Door County Arts: Herbst part of Northern Sky 'Holidays'; Celtic/roots concert at So. Door

FISH CREEK - Northern Sky Theater favorite and artistic director Jeffrey Herbst will be joined by his friends Ryan Cappleman and Tom Donoghue to perform "Home for the Holidays," the company's annual holiday concert series.

The concerts offer what is meant to be an uplifting evening of seasonal songs and holiday humor, according to the theater company. While the series is an annual event, its program and cast changes each year. 

Also, this is the last year the concerts are being held in Old Gibraltar Town Hall in Fish Creek. They are scheduled to move to Northern Sky's new campus in 2019.

Herbst has been with Northern Sky since 1991 and became artistic director in 1993. He began his collaboration with Heritage Ensemble, Northern Sky's predecessor, in 1985. He has worked on more than 60 original productions with Northern Sky, including "Guys on Ice," "Lumberjacks in Love," "Packer Fans from Outer Space" and "Bone Dance," and has performed on and off Broadway as well as at regional theaters throughout the United States.

Cappleman returns to Northern Sky after music directing the company's "Guys & Does" and appearing as the Space Bear General in the Milwaukee Repertory cast of "Packer Fans From Outer Space." The Milwaukee-based, award-winning choreographer and director just finished co-starring in "Billy Bishop Goes to War" at Third Avenue Playhouse in Sturgeon Bay. 

Herbst's friend from their early careers in New York, Donoghue currently produces benefit concerts while writing songs, screenplays and musicals. He played Marius in "Les Miserables" on Broadway and on its national tour and was with Michael Crawford as a featured singer in "The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber" at Radio City Music Hall and on tour. Donoghue also has appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" and sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" for the finals of a basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.

"Home for the Holidays" takes the stage at 7 p.m. Dec. 28, 4 and 7 p.m. Dec. 29, and 4 p.m. Dec. 30 and 31 at Old Gibraltar Town Hall, Spruce and Maple streets, Fish Creek. General admission tickets are $24 for adults, $14 for ages 17 and younger, and are on sale. Each show will feature a drawing for gift certificates from local businesses.

For tickets or more information, go to the Northern Sky box office, in the Shops of Green Gables, State 42 on the north side of Ephraim; call 920-854-6117; or visit northernskytheater.com.

Kuhns award in online art show

A painting by Egg Harbor-based artist Jeanne Kuhns received an Award of Excellence in the “Our Bond With Nature" juried online exhibit for Manhattan Arts International.

Kuhns said “New Matriarch” combines her strong connection to nature to handle the recent loss of her mother.

”The loss of my mother was profound and unexpected," Kuhns said in a press release. "We have a strong matriarchal, wise-women line in our family. I painted this to survive the huge emptiness after Mom died." According to Kuhns, the work portrays "the oldest daughter, the new matriarch, the home fire," adding that she feels "responsibility to line her nest with familiar memories where all feel welcome to gather, wanting to keep the love flowing in the family, firmly rooted in the past, but looking forward to the future.”

“Our Bond With Nature" is part of Manhattan Arts' "The Healing Power of Art and Artists" series of online exhibitions. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the natural world and "our need to honor, protect and preserve it," according to the website. Kuhns' painting is one of 66 works of art selected for the juried show.

Manhattan Arts seeks to promote artistic excellence with a focus on promoting under-recognized artists and increasing traffic to their websites. Visitors to Manhattan Arts' website are invited to view the artists’ artwork, read about them, visit their websites and contact them directly to exhibit and purchase their work.

The exhibit remains online through Dec. 25, 2019. To see it, visit healing-power-of-art.org and click on "Our Bond With Nature Exhibition" under the Art Exhibitions tab.

Kuhns also has the original painting at her Lost Moth Gallery, 7975 State 42, Egg Harbor.  It is open Saturdays during the off-season.  For more information, visit lostmothgallery.com.

Celtic/Americana at Southern Door

Celtic/Americana duo Switchback returns to Door County for a concert Saturday, Nov. 16, at Southern Door Community Auditorium. 

The duo of Brian FitzGerald and Martin McCormack draws on traditional Celtic music and original Americana songs that reflect their Irish heritage and Midwestern roots. Playing a mix of mandolin, guitar and bass, their harmonies have won them comparisons to famous duos such as the Everly Brothers and Simon and Garfunkel. 

It was 1993 when the two singers/songwriters formed Switchback and set out on the road to take their roots/Celtic soul sound to music halls and festivals across the U.S., Canada, Ireland and other countries around the world.  They have shared the stage with a number of internationally well-known artists over that time, notably The Moody Blues, Leon Russell and John Hartford.

The duo regularly plays more than 200 shows a year, including a number of appearances in Door County, most recently at the Sunset Concert Series in Egg Harbor in 2017. The Southern Door concert will feature a mix of original and traditional Irish music and songs from Switchback's catalog of over 300 Americana tunes, possibly including the occasional Johnny Cash or Hank Williams tune or a soulful rendition of “Danny Boy.”

Switchback has released 13 albums, and its television specials “The Americana Sessions” and “The Celtic Sessions” have aired on PBS stations throughout the U.S. On top of its usual tour schedule, Switchback regularly presents outreach programs for schools, community events, senior citizen groups and special-needs audiences.

For more on the band, go to WayGoodMusic.com.

Switchback is in concert at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 Southern Door Community Auditorium, on the grounds of Southern Door Schools, 2073 County DK, just west of State 57, Brussels. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 seniors, $8 children, and are on sale. For tickets, visit sdauditorium.org; for more information, call 920-493-5979.

Gallery exhibit a 'Celebration'

Meadows Art Gallery in Sister Bay holds a reception Saturday, Nov. 16, for its new exhibit, “Celebration.” The public is invited to meet the artists with work in the exhibit, and wine and snacks will be served.

The show features 90 pieces created by eight artists, seven of who have previously shown at Meadows — Mary Bosman, Madonna Siles, Diane Saron, Beverly Hart Branson, Christy Ohman, David Franke and Marcia Nichols — and one new to the gallery, painter Carol Schalla.

The exhibit has the artists stretching and growing their usual styles and techniques, curotar Tom Seagard said. It includes paintings and pastels, mixed media, collage and assemblages.

The reception for "Celebration" runs from from 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 16 at Meadows Art Gallery, in the Meadows Apartments at Scandia Village, 10560 Applewood Road, Sister Bay. The exhibit is up through Dec. 7. The gallery is open during regular Scandia business hours, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information, call 920-854-2317 or 920-854-4416.