Ralph ‘Dusty’ Sandmeyer Jr.
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Grace McLean co-wrote and stars in “Penelope.”
Shervin Lainez
The Ancram Center’s 10th Anniversary Season continues this fall with “Penelope,” a cabaret-style musical based on Homer’s “The Odyssey,” told from the point of view of Penelope, Odysseus’ long-suffering wife. With music and lyrics by Alex Bechtel and a book by Bechtel, Grace McLean (who also stars) and Eva Steinmetz (who also directs), “Penelope” runs Sept. 19-21 and 25-28.
The show tells a story you think you know. In Homer’s poem about Odysseus’ return home after the Trojan War, Penelope is a minor character. She is trapped at home, lonely and isolated, yet she runs the city of Ithaca and fends off suitors.
“She is meant to be a paragon of fidelity,” said Paul Ricciardi, Ancram Center co-director, “but this version is a refreshingly feminist take on the Greek epic. And this Penelope has a lot to say.”
With genre-bending songs and a powerful narrative, presented in an intimate cabaret setting with a live band that doubles as a Greek chorus, the show reframes the ancient tale to bring the mythological Penelope to vibrant life with 21st century resonance.
McLean is a multi-hyphenate actress, singer, writer and teacher, and a breakout star of “Suffs,” the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical about the American women’s suffrage movement. This is the first time she is featured in a play she wrote herself. With humor and insight, she casts a spell that illuminates the myriad meanings in the classic text — waiting and loneliness, as well as determination and resilience.
This show promises to be a mesmerizing and unforgettable theatrical love letter to all who wait and hope.
The Ancram Center season continues on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. with Mary Murfitt’s “Framed: The Murder of Beulah Simons.” This is the second production of Ancram Center’s 2025 Play Lab series, which provides theatre artists of all practices the time, space and resources to develop new, innovative projects. “Framed” is based on true events: an Ancram love triangle in the early 1940s that ends with a murder, and a questionable trial that leads to the conviction of a young farmhand.
Every fall also brings a new edition of “Real People Real Stories,” Ancram Center’s signature storytelling program. Since 2016, this celebrated series has provided a forum for area residents to share humorous, poignant and surprising true tales about themselves. The production, at 3 p.m. on Nov. 22, will cap the 2025 season.
For tickets, visit www.ancramcenter.org
Richard Feiner and Annette Stover have worked and taught in the arts, communications, and philanthropy in West Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, and New York. Passionate supporters of the arts, they live in Salisbury and Greenwich Village.
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Mountainside Treatment Center is located on Route 7 in North Canaan.
Provided
“Addiction isn’t a choice, but recovery can be.”
—John Jones, vice president of crisis support at Mountainside Treatment Center
NORTH CANAAN — Matt spent several years wrestling with fear, frustration and uncertainty about how to intervene in his wife’s long-term addiction to alcohol. The past six to eight months, he recalled, had been especially hellish.
“It got so bad that I told her, you are either going to die or get better.”
Dying, he said, was not an option. Placing a call to the Mountainside Treatment Center’s crisis intervention team was.
For families like Matt’s, National Recovery Month in September brings a message of hope: recovery is possible, and help is closer than many realize.
This month, Mountainside, a nationally accredited addiction treatment center with a facility in North Canaan, is taking that message nationwide with the launch of a recovery outreach initiative that gives loved ones a direct way to connect someone with support.
At the heart of the effort is a dedicated hotline and confidential referral system, a temporary initiative that allows concerned family members to submit the name of someone they believe is struggling with alcohol or substance misuse.
From there, a trained member of the Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) will proactively reach out to that person, offering not judgment, but compassion, understanding and a pathway to treatment.
“Nearly 70% of the people we treat are referred by someone close to them,” according to Jana Wu, a licensed master social worker at Mountainside.
Referring to the dedicated hotline and referral system, “This initiative embraces that reality and provides a structured, accessible way for people to act out of love and concern,” she added.
Meeting people where they are
Mountainside’s initiative aims to bridge that gap by shifting the focus from waiting for the individuals to seek treatment to actively reaching out when someone is identified as being at risk.
Depending on the situation, support may come through Mountainside’s own programs or through a referral to a trusted partner, such as Northwell Behavioral Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving more than three million residents of New York and Connecticut annually.
Dr. Manassa Hany, director for the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Northwell’s Zucker Hillside and South Oaks’s hospitals, emphasized that many individuals facing addiction are unable, or unwilling, to seek help on their own.
“This service empowers loved ones to take that first step, potentially saving lives,” Hany noted.
“I needed help in getting her to accept that she needed help,” Matt said of his wife’s situation. “Most of the time, they are active in their addiction and don’t want to get out of it. It’s where they want to be.”
Matt said his relationship with Mountainside spanned several years. “Addiction is a difficult thing to beat, even if there are periods of sobriety,” he said. The longer the misuse continues the harder it is to stop.
That’s when things can get “very dramatic, very quickly,” he noted. “With alcohol, they cannot go cold turkey when fighting their addiction.”That’s when counseling becomes critical.
“They counter all the denial,” Matt said of Mountainside’s intervention team, including beliefs like, “I just need to taper off…or I am going to switch from vodka to beer.”
“They can’t stop drinking by drinking,” said Matt. “It doesn’t work.”
‘They speak from the heart’
Too often, according to members of Mountainside’s crisis intervention team, people battling addiction feel isolated or ashamed. This program lets families step in and quietly say that they see you struggling and they care.
Sometimes, as in Matt’s case, it takes tough love, and trust in the dedicated Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team, many of whom have themselves battled demons in their past before embracing sobriety.
“They speak from the heart and speak the truth. The kind of assistance they give you is very personal,” Matt explained. “When you’re in the caretaker role, you are going to do the best that you can do,” to take the pain away from your loved one, even if it empowers the addiction. “That’s when the professionals step in and say, ‘How has that been working for you?’” Matt explained.
The moral and professional support he has received is immeasurable. “Whenever I call, he is there,” Matt said of his family’s counselor. “He came over at 8 in the morning many times and calls me at 7 p.m. to check in.”
A crisis by the numbers
The need for crisis intervention support is staggering. According to a 2023 report by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 54 million Americans age 12 and older needed treatment for a substance use disorder.
Fewer than one in four actually received it.
Young people are among the most affected. Nearly 3 million adolescents needed treatment in 2023, but fewer than four in 10 received help. Among young adults, the survey revealed, the numbers are even more alarming: almost 10 million needed care, yet only 18% accessed it.
Behind those statistics are stories like Matt’s, families wrestling with fear, frustration and uncertainty about how to intervene.
“Addiction is a family disease,” noted Matt, who admitted that it takes a ton of tough love to help a loved one facing a downward spiral.
‘Recovery is REAL’
This year’s Recovery Month theme, set by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is “Recovery is REAL.” It is a simple, powerful reminder that no matter how desperate circumstances may seem, people do recover, and millions already have.
After seeking and receiving support from the Mountainside Crisis Intervention Team, for both himself as caretaker and for his wife’s addiction, Matt reported that she is on her recovery journey.
“Addiction isn’t a choice, but recovery can be,” said John Jones, Vice President of Crisis Support at Mountainside. “If we can help someone make that choice during this important month, it could change everything.”
If someone you care about is struggling with substance misuse, help is just a call, or click, away.
To connect with Mountainside’s Crisis Intervention Team call (860) 431-8755. A confidential referral form is available at www.mountainside.com.
Matt’s surname was omitted to preserve the anonymity of the recovery program.
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P&Z questions impact of rezoning request
Sep 17, 2025
NORTH CANAAN — The long-term effect of permitting industrial activity in a residential/agricultural zone was discussed by the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday, Sept. 8.
Commissioners reviewed an application from Ryan Foley, owner of R Foley Electric LLC, to rezone a 6.4-acre section of his property on W. Main St. for industrial use. The parcel is adjacent to the Transfer Station, and the remaining 48.19 acres of his property would remain residential/agricultural.
Chairman Mike O’Connor suggested that a special permit may be more appropriate than granting the zoning change.
“Switching to industrial opens up a whole gamut of what could be there,” said O’Connor. “What he has proposed is allowed in a residential/agricultural area with a special permit.”
Foley’s application did not include a specific plan for the parcel. Planning consultant Martin Connor said the change was to “allow the owners of that property to develop that section of property for industrial development.”
Commissioner Doug Humes noted the property may have to be subdivided prior to approving a change on a particular section of the land. Commissioner Peter Brown suggested consulting the town attorney Randy DiBella.
The matter was tabled to the October meeting.
Text change amendment
Prior to the regular P&Z meeting Sept. 8, a public hearing was held for a text change to a specific regulation. O’Connor explained the change, which was to add email as an acceptable form of communication for mining operators notifying the zoning enforcement officer of work outside of normal hours of operation.
The hearing was closed after two minutes with no comment from the public.In the regular meeting that followed, P&Z unanimously approved the text change.
During the public comment section of the regular meeting, Robert Sprague, who arrived after the public hearing was closed, spoke on the topic.
Sprague said he had previously filed complaints to the ZEO about mining activity outside of normal hours. Per Sprague, ZEO George Martin had not received prior notice of the work.
Sprague questioned why the regulations were loosened if operators are not actively following the rules.
“There was no even attempt to notify the officer until there was a complaint made. So how is that [text change] going to make it any better?” Sprague asked.
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Standing, from left, HVRHS students Violeta Londono, Phoebe Conklin, Lainey Diorio, Zaira Celso-Cristobal, Lyla Diorio and Eliana Lang served guests at the HVRHS travel club’s dinner Friday, Sept. 12. Seated, Sue and Deron Bayer dined at the event.
Simon Markow
SALISBURY — The annual wine dinner fundraiser for the HVRHS Travel Club took place at the White Hart Inn on Aug. 12.
Students attending this year’s trips to France/England and Australia/New Zealand helped set up tables and tents for the event. When the crowd arrived they served guests and mingled with sponsors to talk about their excitement for the upcoming experiences.
Luke Miller auctioned off Broadway tickets and weekends at vacations homes with the help of August Olsen who charmed the crowd.
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