Maine State Music Theatre elects new board members
BRUNSWICK ­— Maine State Music Theatre has elected five new members to their board of trustees. Karen Geraghty of Portland, Andrew Masland of Topsham, Brandon Mazer of Portland, Marge Healing of Brunswick and Diane O. Eberle of Phippsburg are eligible to serve on the Board of Trustees for two three-year terms.

Geraghty has a degree in accounting and has extensive management experience in finance. Some of her previous experiences include Finance Committee chairwoman for the Portland City Council, co-managing fundraising efforts for a senator and serving as an accountant at Lowry & Associates Attorneys and Bank of Tokyo in Boston. She was a Portland City Councilor for nine years and was the mayor of Portland in 2002. Currently, Geraghty is the senior philanthropy officer for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

Masland graduated from Bowdoin College and received a doctorate in management from Harvard University. Most recently as global alliance manager at NEC Corporation, a Japanese information technology company, he managed a complex, global relationship between NEC and Microsoft.

Mazer is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the University of Maine School of Law. He is currently an attorney at Perkins Thompson. Prior to joining Perkins Thompson, Mazer served as general counsel for Shipyard Brewing Company for nearly a decade. Mazer volunteers on a variety of boards and is currently the vice chairman of the Portland Planning Board, President of Friends of the Eastern Promenade and is a member of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Maine.

Healing, a graduate of Wells College, is returning after a six-year hiatus to the MSMT Board after having previously served seven years as a trustee. In addition to serving as MSMT President, Healing has served in many leadership positions for other organizations.

Eberle was previously an English teacher at Mt. Ararat in Topsham and has served on many nonprofit boards in the area.

Now in its 61st year, Maine State Music Theatre produces four main stage musicals, three Theatre for Young Audiences musicals and three Monday Concerts each summer at the Pickard Theater on the beautiful campus of Bowdoin College.

For more information, visit msmt.org.

Register now open for annual biathlon
JEFFERSON — Midcoast Conservancy will host its seventh annual biathlon at the Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson. All ages and skill levels are encouraged to participate. Racers can compete individually or in teams of four, and everyone is encouraged to compete in costume.

Biathlon is an Olympic sport that combines cross country skiing and target shooting. Midcoast Conservancy’s event is a twist on the classic, using paintball rifles instead of guns with bullets. All rifles are provided by Midcoast Conservancy, and each racer will receive safety training on how to use the rifles. Snowshoe racers are welcome.

Races will begin at around 9 a.m. and continue into the early afternoon. There will bonfires and food and hot chocolate.

Race categories are based on self-selected skill levels chosen at pre-race check in, and there is a special category for youth racers. Awards will be given out for best costume, best team name and for youth and high school-aged participants. The biathlon will be held if there is no snow; trail running would replace skiing.

The cost to participate is $35 for adults and $10 for kids and students. Early registration is encouraged as space is limited and prices go up $5 per participant on Feb. 23rd. Day-of registration will be allowed if space remains.

For more information, call 389-5150.

Main Street Bath brings back a promotion
BATH — Main Street Bath’s annual Be Bath, Buy Bath promotion is returning for the months of February and March. Over 40 businesses in the city’s downtown are participating in a program that will give shoppers an opportunity to win Gift of Bath gift certificates each week.

“Customers need only make a purchase at each of four different stores or restaurants to qualify to win,” said Camille Kauffunger of Main Street Bath, “They may enter as many times as they like during the promotion, and we will be drawing two gift certificate winners each week.”

To take part, people must visit a participating business and request a “Be Bath, Buy Bath” card. When they make a purchase, they will receive a stamp on their card. They must get stamps from four businesses to complete the card, which can then be deposited in a red box near City Hall.

“I call it Bee Bath, Buy Bath,” said kitchenware retailer Mike Fear of Now You’re Cooking, “Our customers are like bees pollinating our downtown stores. Plus, we’d like our downtown to be a hive of activity during a quieter time of year.”

The promotion, which began in 2016 thanks to an anonymous grant from a downtown business owner, will conclude April 1.

“We expect the program to be more successful this year with even more participating businesses,” said Tamara Lilly, chairwoman of the Main Street Bath Promotions Committee. “It’s great to see so many people shopping locally.”

For more information, visit visitbath.com.

Library to host henna body art program during upcoming school break
BATH — Professional henna artist Genevieve Levin will offer a demonstration and paint individual hand adornments for teens on Thursday, Feb. 21, at Patten Free Library. The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon. The workshop is free and open to teenagers. Registration is required, and space is limited.

“This program will not only be informative, fun, and creative, but will also give you the gift of a henna design to take home with you that will last one to three weeks” Levin said.

Levin will discuss the origins of henna, provide safety and aftercare information and describe what makes a beautiful design. Participants will leave with a small henna drawing applied to one hand.

“We’ve started to offer this program annually because it’s so popular,” said Pam Barry, the librarian who organized the event. “We want to keep giving teens the opportunity to participate.”

For more information, call 443-5141 or email Roberta Jordan at rjordan@patten.lib.me.us.

Library to show works of photographer and filmmaker Ray Witlin
WISCASSET — The Wiscasset Public Library is opening a six-week exhibit on Wednesday, Feb. 20 featuring the works of photographer, photojournalist and filmmaker Ray Witlin.

Witlin’s life and career were defined by a quest to create his personal brand of photojournalism, a quest that ultimately led him on a multi-media exploration of 55 countries; the show is called Ray Witlin: a Quest for Photojournalism.

His works appeared in numerous publications over the years, including Life Magazine, Newsweek and several United Nations publications. Witlin died in 2002 at the age of 82.

Phyllis Chinlund, Witlin’s widow, will open the exhibit on Feb. 20 with an illustrated talk about her husband’s work in the context of photojournalism. The event begins at 5 p.m.

“The photographs in the exhibition are among those Ray himself selected for printing. They illustrate his passion for exploring other cultures and his perennial wish that he could stay longer and look deeper,” Chinlund said.

Witlin began his career as a graphic artist in New York City. When he moved into still photography, he set out for Bogota, Colombia, where he lived for 15 years. His work for Black Star, a photo agency in New York, and several commercial sponsors, eventually took him to all the countries in Central and South America. His taste for exploring with a camera was established.

During the 1960s, back in New York City, Witlin branched out into documentaries, making a number of prize-winning films, including “Light in the West: Photography of the American Frontier.”

But by 1980, Chinlund said, his strong interest in life outside the United States led him back to still photography and foreign travel. Picking up assignments from the World Bank, the Ford Foundation and the United Nations, he explored many countries around the world. His photos and essays appeared in numerous publications for these organizations, as well as a major exhibition at the United Nations of his work on river blindness. Chinlund said that the head of photography for the United Nations referred to Ray as their man in Africa.

While on assignment, Chinlund said, he always looked for chances to shoot photos for himself, usually of people whose beauty or vulnerability struck his emotions.

Chinlund has written a moving memoir about the last years of Witlin’s life, when he was afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, and they moved from Manhattan to Maine.

Until the end of his life, Witlin carried his camera with him everywhere he went.

“He’s forever with his head in the underbrush, shooting what appear to be ordinary shrubs. If we go somewhere and he can’t shoot for some reason, he feels he’s wasting his time,” Chinlund wrote in her memoir.

The exhibit will be on display until the end of March.

For more information, call 882-7060.

Joe Beninati Trio brings jazz to the Chocolate Church
BATH — The Joe Beninati Trio will perform a jazz show on Friday, Feb. 15 in the Annex at the Chocolate Church Arts Center. The show begins at 7:30 pm.

Beninati and his trio bring their broad range of influences together to create a mix of traditional jazz, Latin, funk and soul.

The Joe Beninati Trio is made up of jazz musicians Shaun Bolduc on upright bass, Eric Napier on guitar and Joe Beninati on drums. The group started in early 2017 as three friends wanting to workshop jazz standards as a way of studying the tradition and growing as musicians. The threesome has been playing restaurants, pubs and events in and around Portland and southern Maine ever since.

Beninati is originally from New York City and is an experienced jazz drummer, bassist and guitarist. He has been playing around New York City with jazz bands for over 15 years. The work of this trio features the influences of jazz greats Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Grant Green, Bill Frisell, Kenny Burrell, Max Roach, Elvin Jones and many more.

Tickets $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

For more information, call 442-8455 or visit chocolatechurcharts.org.

 

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