Wednesday, Oct. 20
– The Concord Literary Festival gets under way on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 20, with a “pen to play” workshop. “Petite Plays: Pen to Performance,” conducted by Dana Biscotti Myskowski, is a writing, directing and enhanced stage-reading series of workshops, culminating in two performances. In this three-part workshop, participants write three-page plays, direct a plays-in-hand, enhanced stage-reading, and appear in one or more plays as an actor during the performances.
Participants will learn to create engaging characters for the stage on a tight deadline, experience the interpretation of another's work as director, and become the characters as a reader/actor. “Pen to Play” will be held at the Red River Theatres from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 20 and 21, with performances at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23.
The workshop cost is $49 for Writers’ Project members and $79 for nonmembers. Registration and more information can be found at the Writers’ Project website at nhwritersproject.org or by calling 314-7980.
Thursday, Oct. 21
– A brown bag discussion of “Half the Sky,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, begins at noon at Gibson’s. The bookstore is partnering with the Women’s Fund of New Hampshire.
– “Understanding Your Legal Rights as Authors, Writers, and Publishers” runs 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the UNH School of Law. The program features short presentations and a question-and-answer period with law professors, is for persons attending the festival and for law students who are interested in entertainment law.
Coverage is likely to include copyright and intellectual property law, registration and legal actions, and contract law. Both a theoretical foundation and more practical aspects of “entertainment” law will be discussed. All media, including print and internet, will be considered.
Come to pick up some pointers on legal aspects of publishing or to meet authors/lawyers. Cosponsored by the University of New Hampshire School of Law, the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property, and Lawyers for the Arts/NH Business Committee for the Arts.
– The program will be held in the Rich Room of the UNH School of Law, 2 White St. It is free and open to the public.
Friday, Oct. 22
– Author John Walters, former New Hampshire Public Radio host, will read and sign copies of his book, “Roads Less Traveled: Visionary New England Lives.”
Walters received the 2009 Donald M. Murray Outstanding Journalism Award from the Writers’ Project. His reading at Gibson’s Bookstore begins at noon and is free. Feel free to bring your lunch.
-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly headlines the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications First Amendment Awards, which honor New Hampshire residents or organizations for exemplary support of free press and speech.
The event begins at 7 p.m. at The Capitol Center for the Arts. Tickets are $75 and $50 and may be purchased at ccanh.com.
– “Literary Flash: Three Minutes to Fame” is a fast-paced, three-minute performance of original fiction. This open event at the Barley House is one leg that leads to the Writers’ Project Literary Flash Championship. Limited to eight performers on a first-come, first-served basis, the free event begins at 7 p.m. – right after the horror story readings.
Saturday, Oct. 23
– The Concord Arts Market runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Eagle Square and is an artisan and fine arts market. The market is free and open to the public.
– Three daily newspaper editors will discuss journalism ethics and controversial First Amendment issues at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Ransmeier & Spellman building, 1 Capitol St., on the corner of Main Street.
Felice Belman, editor of the Concord Monitor, will be joined by three members of the Academy of New England Journalists: Rod Doherty, executive editor of Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover; Jim Smith, executive editor of Connecticut’s Bristol Press and New Britain Herald, and George Geers, executive director of the New Hampshire Writers’ Project and New Hampshire Press Association.
The event, free and open to the public, is cosponsored by the New England First Amendment Coalition. For further information, call (603) 785-4811.
– New Hampshire’s Center for the Book will host a series of readings by authors in its “Book of the Week” program.
Scheduled to speak are Katherine Towler, author of the Snow Island trilogy (“Snow Island,” “Island Ferry” and “Island Light”), at 10 a.m., and Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie, authors of “Our Little Secret,” at noon.
Readings will continue until 2 p.m. at the New Hampshire State Library in its Genealogy Room on Park Street. The event is free and open to the public.
– The “Petite Plays: A Scripts-In-Hand” workshop held earlier in the week culminates with two performances at the Red River Theatres.
Performances are at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets, $5 each, are available at Red River Theatres’ website, redrivertheatres.org
– Need your classical music fill? The Met: Live in HD will present Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.
René Pape takes on one of the greatest bass roles in a production by renowned theater and opera director Peter Stein, in his Met debut. Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko and Ekaterina Semenchuk lead the huge cast. The show begins at noon (five-hour performance) at The Chubb Theatre at the Capitol Center for the Arts. The cost is $26 adults; $15 students; $22 seniors, Met members and Capitol Center members. Tickets can be ordered at the Capitol Center’s website, ccanh.com.
– Who doesn’t love a good cartoon? A workshop, presented by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, begins at 1 p.m. Saturday and runs for three hours. The workshop focuses on the difference between reading with children and reading to children and is presented by a museum educator.
The program, for adults only, is designed to give educators the tools to evaluate the picture book as an art form and to encourage the critical engagement of students during picture book reading experiences.
The workshop costs $25 and will be held at The Kimball House of the Capitol Center for the Arts. To register, visit ccanh.com.
– The Concord Public Library is planning an afternoon of learning and fun with author and illustrator Marty Kelley.
Author of the best-selling book, “Fall Is Not Easy,” as well as the Ladybug-nominated “Winter Woes” and his most recent book, “The Messiest Desk,” Kelley offers a program that is highly interactive and will have elementary-aged kids laughing while learning about writing.
Kelley will discuss the process of writing and illustrating a children’s book, from the initial idea to the final product. The audience will get a fun, behind-the-scenes look at how Kelly’s books developed and changed over time.
The event, sponsored by the Concord Public Library Foundation, begins at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
– The feature-length film, “Helvetica: A Documentary Film” by Gary Hustvit, focuses on typography, graphic design and global visual culture.
It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
The film starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Red River Theatres. The cost is $8 for the public, $6 for Red River members. Tickets will be available at redrivertheatres.org.
– The Concord Literary Festival concludes at 8 p.m. on Saturday with “Celebrity Autobiography” at the Capitol Center for the Arts.
This show pokes fun at the often-ridiculous memoirs of A-listers, from Vanna White and Star Jones to Sylvester Stallone and the Jonas Brothers.
Read with deadpan glee by a rotating cast of New York comic actors, the passages run the gamut from the “early poetry” of Suzanne Somers to shocking “romance tips” from Tommy Lee to the most famous Hollywood love triangle in history – Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher – all in their own words.
Tickets for the show, sponsored by Ross Express, are available at ccanh.com.
