The Mid-Shore has been blessed with several organizations and instructors over the years who have provided a countless number of promising artists the skills they need to pursue their passion for painting. But the Working Artists Forum must be considered one of the earliest pioneers.

Founded in 1979 by a handful of devoted artists as a way to mentor painters of all ages, the Working Artists Forum now has over 100 members from all over the Eastern Shore, who take advantage of the organization’s workshops but also participates in its unique network of galleries where members work is on display throughout the year.

The Spy recently sat down with Betty Huang, the WAF’s current president, to understand this great organization’s mission, history, and services as well as its ongoing philanthropic support in supporting art and art teachers in elementary schools in six counties on the Shore.

This video is approximately minutes in length. For more information about the Working Arts Forum please go here.

Usually, the annual senior theater production at Cambridge South Dorchester is a pretty upbeat affair. Students and their theatre teachers are quick to select musicals or comedies that match the general mood of soon-to-be high school graduates. But that was before COVID.

These days, everything has changed for both students and teachers. And while the Cambridge South Dorchester High senior show will indeed “go on,” its newly appointed theater instructor, Talley Wilford, had to program around the challenging requirement that his performers would need to wear masks the entire time.

For Wilford, who has created a significant reputation for himself on the Mid-Shore for directing musicals of all types for the last ten years, the mask requirement was a first for him. Not only was singing out of the question, which ruled out Broadway crowd-pleasers but even delivering and understanding regular dialogue would require an entirely new strategy for Talley and his student performers.

Wilford made two significant decisions to respond to these problematic restrictions. The first was to ask his students to perform 1984, the George Orwell classic, which seemed so relevant as young people start to comprehend the level of surveillance that co-exists with their social media accounts and the dangers of social conformity.

The other decision was to have his actors pre-record their lines rather than risk dialogue being muffled out by the required masks.

Both experiments will be tested next month when 1984 is performed in the high school’s auditorium, built to seat approximately 1,200 but will be limited to 250 theater-goers for this production.

In his Spy interview, Talley talks candidly about these remarkable circumstances and how his students have grown to appreciate Orwell’s important warning while also enjoying how cast members can use their masks to reinforce the author’s themes.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. 

1984

Cambridge South Dorchester High School Auditorium
April 29, 30, May 1 @ 7pm
May 2nd @ 3pm
All tix $10.00
Advance Tickets: 410.228.9224 ext 1707

 

Slowly, and needless to say, very carefully, the Avalon Foundation is back in action. To the delight of devoted music fans on the Mid-Shore, the beloved venue for music has scheduled a full calendar of bands and performers to take the stage of the Stolt Outdoor Pavillion this April in yet another sign that a post-COVID world might be just around the corner.

The Spy spoke with Al Bond, Avalon’s CEO, yesterday to talk about these recent developments and the equally good news that the Foundation has entered into a partnership with the Monty Alexander Jazz Festival to host the popular early fall event.

Al also speaks of how the Avalon Foundation has completed its volunteer role in helping run the COVID-19 hotline and his conviction that the Mid-Shore will be returning to its indoor performance stages on Dover Street sooner than people think.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Avalon Foundation please go here.