KEENE VALLEY Auditions for a youth summer theater production are happening next month. The Book & Blanket Players, sponsored by the East Branch Friends of the Arts, have produced youth theater productions for the past 11 years in Keene Valley. Last summer, rehearsals were moved online, and their production was screened at a drive-in movie theater. This year’s production, a new musical adaption of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice,” will be staged outside on the Keene Valley Neighborhood House property on the weekend of July 17. Auditions for the summer 2021 production will be at the Keene Valley Library on May 19 at 3:15 p.m.
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As part of its exploration of becoming a Creation Justice Church and its Earth Day celebrations, the Keene Valley Congregational recently held an online Earth Day-themed Vespers and, in partnership with Keene Valley Library, is hosting screenings and post-screening discussions of Sir David Attenborough’s latest film, “A Life on Our Planet.” “We’ve replaced the wild with the tame,” said Attenborough. “We are heading for disaster.” Attenborough has devoted his life to exploring, documenting and sharing the wonders of the world through a series of award-winning documentaries. Now 94, with 39 documentaries, five audio recordings, and 43 awards for his educational, humanitarian and scientific contributions, including a Knighthood under his belt, Attenborough’s latest film is a call to action. Anderson Cooper, in a Sept. 29, 2020 interview, describes Attenborough’s most recent film as a self-described “witness statement, a firsthand account of what he�
Mar 15, 2021 KEENE VALLEY Keene area residents are getting a special opportunity to see and discuss a new David Attenborough documentary, “A Life on Our Planet.” Community groups are scheduling four in-person showings for six people at a time at the Keene Valley Library, along with two discussion groups via Zoom. People may also watch the film at home on Netflix and then join a discussion. Attenborough, the British naturalist and filmmaker, is now 93 and produced this film as his so-called “witness statement” about the devastating impact human beings have had on the natural world. Hailed for its captivating nature photography, the film also points viewers toward steps that he declares can stave off total disaster.
Jan 27, 2021 Harrison Koons Caner III passed away peacefully on Jan. 16 at Elizabethtown Community Hospital while family members reminisced and sang hymns to him via Zoom. Born in Philadelphia, Pensylvania, on Dec. 15, 1927, Harrison was the youngest child of Harrison and Sarah Uytendale Caner. He graduated from St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1946 and Harvard University in 1950. Harrison moved to Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1952 and began a long career at the First National Bank of Boston (now Bank of America). He retired in 1983 as vice president and manager of the endowment fund portfolio in the Old Colony Trust Division. During his years in Dedham, he served as town finance committee chairman, treasurer of the Dedham Library and treasurer of the Dedham Choral Society.