Library events week of Feb. 2 | Local News - The Macomb Daily

Library events week of Feb. 2 | Local News - The Macomb Daily
Alexa, read me a story: Audio content for kids on the rise - The Oakland Press
Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' Comes To Palm Beach In Opera Form - WLRN

Posted: 31 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST

Clinton-Macomb Public Library

• We Love Winter Reading program runs Jan. 15 through Feb. 29. Participants need to read for 20 days to complete the program and collect a prize. Children will receive a book. Teens will receive a grab bag prize and entry into a drawing for a Kindle 8. Adults will receive their choice of a CMPL ceramic or travel mug. Those participating may register and log reading online at cmpl.beanstack.org

• Stories of Michigan at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at the North Branch. Historian Alan Naldrett and Forgotten Tales of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Program is suitable for teens and adults and will feature the lore of compelling characters who once lived in Michigan. Registration is required. To register, call 586-226-5083 or visit the Events page online.

• Celebration of World Read Aloud Day Feb. 5. Tales and Talk for adults at 10:30 a.m. Adults can come and hear a short story read aloud by a librarian, followed by a discussion of the story with coffee and tea. Registration is required. Call 586-226-5050 or visit the Events page online to register.

• Music at Main concert at 2 p.m. Feb. 9 Johnny Rhoades featuring Tasha Owens for free one hour concert. No registration required.

• Underground Railroad at 7 p.m. Feb. 13. Roy E. Finkenbine, professor of history at University of Detroit Mercy will present an overview of the importance of the Underground Railroad and detail the network as it existed in Michigan. Registration is required. Call 586-226-5050 or visit the Events page online to register.

The library's Main Branch is located at 40900 Romeo Plank Road, Clinton Township. For more information and locations of other branches, call 586-226-5000 or visit cmpl.org.

Eastpointe Public Library

• Scrapbooking at 2 p.m. Feb. 6. Supplies for a two page spread provided. Space limited. Registration required.

• Underground Railroad 3 p.m. Feb. 10. Learn about the Shelby Township Underground Railroad station through the eyes of Liberetta Lerich Green.

• Valentine's Day celebration at 2 p.m. Feb. 11. Join for tea, sweet treats and trivia. Registration required. Space is limited.

• Thursday Evening Book Club 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13. Selection is 'The Underground Railroad' by Colson Whitehead. Book available at library.

• Mystery Book Club at 2 p.m. Feb. 24. 'Rose Gold' by Walter Mosley. Book available at the library.

• History Book Club 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24. 'Silence of the Girls' by Pat Barker. Book available at the library.

The library is located at 15875 Oak, Eastpointe. For more information or to register for a program where required call 586-445-5096 or visit the library.

Harrison Township Public Library

• Del's Community Chair Yoga at 7 p.m. Feb. 4. Use chairs to support foundation so that attendees can move with ease while enjoying the benefits of yoga. Attendees will work on breathing, strengthening, stretching and being in the present. Bring a mat or blanket. Registration requested.

• Decorate a Cupcake at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5. Learn the basics of cake decorating. Renee Pokoj from Organic Stepping Stones will demo some basic cake decorating techniques and answer questions from simple cakes to wedding cake creations. Participants will decorate cupcakes to take with them and are asked to bring a container to carry them home in. Registration required.

• Teen Night: Maker Night 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7. Kids ages 12 and up can join for stations with hands on projects. Registration required.

• Love Your Library Spaghetti Dinner 6-9 p.m. Feb. 11 at Crews Inn, 31988 N. River Road, Harrison Township. Tickets are $15 and include spaghetti, salad and a dinner roll. Tickets available at the library in advance. Bring cash for full bar, wine flights, 50/50 raffle and prize drawings.

• Senior Seminar: Tai-Chi at 11 am. Feb. 12. Tai chi is great for balance and flexibility. Senior Seminars are designed with seniors in mind,but all are welcome to attend. Registration required.

• Tales with Tails 5:30-7 p.m. Feb. 12. Children can register for a 15 minute time slot to read to a therapy dog, Bailey, a yellow lab. Registration required.

• Michigan's Most Dangerous Women with author Tobin T. Buhk at 7 p.m. Feb. 12. Author Tobin Buhk speaks about the old Detroit House of Correction, the only Michigan prison to house female inmates serving long term sentences. Registration required.

• 1000 Books before Kindergarten ongoing initiative parents and caregivers can join anytime to read 1000 books to your little one before the start of kindergarten. Come to the library to register, receive a materials packet that includes a book log and a description of the program. For reaching each milestone in the program, the child will receive their name on the library's 'Wall of Fame' and a free book and certificate of completion are awarded to those reaching the 1000 book goal.

The library is located at 38255 L'Anse Creuse St., Harrison Township. To register for programs where required or for more information, call 586-329-1261, email librarian@htlibrary.org, visit htlibrary.org or stop in the library.

MacDonald Public Library

• Chain Reaction Challenge at 5 p.m. Feb. 5. Kids in K-5 can join to build a Rube Goldberg style device. Caregivers are encouraged to participate as well. Registration required.

• Lego Club at 5 p.m. Feb. 6. Kids in grades K-6. Ms. Kelly will provide the Legos. No registration required.

• Valentine's Crafts at 5 p.m. Feb. 12. Those in K-5th grade can join for Valentine's themed crafts. Registration required.

The library is located at 36480 Main Street, New Baltimore. To register for programs where required or for more information, call 586-725-0273 or visit macdonaldlibrary.org.

Ray Township Library

• Ray Township Library and Historical Society has released a 2020 calendar, "Greetings from Ray, Romeo, Washington: 1920's-1930's" The calendar features images from the early to mid-1900's. They are available for $10 at the Ray Township offices and Public Library and throughout the community, including Heritage Oaks, Jarvis Accounting, Jarzyna Farms Fine Meats & Deli, KO Music Studio, and Vince and Joes on Romeo Plank. Proceeds from the sales within Ray Township support the Ray Township Public Library's programs and archival preservation. Calendars sold by the Romeo Historical and Greater Washington Area Historical Societies support each organization's projects and programs. For more information, call 586-749-7130 or visit rayhistory.org.

Romeo Graubner Library

• Toddler Storytime 10:30-11:30 a.m. Feb. 4. For children ages 2-3 and a caregiver. Stories, music, movement and a craft.

• Tuesday Book Group 1:30-2:30 p.m. Feb. 4. Discussion about popular literature. Selection is 'The Paris Architect' by Belfoure.

• Preschool Storytime 10:30-11:30 a.m. Feb. 6. For preschoolers ages 4-5 with or without a caregiver. Stories, songs, movement and a craft. No registration required.

• Library Offerings Overview 2-3 p.m. Feb. 10. Learn about interlibrary lending with MeLCat, ebook services, access to digital magazines and premium websites including Consumer Reports and the free music app. Registration required.

The Library is located at 65821 Van Dyke, Washington Township. For more information or to register where required, call 586-752-0603.

Romeo Kezar Library

• Crochet group 5:30-7 p.m. Feb. 4. Join as attendees share patterns, problems and laughs. Beginners welcome.

• Family Storytime 11:30 a.m.-noon Feb. 6. Bring the family for stories, songs and crafts. No registration required.

• WAR International and Human Trafficking Education 6-7 p.m. Feb. 11. Join Women at Risk (WAR) International for an educational program on human trafficking and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.

• True Crime Book Group 6-7 p.m. Feb 13. Looking for other true crime readers? A discussion of the dark side of the human race.

• STEAM Jr. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 28 Preschoolers-3rd grade can come and learn science, engineering and math through play. No registration necessary.

The library is located at 107 Church Street, Romeo. For more information or to register where required, call 586-752-2583.

Roseville Public Library

• Booked for the Evening at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 6. Selection is 'The Nightingale' by Kristin Hannah. Snacks will be served. No registration required.

• Teen Community Service Opportunity at noon Feb. 8 Plarn. Middle or high school students who need service hours or just want to help out in the community. Make Plarn for Macomb Feeding the Need and get credit for volunteering. Application and Registration required prior to volunteering.

• Toddler Lapsit for children 2.5 to 3 years old accompanied by parent or caregiver at 9:30 a.m. Fridays. Nursery rhymes, fingerplays, songs, puppets and picture books. Registration required. Session I: Jan. 17-Feb. 7. Session II Feb. 21 and 28, March 6 and 13.

• Preschool Storytime for children 3.5 to 5 years old at 11 a.m. Fridays. Children will enjoy songs, puppets, crafts and stories. Registration required. Session I: Jan. 17-Feb. 7. Session II Feb. 21 and 28, March 6 and 13.

• Adult Open Craft Night 5:30 p.m. Feb. 11. Social crafting evening. Bring whatever you want to work on and your own supplies. Coloring and some beading supplies will be available. Registration required.

•Friends of the Library meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 12. Anyone with an interest in supporting the Friends of the Library is welcome to attend as the May meeting, fundraising event, new logo and bag are discussed.

• Essential Oils and Rice Bags at 2 p.m. Feb. 13. In need of a therapeutic hot/cold bag to help relieve muscle tension, soreness or provide relaxation? Lear how to make your own reusable fabric rice bag and how and why to use it. Attendees can select their fabric to fill with rice and an essential oil to scent the bag. Registration required.

• Family Craft: Love Bugs at 1 p.m. Feb. 14. Learn how to make love bugs using pompoms, pipe cleaners, felt hearts and googly eyes. All ages welcome, but children under the age of 5 will need an adult helper.

• Teens in grades 6-12 can join the "Magic the Gathering" card game event from 3:30-5:30 p.m. every Monday. Casual game play for players of all skill levels. Some starter decks will be available for those who don't bring their own. No registration required.

The library is located at 29777 Gratiot Ave., Roseville. For more information or to register for programs that require it, call 586-445-5407 or visit rosevillelibrary.org.

St. Clair Shores Library

• Bus Tour to the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 6 to view the exhibit 'Detroit Collects: Selections of African American Art from Private Collections'. Registration and tickets available at the library. Trip includes transportation and admission to the DIA as well as a coffee, tea and cookie reception. For more information, visit scsculture.wordpress.com

• Book Sale 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Feb. 12. Bargain books and children's books will be $1 each. Proceeds will benefit the library.

• Valentine's Day Craft 5:30-8 p.m. Feb. 12. Children of all ages. Materials and instructions will be provided. Adults must accompany young children to help with scissors and glue. No registration required.

• Preschool Storytime at 10 a.m. Mondays starting the week of Jan. 13 for those independent listeners ages 3 1/2 to 5 years. No registration required.

• Family Storytime at 7 p.m. Tuesdays starting the week of Jan. 13 for children outside of those age range or those who would feel more comfortable with a grown up joining in. No registration required.

• Toddler Storytime at 10 a.m. Tuesdays starting the week of Jan. 13 for those ages 24 to 42 months with an adult. Registration required.

• St. Clair Shores Historical Commission is seeking residents to participate in oral history project. Those who have a story to share of life in St. Clair Shores, contact Jerry Sielagoski at gsielago@hotmail.com or leave a message at the library by calling 586-771-9020.

• Historical Society of St. Clair Shores is selling different matted photographic reproductions, one photo of the Shores Inn, Shores Theater, both which date back circa 1940 for $20 each, a print of the Hilgendorf Service Station circa 1935 for $10; the E.C. White House circa 1955 for $10 and a color print of the Selinsky-Green Farmhouse Museum for $15 Stop by the library to purchase them. Limited number of prints available.

• St. Clair Shores Cultural Committee is seeking new members. No experience necessary, just a willingness to be involved and help bring cultural events and activities to the city. Meetings are generally the second Wednesday of each month.

• St. Clair Shores Cultural Committee and the Public Library present at 1:30 p.m. Fridays, classic movies are shown in the library's William R. Gilstorf Meeting room.

The library is located at 22500 E. 11 Mile Road, St. Clair Shores. To register or details on any of these programs, call 586-771-9020 or visit scslibrary.org.

Shelby Township Public Library

• Teen Advisory Board meets at 6:30 p.m. first Thursday of the month. Teens in 7-12th grade can join a council of teens that create teen displays, decorate the library and plan events for teens at the library. Earn community service hours for attending or come hang out and enjoy some snacks. Teens should fill out a TAB application from the website or reception desk.

The library is located at 51680 Van Dyke, Shelby Township. For more information or to register for a program, call 586-739-7414 or visit shelbytwplib.org

Sterling Heights Public Library

• The Value of Collaborative Writing at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 4. Join the editorial team of Sterling Script for a panel discussion about the benefits of collaborative writing. Registration required.

• To Die Upon a Kiss at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13. Join for a discussion from the Detroit Institute of Arts exploring a selection of works associated with wanting, focus and craving. Registration required.

The library is located at 40255 Dodge Park Road, Sterling Heights. To register for programs where required, call 586-446-2640 or visit shpl.net/610

Warren Dorothy M. Busch branch

• CrAfter School 3:30-4:45 p.m. Feb. 7 create a card or a letter which will be sent to the men and women serving in the Armed Forces. Then make a piece of spin art to take home. No registration required for this drop in program.

• Team STEAM 2-3:30 Feb. 8. Children ages 5-11 can experiment with some techy things, including robots, circuits and more. Registration is required.

• Vibrant Valentines 6-7:30 p.m. Feb. 12. Children ages 3-11 can make a valentine or two. No registration required for this drop in craft.

• Family Storytime at 6:30 p.m. Mondays for those ages 4-8 and their entire family. Stories, songs, rhymes, a craft and toys for the littlest ones. Registration required.

• PAWS for Reading at 4:30 p.m. Mondays. New and struggling readers can read to a therapy dog. Children are invited to stop by and read to Faith.

The library is located at 23333 Ryan Road, Warren. For more information or to register where programs require it, call 586-353-0580.

Warren Civic Center Library

• Teen Spot 2-4 p.m. the second Saturday of the month. Relax and hang out with snacks, gaming systems, virtual reality headsets, crafts and more. Feb. 8 Anti-Valentine's/Palentines Day party. Drop in, but registration required to participate in Teen Spot activities.

• 3D Printing: The Sky's the Limit 6:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 11. Join for a discussion on the many ways 3D printing is being used today and where it may be headed in the future. A demonstration of the technology will also take place.

• Michigan POW camps in World War II 6:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 13. During World War II Michigan became a temporary home to German and Italian POW's. University of Detroit history professor and author will share the story.

• STEAM Saturday: Super Hero Science at 2 p.m. Feb. 15 Children ages 4-12 will learn about polymers and make worm slime, engineer a flying super hero, experiment with dry ice bubbles and enjoy some color changing lemonade potion. Registration required.

• Black History Month Scavenger Hunt. Stop by the children's area during the month of February to partcipate in the scavenger hunt. After you complete it, turn in your answer form to enter in the prize drawing to be held at teh end of the month.

• Preschool Storytime at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays for independent listeners from 3.5 to 5 years with caregiver. Stories, songs, rhymes and a craft. Registration required.

• "Storytime Shakeup" 11 a.m. Fridays. Children ages 2-5 will enjoy a story, song and other fun stuff, including hands on activities at different stations and movement and sensory activities. Register for each monthly series individually.

• PAWS To Read program at 4:30 p.m. Mondays or 5 p.m. Wednesdays, new and struggling readers can read to therapy dog, Smart, a yellow Labrador Retriever, to improve their skills and learn to love reading. No registration required.

The library is located at 1 City Square, Suite 100, Warren. To register where programs require it, call 586-751-0770 unless otherwise noted.

Warren Miller Branch

• Vibrant Valentines 1-7:30 p.m. Feb. 11. All ages can make a valentine for someone special. No registration required for this drop in craft.

• Baby Lapsit 2 p.m. Wednesdays the week of Jan 13 through the week of Feb. 29. For those ages 0-12 months with a parent or caregiver. Singing, clapping, bouncing, listening to rhymes and stories and time to play. Registration required.

• Book Tots 6:30 p.m. Thursdays or 10 a.m. Fridays the week of Jan. 13 through the week of Feb. 29. For those ages 1 to 2.5 with a parent or caregiver. Short storytime with stories, rhymes, songs and a time to play. Registration required.

• Toddler Time 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and and 9:30 or 11 a.m. Thursdays the week of Jan. 13 through the week of Feb. 29. For toddlers ages 2 to 3 with a parent or caregiver. Storytime including stories, songs, rhymes and a craft. Registration required.

The library is located at 5460 Arden in the Warren Community Center. For more information or to register where required, call 586-751-5377 or visit warrenlibrary.net.

Alexa, read me a story: Audio content for kids on the rise - The Oakland Press

Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:00 AM PST

NEW YORK >> Melanie Musson in Belgrade, Mont., does a lot of driving with her four girls. Juggling a broad age range, 1 to 9, she's forever searching for ways to keep them all entertained without relying entirely on video.

While she still adores paper and tablet books for her kids, Musson said: "I think when they hear without seeing, they have to make up visuals in their heads. That's so good. They have to be engaged and get more out of it."

There are plenty of quality audiobooks, podcasts and music for the young, she noted, but weeding through thousands of selections and jumping from platform to platform is a challenge since audio content has exploded over the last few years.

Dad blogger Balint Horvath in Zurich agreed after trying to make sense of kid options for his 14-month-old daughter.

"I couldn't find any resource that would organize podcasts according to different criteria. Information without proper searchability is like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Horvath, who works as a productivity coach for research and development teams.

Audiobooks and music for kids have been around awhile, but podcasts made for the 3-to-12 set are relatively new, driving more parents to choose one-stop platforms that include all formats.

Demand is "primarily driven by parents who are podcast listeners or audiobook fans,'" said Frannie Ucciferri, associate managing editor for the nonprofit Common Sense Media.

With a huge bump in podcasts overall, the value of audio content for kids hasn't been lost on companies large and small.

Spotify recently launched a new ad-free app, Spotify Kids, as a free extension for premium family subscribers. Not yet available in the U.S., it's packed with singalongs, soundtracks and stories for children as young as 3. A platform called Pinna is among the latest to launch ad-free with a variety of content and ages in mind, at $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Others stick to podcasts alone, while Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited allows parents to customize a child's experience to provide the most relevant books, videos, apps and more without ads, starting at $2.99 a month.

Old-school broadcasters are also getting into the act. Boston's WGBH, for instance, widely shares free of cost two of its top podcasts for young people: "Molly of Denali," based on the TV series about a girl in Alaska, and "The Creeping Hour," for ages 8 to 12. More are planned as part of the public affiliate's "ongoing exploration of audio storytelling," said WGBH spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins.

Bonnie Way of Vancouver, British Columbia, has five kids, ranging from 2 to 12, and like Musson, she pulls a lot of travel time with her brood. She reaches for audiobooks to keep them happy, even on short trips, and relies a lot on her local library for free selections.

"Yes, it can be challenging to find books that everyone is happy listening to. My 4-year-old is probably exposed to things that her older sisters wouldn't have heard at that age. We started with short stories like Robert Munsch and `Curious George,' and moved to longer stories like the `Chronicles of Narnia,'" she said.

Some of her kids are prone to motion sickness, and listening rather than reading helps, Way said. She sees other benefits as well.

"Audiobooks create a shared experience. We're able to discuss the books after we've listened to them, which has been a lot of fun," she said.

Maggie McGuire is a former teacher who has been in children's media for more than 20 years. She's now CEO of Pinna, which is backed by the Graham Holdings Co., formed from what remained of The Washington Post Co. after the Post itself was sold to Jeff Bezos five years ago.

Pinna both curates and creates for kids ages 3 to 12. It offers more than 2,000 audiobooks, podcasts and songs while also producing original podcasts, all ad-free and in compliance with federal standards aimed at protecting children's privacy and safety online, McGuire said. It's available as an app and usable off the Pinna.fm website.

Podcasts, McGuire said, are a "fresh new format that everyone's very excited about."

The company worked with parents and teachers to understand what they were looking for in audio content. Among their priorities were a "one-stop solution" and a high level of curation to ensure quality and that all content was tucked into a safe platform exclusively for kids.

"There's a real desire now to figure out how the media diet in a kid's day, in a kid's week, can include things that aren't wholly screen-based," McGuire said.

Last year, Pinna produced 25 podcasts of its own, and plans to grow that number this year. Its slate of originals accounts for half the listening among its consumers, McGuire said. The company plans to launch curated playlists this month. Not unlike other streamers, Pinna will mix new content with classic stories and other familiar standards.

Included is Pinna's Peabody-winning podcast, "The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel," a serial mystery performed by middle graders for middle graders. Another popular original is "Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest," a series of fairy tales retold. It was written and produced by Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of "A Tale Dark and Grimm."

For younger kids, Pinna partnered with Random House Children's Books to turn the publisher's popular Ron Roy book series, "A to Z Mysteries," into a podcast. Mo Willems and Rick Riordan are among top names in the company's audiobook lineup on Pinna, along with music from Kidz Bop, They Might be Giants and Ralph's World.

The Amazon-owned Audible.com, a dominant force in audiobooks, is also reaping benefits from the increased interest in kid content. In 2019, the company said, Audible listeners downloaded 40 percent more such content than they had in 2018. The company offers more than 30,000 titles for kids among more than 475,000 overall.

"Parents and families are excited about listening together before bedtime. They're listening on road trips. They're listening while they're making dinner," said Diana Dapito, a senior vice president of content at Audible.

Audible worked with R.L. Stine on its original "Camp Red Moon," with Pottermore Publishing on Wizarding World audiobooks and has produced more than 100 audiobooks of the "The Baby-Sitters Club" series, including some narrated by Elle Fanning. In September, Audible released an original of Jessica Khoury's middle-grade "The Mystwick School of Musicraft" with music performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Youth Orchestras. It's now in Audible's Top 20 most-listened-to kid titles of all time.

Parents' nostalgia has played a role in kids' listening, Dapito said, but so has the emergence of home speakers such as Alexa.

"It's easier than ever for kids to have access," she said, "and for everybody to come together."

Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' Comes To Palm Beach In Opera Form - WLRN

Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST

Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" follows an unreliable narrator's account of murdering his roommate, and then his distress over being able to hear the murdered man's heart beating loudly, even after he's dead. The dramatic, suspenseful story has spawned numerous adaptations for film, TV, radio,theater and ballet.

Now, composer Gregg Kallor is bringing his operatic version to the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach for a Wednesday evening show.

WLRN's Madeline Fox spoke to Kallor about why he chose to use Poe's story, and how his version subverts some assumptions about the original text.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

WLRN: What was your first experience with "The Tell-Tale Heart?" Can you tell me about when you first read it?

GREGG KALLOR: I think the first time I read "The Tell-Tale Heart" was maybe in middle school, maybe in high school. I don't remember much about it, except that the story itself struck me. I had very little to do with it for a long time. I mean, it kind of hovers on the edge of your consciousness, comes up occasionally.

I didn't want to get into a full opera. I wasn't quite ready for that. So I thought, well, I love reading short stories. What about setting one [to music]? I had this vision of sitting around a campfire or someone holding a flashlight under their chin and and scaring the crap out of people. And I thought, well, yeah, I want to do that. And so what is a good ghost story? And Poe immediately came to mind.

The story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," follows a main character who's horrified by his roommate's eye and ends up killing him and stashing him beneath the floorboards. And then he's tormented by the sound of the man's heart beating. You said you categorize it as as a ghost story, as this sort of campfire story. Tell me a little bit more about that.

I always think of ghost stories as the ones that are chilling in a certain way, the ones that pull you in as a listener and create this very vivid world that scares you because you've envisioned yourself a part of it. I don't think of ghost stories as necessarily having to do with the supernatural. It's more of a visceral experience.

One of the adaptational choices that you made in this staging was to make the main character a woman.

It's interesting. There's nothing in the text that specifies gender. Most people, myself included, always assumed that the narrator is a man. But really, there's no reason to think that. So I thought, well, I don't know, what if we try giving this to a woman?

It's kind of like in high school, you're sitting in English class and the professor brings in a frog for you to dissect or vice versa, you're in science class and they put a poem in front of you. Context. It just it makes you focus, or it makes me focus, that much more intently. So I thought something about this kind of subverted expectations a little bit, but it's still an entirely familiar tale — just maybe with a slightly different twist.

And in this opera the performers are just you, and the cellist, and then singer Jennifer Johnson Cano.

Yes. This is for voice, cello and piano. I wrote the piece with the idea that the cello would be another character in the story, so not background music in any way. It's kind of the aural embodiment of the narrator's thoughts. At times it's sort of a poltergeist on the edge of her consciousness. At other times, it's reflecting and magnifying her anxiety. And then the last component is the piano, which kind of provides the overall sound world that's in her head.

So basically what we're trying to do with the music is take what's in her head and manifest it in sound so that the audience is kind of enveloped in her world, and experiences what she experiences as she experiences it, rather than a retelling. It's more of a 'I am grabbing you by the throat and pulling you along with me for this crazy ride where I descend into the depths of insanity.'

Talk to me a little bit about what people will see when they see the performance here in Palm Beach.

So, for this performance, it's going to be less of a staged experience. It's going to be more of a concert setting. So, in a way, a little closer to my original intention, which was just a bunch of people sitting around a campfire and somebody happens to stick a flashlight underneath their chin. We're not going to use a costume, we're not gonna have any lighting changes. There will be no sets, no scenery. So this will really be carried on the strength of the performance.

If you go

Tickets for the performance, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, are available on the Society of the Four Arts website. The music from the show can be purchased or streamed via links on Kallor's website.

Search This Blog

Famous Short Story