The Y's Women

Open to members and their guests
Place Branson Hall, Christ and Holy Trinity Church, 75 Church Lane, Westport
10:45 am Conversation
11:30 am Meeting and Speaker

May 9: Martha S. LoMonaco, PhD – The Remaking of American Theatre, 2020 to Today

In this presentation, Dr. LoMonaco will describe theatre in 2022, which is definitely not business as usual, and the reasons for these changes. She will guide us through the events of the last two years which have remade theatre as we knew it – the pandemic’s shuttering of theatres nationwide, quickly followed by the resurgence of Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. These developments have transformed which plays are produced, who is getting hired, and what communities are being served. She will consider case studies from Broadway; not-for-profit and regional theatres, including Westport Country Playhouse and New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre; university theatre, including her own at Fairfield University; and community theatres, all of which are reforming their modes of operation. Dr. LoMonaco will also discuss the scramble to reinvent theatre as a new digital medium via Zoom and other live-streaming technologies as well as the need to keep performers and audiences safe as new forms of Covid continue to shutter shows.

Dr. LoMonaco is Professor of Theatre and Director of the Theatre Program, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, at Fairfield University. She is Co-Producer of Theatre Fairfield, Fairfield University’s Resident Theatre in the Lawrence A. Wien Black Box Theatre at the Quick Center for the Arts, and is also its Resident Director. She recently directed Kate Hamill's Pride & Prejudice, based on the novel by Jane Austen, which played to sold-out houses in the Wien Black Box Theatre in April 2022, and a musical produced in an innovative digital format during the height of the pandemic in 2021. Other major productions include Titus Andronicus, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Anne Carson’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, Measure For Measure, and A Man’s World. Dr. LoMonaco is the author of two books, Summer Stock: An American Theatrical Phenomenon, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and Every Week, A Broadway Revue: The Tamiment Playhouse 1921-1960, as well as a third edited collection, “Theatre Exhibitions,” volume 33 of Performing Arts Resources. Her curated exhibition, Bravo! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County – featuring major Connecticut theatres including the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theatre, and the Westport Country Playhouse – was featured at the Fairfield Museum & History Center in 2011-12.

Y’s Women’s Spring Picnic & Annual Meeting

MONDAY, May 23 – 11:30 am
Jackie Durrell Pavilion
323 Fairfield Beach Road, Fairfield

Cost: $35 per person

Assorted sandwiches, salads, and yummy desserts from The Pantry

Pay at the Membership Table at the May 9th General Meeting or send your check for $35, made out to Y’s Women, to:
Terry Queirolo, 305 Foxboro Drive, Norwalk, CT 06851.

Questions: contact Terry at 847-4121 or tmq44@icloud.com.

Feel free to include the names of people with whom you would like to sit. (Tables seat 10.)

Payment must be received by May 12. No walk-in exceptions.

…………………………………………………………………

I will attend the Spring Picnic.

Name: __________________

Phone:

Email address:

I would like to sit with: _

Book Group 2 will meet on Thursday, May 5 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. The book to be discussed is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, and the discussion will be led by Jane Malakoff. For questions, contact Nancy Bloom at nancyerb@aol.com or Arlene Bloom at bloomah@sbcglobal.net.

Book Group 3 will meet on Friday, May 13 at 10:30 am at Panera Bread in Westport. Our book for discussion is All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner, the true story of an American woman living in Germany who led of one of the largest Nazi resistance groups. Questions? Please contact Doris Levinson at drjlevinson@gmail.com.

The Movie Club will meet on Wednesday, May 18 at Panera Bread on Post Road East, next to Home Goods, Westport. We meet informally at 1:00 pm to give members a chance to socialize and/or eat lunch, and we begin discussion at 1:30. All attendees are asked to have been vaccinated.

We will discuss the movies Dirty Dancing and Tick, Tick... Boom! Dirty Dancing was broadcast at 9:00 pm on April 23 on the WNET network of PBS as part of Reel 13 Classics. If you did not see or record this movie when originally broadcast, you may be able to see it through a PBS playback system (such as Thirteen Passport) or other streaming service such as Hoopla. The DVD is listed in the catalogs of the Westport and Fairfield Libraries. Tick, Tick... Boom! is available through Netflix.

Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic drama written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. It tells the story of Frances “Baby” Houseman (Grey), a young woman who falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze) at a vacation resort.

Tick, Tick... Boom! is a 2021 American biographical musical drama directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature directorial debut. Written by Steven Levenson, it is based on the stage musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson, a semi-autobiographical story about Larson writing a musical to enter into the theater industry.

If you wish to be added to the email list for future events, please contact Margaret Mitchell at 255-9094 or margaret06824@yahoo.com.

NewsTalk will meet at 10:00 am on Thursday, May 26 at Panera Bread in Westport. Join us for a lively discussion of news of the day. If you’re interested, please contact Doris Skutch at 247-3656.

Wisest Investment Group: Consider joining nine members of the Wisest Investment Group as we try to buy/sell/hold/cogitate on our joint stock portfolio. If you have a crystal ball, that would be a plus! We meet on the fourth Thursday of the month. For more information, contact our President, Louise Demakis, at 254-6424 or lwdemakis@optonline.net.

Bridge Group: Y’s Women’s Bridge is in its nascent stages. We will be starting to play on Monday afternoon, June 6, from 1:00 - 3:30 pm. If you’re interested in playing with us or wish for some additional information, please contact Deanna Saltzman at Salzy312@aol.com.

Solos will start meeting again at Compo Beach every Tuesday beginning May 3 at 4:00 pm. No beach pass is needed for Y’s Women on Tuesdays – just tell the guard you are with Y’s Women. We will form a circle of chairs to the right of the cannons. Bring your own food. We hope to see everyone there again this summer.

Since Y’s Women is having its Spring Luncheon on Monday, May 23 at 11:30 am at Jackie Durrell Pavilion in Fairfield, we hope all Solos can join us there. We will schedule another gathering in June.

The Memoirs Group will meet on Tuesday, May 24 at 2:30 pm at Sue Kane’s house. Contact Cary Peterson at carypeterson3@gmail.com if you’re interested in this group.

The Lunch & Trivia group will meet at noon on Thursday, May 19 at Organic Krush, located in Compo Shopping Center a few doors down from Trader Joe’s. We will have sole occupancy of the restaurant, and the cost of lunch is $20. Please call Ann Lloyd at 226-4145 or Arlene Bloom at 254-9096 if you are interested in attending.

The Mah Jong group will meet every Tuesday at Organic Krush in Compo Shopping Center. We will meet for lunch at noon and the game will begin at 1:00 pm. Please bring your game if you have one. Questions: contact Barbara Alfinito at 205-533-1884 or barbsgetaway@aol.com.

CARPOOL & GO

On Friday, May 20, Carpool & Go will again visit the past at the Glenview Historic Home on the Hudson River in Yonkers, NY. We will also see three exhibits at the Hudson River Museum on the same property. After lunching first at the Bit Restaurant in Dobbs Ferry, we will have a guided tour of Glenview at 1:00 pm to experience what life was like there in 1877, viewing their period rooms and well-known dollhouse. Then, at the Hudson River Museum next door, we will see two shows about the life and work of Frida Kahlo: Frida Kahlo in Context and The World of Frida Kahlo, illustrating in photos and works by others what her life was like and what a profound influence her flair, individualism, love of nature, and perseverance in spite of hardships had on artists and admirers going forward. The third show is Cycles of Nature: Highlights from the Collections of the HRM and Art Bridges, featuring work by Lee Krasner, George Bellows, Asher B. Durand, Berenice Abbott, and others.

We will meet in the Trader Joe’s / Wells Fargo parking lot at 9:45 am for a 10:00 departure. Please contact Lydia Menendez at lydiamnndz12@gmail.com or 319-1110 to reserve your spot, and send a check for $12 (to cover both admission fees) made out to Lydia to 388 Oldfield Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. The gas reimbursement for your driver will be $9 in cash. Please indicate if you are willing to drive – drivers are always appreciated!

TRIPS AND TRAVEL

Trip to Lower Manhattan: June 5

Hudson Yards – see the Vessel, the Shed, walk 1 ½ miles on the High Line

High Line – see art, including five buildings designed by award-winning architects, and interesting gardens

Chelsea Market – lunch and shopping on your own (see Barbara Alfinito for group lunch)

Little Island – walk, walk, walk, see views, see plants, and sit (walking about 1 mile)

(Total walking about 3 miles)

$99 per person – pay by May 10 with check, credit card (through Venmo or Paypal), or cash.

Departs from Trader Joe’s back lot at 8:30 am.

Second stop: 597 Westport Avenue, Norwalk (park in Pepperidge Farm back lot).

Departs NYC at 4:00 pm.

Participants must be vaccinated and boosted; masks optional.

Questions: contact Barbara Alfinito at 205-533-1884 or barbsgetaway@aol.com.

In Memoriam

We are very sorry to report the recent passing of a Y’s Women:

Carol Diamond, a founding member of Y’s Women and our third president, passed away at Norwalk Hospital on March 10. She was 100 years old! Carol was the second person to receive the Y’s Women’s Fabulous Friend honor. She started NewsTalk and many other initiatives over the years.

Carol graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1942. While there, as president of the college’s political action committee, she brought Eleanor Roosevelt to the campus to speak. She was an ad agency CEO, public housing advocate, writer, book editor, and human rights activist. Carol married Ted Diamond in 1946 and was happily married to him for 75 years. The couple moved to Westport in 1955.

In addition to her work with Y’s Women, Carol was a past vice president and treasurer of the Westport Library. She received the “Silver Donkey” award for her years of service to the Democratic Party.

A celebration of Carol’s life will be held at the Westport Library on Sunday, April 3 at 10:30 am, followed by a reception at the Westport Woman’s Club.

If you know of any of our members who are ill or who pass away, please contact Cary Peterson, our Y’s Care Coordinator, at carypeterson3@gmail.com.

Mercy Learning Center Needs Help

Mercy Learning Center Grateful for Donations

You can drop off nonperishable food, toiletries and other items for the Mercy Learning Center in the Leasing Office of 597 Westport Avenue at any time.

About our monthly newsletters

Printed monthly newsletters are no longer being mailed to members. Instead, they are provided as printable computer files in Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format. To print them, the Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your computer. If it is not already there, download it here.

Around the 25th of each month, the link to the next month's printable PDF newsletter is provided in two ways: in an email to members, and on this website (upper right corner). In addition, the newsletter's listings of dates and places are viewable on this website at a glance.

If you are not already receiving emails, please check the Membership Roster to be sure we have your correct email address. Notify Doris Levinson of any changes or corrections: 203-227-3371 or drjlevinson@gmail.com. A member's e-mail address will only be used for the monthly newsletters and for occasional important announcements.

To prevent our emails from landing in your spam/junk folder add info@yswomen.org to your address book.

About General Meetings

General Meetings are held the second and fourth Mondays of the month, September through May, at Branson Hall of Christ and Holy Trinity Church, 75 Church Lane, Westport. Coffee and conversation begins at 10:45 am, and the meetings start at 11:30 and are usually over by 12:30 pm.

Meetings feature speakers on a wide range of topics - from health to the arts to local, national, and international issues. Details can be found in the monthly Y's Women newsletter at www.yswomen.org.

For more information contact Barb Stephen, President, at 203-557-3551.

About Membership

The Y's Women Membership Form
July 2021 - June 2022

Date______________

Name______________________________________________________________

Address____________________________________________________________

City/Town _____________________________________ State______ ZIP ______

Home phone __________________ Cell ___________________________

Email _______________________________________________________

DUES INFORMATION

Dues are $45.00 annually.
Make your check payable to the Y's Women.
The dues deadline is October 31 to be listed in the Membership Roster.
If you join in April or later, your dues are in effect through June 2023.
Membership is complimentary after age 90. If you qualify please indicate that on your membership form.

To join Y's Women send this form and your $45 check to Doris Levinson,

6 Beechwood Lane, Westport, CT 06880.

FOR NEW MEMBERS:

In which of these Y's Women activities do you plan to participate?

_____Twice-monthly meetings _____Newcomer lunches at Local Restaurants
_____Holiday and spring parties _____Current Events Group
_____Book Group _____U.S. and Foreign Travel
_____Bridge Marathon _____Solos Social Group
_____Investment Group _____Lunches with Trivia Games
_____Memoirs Group _____Day Trips
_____Movie Group

_________________________________________________________________

Membership questions? Please contact Doris Levinson, membership chair, at drjlevinson@gmail.com or 203-227-3371.