The Update | Playhouse Presents ‘The Irish’; Printmaking at YSU; Former Prof Publishes Book

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Playhouse will present “The Irish … and How They Got That Way” for three performances this weekend on the main stage.

Written in 1997 by Frank McCourt (“Angela’s Ashes), “The Irish …” highlights Irish culture through humor, song, dance, storytelling and history.

The Playhouse production is being directed by John Cox. The cast includes Amanda Beagle, Jockie Collins, John Cruz, Craig Petrie and Ben El-Dalati. It is the second special event show of the season.

McCourt drew from his own experience in writing the show, which includes traditional songs, show tunes and pop classics – from “Danny Boy” to U2.

Tickets range from $27 to $37 (plus applicable fees) and can be purchased Monday through Friday by phone at 330 788 8739, in person at The DeYor Performing Arts Center box office and online at youngstownplayhouse.org.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Printmaking with Guest Artist at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Red Press Collaborative at Youngstown State University has brought in artist Brett Anderson for a residency this week.

The Red Press Collaborative program promotes printmaking, and a limited-edition print will be created throughout Anderson’s residency.

Each print from the edition will be signed, numbered and documented.   

Print collaboration, in its tradition, has fostered relationships between professional artists and students while utilizing the most contemporary and comprehensive concepts and techniques. Anderson is a professor at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.

Printing demonstrations with Anderson will occur each day from 10 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4 p.m. in Room 4025 in Bliss Hall. A donation of $125 to the YSU Red Press Collaborative entitles the donor to one original print from the final collection. All contributions go directly to funding various events within the printmaking program. For information, call professor Joseph D’Uva at 330 941 2540 or email him at [email protected]. 

All demonstrations and the artist talk are free and open to the public.

Former YSU Professor Publishes Book

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – George D. Beelen, a retired Youngstown State University history professor and founder of the Ohio Cultural Alliance, has published a book titled “Genius Knows No Boundaries.” 

The book explores the alliance’s 30 years of community-building work and calls for additional cultural exchange to foster empathy and understanding.

Beelen will attend a reception at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s Stewart Media Archives Center, 648 Wick Ave., behind the Arms Museum.

Bird Artist-Naturalist to Speak at Westminster

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Bird artist, naturalist and writer Julie Zickefoose will speak at Westminster College at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the Dietz-Sullivan Lecture Hall in Hoyt Science Center.

Zickefoose will discuss her book, “Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest,” published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2016.

Zickefoose began drawing and painting wild nestlings in 2002, bearing witness to their swift growth day by day. Over the following 13 years, Zickefoose documented the daily changes in 17 different bird species. 

Throughout her talk, Zickefoose will share her influences as well as her artistic process. She will discuss the work, wonder and fun of studying nestlings – including being foster mother to orphaned hummingbirds, chimney swifts and bluebirds.

In January 2021, Zickefoose began working with a team to resurrect the defunct Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine. The new BWD magazine’s first issue appeared in July 2022 featuring Zickefoose’s painting of a Henslow’s sparrow on the cover.

Zickefoose has also written and/or illustrated books including “Natural Gardening for Birds,” “Letters from Eden,” “The Bluebird Effect” and her newest illustration, “Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay,” the intimate story of how an orphaned bird can save a soul. 

Zickefoose, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology from Harvard University in 1981, lives and works on a quiet 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the back country of Whipple, Ohio.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Summer Zickefoose, associate professor of art at Westminster, at [email protected]. 

JCC Golf Classic Seeks Participants

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Jewish Community Center of Youngstown will hold its 25th annual Suzi Solomon Golf Classic on June 12 at Squaw Creek-Avalon Golf and Country Club, 761 Youngstown Kingsville Road SE, Vienna Center.
Registration and lunch are at 11:30 a.m.; tee time is 12:45 p.m. The cost is $200 per person. Sponsorship opportunities are available. To register or become a sponsor, go to jccyoungstown.org/golf.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.