Readers often wonder how novelists find ideas for their tales—for one author, her plot came to her in nature. “I was on a walk on Wellfleet's Great Island, on a path out to where the Smith Tavern once stood,” Judith Manchester of Eastham, author of “Sisters of the Stone,” recalled in an email interview. “I started thinking, ‘imagine the history this path has seen. Imagine the people who have walked it. Imagine...

When Laura “Poppy Grace” Wanamaker’s films are shown at the Chatham Orpheum Theater next week, don’t expect to get a front row seat. Those seats will be taken up by “Laura’s Moms” – Ginny Nickerson, Karen McPherson, Nina Schuessler, Jennifer Sexton, Jamie Niethold Nash, Lynette Walker, Carrie Fahle, Erica DeZitter, Tamara Harper and myself. When Robin Goellner, Wanamaker’s mother, passed away from breast cance...

Spot on, Monomoy Theatre, for presenting George Bernard Shaw's fanciful story "Arms and the Man," distinctively set in the bedchamber of a beautiful young woman to the sounds of military soldiers exchanging gunfire, unlikely as that seems. First produced on Broadway in 1894, the play continues to invoke discussions on the cold-blooded wisdom of war, women's rights, defining the worth of an individual by their "pl...

Bestselling children’s book author and illustrator Brian Lies’s new book “Gator Dad” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) exudes charm from each of its scale-filled pages. “Gator Dad” tells the story of a stay-at-home alligator dad who has charge of three rambunctious young gators. Led by Dad, the group explores the world, then returns home safe and sound. Lies says “Gator Dad” reflects an era in his own life. When Lie...

Gilbert and Sullivan’s world-renowned comic operas were written in the late 1800s and are credited with influencing our modern-day musicals. The Chatham Drama Guild highlights five timeless works from this great Victorian-era theatrical partnership in the original production “Gilbert and Sullivan in Chatham.” Librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) created 14 operettas toge...

Double click for double-barreled delirium at the Monomoy Theater this week as their multi-talented ensemble of student actors, designers, technicians, and musicians prove it's not easy having two bosses at the same time. "One Man,Two Guvnors," written by Richard Bean, is a roundabout scramble of mistaken identities based on unlikely situations and comedy of confusion.  Adapted from Carlo Goldoni's "Servant ...

HARWICH — Charlie Sumner has traded in spreadsheets for mainsheets. The former Brewster Town Administrator of 29 years—Cape Cod’s longest serving town administrator—is the first executive director of Pleasant Bay Community Boating (PBCB). Founded in 2003, PBCB is dedicated to making boating, marine education, and environmental stewardship affordable and accessible to all—including residents and visitors to...

Local author Sara Pennypacker recently published “Pax,” a novel following the stories of a pet fox, forcibly abandoned by his boy’s grandfather, and the boy, Peter, who runs away from home to find his fox. The film rights have been bought by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, who plan to make a movie in the coming years. Pennypacker, a former artist, has written some 20 books, ranging from picture books for young re...

When a theater company undertakes a show that’s very familiar to many, it adds another layer of difficulty to the production. The audience has so much to compare it to, and an audience of children who adore the story can be the most discriminating. Then add in that it's a dramatization of a Disney cartoon with all those cute beloved characters, and the bar is just a bit higher. Nina Schuessler, producing artis...

“Hamilton” might be all the rage today, with their 11 recent Tonys fueling the fire, but before this latest Broadway sensation, Hamlisch and Kleban’s “A Chorus Line” reigned supreme for 15 between 1975 and 1990. Even with its record-breaking run and nine Tonys, “A Chorus Line” is rarely performed locally. Simply put, the dance-intensive musical is difficult to produce, and even more so for amateur theater...

How did playwright Sir Tom Stoppard pen Tony Award winning plays (“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Travesties,” “The Real Thing” and “The Coast of Utopia”) and screenplays (Oscar winner “Shakespeare in Love,” plus “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Brazil” and “The Russia House”)? Perhaps he’s revealed how in his play “Rough Crossing,” Cape Rep’s current production. It's a madcap romp of non-s...

Dealing with numbers is no problem for Marissa McKenna, and that's a good thing, because as Chatham Assistant Treasurer-Collector, numbers are a regular aspect of her work. But while dealing with finances and tallies might be part of her job, there is more to life on Cape Cod for McKenna, who is truly treasuring her time here. Originally from Connecticut, McKenna came to Cape Cod when her mother took a job wit...