Mark Shanahan, Lori Jones, Heller McAlpin, Carey Mack Weber, Susan Granger, Doug Weber - Photo David McAlpin
Mark Shanahan, Lori Jones, Heller McAlpin, Carey Mack Weber, Susan Granger, Doug Weber – Photo David McAlpin

by Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT–A survey of cultural venues and events this fall in the Westport area and beyond was so extensive Thursday evening that each of the 100 people attending was sure to hear about something that they will plan to attend, view or read in the upcoming weeks. The “Westport Journal Live” Fall Culture Preview, presented by the Westport Journal, included five speakers who were experts in theater, performing arts, literature, fine arts, film and television and more.

A videotape of the event is here.

The presenters were 

Drama

Shanahan was the first to speak at the event held at the Westport Library. Thursday also happened to be the opening night of the Westport Country Playhouse’s 95th season, he said. “There is a vibrant cultural scene that surrounds us,” Shanahan said, naming current productions in theaters from Hartford Theater Works and New Haven’s Long Wharf Theater to the Crystal Theater in Norwalk, and others. “There’s always a drama production within drivable distance,” he said.

Before Shanahan left for his theater’s opening night production, “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which runs through Saturday, he unveiled some of the other productions of the new season at the Playhouse including “The Importance of Being Earnest,” in October and November, and “A Sherlock Carol,” a tribute to Sherlock Homes and Charles Dickens, during the holiday season. He thanked the people of Westport for their support of the Playhouse in 2023 in what he called “a crisis moment” after the pandemic when “it wasn’t clear whether it could survive,” he said. But the theater pulled through. “The support from all was greatly appreciated.”

Performing Arts

Jones spoke next, and like the other presenters, shared the best upcoming productions of other venues, and not just programs at the Quick Center for the Arts. These included an interesting art installation at the Yale University Schwarzman Center called “The Celestial Garden,” by visual artist Leo Villareal which includes a soundscape as well as ten artworks projected within a dome. Other upcoming events are the “Elite Syncopation: Music of the Harlem Renaissance” Sept. 14 at the Wesleyan Center for the Arts, in Middletown, and the Nice Festival, a free cultural festival Oct. 4 at Oyster Shell Park in Norwalk.

On the Fairfield University campus, the theme of many programs planned this academic year is “Promise and Paradox,” marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S., Jones said. Two interesting Quick Center events this season are a production that combines dance within a multi-colored net sculpture by Rebecca Lazier on Sept. 26, and an evening with television host and cookbook writer Padma Lakshmi on Nov. 13 as part of the Quick Center’s popular Philip I Eliasoph Open Visions Forum series.

Literature

Mysteries and thrillers are “hot” books this year, said McAlpin, the next speaker at the Fall Culture Preview. She listed “Gertrude Stein An Afterlife” by Francesca Wade as one of her favorite picks for nonfiction books this upcoming fall. Other nonfiction favorites of the reviewer, who has reviewed over 1,000 books, is “Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival” by Stephen Greenblatt, which is a thriller about the life of Christopher Marlowe; and “Mary Mother Comes to Me,” by Arundhati Roy, a memoir on the complicated relation the author has with her mother.

McAlpin’s list for new fiction titles includes one of her favorites, “Heart The Lover,” by Lily King, which “I’m most excited about,” McAlpin said. “It’s about love, passion and forgiveness.” Another novel, “Bog Queen” by Anna North, she called “strange but fascinating.”

Fine art

Weber, speaking next, said Connecticut residents are fortunate to have so many art venues nearby including two of the three oldest museums in the country. They are the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum in Hartford. The Yale Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art are both free to visitors, and full of beautiful and unique artworks. 

Westport’s own MoCA CT is also a must-see for art lovers, Weber said, including the current exhibition by photographer Todd Papageorge, called “At The Beach.” Other Connecticut museums on her list to visit include The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport and the newly remodeled Bruce Museum in Greenwich.

The Fairfield University Art Museum exhibit, “MONUMENTS: Commemoration and Controversy” runs from Sept. 19 to Dec. 20. “Monument making and monument breaking is what our country is all about,” Weber said. This season, an exhibit on the history of the American flag is also part of the university’s theme this year in recognition of the country’s anniversary, she said. To keep up with all that’s going on in the Connecticut art world, Weber recommended the CT art trail newsletter.

Film

Granger, the film critic for the Westport Journal, and a renowned film critic for more than 40 years, spoke last at the Westport Journal’s Fall Culture Preview. She will be in conversation with Peter McCrea, the son of actor Joel McCrea for the screening of “Sullivan’s Travels,” a 1941 film starring McCrea and Veronica Lake on Sept. 13 at the Sacred Heart University Community Theatre in Fairfield. The movie is part of the Star Struck series at the theater. A screening of “Dog Day Afternoon,” followed by a conversation with actor Chris Sarandon is scheduled on Sept. 14 as another event in the series.

 At the Culture Preview, Granger spoke briefly on the impact of AI on filmmaking. “AI is very exciting and is definitely going to change movie making,” she said. “But AI is not a substitute for creativity. It just recycles and repackages what is put into it.”

Westport Journal LIVE is sponsored by the KMS Team at Compass.  

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