News Briefs: March 21, 2024

West Collection To Be Shown

SCHENEVUS—The Town of Maryland Historical Society will start its 2024 season with a presentation by local attorney Mike West, a collector who has preserved more than 20,000 historically significant documents, images, memorabilia and other rare treasures. The event will be held on Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m. in the AmVets building at 25 Main Street in Schenevus. All are welcome to attend and get an up-close look at items including letters from Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln. Items range from the 15th century to the present and include many artifacts of local interest.

Music at St. Mary’s Continues

SPRINGFIELD CENTER—St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, located at 7690 State Route 80 in Springfield, will host a second Midday Music concert this month. The free event begins at noon and will run about 60-75 minutes. Refreshments will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring a bagged lunch. Early American music ensemble Contrasonics will play on Monday, March 25.

FAM Readings Announced

COOPERSTOWN—Fenimore Art Museum and Glimmer Globe Theatre announced that the eighth season of “NEXT! Readings of New Works by Regional Playwrights” will continue with two more performances. Dramatists across the region are invited to submit plays, and three exceptional scripts are selected for readings based on literary and artistic merit. This workshopping program is designed to be a constructive part of the playwriting process that allows the playwright to hear and see their play, receive audience feedback, and strengthen the piece to make it full-production stage-ready. Readings take place in FAM’s auditorium on select Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

“Jordan & Daisy (+ Tom +Nick),” a new take on the characters of the classic novel “The Great Gatsby,” by Johanna Keller, will be presented in a reading directed by Lissa Sidoli on March 24. “Fall Forever,” a drama about grief, art, loss, secrets and love by Eva Schegulla, will be read on April 7. Mary Davis Fralick will direct. There is no charge for “NEXT!” readings, but a $10.00 donation to support future programming is requested. For more information, visit fenimoreart.org.

Killdeer Trio To Play at CAA

COOPERSTOWN—The Cooperstown Art Association will host local favorite music group The Killdeer Trio for a concert at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27. The group will play the music of Carla Bley in this Women’s History Month event. It will be held in the Village Hall ballroom, 22 Main Street, and will also be livestreamed on the Music Performance Trust Fund Facebook page. The concert is free and open to the public.

Jensen Starts Strong at WC

VIRGINIA BEACH—2023 Cooperstown graduate and track star Claire Jensen is off to an impressive start in her running career at Williams College. She was part of a 4x400m relay team that set a new program record and placed third at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in Virginia Beach on Saturday, March 9. The relay team, which won the same event at the DIII New England Championships a week earlier, earned All-American honors for the feat. At Cooperstown, Jensen won nine Section III Class C titles and ended two seasons in a row on the podium for the 400m at the state DII Championships.

Section 8 Program To Close

OTSEGO COUNTY—Otsego Rural Housing Assistance Inc. announced that it will close its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program waiting list on Monday, March 25. This is the result of long waiting times and a state freeze on new enrollments. Applications received or postmarked by the deadline will be processed normally. The waiting list for the Oneonta Heights Project-Based Voucher Program will remain open. Public notice will be provided before any waiting list re-opens. For more information, contact ORHA at (607) 547-8839, hcv@otsegoruralhousing.org or 140 County Highway 33W, Box 4, Cooperstown NY 13326.

GOHS To Feature New Book

ONEONTA—Greater Oneonta Historical Society will host a presentation by the editors of “Chronicling a Crisis: SUNY Oneonta’s Pandemic Diaries” at the Oneonta History Center, 183 Main Street, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 23. Edited by Ed Beck, Darren Chase, Matthew Hendley and Ann Traitor, the newly published book is a primary source collection compiled during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic between spring 2020 and spring 2021. It is based on a blog that documented the local impact of the pandemic on a university town. With more than 200 blog entries from students, faculty, and staff—including diary reflections, poems, pictures, and thought pieces—this volume lays bare the grief, frustration, fear, resilience, and upheavals of this tumultuous period. It also contains three analytical chapters which put the blogs into historical context.

The event coincides with the opening of GOHS’ new exhibition, “Precautions Urged: Public Health and Pandemics in Oneonta,” a small panel display fabricated by SUNY Oneonta undergraduate students which will be on view until Saturday, May 4.

The discussion is open to the public, but attendees are urged to RSVP by Friday, March 22 by calling (607) 432-0960 or e-mailing directormm@oneontahistory.org.

‘Proof’ To Be Performed

STAMFORD—The Stamford community theater company The Party will present David Auburn’s “Proof” at 7 p.m. on March 21, 22 and 23. Directed by local theater artist Marisa Caruso, the play follows a young woman grappling with the legacy of her recently deceased father, a legendary, mentally ill mathematician. The production will take place at the First Presbyterian and United Methodist Church, 96 Main Street in Stamford. Tickets are $10.00-$25.00 on a sliding scale; visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/7a480e30-9deb-45e4-b4fe-afca95798f6f for more information.