for the ARTS record
Ghosts of the Great Hall: An Evening with Maria Mitchell Maggie Conroy brings her one woman show about Maria Mitchell to the Atheneum. We love Maria Mitchell because she was our first librarian, but the world recognizes her as an outstanding astronomer and teacher. Mitchell was the first woman invited into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and became the first female professor of astronomy in the country. The program is free of charge, but seating is limited and tickets are required. Sign up online or pick up tickets at the Atheneum.

MICHAEL GALVIN/The Independent The 'Lone Star' cast (from left); Susan Beaumont, Susan McGinnis, Laurel Devaney and Ciaran Byrne

When: Wed., June 27, 8 p.m. Where: Nantucket Atheneum (Great Hall),

1 India St. Cost: Free For more information, please call 228-1110. TWN'S "Lone Star Grace" Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's season opener, "Lone Star Grace," stars Susan McGinnis as Barbie Ann, a lingerie saleswoman who begins the New Year - and a new life - in a diner off Texas Highway 59. There, Barbie Ann waits on the cusp of her transformation with a bottomless cup of personal revelations, warmed up by the diner's mild-mannered, sweet proprietor, Persephone (played by Laurel Devaney) and Kenneth (Ciaran Byrne), an Irishman in a cowboy hat, on his own "quest for self-discovery." Susan Beaumont plays the sister who brings Barbie Anne a plate of reality from home.

Travis Richard of Miss Fairchild, playing this Friday at the Rose and Crown, 9 p.m.

Sardelli, who gets regular work as director in Manhattan and also serves on the dance faculty at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, met the show's playwright, Suzanne Bradbeer, three years ago at the Lark Play Development Center in Manhattan, where the two are both members. "Since then, I've seen every play she's written that's had a production, and she's seen every one I've directed," Sardelli said. "I've been wanting to do something with Suzanne's work for a while now. Her writing has a charm, an intelligence, a gentleness to it - even though her characters tend to be larger than life. … There is always a lot of heart in her plays. … She'll kill me for saying this, but I'd compare her to a new Beth Henley."

When: Wed. - Sat., June 27-3, 8:30 p.m. Where: TWN Main Stage, downstairs

at the United Methodist Church,

2 Centre St. Cost: $25 For more information, please call 228-4305 or

go to theatreworkshop.org, where you

can also buy tickets.

Miss Fairchaild: More Nantucket funk than an old ship's hull Miss Fairchild, the Boston-based Pop- Funk band, announces the release of "Miss Fairchild Presents the Miss Fairchild Mixtape." Showcasing four songs from their long-anticipated second album, "Ooh La La, Sha Sha…," plus material from such luminaries as Sly & The Family Stone, Tony Toni Toné, and The Time, "The Miss Fairchild Mixtape" blends '60s Pop-Funk classics and rarities into a "feel-good heat wave that lasts from Sunday morning until Saturday night."

Miss Fairchild is vocalist Daddy Wrall (we think this is Travis Richard), multi-instrumentalist Schuyler Dunlap and renowned producer Samuel P. Nice, aka "Sammy Bananas of Certified Bananas."

"We are mounting a full-on Fairchild assault on Nantucket this summer, so it's not to be missed!" said Richard, the only MFer left from the ever-popular funk rock outfit, Miss Fairchild, now that Schuyler Dunlap has moved to Boston.

Mixed by DJ Samuel P. Nice, the 80-minute mixtape will also be available as a free download on the group's Web site, www.missfairchild. com, and for concertgoers who attend the The Miss Fairchild Show this Friday. The first single from "Ooh La La, Sha Sha," "Number One," featured here for the first time, will be released this month, and will be followed by the full length release in September. When: Fri., June 29, 9 p.m.

Where: Rose and Crown

Cost: $10 cover

Summer Reading Program for Kids The Nantucket Atheneum will join with libraries across Massachusetts in offering the 2007 Statewide Summer Reading Program, Catch the Beat @ your library®, that celebrates reading and books across the Commonwealth.

"One of the most effective ways to improve reading skills is to read regularly and often," said Children's and Young Adult Librarian Maggie Head. "Kids, teens and adults who read for the joy of it are the best readers. Families who read together provide the strongest model for future reading, and research has shown that children who participate in summer reading programs reap the benefits of greater literacy exposure."

The program will begin this Saturday, with registration from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Atheneum.

Throughout the eight-week Summer Reading Program, the Atheneum's Weezie Library will offer special music workshops in collaboration with the NCMC/Nantucket School of Music, and many other fun programs, in addition to giving incentive prizes from local shops when readers reach their goals. Kick-off performer Bob Bloom brings his rhythmic program, "Drumming About You" to Nantucket, with performances at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. this Saturday for registered summer readers. (Everyone gets an instrument to play!)

The program's closing celebration (Aug. 25) will feature Odaiko New England, a Japanese taiko drumming group.

Vivaldi's "Gloria" and other Baroque "fare" Amix of St. Paul's volunteers - the adult choir, hand-bell choir and children's choir - along with volunteer and professional singers and players from the Island will perform selections from Vivaldi's "Gloria" and other classical favorites this weekend. The nearly three dozen musicians will include a kind of dream team of island talent, including Marcia Hempel, Greta Feeney, Robert Behrman, Armen Ghazaryan and Mollie Glazer and more. This is the fourth in a series of musical performances held at St. Paul's since Joseph Dudzinski's arrival as music director. Over 400 guests have attended these concerts: "Baroque Music," "A Celebration of Spirituals" and "Lessons and Carols."

Dudzinski plans a September musical for children entitled "Stories of Faith." For more information about auditions, please see www.stpaulschurchnantucket.org.

When: Sat., June 30, 6 p.m. Where: St. Paul's Church

Cost: Free, but a $15 donation suggested. I