Uncertainty Surrounds Future Of Historic Playhouse CHATHAM – The Monomoy Theatre stage will be dark this summer for the first time in more than 60 years. When the curtain will rise again at the historic Main Street theater is uncertain. Artistic Director Alan Rust said that the company that has an agreement to purchase the property plans to renovate and preserve the buildings, and that will take time. “W...

CHATHAM – Say goodbye to Sharks in the Park. Say hello to Art in the Park. The Chatham Merchants Association's wildly successful art exhibit featuring sharks bowed out last summer, ending its several-year run by raising more than $70,000, half of which went to the contributing artists and half to the association to support its activities. Even before sharks took a PR hit with two attacks last summer – one f...

ORLEANS — Brian Burke and his wife are empty-nesters. But thanks to Brian’s Little Brother from Harwich, he’s got somebody to help him build a new birdhouse. “I had him draw up some plans on a pad of paper,” Burke said with a chuckle. “The last one was about six feet tall and about four feet wide.” Burke has been a Big Brother to nine-year-old Nicolai for almost a year now, and loves the experience. ...

HARWICH – The average temperature since January has hovered somewhere around the freezing mark for much of Cape Cod, but that hasn't stopped two intrepid area yoga instructors from plunging into the waters off local beaches each day. But they're not just diving in for the fun of it. Each dip is done in support of Yogis Unite for Recovery Build, coming this June to Monomoy Regional High School. Yoga instructor ...

HARWICH — The town is continuing to push for grant funding for a major sidewalk and crosswalk improvement project extending from the community center on Oak Street to the cultural center on Sisson Road. The town this week submitted a request for a $800,000 Community Development Block Grant from the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The town had sought an ADA Public Municipality Transition ...

HARWICH — The Harwich Center initiative committee will be taking a hiatus until next fall. The decision was made at a session at the end of February in which some committee members expressed both frustration with the process and a sense that other town committees are conducting parallel examinations of the same issues. Harwich Center resident Peter Antonellis asked if the committee was working in cooperatio...

HARWICH — A new proposal for a convenience store at the former gas station in Harwich Center has been filed with the historic district and historical commission. The proponent for the mixed-use development, Saumil Patel, withdrew plans in December after six months of debate relating to compliance with historic character in the village. At that time, Patel's attorney Howard C. Cahoon said they would be back wit...

HARWICH — The conservation commission wrestled with the town's farming heritage last week when considering whether to issue a new lease for the 11-acre Bell's Neck cranberry bogs. The commission ultimately decided to not issue a lease and instead develop a management plan for the property, located adjacent to the Herring River and Bell's Neck Reservoir, which would also consider allowing the bogs to naturalize. ...

HARWICH – Say what you will about walking the walk. For Monomoy Regional High School History teacher Richard Houston, running is where it's at, especially when he gets the thrill of combining his penchant for key events of the past with raising funds for a worthy cause. That's what he'll be doing on April 15 when he'll run the 2019 Boston Marathon, this time in support of IMPACT Melanoma. The decision for Hous...

HARWICH – For the past few seasons, Monomoy's Sam Barr has made a name for herself on the Shark girls varsity softball team. Come fall, Barr will be swimming with a new shiver of sharks after signing her official letter of intent on March 7 to play softball for Simmons University in Boston. Barr's softball career actually began when she was just out of toddlerhood, swinging a bat in tee ball. By the time Barr ...

CHATHAM – Once upon a time there were the Prettiest Dads. Now you can hang the Men of Monomoy on your walls courtesy of the new calendar from Monomoy Community Services. The calendar, which borrows a page from others around the world, features men from the Monomoy community in the midst of their daily jobs and is an addition to the annual Tools of the Trade fundraiser, which takes place March 22 at the Chatham...

Did you enjoy the movie "Green Book" and feel surprised by how much you learned in the course of being entertained? Ever wondered what just one person could do to help bridge the racial divide in this country? Ever felt too overwhelmed to know where to start? Help is on the horizon in the form of the Cape Cod premiere of "Deeper than the Skin," a musical presentation on race, on Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m....

“But I persevered!” These three simple words may sum up the personal and professional experiences of Chatham resident Heather MacKenzie. An artist, photographer, photojournalist and poet, MacKenzie’s life and work are center stage at the Orpheum Theater during the month of March as a collection of her pictures is displayed, a video is shown about her creative activities, and her newly published book becomes av...

Chatham Needs The Monomoy Theatre Editor: We were all waiting to see who the buyer of the Monomoy Theatre was. Now we know! I hope you will do some investigative reporting on Alexandra Properties. When I Googled them, this is what I got: alexandraconstruction.com.  Not exactly Chatham!  Where are the historic projects Gregory Clark referred to at the selectmen's meeting?  He mentioned allowing the ...

I was getting ready for bed when I reached up and realized I was one earring short of the two I had suspended on my ears 12 hours before. It was a sparkly snowflake, its disappearance indicating it was as fleeting as the ice crystals descending from the winter sky just outside my window. Was it hiding in the kitchen, having leaped off my lobe while I was making tacos for dinner? Had it escaped into the audio boo...