Dan's Papers - October 13, 2006 - Take Five 2006 with Jan Silver

Here comes another week filled with first-class entertainment and events. Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre debuts a new, one-woman show, Eudora, starring Sloane Shelton, tonight and Saturday. The great soul singer Aaron Neville and his quintet are at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday. Young jazz singer Carolyne Leonhart performs at Estia's Cantina this weekend, and Irish soul/rock band The Commitments are at the Stephen Talkhouse tonight. The Puerto Rican dance band Yerba Buena plays Saturday afternoon at the Hispanic Festival in Southampton High School.

Naumburg International Piano Competition-winner Awadagin Pratt plays in Southampton on Saturday evening, Music in Montauk has a Saturday concert, and the Alvin Ailey II dance company performs in Southold on Saturday evening. Shinnecock artist and Shinnecock Museum director/curator David Bunn Martine gives an illustrated talk at the Parrish Art Museum at noon today, and Lynn Sherr and Mary Cummings will speak about their new books in East Hampton on Saturday. There are also several independent film screenings at local venues this weekend.

The Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum has an Art/Wine Auction, to raise restoration funds, tonight 6 to 8 p.m. at the Museum ($20 donation per person).

The Hamptons International Film Festival's (October 18-22) schedule and tickets are available online (www.hamptonsfilmfest.org), by telephone (1-866-HIFF-TIX) or at the box office (East Hampton Historical Society, 101 Main St., across from The Palm restaurant). Screenings, seminars and other events will take place in East Hampton, Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk.

Tonight and tomorrow evening, Bay Street Theatre presents Jan Buckaloo's new one-woman show Eudora, based on the very interesting life of Pulitzer Prize-winning, rural southern author Eudora Welty. The play has been developed at Bay Street and stars accomplished Manhattan and Hamptons actress Sloane Shelton, and is directed by Austin Pendleton. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets ($30, students $24) are available at the box office (631-725-9500) or online at www.baystreet.org.

The Hampton Theatre Company's production of the Charles Busch comedy, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, continues performances at the Quogue Community Theater Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets (adults $20, seniors $18, students $10) can be reserved by calling (631) 653-8955 or online at www.hamptontheatre.org.

The Naked Stage, the local professionals' theater workshop, has a reading of Alison Solomon's play Resort!, set in a post-apocalypse world, on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. at the John Drew Theater in Guild Hall, East Hampton. The reading features Manhattan and Hamptons actor Shashi Balooja, and there is no admission charge.

French-born singer/pianist Frederique Trunk will perform with bassist Hill Greene tonight, 7 p.m., at Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton. Trunk draws from a wide variety of music - classical, jazz, Latin, French, Arabic and flamenco. There is no admission charge but donations are welcome; call (631) 283-0774 ext. 523 to reserve seats.

The great soul singer Aaron Neville and his quintet, featuring Charles Neville, will give a concert at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday at 8 p.m. From a well-known musical New Orleans family, Aaron has had many hit songs including "When A Man Loves A Woman." Tickets are $45-$70 and are sold after noon at the PAC box office (631-288-1500) or online at www.whbpac.org.

Award-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt inaugurates the 2006/2007 Southampton Cultural Center's piano recital series at the new Levitas Center, 25 Pond Lane, on Saturday at 7 p.m. He will play selections from Franck, Hersch and Rachmaninoff. Tickets are $20 for reserved seats, $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors and students; call (631) 287-4377 for reservations.

The Ailey II, the younger troupe of the critically-acclaimed Alvin Ailey dance company, will perform at Southold High School auditorium on Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Arts in Southold Town, tickets are $25 ($10 for students under 18) and can be reserved by calling (631) 743-6320.

Music for Montauk presents "In a Spanish Garden," a program of Spanish music, on Saturday, 7 p.m., at the Montauk School. There is no admission charge; for more information, call (631) 668-2481.

Recommended performers at local clubs and restaurants: Amagansett - Stephen Talkhouse (call 631-267-3117 for tickets) - renowned Irish soul/rock band The Commitments, then romantic pop duo Naked Eyes (Fri.); Estia Cantina - accomplished young jazz singer Carolyne Leonhart & trio (Fri. & Sat., call 267-6320), Jim Turner next Thurs.; Montauk - Montauk Yacht Club (Fri. 3-7 p.m.), music weekends at Gurney's Inn; East Hampton- Turtle Crossing (Annie Morgan band Thurs., Mama Lee & friends Fri.), Maidstone Arms (Jane Hastay and Peter Weiss on Fri.), Babette's (pianist Paul Gene on Sat.); Sagaponack - wine/cheese/music 5 to 7 p.m. Thurs. at Wölffer Estate Vineyards; Bridgehampton - pop standards and soft jazz at Kipling's Fri. & Sat.; jazz brunch Sun. at World Pie; Julie Bluestone Sun. eve at Pierre's and Jody Carlson on Tues.; Southampton - music weekends at Lori's (75 Main St.) and Tugboats North Sea, jazz Sun. 4-7 p.m. at Southampton Inn; Hampton Bays - Edgewater; Westhampton Beach - music weekends at The Patio, Casa Basso (Sat.), Passionfish (calypso Thurs.), Westhampton Beach Steak House (Fri.-Sun.); Riverhead - Eastenders Coffee House (Thurs.-Mon.), Tweed's (Fri. & Sat.).

Sag Harbor's John Jermain library screens the independent film Marion Bridge (2002) tonight at 6:30 p.m.; admission is free, but arrive a few minutes early for good seats. The Pollock-Krasner House's "Artists on Film" series features the delightful Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy tonight at 7 p.m. This film at the East Hampton (Springs) study center was chosen by artist Donald Sultan, who speaks briefly with host Dr. Marion Weiss ($5 admission, $4 for members). Southampton's Parrish Art Museum feature this evening is Beat That My Heart Skipped (France, 2005), about the talented son of a concert pianist and gangster (7 p.m., $5 members, $8 guests). The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center's "World Cinema" feature tonight (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (1 and 4 p.m.) is Changing Times (2006, France) starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.

Shinnecock artist and Shinnecock Museum director/curator David Bunn Martine gives a slide presentation of his work today at noon at the Parrish Art Museum, Jobs Lane, Southampton. This is in conjunction with the current exhibit of Roy Lichtenstein's American Indian-influenced work.

Poet Ann Hammond will read from her new collection, Selected Poems, at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor, tonight at 6 p.m. Freelance journalist Mary Cummings will speak about her new book Hurricane in the Hamptons, 1938, Saturday, 11 a.m., at the East Hampton Marine Museum, Bluff Rd., Amagansett. Television reporter Lynn Sherr speaks about her new book Outside the Box on Sat., 8 p.m., at BookHampton, East Hampton.