It seems that Regal Camana Bay, in partnership with Culture at the Cinema, is continuing its religious theme into August. In July, the National Theatre Lives production of Salom was screened here, and on Aug. 19, Saint Joan starring Gemma Arterton in the lead role, is presented for one night only.

George Bernard Shaws interpretation of the well-known story premiered in 1923, three years after Joan of Arcs canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. The play dramatizes what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the concerned people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. He wrote in his preface to the play:

There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us.

From the torment of the Hundred Years War, the charismatic Joan of Arc carved a victory that defined France. This classic play depicts a woman with all the instinct, zeal and transforming power of a revolutionary. It follows the life and trial of a young country girl who declares a bloody mission to drive the English from France. As one of the first Protestants and nationalists, she threatens the very fabric of the feudal society and the Catholic Church across Europe.

Josie Rourke (Coriolanus, Les Liaisons Dangereuses) directs Gemma Arterton (Gemma Bovery, Nell Gwynn, Made in Dagenham) as Joan of Arc in this electrifying production.

Gemma Arterton

While studying at RADA, she landed her first professional role in Capturing Mary (2007), directed by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Maggie Smith. Gemma graduated from RADA in 2007 and won her first film role in St. Trinians (2007). Her breakthrough role came in 2008, when she appeared in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). In 2009, she was the winner of Empires Best Newcomer Award.

Reviews

Saint Joan shows at the Regal Camana Bay on Aug. 19. Doors open at 7 p.m. and screening begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 and include a glass of bubbly. Only 18 years and older will be admitted. For more information, see http://www.bigscreen.ky.

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Culture at the Cinema: 'Saint Joan' - Cayman Compass

Published 3:36pm, Friday, August 4, 2017

Rabbi Mitchell Hurvitz.

Rabbi Mitchell Hurvitz.

Perspectives: Growing older another chance to enjoy each day

I came across an interesting list of great achievements that were done by men and women at an advanced age. Here are 20 examples (in reverse chronological order):

1. At 100, Grandma Moses was painting.

2. At 94, Bertrand Russell was active in international peace drives.

3. At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote the play Farfetched Fables.

4. At 91, Eamon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

5. At 91, Adolph Zukon was chairman of Paramount Pictures.

6. At 90, Pablo Picasso was producing drawings and engravings.

7. At 89, Mary Baker Eddy was directing the Christian Science Church.

8. At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall.

9. At 89, Albert Schweitzer headed a hospital in Africa.

10. At 88, Pablo Casals was giving cello concerts.

11. At 88, Michaelangelo did architectural plans for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

12. At 88, Konrad Adenauer was chancellor of Germany.

13. At 85, Coco Chanel was the head of a fashion design firm.

14. At 84, Somerset Maugham wrote Points of View.

15. At 83, Aleksandr Kerensky wrote Russia and History's Turning Point.

16. At 82, Winston Churchill wrote a History of English Speaking People.

17. At 82, Leo Tolstoy wrote I Cannot Be Silent.

18. At 81, Benjamin Franklin affected the compromise that led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.

19. At 81, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe finished Faust.

20. At 80, George Bums won an Academy Award for his performance in The Sunshine Boys.

After a certain age, many of us begin to worry a bit about turning a year older.

But within our Judaism, we are told that each day is a gift and we should try to constantly strive to discover new ways to bring meaning to our own lives and to the lives of others.

Roseanne and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. In a few weeks I celebrate my 52nd birthday, and then a few weeks later our youngest daughter will enter her last year of high school.

As Rabbi for our congregation, I will soon lead my 22nd year of High Holiday Services for Temple Sholom.

Lately time feels like its passing more quickly, and yet the truth is that each day is the same length as the others. The only question that should be asked by me is what shall I try to make of this gift of a new day?

My own goal will be to try and redouble my efforts to continue exploring new ways to present the eternal values and teachings of our beautiful Jewish heritage. And to continue my own rabbinic mission to find new ways by which I can help meaningfully engage the members of our congregation to join me in our sacred mission.

I hope at an advanced age, I'll be named on a list by which I could be cited as someone who helped provide encouragement to another so that they more richly embraced their own treasures of Jewish heritage and found a temple community that helped their fellow members embrace and care about each other in love.

In the poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra," poet Robert Browning writes: "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be..."

I pray that this should be the privilege we should all be able to continue to enjoy together in happiness, health and peace for many, many years to come.

Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz is Senior Rabbi Temple Sholom of Greenwich, co-founder of the Sholom Center for Interfaith Learning and Fellowship and a past president of the Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy For an archive of past Greenwich Citizen columns, please visit http://www.templesholom.com

Originally posted here:
Perspectives: Growing older another chance to enjoy each day - Greenwich Time

- He claims that on one occasion, his car's windscreen was smashed as he left the premises of the court

- He indicated that it is a pro bono case for him, as such his intentions are not geared towards financial gains

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The legal representative of some of the persons suspected of lynching the late Major Maxwell Mahama has revealed that his life is in danger.

A suspect in the Major Mahama case

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He claims that several death threats have been directed his way, simply because he decided to take up the case.

According to lawyer George Bernard Shaw, it started at the Cape Coast High Court, where he was verbally attacked for representing the suspects in court.

It didnt end there; the windscreen of his vehicle was smashed by unknown persons as he was leaving the court.

He insists that he would continue to perform his role, as per the law, his clients are innocent till they are proven to be guilty by the court.

READ ALSO: Stop reading the King James Bible - Counsellor

He noted that he has been cautioned by family and friends to discontinue his involvement in the case, but he decided to stand his grounds.

He again stated that he voluntarily took up the case, and as such his actions are not geared towards the expectation of a financial gain.

He concluded by stating that he is open to all possibilities of the outcome of the case, adding that he would be satisfied even if the courts determine the case and finds them guilty.

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I have received numerous threats lawyer defending Major ... - Yen - YEN.COM.GH

It is a time of war, and the stability of Western civilization is being shaken by rising tides of nationalism and religious strife, which threaten to overturn the established order. A cowardly man-child is poised to assume political power when a woman dares to stand up and claim the mantle of leadership. She's selfless, strong-willed and (most importantly) almost always right on the issues. So naturally, powerful men join forces against her, undermining her authority with misogynist insults about her appearance and unsubstantiated accusations of criminal and spiritual corruption.

If this scenario sounds suspiciously similar to recent events, it only goes to show how timeless George Bernard Shaw's historical epic Saint Joan still is. "This play, written in 1923 about events that happened in the 15th century, is still relevant today because we aren't learning from history," says producer-director Jeremy Seghers, whose electrifying staging of Joan of Arc's story is running at Rollins College's Fred Stone Theatre through Saturday, Aug. 5.

"The idea of persisting in the face of complete abandonment from your allies is relevant today, especially for women," Seghers said to me after opening night of his production, "because I think our government can feel like it's turned its back on women."

Seghers earned a reputation with his productions of Equus and This Is Our Youth for intimate, edgy, site-specific shows in unconventional locations, so Saint Joan is a striking departure for him. He was drawn to the Maid of Orleans' saga of ascension, execution and eventual canonization after seeing some Joan of Arc-themed stained glass on display at a Miami museum. He picked Shaw's retelling of the tale in part because "it was kind of hard to deny the contemporary parallels," but also for the opportunity to direct a strong woman: "I've been focusing a lot on dudes and how fucked up they are, so I wanted to do something with a female lead."

Seghers initially considered staging Saint Joan inside an actual church, but chose Rollins' recently renovated Fred Stone instead because, as a former chapel, "it has enough of that church feeling." Seghers calls the theater, which is available for public rentals when school isn't in session, as "a great space [that] is under-utilized," praising its newly installed acoustical panels and resident lighting designer Kaitlyn Harrington. With scenic designer Jamie DeHay, Seghers has arranged audiences around the thrust playing space in groups of 12 "so that everyone is on a jury," and while he calls the production style "submersive rather than immersive," the viewer is never more than a few feet from the action.

At the center of that action is Joan, the Maid of Orleans herself, as heartbreakingly embodied by the luminous Theresa Hanson. A Gainesville transplant and relative newcomer to Orlando's theater community, Hanson radiates a kind of purposeful nobility and clear-eyed conviction that could easily rally an army, without losing sight of the simple teenager underneath the armor. "There is a very straightforwardness to her Joan that I connected to," says Seghers, recalling Hanson's audition. "She wasn't hysterical and weepy," instead exhibiting the militant mettle of a proto-Princess Leia or Wonder Woman. "There was just the right amount of youth and maturity in her. I got very lucky."

Hanson's passionate performance is ably supported by the ensemble, which includes Jim Cundiff, John Moughan and Colton Butcher in multiple roles. Most notably, Cole NeSmith plays the Catholic Inquisitor during the pivotal trial scene, delivering a fiery sermon against individualism that's simultaneously inspiring and insidious. NeSmith, a real-life minister in his own church, preaches this poisoned gospel with such effortless eloquence that even Joan might agree to her execution, adding a compelling complexity to the inevitable outcome. "Bernard Shaw is very clear that he didn't write the play with any villains in mind," Seghers says. "They all think they are doing what is right."

It's only fair to warn you that, at three and a half hours long (including two intermissions), Saint Joan is a marathon for both actors and audience. While conceding that the script can be wordy, Seghers hasn't edited the text or inserted fight scenes to make it more palatable, as other directors have, asking rhetorically, "Why bother doing Shaw if you are going to cut down the dialogue?" But Seghers' aesthetic imprint is evident through his production design's "mishmash and mix-up of genres and periods," which somehow incorporates archaic garb with '80s New Wave and a touch of clownish drag to "show the timelessness of the story, which could have taken place in many different time periods."

Finally, just because Joan "takes herself and everyone very seriously" doesn't mean the show is without levity; the highly theatrical acting style embraces elements of vaudeville, especially during the surreal dream sequence that serves as an extended epilogue, which provides some much-needed comedy while also creating a Brechtian distancing effect from the horror of Joan's grisly doom. "People come in expecting it to be super dark. I think people will be surprised to find themselves laughing." Just don't laugh too loudly, lest you miss a word of this thoughtful, challenging work.

Read more here:
In Jeremy Seghers' production of 'Saint Joan,' a luminous Joan is judged by a poison gospel - Orlando Weekly

Few people during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources within them. There are deep wells of strength that are seldom used. Richard Boyd

I gathered with a group of friends a short time ago and our conversation diverted into the question of What If in our lives. Each of us took a look back at another time and place and thought out loud with the group, What if certain things had gone differently? In my own life, I discussed the choice of going to BYU instead of Columbia University where I had also been recruited to play football. What if I had gone on a foreign LDS mission and learned a foreign language instead of to Washington, D.C.? There are thousands of spur of the moments decisions in life that could have changed the entire direction of everything. What you majored in, jobs you took, the girl you married, places you chose to live, friends you became close to and a thousand other options.

Toward the end of George Bernard Shaws life, a reporter challenged him to play the What If game.

Mr. Shaw, he began. You have been around some of the most famous people in the world. You are on a first-name basis with royalty, world-renowned authors, artists, teachers and dignitaries from every part of this continent. If you had your life to live over and could be anybody youve ever known, the reporter asked, Who would you want to be?

Shaw responded, I would choose to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was.

What would have been your answer? Who is it you want to be? What is it you want your life to become? If you had your life to live over, what would be different? Pursuing your potential is not found attempting to be like someone else, or achieving what others have done, but by pursuing the untapped reservoir within you.

Elie Wiesel tells of a rabbi who has said that when we cease to live and go before our creator, the question asked of us will not be why we did not become a messiah, a famous leader, or answer the great mysteries of life. The question will be simply why did you not become you, the fully active, realized person that only you had the potential of becoming.

A rose only becomes beautiful and blesses others when it opens up and blooms. Its greatest tragedy is to stay in a tight closed bud, never fulfilling its potential.

The great storyteller Mark Twain told about a man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Realizing Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable person, he said, Saint, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all times?

Saint Peter quickly responded, Oh, that is a simple question. Its that man right over there, as he pointed nearby.

The man said, You must be mistaken, Saint Peter. I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.

Thats right, my friend, replied Saint Peter. But he would have been the greatest general of all time if he had been a general.

Beware not to shortchange your potential. All people are created with the equal ability to become unequal. Those who stand out from the crowd have learned that all development is self-development. Growth is an individual project and the crowd will stand back to let a winner shine through.

Read the original:
Steve Densley: Facing the 'what if' moment in each of our lives - Daily Herald

Shaw Festival

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Play dates vary.

For info and brochure, 800-511-SHAW (7429) .

shawfest.com.

Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada. Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada.

Editors note: This is part two of two articles about the Stratford and Shaw theaters in Ontario.

In 1962, a small group of Americans and Canadians produced eight weekend performances of George Bernard Shaws Don Juan in Hell and Candida in a hall of the Court House in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

From that modest beginning was born the only theater festival in the world devoted to the plays of Shaw, his contemporaries, plays set in his lifetime and, since 2009, modern plays that reflect his values.

Early in George Bernard Shaws Saint Joan, the Archbishop of Rheims defines a miracle as an event which creates faith. Even if you know how its done, he says, if it creates faith its still a miracle. Well, we know how actors prepare, but Sara Tophams performance is still a miracle.

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In 1428-30, village girl Jeanne dArcs heavenly voices directed her to repel the English from France and elevate the bullied Dauphin to the throne (as King Charles VII). Joan defied powerful churchmen and landed gentry alike, led troops into battle, secured Charless coronation and, in 1431, was executed burned at the stake for heresy, witchcraft and sorcery.

Shaws play humanizes The Maid, as Joan was known, without stinting on the harsh realities. His play is warm, affectionate and frequently amusing, qualities realized in director Tim Carrolls excellent production. Surrounded by a cast of superb character actors, Topham inhabits Joans reverence, her youthful self-confidence at 17 (or 19, shes not sure which), her warrior persona and her maturing into the threat to the establishment. Topham delivers a Joan we cheer on even as we ache to shield her from harm.

Whether or not you are familiar with the periods church/state conflicts or with the Hundred Years War, the tale is as gripping as any youll come across. Shaw, not wanting his history of Joan to end with her execution, has her former associates and antagonists acknowledge her 1920 canonization in a ghostly epilogue, which ends with Joans emotional O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long? As movingly as Topham delivers the speech, Shaw might have written it for her.

Director Carrolls approach to Shaws Androcles and the Lion is as different from his Saint Joan as the plays are from one another. Both deal with religious martyrdom, but where Joan is a serious play leavened with humor, Androcles takes a more casual, comedic approach.

On the run from Roman persecution, the Christian Androcles extracts a thorn from the paw of a distressed lion, played by an audience volunteer. Later, the same lion spares his life in the arena. Carrolls version includes the tossing of rubber balls onto the stage by pre-selected audience members (four in each act) at times of their choosing. The balls signal a cast member to sing or share a personal anecdote, or some such.

Improvisation is less a talent than a skill, one in which the Androcles cast is unschooled. One young actor related (with guttural sound effects) how he had been spat upon repeatedly by a bully in high school, which, he told us, made him a better person. Hearing about it did not do the same for me.

Ah, but the saliva soak was but a blip between Saint Joan and Me and My Girl. The 1935 musicals book was updated by committee in 1984, but every note of Noel Gays original music is blessedly intact.

Sparks fly when brash Cockney Bill Snibson (Michael Therriault) turns up as the long-lost heir to the Earldom of Hereford. Bills devotion to his Lambeth sweetie Sally Smith (Kristi Frank) conflicts with the snooty Hereford clans efforts to dump Sally in favor of a more suitable consort.

That Bill will win them over and stick with Sally is a given. How Therriault and Frank negotiate the process is a delight. Both are first-rate singers and hoofers in true Music Hall tradition, with up-to-date verve and style. If Therriaults take on the title song and Franks beautifully sung Once You Lose Your Heart dont stick in your head, youre tonally afflicted. And the rousing Lambeth Walk is a bona fide show-stopper. Director Ashlie Corcoran captures the shows joy and playfulness (her aim). She, music director Paul Sportelli, and choreographer Parker Esse are all perfectly in sync.

The performance I attended was suspended for 20 minutes during the first act for technical difficulties then played out on the interior set, which remained stuck in place. (A croquet match in the library? So what.) Audience members, none of whom left, were invited to re-visit the show during its run. If I lived in the vicinity I would have taken the offer. Spending two more buoyant hours with this Bill Snibson and his girl? Who wouldnt?

The Shaw Festival also features The Madness of King George III, Dancing at Lughnasa, an adaptation of Dracula, and others through mid-October.

If you go: Shaw Festival is located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and play dates vary. For info and a comprehensive brochure call 800-511-SHAW (7429) or visit shawfest.com.

Note: you need a passport or enhanced Michigan license to cross the border to Canada.

See more here:
Joan of Arc, Cockney tap-dancers at Shaw Festival in Ontario - The Oakland Press

On a GAA-related visit to Carlow recently, I stopped into a pub called, of all things, The Irishmans. Curious about the name, which seemed a bit superfluous, I learned that it derived accidentally from a previous proprietor, in the days when the business was known as The Railway Hotel.

The gaelgeoir owner, Micel Nuallin, had his name thus printed over the door. So ever afterwards, the pub was identified locally as The Irishmans, as if to confuse tourists.

Among the better-known guests to have stayed in the Railway Hotel was George Bernard Shaw, who became intimately connected with the town. This is because an uncle bequeathed substantial properties in Carlow to Shaws mother and, through her, to his six stepsisters, provided that these remained unmarried, which none did.

So the properties devolved instead to a reluctant Shaw, with whose socialist beliefs landlordism sat uneasily. Over time, he donated them all to the people of Carlow.

As well as being a socialist, Shaw was also famously a vegetarian. And in a county whose natives are nicknamed the scallion-eaters (a vestige from the 19th century when Carlow supplied Dublin and much of Leinster with onions, while presumably making do with the leftovers itself), he might have expected some sympathy for his condition.

But on his 1918 visit to the hotel, as he would later recall, the woman of the house offered him a join of Carlow pig. Shaw declined, primly, on the grounds that he did not partake of dead animals or their product. To which the woman replied: You wont last long without.

In fact, he lasted another 32 years. And theres a story that shortly before he did expire, he had been given soup containing meat products, although being 94 at the time, it could hardly be blamed for killing him.

That Mchel Nuallin was a Dubliner. And the pub he was most connected with, certainly in later years, was known as The Confession Box, for reasons including its proximity to Dublins Pro-Cathedral.

But speaking of confession boxes, one of the many things I learned at the recent Flann OBrien Conference in Salzburg was the German word for gratuity: trinkgeld. I first noticed it written on a box at my hotel reception counter. And I had just enough German to work out that it meant: drinking money.

At first I thought this a local joke, until I remembered that the French have something similar. There, a tip is a pourboire (for drinking). Other European countries have their own versions. In Hungary, the word is borraval (for wine), while the Poles say napiwek (small beer).

Im told that in Germany and Austria, trinkgeld is also used by street beggars, if there are any. Which seems admirably frank, given that in Ireland and Britain, social convention demands that even the most abject Buckfast-drinker must pretend to need the money for a cup of tea.

But then I learned that trinkgeld need not imply any planned dissipation at all. In Austro-German ears, it has long shed the smell of alcohol. It just means small change, more or less, which was even more disappointing to hear after I had dropped a tenner in the hotel box.

The word frank, by the way, comes from that part of the world, being associated with the eponymous Germanic people who ruled much of western Europe at one time. The original Franks derived their name from the Latin francus, meaning free. Since only they had full freedom in their empire, frank-with-a- small-f came to be an adjective for unguarded speech.

It was a then King of the Franks, Pepin the Younger, who promoted the career of the Irish St Fergal, aka Virgil the Geometer, Bishop of Salzburg, mentioned here yesterday. Pepin the Younger was also known as Pepin the Short: a suitably frank nickname. And that tradition continued with two of his successors: Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat.

Charles was a big name in the dynasty, which also included Charlemagne, Pepins son. Interestingly, given where this column started, Pepins other son was called Carloman. But of course the aforementioned Virgil was not a Carloman, in any sense. On the contrary, before emigrating to Salzburg, he had been an abbot in what is now Laois.

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An Irishman's Diary visits The Irishman's pub - Irish Times

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

The Shaw is one of two major Canadian theater celebrations, the other being The Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Both are professional, high quality venues.

The Shaw, as Canadians refer to it, is a tribute to George Bernard Shaw, his writing contemporaries and modern plays that share Shaw's provocative exploration of society and celebration of humanity.

Many Clevelanders take the four-hour drive up to Niagara-on-the-Lake to participate in theater, tour the "most beautiful little city in Canada," shop, and eat at the many wonderful restaurants. You can even play golf and go on a rapid ride on the Niagara River.

As I walked down the main street in a t-shirt emblazoned with, "I liked Cleveland even before it was cool," I was greeted with many "Go Cavs," "Go Tribe" and "great shirt." I was even stopped by a couple from Detroit who were going to stop in CLE on the way home and wanted a list of places and restaurants to visit. Gee, I should get a job at Destination Cleveland.

This is an especially good year to go, as I found out on my recent visit. The U.S. dollar value is high against the Canadian currency (as of early August, $1 American=$1.24 Canadian). And, this season's theatre offerings are excellent.

New Artistic Director Tim Carroll has instituted an inclusion policy. Patrons are met by eager volunteers at each venue. Before each show a member of the cast comes out and introduces himself/herself. For one show, Carroll himself was our host.

In many of the productions, members of the audience are involved in the staging through interactions with the cast beforehand or actually coming on stage to be part of the goings-on. The lion in "Androcles and the Lion" was played by a young lady who indicated she had always wanted to be on stage, but never had the chance. The children of audience members were involved in "Wilde Plays."

The involvement worked well in many shows but using it in all productions is probably not a good idea. It was a major distraction in staging of "The Madness of George III."

If you are planning on going to the prettiest little town in Canada, it's a good idea to make both theatre and lodging reservations early, especially with the B&Bs on weekends. Our home away from home is the beautiful and well-placed Wellington House (www.wellington.house@sympatico.ca), directly across the street from The Festival Theatre, within easy walking distance of all the theatres, where the breakfasts are great and the furnishings lovely. For information on other B&Bs go to http://www.niagaraonthelake.com/showbedandbreakfasts.

There are some wonderful restaurants. My in-town favorites are The Grill on King Street (905-468-7222, 233 King Street), Ginger Restaurant (905-468-3871, 390 Mary Street) and Niagara's Finest Thai (905-468-1224, 88 Picton St.).

Having just returned from the Festival, I offer these capsule judgments of some of the shows: (To read the entire review of any of these, go to http://www.royberko.info.

"Me and My Girl" -- It's impossible to sit in the audience and not be carried away with The Shaw's "Me and My Girl." It is a charming, dynamic, fun-filled must see-production. (runs through October 15)

"Saint Joan" -- "Saint Joan," under the direction of Tim Carroll, is a masterful piece of theater. The production is clear in its intent and purpose and compels the audience to be a part of history. Bravo! (runs through October 15)

"Androcles and the Lion" -- The Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion" is a total delight while leaving no doubt of the writer's negative views about organized religion and oppressive politics. The entire production is free of pretense, is audience centered, fresh, and a must see for anyone interested in experiencing inclusive theatre at is finest. Of the 2017 season's shows, this is probably my favorite! (runs through October 7)

"Wilde Tales" -- Christine Brubaker's direction is creative, the casts are excellent, and the over-all effect is fun, educational and stimulating. This is a wonderful example of children's theater for those of all ages. (runs through October 7)

"The Madness of George III" -- In spite of some questionable directorial decisions, "The Madness of George III" is a play well worth seeing. The script provides a fascinating view of a historical figure not often exposed to the public and Tom McCamus gives a tour de force performance in the lead role. (Runs through October 15)

Shows I didn't see because they were in previews or haven't opened, but are part of the season are: "Dracula" (through October 14), "1837: The Farmer's Revolt" (through October 8), "An Octoroon" (through October 14), "Middleton," (through September 10), "1979" (October 1-14).

For theater information, a brochure or tickets, call 800-511-7429 or go online to http://www.shawfest.com. Ask about packages that include lodging, meals and tickets. Also be aware that the festival offers day-of-the-show rush tickets and senior matinee prices.

Go to the Shaw Festival! Find out what lovely hosts Canadians are and see some great theater!

Don't forget your passport as it's the only form of identification that will be accepted for re-entry into the U.S.

Read more from the original source:
BWW Review: A Clevelander's View of the Shaw Festival - 2017 - Broadway World

Remember when the early weeks of August saw a lull on the Central Florida theater scene? Not anymore.

Six count them, six adult theater productions open this Friday, Aug. 4. Thats in addition to several shows that will continue their run. And these shows offer a wide variety of entertainment from comedy to drama to musical, from old-school to modern, from child-friendly to adults only.

Heres a sampling:

Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park opens Good Kids. Set in a Midwestern high school, the contemporary drama explores what happens when a casual sexual encounter goes wrong, in part because of the pervasiveness of social media. Although the word kids is in the title, dont be fooled. Because of its themes, this show is not for children. Good Kids runs through Aug. 13; go to breakthroughtheatre.com or call 407-920-4034 for more information.

If youre looking for a show suitable for children, St. Lukes Theater is opening Disneys Beauty and the Beast at its brand-new performing-arts venue on Apopka-Vineland Road in southwest Orange County.

Each summer, the Methodist church offers a big musical; Beauty and the Beast will once again be directed by Steve MacKinnon. Most are familiar with Disneys version of the fairy tale and the fun Alan Menken-Howard Ashman songs, including Be Our Guest.

Beauty and the Beast runs through Aug. 13. For more information, go to st.lukes.org/beautyandthebeast.

Music is also onstage at The Abbey, in downtown Orlando, where Florida Theatrical Association is opening the new musical comedy Joyce Jacksons Guide to Dating.

Set in 1958, Guide to Dating spoofs the eras gender roles while parodying an actual dating guide published at the time. Kenny Howard directs the show, which runs through Aug. 14.

For more information, go to http://www.TicketFly.com.

Theres more comedy in Lake County, where the Melon Patch Players of Leesburg will open The 39 Steps. The show takes Patrick Barlows spy novel (turned into an Alfred Hitchcock film) and re-imagines it as fast-paced farce. A cast of just four portrays all the characters in the plots twists and turns.

The 39 Steps runs through Aug. 20. For more information, go to melonpatchplayers.org or call 352-787-3013.

Tom Hurst/courtesy

Sheryl Carbonell (from left), Stelson Telfort and Johnny Lee Davenport star in "Fences" at Mad Cow Theatre.

Sheryl Carbonell (from left), Stelson Telfort and Johnny Lee Davenport star in "Fences" at Mad Cow Theatre. (Tom Hurst/courtesy)

Two Orlando theaters have family in mind.

The Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House is opening Daddy Issues. In the new comedy, set in the 1980s, a gay man enlists a neighbor kid to pretend to be his son in a desperate effort to get along with his parents.

The production, directed by Tim Evanicki, will be the first time the show has been seen outside New York City. For more information, go to parliamenthouse.com/footlight-tickets.

Finally, Mad Cow Theatre opens August Wilsons Fences. Set in the 1950s, the story follows Troy, a garbage man who struggles to keep his family afloat while battling his disappointment over missing out on a career in professional baseball.

Tony Simotes will direct the award-winning drama, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film.

Fences runs through Aug. 27. For more information, go to madcowtheatre.org or call 407-297-8788.

Meanwhile, Winter Park Playhouses Some Enchanted Evening continues its run (click to read my review of the show).

And three other productions enter their final weekend.

The Music Man, that great musical about a lovable conman who loses his heart to a prim librarian, is onstage through Sunday at the Sonnentag Theatre at the IceHouse in Mount Dora. Go to icehousetheatre.com or call 352-383-4616.

Jeremy Seghers production of Saint Joan wraps its run on Saturday. In the play, George Bernard Shaw dramatically recounts the story of Joan of Arc, the medieval peasant girl who became commander of the French army before being burned at the stake at the age of 19.

Saint Joan is playing at the Fred Stone Theatre on the Rollins College campus in Winter Park. For more information, go to eventbrite.com.

And Playwrights Round Table closes its Summer Shorts on Sunday. The program consists of a variety of short, newly written plays. Its running at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando; for more information, go to orlandoatplay.com or call 407-761-2683.

mpalm@orlandosentinel.com

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You want theater? We got theater - Orlando Sentinel

Now: Bernard Shaw, retired from CNN, works on his golf game and writing projects.

(CNN) -- As an original anchor for CNN, Bernard Shaw was a witness to the birth of the 24-hour news network. Today, Shaw is retired from broadcasting and is working on a book and other writing projects.

After signing with CNN on June 1, 1980, Shaw covered some of the biggest stories of the past decades, providing live coverage of the student demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles, the funeral of Princess Diana, President Clinton's impeachment trial and the 2000 U.S. election.

The former U.S. Marine may be best known, however, for making television history as one of the "Boys of Baghdad."

In January 1991, Shaw stayed behind -- with Peter Arnett and the late John Holliman -- after other Western reporters had deserted the city. As bombs rained down on the city outside their hotel window, the three, reporting by phone, coolly brought those images into living rooms across the world during the first attacks of the Persian Gulf War.

"All kinds of ordnance was being dropped, all kinds of bombs, and I made my peace with myself that I could die at any moment," Shaw told CNN recently. "We knew the dangers around us. I always believed that two major forces -- one of them supreme -- saved us that night: God and some extremely well trained and well disciplined American pilots."

But Shaw says the most important story he covered was not the Gulf War, but the 1985 Geneva summit between President Reagan and the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev.

"When these two leaders met in Geneva, they began the process that led to so many important treaties and the beginning of disarmament (which we don't have now)," he explained. "But these two men meeting as they did at that summit was, in my judgment, the most important story I ever covered; important to the human race, important to all the occupants of this planet."

Throughout his career, Shaw -- a history major in college -- was often an eyewitness to some of the biggest events of the last quarter-century, a position he did not take lightly.

"Whenever I found myself with a box seat on a historic story, the one thing I always strove to do was realize I had a responsibility ... It made me focus even more on the disciplines of journalism -- being fair, being accurate."

"[You also need to have] regard for viewers, listeners and readers," he continued. "If people are depending on you, if you are the only source of accurate information, you have a dreadful responsibility. I say dreadful because it's so awesome."

In 2001, at the age of 60, Bernard Shaw decided to retire from CNN. He now spends time with his wife, Linda, and two children.

"We've been enjoying doing the things we couldn't do when I was chasing around the country and around the world covering news."

The many historic events he witnessed firsthand during his career would fill a book -- and that is exactly what Shaw is now working on. Besides an autobiography, Shaw has said that he wants to write fiction, a book of essays and a journalism primer.

Occasionally, he still makes an appearance on the network. In May 2005, for example, when a small plane flew near the White House and buildings were evacuated, Shaw called in to CNN to give a report. From his home in the Maryland suburbs, he'd seen two F-16 jets circling a single-engine plane and firing warning flares.

Shaw says he misses his colleagues, but he does not miss working.

"I do not miss being on call 24-hours a day, seven days a week," he said. "I never worked as hard in my life as I did at CNN, but I never enjoyed broadcast journalism more. I have no regrets."

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

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CNN.com - Then & Now: Bernard Shaw - Jun 1, 2005