Maine Humanities Council
Home of the Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book

September 24-28, 2007 ~~~ Waterville

The Mount Merici School in Waterville and Williams Elementary School in Oakland will celebrate Deaf Culture Week, September 24-48, 2007, with a series of events. A deaf woman will visit the Williams School with her companion dog, and the Manchester Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Drama Team will work with both schools. On Friday evening, September 28, the public can join both schools for a performance by the Manchester Team of “How to Eat Like a Child.” For details, please contact coordinator Rebecca Kane at (207) 872-4586.

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September 30 ~~~ Bridgton

Playwright Victoria Mares-Hershey's work-in-progress “How Did You Get Here?” is a collection of monologues inhabiting the voices of Africans in Maine during the period of slavery and beyond. The characters represented are regular people, not celebrities, because the goal of the piece is to give audiences a sense of the everyday lives of Africans in Maine. Two readings from the play, followed by facilitated discussion, were presented in Portland by the playwright in July. A third is scheduled for Sunday, September 30, at Affinity Arts on Kansas Road in Bridgton, Maine. Call (207) 749-6350 or (207) 871-7188 for directions. The finished play will be performed in December of this year. To learn more, visit the museum at its new location on Brown Street in Portland, or visit online at www.museumafricanculture.org.

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October 11 and November 8, 2007 ~~~ Bethel

The Bethel Historical Society's 2007 Summer Lecture Series, Maine Character and “Characters,” got underway on May 10 with a lecture on Maine-Hawaii connections by Paul Burlin of the University of New England. On June 14, Earle Shettleworth spoke on “A Painter's Progress: The Life, Work, and Travels of Harrison Bird Brown of Portland.” Vandall T. King of Rochester, NY, explored Oxford County mines and miners on August 10. On September 13, William B. Krohn of the Maine Fish and Wildlife Research Unit addressed “Joshua Gross Rich: Western Maine Pioneer and Wildlife Writer. David Fuller of Farmington will lecture on the spruce gum industry in Maine on October 11. Finally, Bethel Historical Society Director Stanley Russell Howe will present on the life and times of Elizabeth Mason Carter, one of Bethel's most famous ”characters,” on November 8. For details, please call (207) 824-2910 or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.

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October 20 and December 9, 2007 ~~~ Portland

Victoria Mansion will celebrate both Halloween and Christmas with special events this year. On October 20, from 6-8 pm, visitors will be able to take self-guided tours under gas-level lighting-a first for the mansion-with eerie, historically-appropriate music playing in the background. Storyteller Lynne Sullen will perform two spooky stories-“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Judge's House” by Bram Stoker-during the evening. On December 9, from 3-5 pm, an illustrated lecture on Father Christmas will be delivered by historian Sibyl McCormac Groff in the Carriage House. For details, please call the Victoria Mansion at (207) 772-4841 or visit www.victoriamansion.org.

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October 24 - November 18, 2007 ~~~ Portland

In celebration of the bicentennial of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's birth, the Portland Stage Company presents Longfellow: A Life in Words, a new play by Daniel Noel. The script for the play uses only primary source material-correspondence and memoir as well as poetry-to bring the poet to life. The play runs for four weeks, starting October 24, at the Company's studio theatre. For ticket information, please call (207) 774-1043 or visit www.portlandstage.com.

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October 29 - December 3, 2007 ~~~ Blue Hill

This fall, the Blue Hill Consolidated School and the Downeast Educational Partnership will join forces with Primary Source to offer “Stories Told in Many Ways: Teaching African Culture Through the Arts.” This five-part seminar for K-12 educators in Hancock County will explore African culture through literature, art, and music. The program combines scholarly lectures with artists' workshops and presentations by members of Maine's African community. To enroll or find out more about the seminar, visit www.primarysource.org or call (207) 942-7146.

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November 19, 2007 ~~~ North Berwick

Michael Sullivan is a librarian and literacy specialist in Portsmouth, NH. His work centers on motivating children-especially boys-to become enthusiastic readers and library patrons. He has authored two books for children and a handbook called Connecting Boys With Books. As the keynote speaker for the annual MSAD 60 Fall Forum, Sullivan will address over 600 staff members from the three communities in the district. He speaks at Noble High School on November 19 at 11:15 a.m. For more information, please contact Claudia Updike at (207) 698-4465.

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Through November, 2007 ~~~ South Portland

The Portland Harbor Museum's 2007 exhibit is entitled Picturing Portland: A Century of Change. This exhibit will employ the concept of “rephotography” (pairing old photographs with current ones) to explore the many aspects of Portland Harbor that have changed or remained the same. Many of the old photographs will come from the museum's Angell Collection of glass plate negatives from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The contemporary images will be taken by members of the Bakery Photographic Collective. The exhibit opened April 27 and runs through November 25, 2007. An accompanying series of lectures, events, and activities will include photography workshops and a scavenger hunt for children. For event listings and museum information, please visit www.portlandharbormuseum.org or call (207) 799-6337.

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Through November 11, 2007 ~~~ Portland and Gorham

Seven years of research have gone into the first and only survey of contemporary self-taught art in Maine: “Off the Grid: Maine Vernacular Environments.” The project's findings will be presented to the public this fall through two simultaneous art exhibits, a catalog, video and oral documentation, and related programming. The exhibits will run from September 11 through November 11 at the art galleries on both the Portland and Gorham campuses of the University of Southern Maine. A symposium on November 4, free and open to the public, will serve as a critical forum for examining the issues raised in the exhibits: what are the commonly-held beliefs abour Maine's vernacular? how are these beliefs portrayed in self-taight art environments arising from that vernacular? how are cultural notions of authenticity assimilated in the display of such art? To learn more, please visit www.usm.maine.edu/gallery.

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