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January 22, 2026

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

1A Arts Lead

Tred Avon Players Goes Hot n’ Cole in Oxford: A Chat with Director Marcia Gilliam and TAP’s Sammie Adams-Mercer

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Tred Avon Players keeps its 2025 season swinging with Hot ‘n’ Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration, directed by Marcia Gilliam. A familiar face to TAP audiences, Gilliam, in our short Spy interview, notes why this light, witty tribute to one of America’s greatest songwriters will be a big crowd-pleaser when it opens next weekend. More than forty Porter tunes—sharp, romantic, and clever as ever—fill the stage in a mix of new arrangements and classic charm.

The show also comes as TAP welcomes its new executive director, Sammie Adams-Mercer, who highlights the logistics of the production.

Hot ‘n’ Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration! runs for eight performances, Thursdays through Sundays, from October 23–November 2 at the Oxford Community Center, 200 Oxford Rd, Oxford, Md. Showtimes: Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students, available at tredavonplayers.org or by calling (410) 226-0061 

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For tickets and more information, please visit the TAP website.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A New Direction for Chesapeake College’s Todd Center: A Chat with Professor Robert Thompson

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When the Spy learned that Chesapeake College’s 900-seat Todd Performing Arts Center in Wye Mills had quietly been reinventing itself after the pandemic, it didn’t take us long to ask Professor Robert Thompson, who has been the center’s director for years, for a quick check-in on the college’s plans. And it was pleasing to learn that the Todd is eager to prioritize celebrating the region’s people and culture. In our chat, Rob talks about that transformation, from ghost tales and harvest hauntings to community-built theater that aims to make the region hear itself anew.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College, please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

‘Main Street Maryland’ Takes the Stage: A Chat with Christine McPherson

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While Marylanders are still becoming familiar with their communities’ Main Street program throughout the state, on the Mid-Shore, that’s not an issue.  Over the last twenty years, our largest towns, including Cambridge, Chestertown, Denton, Easton, and Centreville, have all participated in the state’s Main Street program, and each one can point to tangible success stories as a result.

Maryland’s Main Street program is helping small towns across the state rediscover the power of their historic downtowns. Rooted in a national model from Main Street America, the initiative supports communities that want to revitalize their commercial cores while preserving local character, focusing on four key areas—design, promotion, economic vitality, and organization—to create a framework that’s as much about people as it is about place.

Starting next week, Main Street Maryland will take the stage in downtown Easton at the Avalon Theatre for a series of workshops, presentations, and to highlight our regional success for representatives from New Cumberland to Ocean City, and the Spy was curious to talk with Christine McPherson, who leads the Main Street effort in Maryland, to understand better how some of the State’s small towns are making real progress.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about Main Street Maryland, please go here.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

The Power of Clay and Repetition: A Chat with AAM Guest Curator Rebecca Cross

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In 2022, at the tail end of the pandemic, the American University Museum invited curator Rebecca Cross to organize a show on contemporary ceramics. The exhibition—an ambitious collaboration among seven artists—opened under limited hours, but its impact was significant.

Recognizing the artists’ extraordinary effort, Becca began reaching out to other institutions. The show caught the eye of the Academy Art Museum’s Lee Glazer, who had seen it in Washington and imagined how beautifully it would fit the AAM.. From that spark came this second installation—slightly re-imagined but still carrying the same creative spirit—before traveling next to the Fuller Craft Museum in Boston.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum and this exhibition, please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Profiles in Philanthropy: The Hole in the Wall Gang Starts to Camp at Wye

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A few years ago, the Spy ran a good news story that the Mid-Shore philanthropist Arthur Houghton’s famed Wye Institute, just off of Wye Island in Queen Anne’s County, had to donate to Hole in the Wall Gang.  This remarkable campus had served as a leadership camp, a think tank, and the eventual home of the Aspen Institute for decades until the organization made a strategic decision to close its operations at the site.  The idea that the non-profit would use the approximately 500 acres to host extremely ill children and their families was welcomed news for the entire region.

But who was the Hole in the Wall Gang? The Spy wanted to know, so we spent some quality time with Arthur Houghton’s stepson, Jeff Horstman, and a few members of the Hole in the Wall Gang’s senior management team to discuss the organization’s mission in a 2023 interview.

Two years later, the Spy returned to Wye for an update with Jeff and Vermont-based HITWG board member Bonnie Ferro, who also co-directs the Charles P. Ferro Foundation, about her family’s decision to make a $1 million lead donation to construct its welcome center and infirmary as part of the organization’s $15 million phase one project.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. To make a donation to the Hole in the Wall Gang or to learn more about its programs, please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

The Spy and Maryland Public Television Share the Avalon Stage to Share “Maryland by Air”

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With a packed house in the Avalon’s main stage, Spy commentator Craig Fuller continued his own “Conversations with Craig Fuller” on Wednesday night with special guest and the newly appointed Maryland Public Broadcasting president, Steven Schupak, for a community screening of MPT’s remarkable “Maryland by Air” documentary. The film, which follows well-known Maryland aviators, including the Mid-Shore’s own Hunter Harris, captures our beautiful state from a bird’s-eye perspective, vividly coming to life on Avalon’s state-of-the-art high-definition big screen.

We wanted to share the entire program with our readers, including the film, to share the magic of this very special MPT production team.

This video is approximately 90 minutes in length.

 

 

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Let’s Talk About It with Beth Anne Dorman: Keeping your Mental Health During Tough Times

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As the country begins to recover from the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it is hard for many, even those who have never experienced issues with mental health before, not to feel a sense of doom these days. Political and cultural polarization has reached a high point in American society these days, and the consequences are evident as people feel a growing sense of hopelessness about the world’s problems.

That was the latest topic of discussion in the Spy’s ongoing series on mental health with For All Seasons CEO Beth Anne Dorman.  In our conversation, Beth Anne reminds us that our community has found ways to bounce back from other tragic events in our nation’s history. And while there are several effective strategies for recovering from nationwide trauma, she makes a compelling case for the use of kindness, particularly locally, as an unbeatable remedy and an essential building block in bringing joy back into our lives.

This video is approximately six minutes in length.  For more information about For All Seasons, please go here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Baltimore Sun Puts Some Shade on Cambridge Harbor

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In a Baltimore Sun article headlined “Seven years, $13M in tax dollars: What happened to Cambridge Harbor?” state and local officials acknowledge that the ambitious mixed-use project, which was planned to include an anchor hotel, fishing pier, shops, and residential development, is still “years away from any substantive progress.” They cite pending approvals and uncertain financing as major reasons for the delay. The Sun notes that pier funding has yet to be approved by the state, no hotel developer has been hired, and the city has not signed off on the plans.

According to the Sun’s review of tax filings and other records, Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc. (CWDI) has received $13.158 million in federal, state, and local grants over the past six years. That includes $8.8 million in state grants, $2.4 million in federal funding, $1.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, $204,000 directly from Cambridge, and $205,000 from Dorchester County. The records show that 27 percent went to construction, 24 percent to design, 24 percent to property acquisition, 18 percent to demolition, and 7 percent to operating costs.

CWDI chairwoman Angie Hengst said the group is working with city planning staff on required approvals and hopes to have a contract signed by the end of October.

Editor’s note: The Baltimore Sun may have a paywall for some readers.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Different Kind of Realism at the Zebra Gallery: A Chat with Artist Fred Calleri

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Fred Calleri was born and raised in Maryland but after earning a degree in illustration and graphic design from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1993, he moved westward with a final landing spot Flagstaff, Arizona where is lived for several decades.

But when the opportunity came up at the Zebra Gallery to have his work in a gallery in his home state, it proved irresistible.

In our short interview with Fred, he talks about the influence on his art from of classic illustrators like N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and J.C. Leyendecker, but found a way to find his own vision of that kind of nostalgia with a slight but noticeable distortion in his figure.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about Fred and the Zebra Gallery please go here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Over the Shore with Hunter: A Screening of “Maryland by Air” hosted by MPT and the Spy

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Next week, the Spy’s Craig Fuller and Maryland Public Television’s Steve Schupak will take to the Avalon stage next week to present a special screening of MPT’s stunning new airborne documentary. It’s a stunning study of the state of maryland with it’s diversity from a bird’s eye perspective in all four seasons. But one reason that the region might have a special interest in attending is the remarkable contribution made by famed local aviator Hunter Harris and the use of his historic biplane to capture the Eastern Shore in ways impossible to imagine for the audience.

We could up with Hunter last week to get a sneak preview of what will be a special evening for the Spy readers,  MPT viewers and the Mid-Shore.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information please go here. 

Maryland by Air – Conversations with Craig Fuller
Wednesday, September 24 · Avalon Theatre, Easton MD
Doors 5:30 PM · Show 6:00 PM · Free Event
Info: [email protected] · 410-822-7299

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.