Compiled by Kevin Coughlin
Apocalyptic choirs. Student films. Roses. Chinese virtuosos. Beethoven. Barn owls.
It’s another peripatetic weekend in Greater Morristown!
Scroll down for more details.
And don’t forget to check our handy calendar for more activities.
THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2015:
The Informal Lens is your chance to stare through the camera barrel to discover the people behind the photos at Morristown’s 70 South Gallery. This informal conversation starts at 6 pm with Jay Seldin and Callie Wohlgemuth, whose work is featured in the gallery’s Cuba, Asia, and The Mad Hatter show. Seldin is an award-winning photographer who teaches at New York’s International Center for Photography. Wohlgemuth is a promising talent at Morris Knolls High School. Admission is free, but guests are asked to RSVP.
Watch Out: A Juried High School Film Festival premieres at the at 6 pm. Organized by the film production program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, it showcases young filmmakers from across the state. Admission: $5. At 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morris Township. Call 973.971.3706 for more.
FRIDAY, JUNE 5:
The Morristown Neighborhood House and Cornerstone Family Programs hosts the 10th Annual Phenomenal Women Celebration luncheon at the Hyatt Morristown from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. This year’s honorees: Kathleen Stoppiello, a Jefferson Township High School senior who founded nonprofit Project Stay Gold to combat human trafficking; Judy Martinez, a Morris County community volunteer with Preschool Advantage and Friends of the Blind; and Debra King, charter member of Morristown Women in Business. Keynote Speaker: Col. Donna Brazil, Ph.D., retired from West Point Military Academy. Donna will address women in the military, and the luncheon will help support Cornerstone’s new female veterans program, Operation Sisterhood. Register here, or contact Kim Pistner at 973-538-5260 X 316.
They called it “The War to End All Wars.” They were wrong. A century later, was World War I worth it? Scholars will kick that one around, among many other topics, at Drew University’s Dean Hopper New Scholars Conference, titled History on Trial: Rethinking the Discipline, Rethinking the Past. Starting at 1 pm and continuing on Saturday, the confab also will re-examine World War II, the Cold War, Prohibition, capital punishment, and how historical events have been treated by Andy Warhol and other pop culture icons. Depictions of Jewish women in film also will be explored. Admission for both days is $80; it’s $30 to attend only a keynote address and dinner; undergraduates with ID may attend for $20. Register online here.
Morristown High School’s third annual Student Film Festival starts at 6 pm in the school media center. Twenty short videos will compete for great prizes! Discover tomorrow’s Spielbergs and Lucases. This year’s theme: New Jersey. At 50 Early St.
Emotions Anonymous, a 12-step program, meets at 7 pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, at Miller Road and Maple Avenue in Morristown.
The EastRiver Chinese Ensemble brings a virtuosic blend of “classical, folk era-pop and quizzical fusion” to The Minstrel in Morris Township at 8 pm. These musicians are veterans of state-run orchestras in northern China, transplanted to New York. Admission: $9, children 12 and under, free. At the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road.
British bad boy Billy Idol brings his ’80s classic power pop hits (Rebel Yell, White Wedding, Dancing with Myself, Eyes Without a Face) at the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 8 pm. Tickets: $75-$150. At 100 South St., Morristown. Call 973-539-8008 for more.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6:
The Dean Hopper New Scholars Conference, History on Trial: Rethinking the Discipline, Rethinking the Past, concludes Drew University. Please see Friday entry for details.
The Morris Tourism Bureau continues its spring walking tours at 10 am with The Seeing Eye’s Training Ground. Learn about The Seeing Eye, walk the streets where the dogs train, and see how Seeing Eye dogs respond to their owners. North America’s first guide dog training school, now headquartered in Morris Township, was founded in 1929 by Morris Frank. Your guides are the husband and wife team of Jim and Ginger Kutsch; Jim is Seeing Eye president and CEO, and Ginger volunteers with the organization. Both are graduates of The Seeing Eye. The tour starts at 14 Maple Ave., between Market and DeHart streets, Morristown. Tour size is limited to 30. Cost: $15. Please pre-register and pre-pay online at morristourism.org. For additional information call 973-631-5151.
The Harmonium Choral Society presents its June concert, Apocalypse Now,
at 7:30 pm at Grace Episcopal Church, Madison, with encore performance on Sunday night. This show features Randall Thompson’s “hair raising” The Peaceable Kingdom from 1936 and works about the end-times — “both scary and comforting” — by Stanford, Takach, Bernstein and others. Also featured is the winner of Harmonium’s student choral composition contest: Mendham High School junior Zachary Catron. (Runners-up include longtime MG Kids contributor Carl Hausman, now a freshman at Mount Olive High School.) Tickets are $25 ($20 for students/seniors). Email here or call 973-538-6969 for more information. At 4 Madison Ave.
SUNDAY, JUNE 7:
A rose is a rose is a rose. Or is it? Find out at The Potting Shed: As Fair as An English Rose, at noon at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township. The horticultural staff will discuss the history and care of the modern day rose. Register here, or call 973-326-7603. Cost: $5 to participate, free to listen to the overview. At 353 East Hanover Ave.
Feeling owlish? Perch in the Morristown & Township Library at 2 pm for All About Owls, a presentation boasting a real owl and an educator from the Raptor Trust. Learn why owls are such deadly nighttime hunters, and identify the eight species in New Jersey. Admission: Free. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library. At One Miller Road, Morristown.
Queen Victoria could have been called Queen Horticulture. Those Crazy Victorians; Plantsmanship in Great Britain circa 1837-1901 digs into the matter at 2:30 pm at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township. The $40 fee includes a one-year membership to the Friends of The Frelinghuysen Arboretum. Proceeds benefit the Rare Book Collection. For more information, call 973-326-7603. At 353 East Hanover Ave., Morris Township.
The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey continues its Baroque and Beyond series at 3 pm with an all-Beethoven program including his Symphony #3, Eroica, and Piano Concerto #4, showcasing Lynn Czae. In Dolan Hall at The College of Saint Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road, Morris Township. Tickets: $40/$30/$5 (Adult/Senior/Student) available at the door, online or by calling (973) 366-8922.
Clerical sexual abuse has dramatically changed how government deals with the Catholic Church. How dramatically? Seton Hall political scientist Jo-Renee Formicola will analyze the situation at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Harding. The 3:30 pm talk, Clerical Sexual Abuse: How the Crisis Changed US Catholic Church-State Relations, is sponsored by Voice of the Faithful New Jersey and is free to the public.
The Adult Sibling Loss Group meets at 7 pm at 95 Mt. Kemble Ave. in Morristown. For more information, please contact Abby Moller at (973) 285-1580.
The Harmonium Choral Society presents its June concert, Apocalypse Now, at 7:30 pm at Grace Episcopal Church, Madison. Please see Saturday entry for details.
