24-hour theater festival in Holyoke
Holyoke Community College students, staff, alumni, and friends will convene for the annual Phillips Festival, a night of short plays created and staged in 24 hours, on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Here’s how it works: the evening of Friday, Sept. 19, actors and writers meet to get prompts, props, and character assignments. The writers have until 6 a.m. to write their shows. At 8 a.m., the actors and directors then meet for all-day rehearsals. The festival begins to the public at 6 p.m. that night in the theater lobby with a “green carpet” pre-show, followed by the plays themselves at 7:30 p.m.
The event is a fundraiser for the Leslie Phillips Theater Fund for Arts and Education, named in honor of the founder of the college’s theater program.
In a press release, HCC assistant director of alumni relations Natalia Castagno said, “The Phillips Theater Festival is a wonderful celebration of creativity, connection, and community. It offers our theater alumni a meaningful way to stay engaged with HCC, while also inviting local artists and supporters to help inspire and uplift the next generation of performers. The festival is a wonderful way to support the arts at HCC and carry on the legacy of one of HCC’s most beloved mentors.”
Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors at the door or at hcc.edu/phillips-2025.
Interested writers, actors, directors, and stage crew should register at hcc.edu/phillips-signup or email Terry Hegarty at tlhegarty@yahoo.com.
Puppet show for adults in Northampton
We Wiggle Dolls, a “diasporic puppet show collective,” will be at Northampton’s Deep Thoughts Record Shop on Tuesday, Sept. 23, from 8 to 9:30 p.m, performing a puppet cabaret for adults.
The cast will feature puppet performers “naughty little no good,” “Playdoh & Basil,” and “Yellowlemonshapedrock,” plus Northfield-based puppeteer Madison J. Cripps as a guest artist. The Velvet Dirtmunchers, a self-described “genre-bending sextet from Boston … featuring sultry vocals, squeezebox, and impudent (mouthy! hellacious!) horns,” will provide musical accompaniment.
Performer Adam Clarke said in a press release that the primary goal of We Wiggle Dolls is “to showcase as wide a variety of puppetry as possible, acting as a comprehensive entry point for curious, unfamiliar audiences as well as offering puppet aficionados something new.”
Not including fees, tickets are $20 general admission, $16 for reduced price general admission, and $12 for students via Eventbrite.
The DoozyDo Parade returns
The annual DoozyDo Parade, a parade going through downtown Northampton, will kick off this year at 33 Hawley on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 11 a.m.
The parade, led by “Grand-ish Marshals” Gwen Agna, George Kohout, and Vince Jackson, will feature performances by the Mountain River Taiko Drummers, Northampton High School Band, New Horizons Band, Wild Thyme, and more. The parade will end at Pulaski Park, where performers will include the Expandable Brass Band, Bombyx Band, Art In Motion, and Been Around, Still Around.
After the parade is the Downtown Doozy from noon to 3 p.m., which will feature more live entertainment at venues like Thornes, the City Hall steps, the Iron Horse, and more.
A press release called the parade “a one-of-a-kind celebration of who we are as a community – colorful, connected, and full of heart. Soak in the magic of a day designed to uplift the creativity and vitality of Northampton, while supporting the small businesses that keep downtown thriving.”
The parade aims to raise awareness and support for Northampton Neighbors, an organization for older adults in Northampton, Florence, and Leeds.
For more information, including how to sign up to be part of the parade, visit doozydo.org.
Showtune singalong
Get ready to sing at “Belt It Out: A Big Gay Singalong!” at Bombyx on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m.
Hosted by singers Tori McClain and Eden Casteel, the show is billed as “a fabulous, feel-good hour of music, magic, and unapologetic joy” with “powerhouse performances with crowd-led musical moments, cheeky commentary, and heartwarming stories that honor the LGBTQ+ community’s deep love affair with musical theatre.”
Expect numbers like “Defying Gravity,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Let It Go,” and more: “No high note is too high, no harmony too ambitious, and no jazz hand left behind.”
Naturally, audience participation will be encouraged.
Proceeds will benefit the Stonewall Community Foundation, a nonprofit that helps the LGBTQ community.
Tickets are $15 to $30 in advance via bombyx.ludus.com or $15 to $40 at the door. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Smith alum publishes debut novel
Author R. A. Dines, an alumna of Smith College, recently released her debut novel, “How I Hacked the Moon,” about a group of teenagers living on the moon.
From the book’s press materials: “Life at the Lunar Coding Complex is boring, not that thirteen-year-old Moon Girl cares. She finds comfort in its predictability—her first real friend and her love of AI coding keep her anxiety in check. When a harmless prank with her charismatic bestie attracts the attention of rebel hackers led by Moon Girl’s crush Dovrin, she’s thrilled to join their crew. But as they uncover Big Smile Corp’s dangerous secrets, Moon Girl faces impossible choices: her friendship, her crush, or everyone’s safety. Even if they crack the system, do they want to escape back to Earth? And if they fail, what will the sinister corporation do to silence them?”
In a press release, Dines said, “This is a story I’ve been working on for nearly 10 years, and given the recent rise of AI and large language models, I felt like this was the right time to bring this story to readers.”
The book was published on Friday, Sept. 5, and is available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other book retailers. For more information, visit racheldines.com.
Local band’s album release show
Amherst indie punk band Shakusky will celebrate the release of their newest album, “Spinning On,” at CitySpace in Easthampton on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m.
Shakusky, which formed in Amherst more than a decade ago, consists of college friends who all wanted to “make loud, emotional rock music and play it in basements to their friends,” according to the event description. Their latest album is about aging, the passage of time, relationships changing, and keeping a love of music through it all.
This show will be their second since 2018.
Their openers will be two other Massachusetts bands: Saliba (“fierce female-fronted garage-pop”) and Smut Club (“dreamy pop rock n roll”).
Tickets are $10 to $15 at the door.
‘Theatrical ceremony’ in Ashfield
Double Edge Theatre will showcase the performance piece (described by its creator as a “theatrical ceremony”) “Again, the Watercarriers: Ceremonies from in the name of the m/other tree” on Friday, Sept. 19, through Sunday, Sept. 21, at 3 p.m.
The show, written, directed, and choreographed by Ebony Noelle Golden, is part of a body of work that “uplifts wisdom, healing practices, and earth-affirming rituals of southern Black women and femme healers,” according to the artist’s website.
The plot of the show is: “After delivering an earth-rattling prophecy, an infamous root woman and her loyal devotees vanish into a river, sparking rumors of a triple suicide. In truth, [the three] abscond to a half-imagined, half-remembered hush arbor” where they join “a secret society of earth-workers dedicated to preserving the ways of the ancient ones. All is bliss until the trio’s decision to abandon the faithless begins to haunt them. Will demands of home force them to return and risk becoming salt or will they choose eternal life and relish in a new realm of their own conjuring?”
Tickets are $25 to $70 via Eventbrite.
