Mama Says

It’s expensive putting on professional ballet productions, and it’s generally pretty expensive to attend them, too. But here’s an idea that brings the cost of ballet into a reasonable price range.

This season, Ohio Ballet will stage four programs in Cleveland. Each program will include a Saturday Family Fun Matinee, for which there is a special children’s subscription rate of $20. The adult subscription rates range from $80 to $140. This means that an adult can take two children to see a wide assortment of contemporary and classical ballets for as low as $30 per performance for the three of them. Compare this to the $90 the same family would pay for the lowest-price tickets to the matinee performance of the American Ballet Company’s performance of Giselle. A veritable bargain.

The season opens with a production of Dracula on October 19 at the Palace Theatre, and continues with programs on November 16, February 15, and March 29. You can get more details, including a full description of each of the four programs at Ohio Ballet’s website, or call 216/861-5545. Thanks to Noelle Celeste for the tip.

If you’ve ever been to the annual Harvest Moon Potluck, then you know that it was just a matter of time before the popular event got too big for Bill and Jean Merriman’s backyard. This is the mother of all potlucks, attracting neighbors by the scores, and is always a fun time. So after thirty years, they’ve decided to give Fairview Park a try as a new venue.

The date will remain the same as always: the Saturday closest to the full moon that is closest to the autumnal equinox. That would be Saturday, September 21. The time will be from 5 - 9 p.m. Fairview Park is located on West 38th Street between Franklin Boulevard and Woodbine Avenue. Everyone’s invited.

Besides your dish to share, bring along anything you think might be helpful, because it almost certainly will be. Extra lawn chairs? Excellent idea. Bag of ice? Probably wouldn’t hurt. Banjo? Fiddle? Maracas? That would be a lovely touch. Just make sure you put your name on your stuff so that it can find its way back to you.

Bill and Jean are actively looking for people to assist with carrying off this event. Please call the Merrimans at 216/696-3768 and ask how you can help.

School may have begun, but that doesn’t mean the end of park programming. Here’s what Friends of Fairview Park has planned for this
month:

TIE-DYE WORKSHOP, Saturday, September 7, 1 - 3 p.m. Create your own work of wearable art with local artist Carol Nesper. The first 75 participants will receive free t-shirts to dye. There will also be a “Paint Your Own Pet Rock” table for younger artists, a string art craft, occasional games of haki-sack, live folk music entertainment, and refreshments.

SAFMOD PERFORMANCE, Saturday, September 14, 7 p.m. SAFMOD (SubAtomic Frequency Modulation OverDose) is a multi-media performance ensemble combining dance, music, visual arts and sometimes stilts, trapezes, spray paint… The only way to find out just what they have in store for Fairview Park is to come. Bring your lawn chair.

FABRIC MURAL PROJECT, Friday, September 13, 4 p.m. This afterschool program will encourage young artists to contribute to the beautification of Fairview Park this fall. Designs will be created on fabric, then stretched and hung as a temporary display on the outfield fence. To receive updates on this and other upcoming programs, call or email Rachelle Coyne (216/281-1750; RCoyne3184@aol.com) and ask to be added to the FOFP mailing list.

A month after the events of last September 11, Sacramento News & Review art critic Douglas Slayton recommended that families see the current show at their local art museum because “it might help in the healing process.” It’s a year after those events, and now the same show is coming to the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art.

“Almost Warm & Fuzzy: Childhood and Contemporary Art” was first organized for the Des Moines Art Center in the fall of 1999, and has been traveling since then. The show features the work of 30 artists in many media - from watercolor to balloons to dripping liquids. Like a well-crafted Bugs Bunny cartoon, the exhibit appeals on many levels, making it just the sort of multi-generational antidote to terror that Slayton felt was just what the doctor ordered.

CCCA is located at the Cleveland Playhouse, 8501 Carnegie Ave. See
the show from September 13 - November 17. Center hours are Tuesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., remaining open on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Children under12 are always free; adults are free on Fridays.

If that lost library book or has been weighing heavily on your child’s conscience, if he or she has been shouldering a heavy load of extra chores to earn enough to pay for that damaged CD, we have good news. September is Get Out of Jail Free Month at your local library.

According to children’s librarian Cathy Hankins of Cleveland Public Library’s Carnegie-West Branch, kids under the age of 18 can bring their library card in this month and get their record cleared of all fines, fees and lost items. Call the library at 216/623-6927 for more details.