The Update | Pipino Series Opens with Marionettes; Comic Show in Salem

YOUNGSTOWN – A show by puppeteer Phillip Huber will kick off the Donald P. Pipino Performing Arts Series at 7:30 p.m. today (Sept. 9) in Ford Theater, lower level of Bliss Hall, on the Youngstown State University campus.

Huber is on stage throughout his precision marionette show, “Suspended Animation.” Audiences are aware his presence in the shadows, perhaps a dim colored light on his face. But below him, marionettes are alive with emotion, passion, attitude and personality. “Suspended Animation” is a series of  vignettes selected from the Huber Marionettes Characters cast. The lighting is dramatic, the stage presence is elegant, and every moment is carefully timed and choreographed.

Phyllis Paul, dean of YSU’s Cliffe College of Creative Arts, said “Phillip Huber and the Huber Marionettes opened our 2018-19 inaugural season, and in honor of that occasion, he return to launch the 2022-23 season.”

Tickets are $10 ($5 for youths) and can be purchased at the door. Parking is available most the Wick Avenue parking deck for $5 (cash only).

Here is the rest of the Pipino series:

Ailey II dance company, Oct. 17, 7 p.m., YSU Ford Theater, Bliss Hall.

Vijay Iyer Jazz Trio, Nov, 4, 7:30 p.m., Chestnut Room, YSU Kilcawley Center.

Diderot Quartet, Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m., YSU McDonough Museum of Art.

Kate Reid, “The Great America Songbook,” jazz standards, March 3, 7:30 p.m., YSU Ford Theater, Bliss Hall.

Ann Duhamel, April 20, 7:30 p.m., piano works about climate change, YSU McDonough Museum of Art.

Toy and Comic Show at Salem City Center

SALEM, OHIO – Pop culture icon John Wesley Shipp will greet guests at the inaugural Salem Toy & Comic Expo on Saturday, Sept. 10, at Salem City Center, 230 N. Lincoln St.
Admission is $5 (free for children 10 and under).

The event starts at 10 a.m. and runs until 5 p.m.

Shipp is best known for his role as The Flash, Barry Allan, on the 1991 CBS series, “The Flash,” and has a recurring role on the current CW series of the same title as Jay Garrick, the Silver Age Flash.

For information, go to salemtoycomicexpo.com.

Presentation on Greystone at Tyler Center

YOUNGSTOWN – Jessica Trickett, collections manager of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, will give a free presentation titled “Greystone…Through the Years” at noon Thursday, Sept. 15, the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown.

The presentation is part of the MVHS’ Bites and Bits of History lunchtime learning series.

Greystone is the name of the family mansion that is now known as the Arms Family Museum on Wick Avenue.

From original drawings, photographs, and images of the historic house museum as it is today, guests will learn about the family that built Greystone.

Storybook Trail Opens at Lake Milton Park

LAKE MILTON, Ohio – Through a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio,  the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has added a new Storybook Trail at Lake Milton State Park. Storybook Trails create a new opportunity for children and their families to promote childhood literacy, develop a love of nature, and encourage healthy living.

The Storybook Trail here features “Raindrops to Rainbow”,by Ohio University graduate John Micklos Jr. On the child-sized panels lining this new trail, children will walk through a rhyming picture book that teaches them about the colors all around them.

The trail was donated by the Lake Milton Association. ODNR launched the Storybook Trail program in 2019 and partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio in 2020. There are currently 119 half-mile Storybook Trails located at state parks throughout Ohio, each with 16 child-height panels featuring pages of a children’s book and an activity to accompany the text on the page.

Square Dancing Club Introductory Session

NILES, Ohio – The Niles Friendly Squares, a local square dance group dedicated to keeping alive the uniquely American art form of square dancing, will begin a new year of weekly square dance lessons. The introductory session will be Tuesday, Sept. 13,  from 7-9 p.m. Each session builds upon the previous session and will include learning steps along with plenty of review and practice each week to help attendees master the moves. The sessions are designed to cover all the steps. Gene Hammond will be the instructor. The Tuesday evening sessions will run for 12 weeks. There is a fee of $6 per lesson.

The Friendly Squares also sponsors monthly dances with alternating dances, or tips, for new dancers to practice their skills as well as tips for more experienced dancers. All the lessons and monthly dances are held at the Niles Scope Center, 14 E. State St., Niles. To sign up or for additional information, contact Gene Hammond at 330 506 3370.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.