Author: Joey Ciaramitaro

August 5, 2024 ~ Sawyer Free Library ~ 

Join the Sawyer Free Library Assistant Director Lisa Ryan on Thursday, August 8 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm for an engaging presentation on Niagara Falls feature breathtaking photos and videos captured throughout the seasons. Explore this majestic natural wonder’s formation, cultural impact, hydroelectric development, and ecological considerations. For fun, Lisa will also delve into tales of famous daredevils and offer travel tips.

The presentation will take place at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street in Downtown Gloucester. Open to all to attend. No registration needed. If you have questions, email Lisa at lryan@sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.

Main Street in downtown Gloucester will come alive this Saturday, August 10, from 6 to 10 PM! Visit the free Main Street Block Party to experience a fun night of live music, street performances, non-profits, shopping, great food, and kids’ activities! Many Main Street shops and businesses will be open and offering special deals. Additional Gloucester businesses and non-profits will have a presence on the street. The Main Street Block Party is a long-standing tradition with lots of local flavor! You don’t want to miss it!
Visit https://bit.ly/BlockParty-Aug10 for the full list of entertainment, participating vendors, and food.

Saturday Aug 10, 2024
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT

Saturday, August 10, 2024
5 PM Streets closed off to traffic & parking
6 PM Music Stages Open (x3)
6:15 PM Kilted Colin at Hancock & Main 
7:10 PM Cape Ann Dancers at Hancock & Main
8:00 PM Kilted Colin at Hancock & Main

MUSIC PERFORMANCES BY STAGE:

The West End: Sponsored by Institution for Savings

6 PM: Kicked Off the Bus
8 PM: John Sacco & Co.   

Cape Ann Savings Bank Stage: Sponsored by Cape Ann Savings
6 PM: The Jantelles
8 PM: Old Salties

The East End: Sponsored by Bank Gloucester
6 PM: Adria Smith Trio 
8 PM: Gloucester Fishcakes

Location

Main Street (Closed from Pleasant St to Short St)
Gloucester, MA

134-138 Main Street Gloucester MA 01930

Gloucester’s own!

If you order one I’ll automatically add a second one to your order if you order today through Saturday midnight!

Link to purchase-

https://gloucesterapparel.square.site/product/thirsty-seagull-drinking-town-with-a-fishing-problem-microfiber-beach-towel/57

Sand Repellent, Super Packable, Quick Drying With Attached Elastic Band To Keep It Together, Shark Tank Sells these for $48, we sell them for $35. People love these towels instead of the old towels that get musty and track sand into your car, boat and house.

https://www.katelynmcaruso.org/

Tickets are still available for this week’s performances of Cinderella by the Annisquam Village Players. Performances are at 7 p.m. nightly through Sunday, Aug. 11.

It’s a locally-based cast who have been working hard to learn lines and all the dance moves. Another example of the amazing talent we have in Gloucester and around Cape Ann. 

Tickets can be purchased via the AVP website, www.annisquamvillageplayers.org. Seats are going fast. 

You’ve seen them around town, now come see them on stage!

Nate Oaks as Prince Topher

Miranda Joyce as Cinderella

Susan Beaumont as the Evil Stepmother

Bill Wrinn as Sebastian, the Lord Protector

Morgan Reilly as Stepsister Charlotte

Kavika Babson as Lord Pinkleton

Peter Nelson and Tarin McAdoo Comer as the King and Queen

Sunset Cruise for Katelyn raised $10,500! This donation was sent to the Katelyn M Caruso Memorial Fund at BAF which funds critical research, treatments and awareness for this devastating disease. An amazing night doing all the things Katelyn would love with family and friends! THANK YOU once again for your generosity and support! Thank you also to our generous sponsor Blue Collar Lobster Co! @bluecollarlobsterco KATELYN’s CREW…the best Crew around!💙🕊️❤️ Link to Donate- https://linktr.ee/katelyns_crew

Come by to check it out and/or sign up. You don’t have to be Italian!

AUGUST 1, 2024 ~ SAWYER FREE LIBRARY ~ 

On Monday, August 5 from 11:00 to 11:45 ameveryone is invited to enjoy a FUN FAMILY CONCERT featuring the award-winning band “Ants on a Long” performing music that centers positivity, social justice, and silliness. Full of humor and harmony, Ants concerts are energetic, interactive, and a delight for children and adults.

Presented by the Sawyer Free Library in collaboration Rockport and Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Libraries, the free concert will take place at Masconomo Park, 60 Beach St, Manchester-by-the-Sea, with the rain location at the Rockport Public Library. For more information visit, sawyerfreelibrary.org

“WISH YOU WERE HERE”

Pulitzer Prize Winner Sanaz Toossi’s critically acclaimed play at Gloucester Stage from August 9 – 25

Gloucester Stage Company is thrilled to continue its 45th-year celebration by announcing the regional premiere of “WISH YOU WERE HERE“ by Pulitzer Prize Winner Sanaz Toossi. Recipient of the prestigious Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, this captivating production will be directed by Melory Mirashrafiº and run at Gloucester Stage from Friday, August 9 to Sunday, August 25.

Sanaz Toossi‘s masterful storytelling brings breathtaking humanity and cutting wit to the stage as “WISH YOU WERE HERE” chronicles a decade of life as best friends become friends long lost, searching for the bond that once defined them. Featuring a cast of women with Iranian heritage who are making their debuts at Gloucester Stage, the production stars Isan Salem as Zari, Deniz Khateri as Nazanin, Aryana Asefirad as Rana, Cerra Cardwell as Shideh and Josephine Moshiri Elwood as Salme.

Directed by the multi-talented Melory Mirashrafiº, this enlightened comedy invites audiences into the vibrant world of a circle of tight-knit girlfriends in 1980s Iran. As they gather to plan weddings, share intimate moments, and trade witty banter, their lives are set against the backdrop of a country in turmoil, where protests and political unrest threaten to disrupt their sense of normalcy. The play delicately explores themes of friendship, identity, and the complex choices individuals must make in the face of uncertainty. 

“After I finished reading Wish You Were Here, I felt like I met my oldest friends onstage playing through a decade of our lives together,” said Rebecca Bradshaw, Gloucester Stage’s Artistic Director. “They are messy and hilarious, but there are also daunting realities seeping through these women’s curtains ready to infect their fragile bonds. Sanaz has a way of making you feel like you have a seat on the couch next to her characters while layering in an authentic world that you may never experience as an American. We get the opportunity to see friends consider emigrating before they are labeled immigrants. But first, we get to lift up a group of women through all of their beauty, ridiculousness, and pain. We are honored to be able to present the regional premiere of this powerful play to the Gloucester Stage audiences.”

“Wish You Were Here is an exploration of what it is to be an Iranian woman across time and geography. The women of the play are bright, hilarious, flawed, and live undoubtedly within the context of one another. There is an elegance to the simplicity of the language, and a brand of unapologetic comedy cut with immeasurable yearning that is distinctly Iranian, yet undeniably human,” shared Director Melory Mirashrafi. “Every time I read Wish You Were Here, I see photographs of my mom and her four sisters from the seventies and eighties: Getting married, plucking hairs, trading advice, growing older, and for some, eventually leaving. They are a compilation of each other, making their migration not just an absence of the place they left behind, but the people.”

The regional premiere of “WISH YOU WERE HERE” features scenic design by Lindsay Fuori, costume design by Karen J. Gilmer, lighting design by Amanda Fallon, sound design by Bahar Royaee, and prop design by Emme Shaw. The production’s dramaturg is Vahdat Yeganah.  

WISH YOU WERE HERE will run from Friday, August 9, through Sunday, August 25. All performances, unless noted, are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, located at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester. Tickets are now on sale and available at GloucesterStage.com. 

The 2024 Season at Gloucester Stage has been made possible by the Shubert Foundation. “WISH YOU WERE HERE” is made possible in part by Mollie Byrnes.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW: Tickets to the Gloucester Stage 2023 season are on sale now. Single Ticket prices range from $15 to $67, with discounts available for seniors, military families, college students, youth under 18, young professionals under 35, Card to Culture (EBT and WIC), and Cape Ann residents. For detailed ticket information, visit www.gloucesterstage.com.

 For additional information, contact the Box Office at 978.281.4433 or boxoffice@gloucesterstage.com. Located at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, the Box Office is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

ºStage Directors and Choreographers Society (S.D.C.) Union Member    *Actors Equity Association (A.E.A.) Union Member

My latest painting “RED MOON OVER WHITE BEACH” is done in watercolor, pencil  and gels. Please let me know if you like it for GMG.

THANKS SO MUCH!!

PJ Bovio