SHARON — Hard to imagine that such a thing could be possible, but The Sharon Playhouse managed to underscore the “fun” in “fundraising” with its YouthStage event, one night only, on Friday, Dec. 6.
Guiding the evening held in the Bok theater space was YouthStage Associate Artistic Director Michael Baldwin, who serves a dual role as Education Director. He skillfully presented the fundraising theme while demonstrating the depth of the playhouse’s education program by showcasing the young talent being trained in the performance arts.
Energetic performances were delivered by a talented company of YouthStage performers singing and dancing their way through three Broadway numbers, all three inviting the audience to draw closer to the Sharon Playhouse education program. The final piece from “Oliver” invited the audience to “consider yourself one of us.”
Another highlight of the evening was a fun staged reading of a short play, “Young at Heart,” written by Baldwin and performed by a talented cast of 14 supporting the story of four youngsters and four oldsters, the former enduring school detention and the latter being senior community inhabitants roped into assisting the visiting youngsters with a senior center activity. The outcome is heartwarming and uplifting.
Buoyed by a sell-out audience, the event became a celebration of the program, the impressive young talent, both combining to serve the regional community. That community sense united the audience of all ages, where the adults could appreciate the theater’s education programming and what it contributes to the development of participating children, and the children in the audience could see their own possibilities.
A staged play reading of “Young at Heart” was a feature of the fundraising event at The Sharon Playhouse on Friday, Dec. 6.Leila Hawken
This was a community that anyone would want to be a member of, and that would welcome everyone warmly. The education program offers five programs for all ages, of which YouthStage is one.
Recounting his own history with Sharon Playhouse, Baldwin said that he had first discovered the Sharon Playhouse at the young age of ten, a connection that has now lasted 30 years.
“It was the place where I could be myself; I could be me,” Baldwin said. Judging from the audience enthusiasm at the event, the “me” that Baldwin has contributed has meant the world to the development of the theater’s education program.
Proceeds from the evening’s fundraiser paid for the purchase of the new risers in use within the Bok theater space.
The playhouse began to grow the education program in 2020, and over the past four years it has grown, Baldwin said. In 2024, the education program attracted 148 young people, and in 2025, programs are expected to attract 165.
“The heart of our community,” was how Baldwin described the playhouse’s place in Sharon.
Going on to a most entertaining presentation of budget numbers, Baldwin said that ticket sales cover one-third of the theater’s operating costs. As an example, Baldwin said, the cost for electrical service currently totals $33,126, and the year is not yet over.
New program in 2025
A new program being introduced in 2025 is LaunchPad, a pre-professional training program for youth 15 to 20 years of age, Baldwin said. Entrance will be by audition. There will be no fee to participate, and participants will receive a $250 stipend. Participants will rehearse and perform in a “flashy” musical to be directed by Baldwin in August. The musical will be announced in January.
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‘The Laundry Room,’ a painting by Maira Kalman from the exhibition “Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture” at the Shaker Museum’s pop-up space in Chatham.
“I always approach my work from an aspect of love,” she said. “I fall in love with a face or a chair or a shoe. And then it is my pleasure to paint. That is how I approached the pieces I chose for the installation. They spoke to me. They SANG to me.”
Her selections for the Shaker Outpost include clothing of daily life — hats, shoes, socks, gloves — alongside objects shaped by hand and necessity. A pair of bear fur mittens, a glove form, a forged iron stake. Items that once moved through ordinary days now sit in conversation with Kalman’s paintings, which draw from the museum’s photographic archive. “As I looked at the photo archive, I gravitated to images that made me happy,” she said. “The Shaker work is so full of delicate elegance and superb utility. I love that.”
Maira KalmanPhoto by Kimisa H.
The idea of utility that is elevated to poetry is at the center of the show. Kalman described the impulse to “edit your life” after encountering Shaker design, and here that instinct becomes both curatorial method and invitation. “After seeing their work, you want to run home and throw out everything you have,” she said. “You want to edit your life. You only want what is essential. The simplicity and beauty of Shaker design are rarely equaled… They have wit and wisdom. Clarity and kindness. They are practical and they sing. You just cannot go wrong.”
The exhibition also marks a return. After more than two years at the Kinderhook Knitting Mill, the museum’s programming comes back to Chatham — if only temporarily — before the opening of its future permanent home.
The pop-up exhibition at 4 Depot Square in downtown Chatham extends beyond the gallery walls. A small, carefully assembled General Store — also curated by Kalman — offers books, textiles, notecards and handmade goods by local artisans. Like the Shakers’ own public-facing shops, it blurs the line between commerce and ethos, asking what it means to buy something made with care. It is, deliberately, a place to linger.
Kalman sees the Shakers as kindred spirits. “Even though my mother was a Russian born Jew, she could have been a Shaker,” she said. “But then all of the women in my family could have been. A sense of beauty, care, simplicity and love imbued all that they did. They were frugal and fastidious.”
That inheritance feels newly relevant. “Today we have a very fast-moving day. Never enough time,” she said. “And I think that the sense of taking time to make beauty resonates very much these days. It restores the soul.”
Kalman worked closely with her son, Alex Kalman, on this exhibit. “Working with my son Alex Kalman on this installation has been a joy,” she said. “He curates for his museum MMUSEUMM, in a defunct elevator shaft on Cortland Alley in Manhattan. He is always looking for the intersection of humor and human expression and endeavor. That is how I approach the installation at the Shaker Outpost. Everything should matter.”
Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture runs through July 5 at 4 Depot Square in Chatham, with subsequent installations by Paula Greif and Kiki Smith later in the year. For more information, visit shakermuseum.us.
The Ticking Tent Spring Market returns to Spring Hill Vineyards in New Preston on May 2.
Juarez is president of Christina Juarez & Co., a communications and business development consultancy. Reynaert is market director at ELLE DECOR, an interiors stylist and author of “The Layered Home,” which he will sign at the event.
Benjamin Reynaert and Christina Juarez, co-founders of The Ticking Tent. Their one-day Spring Market returns to New Preston on May 2 at Spring Hill Vineyards on Bee Brook Road.Jennifer Almquist
“The Ticking Tent is about reimagining the joy of discovery — bringing together antiques dealers, artisans and design enthusiasts in a setting where community and creativity thrive,” Reynaert said.
Among returning vendors is Rhonda Eleish of Eleish Van Breems Home, with shops in New Preston, Roxbury, Westport and Nantucket. “The Ticking Tent is a fun event where you can shop curated goods, meet friends and enjoy the setting,” she said.
The market partners with ELLE DECOR as national media sponsor, along with Home & Garden CT & NY, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, New England Home CT and Litchfield Magazine.
For information and tickets, visit thetickingtent.com or follow @thetickingtent.
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