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Actors perform ghost stories

Art Beat
joni
Artwork by Landyn Funk is part of the Both Sides Now tribute to Joni Mitchell.

The Chair Actors are back in performance with Ghost Stories, another in their series of staged readings. This year’s theme is hauntings – in plays, poems and short stories from the last 200 years. In Act One, the setting is a bar run by affable host Ed White and fiddler extraordinaire Katie Angermeyer. Eleven patrons have each signed on for an open-mike night to read a ghost story – tales and verses from authors as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James, poet Sylvia Plath and local author Dick Hammond.

In Act Two, Martin Evans as Charles Dickens offers a (very) abridged version of the ultimate ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Evans has recently moved to Sechelt after a long career on professional stages and in TV and movies. He also directs Ghost Stories. Two shows only: Saturday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Sechelt Seniors’ Activity Centre (SSAC), 5604 Trail Ave., Sechelt. Phone: 604-885-3513. Tickets are $15 in advance at the SSAC and at the door. There will be a cash bar. All proceeds go to the SSAC.

Joni music and poetry

This Friday, Nov. 27, at Gibsons Public Art Gallery at 7 p.m., hear more poetry and music from local performers in a tribute to Joni Mitchell. Music is by Baili Clarke and Angela Tychkowsky, Angela Coates and Cody Franklin, Susann Richter, and the Smokin’ Jonis Band. Poets are Janice Williams, Richard Austin Borthwick and Susan Girard. Admission is by donation. Questions to: Michael Aze 604-886-0531. If you haven’t seen the art show yet, here’s your chance. It’s a good one.

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls, the Arts and Crafts Fair presented by the Sunshine Coast Arts Council, runs Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 28 and 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre, corner of Trail and Medusa in Sechelt. This juried fair features vendors from on and off the Coast, and the artisan wares range from the ever popular jewelry and knit wares to drums, clocks and embroidered items. Check out the complete list on the website at www.sunshinecoastartscouncil.com by clicking on Deck the Halls. Shop to a backdrop of music from local performers and take time for a snack from the kitchen. Need a wreath? Check out Deluxe Landscape’s tent where you can pick up a ready-made wreath or get pointers on how to make your own. Admission is $2, children under 12 get in free with an accompanying adult.

Drama, Dessert and Music

Come to this free evening on Saturday, Nov. 28 of Drama, Dessert and Music in Sechelt and enjoy a short play based on the book The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey as well as music to get you into the Christmas spirit and desserts sure to delight. This fun, family-friendly evening starts at 7 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion in Sechelt and is being sponsored by My Father’s House Christian Library and Outreach. For more information call 604-741-0525 or 604-885-3784. Donations to the food bank will be gratefully accepted.

Big Machine

Oliver Swain returns to the Heritage Playhouse, Gibsons, on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 2 p.m. Heritage Playhouse Productions presents Oliver Swain’s Big Machine: Never More Together, an album launch concert. Tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the door) at Laedeli and Sechelt Visitor Centre. Most of the songs came into this world at the site of what once was the village of Opinaht, Maquinna Park, Clayoquot Sound. The wild geography and lush wilderness of this place combined with the rich First Nations history was the perfect environment for Swain’s wildest album to date.

Bon voyage

The Sunshine Coast Jazz and Entertainment Society is presenting a bon voyage concert for singer, songwriter Katherine Penfold as she prepares to move to London, England early in January. She’s a favourite with local audiences in venues such as the Artesia Coffee House, Music in the Landing and the Gibsons and Pender Harbour Jazz Festivals. Her fans say soulful, inspiring, and classy; Penfold’s music envelopes every listener, taking them on a journey of heartfelt originals and jazzy covers. She has recently released a new single, Don’t Look Back, available from her website at katherinepenfold.ca. She will be joined by Miles Black on piano and Jodi Proznick on bass, Friday, Dec. 4, at 8 p.m. at St. Bart’s Church in Gibsons in a fundraiser for her journey. Tickets are $20 at Gaia’s Fair Trade in Gibsons, Strait Music in Sechelt, MELOmania in Roberts Creek and online at www.coastjazz.com

Choir concert

Mirabile Mysterium is the title of a concert from A Cappella Strait (24-voice adult choir) and Choralations Children’s Choir on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church, Sechelt, and Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Highland Centre, Gibsons. Miraculous Mystery (translation from Latin) is a concert of choral music both medieval and contemporary, conducted by Janice Brunson. The program will end with traditional carols and refreshments. See www.choralations.ca for more. Adults: $15, students/seniors: $12, children under 12 free. Tickets are at Sechelt Visitor Centre, Gaia’s Fair Trade, and at the door.

Harbour Gallery

The Harbour Gallery artist members are at it again. For the annual Christmas sale they have painted and put together a collage, Bearly. The proceeds will go to the Ada Priest Memorial Art Bursary which is given to a Pender Harbour Secondary art student. So mark your calendars for these Saturdays: Nov. 28, Dec. 5, 12 and 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is located at 12953 Gonzales Rd. in Madeira Park. Contact June 604-883-2807 or Nefri 604-885-4366.

Hoops

Gwendolyn Genevieve Gorham, the spinning dancer champion, offers a free youth (aged 12 to 18) hula hoop-making workshop at Our Space at the Gibsons Community Centre on Dec. 3 from 5 to 7 p.m. Please RSVP at the Open Space Facebook page or at sam.talbot@gv.ymca.ca

Festival syllabus

The Sunshine Coast Festival for the Performing Arts has announced that next year’s festival will fill three jam-packed weeks beginning April 11, 2016. The 2016 syllabus will be available at www.coastfestival.com by Dec. 1 and deadline for registrations is Jan. 31. Along with traditional piano, strings, vocal, folk instrumental, bands, choir and dance, this year’s festival will also include dramatic arts.

“We’re really excited to add dramatic arts to our syllabus,” said Sue Carson, president of the non-profit society which oversees the festival.

Romantic Road

Blair McDowell (aka Lois Choksy of Gibsons) announces that her novel, Romantic Road, published this year, has won the Romance Reviews Readers’ Choice award in the action/suspense/mystery category. She thanks everyone who took the time to vote for the novel and also announces that her latest book, Where Lemons Bloom (Wild Rose Press), set on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, will be released in December.

Winter Harp…

…is sold out already!

On the horizon

The Elves Club telethon goes live on Dec. 5.

A Child’s Christmas in Wales, the fifth annual radio play, is performed on Dec. 12 and 13. More about these later.

Noon deadline

Send your notice of arts events by Tuesday at noon for Friday’s newspaper to jandegrass@dccnet.com or phone 604-886-4692. Art Beat covers events one day to one week ahead.