Music for Life Presents Dr. D. and The Monster: A Tale of Time Travel & Dentistry

Friday, January 10, 7:00pm, at the Nyack Center, 58 Depew Avenue

Music for Life’s first film festival features a series of short films created, produced, directed & acted by Music For Life participants. Among the selections is the world premiere of our first “feature film” – Dr. D. and The Monster: A Tale of Time Travel & Dentistry.

Tickets: $10 suggested admission (pay what you can) cash/check at door.

To reserve tickets or for groups email deirdre@musicforlifecenter.com

Big Red Books Book Launch: Lois Cahall’s The Many Lives and Loves of Hazel Lavery

Wednesday, January 15, 6:30pm, 120 Main Street, Nyack

Lois Cahall’s first novel, Plan C: Just in Case (Bloomsbury) was #1 in the UK in 2012 and remained in the top three fiction book sales for that year. Her second novel The Court of the Myrtles (Bloomsbury) followed in 2014. Lois began her career as a columnist for the Cape Cod newspapers before spending a decade writing women’s, men’s and food articles for Hearst and Conde Nast publications. Lois is the former Creative Director of Development for James Patterson Entertainment and the Founder of both Cape Cod Book Festival www.capecodbookfestival.com and Palm Beach Book Festival, www.palmbeachbookfestival.com.

Lois will be in conversation with Bethany Ball. Ball has been published in The Common, BOMB, The American Literary Review, the Detroit MetroTimes, Electric Literature, Zyzyvva, Sewanee Review, Pigeon Pages, Lilith, and Literary Hub. Her novel What To Do About The Solomons was published in 2017 by Grove Atlantic. It was short listed for the 2017 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and was a runner up in the Jewish Book Council’s debut fiction prize. Her second novel, The Pessimists was published by Grove Atlantic in 2021. She is currently at work at a new novel.

Big Red Books Presents Reading of Two Short Plays by Steve Bermack & Tom Dudzick

Thursday, January 16, 6:30pm, 120 Main Street, Nyack

Steve Bermack is a financial planner by day and a massive daydreamer by night. His first one-act play, The Munson Card, was performed at Elmwood Playhouse in 2021. He has been on the Board of Directors at Elmwood since 2021, and he is the producer of their One-Act Weekend. Fear Itself was chosen to be part of the Open Door Arts Center’s “Evening of Staged Play Readings.” Fear Itself will also be performed (as a full production) on Monday, April 7th at Elmwood Playhouse. Read by Donal Lehane, Meg Renton and Ralph Bowers.

Tom Dudzick’s first play, Greetings!, opened at NYC’s John Houseman Theatre and starred Darren McGavin. His semi-autobiographical comedy Over the Tavern has had over 300 productions, breaking many box office records throughout the U.S. The Irish adaptation, Over the Pub, broke the box office record at Cork Arts Theatre in Ireland. Tom has written eleven plays, most are published by Playscripts, Inc. He was recently honored with a memorial plaque embedded in front of his boyhood home in Buffalo. And an even greater honor – he was once a question on Jeopardy! His work Between Lives will be read by Tom Stratford and Ric Siler.

Rivertown Film Screens Rockland County-based Cinematographer Ellen Kuras’ film, Lee, Staring Kate Winslet

Sunday, January 19, 7:00pm, at The Nyack Center, 58 Depew Avenue

Lee, the directorial debut feature from award-winning Rockland County based Cinematographer Ellen Kuras, portrays a pivotal decade in the life of American war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller (played by Kate Winslet). Miller’s singular talent and unbridled tenacity resulted in some of the 20th century’s most indelible images of war, including an iconic photo of Miller herself, posing defiantly in Hitler’s private bathtub. Miller had a profound understanding and empathy for women and the voiceless victims of war. Her images display both the fragility and ferocity of the human experience. Above all, the film shows how Miller lived her life at full-throttle in pursuit of truth, for which she paid a huge personal price, forcing her to confront a traumatic and deeply buried secret from her childhood.

Stay for a Q&A between Ellen Kuras and Nancy Savoca, two ground breaking Rockland County based women directors, after the film.

Learn more about the extraordinary life of Lee Miller from a 5 minute documentary narrated by Kate Winslet, here.

Rockland County Warming Center

Corner of South Broadway and Burd at 7:00pm (7 days a week)

Anyone in need of shelter can come to the corner of South Broadway and Burd at 7:00pm., seven days a week, for a ride to the Warming Center. This public service includes a hot meal, a place to rest overnight and a hot shower as well as access to essential services.