In a world awash in divisive political rhetoric and horrific worldwide events, braided with the forever battle against bigotry and antisemitism, a simple story of courage and unity can inspire our better angels and the wider world.

Such is the tale of a Montana community’s fight against acts of hate, recounted in The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate by Dr. Janice Cohen and illustrated by artist Bill Farnsworth.

Written almost three decades ago and now republished in an expanded edition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Billings, Montana community’s response to hate, The Christmas Menorahs continues to resonate with readers of all ages, imparting lessons on confronting acts of hate: it requires a united front against the perpetrators of hate and a network of support for those who are targeted. And, as the residents of Billings discovered, it demands the courage to stand up.

In 1993, Billings, Montana, experienced a surge of hate literature targeting Jews, the Black and LGBT communities, and other minorities. Neo-Nazi and affiliated hate groups struck under cover of the night, but within days, the community responded.

Led by Billings Chief of Police Wayne Inman, the Montana Association of Churches, and other community leaders, the town reacted by holding meetings, teach-ins, and creating a network to counter the onslaught of hate speech.

Unfortunately, after a lull in activity, intimidation tactics escalated with bomb threats, death threats against the police chief and other community leaders, and property defacement (swastikas and racial slurs painted on Black residents’ houses). And then, during Hanukkah holidays, a cinderblock was thrown through a window displaying a lighted menorah in young Isaac Schnitzer’s room.

Isaac, gazing in incomprehension at the shattered window glass and menorah on his bedroom floor, marks the beginning of Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate, where the question of how a community responds to criminal acts of hatred is raised.

As Cohen’s narrative unfolds, complemented by Farnsworth’s elegant paintings, readers are immersed in Isaac’s struggle to understand why he was targeted and how the community formed an alliance to take a stand against hatred. The resounding message became, “Not in Our Town,” and their resistance was finally symbolized by images of menorahs printed in the Billings Gazette and used to be placed in thousands of windows across Billings.

The incident was well-researched by Dr. Cohn. Inspired by a 1994 article about the town’s struggle appearing in the New York Times, the psychotherapist, who specializes in helping adults and children cope with grief and loss, immediately recognized an opportunity for a children’s book and spent time in Billings holding interviews with children, parents, Chief Inman, and other town leaders. That first-hand knowledge shines through and informs Isaac’s characterization. His confusion and fear are visceral, and the search for understanding is compelling.

Bill Farnsworth’s oil paintings are realistic portrayals of the key moments in the narrative. They could easily pass as portraits of the Schnitzer family, Chief Inman, and others as the story is told. This personalization elevates the impact of the story, reminding readers that the story is true: it happened and continues to happen today. 

Isaac Schnitzer, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth

The anniversary edition of The Christmas Menorahs is not a stand-alone story. It’s also a learning nexus to help parents and teachers conduct discussions around topics like “Fighting Bullies,” “Fighting Hatred and Intolerance,” Learning from History: How Acts of Goodness and Courage Reverberate,” and how to employ the creative arts to tell the story in your own way. Each section highlights prompts to open the discussion.

Additionally, Dr. Cohn has thoughtfully added contextual material, including an overview of the Billings events, a powerful interview with the Billings Gazette Editor Darrell Ehrlick, an interview with Tove Bamberger, a Jewish child in Denmark during World War II, who tells a story that becomes a key motif in the book, and the story of the Hanley family whose conversations about antisemitism in 1993 are as articulate today. 

Originally conceived as a children’s book, The Christmas Menorahs has long become a highly praised story by all ages. Today, the message couldn’t be more important: that no matter the religion, race, nationality or gender, any person targeted by hatred should be able to find refuge and support from their community and those who are willing to stand up.

Dr. Janice Cohn is a psychotherapist specializing in helping adults and children cope with grief, loss, and life transitions. Her former newspaper column for the Family Times Section of The Washington Times, which focused on raising compassionate children, ran for over two years and reached approximately half a million people. She is a former Presidential Faculty Appointee to the Columbia University Continuing Education Seminar on Death and Dying, and former chairperson of the Multidisciplinary Bereavement Committee of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

To find out more about The Christmas Menorahs project and to order, go here. 

Carla Massoni, the owner of MassoniArt Gallery, is pleased to announce the opening of Marc Castelli’s one-man exhibition – Laying Down the Sun.  For over thirty years, Castelli’s annual show has become a Chesapeake tradition. Expect to see unmatched renderings of watermen, workboats, and log canoes from a painter recognized as one of the finest marine artists in the country. Marc Castelli | Laying Down the Sun will be featured exclusively in our Cross Street gallery located at 113 S. Cross Street as it is fully handicapped accessible.

Once again, this year’s exhibition dates coincide with the Chestertown RiverArts Studio Tour OCTOBER 21-22 & 28-29 10am-5pm and the Sultana Education Foundation’s Downrigging Festival.

From the very beginning, Castelli’s annual show has been synonymous with the Downrigging.  Now in its 23rd year, the festival is one of the largest annual tall ship gatherings in North America. The festival features a long-weekend of Tall Ship sails, tours, incredible live bluegrass music, lectures, exhibits, family activities, regional food and more. www.downrigging.org

For the last few years, the exhibition has included essays by Castelli for each new work. In his own words he describes the day, activity or friendship that gives each painting it’s own story and meaning. Printed essays will be available at the gallery and also on the MassoniArt website.

“Biscuit Beck taught me a lot about culling river oysters. Especially oysters that grew in fresher waters of the upper Bay and tributaries. He is the father and uncle to some of the other watermen in this collection.” writes Castelli “I have known for many years that I stand just inside the outer edge of the watermen community. It allows them to have great fun at my expense, but it is and has always been good-natured.”

During Downrigging our Exhibition Hours at our Cross Street gallery will be extended and will include the following events:
Friday, October 27 / 5-7:30 pm – Reception
Saturday, October 28 / 10 am – 5 pm – Artist Talk at 10 am and 1 pm
Sunday, October 29 / 11 am – 3 pm

ARTIST TALK:  This year due to popular demand there will be two scheduled on Saturday, October 28, 10-11 am and 1-2 pm.

Visit www.massoniart.com for a listing of our High Street and Cross Street galleries public hours.  Private appointments may be arranged to suit your schedule, simply contact us prior to your visit to set-up a date and time. Call Carla Massoni at 410-778-7330 Gallery, 410-708-4512 Cell, or email [email protected].

Next  up at Church Hill Theatre in November is a powerful modern drama that takes a playground argument into the oh-so-civilized world of adults. While sticks and stones can break your bones, words certainly can be just as hurtful. After two young boys begin an argument with fists, their parents meet to sort things out over a friendly drink. Frequently hilarious, often disturbing and always thought-provoking, God of Carnage is not a sit-com.

Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage peels off the sophisticated veneer of her characters and CHT director Michael Whitehill has assembled a cast worthy of this Olivier and Tony award winning play.  Eastern Shore audiences rarely experience cutting-edge contemporary drama, especially in such a polished production.  God of Carnage will open November 3 and run for three weekends.

Annette and Alan are young, privileged and certain that their education and social status will, as usual, smooth things over.  Annette, a wealth-manager, is played by Brianna Johnson, a versatile young actor who recently played both the ditzy Myrtle Mae in Harvey as well as Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  J.W. Ruth is totally believable as Alan, her lawyer husband with a serious cell-phone addiction. Ruth is best known locally for his comic parts, as in Psycho Beach Party or Sense and Sensibility, but is well-cast in this more serious role.

Michael and Veronica are older, equally prosperous if not equally posh, and anxious to settle their boy’s problem.  Michael is a self-employed wholesaler with a sick mother and Veronica is a lefty intellectual writing a book about refugees in Darfur. Christopher Wallace (remember him as the mad barber in Sweeney Todd?) nails Michael’s mental and physical toughness. Veronica is played by Christine Kinlock, an emotionally intelligent actor recently seen at CHT in Other Desert Cities, who has done everything from Shakespeare to drawing room comedy.

God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, opens November 3 and runs weekends at Church Hill Theatre until November 19, with performances at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are already available on line at churchhilltheatre.org or through the office at 410-556-6003.

The Bookplate is continuing their author event series in partnership with Chef Steve Quigg and The Kitchen for the fall season. On Wednesday, October 11th at 6pm, all are invited to The Kitchen and Pub at The Imperial Hotel as The Bookplate and The Starr Center at Washington College welcomes author and government intelligence scholar Jefferson Morley to discuss his book, Scorpions’ Dance.

For the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in: The untold story of President Richard Nixon, CIA Director Richard Helms, and their volatile shared secrets that ended a presidency. Scorpions’ Dance by intelligence expert and investigative journalist Jefferson Morley reveals the Watergate scandal in a completely new light: as the culmination of a concealed, deadly power struggle between President Richard Nixon and CIA Director Richard Helms.

Nixon and Helms went back decades; both were 1950s Cold Warriors, and both knew secrets about the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as well as off-the-books American government and CIA plots to remove Fidel Castro and other leaders in Latin America. Both had enough information on each other to ruin their careers.

After the Watergate burglary on June 17, 1972, Nixon was desperate to shut down the FBI’s investigation. He sought Helms’ support and asked that the CIA intervene—knowing that most of the Watergate burglars were retired CIA agents, contractors, or long-term assets with deep knowledge of the Agency’s most sensitive secrets. The two now circled each other like scorpions, defending themselves with the threat of lethal attack. The loser would resign his office in disgrace; the winner, however, would face consequences for the secrets he had kept.

Rigorously researched and dramatically told, Scorpions’ Dance uses long-neglected evidence to reveal a new perspective on one of America’s most notorious presidential scandals.

“In this, his third biography of a senior CIA official, Jefferson Morley’s pen is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, his prose honed by years of sifting through information citizens were never meant to see. He gives us a hidden history.” -Anthony Summers, author of The Arrogance of Power and Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Eleventh Day

“Just when you think you’ve read everything there is to read about Watergate, along comes another analysis seen through a different lens. This is particularly true of Jefferson Morley’s new book Scorpions’ Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate. Mr. Morley’s lens is the relationship between President Nixon and Richard Helms, CIA director through all but a few months of the Nixon presidency, and it reveals a number of unexploded hand grenades previously undiscovered. The central issue is whether these two men enabled each other. No doubt, there is still more to be learned.” -Gary Hart, United States Senator (Ret.)

“Jefferson Morley’s taut, descriptive prose transports us back in time to relive the momentous events of the 1960s and 1970s, entering the minds of the colorful characters who shaped history to feel what they felt and to reimagine for ourselves the decisions they made and why. His purpose is evident in his open-minded yet relentless pursuit of the truth about the corrosive impact of intelligence covert action on individuals and organizations, and on democracy itself- and to reflect on the consequences of sacrificing truth for the sake of power.” -Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former CIA operations officer and senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Jefferson Morley is a journalist and editor who has worked in Washington, D.C. journalism for over thirty years, fifteen of which were spent as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. The author of The Ghost, Our Man In Mexico, and Snow-Storm in August, Morley has written about intelligence, military, and political subjects for Salon, Slate, CounterPunch, Just Security, and The Intercept, among others. He lives in Washington, D.C.

For more event details contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or [email protected]. This event is free and open to the public and reservations are not required. The next author event is scheduled for 10/18 with local author Lisa Lynn Biggar. The Kitchen at the Imperial Hotel is located at 208 High Street in Chestertown, Maryland.

Church Hill Theatre will introduce its 2024 season with one of the most popular plays in the history of world theater, Charley’’s Aunt.  Directed by Michael Moore, the show will open in March, 2024.  Because of holiday season schedules, auditions will be held earlier than usual, on Saturday, November 4 at 10 am, and on Monday, November 6 and Tuesday, November 7, at 5:30 pm on the stage at Church Hill Theatre.

Charley’s Aunt is a mad-cap comedy in which star-crossed young (and old) lovers overcome bad luck and strict social expectations in their search for happiness. Mistaken identities, gender-bending twists, and incredible coincidences keep the action moving. Moore, who most recently directed Psycho Beach Party at the Garfield Center for the Arts, promises a modern vibe to his production.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script and possibly some group warm-up exercises.  Nothing has been pre-cast, so both actors and stage crew are invited.  If you are unfamiliar with the play, there are probably hundreds of online articles and videos with more information.

Here are the roles:

• 3 young male university students: Jack Chesney, Charley Wykeham and Lord Fancourt Babberley, all in love with….
• 3 young women, who return their affection: Amy Spettigue, Kitty Verdun and Ela Delahay
• Brassett, Jack’s valet, is a main male character of any age who often controls the action.
• Colonel Sir Francis Chesney (Jack’s father) and Stephen Spettigue (Amy’s uncle and Kitty’s guardian) complicate the young couples’ attempts to explore their passion.
• Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez is a handsome and mysterious middle-aged woman.

Harvey, one of Broadway’s all-time biggest comedy hits, starts September 8 at Church Hill Theatre and will run through September 24. Opening on Broadway in 1944, Harvey played until 1949, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Best Play and delighting war-time audiences.  The 1950 film version starring Jimmy Stewart then endeared Harvey to millions of people around the world. This Church Hill Theatre revival directed by Bonnie Hill will bring this iconic six-foot-tall rabbit to a whole new generation. 

Chumley’s Rest staff with potential psychiatric patients: Left to Right, Elwood P. Dowd (Frank St. Armour), Orderly Wilson (Michael Moore), Dr. Sanderson (James Diggs ), Dowd’s sister Vera Simmons (Debra.McGuire ), Nurse Kelly (Sharon Herz ) and Dr. Chumley (Brian McGonigle)
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The play’s premise is simple—The Dowd family and their friends cannot enjoy a normal social life because Elwood brings his best friend Harvey everywhere.  Harvey is what we would call a “party animal” but in addition to liking a drink, Harvey is an invisible pooka and, oh yes, also a very large rabbit. Elwood’s sister Vera decides that a long, even permanent, stay at Chumley’s Rest, a psychiatric facility, is the only solution. But a mix-up puts the wrong Dowd inside and the medical establishment is no match for pooka magic. By the end of the play, even the shrinks are struggling to define reality.

The always charming  Elwood P. Dowd is played by Frank St. Armour.  His frustrated sister Veta (Debra McGuire), niece Myrtle Mae (Brianna Johnson) and aunt Mrs. Chauvenet (Sheila Austrian) work with their lawyer, Judge Gaffney (John Kamp), to have him committed. The sanitarium staff then do their best but psychiatrists Dr. Chumley (Brian McGunigle) and Dr. Sanderson (James Diggs), along with a helpful nurse (Sharon Herz) and tough orderly (Michael Moore) are unable to bring order out of chaos.  Mrs. Chumley (Sheila Austrian) and an irascible cab driver (Bob Chauncey) eventually help sort things out. And because Harvey is a pooka, he plays himself.

Assisting Bonnie Hill on the production team are Stage Manager Steve Atkinson, Producer Sheila Austrian, Set Designer Earl Lewin, Set Construction Chief Carmelo Grasso, Lighting Designer Doug Kauffman, Assistant Stage Manager Jean Messick, Costumer Christina Johnson and Properties Chief Wendy Sardo.  

Lead image” Elwood introduces Harvey to his sister and aunt: Left to Right: Vera Louise Simmons (Debra McGuire ), Mrs. Chauvenet (Sheila Austrian), Elwood P. Dowd (Frank St. Armour)

Harvey opens at Church Hill Theatre on Friday, September 8 and will run until September 24. Performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and on Sundays at 2 pm.  Tickets are available on the CHT website: churchhilltheatre.org or through the box-office at 410-556-6003.