Puppet show based on Eric Carle books

Children’s author Eric Carle, who lived in Northampton for decades, was known for books including “Brown Bear, Brown Bear,” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Now, those books (and a few others) are part of a puppet show, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show,” which will be at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Tillis Performance Hall on Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m.

The 50-minute show features puppet adaptations of the two above stories as well as “10 Little Rubber Ducks” and “The Very Lonely Firefly.”

All performances of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show” are sensory-friendly. According to the show’s website, they include “sound levels that are never too loud,” “no abrupt/startling sound or light cues,” “house lights that remain at half-on throughout the performance so that the theater is never fully dark,” and “a firm ‘no shushing’ policy, where nobody with sensory-processing issues is asked to quiet down during a performance.”

Not including fees, tickets are $15 for youths 17 and under and Five College students, or $30 and up for adults via fac.umass.edu. Adults can also get 25% off up to two adult tickets with the purchase of a youth ticket.

 

Colorful seawall paintings

Hatfield-based artist Georgia Pugh has an exhibit currently on display at Oxbow Gallery in Easthampton. The exhibit, “Seawalls Then and Now,” continues Pugh’s years-long series of oil paintings portraying “ruined structures of iron, concrete, rock and rebar, built to keep the water from the land,” according to an artist statement. Pugh says that she uses “imagery to provoke a sense of the perpetual interaction and struggle between human will and the forces of nature.”

Pugh’s work is in numerous public and corporate collections throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, the Library of Congress, Boston Public Library.

“Seawalls Then and Now” is on display through March 30. For more information, visit oxbowartgallery.com.

 

Reading and Q&A with Tolley Jones

Straw Dog Writers Guild will feature regular Gazette columnist Tolley Jones in “Good Trouble,” a reading and conversation event at the Friends Meetinghouse in Northampton on Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m.

Jones, who frequently writes about topics like racism, grief, and her family history, will read selections from her column. Northampton Center for the Arts co-director Heather Geoffrey will speak with Jones about being a writer.

There will also be a Q&A after the reading. 

For more information, visit strawdogwriters.org.

 

Murder mystery dinner theater

The Inn on Boltwood in Amherst will host “With a Nik Nac Paddy Whack Murder Mystery” on Saturday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m.

The 18+ event will feature a murder mystery show, appetizers, dinner, coffee, and dessert, plus a DJ and dancing after the show.

Tickets are $95 per person via https://tinyurl.com/3m4fzmpz.

 

South Hadley Chorale’s concert

The South Hadley Chorale’s annual concert will be at Abbey Memorial Chapel at Mount Holyoke College on Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m.

The concert will feature “Frostiana” by Randall Thompson, “Magnificat” by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and “Sheep May Safely Graze” by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The chorale has 70 members who range in age from their 20s to 90s.

Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for seniors, and $5 for students and children at the door. Advance tickets are $20, $15, and $5, respectively, from members of the Chorale, from Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, or via eventbrite.com.

 

Pink Floyd/Talking Heads/Phish tribute band

Pink Talking Fish, a tribute band that combines the music of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish, will bring their unique musical approach to The Drake in Amherst on Thursday, March 20, at 8 p.m.

This show will feature two sets. The first will be a full playthrough of the Pink Floyd album “Wish You Were Here,” and the second will be a combination of songs by the three bands from which Pink Talking Fish takes its name.

What does that entail, exactly? According to the event description, “Discovering connections is part of the fun.” The band fits Pink Floyd’s “On The Run,” for example, into Phish’s “You Enjoy Myself,” and it puts Phish’s “Sand” with Talking Heads’ “Slippery People.” With that, it said, “The story is ever evolving. The experience is always thrilling. No two shows are ever the same.”

Tickets are $30 in advance via thedrakeamherst.org/events/pink-talking-fish-3-20 or $35 at the door.

 

Art exhibition about ‘love, in all forms’

Wistiriahurst Museum in Holyoke will open its third annual Women’s History Month art showcase today, March 13, at 4:30 p.m.

This year’s theme, “Love, in all forms,” is a collection of work that reflects the idea, according to a press release, that love “can be painful, a process, joyful, romantic, platonic, a feeling, an object, a memory; love is beautiful in all its forms.”

All of the artists in this exhibition identify as female or non-binary. Featured artists include Dawn Allen, Mariana Cicerchia, Isabella Livoti, and Katherine McClelland, among others.

 

Florence Poets Society seeks submissions

The Florence Poets Society is seeking poems for the 18th edition of its annual publication, “Silkworm.” The book’s theme is “cycle,” and it will be published this fall.

To enter, submit up to three of your own poems of up to 50 lines each in one Word document, plus a 30-word bio, at florencepoets.com/p/silkworm.html.

The deadline to submit is this Saturday, March 15, at 5 p.m., and both members and non-members can submit their work for free. All poets selected for publication will receive a free copy of the book.

 

Call for artwork celebrating the human figure

Workshop13 in Ware is looking for works about the human figure for a juried art show, the 4th Annual Celebrating the Figure exhibition, at its ArtWorks Gallery.

New England artists (who are 18 or older) are invited to submit up to three works in all applied mediums (painting, sculpture, and printmaking, for example, but not photography or digital media) for the show.

Realist painter Eliza Moser, who works in South Hadley, will be the juror for the show.

The deadline is midnight on Wednesday, March 19. The show will be on display from Saturday, April 19, through Sunday, May 25, with an opening reception on April 19 from 3 to 5 p.m.

To submit your work or for more information, visit workshop13.org/exhibitions/celebrating-the-figure-4-call-for-art.