Tickets: $10 adults / $5 under 18. Family tickets $20. Advance tickets on sale at the Essex Ice Cream Cafe on Main Street in the Village, Dogwood Bakery in Wadhams or by mail. Make checks payable to WCA, PO Box 54, Essex, NY 12936.

Bread & Puppet Theater is based on a large farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. It was founded by Peter Schumann, German born artist-dancer, in 1963, and for the next decade his giant puppets figured prominently in anti-Vietnam-War demonstrations in New York City, Washington DC and other cities in the US and abroad. Indoor performances were both simpler and more complex, ranging from quiet, intense masked shows ("Fire", "Man Says Good-Bye") with 4-6 players, to huge, lengthy spectacles ("Cry of the People").

In 1970, an invitation from Vermont's Goddard College to be theater-in-residence, facilitated a longed-for change to country life. "Our Domestic Resurrection Circus," an outdoor festival of music, art, puppetry and pageantry, began then, and ran almost every summer, growing to crowds of tens of thousands, until 1998. Since then, a smaller (but with giant puppets intact), more dispersed version continues on Sundays in July and August; the company continues touring and workshopping the rest of the year in New England and around the globe; and Schumann continues as director and artist--and breadbaker--with a vengeance!

Saturday, November 10, 9am-4:30pm

Big Money for Small Groups, a workshop for nonprofit organizations

In this seminar, nationally-recognized nonprofit trainer Andy Robinson will give board, staff members and volunteers indispensable tools for responsible, effective and enthusiastic stewardship of the precious local organizations we serve. Sponsored by Adirondack Community Trust and Essex Community Fund. Advance registration is required. Details and registration information are available here.

Sunday, September 30 at 3pm

GASLAND - Film showing and discussion

This is an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox on fracking, high-volume hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from shale. A gas-drilling boom has swept across the U.S. But is fracking safe?  When Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he seeks the answer to that question and travels across the country, uncovering a trail of secrets, lies, and contamination. 

Admission is free.  The film will be followed by a Q & A session with Gary Henry, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Technology at Clinton Community College.

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Adirondack Council

For details on the film, visit the movie website here.

Wednesday, August 29  7:30pm
Creating Engaged Citizenry in Palestine
A hope-filled lecture, by Palestinian Community Advocacy Network leaders from McGill University, on 15 years of non-violent human rights-based activism. Sponsored by John Brown Lives! and St. John's Episcopal Church, Essex. Click here for more information.

Sinatra: The Music of a Legend
Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts presents the premier of this traveling production celebrating the life and music  of Frank Sinatra.
He was a saloon singer, an actor, a showman. A giant. A big leaguer. As he would say, a gasser. He took music in new directions, he triumphed and stumbled and triumphed again. This is Frank Sinatra’s legacy, what he did and who he was. Join us for an evening of Sinatra’s music and stories.
Tickets: $10 / under 18, $5.  Tickets on sale at the Essex Ice Cream Cafe or at the door.

Saturday, August 18, 7:30

Celebrate Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd

Join millions of people around the world in a day to nurture nature and the planet. Come be part of these events at the Grange:
11am Family Nature Walk,
1-3pm Bike Clinic 

3pm Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? Documentary film that takes us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive. 

FarmHack Intervale/Essex

Friday, March 16  7:30
The Belle of Amherst, a one-woman play by William Luce about the life of
Emily Dickinson
Starring Kathleen Recchia

Thursday, January 26, 2012  7pm

Friday, November 11 at 7:30
Poetries of Place, readings by Elaine Sexton and Roger Mitchell and conversation with landscape painter Edward Cornell

Everyone lives somewhere, but everyone travels, moves, dreams of both, resists both.

Roger Mitchell and Elaine Sexton, poets who call New York "home," will read new and selected poems from their published works. Following the

reading, the poets will have a conversation with Edward Cornell, a Wadhams artist who will exhibit some of his landscape paintings at the event. Introduced by Marion Brown.
Book signing will follow the reading. Donations welcome.

---

September 14 and 15

, 2011
All proceeds to benefit the Wells Memorial Library in Upper Jay, to help with flood relief
Between A&B Productions presents AGNES OF GOD by John Pielmeier   Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is locked in a battle of wills, wit and dogma with Mother Superior Miriam Ruth for the life and soul of a young novitiate, AGNES OF GOD is a riveting exploration of faith and the power of love. Directed by Bonnie Brewer
with Leslie Dame as Dr. Martha Livingstone, Clare Paulson as Agnes, and Kathy Recchia as Mother Miriam Ruth. 



July 3-9, 2011  Dreaming of Timbuctoo: Exhibition, Education, Engagement

In 2001 Dreaming of Timbuctoo opened at the Adirondack Museum. Through letters, documents, photographs and words, the exhibition tells the story of Black homesteaders granted land in the Adirondacks in the mid-1840s—a step towards winning the right to vote for free Black New Yorkers.  This “scheme of justice and benevolence” brought John Brown and his family to North Elba in 1848 to support these settlers. What ha

ppened to bring the "Smith grantees" from different parts of the state to this area and what happened when they came is part of our hidden history.

As we mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Civil War, the Whallonsburg Grange Hall and John Brown Lives! hosted this exhibition, and several educational and cultural events that examined the political war on slavery, discussed its place in North Country history, and its relationship to civil rights issues.
The Dreaming of Timbuctoo exhibition is a joint project of John Brown Lives! and the Essex County Historical Society.

Saturday, July 9, 8pm  Magpie in concert Beautiful harmonies, amazing musicianship and songs of love, struggle and spirit from the duo of Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino. Activists, interpreters, songwriters -- a wonderful evening of music on stage at the Grange. Tickets $7; under 12, $3.

Visit their website to learn more. Check out this sample of their music.

---

Saturday May 21, 2011 at 7:00pm
Vaudeville Night at the Grange
With guest appearances by Lucy, Ethel and Ricky. A fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers, the evening will offer local talent:  musicians, comedians, poets, story-tellers, fencers, even a cross-dresser!  Come have fun and help select the top three performers.






Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26, 2011
Mrs. Farnsworth, a play by A.R. Gurney   Presented by the Book and Blanket Players and the Grange

Made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of the Northern Adirondacks (ACNA)

---

Saturday, April 2, 2011
Molasses Creek in concert
Exceptional group from Ocracoke Island, NC. High-energy acoustic music with a captivating stage presence, elegant harmonies, blazing instrumentals, and a quirky sense of humor.

Meet Molasses Creek special event for kids, parents and everyone who to "get acquainted" with the band. We heard songs and stories from Ocracoke and an Island square dance and pirate song! Thanks to Fiddler Dave, Gary, Marcy, Lou and Gerald for an unforgettable visit.

To find out more about Molasses Creek, visit their website.

Made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of the Northern Adirondacks (ACNA)

---

Friday, April 15, 2011                              Birds of Prey! Mark Manske of Adirondack Raptors and Wendy Hall brought owls and

hawks into the Grange and talked about their habits, personalities, habitat, and more. Over 120 people, young and old, learned about these magnificent birds. Sponsored by the North Country SPCA.