Effort underway to build Connecticut Improv theater

Sea Tea player in New Haven

HARTFORD - Sea Tea Improv's effort to create a Comedy Theater a "permanent home for comedy in Connecticut in the heart of downtown Hartford" is underway.

"We're going to build a comedy theater in the heart of downtown Hartford. Will you help us?," the improve group asked in a release.

To donate or learn more visit here.

 

"What do Boston, New York, Chicago, Providence, Los Angeles, Burlington, and Minneapolis all have in common? They all have improv theaters! It's time for Hartford to join the big leagues by opening our own thriving comedy theater."

"After six years of bringing improvisers together throughout the state, Sea Tea Improv is ready to own and operate a space for comedians, actors, and musicians," the release notes.

"The spot we've picked out is easily accessible and will put feet on the street of our great little city. We love Hartford and we want it to have this affordable and fun entertainment opportunity for all its people, every night of the week."

 

New Haven celebrates creativity--and you can too--at Create On9 on Oct. 5

NEW HAVEN — Create On9 celebrates New Haven’s rich arts scene with a creative crawl through the historic Ninth Square on Friday, Oct. 5, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On9, the first Friday open house, collaborates with Artspace and L.A.M.P. for an evening of innovative art, music and experiences.

The evening sounds off at Piazza On9 (created by closing Orange Street to vehicular traffic between Crown and Center Street) with Club Culture 360. The company will create and film a dance-party-like television show with a live audience, a DJ spinning Top 40 hits, dancers, and Aspen Powers hosting the event from 6 to 7 p.m. The production will be set up near the corner of Orange and Center streets.

Adae Fine Art will conduct free drawing and painting lessons from 5 to 7 p.m. on the piazza for anyone who wishes to create. Nine easels, drawing boards and art supply tables will be set up near Crown Street where participants will be challenged to render the storefronts on Orange Street. Instructor Kwadwo Adae will provide teaching assistance, but all are welcome to create whatever they wish. In the event of rain, participants are invited to the Adae Fine Art Academy at 817 Chapel St.

Also on the piazza, Plural Work/Shop, a Project Storefront initiative, has pouches available and provides stamps for kids and adults to print their own patterns on the pouches. The pouches are on sale for $20.

Elm City Market, 777 Chapel St., will host artist Daniela Balzano for a “Paint Away Hunger” event aimed at young families and children. Beginning at 3:30 p.m., a 30-foot community mural will be available for paint, pastels, craypaws, crayons and various mixed media creations. The event is free and all donations benefit FISH of Greater New Haven, a mobile food pantry serving children, elderly, and families with special needs.

Reynolds Fine Art, which celebrates its first anniversary at 96 Orange St., will present a two-person exhibition featuring the gallery debut of California native Mary Black, alongside new work by Robert Reynolds from 5 to 8 p.m. Painting exclusively in encaustic paint for over a decade, Black has mastered an often unruly medium and is available to speak about her encaustic process. Reynolds, the gallery owner and namesake, exhibits a new series of work derived from a collection of sketches made over the past 20 years.

Artspace, 50 Orange St., celebrates the 15th anniversary of City Wide Open Studios with an opening night party and crystal ball. Meet all the 250-plus artists and pick up the limited edition CWOS passport made by Dexterity Press while supplies last.

On display at The Lot, 812 Chapel St., is the new installation Playhouse/Beyond What Was. The Lot, a project of Artspace, is the 8,000-square-foot pocket park located between Chapel and Orange streets.

Art @ The Grove, 71 Orange St., will host an opening reception for David Ottenstein’s exhibit Almost Nowhere, which is also a City-Wide Open Studios event.

Yoga enthusiasts can get creative on the mat at Fresh Yoga, 49 Orange St., from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. This free yoga class with Heidi Sormaz begins with a brief warmup of the core and shoulders before working towards a pose to pose flow. About every five minutes during the class, a suggestion will be given and you will have the opportunity to create your own yoga pose and sequence! Find your own creative, organic flow as the room heats to 85 degrees. Capacity is limited to 40 students so be sure to arrive 10 minutes early!

Arpaia Lang, 806 Chapel St., will serve homemade cookies and, while supplies last, shoppers receive a free charm personalized with one initial.

green well Organic Tea & Coffee, 44 Crown St., presents “Essential Elements,” featuring natural stone jewelry creative designer Carolyn Foster, whose pieces are on display and for sale. Come adorn yourself with beautiful jewels while sipping a delicious latte and enjoying the creative stylings of musician Kyle Flynn. Companion business green well BEING, 38 Crown St., provides the opportunity to create a full day’s menu of delicious meals with mix and match healthy recipe cards created by Holistic Health Counselor Sarah Greenwell.

FITWEEK New Haven celebrates its weeklong event and the 10K Step Challenge sponsored by Fitbit offering a circular walking tour to take some steps around Ninth Square. Walkers meet at Elm City at 6 p.m.

The second annual L.A.M.P. (Light Artists Making Places) event projects throughout the Ninth Square of New Haven at 8 p.m., following Create On9 and Artspace’s opening celebration.
Come down to the Ninth Square and experience artists in action making a fun, bright night for people of all ages!

K of C Museum to hold lecture on Michelangelo Madonna

Michelangelo’s “Bruges Madonna” will be the focus of a lecture at the Knights of Columbus Museum on Feb. 5.

Peter Hastings Falk, an author, publisher, appraiser and art historian, will deliver the lecture, called “The Bruges Madonna: An Early Masterpiece by Michelangelo.” The museum has a reproduction of the sculpture, cast from a 1932 plaster mold by the Marinelli foundry in Florence, Italy. An exhibition featuring the sculpture runs through March 15.

Michelangelo (1475–1564), Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor and architect, created the Bruges Madonna about 1506. It is the only one of his sculptures known to have left Italy during Michelangelo’s lifetime. It was sold to Flemish cloth merchants who presented it to the Church of Notre Dame in Bruges, Belgium.

Falk is the author of the biographical dictionary, Who Was Who in American Art. The Falk Art Reference imprint (formerly Sound View Press) publishes a series of reference books on American art, such as the Exhibition Record Series, which American art historian William Gerdts called “the most important basis for art historical research in late 19th- to mid-20th-century American art.”

The lecture, which is free, will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 5 at the museum, 1 State St. Parking and admission are free.

Among its other exhibitions are: “Christmas in Asia” and “Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message.”

The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 203-865-0400 or visit www.kofcmuseum.org.

Come One Come All to Westville

NEW HAVEN — Westville Village welcomes one and all to the 13th Annual ArtWalk from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.
The event is free, and a family-friendly community festival featuring art exhibits and open studios; three stages with live music, dance, and theater; an open-air arts and crafts fair; and a full day of varied activities, art-making, food, shopping, and fun for all ages, followed by dancing in the street on Saturday night, organizers said.
Visit www.westvilleCT.org, or pick up a flier at ArtWalk for a more detailed schedule of all the free, rain-or-shine activities and performance times.