Tag Archives: Janet Langsam

Dusting Off the Playhouse

Bedford Playhouse_Main Theater credit Peter T Michaelis

    I must admit I was curious. Having gone for years to the very dated Bedford theater, I was sad to hear it was closing and then happy to hear it that was being rescued by community-minded folks whose fond memories of the vintage theater, like mine, lingered on. So off I went one […]

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Constellations

Hudson Stage Company_Constellations_Just an idea 1_photo credit Justin Gallagher-1

          Did you ever stumble on an intimate conversation between two people that you felt you weren’t supposed to hear but couldn’t stop listening to?  That’s how I felt watching the play Constellations, now on stage at the Whippoorwill Hall Theater.  In this production by the Hudson Stage Company, two awkward […]

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Masters of Brick

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Our exhibition, “Brick by Brick,” is inspiring stories as warm and loving as any brick fireplace. Diana Costello’s grandpa, Pietro Viscogliosi, sounds like the quintessential brick mason, just like Serafino Laboranti, my former neighbor in Queens and the only person I would trust to build a brick floor in my kitchen. Serafino was a master mason […]

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American Moments

Kennedy Funeral by John Shearer

    Many of us remember exactly where we were when John F. Kennedy was shot.  For me, the scene is emblazoned in my mind. I was in my kitchen spooning mashed banana into my toddler’s mouth. The radio soothed some Sinatra… perhaps it was The Summer Wind. From bliss, I went into panic mode […]

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A Ton of Brick History

A Ton of Brick History

Can it be true that, in terms of size and production, the brick industry in the Hudson Valley was second of importance in our region to IBM? So George H. Hutton told us in his book The Great Hudson River Brick Industry. We can quibble with his hyperbole, but the truth is that in its […]

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A Love Story

Historic Hudson Valley Presents “Irving’s Legend” at The Old Dut

Every year, when the wind begins to blow and the leaves start to rustle, we hear strains of a ghost story called The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  It’s a scary short tale written in 1820 by Washington Irving whose home, Sunnyside, is transformed annually by Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) into an adventurous dwelling. HHV is the keeper of […]

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Collaboration: Shared Visions

Winter by Lesli Uribe

Just when I think that collaboration is one of the hardest ways to work in the arts world, I become encouraged anew by what I see happening among artists in Westchester. What makes collaboration so difficult is that its success depends upon a shared vision. This shared vision may be hard to achieve, but it […]

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Moxie: A Five-Letter Word With Oomph

Moxie

    Upward bound in an elevator in a Tel Aviv hotel, I shared a lift with an Israeli preteen chattering in Hebrew but wearing a t-shirt that announced “Hear Me Roar”. The reference on her shirt was of course a reference to the Helen Reddy song of 1973. I wondered how those lyrics made it to a kid’s t-shirt in Israel. […]

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