St. Lawrence Arts Center

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Join Rob Tod and the crew of Allagash Brewing Company on August 11 for a fun night of beer tasting, food, music, and a short film, all to benefit the St. Lawrence Arts Center! 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Performances by Sean Mencher and his Rhythm Kings and the Weatherheads as well as a short film on Allagash by Reggie Burrows Hodges. Of course, there will be plenty of Victor Ale on hand too.

Victor Ale is part of Allagash Brewing Company’s Tribute Series Ales and the “buck a bottle” campaign to benefit local non-profits.  Allagash contributes $1 from every bottle of Allagash Victor sold to help realize the mission of the St. Lawrence Arts Center, a National Historic Landmark. The church, built in 1897 by Arthur Bates Jennings in the Romanesque, Queen Anne style, is accented with turrets and over 90 stained glass windows; it is a distinctive and unique building whose history and mission serves Portland well as a performing arts center.
The Victor Ale was inspired by its feminine-named predecessor, the Victoria Ale. With chardonnay grapes to make the Victoria Ale unique, our brewers decided to use red chancellor grapes for the Victor. Over one hundred pounds of chancellor grapes were crushed on site and added directly to the mash. In addition to a generous portion of Pilsner malt, Victor is hopped with Fuggles and Hallertau and fermented with a wine yeast strain. With a focus on the subtle wine-like character of the grapes, the 9.0% ABV brew maintains a copper color, wine yeast influence and a medium body with a tart and spicy finish.

Dear St. Lawrence and SEINFELD fans,

On Friday July 9th, 2010 Michael Richards A.K.A  Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld came into the St. Lawrence at least twice.

The first time was in the morning to look around..he peeked into the theater and checked the old girl out (the St. Lawrence!) and then later in the afternoon to use the bathroom. Kramer peed in one of our potties!!! Both times, he was in, and he was out! Just like his entrances and exits from Jerry’s apartment.

The St. Lawrence was hopping with activity with Stages, one of our favorite local theater companies,  getting ready for the opening night of their all kid cast of  CATS - which was sold out fabulous every night!

Bobby Lipps, St. Lawrence Tour Guide Extraordinaire and Chief Custodian, didn’t have a chance to grab Michael and give him the famous Bob Lipps tour – and he’s usually pretty quick at grabbing folks for a tour!  We didn’t get to give him our brochure which would have filled him in on our plans to rebuild the sanctuary in a state of the art 400 seat auditorium and redesign the Parish Hall Theater adding 20 or so seats while keeping it the coolest acoustic listening room around. No we didn’t get to give him our pitch..that we’re building one of the best performing arts center on Portland’s Peninsula!  We didn’t get to introduce him to Fritz, our crazy artist-in-residence, or Natalie the Theater Cat, and all the other stuff we know he would have loved to cram into his head during his stay in Portland.

Michael, come back and play the St. Lawrence!   Please Michael…come back!  (PS, we can’t afford your fee…we checked, let there be no mistake, we definitely cannot afford your fee!)

But we can offer you the opportunity to perform in our wonderful little theater to 110 grateful, crazy, happy fans!  We can introduce you to Bobby Lipps (check out his video on the front page of our website!)..He’s our celebrity…the Mayor gave him the key to City, he’s an Honorary Fireman with clout enough to get you on Engine One’s ladder truck (we remember that episode!  He’s the Extension Cord King of Munjoy Hill and and is the St. Lawrence patron saint (St. Bobby of St Lawrence, the patron saint of humor!)

We can get you ride on the Duck Boat, on a lobster boat, a stay in the bum house, introduce you to Jay’s Oyster Bar, get you a tour of all of our local breweries…Allagash, Shipyard, Gearys…we know the beer guys! YOU NAME IT! We’ll do it!

Come back Michael and we’ll show you a good old fashioned time.

And thanks for the visit.

) Deirdre A.KA. professional St. Lawrence Arts Center beggar

On June 14th the St. Lawrence had the pleasure of presenting a unique, heartfelt, dynamic one-man play called MUSE of FIRE. When David Katz came out on the stage, sitting in silhouette, seemingly pondering each of the pictures that flashed from the projector behind him, I was skeptical. Most one-man-plays I’ve seen are obligatorily tongue-in-cheek, or so ridiculously pretentious that it seems like a farce. A very precise balance of seriousness and humor are important in creating a successful story all portrayed by one individual. David artfully pushed this obstacle aside and leapt into a gripping, autobiographical story about a musical sorcerer and what it took to become his apprentice. We met several distinct characters- David himself, his mentor Charles Bruck, and a number of his fellow students. Fully immersed in the story, I was taken completely off-guard by its hard-hitting, emotional, and tragic climax. This was a most excellent masterpiece and I encourage anyone to look up where David Katz will be next.

Jesus and the Pirates, original art by Bob Dyer

Last night I went to see the most recent production of the Stone Pinheads Ensemble – Jesus and the Pirates, a new musical by J.T. Nichols and Charles Brown.

Hey, I was skeptical, I will admit it. I am the Development Director of the SLAC, hired for my natural affinity towards wearing blazers, acting professional at all times, and let’s hope, my ability to raise money for the organization. Plays featuring six foot squirrels who hang with the Lord Jesus Christ, well…it is not normally what I gravitate towards. I enjoy webinars on fundraising, shopping at Mardens for new blazers, and running into big donors “by coincidence.”

But man, the show was funny, and really kept momentum. The music was wonderful, and although it is hard to choose my favorite song, Completely Asshole ranks high. Offensive? Maybe. But I found it quite witty. “Completely Asshole” may just be the hot new catch phrase of the graduating collegiate this year. Its Meaning? To succeed at business at any and all cost you need to go completely asshole.

The Terrorists are fantastic and politically inspired, the Pirates are hilarious, and the Pirettes not only have beautiful singing voices, they are ladies not to be underestimated!

There are three more chances to see the show, tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday (June 4-6). I would say you might never get this chance again to see a production this fun, politically incorrect, and outrageous. For a lightweight like me who watches the Sound of Music every chance I get, even I really loved Jesus and the Pirates.

Although J.T. Nichols was great as Captain Jack “Greeneggs” MacMurder, you can totally see George Clooney doing it as his Broadway debut.

Hats off Pinheads – way to go!

Sunday, April 18th was a great day.

Sonos, an award-winning a cappella group with six voices, sang here at the St. Lawrence and the music and performance that evening was absolutely stunning. There are a number of things most people have come to expect from a cappella as a genre: doo-wop noises, an arrangement of “under the boardwalk”, and an egg shaker. Sonos is none of these things. The group consists of three male and three female voices, and each of them shone as individuals as well as being parts of the whole. The audience, scant though it was, was completely rapt from start to finish. The group played two sets with a short break at about halfway through and during that break I heard most of the people in attendance make some grand compliment about the band, their arrangements, voices or all three. I questioned a number of those audience members and they each agreed: If Sonos made their way into town again soon, everyone would bring five friends to see them.

Even Natalie, our resident feline, enjoyed the show. She couldn’t help herself and during the encore actually got up on stage to sing along!

All in all, a pleasant evening. And yes, we would like to have Sonos here again in the future. The group was a joy to work with, and the music can’t be beat. So here’s a video from YouTube, featuring the song that ended up as my favorite, and that is also quite fitting:

Bobby has been rolling big balls of yarn! All colors, all sizes…but he likes to roll big!

Come in and see his crazy collection of yarn balls!

Julia Kirby is the new (and first ever) Development Director of the SLAC. Julia’s primary responsibilities will be to grow the annual giving campaign, coordinate fundraising events, and implement a capital campaign to support the rebuilding of the sanctuary into a LEED certified, state-of-the-art, 400-seat auditorium.

“I have always loved history and church architecture!  I am truly wowed by the vision of the people who saw the potential of this amazing historic structure and worked tirelessly to see it come to fruition. Now, as the organization turns its attention to rebuilding the sanctuary side of this great landmark, there is no doubt it will realize the same success. I am so excited to be part of  the St. Lawrence and work with such a great group of people!”

Julia was formerly the Deputy Director of Victoria Mansion, another one of Portland’s great nineteenth-century structures.

On some very cold days back in February of 2001, Bobby Lipps and Deirdre Nice were very busy insulating the Parish Hall Theater, which did not have any heat.  In fact, it was colder inside the building than it was outside!

Deirdre was decked out in a super-insulated official US Air Force parachuting suit she had picked up years before at a yard sale, while Bobby was satisfied to wear his good old dickies!  Bobby and Deirdre did not have

any experience as “insulators”, but certainly gained enough experience to consider themselves ‘pro’s’ as they worked their way around 6000 sq ft of the building!   As Bobby has been known to say, “Well Deitra, we might not have done it perfect and we done it kind of slow, but we got the job done!”   The theater opened to the public three months later.

Joseph Delaney has been elected as the President of the Board of Directors for the St. Lawrence Arts Center. Mr. Delaney has served on the Board of the SLAC since 2003 and is a principal architect with Whipple –Callender Architects, Portland. Mr. Delaney has volunteered his professional expertise to other non-profit organizations including the Friends of Evergreen Cemetery and Big Brother-Big Sisters.

Nan Cumming has been elected to the Board of Directors for the St. Lawrence Arts Center. Ms. Cumming is the Executive Director of Portland Trails. She has been keeping her eye on the St. Lawrence for years, on her daily walks to and from her office.  A historian by training, and former assistant director at the Maine Historical Society, Ms. Cumming looks forward to assisting the organization restore and rebuild its magnificent building.

Bruce Hyman, AICP, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the St. Lawrence Arts Center. Bruce is a Transportation and Community Planner and the owner of Bruce Hyman Planning based in Portland, Maine. Since 2007 he has been director of community planning initiatives with GrowSmart Maine also in Portland. Bruce specializes in strategic transportation, land use and economic development planning to help communities and regions achieve their visions.

Sunday, February 28th, the St. Lawrence had a wonderful thing happen- a number of volunteers came in, grabbed mops, screwdrivers, and paintbrushes, and made some great advancements to the appearance of our theater and lobbies. We also met a handful of great new volunteers!

me dusting the windowsill

We still have a number of “larger” projects on the list- things that we will need skilled help for- but there’s another day like this in the works for early summer, so tell your friends. Until then, a big THANK YOU to all our excellent volunteers!!