CHATHAM ─ The Monomoy Theatre's season finale is a play that is known as much for its ribald humor as its fugacious nature, but director MichaelJohn McGann is optimistic that the country's current political climate will propel “Johnny On A Spot” into side-splitting success. The show, which McGann describes as being “about a Yankee, a fixer, an amanuensis who comes to a Southern governor, gets to be his frien...

As with other aspects of life in Chatham, sharks have worked their way into the 45 th Festival of the Arts sponsored by the Creative Arts Center (CAC) in Chatham. “I have always loved sharks,” said Rich Benson of Harwich, a woodcarver, one of 120 artists and craftsmen participating in the show which begins on Friday. “I began carving whales, stripers, tuna and all kinds of fish back in the ‘80s,” Benson ex...

Ben instructs his wannabe comedy writer grandsons, Eugene and Stanley Jerome, in Simon's "Broadway Bound" now at the Monomoy Theatre: "If you make it funny enough, CBS won't even notice!"   Grandpa, who hasn't laughed since the stock market crashed, is an avowed socialist.  Ben is disappointed that his daughter Blanche has married the richest man in the garment district, thereby "starving half the country." Be...

It’s tough being a teenager, it’s tough living with a teenager. Teenagers in both mind and body are on the brink of adulthood and torn between that and their childhood. In the latest production at the Cape Cod Theatre Company, Home of the Harwich Junior Theatre, the usual angst of being a teenager is even more complicated. In “Selkie, Between Land and Sea” written by award-winning playwright and young adult...

HARWICH – Go figure. She’s the only person in her family who doesn’t wear glasses, and now Dr. Ashley Jadene Stevens is an optometrist. Having graduated in May from the New England College of Optometry in Boston, Stevens is now in practice with Sheinkopf and Tomasik Eye Care Associates in South Yarmouth. Dr. Sheinkopf has recently retired, which leaves plenty of work for his newly-minted colleague. This is ...

Twenty five years and a day ago, at around 4 p.m., a Category 3 hurricane barreled over Cape Cod, leaving a swath of destruction that's been unmatched in the quarter century that followed. Everyone has their Hurricane Bob stories. We remember the piles of splintered boats in Allen Harbor and the countless trees and limbs left on the ground. Then there was the smell: a distinctive odor from the downed trees, mi...

The brown-orange bottle still has about a dozen more pills left in it. Small, oblong and medium brown, I haven’t taken one in a couple days. TAKE DAILY, the label says. Refillable three more times. I’ve been on them since late February. Then, diagnosed with situational depression, I had already switched health plans so I could begin seeing a therapist nearby. My MD is a good guy, knows me, treated me for a dec...

School Com Member Resigns Editor: After much discernment and with a heavy heart, I made the difficult decision on Aug. 12 to step down from the Monomoy Regional School Committee.  There are restrictions and limitations inherent to serving on the board for which I struggle.  I feel it inhibits my role to effectively advocate on behalf of the community.  I value the vital function of the school committee.  Ho...

Kathleen M. Eldredge, 94, of North Chatham and Naples, Fla. passed away unexpectedly on August 8, 2016 at Cape Cod Hospital.             She is predeceased by her beloved husband of 67 years, Leo, and their son Jonathan, her sisters Midge Sheehan and Helen Lynch, and her brothers James and John Curley. She is survived by her two daughters Kathleen Gentile and husband Harry of Billerica, and Karen Eldredge o...

SOUTH CHATHAM — Crossing the threshold of Baker’s Hardware on Main Street in South Chatham is akin to stepping into a bygone era. A little bell above the front door and a warm nod from the store’s owner, Bob Baker, greet you.  “We have a little bit of everything,” chuckles Baker, who enjoys stocking the store with childhood classics like Balsa wood glider planes. Batteries and light bulbs, paint brushes and te...

Pauline G. Parsons           Pauline (“Polly”) Globisch Parsons of Chatham died at the age of 88 on August 1, 2016, after a graceful and hard fought battle with cancer.  Polly will be most fondly remembered for her devotion to her family and her love of the outdoors, music, travel and pug dogs.             Polly was born on May 22, 1928 in Lancaster, Pa., the younger daughter of Wilhelmina and Alfred Gl...

CHATHAM ─ In spite of some bumps along the way, the Chatham Anglers enjoyed a pretty magical summer in which they eked into the Cape League playoffs, but all good things must come to an end, including Chatham's 2016 season, which came to a close with losses to the Y-D Red Sox in the East Division finals. But what a run it was. The Anglers hovered in last place, trailing behind Brewster in the points race unt...

Who doesn't love Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” now at The Monomoy Theatre, Chatham? It was Shakespeare’s last play and in some respects the Merlin-like enchanter, protagonist Prospero, is the bard himself, using and then relinquishing his powers for one last time. “The Tempest” is a complex fairy tale: Prospero (Bernard Cornwell), the Dumbledore of his time, uses magic to cause a tempest which shipwrecks his tr...

CHATHAM — At the request of downtown merchants, selectmen reconsidered their earlier vote not to purchase the Eldredge Garage property for use as a municipal parking lot. In a new vote last Wednesday – they again rejected the proposal, seeing it as potentially too pricey for taxpayers. Announcing the board's decision Tuesday, Chairman Jeffrey Dykens said that, in passing on the offer, the majority of members...

CHATHAM – During the summer of 1937, when Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in her twin engine monoplane, nine-year-old Alice Brandeis Gilbert of Chatham, today known as Alice Popkin, wrote an homage to Earhart. Popkin’s article was published in the Chatham Chatter. And soon after, on Aug. 8, 1937, Popkin was quoted in the New York Times in an article about the Chatter under the headline “Brand...