The winter theater season is full of mystery and intrigue, with ample doses of drama and humor mixed in. Here are a few clues: • The Public Theatre in Lewiston presents the Maine premiere of “The Hound of Baskervilles,” a Sherlock Holmes spoof that takes its cue from “The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shksp (Abridged).” […]

DUANE ROBERT PIERSON

Kathryn Miles’ new book recalls the only so-called ‘coffin ship’ to keep every one of its passengers – refugees of the Irish potato famine – alive.

Fans of Lois Dodd’s work flock to be the first to see the artist’s ‘Catching the Light’ exhibit at Portland Museum of Art.

David Von Drehle focuses on a single year, 1862: ‘America’s most perilous.’

Dorothy “Deedee” Schwartz was a 19-year-old student when she produced her first significant woodblock print under Leonard Baskin (1922-2000). Yes, that Leonard Baskin. Schwartz’s 1957 “Daedalus and Icarus” is startlingly powerful and impressively proximate to Baskin’s work. A version of the print is accompanied by the wood block from which it was pulled. Together, these […]

Art “Between Past and Present: The Homer Studio Photographic Project,” contemporary photography made with historic processes, through Feb. 17; and Lois Dodd: “Catching the Light,” career retrospective — 1955-2012 — for the Maine painter, through April 7, Portland Museum of Art. portlandmuseum.org. “The Portland Society of Art and Winslow Homer’s Legacy in Maine,” exploring the […]

Lauren Brown lets the reader have it in her first sentence. “In New England, almost half the year is winter.” Yikes! I had never thought of it quite like that. “The flowers,” she goes on, “and the greenery that brought us so much pleasure from April to October are gone.” Put in those terms, she […]

Augusta proper is ripe for an excellent restaurant, don’t you think? Not necessarily something fancy-schmancy or hipster-dipster. The state capital simply needs a distinctive eatery. Some place where, if you tell someone in the know you’re going to Augusta, they answer with a “Oh, then you must eat at …” Until that happens, there is […]