7 Day Plays Wrap-up w/guest Valerie Kehr

Springtime is peaking its’ head around the corner and that means gardening and I’m particularly fond of permaculture gardening. Dunstan Smith from The Hummingbird Center in Dorchester, NH drops in to chat about all things permaculture and organic at the Center. The Center is an active permaculture farm with a 26-year perennial food system and hosts tours. It has a huge cob pizza oven, solar dehydrator, two outdoor solar heated showers, has classes for yoga, sound baths, has a literal farm to table restaurant called Nourish and can accommodate campers. The Hummingbird Center will begin offering yoga-based retreats with diverse programming ranging from edible wild plant walks to paint therapy, meditation, cooking classes, guided hikes, and much more.

It’s almost springtime and that means birds are chirping, bunnies are running around and Artistic Directors are scouring the landscape looking for talent for their upcoming seasons of shows! What exactly does that process look like? How do they choose who to make an offer to? Where do they even go to audition them? Well lucky for us Joel Mercier, Artistic Director for the North Country Center for the Arts, drops in to explain all of that as well as discuss their upcoming season which will feature The Secret Garden, CATS, Little Shop of Horrors and Stephen King’s Misery!

When WKXL's NH Unscripted needs a little attitude and sass that’s when it’s time to bring in the big guns and so today Angèlica Forcier Rosenthal from the Actors Cooperative Theatre is back for a repeat visit. She’s directing “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” for the Milford Area Players and she lays it all out there!! I love her honest, don’t give you-know-what approach to life. We also get to catch up on what’s happening in Derry with the Actors Cooperative Theatre. Open and refreshing.

“It’s never too late to start” is more than just a cute saying. David Afflick came by NH Unscripted to discuss how he took it to heart, applied to his life and turned his focus toward acting. His resume now glows with commercials for companies like Ocean State Job Lot, Direct TV, Tufts Health Plans, East Boston Savings Bank and NH Realtors as well as roles in films that have shown in the Cannes Film Festival and one that’s on Amazon! When and how he did it plus advice for others that are thinking about dipping their toes into acting are all on the table.

Liam Magan, General Manager, from the Teatotaller Cafe on Main st. in Concord dropped in to talk about all that’s happening at the cafe. Twice named Best of NH, Teatotaller is a “queer, hipster oasis of tea, coffee, and pastry goodness.” Named “Most Instagrammable Restaurant in America” by Food Network Magazine they have incredible waffles, drinks with boba (I didn’t know either) and macaroons made right there. Teatotaller is a café, tea-house, bistro, and venue with two locations in Concord and Dover, New Hampshire. They offer catering as well as host functions.

It was time for part II of my chat with Kevin & Kate Collins from the Garrison Players about the evolution of high school and community theater. Some of the topics today included: 1) The rise of theater training camps marketed to high school students (not summer; year-round) and its impact on traditional HS drama 2) The fragmenting and siloing of theater (HS shows in the 21st century v. 1950s-2000s) 3) Difference between the shows being done by high schools and youth theater v. “traditional” nonprofessional theater. And as usual, we drop down some rabbit holes!

Jim Rosenberg, attorney at Shaheen & Gordon, makes a return visit to WKXL chat about DUI stops and aliens in NH. Yup, aliens in NH! Jim is a defense attorney and I wanted to ask questions about what to do should you get stopped for a DUI and he certainly provided the info. Then in the last segment Jim makes the leap to alien citings around the Granite State. I had no idea how many there are. Did you know that there’s a state plaque dedicated to one particular citing? As ususal Jim’s a treasure trove of info.

Kevin Collins, board member at the Garrison Players, was today’s WKXL NH Unscripted guest. And our topic? “What is the current state of non-professional theater and theater training?” We also had the good luck to be doing theater in the 1970’s which was a highly experimental time, particularly in the arts. It was also still an analog world when we did just about everything — lighting, set design, publicity, with little or no training, just because we had to. But times have changed, in the sense that there used to be a sort of apprenticeship process through which an actor learned his or her craft: college theater, summer stock, summer festivals, regional theater, off-off-Broadway, etc., etc. Not that anyone followed this step-by-step — usually, an actor just tried out for everything. But the fact was there were many roads and many venues. In a very small way, community theater was a part of that. What are the changes? NH Unscripted and Kevin go deep in the weeds for what turned out to be “Part I”!

Today’s WKXL guest was Kelsey Domeny. Mother, podcaster, photographer, mentor, entrepreneur, speaker and author. And that’s just on her slow days! Kelsey stopped by to talk mainly about co-authoring her new book “Next Best Yes” (due out in March) and its companion podcast by the same name (available now). Kelsey walks what she talks. “Next Best Yes” explores how we can take practical next steps with God as we activate our faith even when it doesn’t make sense. Writing a book is time consuming and a daunting task on its own, but, add in self publishing, creating a new podcast, mentoring others, etc and now you’ve got your own Next Best Yes. We discuss why she and Mike (her husband) decided to write the book, what it’s all about, what the heck is “imposter syndrome” and a whole lot more! The Grove

Today’s guest was attorney Jim Rosenberg. It was a great ride as Jim (with an unbelievable memory) tells the story of a murder that took place in Concord where the victim was bludgeoned to death by being beaten over 80 times with an axe! And then he tops THAT story with a tale of a section of Concord that no longer exists called…wait for it…Peckerville. Oh yeah we went there! Jim is a Partner at Shaheen & Gordon, P.A. and the Chair of its Criminal Defense Practice Group, focusing his practice in the areas of criminal defense, white-collar defense and DWI / DUI defense. Jim has been repeatedly recognized for his outstanding work as a criminal defense lawyer. For the past two years, Best Lawyers in America and New Hampshire Magazine named Jim among the top attorneys in New Hampshire in the areas of General Criminal Defense, White-Collar Criminal Defense and DUI / DWI Defense.