Connecticut Department of Agriculture approved development of a home on protected farmland at 39 Sharon Mountain Rd. Up on the hill, a large home is visible.
SHARON — Construction is underway on two protected agricultural properties after the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DOAG) approved the owners’ plans to build multimillion-dollar homes in August of last year.
The properties were placed under farmland preservation restrictions in the mid-1980s, making them two of the earliest protected properties of their kind in the country. These restrictions work by placing agricultural land under easement when landowners sell their development rights to the state, barring subdivision and requiring that the land remain available for farming.
DOAG, which is the sole authority on the interpretation of the easements, found the proposed homes, garages, and pools to be permissible according to the language of the original deeds — an interpretation that has spurred pushback from local residents and lawmakers.
“The development is absolutely contrary to the heart and the spirit of what the easements were put in place for,” said State Senator Stephen Harding (R-30). That intention, in Harding’s view, was “protecting this land as agriculture and open space.”
One of the properties, known as Paley Farm, is at the center of a Superior Court Case brought by Sharon Land Trust (SLT) and Carol Flaton when they filed an injunction request against the residential construction in July.
Paley Farm was put under a farmland protection easement in 1984 by retired farmer Morris Paley, who told a New York Times reporter in a 1982 interview that he wanted the land to remain a working farm.
The other property, 39 Sharon Mountain Road, was put under easement by farmer Walter “Pete” Turkiewicz in 1986. It was purchased by Rokeby Farm, LLC and signed for by James Reddoch of Rye, New York in December 2021, three months before David and Liza Bainbridge, also of Rye, purchased Paley Farm. Reddoch and the Bainbridges filed applications to construct within three months of each other, and both applications were approved by DOAG in August 2023.
Attempts at contact with Reddoch and the Bainbridges were unsuccessful.
According to DOAG Director of Communications Rebecca Eddy, DOAG’s decision-making process regarding such applications is “guided by the language contained in the particular recorded deed at issue.”
Eddy explained that amendments made to the development rights program in 1988 and 1996 tightened the bounds of permissible residence construction, but those amendments don’t work retroactively. As the DOAG construction approval letters for both properties state, “It is likely that this house would not be permitted under our current statutes and deed requirements.” The original language, however, is all that applies.
That language, per the Turkiewicz property deed, retains the right to construct “residences for persons directly incidental to farm operation [...] as long as the acreage and productivity of arable land for crops is not materially decreased and due consideration is given to the impact of any decrease in acreage or productivity of such arable land upon the total farm operation.”
In the applications submitted by both Reddoch and the Bainbridges, the owners described their planned construction as “farm residences.” Reddoch stated that he sought to build the residence “to enable farm operations.”
According to building permits provided by the Town of Sharon Building Department, Reddoch’s construction plans include an approximately $4.6 million home, $980,000 pool house and $350,000 garage.
Both Reddoch and the Bainbridges stated in correspondence with DOAG that they plan to allow their land to be farmed, though Reddoch did not specify who would be farming the land or the timeline for beginning farm operations.
According to Eddy, farmland preservation deeds do not “force the property owners to engage in farming practices,” but require that land remains “available for farming.”
“Available for farming means that we haven’t plopped houses all over the place, we haven’t stripped the topsoil off, we haven’t negatively impacted the ability of that land to continue to be used for farming other than the footprint of the house,” said Joan Nichols, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau Association, a private membership-based nonprofit that advises DOAG on the preservation program.
Nichols explained that in its early stages, Connecticut’s farmland preservation program was aimed at combating the intense development pressures that came along with the 1980s’ “boom of the subdivision movement.”
While the program bars multi-home and commercial development, State Representative Maria Horn (D-64) argued that its requirements aren’t specific enough to preserve farmland in effect.
“Is it active agriculture? When does it start? Is it just somebody who mows their field once a year and calls it agriculture?” she said, referencing the ‘available for agriculture’ language. “It allows a little too much play in my view.”
Horn has been working alongside Harding to engage DOAG, the Attorney General’s office, land trusts, and local constituents on the issue of DOAG’s interpretation of the Paley easement.
Both lawmakers contend that DOAG’s decision to approve construction ran afoul of the original intent of the easement, which Horn emphasized was at the expense of constituents’ tax dollars.
According to SLT Treasurer Allen Reiser, the state paid today’s equivalent of about a million dollars to purchase Paley’s development rights. Likewise, the state paid about $300,000 to purchase Turkiewicz’s development rights in 1986, equating to over $800,000 today.
“Included in that calculation of the value of these easements is, what kinds of activities is it stopping?” said Horn. “And if this is all it meant, I think the government overpaid for these easements.”
Horn emphasized that the easement interpretation debate is especially pertinent as the state recently dedicated nearly $10 million to DOAG to purchase additional agricultural easements.
Beyond taxpayer interests, Nichols noted that farmland protection measures are of particular concern for local farmers as farmland prices continue to soar in Connecticut. The more attractive protected farmland is to non-farming buyers, the more local farmers must struggle to compete for the same land, she explained.
“We need to protect not just the interests of the land, but the interests of the farmer,” said Nichols, calling for further discourse among farmland protection stakeholders. “How do you make sure land stays in production and doesn’t turn into someone’s 60-acre lawn? That’s the question we haven’t answered yet.”
Jennifer Dillon, SLT board president, underscored the Trust’s hope in the Paley Farm court case decision to pave the way for more restrictive easement interpretations in the future.
“We’re doing this because of the precedent as much as because of this individual case,” Dillon said.
According to Horn, there’s a high likelihood that as land under historic easements changes hands in the coming years, wealthy buyers will be looking to develop more homes using the same pathway as Reddoch and the Bainbridges.
“These are spectacular properties in a very desirable area,” said Horn. “We better be prepared.”
Read more in our previous coverage of these proceedings here:
Paley Farm owners build ‘at their own risk’
Construction begins on protected farm ahead of Superior Court case
Lakeville Journal
Legal Notice
BOND RESOLUTION DATED JUNE 15, 2026 OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE WEBUTUCK CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT AUTHORIZING NOT TO EXCEED $429,327 AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS AND/OR INSTALLMENT PURCHASE CONTRACTS TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION OF A SCHOOL BUSES AND VEHICLES AT AN AGGREGATE ESTIMATED MAXIMUM COST OF$429,327, LEVY OF TAX IN ANNUAL INSTALLMENTS IN PAYMENT THEREOF TAKING INTO ACCOUNT STATE-AID, THE EXPENDITURE OF SUCH SUM FOR SUCH PURPOSE, AND DETERMINING OTHER MATTERS IN CONNECTION THERE-WITH.
WHEREAS, the qualified voters of the Webutuck Central School District, New York (the “School District”), at the annual meeting of such voters duly held on the 19 th day of May, 2026, duly approved a reposition authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds and notes and/or entering into installment purchase contracts in an aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $429,327 to finance the acquisition of two (2) 64-passenger school buses and one (1) Bobcat Multipurpose vehicle, the expenditure of such sum for such purposes, and the levy of the necessary tax therefor, to be levied upon the taxable property of the District and collected in annual installments as provided by Section 416 of the Education Law, taking into account state-aid received;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THIS BOARD OF EDUCATION AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The School District shall acquire two (2) 64-passenger school buses and one (1) Bobcat Multipurpose vehicle at a cost not to exceed$429,327, as more particularly described in Section 3 hereof, and as generally outlined to and considered by the voters of the School District at the annual District meeting of May 19, 2026.
Section 2. The School District is hereby authorized to issue its general obligation bonds (the “Bonds”) in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $429,327 pursuant to the Local Finance Law of New York and/or enter installment purchase con-tracts pursuant to the General Municipal Law of New York, in order to finance the class of objects or purposes described herein.
Section 3. The class of objects or purposes to be financed pursuant to this Resolution (the “Purpose”) is the acquisition of two (2) 64-passenger school buses and one (1) Bobcat Multipurpose vehicle.
Section 4. It is hereby determined and declared that (a) the maximum cost of the Purpose, as estimated by the Board of Education, is $429,327, (b) no money has heretofore been authorized to be applied to the payment of the cost of the Purpose, and (c) the School District plans to finance the cost of the Purpose from funds raised by the issuance of the Bonds and bond anticipation notes, and/or the proceeds of installment purchase agreements hereinafter referred and the aid received from the State of New York.
Section 5. It is hereby determined that the Purpose is one of the class of objects or purposes described in Subdivision 89 of Section 11.00 of the Local Finance Law, and that the period of probable usefulness of the Purpose is five (5) years.
Section 6. Subject to the provisions of the Local Finance Law, the power to authorize the issuance of and to sell bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the sale of the Bonds, including renewals of such notes, is hereby delegated to the President of the Board of Education, the chief fiscal officer. Section 7. The power to further authorize the issuance of the Bonds and bond anticipation notes, including renewal notes, and to prescribe the terms, form and contents of the Bonds and bond anticipation notes, including the consolidation with other issues and the use of substantially level or declining debt service, subject to the provisions of this Resolution and the Local Finance Law, and to sell and deliver the Bonds and bond anticipation notes, is hereby delegated to the President of the Board of Education. The President of the Board of Education is hereby authorized to sign and the District Clerk is hereby authorized to attest any Bonds and bond anticipation notes issued pursuant to this Resolution, and the District Clerk is hereby authorized to affix to such Bonds and bond anticipation notes the corporate seal of the School District. Section 8. The faith and credit of the Webutuck Central School District are hereby irrevocably pledged for the payment of the principal of and interest on such Bonds and bond anticipation notes as the same respectively become due and payable. An annual appropriation shall be made in each year sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations becoming due and payable in such year. There shall be levied annually on all taxable real property of the School District, a tax sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations as the same become due and payable.
Section 9. This Bond Resolution shall constitute the School District’s “official intent”, within the meaning of Section 1.150-2 of the Treasury Regulations, to finance the cost of the Purpose with Bonds and notes herein authorized. The School District shall not reimburse itself from the proceeds of the Bonds or notes for any expenditures paid more than sixty days prior to the date hereof, unless specifically authorized by Section 1.150-2 of the Treasury Regulations. Section 10. The power to further authorize the execution of installment purchase agreements and to prescribe the terms, form and contents of the installment purchase contracts, subject to the provisions of this Resolution and the General Municipal Law, is hereby delegated to the President of the Board of Education. The President of the Board of Education is hereby authorized to sign and the District Clerk is hereby authorized to attest any installment purchase agreements entered into pursuant to this Resolution, and the District Clerk is hereby authorized to affix to such installment purchase agreements the corporate seal of the District. Section 11. This Resolution, or a summary there-of, shall be published by the District Clerk of the School District together with a notice in substantially the form prescribed by Section 81.00 of the Local Finance Law, and such publication shall be in each official newspaper of the School District. The validity of the Bonds or of any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of the sale of the Bonds may be contested only if such obligations are authorized for an object or purpose for which the School District is not authorized to expend money, or the provisions of law which should be complied with at the date of publication of this Resolution are not substantially complied with, and an action, suit or proceeding contesting such validity is commenced within twenty (20) days after the date of such publication; or if said obligations are authorized in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. Section 12. The law firm Barclay Damon LLP, is hereby appointed as bond counsel to the School District in connection with the issuance of the Bonds and bond anticipation notes authorized herein.
Section 13. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption.
07-09-26
NOTICE TO CREDITORS ESTATE OF BERNADETTE A.
GANDOLFO,
Late of Salisbury,
AKA BERNADETTE GANDOLFO
(26-00201)
The Hon. Jordan M. Richards, Judge of the Court of Probate, District of Litchfield Hills Probate Court, by decree dated May 28, 2026, ordered that all claims must be presented to the fiduciary at the address below. Failure to promptly present any such claim may result in the loss of rights to recover on such claim.
Robert A. Gandolfo
c/o LINDA M PATZ, DRURY, PATZ & CIT-RIN, LLP,
7 CHURCH STREET,
P.O. BOX 101, CANAAN, CT 06018
Jordan Bergs,
Clerk
07-09-26
NOTICE TO CREDITORS ESTATE OF EDLA F. CUSICK
Late of New York
(26-00073)
The Hon. Jordan M. Richards, Judge of the Court of Probate, District of Litchfield Hills Probate Court, by decree dated April 30, 2026, ordered that all claims must be presented to the fiduciary at the address below. Failure to promptly present any such claim may result in the loss of rights to recover on such claim.
The fiduciary is: Douglas Clifford
c/o EMILY D VAIL VAIL & VAIL, LLC
PO BOX 568 SALISBURY, CT 06068
Jordan Bergs Clerk
07-09-26
D.H. Callahan
Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.
In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.
Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.
D.H. Callahan
In late 2025, in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the distillery introduced its Revolutionary Whisky Series. The collection features 57 unique expressions, each with its own combination of barrel types and aging periods, and each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution.
LeVangia sees the series not only as something collectible — a hallmark of the international craft distilling world — but also as an opportunity to educate. Most Americans learn about the Revolution in high school U.S. history classes, but LeVangia wanted to go beyond familiar stories such as Washington crossing the Delaware or the famous command to wait until soldiers could see “the whites of their eyes.” Each bottle helps tell a deeper story.
To bring those stories to life, Tenmile has gone the extra — dare they say, 11th — mile. Tom Bouldin, Ph.D., serves as the distillery’s historian. He consults on the series, helping LeVangia and Fraser connect each expression to an appropriate battle of the American Revolution. He also leads Tenmile’s lecture series. While some of Bouldin’s talks explore the history of popular music, his primary focus is the battles of the American Revolution.
With each new release, Tenmile hosts an intimate evening of history and whisky tasting. Centered on Bouldin’s meticulously researched lectures, the events often spark broader conversations about the battles, the people who fought them and what those events still mean today. It’s a style of promotion rarely seen today. Although the distillery and its grounds are stunning, these gatherings are not designed as Instagram photo opportunities. Instead, they bring together a small group of people eager to learn from the past while tasting something new.
That is what the Revolutionary Whisky Series — and Tenmile Distillery as a whole — is all about: learning from history while forging its own.
D.H. Callahan
Belinda Sinclair
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.
Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.
Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.
For 45 years, Sinclair, a New York City native, has been hosting small, intimate performances in the “Conjuring Room,” her Victorian parlor in Hell’s Kitchen. It’s a place made for magic, with built-in surprises designed to disorient. But the Hughes Library doesn’t have the same potential to perplex. The room is, as the name suggests, a library, with shelves packed tightly with old books. Some of those books, stocked by Sinclair herself, dive into the history of women and magic. That particular topic is the organizing principle of her show.
Today, we live in a world with large-scale magic productions from household names like David Blaine. Penn & Teller and Criss Angel had widely popular television series, while performers like magician and comedian Justin Willman have found audiences on Netflix. David Copperfield, the most commercially successful magician in history, only recently had his 25-year Las Vegas residency cancelled, after allegations connected to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation resurfaced. But very few women, arguably none, have reached the highest levels of fame in the magic world.
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell. Her head is simply full of historical anecdotes and interpretations. She seems to know everything there is to know about magic and how, over the centuries, it has been feared and misunderstood.
It’s knowledge she acquired through decades in the world of magic. Sinclair got her start by accident. After graduating from New York City’s High School of Performing Arts, she was hired to entertain a long business conference as a clown. Despite having no clowning experience, she did so well that she was hired for a party on the spot where she was expected to perform magic. She didn’t know a single trick. So she headed to Tannen’s, the legendary Manhattan magic shop that is still open to this day, and asked them to teach her.
She was so captivated by the first trick she learned that she soon began illustrating the shop’s newsletter, the “Trickune.” Soon, she had worked her way into the world of magic. But her trajectory seemed limited. Women in magic were, and frequently still are, relegated to the role of “lovely assistant,” and Sinclair was no exception. She played along, laughing at the bad jokes and flirting with the right men, all the while knowing she could perform better than most of them.
Soon, she stopped playing along. She started developing her own routines. She became increasingly proficient with a deck of cards. She practiced and practiced and practiced. Eventually, the magic establishment took notice of this young magician with the audacity to be a woman.
As her reputation grew, so did the challenges she faced. Breaking into the inner circles of magic is no easy task, but Sinclair knew that if she wanted to be taken seriously, she needed to impress the people at the top. The Magic Circle, a prestigious British society whose members have included Penn & Teller, Stephen Fry and King Charles III, evaluates prospective members through a rigorous performance examination that includes required tricks. Sinclair earned a perfect score of 100 out of 100, proving not only that a woman could perform magic, but that she could perform it as well, if not better, than anyone.
As remarkable as her skills are, there’s a lot more to Sinclair than magic. She’s a ceramicist, hypnotherapist, author, game creator, actor and coder. But perhaps most importantly, she’s a teacher.
Sinclair thrives on helping others navigate through whatever obstacles life throws their way. For a time, that meant helping military veterans with PTSD transition to civilian life. She teaches children how to code so they can build their own websites. She works with unhoused children, using magic to boost their confidence. But if she has her way, the most important lesson she can teach is that with the right amount of work and determination, anyone — and especially little girls — can do the impossible.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Richard Feiner And Annette Stover
Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.
On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.
Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.
Adams’ “Three Scenes from Nixon in China” is a suite taken from the opera and prepared especially for the BSO performances with Fleming and Hampson in the roles of Pat and Richard Nixon. The suite includes Act I, Scene I, in which the Nixons arrive in Beijing; Pat Nixon’s “This is prophetic” aria from Act II, Scene I; and Nixon’s speech followed by a chorus of toasts and cheers (“Gam bei!”) in Act I, Scene III.
The full opera premiered in 1987 and has become one of the most celebrated works of contemporary American music. As The New Yorker wrote, “Not since ‘Porgy and Bess’ has an American opera won such universal acclaim as ‘Nixon in China.’”
The libretto is based on Nixon’s groundbreaking February 1972 visit to reestablish diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China. The production was controversial at the time: an opera about a recent American president whose resignation was still vivid in the country’s memory. Created by a first-time opera composer, a poet new to opera (Alice Goodman) and a young avant-garde director (Peter Sellars), the piece defied expectations of what a contemporary opera could be.
Yet “Nixon in China” has proved to be something far more than a provocation; it has been hailed as helping to revitalize American opera. It uses realistic scenarios based on recent historical events to make direct statements about big social questions, especially the status of women in history and society. It is also credited with helping to create the subgenre of the “headline opera,” works that refract the mythology of recent real-life events and personalities through the lens of operatic music, words and staging.
Adams’ score is a dazzling fusion of rhythmic vitality and luminous choral textures with the psychological intricacy of character drama. It reflects the composer’s ongoing search, as he has put it, to find “the sacred in the everyday.” The result is a distinctive kind of music theater that transforms historical and contemporary narratives into modern parables in order to explore the tension between public facade and private reckoning, and between human motive and moral choice.
This Tanglewood concert promises to be a highlight of the summer’s music season. It is part of the BSO’s E Pluribus Unum festival, a multiyear celebration that shines a spotlight on American music to explore the country’s history and ideals and to raise critical questions on topics that shape our collective experience.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit bso.org.
Jack Sheedy
The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”
John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.
“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.
Segalla wrote most of the script during 2020, hoping to produce it by 2023, the Tea Party’s 250th anniversary. He finally mounted a version of the show in Stockbridge in 2024. It ran a bit long, he said, so the current iteration is more compact, running well under two hours.
The musical focuses on the lives of carpenter William Grey (played by Segalla), his wife Sarah Grey (Emma Robertson) and apprentice Peter Slater Jr. (Ryleigh Fillio), with appearances by historical figures such as Paul Revere (Chris Vecchia), Samuel Adams (Ryan Mascilak) and John Hancock (Christopher Boswell).
The action follows the clandestine meetings of the Sons of Liberty as they plan the bold destruction of British-taxed tea in Boston Harbor, culminating in Paul Revere’s storied ride, featuring a mechanical horse designed by technical director Ronald Piazza. According to the show’s website, “As rebellion turns to revolution, the cost becomes deeply personal: families are torn apart, loyalties tested, and the line between heroism and sacrifice begins to blur.”
The show is directed by Actors’ Equity member Michael Siktberg, who has worked at Bucks County Playhouse, Sharon Playhouse, the Ogunquit Theatre among and other venues during the past 20 years. He said, “I originally agreed to do this because of John, because of my love and respect for him and our growing friendship.”
He said he sees parallels between events of 250 years ago and today, noting “how they echoed the themes of our lives now.”
The participants in the Tea Party thought they would make a difference. “What is fascinating to me,” Skitberg continued, “is that they really tried to do it peacefully, they really tried a statement without bloodshed.”
But it didn’t work. King George III retaliated with the Intolerable Acts, ultimately inspiring the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution.
Rebecca Gardner, assistant stage manager, said the show could be thought of as the “Hamilton” of Boston. “It’s not Hamilton’s Revolutionary War story; it’s not ‘1776’; it’s another story of that era, which hasn’t been told before,” she said.
Emilyn Bona, also an assistant stage manager, said she has known and worked in theater with Segalla since high school. Even though she now lives in Albany, she said she jumped at the chance to work on Segalla’s latest creation.
Segalla is a Dramatists Guild member and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Russell Sage College. He has toured nationally as Jack in “Magic Tree House: Soars with Reading.” He co-authored a farce, “Moral Dilemmas of the Modern Day Vampire,” which was produced Off-Off-Broadway and in New England. He has performed extensively and received numerous awards, including the New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his performance as Don Armado in Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”
“This is not a musical that’s taking any political side, left or right,” said Segalla. “It’s meant to be a unifier, and it’s meant to be something to educate and to remind people that this moment in history seeded the Declaration.” He said he hopes it will inspire “a renewed sense of pride in the earliest American values of what we wanted to be, a renewed sense of spirit in what we could become: that shining city on a hill.”
“Rebel Town: The Musical” runs July 10 through 19 at the Kathleen E. McDermott Auditorium, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. For tickets and more information, go to www.rebeltownthemusical.com.
Natalia Zukerman
Community mural design by Macayla Muzzulin will be painted by volunteers on July 11 in Franklin Plaza in Torrington.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Five Points Arts in Torrington will host a community mural project celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Volunteers of every age and artistic ability are invited to help paint a 20-by-6-foot mural designed by artist Macayla Muzzulin. The mural will be completed in one day, transformed from a numbered outline into a permanent public artwork along the river in downtown Torrington.
“We firmly believe art is for everyone,” said Five Points founder and executive director, Judith McElhone. “It’s so great to be able to do this with such talent, and with Launchpad artists, volunteers and staff there to help.”
A recent graduate of the Hartford Art School, Muzzulin is one of Five Points’ Launchpad artists, an initiative that provides shared studio space and professional support to emerging artists. About two dozen artists work from studios above the downtown gallery, where they have access to facilities, mentorship and a creative community.
Muzzulin’s connection to Five Points began long before she became a professional artist.
“She’s been with us since she was 14 years old as a volunteer,” said McElhone. “I knew her skill level and that she would be perfect for this.”
Muzzulin has not created a finished color rendering of the mural. Instead, participants will be working from her numbered design, matching paint colors to corresponding sections. Like many community murals, the artwork will emerge through collective effort rather than individual authorship.
Five Points has expanded steadily over the years. What began as a 740-square-foot summer storefront gallery through the Torrington Arts and Culture Commission’s temporary Art Space Torrington initiative in 2012 has evolved into one of Connecticut’s leading contemporary arts organizations. Today, the nonprofit includes a gallery that has exhibited nearly 1,800 artists and an Arts Center that provides studios, exhibition space and educational programing. This community mural continues that evolution by bringing art beyond the gallery walls and into the heart of downtown, further cementing Five Points’ role in Torrington’s cultural revival.
The project is sponsored by The City of Torrington, Neag Foundation, Jerry’s Artarama in West Hartford and the NWCT Arts Council. For more information, visit fivepointsarts.org.By Natalia Zukerman
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Five Points Arts in Torrington will host a community mural project celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Volunteers of every age and artistic ability are invited to help paint a 20-by-6-foot mural designed by artist Macayla Muzzulin. The mural will be completed in one day, transformed from a numbered outline into a permanent public artwork along the river in downtown Torrington.
“We firmly believe art is for everyone,” said Five Points founder and executive director, Judith McElhone. “It’s so great to be able to do this with such talent, and with Launchpad artists, volunteers and staff there to help.”
A recent graduate of the Hartford Art School, Muzzulin is one of Five Points’ Launchpad artists, an initiative that provides shared studio space and professional support to emerging artists. About two dozen artists work from studios above the downtown gallery, where they have access to facilities, mentorship and a creative community.
Muzzulin’s connection to Five Points began long before she became a professional artist.
“She’s been with us since she was 14 years old as a volunteer,” said McElhone. “I knew her skill level and that she would be perfect for this.”
Muzzulin has not created a finished color rendering of the mural. Instead, participants will be working from her numbered design, matching paint colors to corresponding sections. Like many community murals, the artwork will emerge through collective effort rather than individual authorship.
Five Points has expanded steadily over the years. What began as a 740-square-foot summer storefront gallery through the Torrington Arts and Culture Commission’s temporary Art Space Torrington initiative in 2012 has evolved into one of Connecticut’s leading contemporary arts organizations. Today, the nonprofit includes a gallery that has exhibited nearly 1,800 artists and an Arts Center that provides studios, exhibition space and educational programing. This community mural continues that evolution by bringing art beyond the gallery walls and into the heart of downtown, further cementing Five Points’ role in Torrington’s cultural revival.
The project is sponsored by The City of Torrington, Neag Foundation, Jerry’s Artarama in West Hartford and the NWCT Arts Council. For more information, visit fivepointsarts.org.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
