. The entry fee for Concorso d’Eleganza is $10 for adults; children 12 and under are free. All proceeds benefit the art, music, and cultural programs for families and children at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center, a not-for-profit organization.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC), a nonprofit institution with a dual mission of independent film exhibition and 21st century education. “Ron has been a member of the JBFC since the very beginning. He was the recipient of our first Vision Award in 2005, has delighted our audiences through Q&As following screenings of his films, and has been an important voice in our educational mission,” said Steve Apkon, Founder and Executive Director of the JBFC. “And, now as we celebrate our 10 year anniversary and continue to plan for our future, we are thrilled to have Ron’s passion, humanity, and creativity on our Board.” “Having been involved with the Center for so many years, I am excited and honored to join the Board,” said Ron Howard. “I remember years ago sitting in a room discussing with Steve and several faculty members the relevance of JBFC’s approach to education given the world we live in today. I believe in the guiding principles behind both their education and film programs and I want to help explore new partnerships that broaden their reach.” In addition to his role on the board, Ron Howard is a Co-Chair of JBFC’s Tribute to Steven Spielberg, along with his wife, Cheryl. Fellow Co-Chairs include Gerald and Agnes Hassell, and Janet Maslin and Ben Cheever. The Tribute, which will be held on the JBFC campus on Saturday, September 17, will benefit the Center’s education and outreach programs.

The event will be held at Depot Square in Tuckahoe, New York from 11am – 5pm, rain or shine. For futher information, please call 914-771-8700 or www.WICCNY.org

WESTCHESTER FINE CRAFT SHOW OCTOBER 14-16, 2011 Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY Now in its 18th year, The Westchester Fine Craft Show returns to the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, October 14-16. Over the years, the Westchester Fine Craft Show has become a destination for those in the know, attracting individuals who look for beautiful things to be part of their lives and for those who enjoy the opportunity to talk to the artists that create them. This special showcase features a wide range of distinctive designs in fiber wearable art and jewelry, beautifully crafted furniture and art for the home. Show admission is $12 for adults and $10 for senior citizens. Show hours are Friday, October 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, October 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, October 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photo by Robert Tobey

Filmaker Ron Howard elected to the board of directors of Jacob Burns Film Center

To learn more about the Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab, visit: www.burnsfilmcenter.org. Hand-dyed jacket and camisole by Jane Herzenberg

ARTS/CULTURE/STYLE//MAGAZINE

Further show information is available by calling Crafts America at (203) 254-0486, the Westchester County Center at (914) 995-4050 or on the web at www.craftsamericashows.com/westchester

CRAFTS ON STAGE November 5-6, 2011 at the Performing Arts Center, Purchase NY. The 17th annual Crafts on Stage will take place Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6 at The Performing Arts Center on the campus of Purchase College at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, New York. Hours are 10 AM to 8 PM on Saturday and 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday. This show of fine American crafts, held as a benefit for The Performing Arts Center, will feature baskets, ceramics, fiber, glass and more. Admission: $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $15 for a weekend pass. Children under 12 free with an adult. For further information, call (914) 251- 6200 or visit: www.artscenter.org/community/crafts.aspx

Neuberger Museum of Art - Purchase College - Dana Schutz

Dana Schutz, Frank as a Proboscis Monkey, 2002, Oil on canvas, 36 x 32 inches, Collection of the artist

Dana Schutz, Face Eater, 2004, Oil on canvas, 23 x 18 inches, The Saatchi Gallery, London

Dana Schutz, Gravity Fanatic, 2005, Oil on canvas, 72 x 78 inches Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection

Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels September 25 – December 18, 2011

This is the first ten-year survey of paintings and drawings by Dana Schutz, one of the most important young artists to emerge on the contemporary art scene in the past ten years. Her distinctive style is characterized by fantasy and reality, and humor and horror as she invents imaginary stories or hypothetical situations that are bizarre and impossible, yet amazingly compelling. This survey will feature thirty paintings and twelve drawings created by the artist from 2001 to the present and will include work from each of her endlessly inventive series from Frank from Observation (2002) to recent works from the Tourettes and Verbs series including Swimming, Smoking, Crying and Shaking, Cooking, Peeing (both 2009). The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue co-published by the Neuberger Museum and Prestel with an essay by noted art historian Cary Levine and an in-depth interview with the artist.

Dana Schutz, Presentation, 2005, Oil on canvas, 120 x 168 inches, Ovitz Family Collection Dana Schutz, Swimming, Smoking, Crying, 2009, Oil on canvas, 45 x 48 inches, Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Gift of Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation

The show will travel nationally to the Miami Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and one additional institution in 2012. Ms. Schutz is the recipient of the 2011 Roy R. Neuberger Exhibition Prize. Established in 2009, the Roy R. Neuberger Exhibition Prize is awarded every two years to an artist for an early career survey and monographic catalogue. For further information: www.neuberger.org or 914-251-6100

JAZZ ON THE SOUND Fundraiser for Silvermine Arts Center a Huge Success

ilvermine Arts Center, located in New Canaan, held their fundraising benefit on June 4th at the waterfront home of Board Member, Donald Axleroad. A resident of Stamford, Mr. Axleroad graciously opened his home to celebrate Silvermine in an environment befitting the theme of the event, Jazz on the Sound. This unforgettable soldHanneke Goedkoop, Hans Wilhelm, out event was enjoyed by over Judy Henderson, Carol & Scott Perry 130 guests, with dining on the pier, a silent auction and dancing to the music of Vince Giordano, performing the golden age of jazz. The evening’s event netted over $28,000 with the proceeds benefiting the Silvermine Arts Center’s non-profit programs that include gallery exhibitions, scholarships for the School of Art, Art Partners, a community outreach program, as well as special programs. Ann Weiner, Michael O'Dwyer, Leslee Asch, Seth Cooper

For more information about the many events, exhibits and course offerings, call 203-966-9700 or visit www/silvermineart.org

Roxy’s Cell, Blue Plate Specials #26, 2010, monoprint

R O X A N N E FA B E R S AVA G E

Birdish 13*/54 r 9/25-11/4, 2011 Silvermine Guild Arts Center 1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, CT

www.RoxannePrints.com

Architecture

the many faces of modernism from mid-century to 21st century in new canaan, ct

Clockwise from top left: 1) Prutting, Moore Townhouse. 2) The Hemicycle House, Architect, John Howe. 3) Philip Johnsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alice Ball House. 4) System House, Architects, John Black Lee & Harrison DeSilver. 5) Greenley Road, Architect, Eduardo Faxas. 6) Benedict Hill Home, Architect James Evans.

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

Nancy Helle

While the main thoroughfares along New Canaan’s ridges may seem like a showcase for classic colonials and Georgian architecture, the country roads that meander through the hills and valleys often reveal some of the Moderns for which the town is internationally famous. The fabled modern architects knew how to choose attractive, often hidden sites with fabulous views, frequently on sloping properties that permitted them to design a home with more than one level of outside access. As a Mecca for Modernists, New Canaan has lured visitors from around the world to see the renowned Philip Johnson Glass House and the numerous mid-century moderns designed by other members of the “Harvard Five” and their disciples. The current surge of interest in Moderns was demonstrated recently by the over 300 people from far and near who attended “May is for Moderns”, a tour of eight unique modern houses by significant architects sponsored by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in New Canaan. The tour focused on mid-century homes that have made a successful transition into the 21st century, and included a stunning contemporary townhouse reflecting New Canaan’s modernist heritage. The homes featured have been painstakingly restored or sensitively renovated and/or expanded to accommodate 21st Century family lifestyles while preserving their significant modernist architectural features. The styles ranged from a Philip Johnson classic modern built in 1953 and John Black Lee and Harrison DeSilver’s award winning l961 “System House” designed for affordable mass production, to the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Hemicycle House designed in l982 by John Howe, his top apprentice at Taliesin, and the cutting edge Prutting/Moore townhouse completed in 2009. Sev-

eral of the homes were on the market with prices ranging from $1,450,000 to $4,850,000. Tour goers were interested to discover the many faces of modernism. As William Pitt Realtor Susan Blabey said before the event, “You may think you know moderns – but maybe you’ll be surprised. There’s a tremendous diversity of style, size, location and price.” The great variety of architectural styles certainly dispelled any notions of modern homes being just “a box”. Nonetheless, certain modernist characteristics were common to all homes as: a seamless fusion of indoor and outdoor spaces with many glass walls, and spectacular views reflecting the architects’ brilliant planning in both choosing the site and then placing the home in the ideal location at the most desirable angle to take advantage of the contours of the landscape and the light. Open, free flowing interiors are an-

other characteristic of “moderns” which has been embraced by today’s designers, even those who specialize in replicating the traditional exteriors of historic mansions. The oldest house on the tour was Philip Johnson’s stone and glass house, designed in 1953 for his friend Alice Ball, in a prime location close to town on Oenoke Ridge, one of New Canaan’s most prestigious addresses. It’s a gem of a mid-century masterpiece, beautifully restored – a showcase for Johnson’s seamless integration of indoors and outdoors, and an art collector’s dream. In addition to a spacious living and dining area with three glass walls, there are two bedrooms in the main house which is connected through a charming courtyard to a guest house, making a total of three bedrooms and three baths. The house has high ceilings and original period fixtures. The award winning prototype “System House” on Chichester Road was designed in 1961 by architects John Black Lee and Harrison DeSilver to demonstrate that good design can be achieved in a 2,000 square foot, affordable home, utilizing a modular construction with six foot floor to ceiling windows which create an open, spacious feeling. The home won the 1964 “Homes for Better Living” award from Better homes and Gardens, the American Institute of Architects, House and Home and American Home magazine. Other than smaller bathrooms than most new construction today, the design seem timeless in its flow of space and marriage of form and function. The Hemicycle House, one of the most spectacular examples of Modernism adapting to the 21st Century, was designed by John Howe, Frank Lloyd Wright’s top apprentice of over 30 years at Taliesin. Howe was known as “the pencil in Wright’s hand,” and utilized one of Wright’s last innovations, the semi-circular curve or hemicycle, when the original house was built in 1982. The site comprises seven tranquil acres with woodland views on a highly desirable private lane. The stunning home of stone, glass and honey cypress has recently had a major update and expansion to over 7,000 square feet while carefully preserving the integrity of Wright’s vision as interpreted by Howe. The renovation and additions evolved through a stimulating collaboration between the owners, their architect, builder and landscape architect. Howe’s original blueprints were carefully studied as the two new wings were being designed and built. Also inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright is a Greenley Road estate designed by Cuban architect Eduardo Faxas, a disciple of Wright who worked with Harvard Five architect Eliot Noyes. A tribute to Wright’s strong linear/horizontal architecture, the home was built in l966 on a beautiful piece of

property with woods and stream. The 3,900 square foot home has been expanded with the addition of a first floor master suite replete with sitting room and fireplace, plus multiple terraces and a separate sports pavilion, pool and tennis court. The three second story bedrooms have skylights and balconies overlooking the pool. Reminiscent of the soaring wings of Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center, is an outstanding mid-century home on Benedict Hill, designed by James Evans, a protégé of Louis Kahn - the former head of the Yale School of Architecture - for his own family in 1961. The setting is an idyllic four and a half private acres. The home has a unique wood paneled ceiling under the hyperbolic paraboloid roof which is slanted upward on two diagonally opposed angles, then curved downward in the opposite two corners. The result creates both grand vistas and intimate spaces. Walls of glass surround an open floor plan in which the outdoors can be enjoyed from every room. Built on a hillside, the public spaces and master bedroom are on the upper level and below are several more bedrooms with outside access. Another iconic house designed in 1963 by Evans on Chichester Road also embodies his characteristic soaring roof lines. Visitors were wowed by the fabulous views of the rolling hills and pond behind the home, which were visible just beyond the front entrance into a great room which includes living, formal and informal dining areas as well as additional space for other activities, all beautifully furnished with antiques - yet another surprise! Four stories of glass soar to the sky in a dramatic home on Fox Run built in1969. In a recent renovation/expansion, Architect David Ling created a living environment of quiet sophistication in a tranquil country setting. Most rooms have magnificent views of the multi-layered decks and the pond far below. The interior features natural materials, blending seamlessly with the natural beauty of the landscape. The delightful setting includes a large deck at pond’s edge. Last, but far from least, the “ultra contemporary” on the tour was a 21st century modern townhouse completed in 2009 — a dramatic four story, zinc and cedar clad structure in the heart of New Canaan village which reflects the vision of designer/builder, David Prutting of New Canaan and Greenwich architect Joeb Moore. They have created a sophisticated, Leed certified ”green” residence of 5,300 square feet with a unique rooftop oasis replete with fireplace, grill and space for a hot tub. “It started with the idea of having a rooftop oasis while living in town; it’s an urban/ suburban feel,” said Prutting. The street entry level includes a state of the art kitchen, living and dining areas and a deck with a soothing reflecting pool. The master suite upstairs has a spa bath plus a sitting room/office. There are two additional bedrooms on this floor, plus a multi-use complex on the lower walkout level in back, which could be a separate apartment or additional family space. It has a separate entrance, full kitchen, living/family room with fireplace and bedroom or office. This home is a very special “retreat” just a block and a half from the train station. Both the new 21st century manifestations of modernism and the many renovations and expansions of the mid-century moderns indicate that good modern design is indeed timeless and adaptable to changes in both lifestyle and taste.

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

TRAVEL

After attending a recent London Book Fair, I received a cordial invitation from Joy and ride from Victoria Station, near the village of Amberley...

CONTEMPORARY Photographs: CourtesyCULTURE//MAGAZINE of von Essen Hotels

An Unforgettable Experience by Alan Abel

Martin Cummings to visit them overnight. They live in the country, about an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s train

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

TRAVEL

As an experienced world traveler I carried my usual emergency supplies for survival: a fascinating book to read, “Which Way Is West” by Dick Elder, a flashlight, alarm clock, BandAids, Rolaids and my cellphone. During a blackout in Grand Central Station I once loaned the flashlight to a grateful New York City policeman. But none of these items were needed at the Cummings’s residence. They own the spectacular Amberley Castle Country House Hotel with its 19 well appointed rooms and suites for guests. The 900 year-old castle, steeped in English history, has been renovated meticulously since 1988, although ruined walls can still be seen on the expansive grounds. Surrounded by battlements and underneath the gatehouse, a portcullis is raised at seven o’clock in the morning and lowered at midnight. Amberley Castle has magically preserved a priceless air of peace and tranquility in a pastoral setting. Antique public rooms reflect their charm of age with suits of armor standing guard in every niche, surrounded by artifacts from past centuries on the walls. Awed by these royal trappings, while listening to Samuel Barber’s “Adagio For Strings,” I tried to imagine Mozart or Brahms creating their music with only a quill pen by candle light and a woodburning fireplace for warmth. My room, named Winchelsea, was elegant with a four-poster bed and two lancet windows embedded in the original six-foot thick walls. They afforded an excellent view of the gardens, including ponds with water lilies and koi carp, and scenes across the moat. In the feudal dining room, a mouth-watering menu cannot be described in words, although Amberley Castle has won many prestigious awards for its cuisine. But I don’t think there are enough stars in Zagat to rate the delicious tastes, exquisite service and grand ambience captured from days of yore. If the Greenbriar Resort is America’s answer to opulence, then the Amberley Castle Hotel stands for England’s best. At Greenbriar, a secret wing was initially designed to house members of Congress in the event of an attack on Washington. Amberley Castle has three-story high parapets, massive stone walls and enough swords, lances and crossbows to withstand any assault.

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While enjoying a roaring fireplace in the Great Room after dinner, other guests joined in a friendly discussion. Lynn, a New York City actress and artist, expressed her enchantment over Amberley Castle by creating an exotic medieval drawing. Mark, a computer programmer from London commented, “If I were to be executed for some high crime, I would request my last meal here, take a whirlpool bath, sleep soundly in my antique four-poster bed, and then gladly be hung from the tower at dawn.” Joy and Martin Cummings have enriched the world with their treasure trove of restored history in the form of a luxurious and unforgettable place to relax, dine and sleep. If you missed Halley’s Comet and can’t wait another 75 years, compromise by logging on to the 8th wonder of the world: www.amberleycastle.co.uk. PS, Yes, there is a ghost on the premises.

Amberley Castle has magically preserved a priceless air of peace and tranquility in a pastoral setting. Antique public rooms reflect their charm of age with suits of armor standing guard in every niche, surrounded by artifacts from past centuries on the walls.

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

MOTORING

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

“A Fast Car, A Good Car, the Best in Class”...

W.O. Bentley by Lorenz Josef

Since its creation in 1919, Bentley Motorcars has been guided by those words spoken by its founder, W.O. Bentley. In its first decade, Bentley was known for building coveted, handcrafted luxury automobiles which were durable and also very fast. Mr. Bentley had a racing background on two and four wheels and naturally he wanted to put his new cars to the test. Before falling on financial hard times, which forced the sale of his beloved company, the racing team known around the world as the Bentley Boys won many races, but none more prestigious than the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In fact, Bentleys won that grueling endurance race an incredible 5 times between 1924 and 1930! Bentley recently released their very latest creation, the 2011 Continental GT and the company proudly claims that this version is very fast!According to Bentley’s web site, this 2nd generation of the GT is: “NOW ENGINEERED TO PROVIDE GREATER SUPERCAR PERFORMANCE”. “Be careful”, Tom Roach of Miller Motorcars in Greenwich, Connecticut said to me as he handed over the keys to the new Bentley Continental GT. I jumped behind the wheel of this optionally equipped “Anthracite” Grey GT, ready to spend the better part of the day with my new ride. Once again Tom, the Sales Manager for both Bentley and Rolls-Royce, said, “Take it easy, the speed of this car will sneak up on you”. As I pull out of the dealership, I think about the time when I was a kid and my Dad announced at the kitchen table that he wanted to buy a Bentley. My Dad was a luxury car driver and had absolutely no interest in speed. The next day we took a trip to the Bentley/ Rolls-Royce dealership in the city to look at a couple of Britain’s finest cars. On that trip to the Bentley store, I recall noticing that the Bentleys looked identical to the Rolls-Royce cars, other than the radiator grilles. Years later I learned that what Rolls-Royce was doing would be called “Badge Engineering”; building essentially the same car under two different brand names in an effort to economize

on tooling expenses. Those Bentleys were very luxurious, but very far removed from Le Mans. Dad did not have to worry, as nothing about them even hinted at speed! So how did Bentley go from Superman of Le Mans to being the Clark Kent of Park Ave? As I mentioned earlier, Bentley went bankrupt and was taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1931. At the time of the purchase, Bentley and RollsRoyce were two separate companies; each had its own unique model lineup, as well as a very different clientele. As soon as the dust settled on the acquisition, the new master made several pivotal changes with their new Bentley subsidiary. The final straw was the decision by Rolls’ head of engineering to follow the American style of car building which involved the standardization of as many parts between the two brands as possible. Unfortunately, within a decade of the purchase, Bentleys had seemingly forever lost their very unique identity and their performance edge! So what changed all that? Ironically, forty years after taking over Bentley, the combined Rolls-Royce/Bentley Company (including the Aero Division) found itself in financial trouble and was nationalized by the British Government. After a decade under government rule, the Auto Division was once again privatized. However, the car company then lumbered on for another stretch of time and was eventually put up for sale in 1998. VW-Audi won the bidding war with rival BMW and acquired Bentley. Now that Bentley was no longer attached at the hip to RollsRoyce, the new owners gave Bentley the financial and engineering support it needed to restore this famous marque to its historic sporting heritage. In fact, at the very first Bentley Management meeting, it was agreed that Bentley would one day return to race at Le Mans! In addition to re-engineering their cars for performance, Bentley began to aggressively market their cars as having the DNA of its preRolls-Royce creations. Exactly how much >>

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

MOTORING

of that DNA can one feel in the new Bentley? That is what I wanted to explore on this day. Psst, don’t tell the guys at Miller Motorcars, but I took their new Bentley to the Big Apple. I wanted to see if it could out accelerate the New Jersey crowd which aggressively merges from the George Washington Bridge into the West Side Highway every day. I know it’s supposed to be nimble, but could the new Bentley dodge the Subway construction sites on 2nd Ave and also slice through Times Square with the most unyielding NYC Taxi drivers. Driving through Greenwich I could not help but notice the luxurious interior appointments of the new GT. The “Beluga Black” leather was flawless and each stitch on the dashboard was identical to the next. The A/C vents have a classic round shape, heavily chromed and feature beautiful Organ-like chrome plungers to open or close the vents. As I accelerated up the ramp into I-95 South, I could feel the awesome power right away. Although not nearly as quick as the Bugatti Super Sport featured in the last issue of VENU,

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the Bentley pushed me back into a comfortable, diamond quilted leather chair as it automatically shifted up through half of its available six speeds. I then proceeded to the Hutchinson Parkway and really enjoyed taking the sweeping curves where that road merges with the Cross County Parkway. On the straightaway, I glance down on the speedometer and realize why Tom had warned me twice. Comfortably cruising at about half of its stated top speed, this freight train feels very hunkered down on the highway. But how will it hold up in the mean streets of New York? A few miles south, I approach the merge where the GWB traffic comes into my road and sure enough I spot a Black Porsche coming on strong. I quickly jump on the gas to deny this Jersey Boy the piece of real estate he wanted. Heavy traffic for the rest of the way to the 79th street exit prevents any more acceleration trials. A while later I’m driving across Central Park towards the east side when I notice that on this day the Big Apple would be more appropriately named the Baked Apple, as the Bentley’s thermometer reads 101 degrees. Luckily the

Bentley has a fantastic climate control system and I actually raise the thermostat so I would not be too chilly. I found that the suspension of this new Bentley is also great. It did not exhibit much body roll in those fast turns on the Parkway, but was also able to soak up the challenging NYC roads. Pot holes, highway expansion strips and road construction steel plates did not faze the Bentley’s 21-inch wheels or 35 Series tires. The engine and transmission did very well in the “hurry up and stomp on the brakes” environment on 2nd Ave. With the roads all torn up and several lanes closed for the construction of the new Subway, one has to really drive like a cabby so not to be left behind or worse yet get stopped in the middle of an intersection. Incidentally, even without the optional carbon-ceramic brakes, the standard iron rotors were terrific and did not fade at all despite repeated stops as I headed towards midtown. Once back in Greenwich, I drove through Bruce Park where I parked the GT by the lake. I got out to take in the lines of the new Bentley and instantly saw that although similar to the previous GT, the new car has a wider, meaner look. From the more upright radiator grille and the unique LED headlights to what Bentley refers to as the “Double-Horseshoe” shape of the trunk lid, this car is much more aggressive looking! Incidentally when I stopped, I had a chance to scroll thorough the vehicle information section displayed in between the classic round instrument dials. Unbelievably, after almost 70 miles of aggressive driving, I still managed to get an amazing 13.2 miles per gallon! I also found the window sticker in the glove box. It stated that the base price of the GT is $189,900. This particular car included Bentley’s popular personalization package (Mulliner Driving Specifications) which provides among other items, the diamond quilted seats, aluminum racing pedals and the mirror like Piano Black wood veneers. That package along with some other options makes the MSRP jump up to $225,775. Interestingly, the window sticker also states, “A refined GT with the soul of a Supercar”..... and in my opinion, it is!

BOATING

H inckley ’ s P icnic B oat

by Roe O’Brien

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BOATING

Eight pieces of solid stock Burmese teak are selected in the finish carpentry shop in Trenton, Maine. With 160 hours of painstaking joinery they will become the languid curve of glossy wood that crowns the deck of the Hinckley Picnic Boat and delineates its form. irst will come sanding, then the marrying of the eight into one of four sections that will be made on the forming jig. Two 22-foot mirror sections for port and starboard, and two to form the gentle vee of the bow laying forward of the chocks. The pieces are then hand-shaped to a fine radius that will appear not too flat, nor too proud off the surface of the deck with just enough curve to follow the sheer line of the yacht. Lastly, there will be the sanding. And varnish. And sanding. And more varnish, or vah-nish, as they say in Maine. There may be as many as ten coats on the toe rail. As many as it takes to make this a Hinckley. The company began by building workboats for the local fishing and lobster industry in Maine. By 1960 it altered course launching the Bermuda 40 sailing yacht. The B-40, as she came to be called, was (and is) a true “gentleman’s ocean racer” both graceful and balanced, stunning qualities that would earn her a place in the American Sailboat Hall of Fame. Bill Tripp’s Bermuda 40 design was as successful on the race course as she was pleasing to the eye. And Henry Hinckley built her out of fiberglass, a relatively new building material for the times, but one that Hinckley had been pioneering the use of since the mid-fifties. This combination of elegant form, material innovation and brilliant attention to finishing detail set the course Hinckley has been on ever since in the pleasure boat business. The modern day Picnic Boat is now in its third iteration and updates to that have just been announced in July of this year. At 37 feet in length

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the latest version offers comfy accommodations belowdecks: a queen-sized berth, a proper head with a shower and enough space and amenities in the galley to not only layout the picnic, but to make a full breakfast the next morning. All this is smartly tucked under the sailboat-styled trunk cabin, yet offers a roomy 6’3” of space overhead. Hatches and ports open to let in the air, but if you are concerned about those breeze-less days on the Sound, you may opt for air conditioning. On the helm deck there are two Stidd seats for piloting and co-piloting the boat. Facing settees and a table with drop leaves make up an inviting arrangement. Sitting with your legs up, back resting against the L-shape, watching the world go by outside the huge side windows, well, you would be one lucky guest. The gleaming teak that lines the pilothouse sweeps aft into the broad cockpit coamings that contribute mightily to the traditional look of the boat and add a dry, secure feeling to the cockpit. Here there is seating for another four guests for times when the captain is feeling generous. If you’ve arrived at the boat by launch or dinghy, you can board from the swim platform through the transom door. From the dock, a teak step on the side deck and another inside provide easy footing. Driving the Picnic Boat Mk III is pure pleasure made super simple by another Hinckley innovation, the patented JetStick. The JetStick will allow even the least experienced member of the crew to maneuver the boat literally with a push of the stick. Developed by The Hinckley Company in the

The gleaming teak that lines the pilothouse sweeps aft into the broad cockpit coamings that contribute mightily to the traditional look of the boat and add a dry, secure feeling to the cockpit.

The First and Finest Day-Boating Club Stress-Free, Luxurious Yachting July 26th 2011 (Greenwich, Conn) – The Barton & Gray Mariner’s Club is pleased to introduce their newest location at The Greenwich Water Club, 49 River Road, Cos Cob, CT. The Barton & Gray Mariner’s Club is America’s first and most luxurious boating club. Founded by a group of sea-loving veterans, the Mariner’s Club provides simple access to day boating trips. Membership allows those even with the smallest of boating knowledge the complete experience of a day on the water in a beautiful Hinckley Yacht. The Barton & Gray Mariner’s Club offers access to nine prestigious locations along the east coast. From Nantucket to the Florida Keys, the Mariner’s Club allows members to experience these luxurious yachts at different marinas. In addition to Greenwich, Connecticut, other locations include Nantucket, Massachusetts, Newport, Rhode Island, Osterville, Cape Cod, Boston, Massachusetts, Palm Beach, Florida, Boca Grande, Florida, and Naples, Florida. The all-new location at the Greenwich Water Club on the Mianus River in Cos Cob makes for the perfect combination of a hometown boat and a daytrip getaway with the Hinckley Picnic Boat as the perfect vessel to travel in. Trips last anywhere from two to six hours and can be scheduled to accommodate even the busiest of people.

mid-1990s the JetStick control of the Picnic Boat’s jet propulsion system made tricky tasks like docking or picking up a mooring easily manageable. The mechanical heart of the whole of Hinckley’s powerboat line is the jet propulsion system. Jets are famous for the fact that they allow a boat to venture into very shallow water because there are no propellers and other running gear hanging off the bottom of the boat. The other facts of the jet propulsion matter are that jets don’t whine the way props do, they don’t break down much because there are only six moving parts and they deliver a smoother ride. The Picnic Boat is now capable of faster cruising speeds of around 28 knots (a bit over 30 mph,) well above the speed capabilities of the earlier, single-engine versions of the boat and better even than the twin versions built under the Mk III label up until now. The higher speeds are brought about by twin Yanmar 320 horsepower, V-8 diesels with aluminum blocks. The lighter, high-performing engines are augmented by the loss of 700 pounds of boat weight that happened when the company moved to foam core in the structure of its laminates. And just as you suspected, lighter IS better. It adds speed and simultaneously reduces fuel consumption. As you might expect of a company that puts 160 hours into its toe rail alone, The Hinckley Company has taken care of all the other details of yacht ownership. Every Picnic Boat buyer is invited to work closely with a project manager who shepherds the boat through the build process. With the manager, the buyer can customize to his heart’s content. Upon delivery of the boat, be it the Talaria 29 or the Talaria 55 (Talaria designates Hinckley’s powerboats,) the owner receives three days of training to get comfortable with driving the boat and knowing its systems. He’s then introduced to a service manager who will advise the owner on not only maintenance of the boat, but on any and all aspects of the owner’s enjoyment of it. The service manager can follow the boat to any of the eight service operations the company owns from Maine to Florida where it welcomes its owners and delivers Hinckley-esque service to other boat owners as well. And finally, there’s the warranty. For the original owner the hull and deck structure of the boat is guaranteed for life. When Mike Arieta, Hinckley’s head of production, described the toe-rail making process to me, even he seemed incredulous at some of the things the company does. He ended with a rhetorical question: “crazy, isn’t it?” Crazy indeed. In a wonderful sort of way.

To learn more about The Hinckley Company, visit www.hinckleyyachts.com.

Hinckley Yachts are lovely lobster yachts, complete with galley, climate control, dining areas, a full wet bar, and even an on-deck hot water shower. These yachts are adorned with handmade mahogany and teak wood to complete the luxurious feel. Powered by a jet-drive rather than a propeller, these down-east style lobster yachts are state of the art picnic boats. Conveniently housed at the beautiful Greenwich Water Club, the Hinckley Picnic boat and captain provide a stress-free yachting experience. The Barton & Gray Mariner’s Club offers flexible scheduling and easy planning. Each outing may be specially tailored for whatever the member desires, from specific food to unique destinations. There are no dock fees, no repair costs, and absolutely no maintenance necessary. Members do not have to clean or cover the boats after use and do not have to deal with storage of the boat in winter. Members never have to worry about moving the boats to and from docks or maneuvering around harbors. The Hinckley Picnic boats come with a captain who will take care of all the driving, so the passengers are free to fully enjoy their boating experience. The Mariner’s Club is easily accessible by everyone. With the various different levels of membership, members can choose which best accommodates their lifestyle. The five differing levels of membership start with the Scout Card, which is recommended for seasonal vacationers or those interested in trying out a membership. This card includes one month of unlimited access at only one harbor. The Ensign Card includes unlimited outings from all marinas and allows for two reservations at a time. Finally, Admiral Card also include unlimited outings from all harbors, while the Admiral Card allows for 10 concurrent reservations in addition to one whole weekend day per month. No matter which Mariner’s Club Card the member holds, he or she is still paying just a fraction of the cost of owning a personal yacht. Yet another unique opportunity that Barton & Gray provides is a dock party. Dock parties are exceptional events for up to thirty guests to spend an evening at the docks with short cruises on the Long Island Sound in the Hinckley Picnic boats provided by Barton & Gray. Parties may last anywhere from two to four hours and are a perfect way for corporations to thank or impress clients. These dock parties are just $1,500 not including food, drink, or fuel. Tim Barton and Douglas Gray founded Barton & Gray in 2006. Barton and Gray are two lifelong boating enthusiasts and created this company as a way to extend the joy of boating to everyone. Their goal was to create a way for people to enjoy friends and family on a day on the water in a beautiful boat without the stress and hassle of owning a yacht. For further information about Barton & Gray and the Barton & Gray Mariner’s Club please visit their website www.bartonandgray.com or call 617-728-3555. For more information about hosting and scheduling a dock party, please contact TMK Sports & Entertainment at 203-531-3047.

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APPETITE

Chef’s Corner

Chef Anthony Goncalves took our tastebuds to new heights at Restaurant 42 Fresh off Venü Magazine’s incredible June 9 Westchester launch party at Restaurant 42 at the top of the Ritz Carlton in White Plains, New York, Owner / Chef Anthony Goncalves invited magazine co-founders Tracey Thomas and Michael Woodside, and some very lucky members of their executive staff, to an evening none of us would soon forget. The venue alone is amazing and the night followed suit, soaring in every way imaginable to new heights in top-notch food, service and views (pardon the play on words here, but Venü prides itself on finding venues that are right up there in star power). “Let me cook for you.” After having experienced a taste of Anthony Goncalves’ hospitality at the party – we have never seen people descend on hors d’oeuvres as fast as they did that night – we were eager to take him up on his invitation. Six of us became veritable VIPs as we set out to enjoy a special tasting dinner at his Restaurant 42 and what an unforgettable experience it was. We were treated to 13 willpower-defying courses, hand-crafted by the self-taught culinary wizard himself, who just happens to look

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as good as the edible art he deftly arranged on the plates before us. The portions were personal sized, small plates that made a big impact and tantalized with an ingenious blend of flavors that proudly asserted themselves separately and in unison. Consider the starter sorbet, a hibiscusinfused confection that married strawberries with chocolate mint soda and yuzuquat, a hybrid of a Japanese kumquat that we would come to savor as the night progressed. Each ingredient cheered as it melted seductively into our mouths, teasing us with a hint of what would come next. Our next course was almost too pretty to eat. A mélange of pan seared tender Nantucket Bay scallops, accented with tart sour cherries and lightly powdered with black pepper and yuzu dust, were accompanied by sea beans, violet seaweed and an inviting dollop of cumin yogurt. Black lime torpedo sardines, finished with an herb bouquet and served with lavage and sous vide carrots, bursting with a distinctive splash of rhubarb and honey, followed, preceding the Alaskan King Crab Brick. Condensed, compressed and drizzled with brown butter, cucumber, baby marigolds,

cumin and that oh-so-delectable chocolate mint, this seafood delicacy did things to our taste buds that we never imagined before. So began a mind-blowing, wildly creative fantasy feast that literally seduced each of our five senses and enlightened us on the subtle nuances of the Chef’s contemporary cuisine, part deconstructed, part slow food, all Goncalves. By definition, deconstructed dishes conceptually take foods that may be normally combined in one dish, change their forms, and then plate them together in a different way. It’s not just about taking the dish apart, but putting its elements back together in a unique, unexpectedly surprising way. Slow food means just that, fresh ingredients, vegetables, fish, pork and beef among them, that are coaxed into peak ripeness by time and temperature. No processed, nuked, chemically powered or beatthe-clock cooking techniques here. Rather, this type of modern-day preparation calls for patience and passion. Put them together like Anthony Goncalves does and words… and comparisons… defy description. “Food is an art, and art takes time,” says Goncalves who spends more than 100 hours a week creating and concocting masterpieces for his appreciative clientele, ideally numbering 100 on any given evening. A serious hands-on cook, you’ll find him in the kitchen working alongside his staff of 18, encouraging, instructing, inspecting and most of all inspiring. “To me, eating should always be an experience, and that’s what I want to give to my guests,” he explains. By experience, he means visually, sensually, and “taste-fully,” and, in the case of his torched shrimp, presented as course #9 on our tasting menu – served under a dome and sizzling with smoky , sultry seasonings that include hickory, parmesan and lavender – fragrantly as well. There’s no method to his madness, he assures us. He is just replicating dining experiences that stand out in his mind and memory. As it turns out, most revolve around his Portuguese

by Cindy Clarke

“To me, eating should be an experience, and that’s what I want to give my guests.”

relatives whose love for food, flavor and family permeate just about every dish he creates. His grandmother was the inspiration for course #4, a “kick-ass” garlic scape soup that embraces a perfectly timed quail egg – his grandmother used hen eggs from her own chickens – spicy angulas (more commonly known as baby eels, a touch added by the chef) and topped with an uncommonly light garlic crisp. “Seriously?” asked Matt Sturtevant, Venü’s savvy Decorative Arts editor, when he tasted the “Everything bagel” gnocchi with raisin walnut

cream cheese that came with the shaved Pastrami Salmon, seasoned and sous vide to perfection and coated with a charred scallion-jalapeño purée, course #5. “This is my ultimate dream breakfast, a wake up call to food nirvana.” If you haven’t encountered this kind of creative line-up of ingredients before, you might want to know the best way to eat it. We hadn’t, so we asked. “Organize it on your fork,” offered Ryan, our very knowledgeable personal tasting guide. “Start with the a bit of the bagel, dip it into the

cream cheese, make room for the salmon and top it off with the salsa verde.” The advice continued when Chef Anthony came out to see how we liked the Razor Clams that made history at our table that night, suggesting that we might want to pace ourselves. Then he added, “Brace yourselves, for I am a very dangerous person.” He was referring, of course, to his penchant for progressive cuisine and for expressing what he feels and thinks through his food, which, for a communications major from Long Island University, is totally understandable when you really think about it. His Razor Clams, a fiesta of cilantro, spicy croutons, pepper relish and chorizo cured uni, pay testimony to the time he spent in Spain learning, tasting and enhancing dishes more commonly found there than in White Plains. In fact, many >> of the Chef’s ingredients are not readily available in your local market, which makes dining at 42 all the more memorable. “Run of the mill products just don’t do it for me; they’re not enough for me.” Neither are they good enough for the patrons of his restaurant and the recipients of his uncommon, homegrown talent. Having never studied or trained in the culinary arts, Anthony Goncalves is not constrained by any set recipes or boundaries. “I think if I had studied under classically schooled chefs, I am not sure I would have chosen this career path.” Admittedly, his career path didn’t start out this way. He was first and foremost

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APPETITE

“For my guests, coming here is an escape, a mini vacation, so I want to make sure everyone has a good time. All I ask is that you be open minded, enjoy yourself, put yourself in my hands and let me cook for you.” a businessman who invested in and owned a popular Westchester County restaurant before he embarked on his journey as a chef extraordinaire. “I basically became a chef after I couldn’t find a good one to cook at my restaurant.” He started out cooking typical pub fare before becoming comfortable enough to experiment with his creations. His father, uncles and grandmother shared their expertise with him as he poured over cookbooks, watched fellow chefs, participated in workshops and began to take chances in the kitchen. The results of his culinary innovations quickly earned him rave reviews from Crain’s New York Business, the New York Times and Esquire Magazine who named him “A Chef to Keep An Eye On.” Their accolades were right on the mark as the six of us could happily attest. We would be remiss not to mention the décor and the views of his newest eatery, which by all accounts offered the most breathtaking views we’ve ever had the opportunity to enjoy in a restaurant that wasn’t in glamorous cities like Rome, Paris or New York for that matter. To make it even more spectacular, we were privy to crystal clear skies and a full-on harvest moon, which reflected off the panoramic window-walls virtually everywhere we looked. Lorna Smith, one of our fortunate six that night, remarked that from where she was sitting,

she saw the New York City skyline, virtually all of Westchester County and two moons, one a mirrored-reflection. Because our 13-course meal was unequivocally over the top, by the end of the night, she decided that both moons were real. Who were we to disagree? The courses kept pace with our growing fondness for 42, getting a little spicier and bolder as the evening progressed. The magazine’s Executive Director, Tracey Thomas, was “in heaven.” Venü Creative Director Michael Woodside offered a running commentary of superlatives and the rest of us eloquently expressed the “oohs and aahs” more commonly associated with a fireworks show. The service was as attentive and personal as you would find during dinner in someone’s home, another signature hallmark of the Chef’s doing, and individual requests are happily honored. “For my guests, coming here is an escape, a mini vacation, so I want to make sure everyone has a good time. All I ask is that you be open minded, enjoy yourself, put yourself in my hands and let me cook for you.” That we did. The food and fine wine kept coming. Four of us devoured the fall-off-thebone Citrus Braised St. Louis Rib, with Oaxacan cheese, pepper puree, papalo, avocado and finger limes, and the Pekin Duck Breast with

a Romanesco crisp, artichoke-pomme puree, preserved lemon, roasted piquillo pepper and lavage salad. The non-meat eaters in our group dined on Grilled Chilean Sea Bass (with octopus and creamed corn) and aromatic Torched Shrimp, marrying a bouquet of garden vegetables and herbs with the fruits of the sea that put big smiles on their euphoric faces. Of course, we had to taste their dishes too, gamely finding room in our stomachs, which, by the way, were having the time of their lives, for the “I’ve never had sea bass do this” and the “you’ve got to try this smokin’ shrimp.” Artful presentations notwithstanding, we wondered how our plates were so consistently perfectly cooked, moist and tender. Technique is a big part of Goncalves’ repertoire as are the high-end gourmet “toys” he uses to cook with. Among them are his dehydrator and his professional Sous Vide machine that help him create culinary magic with his recipes. The dehydrator was responsible for turning a meticulously concocted Romanesco pasta sauce into a light as air crisp that delivered a powerful flavor punch in every bite and morphing the preserved lemon into a citrus explosion. Originating in France in the 1970s, Sous Vide is a process of cooking food in a very tightly controlled low temperature “bath” to achieve the ultimate texture and doneness – think uniformly cooked, silky smooth, meltin-your-mouth tender – factors that are virtually impossible to replicate in an oven or pan. You need to be certified in Sous Vide cooking and Chef Goncalves is one of an elite group with this distinction. By now, after some ten plates, the Chef’s earlier words to pace ourselves were beginning to make more sense. But we had three more dishes to go. “Sweet.” Matt and Michael declared in unison as they tasted the elderberry sorbet, a palate cleansing, delicately flavored confection elegantly served in a champagne glass. They were equally delighted to dive into the house-made Corn Flake Pot de Crème with tristar strawberries,“a heart attack in a jar” they likened to “ohhhh baby” food that they couldn’t get enough of. As all of us were agreeing that the pot de crème would be a hard act to follow when out came the Rocky Road, ready to fight for first place in this dessert parade. This was deconstructed cuisine at its finest. “Everything is in this dessert for a reason,” said the Chef, as we stared at the ice cream festival that played out in front of us. Here we had a torched Italian meringue, a chocolate-pebble cheesecake, walnut-toffee powder and ice cream, freeze-dried to make it explode in your mouth when you tasted it. The trick was to savor it slowly by putting it together on your spoon to reconstruct the ultimate Rocky Road flavor in your mouth. To say that this was the most sensuous dessert we have ever indulged in was somewhat of an understatement. We looked to Michael, normally loquacious, to give us the words we were looking for to adequately describe this. He had none. That’s when we decided that Anthony Goncalves had just redefined ecstasy.

42 is located at the Ritz-Carlton Westchester, 42nd Floor, 1 renaissance square, white PLains, New York 10601 Reservations: 914.761.4242. www.42therestaurant.com

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Tina Sloan from page 25

surprised them both, although in retrospect she realized that it wasn’t completely unforeseen. “I’d met a psychic who said to me that April 7, 2007, was going to be the most important day that I’d ever have,” Sloan reveals. “Something I didn’t know that I was thinking about was going to happen.” The day had passed without anything unusual taking place until her conversation with Plummer. She suddenly found herself blurting out that she’d like his help in adapting her book into a one-woman play. “It came out of my mouth and I was terrified!” she recalls. Sloan showed Plummer a rough draft of the book, which at that point was a guide to aging packed with information that she’d had to learn that hard way. The task was to find a way to turn the manuscript into something that would enlighten and engage a theatre audience. “As we started teasing out more of her personal stories for the play, that fed back into the book,” Plummer says. “It became a wonderful cross-pollination between the two.” The process of writing the stage adaptation took about a year and a half. “Joe would come to my apartment every night and we’d have dinner with my husband, Steve,” Sloan says. “Then, we’d go to the dining room and fight!” During that same period she went through one more major life change: the cancellation of Guiding Light. “I had the last line of the last scene on Guiding Light,” Sloan recalls. “I could hardly get it out. I was devastated. But, I got through it! Then, you see me sobbing as I walked off.” “The end of Guiding Light was traumatic,” Plummer agrees. “But, the message of Changing Shoes is about continuing on when you don’t know where you’re going or what’s next. There we were, night after night, asking ‘Why do you keep going? Why don’t you just give up, move

to Florida and golf until the end? How do you get past that point?’ That became the backbone of the play.” Plummer admits to being a little nervous about Sloan’s ability to make the transition from the small screen to the live stage. “Television acting requires you to be very still,” he explains. “In the theater, you really need to open up and

There we were, night after night, asking ‘Why do you keep going? Why don’t you just give up, move to Florida and golf until the end? expand. To my great relief, I found all of those skills were there. But, Tina had to give herself permission to perform in a very different way than she had for a long time.” Plummer also discovered that Sloan was a natural comedienne. “She’s hilariously funny,” he insists. “With a great dry sense of humor. And she’s willing to do pretty much anything. We kept looking for something at the top of the play to throw off the audience‘s expectations. So, we decided to have Tina enter tap dancing. She was totally game. Those kind of small, silly things can be very freeing for an actor.” The collaborators hit on the play’s title, and central metaphor, when they were experimenting with ways to signal the different stages of Sloan’s life. “A lot of the play takes place in the past,”

Plummer notes. “There’s a sequence where she goes back to France. So, she had to find the eighteen-year-old Tina again. How does she move and behave? How is that different from now?” The answer was to slip into that first fabulous pair of black Chanel heels. “We asked what putting them on was like?” Plummer continues. “How it changed the way she felt about herself? The way she moved through the space? Each time she puts on a new pair of shoes in the play, to ask what they’re saying to her? It was some of the most fun work we did.” Early in 2009 the pair tested Changing Shoes at the tiny Boca Grande Theatre on slender peninsula off the western coast of Florida. “People loved it!” Sloan exclaims. “Men loved it! We were stunned!” This was followed by another performance later that summer at the Cape May Stage in New Jersey. Then, they went to Atlanta to work on it for three weeks in September at the 14th Street Playhouse just as Guiding Light was drawing to a close. “We opened the day after it ended,” Sloan says. “It was all set up before we knew the show was going off.” CBS’ Sixty Minutes broadcast a segment on the final episode that generated a great deal of curiosity about the play. And Sloan’s agent sold her book that same week to Gotham Books in a bidding war. Since 2009, Sloan has toured with Changing Shoes to theaters all along the eastern seaboard, refining it as she goes. “We had everything in the back of a huge car and we’d go from one place to the next like a circus!” she says. In the show, Sloan’s remembrances alternate with footage of her early work in commercials and on daytime dramas including scenes from Guiding Light. But, it’s far from an evening that only soap opera fans can appreciate. As early as the play’s Atlanta performances one initially skeptical critic was pleased to report the following: “Ms. Sloan turns out to be a relaxed and charming performer, not afraid to make a little fun of herself, or to step into the characters of some of the others in her life. Throughout all, what is evident is a profound joy in acting, a devotion to her craft, and an attractive ability to laugh at herself. She and director Joe Plummer have crafted a monologue that is filled with amusing anecdotes, emotional high and lows, and seemingly throw-away incidents that pay off later in a big way.” -- theaterreview.com, 10/7/09 The unexpectedly broad appeal of Changing Shoes has begun to attract the interest of theaters in New York, at least one of which was seriously considering bringing it into the city when this article was written. But, Plummer feels that the universality of the piece was evident from the first time Sloan performed it in Florida. “The audience was getting what we wanted them to get,” he says. “The play has changed pretty drastically since then. But, we’ve always found that the people who’ve never seen a single episode of Guiding Light have loved it and cared about Tina’s journey.” The one other constant is what Tina Sloan says motivated her to create Changing Shoes. “Trust me, ’I’m not one of these holy-than-thou people!” she hastens to explain. “But, there’s something about being able to inspire someone to change – to change their shoes – that makes me go out on that stage and forget myself. I was performing it in New London, Connecticut, recently and asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I could be eating bonbons and reading a book!’ And then, I thought, ‘Because I’m going to change people’s lives tonight.’”

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MUSIC

Photo: Todd Chefant

All Van Müller ever wanted was the music

As a young girl growing up in the countryside of Brazil, Van Müller became enthralled with the music her three aunts introduced her to: Rock n Roll. Müller had the posters

on her wall of rock icons and endured long bus trips to catch her heroes live, always dreaming that one day it would be her up on the stage. Inspired early on by the showmanship of acts such as Queen, David Bowie and Madonna, Muller quickly fell in love with the singer/songwriter aesthetic espoused by James Taylor, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and even the Beatles. Müller developed a hunger for American culture that was insatiable, be it for movies, television or the latest hot rock/pop act on the scene. At the age of sixteen, Van Müller gave up her comfortable country life and moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil to try her hand at modeling and start a band. Her first stage experience as a vocalist was performing cover versions of 1980’s rock hits. Müller took the process seriously, engaging a professional voice teacher and traveling to New York City every chance she got. Eventually Müller made the leap of faith and moved herself to New York, hoping the bright lights of The Big Apple would light the way to her dreams. Müller’s songwriting style is a mish-mash of sounds, blending the raw rock aesthetic of the Rolling Stones with the sensual oomph of Chrissie Hynde and the casual grace of Sheryl Crow. As a vocalist, Müller commands the mic with the succulent alto of Hynde or Stevie Nicks and the edgy flair of Meredith Brooks. One thing is abundantly clear from the outset, Van Müller is never happier than when she is on stage. Music isn’t just a career for Müller; it’s a way of life. It couldn’t be any other way for a girl who started singing in bars at the tender age of seven. Müller takes her music seriously but is the furthest thing from a diva you could find. While the business of making music is a serious one for her, it’s also serious fun.

by Alyssa Miller

Photo: Todd Chefant

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Van Müller is currently having a blast developing her debut album, Find Yourself Here under the guiding hand of producer/bassist Ken Rich (Joseph Arthur, Ani DiFranco, David Byrne, Shabba Ranks). Müller credits Rich with helping her become more focused as a songwriter. There’s a freshness to the album, as Müller tells stories from her own life, crafting a blend of musical styles ranging from 1960’s to 1990’s rock and pop. It’s as if Muller took all the influences of her childhood heroes, internalized them and has created something new yet with distinctive ties to the past. You’ll be hooked from the opening notes with Müller’s confessorial style, pop sensibility and her amazing voice. Songwriting hasn’t been Ken Rich’s only influence, however. Rich brought in up-and-coming engineer Tomek Miernowski (The Spring Standards, The Pierces, The Madison Square Gardeners), and helped Muller put together an all-star band. Artists featured on Van Müller’s upcoming album include Ben Butler (Jonatha Brooke, Dar Williams, Mariah Carey, Suzanne Vega) on guitar, Ethan Eubanks (Joseph Arthur, Crash Test Dummies) on drums, Whynot Jansveld (The Weepies, Gavin DeGraw) on bass, Rich Hinman (Roseanne Cash) on pedal steel, Andrew Sherman (Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight) on keys and Time Ries (Rolling Stones) on saxophone. It comes as no surprise, then, that the music behind Müller sounds like it might be played by the house band in Paradise. In spite all of the allusions to heroes and rock stars, Van Müller is just a girl who fell so deeply in love with music that she gave up her life and changed hemispheres just to make her dreams come true. Even a few minutes of conversation with Müller will convince you that she’s not destined to be a cardboard cutout pop/rock personality. Müller displays the personal grace and pure love of what she does that are marks of the musical elite. Müller has the raw talent to make her dreams come true, and in Ken Rich she has found a mentor with the knowledge and experience to help her turn the straws of talent into gold.

To find out where you can see Van Müller go to myspace.com/vanmuller or facebook.com/vanmullerband

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MUSIC

by Rhonda Bloom

MIA FANALI: Let Me Introduce Myself

When you hear her belting out one of her tunes for the very first time, it’s hard not to get goose bumps. She has the pipes of a seasoned Diva, the soul of a woman who has truly lived and an emotionalism that can bring tears to your eyes or make you jump up out of your seat and dance all night long. “Let Me Introduce Myself,”

Mia Fanali’s debut album, is a melodic gem featuring 11 original songs detailing the journey of her life. Fanali and producer Matt Nichols have created an album that will get you singing, dancing, and feeling inspired. “This album is about the good things in life, the bad things in life, and the moments that change you forever,” says Fanali. “It’s a true interpretation of the roles I play and what’s happened to make me who I am.” Being on stage, she says, “is euphoric.” For her, nothing is more magical than when she’s becoming one with a song and can see from her audience’s faces that they’re feeling it too. “Those are the moments I live for—it’s as if the universe is telling me I’m right where I’m supposed to be.” Fanali, who joined her first band at the age of 19, grew up surrounded by musicians. She has been playing acoustic guitar and piano since she was a young girl and considers both

talents in helping her with songwriting. “Ten years ago I didn’t think I could write a song, but then something happens that changes you and you realize you can do just about anything you set your mind to.” Fanali has no doubt that she is doing exactly what she is meant to do in this world. “I sing because it’s what I was born to do,” says the 37-yearold former Star Idol. “I cannot picture my life without it. Singing inspires me, frees me, and makes me feel like I’m bringing joy to people.” Fanali says her most powerful performance was when, after winning Star Idol in 2005, she opened the Nutmeg Games at Harbor Yard. “I walked out on stage and saw 6,000 glow sticks in the air. Yes, I was nervous, but I realized, ‘I can do this!’” Winning Star Idol encouraged Mia to take her career to the next level by writing her first album. Shortly after the Star Idol win and while beginning her

Photo: Stephen Ciuccoli

Photo: Laura Landau

can bring another dimension of her music to fans and to let them see the other side of her – the original, personal side that is reflected in her album. Fanali is thrilled at the release of “Let me Introduce Myself” and at the chance to begin touring with her band; to finally share the songs on the album with her audiences – songs that bring funk, soul and R&B to life, and songs that are lyrical and harmonious works of art. “Let Me Introduce Myself” will bring the listener on a stunning, musical journey that will strike a chord in anyone who wants to believe that dreams can come true. Says Fanali, “This is only the beginning.” Photo: Stephen Ciuccoli

Photo: Laura Landau

songwriting, Mia realized her next step was to cultivate her vocal instrument. She did this by working with Voice Coach, Marianne Wells, at Wells Studios in New York City; and since 2006, the two have established a long and fruitful relationship that continues today. “Marianne would always say to me that I have the voice of an angel that brought tears to her eyes. She taught me to have pure control over my voice and I owe where I am today as a singer, to her” says Fanali. “I could not have begun to produce my album confidently without her friendship, direction and skill”. Along with support from her local voice coach, Suzanne Vick, Mia was able to reach her fullest, most powerful vocal potential and begin production on her album. Mia’s Co-producer and Co-writer on the album, Matt Nichols, joined her team when Fanali, heard a production by Nichols and immediately wanted to meet with him. At first meeting, it was an instant connection that brought not only what would be a musical match made in heaven, but the completion of one of the albums songs, “Sad Boy.” “I had a vision, and Matt immediately got it – he knew right away what I wanted to do and ultimately shared the vision and my passion along with me. He made me challenge myself as an artist”, says Fanali. The pair co-wrote the songs, then hand picked musicians to add the depth of instrumentals that they imagined. Dave Livolsi, Drew McKeon, Chris “Big Dog” Davis, Jay Rowe, Ted Nichols, Jay Stollman, Timmy Maia, Suzanne Vick, Chops Horns (David “100 Watts” Watson, Darryl “Cool Notes” Dixon), James Cage III, Danny Hall, and Matt Nichols, along with background vocalist Suzanne Vick, bring the songs to life. Fanali, who has been singing with cover band Mia & The Riff, will continue to play local clubs for her fans. “I love my cover band and will continue to play at local venues; I have a loyal fan base and do not want to give that up,” she said. Fanali is excited that she

For more information about tour dates and purchasing Mia’s album, go to www.miafanali.com

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FASHION: Profile - Eva Franco

by Alex Lyras

eva franco beyond the hemline to Greece where they were granted politi“Fashion requires you to multi-task,” says designer Eva Franco cal asylum. When the American Embassy amidst the vibrant hum of her downtown L.A. studio. “We’re asked which of the 50 states they’d like to in production on the Fall 2011 Collection while simultaneously relocate, Eva’s father chose Connecticut. “It was close enough to Manhattan, designing Spring 2012.” Franco’s five thousand square-foot loft but far enough away to raise my sister on Spring Street oversees the production of garments that are and me in a dependably safe setting,” After ten recalls Franco. shipped to over 1000 stores throughout the world. She perfected her now accent-less years of hard work, the brand is gaining serious momentum. English in the Wethersfield school system Courtney Cox invited Eva to her home in the Hollywood Hills to fit her for a few custom dresses. Carmen Electra is also a fan, as are a myriad of other familiar faces that grace the photo gallery at www.evafranco.com. “Celebrity clientele are great, and it’s validating, but I’m not one of those designers who wants to make a $30,000 red-carpet ball gown,” says a confident Franco. “I’m more interested in dresses that suit a variety of occasions. Clothes you can wear to work that look professional, but also translate afterwards when you meet friends for dinner, and still want look and feel feminine and versatile.” Her indefatigable creative motivation is two-fold: the first is to elevate her wearer’s profile. “If someone crosses the room to compliment a dress that I’ve designed, even if it’s unconscious, and a connection between two people is made, then I’ve succeeded,” she claims. The second is to do so without putting a major dent in the pocket book. A reasonable price point for a well-crafted dress is $150 to $300, and conscientious shoppers can take pride in knowing they aren’t wearing something mass-produced in a foreign country. With an Eva Franco garment, odds are slim you’ll see another girl in the same piece you’ve just bought. What makes Eva’s collections so novel is the variation of fabrics she chooses. The worldliness of her designs originates from consistent trips around the globe in search of distinctive textiles: hand-dyed fabric from Tokyo, delicately woven lace from a Paris flea market and vintage embroideries from India. “Beauty can be found in the most unlikely places,” muses Franco. “It’s my job to seek it out.” Maybe this is why her collection garners a surfeit of compliments for the women who wear her. “Fabrics are my canvass. I consider it an art to design the canvass itself.” She started printing photographs on her dresses four years ago. The trend finally made it to mass retailers this year. But Eva’s brand maintains the cultural capital it has accumulated by staying as intimate and personal as when it first began. “What excites me most is looking forward to what my brand will look like in five to ten years. There’s no greater joy than seeing an evolution in the creative process.” Franco’s path to success was anything but conventional. Fans of Twilight and True Blood will be happy to learn that she was born in Transylvania, to Hungarian parents. But life in communist Romania was constricting to say the least. In 1983, her family escaped 62

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(Betsy Johnson was also a graduate), but her personal wardrobe as an outsider left much to be desired. “It didn’t take long to for me to learn that in America, kids judge you by what you’re wearing,” she says. Her opinion became; since I’m going to be judged, it might as well be of my own making. “Even before I made my own prom dress senior year, I already knew I wanted to be a designer.” After graduation, Franco went to The Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. F.I.T. offered her a foundation in design, and she offered F.I.T. an impressive new talent. So much so that after graduating, her former professor recruited her for a business opportunity. He had found backers for a line of clothing to be manufactured in the Philippines. He would design the men’s line and Eva would handle the women’s. That meant moving to Manilla to organize the production team, which she promptly did. Her professor would join her three months later after school let out. It was a solid plan--but not the way things happened. A letter arrived (pre-email…) informing Eva that the professor’s backing had fallen out and to come home. While most people would have chalked up the loss to a learning experience, Franco saw her overflowing portfolio and a sewing shop full of workers and thought, why leave now? She networked her way to a new investor who offered to fund the line and work began. A year passed before another setback derailed her plans. Her investor suffered a major heart attack and pulled out. “It was a hard way to learn the most fundamental lesson of entrepreneurship,” recounts Franco. “Investors can be volatile.” Franco returned home and set her sights on Los Angeles because of its strong community of crafts people: skilled sewers, pattern makers, fabric vendors, and affordable spaces to work in. She began displaying her inimitable dress designs at the Fairfax flea market and customers started lining up. “The flea market was like a laboratory for me,” says Franco. “I learned an immense amount about the range of women’s bodies and how to compliment them with fabrics and silhouettes.” One Sunday morning, an independent rep started browsing through a rack: she loved Franco’s style and was curious if she could produce in quantity. Having tested the production waters in the Philippines, Franco was confident she could deliver. She quickly learned how demanding it would be to keep that promise. “When you’re a one-woman-show, it’s you that has to go to the

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FASHION: Profile - Eva Franco

cutting service, pick up the bundles, haul them to the contractors,” she says of her humble beginnings. “It was sweat equity in its purest form and it gives me a tremendous respect for my staff today. I have fifteen craftsmen and women in various departments >> whose hard work makes all these collections possible.” Franco knew approaching the major showrooms as an unknown designer was futile. So she packed a suitcase full of samples and set out to do it herself in markets like Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, and Dallas. “I’d get off the plane and into a rental car, drive to the hippest neighborhood I could find and look for stores that had a strong design sense. When I found one, I walked in without an appointment, asked who was in charge, and presented my collection,” she recalls with a laugh. Selling store-to-store in so many different markets gave her invaluable feedback on just how variegated tastes can run from area to area. “A woman in Miami dresses vey differently than a woman in Chicago... Dallas, for example, is a really big event town. Lots of formal affairs and weddings.” Those early hustle-n-flow trips helped Franco cultivate her collection into one that would suit a limitless number of climates and lifestyles. In short, one that was more viable for a larger market. When it was time to approach the big league Manhattan showrooms, Franco came to the table with 40 accounts she’d opened herself. Not a bad way to start a meeting… A dream came true when Anthropologie asked to carry one of her lines. Since then, Eva Franco dresses have graced the covers of two Anthropologie catalogues and she continues to ship them thousands of garments. “I found their creativity to be whimsical and vintage inspired,” she says of the retail operation. They clearly feel the same. Frabco’s next goal is establish a retail presence in Los Angeles and New York. “It’s vital for the brand to have its identity translated into a brick and mortar store.” It’s also a physical manifestation of the very dream her parents risked their lives for in bringing Franco here so many years ago. This is still a country where talent, determination and generosity can pay-off, and in rare cases like Eva Franco, give back even more.

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ON EVERY STREET Samuel Owen Gallery Brings Some Street Cred to Greenwich

by Laura Newman

In a world where rules and convention have no business existing, the idea of an organized street art show in a small suburban Fairfield County town like Greenwich is almost a contradiction. But for street artists like Michael DeFeo who thrive on the unexpected, it’s an opportunity to tag the imaginations of suburbia with its distinct, edgy form of expression. On October 6, the new Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich will open an unprecedented street art show curated by the renowned contemporary street artist Michael DeFeo. The show, titled “On Every Street,” will feature original art from over 20 international street artists and legends such as Jean-Michel Bosquait and Keith Haring. DeFeo is one of today’s most popular street artists, best known by for his ubiquitous flower image on the streets of New York and its subsequent cover feature on New York Magazine’s “123 Reasons to Love New York” issue. A resident of Westchester County and teacher in Fairfield County, he’s been “bombing” cities around the world with his art for over 18 years, and his work has also appeared in galleries and museums internationally including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; MASS MoCA; Museo de Arte, Puerto Rico; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY; the A3 Art Fair, Paris; Manifesta 7, Trento/Trentino, Italy; and The National Gallery, Bangladesh. When Lee and Cindy Milazzo, owners of Samuel Owen Gallery, wanted to do a street show in his new Greenwich gallery, they immediately thought

of asking DeFeo. As an active street artist personally connected to the streets, he brings exceptional inside knowledge and access to the world of street art that is beyond academic. For DeFeo, the challenge to produce a big showing of street art in a small, New York suburban community appealed to his avante garde spirit. Sharing the same vision as the Milazzos to do something that’s never been done before, he saw the chance to show street art outside of the context of urbanity and to a new audience as an exciting prospect. As a collector of street art who actively watches it on the streets and in the galleries, Lee Milazzo is especially keen on its value, and sees this exhibition as a rare opportunity for collectors and anyone interested in art to get extraordinary access to the works and gain a real education on it. “Street art exists and thrives differently than other types of art,” says Lee. “It’s art that’s been vetted by the public, and it has found its way into the galleries, museums and even Christie’s. It’s definitely arrived.” Arrived it has. Over the past two decades, this un-commissioned, illegal art form that originated as covert artistic expressions executed during the night in public spaces has evolved into a body of highly coveted artwork that’s grabbing high bids and purchase prices from a cult-like following of enthusiasts and art collectors around the world. In January 2011, “Exit Thru the Gift Shop,” a documentary film capturing the world of street art and its controversial and contradictory themes received an Academy Award nomi-

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nation. This spring, the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art gave a big nod to street art with the opening “Art in the Streets,” the first major U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art, which runs through August. The full scale exhibition curated by Jeffrey Deitch traces the evolution of street art from its 70’s grafitti roots to today’s dynamic, global faction. It has undoubtedly become a significant movement, reaching a height of popularity that’s largely been fueled by the unbridled access of digital sharing and social networks. Once limited in reach by the geography of its street-bound canvas, street art now claims international audiences who find, share, buy and sell it with the click of a mouse. “The internet threw gasoline onto something that was already burning,” says DeFeo.

specifically for the show. Among the show’s featured artists will be accomplished icons like American contemporary artist Shepard Fairy who’s Barack Obama “Hope” poster print became widely recognized and synonymous with the president elect’s moving campaign; UK’s Banksy, one of the leading voices in contemporary street art known for his stenciled satirical, political and social commentary art work; and John Fekner, an early influencer in the street art movement known for his original and stenciled words, symbols, dates and icons spray painted in New York to Germany in the 70’s and 80’s.

Lee Milazzo, who personally participates in the frenzied following of street art says the work sells as fast as it’s created, finding its way onto people’s walls as soon it leaves the artists’ studios. “It’s an exciting art form with such a great story,” says Milazzo. Grounded in the values of uncensored, selfexpression, street art feels dangerous and somewhat, off limits, making it an attractive and enticing purchase. For many people, buying a piece of street art is way to connect with an underground world, and take part in its defiant attitude and taste for controversy.

DeFeo has also included a showing of work from internationally recognized and emerging street artists creating buzz on the streets, including English multi-media artist D*Face, known for his arresting graffiti style spray paint, stickers, posters and stencil works expressing rebellious and contradictory themes; Dan Witz, the New York based artist whose ingenious tromp l’oiel, illusionistic art installations have been grabbing double takes from passer bys on city’s bridges, highways and buildings for over three decades; Swoon, whose signature wheat-paste cut-outs depict realistically rendered people are currently found on streets of New York and other cities around the world; and the widely regarded bronze sculptor Tom Odernis, whose large scale public art installations have drawn critical acclaim around the world.

The show promises to deliver a large scope of original and rare pieces from street art legends to today’s most popular talents. Highlights of the show include original authenticated pieces from Bosquait, Keith Haring and Richard Hambelton. Each artist will provide one to three pieces, some creating works

“On Every Street” will open to the public at the Samuel Owen Gallery at 378 Greenwich Avenue with a reception on October 6, and will run through November 3. For more information, contact 203-422-6500.

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ART

christo unfurls his imagination by philip eliasoph, senior arts editor

As if it was the “Second Coming,” the headline on the website of one of Connecticut’s leading newspapers announced:

“CHRIST COMES TO WESTPORT.” Here at Venü, we’re ‘chilled out’ enough to say ‘no worries’ to seeing such bloopers. With an affectionate wink and smile we’ll excuse a headline inadvertently typed in by an over-stressed fellow journalist churning out regional arts and culture news headlines. Dropping off the ‘o’ from the name of internationally renowned artist Christo wasn’t such a faux pas after all. Unexpectedly – it’s very truthful. While no water was actually turned into wine, or no one was actually seen walking on the Saugatuck River, the artist Christo was triumphantly greeted by his apostles with the adulation befitting a veteran rock star. And who wouldn’t be excited about meeting Christo to view epochal projects imagined in collaboration with his co-pilot and muse, the late Jeanne-Claude. The Westport Arts Center (WAC) presented two of their ‘slow in the oven – still baking’ projects: – ‘Over the River, Project for the Arkansas

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River, State of Colorado,’ and ‘The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates,’ this was the blockbuster highlight of the summer season. Beyond all the celebrity buzz – the dynamic duo’s critical reputation and hard-fought achievements have earned them a day-glo orange shrine at the very summit of modern art’s Mount Parnassus. The drawings, photo-montages, mock ups, and satellite views of the sites are all executed with the precision of a Navy SEAL team’s assault on a remote Afghanistan redoubt. Ironically – and prophetically – this was Christo’s second appearance at the WAC. It was 24 years ago that I was given a privileged introduction to the artist with the always generous intervention of Westport’s multi-faceted art authority, Burt Chernow. Chernow, author of “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: An Authorized Biography” (St. Martin’s 1995), championed the audacity of this most unlikely couple who set the world ablaze with their imaginations. How a penniless, refugee artist from Bulgaria joined forces with the socialite daughter of a French general during the cultural revolution of Paris in the 1960s to create one of the art world’s most respected international brands, is a twentieth century romantic fable itself. In the interim, Christo and Jeanne Claude (who died just two years ago) have continued to transform “public art” spaces across the globe.

Christo The Mastaba, Project For United Emirates Collage 2010 in two parts: 30.5 x 77.5 cm. and 66.6 x 77.5 cm. (12 x 30-1/2" and 26-1/4" x 30-1/2") Pencil, charcoal, pastel, wax crayon, enamel paint, technical data and map. Reference # 4-2010 Photo: André Grossmann COPYRIGHT CHRISTO 2010

Christo Over the river, Project for arkansas river, State of Colorado Collage 2010: 43.2 x 55.9 cm. (17" x 22") Pencil, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volvz, topographic map, fabric sample, and tape. Photo: André Grossmann COPYRIGHT CHRISTO 2010 Christo Over the river, Project for arkansas river, State of Colorado Collage 2010: 21.5 x 28cm. (8-1/2 x 11) Pencil, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volvz, wax crayon, fabric sample, topographic map and tape. Photo: André Grossmann COPYRIGHT CHRISTO 2010

Their breathtakingly, daring odyssey – a globetrotting, hobnobbing, nomadic caravan of ideas, perplexing projects – is easily the greatest tag-team of contemporary art. Transforming natural and urban sites in the USA from Sonoma to Biscayne Bay, and around the world from Berlin’s “Reichstag” to the “Pont Neuf” in Paris, their temporary site-works are the sine qua non of a nerve-shattering, turbo-charged, high wire aerial act fusing art and life in our time. As an indefatigable curator, author, and public arts advocate, Chernow guided many regional art programs as a teacher, advisor and friend. He died in 1997 but is now properly memorialized for founding the landmark Housatonic Museum of Art at Bridgeport’s Housatonic Community College housing over 4,500 artworks. The return of Christo at the Westport Art Center was enlivened by the presence of Burt’s wife, artist Ann Chernow. It was a bittersweet reunion of sorts – with the absence of Jeanne-Claude and Burt poignantly mentioned -- and their artistic legacies everywhere in evidence. The real ‘artwork’ in a Christo-Jeanne Claude project is the human capital which defines a love of community, creativity, and the eternal values of art. Rising to the call, the WAC has defined and validated the impact of its mission. Waiting for the ‘art messiah’ to arrive (about two hours late due to snarled traffic on the Bruckner Expressway while a good-natured, impatient crowd, grumbled but just kept imbibing white wine) one could sense the palpable belief in his world-wide crusade advocating the power of art. Once Christo alighted, the crush was more akin to Mick Jagger or Lady Gaga entering the gallery hall. Christo’s acolytes surged forward as if an aesthetic Sermon on the Mount was being preached. He was a humble and grateful guest, clearly appreciative of all the years of moral encouragement. A universal message of artistic virtue was explained by Jeanne-Claude: “We plan the impossible. It may only appear to be impossible to some people, but we are very realistic. If we start something it is because we believed that it can be done.” With inspiration like that – no wonder many felt close to levitating. Orchestrating this exhibition coup and socially connected event is Helen Klisser During, WAC’s Director of Visual Arts. “Inspired by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude legacy, we just all believed in the event – their unstoppable model kept propelling the idea we could pull this off in Westport.” During— eponymously an enduring regional arts leader—is exporting the best from the studios and galleries of Tribeca, Chelsea, Art Basel, and whatever else is about to happen next, right into our backyard. She’s a true downhill racer having competed for the Kiwis

Top left: Ann Sheffer [L] arts patron and Commissioner on the CT Commission for Culture & Tourism is welcomed by Helen Klisser During [R]; bottom left: During extends thanks from WAC honoring international arts icon: Christo; lower right: Philip Eliasoph shares a photo with Christo from his first visit to WAC in 1987 when Christo’s biograper Burt Chernow made introductions.

in international runs for her native New Zealand. Today she’s carving out big crevices -- and always ready to jump onto the next Black Diamond of the zig-zagging race course of a tricky art world. Skeptics might wonder if Westport’s ballyhooed art heritage is just a mythologized, eclipsed bit of lore. Let’s face it -- more hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 executives are living in those multi-million dollar rustic barns than past Saturday Evening Post illustrators (Stevan Dohanos), Hollywood stars (Joanne Woodward), literary giants (F. Scott Fitzgerald), or playwrights (Max Wilk). But anybody within 100 yards of Christo’s victory lap return to the WAC would be convinced. The spirited reception, exhibition, and lecture by Christo all proved without a doubt that “art really does matter” off of Exit 17. Let’s await a third visit over the horizon after the visionary Colorado and UAE projects are realized for their two-week lives. That’ll be Christo’s ‘Trinity’ for Westport!

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ART

Jane Sutherland’s Little Dancer by Laura G. Einstein

Fairfield-based artist Jane Sutherland, in her impressive portfolio of exhibitions, has two that stand out in my mind: New Drawings: The Little Ballerina, which I curated at Fairfield Arts Council, Fairfield, Connecticut, in 2006, and The Crane Project in the Vassos Gallery, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, Connecticut, in 2003. One displayed exquisite images of Edgar Degas’ famous fourteen-year-old ballerina with a face that holds the yearning of a youthful peasant girl who hopes to become a world famous ballerina. The other, The Crane Project depicts some of the fifteen endangered species of crane and includes pastels of among others, Hooded Crane and Graycrowned Crane. This exhibition was a dual project with Jane’s daughter Alexandra. Jane’s beautiful crane portraits in pastel, a medium that she is noted for, along with her daughter’s life-sized papier-mâché sculptures of cranes were inspired by their visit to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It is safe to say that Jane’s subjects, whether rendered in charcoal, pastel or oil, relate to Jane’s own instincts that are maternal, conservationbased and also her own biography. Jane first saw Little Fourteen-Year Old Dancer at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as a young girl of about the same age. She would later, as an accomplished artist, see the original wax figure at The National Gallery in Washington in the conservation studio. Jane has a third series in which she delves into the subject of women in the 20th century who are considered renegades. This group includes Anna May Wong (1907-1961), the first actress of Asian extraction to achieve stardom as the epitome of the “Oriental temptress,” in the melodramas of the late 1920s and 1930s and Tina Modotti (1896-1942), a photographer and actress known for her Communist ideals and radicalism. Modotti took part in the Spanish

Civil War, and had a legendary friendship with Diego Rivera. In a similar fashion to her ballerina and crane series, Jane has painted central images in oil on canvas that are exquisite in detail, nuance of color, twist and turn of line creating very powerful portraits that are as haunting as they are beautiful. The Little Ballerina has resonated with Jane over the last five years. She states, “I created this series of drawings and paintings as a visual exploration of one of the most compelling figures in the history of art: Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Looking beyond the sculpture’s iconic presence, I became captivated by the unique character of Degas’ young model, Marie van Goethem, a sprightly adolescent ballerina in the Paris Opera. Marie’s jaunty stance and intriguing features carry an endearing, yet unexpected grace. Although exhibited only once during Degas’ lifetime, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is today considered a masterpiece of Impressionism. The drawings and paintings in this series have been made using Degas’ wax original, the plaster cast, and several of the bronze versions in select museums.” At this point, this cycle of images comprises sixteen drawings that are charcoal on paper with gesso and pumice each measuring 40” x 30”; eight paintings in oil on linen ranging in size from 30” x 22” to 60” x 46”; and six portraits in oil on a panel each measuring 6” x 6”. A selection of these works will be included in the Portland Museum of Art’s exhibition: Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist in Portland, Maine (February 23, 2012-May 28, 2012). Artist and friend, Robert Cottingham states, “I think Jane’s series based on Degas’ Little Dancer is brilliant in its conception and execution. My wife and I are thrilled to have one of the drawings

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ART

from this series in our own collection. I believe the exhibition of this amazing series, in conjunction with the upcoming Edgar Degas show at the Portland Museum of Art, will be a spectacular event.” What is it about Degas’ studies of Marie Van Goethem that Jane Sutherland finds so intriguing? Jane, as a mother of one son and two daughters, couldn’t help but feel maternal protection for this fourteen-year-old girl whose father was a tailor and mother a dressmaker. Marie wanted to be the world’s best ballerina. When Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen was first exhibited in 1881 in Paris, Degas was vilified for this young girl’s exotic eyes, seeming haughtiness, her pug nose -- how dare a peasant girl have such an insolent self-important attitude. Reviews ranged from labeling the sculpture a “masterpiece” to condemning the artist as “cruel.” Degas actually dressed his wax sculpture in a real tutu, ribbon, ballet slippers and a wig of either horse or human hair. Degas’ other paintings and pastels of dancers did not receive this vitriolic judgment. Perhaps the central focus of a young innocent girl with hopes and dreams for a future beyond her current standing was anathema to Parisian society. Degas would not have the Dancer cast in bronze and only after his death did his family step in to create the twenty-two to twenty-five ballerina bronze castings that are spread throughout major collections. Jane shares Degas’ love of pastels and many of her works on the ballerina share a palette unique to pastels. In the conservation studio at the National Gallery in Washington, Jane was struck by the concise articulation of the form of the original wax sculpture, and also by the unconventional armature that creates the foundation for it. As an undergraduate art student she was once given an assignment to take a masterwork and reproduce it in another medium. This exercise continues to inform Jane’s work. Each painting becomes for her a problem to solve. She begins each piece in the ballerina series wondering how she will create the illusion of bronze and its unique patination on linen. Her techniques in creating the ballerina are unique in each piece and become a statement on her extraordinary abilities as a painter. This is done through Jane’s precise brushwork. How will she create, in oil paint on canvas, a three dimensional impression of this iconic figure? Her charcoal drawings are looser than the paintings, with fluid lines that interweave in the tutus and the subtle shadings of the bodice. This young girl had all of the dreams and fantasies of any young girl. Perhaps she was just born in the wrong era. Viewing one of Jane Sutherland’s Ballerinas is always a revelation for me. I can say that about each of her other paintings, too.

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DANCE

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Photo: Jody Frank

DANCE WITH A STAR Jimmy Locust, choreography changing lives in Fairfield County written by Fern Pessin

itting in the sold out audience at Curtain Call Theater’s (Stamford, CT) production of A Chorus Line, I’m struck by the similarity between the life and passion of Jimmy Locust, the production’s choreographer, to the lyrics of the song being performed on stage. Discovering what makes your heart beat faster, earning recognition (and a living) doing something you love, is the ultimate dream. Jimmy Locust is living his dream. A bustling, bubbling, burst of energy, Jimmy shakes my hand, drops his huge bag on the floor with a thunk and is ready to talk about what makes him passionate. I wanted to know how and why Jimmy settled in to Fairfield County after growing up in Dayton, Ohio and climbing the ladder in the dance world to receive recognition and accolades from the stars… Why not NYC? Why not Los Angeles? Spending several years living in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, NY, close to the train to NYC, he explains “I started to miss seeing more nature; I wanted to live in a community that didn’t have a “cement” feeling to it.” When he had the opportunity to substitute for a dance instructor friend in Stamford, he fell in love with the grass, environment and positive reception he received. “Fairfield County is approachable and yet upscale; exclusive and yet welcoming; not as “in your face” as Brooklyn and Manhattan can be.” Happy here, Jimmy feels welcomed and at home being surrounded by all the industry people who live in this community. Jimmy has been teaching dance to children of the stars he works with in Hollywood and New York. He finds that the children of famous people here in Fairfield County, like the other students in the area, are well adjusted, highly educated, and well spoken without all the pretentions of celebrity and affluence. Jimmy’s teaching style is to motivate by using positive reinforcement, providing boundaries and limits, within “order” (following the rules) – JL wants them to take something away that will help them in their livelihood. He only hires teachers who embrace this style. Parents know that he is committed to care for the whole child by providing great training and positive reinforcement that leads to character building. As a child, Jimmy stopped growing at 4’9” tall. Bullied and taunted for most of his life, he found solace in dance. When he was drawn to pursue dancing as a career, he was continually told that he was too short to ever be a success. “Criticism like that can either hold you down or motivate you…” Jimmy says passionately, “it motivated me!” At an audition when he was 18, Gus Giordano, the man who changed the face of jazz dance, told Jimmy “I don’t see your size; I see your dance.” Jimmy looked at me intensely and said “When someone instills in you that you are valid as an artist – that can motivate you!” He went on to dance with and choreograph for music icons Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Quincy Jones, Debbie Allen, Justin Bieber… and more! “That I can do!” “Giving something to my community makes me feel at home” he says passionately, and that thought motivated him to create Harmony Nation in 2005. Harmony Nation, an anti bullying and anti-hate program, taught through dance performances presented

at local school assemblies, was started as a way for Jimmy to motivate students to stick with their dreams even if they are being pushed down by others. The show is educational, written by Jimmy, updated, personalized and performed by students at the Locust Performing Arts Center. Jimmy had a dream he made happen - to dance with great stars – and, despite many obstacles and negative responses along the way, he succeeded in achieving his goal. Now nationally recognized and in high demand nationwide, his belief that anyone can achieve what they envision comes through when he talks with students. Harmony Nation has a few critical messages that are important in this day of cyber bullying added to physical attacks resulting in high suicide rates among teenagers. Empathetically, Jimmy believes that often young people do not understand that emotional and verbal bullying has just as much negative impact as physical bullying. After years of being the victim, Jimmy realized that the cause of most bullying is related to negative self-esteem of the bully and Jimmy tries to convey to the victims that it’s not their fault – that the person who is on the attack is not feeling good about him/herself. Jimmy explains that he now has compassion for the bullies because they don’t know who they really are. When a person feels that they are being attacked, the message Harmony Nation conveys is “Don’t be silent – tell a counselor, parent, friend, someone you trust – Bullies scare you into not saying anything…” After talking about his own experiences and sharing what motivated him to become the success he is, the presentation is followed by scenes – cyber bullying; physical bullying; verbal bullying – so the audience can identify the differences and can put themselves into the situation. At end of each live performance the audience is invited to dance with JL on stage where, in the end, the audience comes around to support their classmates and the students learn that they are accountable for their own behavior. “We all make mistakes - the important thing is what we do with our mistakes; That makes us the people or person that we are.” In addition to his work with Harmony Nation, Jimmy spends 17 hours or more a week with his students in the classroom, managing the Locust Performing Arts Center that teaches dance to over 300 students from 3 years old through adult, and traveling the country choreographing, dancing and appearing in videos and television. “My talent comes through God” Jimmy shares. Through his church, the Greater Bridgeport Christian Fellowship, JL has gone >>

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DANCE

I got to class And had it made, And so I stayed The rest of my life... I can do this. That I can do! I can do that. Photo: Jim Kahnweller

to Kenya and Cairo to teach dance as a form of communication to bring peace. He leads a dance company at the church that “keeps art alive in the church, a dance ministry.” Giving back is how he uses his gift. Currently Jimmy is part of a movement to “let art come out of us”. Working with recording artist/guitarist Drew Yowell and painter, JoAnn Thompson Clayborn they created a multi-art presentation called Simplicity. The sold out performance at the Long Ridge School featured Drew playing music, Jimmy dancing and, at the end, JoAnn revealed the painting that she worked on during the performance. “Teaching through all medium- blending music, video, painting, etc. will give students some “oomph” about them when they go off to college.” Jimmy wants to give students confidence by having them experience of variety of arts, “handing the torch to the next generation”. At the Locust Performing Arts Center, students are getting bookings and becoming professional dancers (as are their instructors), becoming the next stars. Seemingly indefatigable Jimmy leans across the table, drawing me in closer, to share his latest project… in the works is a 45 minute film with an accompanying booklet to bring into school curriculum. Students will write in their booklet about what they learn on diversity and bullying. The goal is to offer a packet for any school that may want it. He was the keynote speaker at the Choate School for the independent schools diversity conference. And he is meeting with the Mead School staff to teach them how to identify bullying behaviors in their students. Recently Jimmy attended a Stamford Symphony event and was so moved that he wrote the Symphony office and wanted to know more about them. Hearing how talented the musicians are (most of the musicians work in Manhattan in the major orchestras and on Broadway) “made me once again happy to be in this community where thriving arts are as good as NYC” opined Jimmy during our chat over an iced coffee at Starbucks. “Not only am I excited, I am thoroughly honored that there is a place where I can use the expertise that I’ve worked at my whole life to apply it to this fundraiser.” Jimmy agreed to choreograph a special themed performance during the Stamford Symphony opening night gala and benefit concert on October 15. Ragtime Rendezvous at the Symphony Speakeasy brings visions of dancing girls in fringe and feathers to mind. Dancers from A Chorus Line and other theater performances have agreed to donate their performance to add to the ambiance of this fundraising event that supports classical music for Fairfield County audiences and music education programs. A Chorus Line was the final show of the Curtain Call Theater’s twentieth anniversary season. Jimmy loves Curtain Call and what they do for the community. He was introduced to Connecticut

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audiences a few years ago when he choreographed Les Cages Aux Folles. Working with director Lynne Colatrella on Sweet Charity, Les Cage and now Chorus Line, has been one of his favorite things. His selection as choreographer for A Chorus Line coincided with the opening of his new school and Jimmy feels that it was “new beginnings all around.” The twenty-four dancers in the show became a big family. With a private Facebook page, they communicated and supported each other, shared videos, left notes for each other and worked together to create a powerful presence on stage. This passion and commitment is what draws Jimmy back to do show after show he explains. Lou Ursone, Curtain Call Theater Executive Director, and Lynne Colatrella, founder of Curtain Call Theater and VP, Events and Marketing at Stamford Downtown Special Services District (DSSD), “have always been helpful with anything I’ve done, supportive, encouraging and directing people to my school and programs.” Jimmy served as a judge in this year’s “Dancing with the Stars” fundraiser for the theater and watched proudly as his new dancers premiered the Chorus Line finale at the benefit show which raised money for the theater. His cell phone rings - a fire alarm has gone off at the school, which is currently using space at the Stamford Plaza Hotel on Summer Street as JL is building out a new studio and school. Jimmy, grabbed his huge bag, apologized and raced off to make sure his students and teachers were taken care of and the classes would go on. Jimmy’s work in the community is based in his desire to nurture the whole person through the arts. Jimmy lives his life like the song “I can do that; that I can do”.

See Jimmy’s choreography work LIVE at the Stamford Symphony gala and Concert

Saturday, October 15th

For further details please visit stamfordsymphony.org Learn more about the Locust Performing Arts Center

Visit locustperformingarts.com

Learn more about Curtain Call Theater

Visit curtaincallinc.com

Film

Fox on Film... and Entertainment

Peter Fox

As a boy growing up in New Jersey, my two passions were hockey and the movies, in that order. As I got older, it became the movies, then hockey. (Jersey winters being what they were, I thought I might have a better shot in the film business than the hockey business). When my brothers were not at the rink where we played hockey, and were later employed, we were at the movies. We enjoyed both with religious fanatacism. So naturally, the trophies I dreamed of winning the most were the Oscar and the Stanley Cup: the two most difficult trophies on earth to win. Howard and Karen Baldwin produced the film RAY, “Ray” which was bestowed with a total of six Oscar nominations,including: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jamie Foxx), Best Directing (Taylor Hackford), Best Costume Design (Sharen Davis), Best Film Editing (Paul Hirsch), and Best Sound Mixing (Steve Cantamessa, Production Sound Mixer, Scott Millan, Greg Orloff and Bob Beemer, Re-Recording Mixers) in 2005. They have produced over twenty other films, including MYSTERY ALASKA, SAHARA, THE PATRIOT and SUDDEN DEATH. Mr. Baldwin’s Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 1991-1992. While my recent visit with them in Hartford was to discuss movies and filmmaking (not only in general, but here in New England), the couple’s heroic efforts to bring a National Hockey League franchise back to Hartford cannot be ignored. From the moment you enter their offices in downtown Hartford, one is instantly impressed with the passion and dedication, to both film and sport, exhibited by their exceedingly friendly staff, working with the intensity and focus one usally finds in cinematic depictions of officers in a war room. The office walls, covered with photos and signed mementos from their endeavours in film and sport, led me to a modestly appointed office where I met Howard and Karen Baldwin. They are one of Hollwywood’s most successful filmmaking couples, and could base their filmmaking operations just about anywhere they like, but have chosen, to the great benefit of Connectucut, to make Hartford their home base. I met with them on a rainy moring in June.

Howard and Karen Baldwin: The Interview

PF: In terms of film, what is in the pipeline now, if anything? Are you strictly focusing on bringing the Whalers back to Hartford? KB: That has been our focus for the last year. But now, that is staying Howard’s focus and I’m back to doing a lot of the movie things. We have made some nice progress on some films, but it has been a tougher time right now just because of the economy to get independant films financed. We have some great projects with wonderful attachments. But, even with that, that final piece of the financing that you need has been very elusive, until recently. And we’ve had some good luck on a couple of films.There is one, in fact, that ties in the hockey and that is the Gordie Howe project. Dan Kopelman (NOTES FROM THE UNDERBELLY, MALCOLM IN

THE MIDDLE) wrote it for us. We are partnering with Mike Illitch, who owns the Detroit Red Wings. We’ve got the script out to some well known actors and I think that it will happen pretty quickly.We have Stephen Herek (MISTER HOLLAND’S OPUS,BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, THE MIGHTY DUCKS, HOLY MAN) attached to direct. Some of that, hopefully, we’ll actually be able to do here in the state. PF: It’s grear, because Connecticut has so many different looks here. KB: Exactly. Also, Gordie (Howe) and his family are also going to be will be involved as a Producers on the project. So that’s a fun one, and then another called CUSTER BATTLES, which is the true story of Scott Custer and Mike Battles; two Army Rangers that were gainfully unemployed and decided when the Iraqi war broke out, that there might be an opportunity there.They decided to go Iraq, to Baghdad, to open a Hooters. PF: This is a true story? KB:(laughter) Yes. PF: Did it ever open? Is it still there? KB: They wound up, eventually, opening a pool bar at Qusay’s Palace for the American soldiers. And because they pulled it off, they then got the contract to open the airport for Tony Blair’s arrival and they became, sort of, the go-to guys over there initially when we first went in. PF: Amazing. KB: And that is a fun one, too. Breck Eisner, who directed SAHARA for us, is going to do this one. PF. These are big projects.

KB: This one (CUSTER BATTLES) is a bit bigger just because of the scope of it. We are going to shoot for a couple of weeks in Jordan, and then the bulk of it in New Mexico just for a safety factor. PF: Where do you see production headed in our region in the next few years? Do you see it growing? Because of the tough economy, there has been some criticism of, and even some opposition, to the film tax credit,here in Connecticut. In terms of future productions here in Connecticut, and with this in mind,where do you see things headed? HB: Well, out of Connecticut, if they oppose it. Whereas, with the Whalers, we are Hartford, all the way. But with film, we will go, as will other Producers, wherever we can make the best deal. So, if they change the tax deal, even minor, then, your going to lose theses productions, because even now, it’s not the best deal out there. But if you get behind it, as they have done in Louisianna and New Mexico, you can really build an industry. And you can probably do it better here than you can in either of those places because you are close to New York, and you have a vibrant, creative community nearby. Even now, you can film here and go back to your apartment in New York, or whatever. You can shoot a desert here, a mountain, everything really except a desert. So it is really up to them to know what they have here. KB: We have been working with Catherine Smith to lead Department of Economic and Community Development. There are many more things that can be done here, that haven’t been done yet.

Putting someone behind advertising (the CT film tax credit) would be a great idea. It is still too much of a well kept secret. The industry is still just finding out that Connecticut is a great place to film. PF: In terms of infrastructure, do you see more soundstages being built here in Connecticut? HB: It’s the chicken or the egg thing. We are not huge fans of necessarily having to build soundstages. Most films are shot practical. I mean, if we were going to do a scene with you in this office, what are they going to do? Build this office on a soundstage? The fact is, you can replicate studio space very easily with warehouses, etc. With me, it’s all dollars. Why would a film come here? A Producer will come here if he knows he can really get back twenty five percent of the budget, and he knows he can get a crew, a good crew and affordable crew. Then they are going to come here. So the smoother they make it for the independent filmmaker, then the more the will come back, and come back and come back. Louisiana is a prime example. Now the crews are their, and now they are building soundstages. That is the model that Los Angeles used one hundred years ago. KB: Plus, this is a great family environment. HB: Exactly. So, if they can make it friendly, I think that it can be even better than Louisiana and New Mexico because of that, as well as our proximity to major metropolitan areas, New York and Boston. PF: How did you and Karen meet? (Upon hearing my question, both laughed and smiled at each other with deep affection) KB: We met at the office! We both loved sports and both loved the entertainment business. We were both avid readers and loved to go to the movies. HB: (to Karen): You are too modest. She was acting and she had done some good things (SUDDEN DEATH, NIGHT EYES, SPELLBINDER). KB: But my favorite part of the business was working with the writer and getting that script right. And I also enjoy the casting. PF: How hard is it to find a great screenplay? KB: You have to read a lot of scripts before you find a good one. It’s funny though, you know when you’ve found a great one from the moment that you pick it up. The more books you’ve read, the more movies you’ve seen, it helps. PF: Technolgy is evovling so quickly and as a result, movies have become more easily accessible. Do you think we will always have movie theaters? HB: Absolutely. One hundred percent.

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COMIC RELIEF

My love of comedy started when I was a kid. I grew up watching Saturday Night Live, listening to George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Howard Stern and watching Late Night with David Letterman since his days at NBC. The comedy world — everything from stand-up, sketch to late night — drew me in from a young age. I related more to this world than any other. This was before Comedy Central, comedy channels, YouTube, Sirius radio. If you loved stand-up, you had to seek it out and listen to records, other than what you could see on SNL, Letterman and the Tonight Show.

by Bari Alyse Rudin

In this column series, I’m going to be profiling many of my favorite comedians. This first column is to introduce you to me. When I was in college at the University of Miami, I studied broadcast journalism and political science with a minor in acting and I started doing stand-up at college shows. After graduating and moving to New York City, I was working in the late night programming offices of NBC as part of the NBC page program. Unlike the Kenneth character from “30 Rock,” it’s a competitive program with extremely bright and talented people who, just like me, had already done numerous media internships and graduated college. I made some of my best friends during my page year and all of us went on to do incredible things within television, film, media and other fields. I started going to Catch a Rising Star on the Upper East Side after work. I would sit in the back and watch comedians and suggest them to my boss and co-workers who supervised Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman. I also studied them go up night after night and learned a lot before I was ready to start trying my own stand-up. At 22, it was pretty incredible to be working on the same shows I grew up watching. The things that made me laugh as a kid and teenager growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Fairfield, CT were now where I spent more time than at home. Being in the SNL and Late Night studios, watching legendary bands, comedians, actors and the cast rehearse and seeing the young comics I knew from the local comedy clubs get hired as SNL cast members or writers or doing their first stand-up set on Letterman’s show was exciting. I became a stand-up comic, starting with open mic shows and moved up to showcase gigs and headlining. Eventually, I worked at all the comedy clubs in New York and Los Angeles and many in between. Simultaneously, I worked my

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way up to be a television writer and producer and worked on many shows in NYC. I’m lucky that I found several things I love to do: writing, producing, stand-up, acting, news. I’m an example where “communications” seems to have been the right major! My last TV gig in NYC in my twenties was working as one of four people including Al Franken developing and writing his NBC pilot “Lateline,” which was a spoof of Dateline. Having actually worked at Dateline and NBC News and being a comedy writer, this job was a perfect fit blending both worlds I lived and worked in and putting all those experiences together. The show got picked up, but lasted a season. I had always admired the brilliance and humor of Al Franken and loved working so closely with him on this project. Then I got a call from a Tonight Show producer in LA who had just left the Tonight Show for A Supervising Producer job at the soon to be launched “Keenan Ivory Wayans Show,” a new late night talk show in Los Angeles. I flew to LA to meet him and was offered the Comedy Producer job. They needed me to start in two weeks. I loved Keenen and Damon Wayans work from “In Living Color” and I signed on without hesitation. Within two weeks I sold or gave away my furniture, said goodbye to NYC, and the Buena Vista division of Disney moved me to LA. My job was to find and audition then unknown comedians and convince Keenen, the executive staff, and ABC to give them their first late night TV debuts. Keenen felt strongly about discovering new talent so they had to have never yet done a set on a Late Night TV Show, but be ready for it, a small group of people fit those parameters. I also produced segments on the show with established comedians. Some of them were people I came up with or watched as I was learning in the back of New York comedy clubs and some from when I was a kid. It all comes full circle. By my twenties, I met and worked with a lot of my childhood heroes as well as then unknown comics to you who are household names now. I don’t like to name drop other than where I need to write the person’s name to tell the story. I have unbelievable, interesting, funny stories and am grateful for the experience I had to work with so many talented journalists, producers, writers, actors, and come-

dians. I got to make my dreams my reality. Comedy is an art, a craft and a beautiful thing. Everyone has their own unique style or voice. Finding that voice, fine tuning it, and committing to it is what makes the great comics so great. Whether they are one-liner comedians or storytellers, there is a musical beauty to the timing and delivery of a great joke or the flow of an amazing story. I’m going to be profiling some of the best in this column. First up, Marc Maron. He is an honest and unique comedian who is so raw and real and makes you laugh by telling stories of the deepest, most painful or just hilarious parts of his life without holding back. He has a great career, over forty appearances on Conan O’Brien. In the past two years, he’s turned the comedy and media world upside down by starting his own podcast out of his garage. It’s called “WTF w/ Marc Maron” and Marc’s interviewed the legends and our contemporaries. What is so different about his show is the heart and raw emotion he gets out of his guests. You can learn what it’s really like to be a comic or in the comedy or TV world listening to his show. His interviews go deeper than anything you’ve heard on any TV or Radio Show. Check out the WTF podcast from your computer or download to your phone. Then check out my next column in Venü for an in-depth talk with the talented and brilliant Marc Maron.

Decorative Arts

ON THE BLOCK by Matthew Sturtevant

Two amazing collections will be offered for auction this fall at Sotheby’s and Christie’s respectively that are representative of modern day royalty. The first to be offered in New York at Sotheby’s 18th -21st October 2011 is the second round of the Lily and Edmund J. Safra collection. This museum quality collection is a delight for the senses and should not be missed. It is rare to see a collection of such fine caliber for sale.

r. Edmond J. Safra was one of the most accomplished bankers of the 20th century, having established an unparalleled reputation for financial acumen and trust. Born in Beirut to a family that had started in banking at the time of the Ottoman Empire, he built a business that spanned more than thirty countries across the globe. Mrs. Lily Safra shared her commitment to caring for the less fortunate with her husband, Mr. Edmond J. Safra, one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished bankers and founder of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. Since 1999 she has chaired this Foundation, which supports projects related to education, science and medicine, religion, culture, and humanitarian relief in over 40 countries (www.edmondjsafra.org). “As was the case in Sotheby’s 2005 auction, the October sale will be highlighted by many of the greatest names of French and English furniture makers from the 18th century, including BVRB, Weisweiler, Dubois, Leleu, Boulle, Garnier and Carlin,” noted Alistair Clarke, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s English & European Furniture department. “The selection on offer is highlighted by an extraordinary group of French 18thcentury lacquer furniture that arguably is the most important to appear at auction since the iconic 1882 sale of the Collection of the 12th Duke of Hamilton from Hamilton Palace in Scotland. It is truly remarkable.” It also includes the Cosway bindings as well as a collection of fine interior watercolors from the 19th century and a selection of fine decorative arts and is expected to gross as much as $40,000,000.

Louis XVI Ormolu-Mounted Japanese Lacquer Commode with secretaire en suite, attributed to Adam Weisweiler, which was offered in the landmark Hamilton Palace sale (est. $5/7 million)

Important Pair of Imperial Porcelain Vases, decorated with portraits of Alexandra Fedorovna and her father, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, after the portrait by Franz Krüger now in the 1812 Gallery of the Hermitage (est. $1.5/2.5 million).

The Burghley Epergne is a masterpiece of the English Rococo, created for the distinguished collector and patron Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (est. $800,000/1.2 million)

The Second offering is the Collection of Elizabeth Taylor to be sold at Christie’s December 13th-16th after a selection will be sent on tour around the world. Venü magazine will follow up with further details in the November/December issue.

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Photo: Thomas Giroir

STAGE

Hartford Children’s Theater Comes of Age Written by William Squier Twenty-one years in business is a long time, especially if the business happens to be a legitimate theater. But, that’s the impressive track record of Hartford Children’s Theatre. So, as HCT prepares to kickoff its 22nd season you might think they’d be satisfied with business as usual. You’d be wrong. Over the past several years the theater has chosen to shake up their proven business model in a number of significant ways. They’ve rapidly expanded their mainstage producing and instituted a touring program to bring their smaller shows to schools and other arts institutions. And plans are in the works to launch a capital campaign that’s 84

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aimed at either improving their current facility or buying a whole new building. Hartford Children’s Theatre was begun in 1989 by a group of local artists, headed by former high school English and drama teacher Alan Levy, in response to a lack of arts programming for area children. The emphasis in the early years was on providing the city with classes, workshops and a summer camp that were all theater related. Their mainstage productions were primarily adaptations of popular children’s literature like Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden or Alice in Wonderland, and the shows were cast entirely with young actors. For its

efforts HCT was recognized in 1993 by the American Alliance for Theater & Education with Zeta Phi Eta-Winifred Ward Outstanding New Children’s Theatre Company Award and invited to participate in the New Visions/ New Voices playwriting festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Levy stepped down as the theater’s head in the late nineties and HCT went through a succession of executive directors over the next decade. But, its original mission as a “teaching theater” remained unchanged. Then, Dulcie Giadone became the Executive Director in 2007 and equal importance began to be placed on mounting a mainstage

Photo: Thomas Giroir

Photo: Thomas Giroir Clockwise from far left 1) Hollis Long, Thomas Beebe, Christopher Cavallo, Ben Scanlon, Emily Bordonaro and Timothy Perry in Willy Wonka. 2) The cast of School House Rock Live. 3) Shannon Sobolow, Thomas Beebe and Lauren Cassot in Class Clown. Photo by Thomas Giroir. 4) Matthew Berry and Meagan MacLeod in Beauty and the Beast. 5) Hollis Long as “Annie” and Macy as “Sandy”.

season of professional quality. Giadone was soon joined by Lisa Foss, who took charge the education department and often choreographed HCT’s shows, and Ryan Ratelle, who assumed the new role of Artistic Director and headed up the staging. “When I came aboard in 2009 they were looking for someone who could bring the mainstage to the forefront,” Ratelle remembers. “This was the first time they had both an artistic director and an executive director. So, I almost had to start from scratch.” The first order of business was to begin casting HCT’s productions age-appropriately. “We look for shows that have a balance,” Ratelle says of the shift away from using only young actors. “We’ll do a musical like Willy Wonka where you have half kids / half adults. It’s a great way to build audiences and for the kids to learn by performing with adults,” he feels. Next, Ratelle set about to beef up HCT’s outreach by launching HCT on the Road to send their smaller productions into area schools. The theater had provided offsite drama classes in the past, but their shows had rarely been traveled. Ratelle saw touring as a necessity. “There are some beautiful sections of Hartford and some that are really underprivileged,” he explains. “We deal with a lot of kids that would never be able to afford to see live theater and schools that can’t afford to bus them to us.” Ratelle also saw an opportunity for HCT on the Road to be used to develop original dramatic works, while the mainstage was devoted to familiar titles like Annie or Beauty and the Beast. So, this past year the theater commissioned award-winning children’s author Johanna Hurwitz to adapt her book Class Clown for the stage. The play ran for two weeks at HCT’s home base, the Carriage House Theatre, and Ratelle reports that it’s been touring ever since. “It’s a great experience for children,” he feels. “They read the book, then see the characters come to life onstage and meet the author. It’s unique for

our area and something that we’re excited to offer. Ryan Ratelle is a native of nearby Danielson, CT, who has been actively involved in the theater for most of his life. After studying musical theater at both Emerson College and Eastern Connecticut State University, he spent several years directing shows before moving to New York City to take a job as a Broadway press agent. “One of the last shows I directed in Killingly, CT, was Gypsy and all of a sudden I was working with Arthur Laurents on the Broadway revival with Patti Lupone,” he recalls. Ratelle spent six years promoting Broadway shows as diverse as The Pillowman and Grease. It proved to be the right skill set to bring along when he became the theater’s Artistic Director. “HCT was experiencing tremendous growth at the time and in a great position to develop audiences,” he explains. “I could help lead that with a publicity and marketing background. Within the first year we were able to raise attendance by 57%.” Dulcie Giadone handed over the reins to new executive director, Michael Kintner, earlier this year. Together with Ratelle and Foss, Kintner is readying a capital campaign to either renovate and enlarge the Carriage House Theater or find a new home that can accommodate all of their performances and the education programming is HCT’s mainstay. “Our classes are at capacity every session,” Ratelle says. “Packed to the seams. We’ve had some of the larger theaters call us and ask for overflow!” In the meantime, HCT will continue to mount smaller, tourable musicals in the 77seat Carriage House Theatre located behind the theater’s offices on Farmington Avenue. The lineup this season includes Pinkalicious from September 23rd to October 2nd, followed by the Broadway musical adaptation of Lousia May Alcott’s Little Women in January and the stage version of Judy Blume’s classic Tales of a Fouth Grade Nothing in March.

Photo: Thomas Giroir

This year’s mainstage productions will move to the 284-seat Aetna Theater in Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum. On the schedule is a November production of Hairspray and an April run of Peter Pan. “I first saw a production of Peter Pan when I was 8 years old at the Providence Center for the Performing Arts,” Ratelle recalls. “People were flying through the air! And from that one experience I got excited about the theater.” Hartford Children’s Theatre, 360 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105, hartfordchildrenstheatre.org

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FICTION

a trojan horse by Nathalie Hazan

Hadn’t she eaten enough organic fruit during her pregnancy? Had her husband mutated his chromosomes by texting and talking at the same time? Had stress rotted the very last of her 30-something eggs? Or had it been the belly machine she’d worn everyday around her waist guaranteed to produce a “Buddha baby” which had thumped too hard into Jakey’s developing ears? What if her son’s inability to sit still was as uncontrollable as her husband’s and she’d been cursed by a pattern of taking care of inattentive, moody men for the rest of her life? Her son’s pediatrician, an ex-triathelete with a crew cut, and four sons of his own, was fond of telling her, “Criselda, boys are a different species.” After many nights spent burying herself online in medical research, C. decided that she and Jakey deserved each other somehow; that he must be her karma for her lifelong desire to fit in. Criselda sat outside the Directress’ office on a toddler proportioned red plastic chair, reading a book called “Courage.” On the cover, a picture of a knock-kneed pale faced boy standing at the tip of a long diving board peering down at his target, a miniscule pool, worried C. Joan Obstekal, the silver-haired Directress in a high-collar starchy white blouse, Mom jeans, and reissued Birkenstocks appeared in the doorway, smiling a thin, gray welcoming smile. As C. was led into her office, she reminded herself of the mantra she’d practiced with her therapist: You’re a Tiger Mom! Just because she felt like she was still a teenager, didn’t mean others should know that. “If I tell you we used to call my son ‘The Putz’ when he was little…” the Directress offered, an olive branch of sorts waking C. from her reverie. “He was just so out of it sometimes.” Joan began stroking her number 2 pencil, taking the time to carefully choose her words. “Jacob doesn’t like eye contact, he shrugs when we touch him. We just don’t know what to make of it. We really want to know him…” Joan looked to the sky with her intellectual brow, creased, concerned. “Jacob is impulsive and demanding and obsessive.” “Do you mind if I take notes?” C. asked, conjuring up her inner Tigress and pulling from her bag a red leather notebook, hoping the simple act would ground her to the present. “Look are you afraid he has mild Autism or something? Like Aspergers?” she blurted out. The Directress appeared horrified, her white hair shocked back like a strong gust. “No, that’s not what we’re saying. Look, I’m not sure we can accept him next year. He’s just so, well, disruptive, in class. You have to find a solution.” “No, you have to find a solution,” C. said, standing. “Jakey is a perfectly normal boy even though he doesn’t fit into your program. In fact,” she said, closing her red notebook with a snap, “I’m pretty sure he’s gifted. He’ll just have to enrich another school!” C. tried convincing herself that Jakey could pull off another Kindergarten interview but things didn’t go as well as she hoped at the

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few private school choices available. Their last option, Hobbes, a highly progressive program, was a bit of a mystery. At Hobbes, children were rumored to be whittling wooden farm animals in between reading The Iliad and learning to play the Oboe. If Hobbes couldn’t find the weird in Jakey adorable, C. was not sure who or what could. The school looked like an eccentric, smaller Ritz-Carlton. A Spanish terracotta-tiled roof peeked out among the copious lilies of the valleys which lined the pristine New England campus. Their aroma greeted Jakey and C. as they prepared themselves for the tour, brushing dog hair off their clothes. A 14 foot Paper Mache Trojan horse stood proudly on the front lawn and grinned his toothy overbite at them, a door cut out of his barrel, revealing a dark and empty belly. C. and her son hung back from the school’s front door, gazing up at the weighty cream columns which stood guard on either side. It was just like going to school in Ancient Greece must have been; a veritable learning lab. Jakey, dressed in a burgundy clip-on tie from J. Crew and what Criselda had deemed a prep school worthy outfit, smiled sweetly at her and began casually peeing in the manicured bushes. C. quickly pretended to adjust her son’s tie while evading a stream of pee dangerously close to her new suede pumps. Droplets made dark velvet splotches across her shoes as she waited for him to finish. Improvising, she used a leaf from the front porch step to wipe them dry. “Use your powers for good and not evil,” C. whispered as they entered through the intricately carved oak doors. “Mommy, I’m going to be a good boy now,” he said, looking up at her with those hazel eyes, a thread of connection flashing in his pupils. He turned his blonde bowl head up at her, extra long sideburns, and grabbed her skirt, kissing her hip with astonishing passion. His future classmates walked in well-behaved step next to their parents through the circuitous, well-lit hallway. A hand slipped up the back of C.’s skirt and she shooed it away, directing her son with a practiced calm toward the rest of the group. “Please slow down for the rest of us…” C. shouted, when he dashed off again. “I can’t!” Jakey shouted without turning his head, bursting through the doors of Experimental Dance Class as the rhythm of Africa overtook white suburban Connecticut. After a grueling two hours of pretending to be normal, through interviews, touring and lectures, C. approached purgatory: The Conference room. Gold-framed Impressionist paintings hung over a boltstudded leather chair and a woman breezed in, around 40, with a stylish hair flip. “I’m Lilith Friedman,” the slender woman in boy jeans and a men’s button down announced to the parents. “The Founder of Hobbes.” The four other families on tour filled their seats quickly.

“Why did I start this school? You might ask. Because it’s the only institution that really matters, as far as I’m concerned! Our teachers are world renowned thought leaders, people” she said, leaning forward and gazing at them with her tiger-eyed stare, a wild smile playing on her bare lips. “It’s incredibly hubristic, I know, but I don’t give a damn,” she laughed deeply, a hoarse fuck-it-all swallow of air. Criselda noticed the uncomfortable shift of one or two parents. But most everyone was glazed over, falling in love with every droplet of potential she suggested. “We’re absolutely whores for smart kids. Is that bad to say?” Lilith asked no one in particular, continuing on, slouching back into her studded leather chair. “You know why I love it here? I was observing a class yesterday when an eight year old yelled out, ‘Finally! Ovid!’” Exhausted laughter released into the air like shot fire by battlemates. C. couldn’t help but giggle. “And I decided at some point: my daughters can’t go to a college with a name I’ve never heard of! There’s nothing out there that screams ‘special children.’ You do all know what I’m talking about, I’m sure,” she said, knowingly, biting her lip and flipping that hair again, letting the others fill in the blanks with their personal narratives. Any questions? “Where can we sign up?” joked an awkward African American woman with short hair and a nervous smile. Her partner, a Russian computer genius, patted her shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Lilith. The Leader of Hobbes fanned herself and responded. “When I saw a black woman here, I have to admit it, I was excited.” She held out her arms dramatically. “That means you have mulatto kids!” C. was shocked but when she looked around, no one else seemed bothered by her total lack of political corectness. “We love diversity here,” her son’s future role model continued. “We honestly believe that mixed race children...” Lilith paused, searching for the very right words while her hands clasped an imaginary Rubik’s cube in the air, twisting it to success. “…Mixed race children make for better organisms.” Smiles all around. C. was starting to think that Jakey was the only normal one. When questioned about the curriculum’s strict focus on GrecoRoman history, Lilith’s eyes widened; the pupils swam in the white parts without any anchoring to her eyelids. “Would we ever in a million years examine a Hopi Indian poem? We are in fact allergic to all that Kumbaya shit. I personally find it absolutely revolting,” she said, shuddering. “Obviously, we believe in the future and advancement. Have you seen our computer lab?!” C. left the “information session” feeling confused. She located Jakey in an unfamiliar room down the hall. There all the 4 year olds were observing the first ever recorded game of chess. C. took his hand and mother and son made their way to their final, and most daunting, part of the day. The Head of Admissions was an especially friendly

young woman who asked them to “Please call me Diane,” as she ushered them into a room full of musical instruments from around the world. “And who’s this?” Diane, asked, bending at eye level to shake Jakey’s pink fingered paw, moist chewed nails and all. Jakey, doublejointed, bent his hand backwards and to Diane’s horror, made it appear as though it was the handshake that did it. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your hand?” Diane asked nervously and Jakey laughed hysterically, taking a running leap onto the daybed in the middle of her office. “He’s very special,” C. said, to break the silence as they watched Jakey splaying his arms, acting out a superhero war between Batman and The Incredible Hulk. Diane held Jakey’s application in her fingertips. “So you say here Jakey has an active interest in Science, Climatology especially?” “Oh yes. Jakey, what’s the weather going to be today?” C. shouted over her son’s imagination. “Raining, mommy. Okay? It’s ALWAYS RAINING!” “Can you give us a moment, Mom?” Diane asked, in that “You-suck-as-a-mom-watch-me-connect-with-your-kid” sort of way as she stepped into Jakey’s world. In an instant, she was rolling on the floor with him. They were singing and laughing and C. was thrilled. She was not a bit jealous, not at all, because this was Jakey’s chance to be normal, to be accepted, and to be worked with. And her chance to feel supported, have some air to breathe, develop her own interests. She was sure she could squash some of her addictions and neuroses with some air to breathe. C.’s eyes felt unnaturally wet. “Jakey, sing ‘Rent’ for Diane.” “Wonderful!” Diane agreed, smiling with absolutely zero concern that a four year old might know a thing or two about T-Cells but yes, he was in fact excited to know all the words. Jakey began on pitch as usual, “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regret. Or life is yours to miss…” C. began weeping in floods and Diane discreetly handed her a tissue box. She stared deeply into Diane’s earnest pupils, the Director of Admission’s Anthropologie cardigan sweater with pompom buttons and remarkable posture coming into clear focus for the first time. “It’s just so hard…” C explained. And then it came to her. A way out of it all. “…To have a genius for your child.” She looked up carefully, hoping Diane had heard the lie nice and clear. It felt like it had been delivered to C. herself, from the heavens above. Diane’s eyes blinked and she looked at Jakey again, this time from a different angle. “He’s been tested?” “Yup,” C. replied, with an informality that should have been a sure tip-off. “I think he’ll fit in just fine here,” Diane said, as Jakey brushed his body against every wall of her office.

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE

Last Word: Local Flavor

by Analiese Paik Founder & Editor, Fairfield Green Food Guide Call it farm-to-table, field-to-fork, or farm-to-chef; just don’t call it a fad. The local food movement is rocking the Nutmeg state and you’re invited to the party. The enormous social causes that the local-sustainable food movement encompasses – farmland preservation, climate change, humane treatment of farm workers and animals, industrial agriculture’s unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels and commodity subsidies, the diabetes epidemic, proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and food security – have united disparate stakeholder groups who are taking it mainstream. What was once a grassroots movement aimed at rebuilding a sustainable food system has blossomed, borne fruit, and spawned progeny. You’ll find plenty of the farmers, chefs, businesses, and organizations championing change right here in Connecticut. J. Porter’s restaurant at the Trumbull Marriott made a recent shift to buying local food that was no toe dip. According to Executive Chef Chris Molyneux, the restaurant now sources sixty-five percent of their ingredients from Connecticut farms, giving preference to organic growers. “All our meats are pasture-raised and brought to us direct from Greyledge Farm” he said. “Connecticut Farm Fresh Express delivers mushrooms from Mountain Top Mushrooms in Waterbury, and other fresh produce from Holbrook Farm in Bethel, March Farm in Bethlehem, and Beckett Farm in Glastonbury, plus Stonington seafood.” His chefs had to be retrained to work with food delivered fresh from farms, a big change from the pre-packaged industrial foods they were used to. The extra labor of cleaning, peeling and chopping meant food would cost more. “It’s a little more work,” Molyneux said, “but it’s a great payoff. The quality is far better.” The Trumbull location is following in the footsteps of four other Marriott hotel properties that successfully rebranded after implement farm-to-table menus. Changing things up has created exciting possibilities as Chef Molyneux and his team soon discovered. Their house-made veggie burger is a large, juicy and satisfying mixture of brown rice, black beans and beets served on a whole wheat bun. It takes hours to make, but “it always sells out” said Molyneux with delight. The beer to pair with your burger is Ten Penny Ale, an award-winning craft brew from Olde Burnside Brewing Company in Hartford that’s available on tap. When Chef Linda Soper-Kolton launched her organic, vegetarian restaurant, GreenGourmettoGo, in Black Rock just over a year ago, sourcing locally was a top priority. “The menu will be based on seasonality,” she said, “It will change.” It all had to taste great too, and be child-friendly. “I feel so strongly about what kids are eating and what they could be eating,” she said. So strongly in fact that Soper-Kolton became a registered “Chefs Move to Schools” chef, joining an initiative that’s part of Michelle Obama’s

Let’s Move Campaign. Students in her chosen school, Holland Hill Elementary School in Fairfield, sampled her healthy, organic dishes, including Quinoa and Kale Quiche, during the school’s participation in the First Lady’s Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge earlier this year. This summer Soper-Kolton collaborated with one of her most important organic vegetable suppliers, farmer Patti Popp of Sport Hill Farm in Easton, to offer a pilot program called Farm to Chef Connect. “I had a lot of families express interest in our CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture), people who genuinely wanted eat fresh, local and healthy, but who were unable to commit to the full 21 weeks” said Patti Popp. “Farm to Chef Connect is a hybrid CSA model that gives busy families the flexibility to buy a four week CSA subscription which includes a seasonal soup and healthy dessert from GreenGourmettoGo each week” she said. Popp called the program a success and is already soliciting feedback from participants to develop next year’s offering. Back in 2007 Jonathan Rapp, chef/owner of River Tavern in Chester, and Drew McLachlan, then chef/owner of Feast Gourmet Market in Deep River, recognized the vast, untapped potential of reconnecting people with their food and the land. The two entrepreneurs partnered to establish Dinners at the Farm, a series of plein air, farm-to-table, community dinners held on select Connecticut farms during July and August. The perennially sold out events are powerful fundraisers for the very organizations working to preserve farmland and create a more equitable food system - Working Lands Alliance, City Seed Farmers’ Market, and Connecticut Farmland Trust. While Rapp remains at the helm of Dinners at the Farm, McLachlan has recently taken on a role which enables him to influence the local food movement on a much grander scale. As the Culinary Specialist and Local Forager for Whole Foods Market West Hartford, McLachlan is responsible for bringing in more Connecticut-grown foods to the store, an effort which underscores the retail chain’s commitment to sourcing locally. “It’s part of our core values” said McLachlan, “and I’m here to help take it to a whole new level.” Three months into the job, McLachlan has registered Whole Foods Market West Hartford to participate in the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s annual Farm-to-Chef Week, an event held at culinary establishments across the state from September 18 through 24 to showcase the seasonal bounty of Connecticut farms. “Whole Foods Market West Hartford is also an event sponsor and we’re going to be promoting this in-store with special Farm-to-Chef and CT Grown signage” he said. Shoppers who visit the store’s prepared foods case that week will be treated to a selection of seasonal farm-to-table meals to enjoy at home, no reservations required.

www.FairfieldGreenFoodGuide.com

The Fairfield Green Food Guide is an award-winning website for sourcing local and sustainable food and connecting with the green food community.

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LO ESPIRITUAL EN EL PAISAJE artist: Juan Muñoz

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