https://www.milfordmirror.com/al-features/article/Planning-for-Valentine-s-weekend-13887779.php
Planning for Valentine's weekend
Sally Sanders
Published 9:17 am EST, Thursday, February 11, 2016
Housatonic Museum
Two new installation pieces will go on view at the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport this week; they'll be open to the public from Feb. 12 through March 18. Both are intended to raise awareness of environmental issues: Mary Giehl's Rice Is Life, the visual manifestation of world hunger, while Kim Waale's Simulacrutopia (again) creates a make-believe world.
On the last day of the show, March 18, from noon to 5:30 guests are invited to bring a canned food item to be donated to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and in return receive one of the bowls from the Rice Is Life installation.
The museum, part of Housatonic Community College at 900 Lafayette Boulevard, is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5:30, Thursday until 7, and Saturday, 9 to 3. Check for holiday hours; visit hcc.commnet.edu/artmuseum or call 203-332-5052.
Company!
Carole Claps directs the Sondheim masterpiece Company! opening Thursday, Feb. 11, in Curtain Call's Dressing Room Theatre, in the Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue, Stamford. The show, which 46 years ago won 14 Tony Award nominations, explores love, relationships and the struggle for intimacy through Sondheim's music and lyrics and George Furth's book.
Performances run through March 5, Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 and Sunday afternoons at 2. Tickets are $32 for adults, $24 for seniors and $16 for students and children. For reservations, visit curtaincallinc.com or call 203-461-6358.
Romance in song
The Coastal Chordsmen are available for Singing Valentines from Feb. 12 to 14, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Fairfield and New Haven counties. A quartet will serenade the recipient and present her or him with a card, chocolate lollipop and a rose. Prices begin at $65; there are options for additional gifts. To order, call 203-816-0462.
Likewise, the Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus has tuxedoed quartets at the ready for Valentine's surprises Feb. 12-14. For information, call Dick Walter at 203-438-8154.
The White Plains Performing Arts Center is planning One Night Stand — A 24-Hour Play Project that will begin Friday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. when teams of playwrights will begin work on original 10-minute scripts. By morning, the finished scripts will be ready for production teams to get to work: they'll have the 10-minute plays ready for performance Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
The performing arts center is at 11 City Place in White Plains, N.Y.; for more information and tickets to the show, visit wppac.com or call 914-328-1600.
Downtown Cabaret Theatre's Main Stage Theatre division will continue its season with the play adaptation of the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, Feb. 12-21. Performances at the Bridgeport theater at 263 Golden Hill Street will take place Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 5 and 8:15, and Sundays at 5.
Tickets range from $18 to $23; for information and reservations, visit mycabaret.org or call 203-576-1636, option 0.
O'Neill play
The touring Walnut Street Theatre Company will perform Pulitzer Prize-winner Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten on Friday, Feb. 12, at 8 at the Quick Center at Fairfield University.
Tickets are $40, $35 and $30 ($5 for Fairfield University students) and reservations are available at quickcenter.com or by calling 1-877-ARTS-396.
Seal-spotting
The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk's next Seal-Spotting and Birding Cruises will take place Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14, at 9 a.m. The two-and-a-half-hour trips around the Norwalk Islands offers the possibility of seeing seals that spend their winter months in the area, as well as to see the wintering waterfowl in the same vicinity.
Passengers must be at least 42 inches tall and advance ticket purchases are strongly recommended; cost is $24.95. Visit maritimeaquarium.org or call 203-852-0700 x2206. More cruises will be available through April 3.
Mid-Winter Book Sale
The Pequot Library's Mid-Winter Book Sale will have Valentine's Day specials, live music and other surprises this weekend; the library is at 720 Pequot Avenue in Southport.
The book sale runs Saturday, Feb. 13, and Sunday, Feb. 14, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit pequotlibrary.org or call 203-259-0346.
Three-Ring Circus
The Royal Hanneford Circus will feature four of the Hanneford grandchildren performing together for the first time in White Plains at the Westchester County Center on Presidents' Day weekend, Feb. 13-15. The four are actually eighth-generation circus performers, appearing as aerialists, acrobats, jugglers and comedians.
There will be shows at 10 a.m. and 2 and 6 p.m. each day; tickets are $25 and $32, available at ticketmaster.com or by calling 914-995-4050. The center is at 198 Central Avenue in White Plains, N.Y.
Secrets of sleep
The Eighth Annual Darwin Day Dinner will focus on sleep this year, with featured speaker Yale Medical School Professor Meir Kryger, M.D., discussing "The Mystery of Sleep De-Mystified." The dinner takes place at the Norwalk Inn and Conference Center starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13.
For more information and to register, visit darwindayct.org. The evening includes a cocktail hour, dinner and a science quiz.
Little Black Dogs
There will be a Little Black Dog Rescue adoption event on Sunday, Feb. 14, from noon to 3 at Earth Animal, 606 Post Road. Founder Amy Scarella will be on hand to introduce rescue dogs she has taken care of and trained. For information or to fill out an application in advance, visit littleblackdogrescue.org.
Love Between the Covers, a documentary film about the romance fiction genre, will be screened on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 1 p.m. at The Palace Danbury, 165 Main Street. In addition to the screening, the theater will host a gathering of published (and soon-to-be-published) romance writers from the Romance Writers of Southern Connecticut and Lower New York. There will be time for conversation following the film and each person attending will receive complementary chocolate.
Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at thepalacedanbury.com or by calling 203-794-9944.
LoveNotes
The lunchtime theater group, Play With Your Food, will perform a special Valentine's Day program on Sunday, Feb. 14, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road/Route 7. The group of professional actors will present tales by Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Anton Chekhov, Paul Rudnick, Laurie Colwin and others; readings will be followed by prosecco, chocolate madeleines and strawberries with the cast.
Tickets are $30; for more information or to buy tickets, visit wiltonhistorical.org or call 203-762-7257.
Playhouse Gala
The Ridgefield Playhouse's Valentine's Day Gala featuring Joan Jett and The Blackhearts gets underway at 6 on Sunday, with champagne and dinner-by-the-bite and dessert. For ticket availability, call 203-438-5795.
And coming up…
The Bridgeport Art League of Huntington will present a demonstration by artist Linda Wingerter of the different styles of puppet making on Monday, Feb. 15, at 11:45 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Parish Center at 25 Church Street, Huntington. Non-members pay a $5 fee; for information, visit bridgeportartleague.org.
The opening of the TED conference season, for the first time on the big screen, will take place Monday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. at the Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge. Tickets for the first evening of TED2016: Dream (taking place in Vancouver, Canada from Feb. 15 to 22) are $15; for reservations, visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call 203-438-5795.
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Emily Mann will open Wednesday, Feb. 17, at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven and run there through March 13 before transferring to Hartford Stage, March 31-April 24. The co-production by Long Wharf Theatre and Hartford Stage is directed by Jade King Carroll. For reservations, visit longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282 or hartfordstage.org or 860-527-5151.
All-Ireland harmonica champion Don Meade will join the P.V. O'Donnell Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann traditional music session on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7:45 at St. Gabriel's Parish Hall, 26 Broadway, Milford. Admission is free; musicians, dancers, singers and guests are welcome (BYOB). For more information, call 203-257-8737.