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My mother had Alzheimer’s for the better part of a decade before she passed on the last day of 2021. The strange, nonlinear and fragmented loss I experienced can make remembering her as she was before she was sick require a little extra effort. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been thinking of her more these days — or perhaps it’s better to say she feels a bit more present. I’m reminded of her now because of two events happening on back-to-back days at the Chocolate Church Arts Center.

Before her illness, my mother, Judy, was a middle school principal outside Boston. She was small but a firecracker — quick with a joke, capable of instilling a little fear and known to head out to recess to play basketball with the kids. If she were around, I know she would have loved a new project from the Bath Parent Teacher Association and the CCAC: an old-fashioned kids’ vaudeville and variety show. Featuring 12–15 acts by students from Dike Newell and Fisher Mitchell Elementary Schools, the program — MC’d by Principals Jennifer McKay and Ross Berkowitz — will include music, dance, poetry and even a bit of circus (I know of at least one act!). Each act will take place on the main stage and run no longer than three minutes. As a first-year effort, it feels like a prototype for what we hope becomes an annual tradition.

A variety show at the Chocolate Church Arts Center on April 30 will feature 12–15 acts by students from Dike Newell and Fisher Mitchell Elementary Schools. (Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center)

Jenny Byrne, the head of the Bath PTA, brought this project to the CCAC.

“Give a kid a stage and a spotlight, and suddenly they’re 10 feet tall,” Jenny told me, “and their parents are in the front row like it’s opening night on Broadway!”

Jenny explained that the PTA’s rationale for this is more then about entertainment: “Research from the University of Arkansas shows that involvement in the arts helps build empathy, tolerance, and social awareness. And we see it firsthand: the shy kid getting up on stage today becomes the kid confidently raising their hand in class tomorrow. Our kids deserves a place to shine!”

The CCAC has made this a “pay-what-you-can” event so cost isn’t a barrier for any families. Join us at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30, to celebrate these young performers.

The following evening, we co-present “Every Brilliant Thing” with Bowdoin’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Written by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe, this acclaimed one-person show — currently on Broadway — follows a son who makes a list of everything worth living for to help his mother through depression. It’s interactive, funny and deeply moving. My mother had her own very real struggles with depression — something that affects way more of us and our loved ones than we often talk about. As this piece approaches such material with warmth and joy, it makes me especially eager for this one-night performance on Friday, May 1.

Honestly, sustaining the CCAC can sometimes feel Sisyphean. But moments like these — setting up formative memories for our youngest artists, shared experience, memories of loved ones — make it all worth it and feel possible. I hope you’ll join us!

Matthew Glassman is executive and artistic director of the Chocolate Church Arts Center.

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