Dan's Papers - October 12, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

This is a week filled with a great variety of theater, music and film-and many performances are free. Bay Street Theatre has a staged reading of its acclaimed opening show, Men's Lives, on Saturday, 6 p.m. The Hampton Theatre Company's production of Doubt is onstage in Quogue, and the Naked Stage troupe reads Jane Martin's new comedy Cementville next Tuesday at Guild Hall. We are saddened that Amagansett's Estia Cantina, a good restaurant which presented first-rate jazz performers in its little club, has closed. Jazz lovers can still hear jazz at Pierre's Restaurant, Bridgehampton, on Tuesday and Sunday evenings, and at Tweed's Restaurant, Riverhead, Friday through Sunday evenings.

Laura Mann sings gospel, blues and jazz at the Southampton library on Friday evening, and New York City's St. Thomas Church boys choir concertizes in Bridgehampton on Friday evening. The Portland String Quartet plays Saturday night on Shelter Island, the American String Quartet is in Montauk on Saturday night, and the Long Island Tuba Quartet performs in Southampton on Sunday afternoon.

Canio's Books. Sag Harbor, has a memorial evening Saturday for poet/author/editor/teacher Robert Long. With October as Hispanic Heritage month, several award-winning Spanish language films are at local venues this weekend include Frida, Volver and Ladron que roba a Ladron.

The Artist & Celebrity Bird House Auction to benefit the South Fork Breast Health Coalition is this Saturday, 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Southampton Cultural Center, 25 Pond Lane. Renee Zellweger is honorary chairperson and she has designed a birdhouse as has Aretha Franklin, Katie Couric, Brooke Shields, Whitey Ford, Rudy Guiliani, Betsey Johnson and many others. Admission to the party is a $40 donation; call (631) 726-8606.

Southampton Youth Services (SYS) and the town Recreation Center have a Family Fun Day this Saturday, 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Center, 1370 Majors Path. There will be sports, crafts, food, and music plus raffle prizes; admission is $10 for adults and teens, no charge for children under 12. There is a 4K walk-or-run starting at 9 a.m. and a 10K run at 10 a.m., also a benefit for SYS (entry fee $25). For more information, call Joy Pariz at (631) 287-1511.

Singer Terry Sullivan and the Koontz Family Band are performing a folk music concert on Sunday, 2 p.m., at the Sag Harbor Episcopal Church, raising funds to restore the church organ. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students (631-725-0128).

Tickets are on sale for the 15th year of the film festival. More than 100 films will be screened in East Hampton, Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk. Alec Baldwin will interview Vanessa Redgrave on Thursday, October 18, 3 p.m. at Bay Street Theatre. The public is also invited to an interview with acclaimed actor/director Sidney Lumet at Bay Street Theatre on Friday, October 19, 3 p.m. The schedule is online and ticket purchases can be made at or at the HIFF ticket office, Design Within Reach, 30 Park Place, East Hampton, (631) 747-7978.

Laura Mann sings Friday, 7 p.m., at the Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton (no charge but donations accepted). On Sunday, 3 p.m., the Long Island Tuba Quartet will perform classical, jazz and rock selections and a reception follows (free admission courtesy of Friends of the Rogers Memorial Library). Seating for both programs is limited, so please call the library at (631) 283-0774 to reserve seats.

The boys choir of St. Thomas Church, New York, will give a concert at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, 2429 Main St., on Friday at 7 p.m. (free admission). Music for Montauk presents a free concert by the American String Quartet on Saturday, 7 p.m., at the Montauk School. Maine's Portland String Quartet will play the music of Haydn, Ives and Ravel on Saturday, 8 p.m., at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Route 114 (free admission but donations are welcome).

A panel discussion with African-American artists living and working in Southampton takes place Saturday, 2 p.m., at the Southampton Historical Museum, 17 Meetinghouse Lane (free admission, and a reception follows the discussion).

Writers and friends of gifted poet/author/editor/teacher Robert Long, who died at age 51 just one year ago, will read from his work on Saturday, 6 p.m., at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor. A reception follows the reading. (A memorial scholarship in Robert's name has been established for local students interested in creative writing; call the bookstore at 631-725-4926 for more information.)

Local realtor Lori Barbaria will talk about her new book Abracadabra: Create As You Speak at East End Books, East Hampton, on Saturday at 6 p.m. Richard Rosenthal will read from his well-received local satire The Dandelion War on Saturday, 8 p.m., at BookHampton, East Hampton. Stony Brook Southampton started its Wednesday evening "Writers Speak" series and next Wed.'s reader is poet/travel writer/memoirist Robin Magowan (7 p.m., Duke Lecture Hall, no admission charge).

Southampton's Parrish Art Museum continues its "Artists' Lives" series this Friday, 7 p.m., with Frida (USA, 2002), the acclaimed biopic about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molin as her artist/husband Diego Rivera ($5 Museum members, $7 guests). The Picture Show at Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, screens the visually-stunning, well-acted autobiographical film of Baroness Karen Von Blixen's Out of Africa (USA, 1985), starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, on Friday at 8 p.m. ($5). Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center resumes its "World Cinema" series with the humorous heist film Ladron que roba a Ladron (Spain, 2007); there are screenings Friday and Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon (tickets $3-$10; call 631-288-1500). The Bridgehampton library concludes its Hispanic film series with Pedro Almodovar's delightful comedy Volver (Spain, 2006) starring Penelope Cruz on Sunday at 2 p.m. (free admission).