Lakeside Living – February 2024

Don Beaudreau

Email: wbeaudreau@aol.com

From the Lakeside Living Editor: Please note that deadline for submission of notices about a local cultural, civic, or charitable event is the first day of the month, an entire month BEFORE the article can appear in El Ojo Del Lago. Appropriate notices should include the name of the event, its location, date(s), time, and cost (if applicable). Please include a high-resolution photo if possible. But no lengthy articles, please! Send such information to me directly at wbeaudreau@aol.com  Thank you. Don Beaudreau

ART IN THE GARDEN, LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY

Saturday, February 10, 10 am to 3 pm

The last one-day LCS Art in the Garden show of this season will be held on Saturday, February 10 from 10am to 3pm in the gardens of the Lake Chapala Society, 16 de Septiembre #16A in Ajijic. This month, the theme is “Valentine’s Day.” There’s free admission and ample parking on the lake front. Profits from the artist participation fees will benefit the LCS community outreach programs.

Because of LCS’s commitment to local community support, these shows highlight handicrafts and art from the Chapala and Ajijic area. The shows are also not restricted to members of local art groups, but exhibit art from all artists, and give a needed location for local Mexican artisans and artists who do not typically have opportunities to sell their art. Also, the LCS Children’s Art Program will be selling original art, plus their art cards featuring the kids’ work (including their Valentine’s Day cards!). This provides important income for the young artists and their families.

Please come to the show and support local handicrafts and art, as well as children’s art, during a pleasant day in the LCS gardens. You can refresh yourself in our café for a snack, a cold drink, or lunch. There’s also an on-site ATM for your convenience. Don’t miss out! For more information, please contact Danielle Pagé at 333-808-0324.

The Lake Chapala Society hosts Open Circle every Sunday at 10:30 am. This community gathering in Ajijic presents a wide range of topics. Entrance is by the side gate on Ramón Corona, opening at 9:30am. If you missed a past presentation, you can catch it online at: https://opencircleajijic.org/

February 4

DEMENTIA: The Long Goodbye

Loretta Downs

Dementia is currently the seventh leading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally.  Early-onset dementia is increasing in people under 65.

By 2050, 153 million people are expected to be living with dementia worldwide, up from 57 million in 2019, largely due to an aging population. There is no cure for dementia, but much can be done to support both people living with the illness and those who care for them.

Loretta Downs is a gerontologist who has been working with aging and dying for over 35 years.  She will describe some important realities of this destructive disease using research studies and personal experience. She will explore ways in which having dementia or caring for someone who is losing memory can transform a stressful burden to fertile ground for personal growth. She has published numerous articles, been quoted in articles and books, and interviewed for radio shows and podcasts.  Loretta gives advance care planning workshops at LCS, speaks where invited, and offers her services as a death doula.

February 11

Valentines Special Performance

Danny Medeles School

February 18

Touching Ajijic’s Past

Phil Rylett

Ajijic has centuries of history and a lot of it is still around us today.  Eduardo Ramos and Jambo Corona transmit a live broadcast on Ajijic history every week called Tradiciones Ajijic. Their knowledge of Ajijic’s past is the product of generations of stories past down, and they can point to many things that still surround us today and connect us to that past.  We will take a little tour of people, places and things of the past that still exist today that have shaped Ajijic, from its traditions, buildings, and people.

Eduardo ”Lalo” Ramos is the cronista (story keeper) of Ajijic and has revived many lost traditions in Ajijic. He is also director of Ajijic’s Easter Passion Play.

Jambo Corona has broadcast his shows to Ajijic for many years. He is one of the masters of ceremonies of the Easter Passion Play and is the voice you hear making announcements at many community events. He is also the owner of Tepetate Thai Restaurant in Ajijic. 

Phil Rylett has lived in Ajijic for 11 years and is the other master of ceremonies for the Easter Passion Play and is fortunate to count Lalo and Jambo as good friends. Phil will make the initial presentation and Lalo and Jambo will be present to answer any questions you have about Ajijic and its past.

February 24

360 Xochi Quetzal: Artist Residencies in Ajijic

Bethany Anne Putnam

Artists, writers and composers have been coming to Lake Chapala for over a decade as short and long-term residents with 360 Xochi Quetzal. They come for quiet and solitude, as well as a way to connect with our thriving art community and the local culture that is so important to all of us.

During 2023, the program moved to a new town (from Chapala to Ajijic); to a new venue (The Garden of Dreams); with a new owner/director (Bethany Anne Putnam); and with new programming to attract international participants.

Bethany will share the history of the program, the plans for the future and introduce several of the residents who can elaborate on their experience.

Feria Internacional Arte Ajijic

1st Cultural Exchange Mexico-Canada

After several trips visiting Canada and getting to know some great woodcarvers from Vancouver Island, we had the idea that it would be fun, educational and culturally enriching for everyone if we invited these artists to come to the artistic town of Ajijic.

The invitations were made and several outstanding artists agreed to come and share their beautiful art and the amazing creative process they use when working with wood.

So now we have a group of wood carvers attending the Mexico-Canada Cultural Exchange from February 19th to the 23rd who will work with wood logs and share their creative ideas and techniques with the public while completing their museum quality wood carvings.

Alongside the visiting artists, local artists from around the area will be showing and selling their art works. Oils, watercolors, photography, drawings, silkscreens, sculpture and much more will be on display.

In addition, a very entertaining program is being organized with mariachi music, choirs, folkloric ballets, an opera concert and more, to help make the feria even more attractive to the public.

The gran inauguration is on the main Ajijic plaza on Monday February 19th at 4.00pm.

This first Feria Internacional Arte Ajijic happens to have Canada as our guest of honor but we have plans to organize it yearly, and artists from the U.S. will be invited next year.

So, if you are visiting Ajijic during the week of 19th to 23rd, make sure you stop by and witness this first international art fair.

Art will be on display, and artists at work, from 10.00am each day.

BARE STAGE MOVES TO NEW LOCATION!

Our new location is at St. Andrew’s, 19 San Lucas, one block south of the Catholic Church on the lake side of the Carretera, Riberas del Pilar.

A THREE WAY

ByJules Feiffer, Shel Silverstein and Peter Manos

Directed by Suki O’Brien

Friday, March 1, Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3. All shows are at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $200 pesos. RESERVE NOW: barestagetheatre2018@gmail.com

Door and Bar open at 3:00 pm. All bar proceeds go to Operation Feed. Seats are held till 3:50 pm.

A THREE WAY is a scintillating selection of sexy, snappy sketches by three sensational playwrights:

A Tale of Two Spectators, by Peter Manos is set on a lovely day in the park. Two people sit on a park bench, which could be lovely…perhaps…or perhaps not. A very unusual situation occurs when we come to realize that what they are watching through their binoculars will draw them together every week in a twisted alliance. With popcorn! Absurdly humorous, we aren’t sure who is having more fun, their partners or them?

One Tennis Shoe, by Shel Silverstein is another absurdist sketch that centers on a married couple’s long-standing relationship and an intervention by her husband.  For some strange reason he believes his wife is becoming a bag lady. Silverstein is an American children’s author, playwright, and cartoonist. Shel also wrote “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash.

Feiffer’s People: Sketches and Observations by Jules Feiffer. The best of Feiffer’s funniest sketches have been chosen for A Three Way. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning and considered the most widely read satirist in the US. These selections are fast-paced sketches of bickering couples, crazy chance meetings, awkward egos, and turns of events.

The Bare Stage partnership with St. Andrews offers Bare Stage audiences many bonuses. The first bonus is a large, guarded parking lot across the street from the church. No more hunting for a parking space on pothole filled roads, crossing the highway or worrying about being towed if you park in the wrong place! Upon entering the property, the second bonus is a large, grassy, tree-filled area with tables and chairs for gathering before the show and during intermission. The ‘new theatre’ is the third bonus. It is totally enclosed, meaning less outside noise, and it has chairs to accommodate more people than in the current location. The facility also offers more bathrooms and more ‘elbow’ room.

2024 Winter/Spring Productions and Presentations

See the Lakeside Little Theatre website for further details and ticket information: lakesidelittletheatre.com

Mainstage Live Theatre Productions:

The Price

by Arthur Miller

March 1 – 10, 2024

Directors: Monnie King and Peter King

Life is full of consequential decisions. The Price is a play about the impact on two brothers of decisions made 30 years before. How have their lives and their relationships been affected? Can the consequences of those decisions ever be undone? A brilliant Tony award winning classic by one of America’s greatest 20th Century playwrights.

Tartuffe

by Jean Baptiste Moliere

April 5 – 14, 2024

Directed by Lynn Phelan

Translation by Christopher Hampton

Tartuffe, a religious charlatan, worms his way into Orgon’s household, blinding him with his religious “devotion”, all the while planning to seduce his wife and disinherit his children. Lechery. Greed. Hypocrisy. Just as common and hilarious today, in Christopher Hampton’s modern-English translation of Tartuffe as they were in Moliere’s 17th Century Paris.

NEW YORK METROPOLITAN OPERA PRESENTATIONS:

Nabucco (Verdi)

February 11 and 12, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 3:06 [1 Intermission]

Carmen (Bizet)

February 24, 25 and 26, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 3:44 [1 Intermission]

La Forza del Destino (Verdi)

March 18 and 19, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 4:22 [2 Intermissions]

Romeo et Juliette (Gounod)

April 20, 21 and 22, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 3:31 [1 Intermission]

La Rondine (Puccini)

May 4 and 5, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 2:47 [1 Intermission]

Madama Butterfly (Puccini)

May 25, 26 and 27, 4:00pm

Approx. runtime: 3:15 [1 Intermission]

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE PRESENTATIONS:

Good

March 16-17, 2024  4:00 pm

David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays. As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

Frankenstein

April 27-28, 2024  4:00 pm

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful creature determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.