Join Preston High School for an exciting interactive Murder Mystery show, Let’s Kill the Boss, on Sat., Mar. 28 at 7 pm. This dinner theater production will be put on by Mystery Café, the nation’s largest producer of Interactive Murder Mystery Theater. Tickets are $50 and include an Italian buffet and complimentary soda or wine. Additional cash bar, raffle opportunities and table reservations are available. For tickets call (718) 863-9134, ext. 143.
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Celebrating Women’s History Month, the world renowned Ajkun Ballet Theatre presents a special dance sequence evoking the lives of three prominent women from American history — Anne Hutchinson, Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt — at St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, in Mt. Vernon, NY on Sat., Mar. 14, at 1:30 pm. The site is open that day from noon to 4 pm, and there will also be a 3 pm tour of the historic cemetery, exploring the lives of American women over three centuries.
Parking and admission are free; refreshments served. For further information call (914) 667-4116.
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Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY, will present And For All This, Nature Is Never Spent, from Mar. 13 to Apr. 25, with an opening reception on Fri., Mar. 13, 6:30 to 8 pm.
And For All This, Nature Is Never Spent is an exhibition of contemporary artists working in a variety of traditional and nontraditional media, who employ their talents in the service of increasing environmental awareness, providing a variety of approaches and models of participatory engagement, designing solutions to environmental problems and broadening public concern for what is becoming the most pressing issue of our time – degradation of the environment. Participating artists are: Subhankar Banerjee, Sue Coe, Mark Jones, Samm Kunce, Stephanie Lempert, Jesse Potts, Christy Rupp, Chris Sollars, Alan Sonfist, and Susan Unterberg. The exhibition is curated by Jo Anna Isaak and organized by Fordham University students.
Related programs include: Author’s Talk and Film Screening, Tues., Mar. 31, 6:30 to 9 pm. First, a lecture and discussion about environmental disasters by author and environmentalist Robert Emmet Hernan, Senior Counsel for Commissioner Initiatives, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The lecture is followed by a screening of environmental films, introduced by Fordham University students; Earth Day Work Party, Wed., Apr. 22, 3 to 4:30 pm. On Earth Day, Pelham-based landscape firm Greener By Design, greenerdesigns.com, will lead an Earth Day work party to prune, plant, mulch, transplant, compost, and weed the Art Center’s grounds and courtyard. Please meet in the courtyard and bring work gloves; Closing Reception and Environmental Art Making Workshops, Sat., Apr. 25, 1:30 to 3:30 pm. In celebration of Earth Day, Fordham University students involved in the exhibition And for all this, nature is never spent, lead tours of the exhibit and invite the public to participate in art-making activities focused on the environment, landscape, and other aspects of nature.
For more information call (914) 738-2525, ext. 113.
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Back By Popular Demand! Freestyle returns to Lehman Center for the Performing Arts on Sat., Mar. 28, at 8 pm with Forever Freestyle 3. The concert features an all-star, sensational line-up of Freestyle music’s biggest stars. Judy Torres (Come Into My Arms, Faithfully,) TKA/K7 (Maria, Come Get My Love, Come Baby Come,) Coro (Where Are You Tonight, Can’t Let You Go,) Cover Girls (Wishing on A Star, Because of You,) Lisette Melendez (Together Forever,) Cynthia (Dream Boy/Dream Girl, Change On Me,) Soave (Crying Over You,) Giggles (Love Letters,) Fascination (Don’t You Think Its Time,) George Lamond (Bad of the Heart,) Lydia Lee Love (Don’t Take Your Love From Me,) and Two Without Hats (Esa Loca) bring their Latino infused 80’s pop sensation on one spectacular bill. The concert will also feature KR3TS Dance Company and DJ Kool Mike Ski and will be hosted by Speedy. This concert is co-produced by Sal Abbatiello of Fever Records.
The freestyle phenomenon, a fusion of hip-hop and disco which originated in New York City’s club scene in 1983, was a dominant force in the early days of hip-hop and quickly became THE sound of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Freestyle was born out of New York’s Latino musical community, but soon became a crossover phenomenon with strong radio support, famous clubs like 1018 and The Devil’s Nest presenting three or four acts each night, bringing in crowds of 4,000 people every week. Freestyle filled the major airwaves into the early ‘90s, and remains a staple on dance radio format stations across the US.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. Tickets are: $50, $45, $40 and $35 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center at (718) 960-8833.
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The Lehman College Chamber Players will perform works by Cimarosa, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and other composers on Sun., Mar. 15, at 2 pm in the Music Building’s Recital Hall. This event is free and open to the public.
The program will feature works for violin and piano, including Mozart’s Sonata in C Major K.296, Beethoven’s Sonata in G Major opus 96 and selections by Tchaikovsky, as well as works for oboe and piano by Cimarosa, Dukas, Jacob and Colin.
The Chamber Players include Lehman music faculty members Alexander Meshibovsky, a critically acclaimed violinist; oboist and concert band director Alan Hollander; and professor and choral director Diana Mittler-Battipaglia on piano.
Lehman is located at Goulden Avenue and Bedford Park Boulevard. Free parking is available as well. For more information call (718) 960-8247.
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Mercy College, 555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY, will sponsor the 10th Annual International Film Festival, Mar. 16 to 20. Doors open at 6:30 pm and films begin at 7 pm. The festival will feature films from China, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Romania, and India. The Festival is open to the public. Admission, refreshments, and parking are free.
Mon., Mar. 16, Iron and Silk, China 1990; Tues., Mar. 17, The Snapper, Ireland 1993; Wed., Mar. 18, Monsoon Wedding, India 2002; Thurs., Mar. 19, Nueba Yola3, Dominican Republic 1997; and Fri., Mar. 20, 12:08 East of Bucharest, Romania 2006.
Seating is first-come, first-serve with no RSVP required. Call (914) 674-7356 for further information.
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Illuminating the Sea: The Marine Paintings of James E. Buttersworth, 1817-1894, a major retrospective exhibition highlighting the work of famed 19th-century marine artist James Edward Buttersworth, opens at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, on Sat., Mar. 28, and is on view through Sun., July 5. A ship portraitist who meticulously illustrated America’s Golden Age of Sail, Buttersworth captured a realistic view of sea and sky while incorporating the human element into his work. The show is organized by Mystic Seaport, the nation’s leading maritime museum, and sponsored at the Bruce Museum by Northern Trust, the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund, and a Committee of Honor co-chaired by Nat Day and Tom Clephane with Honorary Chair L. Scott Frantz.
James E. Buttersworth (1817-1894) has long been recognized as a premier marine artist distinguished by his story-telling prowess, as well as his meticulous attention to detail with the brush and pallet. He began his career in England studying under his father, Thomas, himself a respected marine artist. In the late 1840s, the younger Buttersworth emigrated to the United States and became immersed in chronicling the maritime world of New York.
The exhibition features approximately 28 paintings, some of which were part of a recent gift to Mystic Seaport. In 2006, Donald C. McGraw Jr., grandson of McGraw-Hill Inc.’s cofounder, bequeathed his private collection of 24 Buttersworth paintings to Mystic Seaport. This bequest brought Mystic Seaport’s total number of Buttersworth paintings to more than 50, making it the largest single public collection of the artist’s work.
The Bruce Museum exhibition also includes a few paintings from two private collectors and scale models of the American Cup ships Valkyrie and Puritan. Public programs being presented at the Bruce Museum in conjunction with the exhibition include Art and Artist Family Day on Sun., Mar. 29, and Set Sail on Long Island Sound, which features sail-painting and environmental workshops, on Sun., June 14.
The museum is located at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, CT. For information call 203) 869-0376.
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The Bronx Council on the Arts and the Bronx Library Center present mezzo soprano Anna Tonna for a one-day engagement, from noon to 2 pm, on Sat., Mar. 14, at the Bronx Library Center at 310 East Kingsbridge Road at Briggs Avenue. This afternoon’s performance, a segment of BCA’s Bronx Indie Artist Series, is open to the public and admission is free. The center is wheelchair accessible.
With her accompanist Daniel Daroca on the piano, Anna Tonna will perform “La cancion de arte Puertoriquena” – classical songs by Hector Campos Paris, Awilda Villarini, Julio Miron, Luis Antonio Ramirez, Jack Delano, Ernesto Cordero and Luis Prado.
For more information call (718) 579-4244.
