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Today's Features

  • LALO’s ‘Guys and Dolls’ set for March 22 weekend

    BY ANN MAUZY
    Special to the Monitor

    What a gamble! Because of all the promises that the Duane Smith Auditorium would be ready in time, Los Alamos Light Opera (LALO) bet on late February dates and lost. But Lady Luck was with them, and Crossroads Bible Church agreed to host the romantic comedy “Guys and Dolls” a month later.

    Now, here it is! LALO presents the Tony Award winner from the 1950s in four performances, March 22, 23 and 24.

    When polled by LALO a year ago, theater enthusiasts in Los Alamos chose “Guys and Dolls” as the best bet for an upbeat and family-friendly show with great songs, a large cast, a full orchestra, and dancing.

    Laurie Tomlinson directs the show with favorite music director Gretchen Amstutz and choreographer Brooke Davis.

    “Guys and Dolls” is from a Damon Runyon short story about a couple of New York City gamblers, their rowdy pals, and the girls they fall for. It’s a classic, Tony Award-winning Broadway show, with book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling and music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The full sets built for the Duane Smith Auditorium have been adapted to the new venue to transport the audience to “The Big Apple,” with  its gamblers, street vendors, chorus girls and con artists tempting the many tourists.

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  • LALT delivers madcap comedy sequel with ‘Secondary Cause of Death’

    BY KELLY DOLEJSI
    Special to the Monitor

    Three years ago, Los Alamos Little Theater treated audiences to Peter Gordon’s “Murdered to Death.” This month, thespians will present the eagerly anticipated sequel, “Secondary Cause of Death,” Fridays and Saturdays, beginning this weekend.

    It’s 1939, and Colonel Charles Craddock has inherited Bagshot House, the setting for “Murdered to Death,” which he has remodeled into a hotel. Craddock is less than charmed to welcome Inspector George Algernon Pratt, who arrives once again, this time delivering to the colonel unfortunate news about his mentally unhinged wife. Very soon after, Pratt becomes ensnared in a dangerous and labyrinthine whodunit.

    Questions ensue and almost nobody escapes suspicion.

    Who is the enigmatic Polish count? Is Henrietta really an Army captain? Where does the colorful thespian Cardew Longfellow fit into the picture? And since this is 1939, where does Hitler fit in?

    Joan Maple’s less famous sister Cynthia, the housekeeper, Intelligence agents, and double-agents keep the plot spinning out of control in the best possible way.

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  • FLAC to open ‘Spirit Lines and Untold Minds’ exhibit

    The Fuller Lodge Art Center will open its newest exhibit “Spirit Lines” from 5-7 p.m. March 23.

    Through a myriad of mixed media, over 40 artists have shown us the spirit within their artwork.

    Whether through totems or religion, Shringar or Wabi Sabi, or even just seeing beauty in the broken parts of the world, “Spirit Lines” captures the soul of each artist on display. The public is invited to by and celebrate life as it is…perfect in its imperfections.

    Compassionate Touch Network will also be opening their exhibit, “PhotoVoice – Untold Minds,” in the Portal Gallery at the same time. This show is a dynamic approach to sharing photos, telling stories, and changing communities. At the heart of “Untold Minds” is the belief in giving voice to the individual and collective experiences of individuals living with serious mental illness.

    Elizabeth Brosha will be playing the harp through the evening. Meet the artists, listen to the music and enjoy free refreshments.

    The exhibits will remain on display through May 5.

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  • Arts & Entertainment Calendar March 14

    Art exhibits
    National Museum of Nuclear Science & History has opened a permanent exhibit by American sculptor Jim Sanborn called “Critical Assembly, the Secrets of Los Alamos 1944: An Installation by American Sculptor Jim Sanborn,” which recreates the Manhattan Project experiments that determined when plutonium goes “critical in an atomic bomb.” The museum is open seven days a week from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and is located at 601 Eubank Blvd. SE, in Albuquerque. Call 505-245-2137 for information, or visit nuclearmuseum.org.

    The Face of Time exhibit open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Fuller Lodge Art Center, 2132 Central Ave., Los Alamos, in the Portal Gallery at the Fuller Lodge Art Center, we will be featuring the work of local artist Jocelyn Warner! Warner’s show, “The Face of Time” will showcase her hand-made clocks, ranging in a variety of media from wood to ceramics. Open through Saturday.

    House of Eternal Return, Meow Wolf. Located at 1352 Rufina Circle, Santa Fe. Call 395-6369 for information. Hours are Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed every Tuesday. Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

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  • Adam Baker's work to be featured at Karen Wray Gallery

    Like most of Adam Baker’s paintings, it all started with a gunfight.

    Baker, a painter who commonly depicts Western themes and is active in the reenactment scene in New Mexico, dreamed he was racing across the desert with a friend. They were reenacting a gunfight scene on horseback, giving chase across a dusty landscape. Guns were blazing and it was a chase reminiscent of any cowboy movie.

    There was just one problem: Their horses were metal.

    They were also coin-operated.

    “I woke up laughing.” Baker explains. “I thought, ‘I have to paint that.’”

    Today, the “Quarter” Horse series contains six paintings and will be a prominent part of Adam Baker’s upcoming exhibit at the Karen Wray Gallery. The artist is considering expanding the series out and developing a calendar (the sale of which hopefully won’t require patrons to pay in quarters).

    Humor is nothing new to Baker. He’s perhaps best known for his emotional portrayals of Old West cowboys and gunfighters. But he’ll add light touches and humor whenever it feels appropriate. And if a funny Jack Russell Terrier catches his eye, he’s just as likely to make it a subject of his art. His inspiration is strictly “whatever inspires me lately.”

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  • Digital Bookmobile to visit Mesa Public Library Tuesday

    The virtual library meets the actual library in Los Alamos Tuesday, when the Digital Bookmobile pulls into the parking lot to set up shop.

    The Digital Bookmobile is on a coast-to-coast tour, stopping at libraries and schools to tout the benefits of digital reading and listening. The innovative mobile exhibit provides an interactive experience for readers of all ages to explore eBooks and audiobooks available at local public and school libraries.

    Visitors can sample a variety of devices, talk with eReading experts and ask questions of Los Alamos staff about the specifics of the library’s OverDrive program. Tours are free and open to the community, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. March 20, in the upper parking lot at Mesa Public Library.

    A high-tech update to the traditional bookmobile, OverDrive created this vehicle for libraries and schools to promote their digital book collection. Aboard the truck, readers can learn how to borrow digital books – including J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, James Patterson’s Black Book and a million other popular and educational titles.

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  • Community invited to student-led forum

    The community is invited to a student-led community forum from 6-7:30 p.m. March 20 at the Los Alamos High School Speech Theater.

    The purpose of this meeting is to give students the chance to be heard and for the community to be involved in the discussion about school safety.

    All interested students, parents and community members are invited to join the round table discussions to engage in dialogue about what the district is currently doing and what can be done moving forward to make a difference in the safety of schools.

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  • MOWW meeting to host Garcia Richard

    This month’s meeting of the Military Order of World Wars Chapter 229 will be at 6 p.m. March 20 on the second floor of the Los Alamos Research Building.

    This month’s speaker will be state Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard. She will be talking about what happened at this year’s legislative session.

    The meeting will begin with a social period at 6 p.m., followed by a brief business meeting and dinner at 6:25 p.m. The presentation will begin at about 7:15 p.m. The Military Order of the World Wars dinner meetings are open to interested citizens for the dinner and program with RSVP, or the program only at no cost. 

    The Hot Rocks Java Café staff will be catering the dinner of meatloaf and appropriate side dishes. Cost of the dinner is $25 per person. To make a reservation, a for the dinner is needed by Sunday. Call Eleanor Pinyan, 672-3750, or email her at depinyan@cybermesa.com.

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  • Assets in Action: Setting personal goals can be a positive, easy task

    This week, I wanted to catch you up on a few things that I have been working on lately.

    I started out the year on a health kick, as one of 12 evolving New Year’s resolutions. I have been doing pretty good and sometimes it isn’t that hard at all, so perhaps that is creating habits.

    Then we rolled into February, and I used that time as thank-you note writing time. I selected random people or businesses that may never get thanked for the work they do every day. I really enjoyed that and will try and be more liberal with adding to the list.

    March has more of a personal, as well as health focus again, and I’m trying to keep up with some personal goals. We will see how it goes, but this year, I really see that setting goals doesn’t have to be painful or ridiculously monumental.

    A while back, I asked for your help on gathering good news about former Los Alamos High School teacher Joy Handsberry and trying to accumulate 50 stories, memories or pictures prior to her 50th birthday on April the 5. I still could use some help there, so head on over to Facebook if you would like to assist or call 695-139.

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  • Mountaineers to host talk March 27

    The Los Alamos Mountaineers will host a talk by local adventurer Ron Morgan at their next meeting at 7:15 p.m. March 27 at the Nature Center.

    In 2017, Morgan set out with his climbing partners to climb mountains around the world. He began in June with Mount Rainier in Washington state and Tocllaraju in Peru and ended his journey in Mexico in December by climbing Pico de Orizaba and Iztaccíhuatl.

    “My climbing partners and I summited a number of the world’s most beautiful mountains and were turned back only once. ... Lady Luck smiled from high places, and it was an awesome year,” Morgan said.

    Morgan has been a member of the Los Alamos Mountaineers since 2005 and his lifelong addiction to adventure and the outdoors has been enhanced by the “LAM Characters Club.” He took the Climbing School in 2009 with Bill Geist.

    This event will be at the Los Alamos Nature Center at 2600 Canyon Road. It is free. For more information about this event, visit peecnature.org, email programs@peecnature.org, or call 662-0460.

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