When we bought our tiny house on a fifth of an acre lot in Hyannis 35 years ago, I joked that they would have to take me out feet first rather than move again. That has yet to be proven true, but we had moved from rental to rental many times and I was done moving. At last we had a home in the village I grew up in and my own children would be able to walk to school and to town as I once did. The house had b...

Authors of murder mysteries spend copious hours thinking up the perfect crime, but what if they actually acted upon them? Playwright Ira Levin plays out this idea in his time-honored comic-thriller “Deathtrap.” Sidney Bruhl is a famous playwright who has been in a long-term slump. He hasn’t written a hit murder mystery since his celebrated show “The Murder Game.” Desperate for a comeback, he thinks hi...

“Dead in the Water,” a documentary about the impact of government regulations on the New England commercial fishing industry, will have an encore screening at the Chatham Orpheum Theater Saturday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. Filmmaker David Wittkower will attend the showing, which will include a question and answer session with local fishermen. The one-hour film was shown at the Orpheum a year ago and has since pla...

These are the days, my friends, when we feel summer’s end sneaking up on us. The insects are singing, strumming and drumming away as daylight fades. Birds are gathering in flocks to feed and gather strength for long trips ahead. Young mammals are out and about, learning the ropes, and in the ponds, lakes and sea little fish are becoming big and bigger fish. The hardy yellow blooms of goldenrod are taking over ...

You would have thought Harwich saw enough wind this summer, right? But “The Wind in the Willows” is a different kind of wind; it’s a whirlwind of delight. The only trees harmed in this production at the Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre are the ones Mr. Toad hits with his car. “The true purpose of life?” he screams. “Cars!” Yes, Mr. Toad loves cars and his love for cars will prove to be his downfall...

CHATHAM – Twenty-three years ago today, photographer and wildlife naturalist Chris Fallows made a discovery that would catapult his work and the great white sharks of Seal Island, South Africa, into the limelight.  On Aug. 22, 1996, Fallows set out with a small crew of friends to observe the South African great white sharks in False Bay at Seal Island, where 64,000 Cape fur seals share a mere 450 meters of roc...

One of the best things about the Festival of the Arts presented by the Creative Arts Center (CAC) in Chatham, now in its 48th year, is that you can rely on finding both the things you loved at past fairs and something new among the 120 fine artisans and craftsmen. “It’s a nice mix of the familiar and the new,” says Angela Zoni Mault, the CAC’s executive director. The popular fair will run this summer from Frida...

With most plays, as far as the audience is concerned, what happens backstage stays backstage. After watching one of his own farces from the wings, English playwright Michael Frayn had an epiphany— the drama behind the drama could be very funny. The Cape Playhouse’s “Noises Off” hits the mark, maximizing Frayn’s organized bedlam and laugh-out-loud zaniness. The term “noises off” is a theatrical stage direction ca...

Embalmment and humor would seem like an unlikely pairing, but “Lenin’s Embalmers” is anything but lifeless. Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater’s production is the perfect combination of drama, political intrigue, and thought-provoking dark humor. The historical play opens in 1924, with Robin Haynes playing Lenin. He has been shot and proclaims that he wants “no graves, no monuments, and no shrines.” Tellingly, he a...

How far would you go to see your kid? Jerry Lukowski, who’s behind in his child support, would go all the way. Six unemployed steelworkers from Buffalo, N.Y. are low on cash and the future looks bleak. So when two of them, Jerry and Dave, spy their wives (or ex-wife in Jerry’s case) at a male strip club and see their enthusiastic response to the dancers, an idea is formed. Why don’t do we do a one-night-only...

CHATHAM – After a summer of keeping a watchful eye on beachgoers from Bourne to Provincetown, the Cape's lifeguards had the opportunity to show off their skills in the 45 th Cape Cod Lifesaving Competition, held Aug. 2 at Harding's Beach. Guards from each team set out in the Iron Woman contest, one of the first events of the 45 th Lifesaving Compe...

Things that go bump in the night, reflections on the immigrant experience, a look at the meaning of home and a non-fictional survey of America’s Colonial pirates are the topics of four new books by authors who will be in Chatham in coming days. Donna M. Bevans, a graduate of Harwich High School who now lives in Fort Collins, Col., will sign her novel “The Captain’s House” (AuthorHouse, 2019) on Aug. 13. Bev...