©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Life

Mt. Airy dance school has teens reaching for the sky
by PAULA M. RILEY

Tatum Regan, of Chestnut Hill, played the Fairy Godmother in the Philadelphia Dance Theatre’s performance of Cinderella.

When Emily Becker starts her first year at John Hopkins University this September, she will bring with her much more than a diploma from Wissahickon High School. She will take the discipline, time management skills and self-confidence that 10 years of dancing with the Pennsylvania Dance Conservatory (PDC) have given her.

She will also bring tremendous memories and deep friendships she made at PDC. “It’s truly my second family,” she says. After coming to dance four to five nights a week since she was eight, she’s having a hard time imagining her life without it. “I can’t think about it without crying,” Becker explains.

Becker sits on the floor in the three-story building on Mt. Airy’s New Covenant Campus that Philadelphia Dance Theatre and its school – Pennsylvania Dance Conservatory - call home. She sews ribbon on her point shoes and talks of the role that PDC and dance have played in her life. Next to her is Brittany Blount, a fellow dancer and freshman at Pembroke High. The two high school students speak with confidence and poise, sharing their dancing experiences.

Please help find Matty; her family is heartbroken
by RICH McILHENNY

Matty, a five-year-old female shi-tzu, and her pal, Jesse James McIlhenny, 4. Jesse and the entire family miss Matty terribly.

I wasn’t too concerned when I got the voice mail from my wife on Monday morning June 12, that our shi-tzu, Matty, had run away. It had happened a few times before, and within an hour she would come back or a neighbor would bring her to us. She would never get too far.

When Marissa called that afternoon and said that she still had not seen her after searching the neighborhood, I started to worry a bit. When I got home from work, we drove around the neighborhood with our two toddlers, Jesse and Daniel, calling Matty’s name while peering down driveways and into yards.

Connection to Wm. Penn ship; she celebrates 100th birthday
by LEN LEAR

Mary N.L. Woodmansee, who is 100 years old this week (June 21), is seen at Pennsbury Manor, where she was recently honored, with Bill Potts, 67, a distant cousin.

Every thread in the fabric of Mary N.L. Woodmansee’s makeup is regal, historic and filled with pride for her family heritage. Mary, who grew up in Horsham (her family owned the Horsham Hotel) but has lived most of her life in the Fort Washington area, will celebrate her 100th birthday Wednesday, June 21 — the day this issue of the Local is distributed to local stores and honor boxes.

(We were originally planning to interview Mary for this article, but she suffered a stroke on Memorial Day and is currently recuperating at Springhouse Estates, a retirement living facility in eastern Montgomery County. Thus, we felt it might be too stressful to attempt to interview Mary at this time.)

Mary (maiden name, Nash) had no siblings except for a half-brother, Frederick Nash, who is buried in the graveyard at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Fort Washington. She was married twice, but her second husband died in the 1960s, and she never had any children. Her first husband’s last name was Layman.

The ultimate fan opens ‘Three Stooges’ museum
by JIM WEAVER

Gary Lassin is seen in front of his “Stoogeum.” (Photo by Jim Weaver)

Movie memorabilia is widely collected, but few collections come anywhere near that of Gary Lassin’s in terms of size and scope. Lassin, 51, who lives in nearby Gwynedd Valley, has been collecting Three Stooges’ memorabilia for more than 25 years and has amassed upwards to 20,000 items, which he proudly displays in his “Stoogeum” (Stooges Museum). He has another 50,000 photographs and news clippings in ring binders, an impressive Stooges archive. It is the world’s largest collection of Three Stooges memorabilia

Dedication of these Hill volunteers is no act
by PAULA M. RILEY

Members of the cast and crew backstage at Stagecrafters, Chestnut Hill’s all-volunteer community theater in its 77th consecutive season, are (from left) Denise Kravitz, Pierlisa Chiodo-Steo, Stephen Dumbroski, Breanne Appleton, MaryMcNeill Zell, Bill Bansbach, Harry B. McKinney III, Jane Toczek and David Flagg. (Photo by Paula M. Riley)

This is the ninth in an ongoing series of articles by Paula M. Riley on Chestnut Hill volunteers.

It’s backstage on show night at Stagecrafters, Chestnut Hill’s non-profit, all-volunteer community theater. In the cramped room, some of the community’s most creative volunteers are preparing for the evening’s performance. Whether starring in Laughter on the 23rd Floor or managing the set for this Neil Simon play based in the 1950s, their message is the same: they love volunteering with Stagecrafters.

In full makeup and a conservative suit from the ’50s, Jared Johnston is ready for his first role at Stagecrafters where he plays Lucas, a young writer in Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He loves the environment of Stagecrafters, a place he considers unlike any other community theater. For Johnston, the audience members and subscribers make such a difference. “Here (at Stagecrafters) the ‘regulars’ will stick around to greet you after the show. That doesn’t happen at other places. Here, it feels like they really appreciate the theater and our performance,” he says.