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Local Life
Bob Fluhr helps the blind
see the world anew Setting
their sights on beauty for 50 years in Mt. Airy by SCOTT ALLOWAY When Bob Fluhr starts talking about the Vision Thru Art
program at the Allens Lane Art Center in West Mt. Airy, there is a mixture
of pride and determination in his voice. "When it comes to the art, there's no fooling around,"
Fluhr declared. The sculpting program may be serious, but "we laugh
at some things that outsiders would look funny at. That keeps the class
lively and fun." Laura Goodman created Vision Thru Art more than 50 years
ago as a program for blind and visually-impaired people who want to
sculpt. When Goodman retired 14 years ago, Fluhr was there to help it
continue as a program that is both formal and fun. Fluhr, who will be honored with his wife, Annette, with the 2004 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award at the annual Community Arts Festival at Allens Lane on June 4... Mt. Airy bartender serves
up by STEVEN STANEK Walking through the modest doorway to St. Stephen's Theatre
on 10th and Ludlow Street I heard the sad weighty echo of opera music,
which was a welcome change from the rush-hour ruckus. It grew louder as
I climbed the stairs, filling the old hollow walls, and I knew that where
I was about to go was, at the very least, someplace dramatic. Nevertheless, when I opened a small red curtain by the second
landing, I was surprised to find myself in the middle of a full theatrical
performance, An Artist's Workshop. I quickly found a seat stage
left, and I was glad I remembered to turn off my cell. I had stumbled
right into a dress rehearsal of the Azuka Theatre Collective. Sitting to my right was Kevin Glaccum, watching eagerly as the scene unfolded, clad in a dark-colored suit with a yellow star conspicuously sewn on the shoulder. Just as... by CAROLE VERONA Rich Curtis has two "real" jobs. By day, he's
an accountant with MANNA, the nonprofit organization that provides and
delivers nutritious, home-cooked meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.
At night and on weekends, he plays bass with The Dukes of Destiny and
other local bands. Rich's two jobs harmonized recently when, through his
efforts, The Dukes of Destiny performed pro bono at a reception and cocktail
party preceding Shut Up & Dance, an annual fundraiser for MANNA
performed by dancers of the Pennsylvania Ballet. The son of musical parents, Rich ‹ who will perform with The Dukes of Destiny at the Mermaid Inn in Chestnut Hill on May 29, 9:30 p.m. ‹ was born and raised in West Mt. Airy. His father, Richard, an organist, was subbing one day at North Penn Baptist Church. There he met Emily, a singer in the choir. Although they divorced when Rich was only six, they lived just a few minutes away from each other on opposite sides... Hiller's play well-acted,
directed but overwritten Chestnut Hill resident Richard Goldberg's fascinating
yet maddening and ultimately unsuccessful God of Desire could
just as easily been titled God's Desire or Desire for God
or, perhaps, God is Desire. What the play is more than anything else is an intellectual
exploration of the role that God plays in the love affair of a sincerely
religious and well-meaning 20-year old. Edward Judah Levitsky (Jason Liebman) has always found that there was... "Swan" wades into Philly, thanks to Erdenheim man When the curtain goes up in the Academy of Music on
the Pennsylvania Ballet"s new production of Swan Lake
on Friday, June 4, local ballet lovers will not see onstage the
man responsible for what they do see. That man is Roy Kaiser, just now completing his ninth
season as the company"s artistic director. Kaiser, who lives
with his family in Erdenheim, has spent his entire professional
ballet career with the Pennsylvania Ballet, having started out as
an apprentice, then moving into the full company and rising through
the ranks to soloist, principal, balletmaster and now artistic director.
He has presided over one of the most remarkable "rags to riches"
sagas in local performing arts history ‹ and this at a time of frightful
cutbacks throughout the art world. Kaiser is one of five brothers, four of whom became professional dancers. Alongside Roy (the eldest) there"s Russell (the youngest), who is balletmaster with... |