Abbey Nova, new executive director of the Sharon Historical Society and Museum, standing at center, with board members BZ Coords and Eileen Tedesco, seated, and Museum Curator Cooper Sheldon, standing at rear, discuss an object while inventorying the Museum’s more than seven thousand artifacts.
SHARON — Having worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Park Avenue Armory and The Frick Collection, how does Abbey Nova, the new Executive Director of the Sharon Historical Society and Museum like leading a smaller museum?
“I love the work, the people, and learning about the beautiful place we live in, its history and its present.” She does not see the Museum as small.
“I’ve always been interested in the history of objects.” She said that the work “dovetails” her interests and experience.
Projects were underway in rooms throughout the Museum.
Board members BZ Coords and Eileen Tedesco examined a clear glass decanter as they cataloged the seven thousand items in the historical society’s collection of maps, paintings, photographs, baskets, letters, journals, ledgers, clothing and textiles, tools, glassware, ceramics and other things brought together from Sharon’s past.
A love of historical objects came to Nova from childhood. She grew up in a farmhouse built in the 1770’s in Putney, Vermont. There was an old trash dump in the woods behind her house. “My sister and I would excavate.”
“In the summer when my mother was teaching, my father would take us to all the small museums in the area.” Both of her parents are teachers.
Her love of history and objects grew as she went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in History from Dartmouth and a Master of Arts in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons School of Design in conjunction with the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
“I want to excite people and bring history alive. I want this to be a place where people come to learn,” she said.
Cooper Sheldon, the Museum’s curator, was working on a diorama which will recreate Sharon in miniature, painstakingly creating past and present buildings to scale with the help of old documents and new technologies.
In another room, volunteer Diane Monroe was transcribing the tiny, cursive handwriting in the journals of her grandfather, James Wilbur.
Upstairs, project manager Myra Plescia worked through scrapbooks of the eminent Buckley family from boxes holding the Museum’s Buckley Collection.
Plans are in the works for next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The exhibit will focus on “what was happening in Sharon and in the larger world in 1776, 1876 and 1976.” Nova said.
There will be a smaller exhibit about the Gay-Hoyt House, which was built in 1775 and now houses the Museum.
Sheldon is working on the Museum’s “maker space.” The goal is to “have kids and adults interact with history on a personal level,” said Sheldon.
Nova has launched the Sharon Historical Club, which meets on the third Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. around subjects that provide windows to the past.
Another project Nova described is a collaboration with historical societies in towns throughout the region to create a driving-map that connects the iron industry and other historical organizations.
For more info on events and exhibits at the Sharon Historical Society and Museum go to sharonhist.org
Top row, left to right, Caroline Kinsolving, Christopher McLinden, Dana Domenick, Reid Sinclair and Director Hunter Foster. Bottom row, left to right, Will Nash Broyles, Dick Terhune, Sandy York and Ricky Oliver in Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.”
Opening on Sept. 26, Agatha Christie’s legendary whodunit “The Mousetrap” brings suspense and intrigue to the Sharon Playhouse stage, as the theater wraps up its 2025 Mainstage Season with a bold new take on the world’s longest-running play.
Running from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5, “The Mousetrap” marks another milestone for the award-winning regional theater, bringing together an ensemble of exceptional local talent under the direction of Broadway’s Hunter Foster, who also directed last season’s production of “Rock of Ages." With a career that spans stage and screen, Foster brings a fresh and suspense-filled staging to Christie’s classic.
The Playhouse’s casting includes Dana Domenick of Falls Village who leads the cast as Mollie Ralston, the newlywed innkeeper with a secret. Reid Sinclair of Norfolk plays Giles, her husband and partner in hospitality — and maybe in something more sinister. Will Nash Broyles from Lakeville plays the eccentric and enigmatic Christopher Wren, and Sandy York of Sharon will play the role of the imperious Mrs. Boyle. Dick Terhune (Litchfield), Caroline Kinsolving (Salisbury), Ricky Oliver (Pawling), and Christopher McLinden (also Lakeville) round out the cast as the play’s increasingly suspicious guests — and one very determined detective.
As always, Sharon Playhouse has gathered a top-tier creative team to match its cast. The Swader brothers (Christopher and Justin) return with their signature scenic designs, while Kathleen DeAngelis’s costumes and Bobbie Zlotnik’s wigs promise to anchor us firmly in postwar England, even as the plot spirals into timeless psychological suspense. Lighting by Wheeler Moon and sound design by Graham Stone will help turn the cozy theater into a stage crackling with tension.
If you’ve never seen “The Mousetrap,” here’s what you need to know: it’s the murder mystery that truly defined the genre. Premiering in London’s West End in 1952 and still running strong over 30,000 performances later, Christie’s ingenious puzzle unfolds in a snowbound manor house where everyone has something to hide, and no one is safe from suspicion. Its final twist is famously kept secret by audiences — a tradition of theatrical discretion that only deepens the sense of shared experience.
“The enduring success of ‘The Mousetrap’ lies in its suspense, yes, but also in its structure,” said the Playhouse’s Artistic Director Carl Andress. “It’s a masterclass in storytelling. And with Hunter Foster leading this incredible cast of local artists, we know our audiences are in for an evening of mystery, laughter, and yes, plenty of gasps.”
Tickets are available now at SharonPlayhouse.org.
Mary Beth Lawlor, publisher/editor-in-chief of Litchfield Magazine, and supporter of Plein Air Litchfield, left,and Michele Murelli, Director of Plein Air Litchfield and Art Tripping, right.
For six days this autumn, Litchfield will welcome 33 acclaimed painters for the second year of Plein Air Litchfield (PAL), an arts festival produced by Art Tripping, a Litchfield nonprofit.
The public is invited to watch the artists at work while enjoying the beauty of early fall. The new Belden House & Mews hotel at 31 North St. in Litchfield will host PAL this year.
From Sept. 30 through Oct. 5, artists chosen from 100 entries around the country — representing diverse origins as far flung as Punjab, Berlin, and Peru — will set up their easels and spend the week recording the landscape, farms, historic buildings, and even restaurant interiors throughout the town. Artists such as Thomas Adkins, Yili Haruni, Katushka Millones, and Zufar Bikbov will participate.
“The French term plein air means ‘out of doors,’ referring to the practice of painting entire finished pictures in the open air. The plein air approach was pioneered by John Constable in Britain in the early 19th century,” according to The Tate Gallery in London.
Thursday, Oct. 2, is “Paint the Historic District Day,” when artists make paintings of early buildings.
Norfolk artist Sam Guindon will give a painting demonstration in the meadow by Tapping Reeve Law School at 82 South St. at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Nicole Carpenter, curator of the Litchfield Historical Society, will present “Landscape Visions: Artistic Depictions of Litchfield,” exploring the role artists play in documenting regional history, at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Oliver Wolcott Library at 160 South St. The talk is free, and all are welcome.
The public is also invited to the historic firehouse at Belden House at 6 p.m. for a free art show of the works created that day.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, Judge of Awards Eric Forstmann, a Litchfield County artist, will announce the winners at the Gala Art Show and Sale in the historic Firehouse property of Belden House & Mews, where all displayed artwork will be available for purchase.
Finally, on Sunday morning, Oct. 5,from 9 a.m. to noon, everyone is invited to a three-hour fun “Quick Paint” event. Open to artists of all levels, with additional prizes, the event will be held in the Tapping Reeve Meadow at 82 South St. Registration is from 8 to 9 a.m.
Art Tripping was founded in 2018 by Michele Murelli, whose mission is to create community art events and show how art enhances quality of life. Murelli and her team of volunteers have organized Plein Air Litchfield, 2025.
Visit the PAL website, www.pleinairlitchfield.com for information and to purchase tickets to the Gala Art Show and Sale.
