South Hull Creators and Makers
An aspect of the special identity of South Hull is the abundance of Creatives living within its boundaries.
We all know that Susie Paul and Barbara Wiedemann are published and well-respected names in the world of young-peoples’ theater and poetry and the go-to readers for literature events, that Walter Thomas is a professional and very busy designer, that food is an art for Vinny Chandrasoma and Chrystal Matusack, among others. Chrystal is also a seasoned actor who has shared her art at the Cloverdale Playhouse. Chrystal also has a unique talent for making something beautiful and full of feeling out of anything…crepe paper to flawless blooms of flowers, wash clothes to Easter bunnies-a prime example why the Smithsonian and other museums dedicate space to the Home Arts. Michael Howley is a respected theater critic in international circles and a loved (and on occasion) feared critic in Central Alabama as well as a regular talent at the Cloverdale Playhouse. South Hull also is home to artists and musicians (and not just the remarkable the Hardy Family.) Dancers-Cheryl Lang’s dance ministry for one. We know there are more creators and makers out there! Introduce yourselves through the Contact feature especially if you have an event you’d like your South Hull neighbors to know about
Celebrate Black History Month with a Trip to the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University
While you take the tour, lasting about 90 minutes, be sure to listen as our own Wilmington Road actor, Chrystal Matuscak, gives voice to the remarkable late civil rights leader and touchstone for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The film is part of the tour.
The Museum is open M-F from 9-5 with last admission at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the hours are 9-3 p.m., with the last admission at 2 p.m. For ticket prices and other information visit Rosaparks@Troy.edu. More information is also at civilrightstrail. com
Michael Howley, theater critic, and South Hull Resident Gives a New Twist to an Old Play in First Stint as a Director at the Cloverdale Playhouse
With over four decades of teaching theater mainly at Alabama State University, and the author of a well-read blog as Montgomery’s premier theater critic theatremontgomery@blogspot.com, Michael Howley of South Hull St. is back in the director’s chair for the first time at the Cloverdale Playhouse. And he’s having fun.
Michael Howley Known as “George Washington’s favorite play” The Rivals” was written in 1775 by Richard Bensley Sheriden. But Michael is setting the romantic comedy romp in the World War II era with Big Band music to set the mood. He promises plenty of laughs, romance and unexpected plot twists.
The play runs Thurs-Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. from Feb. 15-25th. Tickets range from $10-$20 and can be purchased online or at the box office.
See story below to left for more details and ticket information.
Cloverdale Playhouse Comedy of Manners Feb. 15-25th
The Cloverdale Playhouse - Montgomery for ticket information
“In this classic comedy of manners, Miss Lydia Languish is a voracious consumer of sentimental novels. Her reading has inspired her determination to marry for love, rejecting her privileged status in society, and romanticizing being forced into poverty for the purity of her passion. Captain Jack Absolute is a high-born young suitor who knows of Miss Languish’s predisposition, and contrives to woo her while claiming to be the penniless Ensign Beverley. Distracted and impeded by a host of other hilarious family, friends and neighbors, various assignations and protestations, as well as an infamously misleading dose of matronly miscommunication, our young idealists find that true love can overcome any obstacles or rivalries with a little bit of forgiveness.”
Woman Art Thou Loosed by Cheryl Lang
You may know Cheryl Lang on Arlington Road as the strong advocate for the South Hull District, a devout Evangelical Christian and minister, the neighborhood connoisseur of R&B, and jazz, a dancing star (she has a dancing ministry) and dear friend… but did you know she is also an author? In 2019, Cheryl was inspired to write Woman Art Thou Loosed. The Book is available on Amazon.com
Hardcover : 60 pages
ISBN-10 : 1796015482
ISBN-13 : 978-1796015485
ISBN-10 : 1796015482
From the Amazon. com book description:
Cheryl writes this book not to boast about her years of service but to share about the grace and mercy of God that supersedes all our services and self-righteousness. That being said, she hopes the born-again believer reading this book, who has worked for years and served with all their hearts but yet came to a crossroad and missed it, will find this the perfect time to experience what we have ministered to others about. That is the grace and mercy of God like never before. There will be those who will nail you to the cross, but receive what God is giving you from the experience. He uses everything we go through to better equip us for service. That is a lesson that will let you know whether or not, woman, if thou art really loosed. Loosed from you and loosed from others. God knows that you won't pass every test. Just don't drop out of the class. In the end, it will be the love of God that will see you through. It's all designed to increase your love and mercy for others.
From Linda Elaine Dennard and Itana Books & Media
Itana Books and Media
The Thaw of Torin Burns
After raising a family (and my second Savannah family )a busy career in academia, and the usual hits and misses and awkward transformations of an active life, it dawned on me that time is passing and I have six unpublished novels, never marketed, hoovering aimlessly in the Cloud and turning yellow in desk drawers. It’s now or never as they say. The next book I write may be a memoir about editing a book with an autistic child making very inventive suggestions and loudly objecting to anything that looks like focus on my part. Bless her. But…that’s another story. I am so pleased to have ‘Torin’ in print…can’t tell you how teary it makes me and how honored I am to share it with you.
Here is the book-jacket description for The Thaw of Torin Burns. Available through Kindle in Paperback and Hardback on Amazon.com at res. If you are interested, watch for book-signings. Available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCCR36FL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ESOO6P6JP55U&keywords=the+thaw+of+torin+burns&qid=1690205242&sprefix=%2Caps%2C334&sr=8-1
What’s it about?
Except for the terrifying waking dreams, Torin Burns has lost the memory of his youth. Well into adulthood, Burns accepts his role as the hapless orphan saved from hypothermia in 1932 by a farmer with a mean streak. Burns marries, but without a sense of where he comes from, and plagued by unhappy ghosts, Burns remains emotionally distant from his wife and children. The war-damaged eldest son, Jared, compensates for what he sees as lacking in his father by controlling his siblings through manipulation and abuse. Burns defies Jared and encourages his talented daughter, Fallon, to pursue her dreams. When the family learns the youngest son, Sean, dies in a shoot-out in Texas, Burns abandons the farm. He will search for Fallon, whom Jared has banished, and for the truth about Sean. But with little experience outside the farm, Burns encounters danger at every turn in the altered landscape of the 1960s. Yet strangers—including the dangerous and beautiful Isabelle Dawson—cast Burns in a more positive light than the reclusive misfit Jared describes. Both the sinners and the saints he encounters will challenge him to engage in life with purpose and courage whatever the contents of his forgotten past. Who is Torin Burns? When the surprising answer finally emerges from the shadows, it will reshape the destinies of the Burns clan for generations.
And for something completely different coming December, 2023 via Itana Books & Media.
The Unspent Tears of Jonas Bazis
Jonas Alexenes Bazis has his freedom but doubts the purpose of his existence. Britain grants him asylum after he escapes prison in Moscow where Josef Stalin confines him for withholding his knowledge as a geneticist from the dictator’s more inhumane experiments. His promising scientific career behind him, Bazis spends his days reliving the torture and murder of his young wife—killed to convince him to cooperate with Stalin. But the fate of Bazis takes another twist when a talented Russian mentalist, who wants Stalin to believe she is more powerful than the infamous hypnotist Wolf Messing, has Bazis kidnapped and returned to Russia. But to win the power she covets, it must appear that Bazis has returned to Stalin’s dacha to apologize and pledge his loyalty only through suggestion and without coercion. But as the scientist finds a reason to play along, who is being manipulated in a series of dangerous challenges en route to Stalin’s deathbed—Bazis or the prescient Kamilla Damski?
