Welcome to Little Women Spring, the decennial collaboration between The Concord Players and Orchard House that culminates in a presentation of the play Little Women, based on the novel of the same name. It may seem odd, the pairing of these two Concord-based organizations, but their connection goes way back.
It is old and sometimes creaky. Like most of us, it has weathered many storms but is stronger for the wear. And like all of us, it has evolved over a lifetime. One hundred and thirty-five years of history have taken place at its doorstep and within its walls, shaping an identity that is vital to the life of the Town.
In fact, the building at 51 Walden Street is so constant, so enduring, so intimately connected to the lives of the people of Concord, that it sometimes seems a living thing: a grande dame; a cherished elder with wisdom to impart; a friendly neighbor ready to offer a warm welcome.
Something extraordinary happens when women come together around a shared purpose. Whether that purpose be social, political, or artistic, women’s voices carry a history, and their impact wields a transformative power. Concord Women’s Chorus has long known this and has nurtured and celebrated women’s voices since 1960, when a small group of women formed the Concord Madrigals to give women a chance to come together and express themselves through song.
There’s a joke that goes: “What are the four seasons in New England? Winter, still winter, and three months of bad sledding.” Any shrewd Yankee – or wise visitor – chuckles at this saying but knows it just ain’t true. Rather, winter in the northeast is a wonderland of opportunity. As the sage Henry David Thoreau observed, “a healthy man, indeed, is the complement of the seasons, and in winter, summer is in his heart.” And in Concord, where Thoreau tread across snowy dells and meadows blanketed in white, hearts are “warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts, whose windows and doors are half concealed, but from whose chimneys the smoke cheerfully ascends.”
When Sophia Peabody met Nathaniel Hawthorne at her home in Salem, Massachusetts, he had little to offer but his Byronic good looks. He had published two books, but they brought him neither fame nor fortune, and at age 33, he had run out of ideas and motivation.
“I will take another walk to the Cliff, another row on the river, another skate on the meadow, be out in the first snow, and associate with the winter birds. Here I am at home. In the bare and bleached crust of the earth
I recognize my friend.”
Dedicated in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has become a cultural icon and a gathering place for some of the most significant and symbolic events of the past 100 years. It has become an almost sacred space for civic expression focusing on race relations and human rights.
Chanukah will once again be celebrated by the Town of Concord and Temple Kerem Shalom at Rideout Park on December 21st. Families will enjoy the blessing (and lighting) of the menorah, music, games, stories, and delicious latkes from Debra’s Natural Gourmet. And another beloved tradition will also take place this winter. The stunning display of menorahs in the window of Debra’s Natural Gourmet will be there for people to admire and enjoy all December long.
The first onstage lesbian kiss in the United States took place at the Apollo Theater in 1923 in the play God of Vengeance by Polish-born Jewish playwright Sholem Asch. Obscene, indecent, and immoral were words New York theater-goers used to describe the production. So incensed were the “moral” authorities of the time that the entire cast and the producer were arrested and convicted for indecency. This over a story that the playwright called “a little Jewish play,” one that had been staged in countries throughout Europe for a decade without incident.
