An improvisation workshop will be offered on Wednesday, June 23, for people 15 and older at Genesee Community College's Stuart Steiner Theatre, at 1 College Rd. in Batavia. It will start at 6 p.m. and last about four hours. Cost is $25.
The public is invited to St. Joseph's Lawn Fete, which will be held on the Church grounds, at the corner of Main and Summit streets in Batavia.
This annual event includes a car raffle, carnival rides, food and games for children.
Lawn Fete times are as follows:
6 to 11 p.m., Friday, June 11
1 to 11 p.m., Saturday, June 12
12 to 10 p.m., Sunday, June 13
For more information, including ticket purchase information, please call St. Joseph's Church at 343-5800.
The Muck Dogs will host Rotary Night at the Ballpark from 6 until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 30 at Dwyer Stadium, at 299 Bank St. in Batavia.
You can get free tickets from Rotarians, or else pay full price at the gate.
Contact Theodore Hawley via www.bataviarotary.org for more details.
Country music star Brad Paisley will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 18, at Darien Lake's Performing Arts Center, at 9993 Alleghany Rd. in Darien Center.
For more information -- including cost -- call the Performing Arts Center at 599-5040.
This Saturday, Heather Ackerman invites you into an alternative universe with alternative theater...
Well, all right, maybe that first "alternative" is a bit over the top...but the second is definitely real.
The venture
Ackerman's new East Bethany-based theater group, "Honesty Theatre," will be putting on their second production Saturday, June 12. It will be made up of a series of individual performances grouped under the theme of "alternate realities."
"All of these stories will be based on different 'what if' ideas," Ackerman said, citing as an example a vignette that has Sophocles' Antigone winding up in New York City.
Ackerman describes Honesty Theatre as "an experimental writing company for the stage." The group is made up of small teams of actors, each responsible for writing, producing and performing a short play...all in one day.
Each teams' play is included in a single, themed performance every month. At Honesty Theatre's premiere last month, the plays that were all about "beginnings." Subjects included Adam and Eve, beginning relationships, the first day in a new town, etc.
Ackerman says this style of theater is good for both audiences and actors; audiences get to see something "no one has ever seen before" (since it's being more or less created and performed at the same time), while actors have the chance to explore their creative instincts.
"Our emphasis is on the creative process, what we learn along the way and being creative with words, rather than on the final product."
Nevertheless, the Honesty Theatre troupe is taking advantage of lessons learned from their last show to enhance the quality of the next one. For example, instead of writing the scripts on the day as the performance, they decided to "workshop" the scripts well in advance this time. Spontaneity will still be very much in play, but with scripts prepared in advance, the actors can focus more energy on the performance aspect of the show.
"Acting on the fly is a lot better than writing on the fly," Ackerman said.
She also encouraged more interaction and reciprocal feedback between the different acting teams, as well as some advance rehearsal time. During the first production, the actors had to rehearse while the other vignettes were being performed. This time, they will be able to see and offer feedback on their fellow actors' work.
The brains behind the operation
Though currently a resident of East Bethany, Ackerman is a Batavia native. She has been acting since she was a youngster and has an impressive repertoire of local theater performances, including roles in Summer Youth Theater productions of "Alice in Wonderland," "Godspell" and "Oliver." She has also worked with a local independent theater company called Something-or-Other Productions, acting in such plays as "The Laramie Project" and "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" from 2004-2007.
While a student at Genesee Community College, she had starring roles in "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "A Christmas Carol."
In addition to acting, she also has experience writing local theater productions. Her first stage play, an experimental piece about young girls and their perspectives on relationships (love, breakups, etc), premiered at GCC in 2003.
After earning a bachelor's degree from the NY University at Buffalo, she spent six months living in Boulder, Colo. It was there that the seeds of Honesty Theatre were planted.
"I was looking at the want ads and I noticed that there were these people looking for a theater writer," Ackerman said. "I called them right away, got the job, and wrote for them the whole time I lived in Boulder."
The names of the two individuals in question were Erin Kelly and Jesse McDonald, and they ran a spontaneous theater company just like Honesty Theatre. Kelly, in fact, was one of the founders of "L.A. Café," which was the first group to experiment with this type of theater.
"They're actually doing very well in Boulder," Ackerman said. "In the time since I left, they've already become a larger theater company."
Ackerman was so intrigued by their approach to live theater that she wanted to bring it to her own neck of the woods. She asked Kelly and McDonald for their permission, and they granted it happily.
The venue
Honesty Theatre productions take place at the East Bethany Old Town Hall, at 10440 Bethany Center Rd., which Ackerman says has "exactly what (they) need" in spite of its smaller size. The hall contains an old vaudeville stage.
"It has seating for 100, and it's great as a theater because it has an old-fashioned look and bright polished wood."
Saturday's show will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last about an hour and a half. Tickets are $8 and will be for sale at the door.
For more details, call Ackerman at 356-4678.
Tom Rivers, local author and longtime staff writer for the Batavia Daily News, will be at the Woodward Memorial Library to discuss his book, "Farm Hands: Hard work and hard lessons from Western New York fields." Attendees will be able to purchase copies of the book and have them signed.
This will take place at the library, which is at 7 Wolcott St. in LeRoy, from 7 until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23. Registration is not required.
Children's Librarian Sandra Gillard is retiring after 38 years of service to the children and families of Batavia, and a reception will be held in her honor at the Richmond Memorial Library, at 19 Ross St. in Batavia, from 4 until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23. All are welcome to attend.
Call the library at 343-9550 for more information.
West Bethany Baptist Church's annual ice cream social will be held from 4 until 7 p.m., Saturday, June 26 at the church, located at 10333 W. Bethany Road.
The event and the food are free, including hamburgers, hot dogs, sloppy joes, baked beans, chips and, of course, ice cream sundaes and milkshakes.
For more details, call the church at 343-4841.
Le Roy will host its first Jell-O Olympics at Frost Ridge Campground, at 8101 Conlon Road, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Saturday, June 26.
This event is sponsored in part by the Jell-O Gallery and will include fun activities for the whole family.
Please call 768-7433 for more details.
The Le Roy Farmers' Market opens June 26 at Leroy's Bank St. Parking Lot -- behind McDonald's and Pontillo's Pizzeria.
Hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. every Saturday.
Local vendors will be selling farm-fresh fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, eggs, maple syrup, bread, popcorn, honey, baked goods, coffee and tea goods, cut flowers, soap and more. The market will also feature live music as well as cooking and craft demos.
For further details, e-mail LeRoyFarmersMarket@gmail.com or visit their website at <leroyfarmersmarket.org>.
The Leroy Farmers' Market opens on Saturday, June 26 at Le Roy's Bank Street parking lot -- behind McDonald's and Pontillo's Pizzeria.
Hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. every Saturday.
Local vendors will be farm-fresh fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, eggs, maple syrup, bread, popcorn, honey, baked goods, coffee and tea goods, cut flowers, soap and more. The market will also feature live music as well as cooking and craft demos.
The Genesee County Park and Forest Interpretive Nature Center, at 11095 Bethany Center Rd. in East Bethany, invites you to learn about the world's many breeds of spiders and to meet some live spiders Saturday, June 19.
This event runs from 10 until 11 a.m. Admission is free, but advance registration is required.
For more details, please call Judy Spring at 344-1122 during the Interpretive Nature Center's regular hours:
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday
For those interested in an upcoming spiritual retreat, there will be an information session in the Sacristy of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, at 20 Ellicott St. in Batavia, from 7 until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8.
Batavia's First Presbyterian Church is running its planting project, "God's Little Acre," for the second year in a row. Volunteers are needed to help plant crops at the garden on South Main St. Rd. in Batavia on Saturday, June 5.
Volunteers will meet at the church, at 300 E. Main St. in Batavia, around 9:45 a.m. to carpool. Planting will end around noon. Volunteers will also be needed to weed, water and harvest throughout the summer.
Batavia's First Presbyterian Church invites community members on a field trip to Pavilion's Linwood Gardens for its annual Tree Peony Festival. All who are going will meet at the church, at 300 E. Main St. in Batavia, at 1:30 p.m. to carpool. The event will end around 4 or 4:30 p.m.
This outing is free, but an $8 donation to Linwood Gardens is appreciated.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Greg Gramiccioni and Letizia Tagliafierro of the New York State Attorney General's Office will be giving a presentation on fraud at the Office for the Aging, at 2 Bank St., in Batavia.
Free and open to the public, this presentation will be from 1 until 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4. It will include information on the different types of fraud currently being practiced, as well as how consumers can protect themselves. Topics include:
Harpist Patricia Worrad will play at GoArt!'s Seymour Place, at 201 E. Main St. in Batavia, from 6 until 8 p.m.
Worrad will be playing traditional Irish tunes and classical pieces on a floor-standing lever harp, the design of which is based on the Celtic tradition. A themed dinner will also be served.
Advance reservation is required. The cost of the event is $18 per GoArt! member and $20 per non-member.
The Father's Day Car Show will be happening on at the Darien Lake Theme Park Resort, at 9993 Alleghany Rd. in Darien Center. It runs from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
A variety of cars -- including Antiques, Rods and Convertibles -- will be on display starting at noon each day, with awards are being given at 3 p.m. Live entertainment will be included.
For more details -- including cost -- call 599-4641.
The Dave Matthews Band will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 2, at Darien Lake's Performing Arts Center, at 9993 Alleghany Rd. in Darien Center.
For more information -- including cost -- call the Performing Arts Center at 599-5040.
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