for the ARTS record
Pinter on Nantucket This week, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket stages its performance of "The Dumb Waiter" along with another Pinter one act, "A Kind of Alaska."

Written in 1957, "The Dumb Waiter" focuses on two hit men, one older (Ben) and one younger (Gus). They are thrown together in a basement by the powers-that-be to await the orders on their hit. Chris Witte plays Ben, and Ciaran Byrne fills Gus' shoes. "Pinter slipped out of his own style to write 'A Kind of Alaska,' and that's what intrigued me," said Byrne of the one-act. " Pinter based "A Kind of Alaska" on the case studies of Oliver Sacks. Written in 1982, it is the only one of Pinter's works that credits any source other than his own imagination - making it something of an anomaly. The story follows a woman suffering from Encephalitis lethargica, who wakes to find that she has only retained memories of her childhood, and that her sister and her sister's husband have been taking care of her for three decades. It is, at its core, the story about transitioning from one state of consciousness to the next.
When: March 28 - April 14; Wed. - Sat., 8 p.m.;
  Sunday matinee on April 1, 2 p.m.
Where: United Methodist Church (upstairs)
Cost: $15
For more information, please call 228-4305.
Food for Thought: Molly Andersen As part of the NHA Brown-Bag/ Food for Thought Luncheon Series, Atheneum Director Molly Anderson will present "Phoenix from the Fire of 1846: The Reopening of the Atheneum" - a talk on the Atheneum's "rise from the ashes" following the Great Fire of 1846, when all that was left of the historic library was "one portrait, a few coins and 130 of its 3,200 books." Truly, this is one of the most remarkable community "resurrections" following the tragedy.
When: Thursday, March 29, noon - 1 p.m.
Where: Nantucket Historical Association
  (Discovery Room), 13 Broad Street
Cost: Free
For more information, please call 228-1894.
"The Kite Runner" Based in New York City, the American Place Theater dramatizes works of fiction for performance in schools and other venues. "I only use the words of the author, but I put it all in the present tense," said American Place Theater founder Wynn Handemann.

This week, it brings its one-man, one-act play based on "The Kite Runner" to Nantucket.

"I only do a portion of this book, a portion which I believe is an entity unto itself, which is the first portion, when the protagonist is still in his teens," said Handemann, who had to step lightly around a particularly violent scene at the beginning of the book. "I used words from the event, but left out key words that made it explicitly a rape. My version leaves it to the imagination, but lets everyone know it's violent and abusive."

In addition to the performance, American Place Theatre offers pre- and post-show discussion sessions to help students contextualize and process the material.
When: Friday, March 30, 7 p.m.
Where: The Nantucket High School
  Auditorium, Surfside Road
Cost: Free
Artists' Association of Nantucket's Spring Sweep Spring cleaning at the AAN means big savings for collectors of local artists. This weekend, the AAN is "slashing prices" in order to clear the walls and closets for the coming summer season. Paintings, prints, photographs, abstract art - all of it is for sale using silent bidding, which ends at 4 p.m. During previous Spring Sweeps, winning bids have ranged from $75 to $3,000. AAN member artists such as Joan Albaugh, Kathleen Kelliher, Susan Briskman, George Thomas, Katie Trinkle Legge and Robert Frazier will be represented. Bidding begins at 10 a.m.
When: Saturday, March 31, 10 a.m. -   4 p.m.
Where: The Joyce and Seward Johnson Gallery,
  19 Washington Street
For more information, please call 228-0294.