The Weekend: Theater, Parties, Dance, Gardens and Politics

Lots going on this weekend and the weather will be absolutely gorgeous! Here are some suggestions on how to enjoy The Weekend.

The Theater Project will present Miss Witherspoon by Christopher Durang directed by Mark Spina beginning tonight, April 12 through April 29. The production marks the The Theater Project’s first as a resident company at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts in Maplewood. Miss Witherspoon is the most recent of Christopher Durang’s patented black comedies to be produced by The Theater Project. Durang, a New Jersey native, has a comic sensibility that resonates strongly with the company and its audiences. Miss Witherspoon is a comedy about life, death, and, like it or not, reincarnation. And, Miss Witherspoon does NOT like the reincarnation bit. Eager to depart this world, she finds there are souls on the other side who have other ideas for her. The cast includes Theater Project favorites Bev Sheehan (in the title role), Jenelle Sosa, Daaimah Talley, Kevin Sebastian and Meredith Handerhan. The play was nominated in 2006 for the Pulitzer Prize in drama and was named one of the Ten Best Plays of 2005 by Time Magazine and Newsday.

Miss Witherspoon
Thursday, April 12 at 8 pm. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm through April 29 with several matinee performances at 2 pm.
Burgdorff Center for The Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood, NJ
$25 at the door / $22 when pre-ordered via Brown Paper Tickets

Friday night go to the Rent Party. It’s a monthly party, founded in 2009 in conjunction with the South Orange Elks, to benefit food pantries and fight hunger in SOMA. This month features live music from The Monacchios, Rich Deans and Ruby on The Vine.  This party, including beer,  is sure to entertain.

The Rent Party
Friday, April 13 from 8 pm – midnight
South Orange Elk’s Lodge, 220 Prospect Street, South Orange, NJ
Minimum donation $5, but the more you give, the better you’ll feel! 21 and over.

If you’re more in the mood to sway your hips to some sultry music, then The Westminster Arts Center in Bloomfield is where to be. The company Viva Flamenco NJ brings Flamenco Ole, Ole the the stage. Produced and directed by dancer/performer/teacher Antonia Messina, the show highlights flamenco’s roots and rhythms and features solos by its three dynamic and distinctive female leads: renowned international artist, Sol “la Argentinita”; La Meira, well-known “flamencologist,” teacher and dancer; and Messina herself, a long-time flamenco devotee both in this country and abroad. Messina says, “The show is about roots—the roots of the dance, the power of the music and the individuality and creative need for each person to express themselves and find their passion.” Guitarist Cristian Puig and David Castellano’s piercing vocals, which evoke the desperate cries of the gypsies, from whom flamenco music hails, add to the experience of Flamenco Ole, Ole.

Flamenco Ole, Ole
Friday, April 13 at 8 pm
The Westminster Performing Arts Center, 449 Franklin Street, Bloomfield, NJ
Tickets are $25, buy 3 and get one free, and can be purchased at the door.

The Dance Division of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Montclair State University presents Danceworks 2012, which explores the theme of “Dance and the Human Spirit,” as a commemoration of 9/11, under the artistic direction of Nancy Lushington and Lori Katterhenry. This concert will feature Jose Limon’s elegant and moving masterpiece There Is A Time which originally premiered in 1956. Also spotlighted will be the 2012 offering commissioned by the New Works Initiative, “we love you get up,” an original work based on the poetry of Frank O’Hara and the music of Zez Confrey, devised and staged by celebrated New York choreographer Chase Brock. Completing the program will be Tobi Roppo by Sabatino Verlezza, a tribute to the Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb at the close of WWII, along with works by Charles Weidman, Lane Sayles, Bill T. Jones, and Fredrick Earl Mosley.

Danceworks 2012: Dance and the Human Spirit
April 11, 12 and 13 • 7:30 pm / April 14 • 8 pm /April 15 • 2 pm
Alexander Kasser Theater, MSU, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ, 07043
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online here.

On Saturday Pat Kenschaft, Montclair’s master organic gardener, opens her garden to the public! Along with Grace Grund (who also raises chickens!), Judy Hinds from Nutley, and Nicole Fabris of West Orange, they have four remarkably different organic vegetable gardens. In Pat’s front yard at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, there will environmental displays, and you can get information about the other gardens there. Pat is currently harvesting collards, Chinese cabbage, parsnips, and lettuce. Visitors can also see garlic, onions, parsley, tomato, and arugula plants and flowering strawberries. Help Pat “weed” her garden by digging strawberry, raspberry, perennial arugula, swans’ neck, minarda, alyssum, and columbine plants. Pat adds, “I will have some trowels, shovels, and pots, but would be grateful to those who bring their own bags and/or digging tools.”

Pat Kenschaft’s Organic Garden Open House
Saturday, April 14 from 9 am – 11 am
56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair, NJ, 07043
Free

On Sunday, The Montclair Public Library, The Adult School of Montclair, and Fullerton Condominium Association invite the general public for an Election 2012 Nonpartisan Open House/Meet and Greet at the Montclair Public Library. Each candidate will be given 3 minutes at the podium to introduce themselves.  Light refreshments and tables for the candidates/slates will be provided.

Montclair Election 2012 Open House
Sunday, April 15 from 2 pm – 4 pm
Montclair Public Library, 50 s. Fullerton, Montclair, NJ, 07042
Free

To see all of this weekend’s events, check our calendar.