Tag Archives: “Suffs”

Roundup: Parking Limits, Women’s Rights, Minute Man Race …

Posted on April 19, 2024 | 4 comments

Enforcement of downtown parking limits — suspended 4 years ago, during COVID — begins again May 1.

The good news: They’re now 3 hours, up from the previous 1 and 2 hours. (One exception: Post Road East parking remains 1 or 2 hours.)

Enforcement will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week.

Some parking areas are designated for all-day parking.

Click here for a map of all downtown parking lots, including aerial views, and the number of timed, all-day and electric vehicles spots. The map is also shown here:

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More police news: The WPD is investigating a car vs. canine accident last Saturday (April 13), at 11:30 a.m. on Compo Road North adjacent to Winslow Park. A driver struck a dog, then left the scene.

Anyone who witnessed the accident should email jkimball@westportct.gov.

Dogs occasionally run away from Winslow Park. (Photo/Mark Mathias)

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Yesterday’s “06880” story on “Suffs” — the musical about early 20th century suffragists that opened last night on Broadway — highlighted producer Jill Furman, a Westporter.

There’s another local connection: 2008 Staples High School graduate Leo Stagg.

A former Staples Player member (and winner of the Paul Steen Award for Fine Character, Dedication, Honesty, and Excellence in Performance), he is the head carpenter for “Suffs.”

His mother Heli — who runs the Westport Library café — was at last night’s show.

The “Suffs” set.

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Speaking of women’s rights:

State Representative Anne Hughes will discuss reproductive justice issues, in Connecticut and the nation, after this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport service.

Hughes — whose district includes Weston, Easton and Redding — has sponsored pro-choice legislation that expands the eligibility of trained practitioners, nurses, and physician assistants to provide abortions, and blocks Texas and other states from targeting Connecticut patients, doctors and advocates.

The event is sponsored by UU Westport’s Reproductive Justice ​​Committee. The public is invited to the April 21 10 a.m. service, or the discussion only, which begins around 11:30 a.m.

Questions> Email beth@uuwestport.org, or call 203.227.7205, ext. 10.

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There’s a new “Passage” at Pasacreta Park.

That’s the name of Niki Ketchman’s new sculpture. It was installed yesterday at the peaceful oasis on Riverside Avenue, across from Saugatuck Elementary School.

The work is part of a joint initiative between the Westport Arts Advisory Committee, Westport Parks & Recreation Department and the Parks & Recreation Commission, to beautify town parks. It is on loan for 5 years.

Ketchman — whose work has been exhibited at the Katonah Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, and the Aldrich and Bruce Museums — can  visit her work often. She has lived in Westport for almost 50 years. 

A public dedication is set for May 4 (4 p.m.).

Sculptor Niki Ketchman (umbrella) watches the installation of “Passage” at Pasacreta Park. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Diamond)

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The Westport Young Woman’s League is sponsoring 2 great — and very different — events.

The 45th annual Minute Man Race  Sunday, April 28 at Compo Beach.

The main event includes a certified USA Track and Field 10K run, 5K run, and 5K walk.

Kids Fun Run activities involve a 50-yard dash, 100-yard dash, 1/2-mile run and 1-mile run, featuring a Kids Zone during and after the race.

On-site refreshments include a food truck, ice cream truck and beer truck.

Race net proceeds benefit a number of area charities. Click here to register, and for more information.

The next day — Monday, April 29 (Christ & Holy Trinity Church, 11:30 a.m.)– the WYWL hosts a lunch with chef and TV host Lidia Bastianich.

The 3-course meal features Bastianich’s recipes. All attendees get a gift from Cuisinart. There’s also a free raffle.

VIP ticket holders meet Bastianich in person, take photos and get an autographed copy of her book, “From our Family Table to Yours.”

The event highlights the Young Woman’s League grant program. Click here for tickets and more information.

The start of a Minute Man race.

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The Rock & Roll Legends exhibit — dozens of Michael Friedman’s photos from the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones, The Band, Janis Joplin and more — draws a constant stream of visitors to the pop-up gallery on Church Lane.

On May 14 (7 p.m.), it will draw a large crowd for an Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser. 100% of ticket sales go the non-profit.

The event includes stories from Friedman himself, Q-and-A, and a raffle to win a photograph and signed book.

For tickets ($100), click here; then click “Donate to the Team” once, and — on the next page — “Donate to the Team” again.

Questions? Email mindiroca@yahoo.com, or call 914-806-3090.

Michael Friedman in his pop-up gallery. His photo shows Levon Helm, legendary drummer for The Band.

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Whether you watched this month’s solar eclipse in full totality (amazing, we’re told), or here in Westport (less so), you probably have a set or two of special sunglasses sitting around somewhere.

You can hold onto them for the next eclipse, years from now.

Or you can donate them to Astronomers Without Borders. The non-profit recycles them. Click here for more information.

The nearest collection sites are in Bethel and Shelton.

That’s a lot closer than the sun.

 

Recycle those eclipse glasses! (Photo/Amy Schneider)

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Seth van Beever ties together today’s “Westport … Naturally” image, and next month’s holiday: “This dogwood tree at 22 Treadwell Avenue was planted for my mom‘s first Mother’s Day, in 1976.”

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And finally … Dickey Betts died yesterday in Florida. He was 80, and suffered from cancer and chronic destructive pulmonary disease.

The New York Times called him “a honky-tonk hell raiser who, as a guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band, traded fiery licks with Duane Allman in the band’s early-1970s heyday, and who went on to write some of the band’s most indelible songs, including its biggest hit, ‘Ramblin’ Man.'” Click here for a full obituary.

(Have a great weekend! No matter what you plan, “06880” will be here for you. We’re your 24/7/365 hyper-local blog. We rely on reader support. Please click here — and thank you.)

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Posted in Downtown, Entertainment, Local business, Police, Politics, religion, Staples HS

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Suffs!

Posted on April 18, 2024 | 6 comments

“Suffs” premieres on Broadway tonight.

Does a musical about early 20th century suffragists — with an all-female and non-binary cast — seem like a tough sell?

Well, what about one on the life of Alexander Hamilton — someone most Americans before 2015 had only vaguely heard about, with non-white actors and a hip hop score?

Could “Suffs” producer Jill Furman — a Westport resident — have another “Hamilton”?

Maybe. She produced that one too.

That blockbuster was not her first smash. She’s produced “In the Heights,” “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” “West Side Story” and “The Drowsy Chaperone,” among others.

Jill Furman

But Furman’s involvement with the theater did not begin until her 30s. After graduating with an art history degree from Brown University, she headed to Los Angeles for a job in “a different kind of art”: film.

She began doing “typical stuff — bringing the boss’s dog home from the office” — but gained experience on sets.

Fed up with LA, and eager to start a film production company, Furman headed back east to Columbia Business School.

“I didn’t have to take math at Brown,” she says. “I was scared of numbers. But I knew I needed that background.”

She raised money for “a film no one saw.”

Then, pivoting to theater — following the lead of her father, an entertainment investment banker who had become a producer — she associate produced 3 shows.

While working on Broadway’s “Sly Fox” in early 2003, an actor she knew told her to check out a show being workshopped in a Manhattan basement.

“It blew me away,” Furman recalls of “In the Heights.”

“It was music I’d never heard on the stage before. Lin-Manuel Miranda was a baby — in his early 20s. But he was ridiculously talented.”

Furman put her money where her mouth — and heart — were. Backing that show was “the thing I’m most proud of,” she says.

Bringing a show to Broadway is a long, risky process. It is often a labor of love.

But, Furman notes, “it feels so good to be part of something I really believe in.” With every project she tries to strike a balance between mass audience appeal, and something that feels “different and fresh.”

In the 2009 “West Side Story” revival, that meant including Spanish lyrics and dialogue. For the 2013 “Cinderella,” it was the young servant opening the prince’s eyes to injustices in his kingdom.

With “Suffs,” it’s bringing an important but overlooked piece of history to life — at a moment when it is “more timely than ever,” Furman says.

She went to an all-girls high school. But she never learned about the suffragists.

Women like Alice Paul have been lost to history.

Furman first heard of “Suffs” in 2014. She knew of “up-and comer” Shaina Taub — who wrote the book, music and lyrics — and was impressed with the passion with which Taub pitched the concept.

Furman signed on in 2016. The plan was to be in production in 2020 — the 100th anniversary of enactment of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

But COVID shut down Broadway.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton — expected by some to be the first female American president — had been defeated by Donald Trump. His Supreme Court appointees overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision seen by many as an assault on women’s rights.

Clinton was not in the White House. Instead, she was available — and eager — to help produce “Suffs.”

In fact, it was Clinton’s concession speech — it which she told “all the little girls” to never doubt they deserved “every chance and opportunity in the world” to pursue their dreams — that had inspired Taub to keep working on “Suffs.”

Another important backer is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai.

The show has come a long way from its Off-Broadway opening at the Public Theater in 2022.

“It feels less like a history lesson,” Furman says. “It’s funnier. The humanity of the characters feels deeper.”

At a time when women’s rights are under attack, the true story of the suffragists — including their internal divisions over race and class — is crucial to be told, Furman says.

Though the Broadway calendar is crowded — 18 new shows are opening this spring — the early buzz has been exciting.

Word-of-mouth — crucial for theatrical success — is excellent. Theater insiders have spoken passionately about it.

“Suffs” on stage. (Photo/Sara Krulwich for the New York Times)

It’s been a hectic couple of months for Furman, who splits her time between Westport and New York.

She’s had little time to enjoy her waterfront home here. “It feels like a vacation,” she says of Westport. “It’s easy to get to. It’s beautiful, relaxing, and the people are great. I could sit outside all day long, and never move.”

There’s little chance of that. “If we get in the Tony mix, it’ll be crazy through mid-June,” Furman says.

In any event, she’s already thinking about her next project: a musical based on “Wonder,” the 2017 film about a boy with a facial deformity.

Like “Suffs,” Furman says, “It’s another amazing story that deserves to be seen.”

(“06880” is where Westport meets the world — and Broadway, and history. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, History

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