Purchase tickets online valleyperformingarts.orgat or call our office at 907-373‐0195 for more information. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at performing‐arts.facebook.com/valley‐
Age 9
2022MID-SEP2PAGE Theatre Coloring Page Maria, Age 16
Age 7
Miriam,
Blake,
Age 4
Arts is proud to present this season‐opening comedy full of heart and laughter. Co‐written by one of the screen writers of NBC’s The Golden Girls, this play is sure to tickle your funny bone and more. Come join the FUN with VPA!
Dearly Departed opens September 16th and runs through October 2nd.
Ticket prices are $19 Regular Admission, $17 Seniors 65+/Students 18 and younger. The production will be at Valley Performing Arts, 251 W. Swanson Avenue, in Wasilla.
Contributed by VPA
Piper,
In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South is seldom tidy and always Despitehilarious.their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father’s funeral, the Turpins’ other problems keep overshadowing the solemn Amidoccasion.the chaos of rising funeral costs, a pack of no‐neck monster kids, possible infidelity in the family car and junk food binges, the Turpins find comfort in their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull
together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the Valleyfuneral.Performing
Oncareer.Saturday,
DENISE GALLAGHER, CONFERENCE ILLUSTRATION CONTEST WINNER.
This annual conference is organized with support from the Alaska chapters of Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Alaska Writers Guild’s 2022 Conference for Writers & Illustrators will be held in Anchorage on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st at the Loussac Library Event Center.
Contributed by Sharon Aubrey
Over two days, there are numerous break-out sessions allowing participants to select from a menu of professional resources to best meet their individual literary objectives. This year’s conference keynote speaker is William “Bill” Kenower, visiting from South Carolina. He is a professional author, editor, and host
ARTWORK BY SCBWI MEMBER
If you’ve ever wanted to improve your craft as a writer or illustrator and/or wanted to network with literary agents, editors, and other professional writers and illustrators, this is your chance!
For more information about attending, please visit the Alaska Writers Guild website: alaskawritersguild.com/conferencewww.
of the Author2Author podcast. On Friday, Bill will teach “Fearless Writing” and “Fearless Marketing.” Additionally, other Friday sessions will include several literary agents helping authors improve their publishing game plan and refine their pitches for increased success. Later in the day, Alaska’s children’s book author and former AWG president, Brooke Hartman, will present a session on writing children’s picture books. To wrap up the day, New York Times bestselling editor Angela James will present on avoiding common missteps in your professional author
In addition to the various professional workshops and break-out sessions, the time spent networking during lunch and other breaks present a wonderful opportunity to build relationships with other locals. It’s exciting to talk with your literary peers working on various projects in different genres. Both prospective and professional authors and illustrators will be rewarded by exploring new ideas, sharing methods for success, and learning new apps or tools others are using.
presentations will explore diverse topics, including: creating a small press; perfecting your proposal and pitch; acquiring an agent; the art of illustrating and working as an illustrator; and honing your craft through workshops on writing tension, perfecting dialogue, building the reader-character connection, crafting memoirs, and developing good free verse poetry.
Bill Kenower will also host a session called “Failure to Launch” for authors who have hit a slump in their writing journey and could use some new strategies to achieve greater success. Saturday’s lineup also includes a variety of editors from New York, literary agents from California, and numerous local publishing directors, editors, and authors, including AWG President Caitlin Buxbaum and AWG Digital Outreach Director Lorna Rose. The
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your calendar! The Wasilla episode of the Valley Arts Alliance Alaska Home Companion—A Frontier Variety Show! will be broadcast live at 7pm Saturday, October 22, 2022, at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry in Wasilla. The suggested donation for this event is $15. A cash bar will be open during the event.
everyday living in Alaska. In previous episodes, we heard from The Roving Reporter, Mom and Louie, and Guy d’North, as well as news from Lake Willowa, Mukluk Radio, and Coffee
Talk.The2022
season is our ninth year producing The Alaska Home Companion—A Frontier Variety Show, and we will continue with new music and skits, occasional impersonations of local celebrities, and will be occasionally broadcast live by Radio Free Palmer on 89.5
To see exciting scenes of these episodes, visit our Archive Pages at www.ValleyArtsAlliance.com.
Coming to you Saturday, October 22, from the historic Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry (MATI) next to Wasilla International Airport, the 2022 Premier Episode of The Alaska Home Companion—A Frontier Variety Show!
Contributed by Carmen Summerfield
Would you like to hear stories about the best, the worst, and the silliest of everyday living in Alaska?
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For those of you who haven’t seen or heard one of our episodes, The Alaska Home Companion—A Frontier Variety Show! features interesting stories by Alaskans about the best, the worst, and the silliest of
MATI is our favorite Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, and The Alaska Home Companion—A Frontier Variety Show! is the Valley Arts Alliance rendition of a live radio broadcast from the golden age of radio, with skits, and music, similar to the popular Prairie Home Companion radio show on NPR.
Sheaffer.Theprogram includes the Ukrainian National Anthem (“Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrany”) by Mykailo Verbytsky. A tune that has emerged as a symbol of unity as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the anthem originated with a 19th century poem titled “Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet” which was set to music, according to the National Anthems Info
Mat-Su Concert Band got its start in 1984 as the Mat-Su Community Band, formed by Matanuska Music owner Hank Hartman. Other directors have included Neil Long and Phil Munger.
The concert features several more contemplative pieces to match the season. Joseph Kosma’s “Autumn Leaves” is an iconic jazz ballad in an arrangement by Alfred Reed that showcases the rich harmonic language underlining the melody with a “masterful thick and sonorous orchestration,” according to the publisher’s program notes.
this season numbers about 70 amateur musicians who assemble every Monday night for rehearsals at Teeland Middle School.
Composer Julie Giroux dedicated “One Life Beautiful” to the memory of Heather Cramer Reu, who died at 42 while riding her bicycle in New Mexico. “The title itself is a doubleentendre which in one sense is referring to the person this work is dedicated to as in “one life” that was beautifully lived,” Giroux’s own program notes say. “The other sense is a direct observation concluding that having only one life is what makes life so sacred, tragic and so very precious.”
Contributed by Drewcilla Holifield
Theorg.
Mat-Su Concert Band celebrates the strength of our musical connection to the community with a fall concert after a hiatus of more than two years.
band classics – and yes, there are a few marches – with several less traditional compositions and a virtuoso piece: Alfred Reed’s “Ode for Trumpet” featuring soloist Doug
Performanceswebsite.
2022MID-SEP6PAGE Music
were banned in 1922 when Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union but the anthem was restored when Ukraine regained its independence upon the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992.
Current director Huyck is a retired music educator and private instructor. Under his baton, the band performs a wide-ranging selection of challenging Themusic.band
Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students. Children under 5 get in free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.matsuconcertband.
The band will also perform classics including Frank Erickson’s “Toccata for Band” – conducted by assistant director Shawn Campbell – and Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” as well as “America the Beautiful” and selections from the musical “Chicago”.
The “Strike Up the Band … Again” concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Glenn Massay Theater at Mat-Su College.
band, made up of about 70 members under the baton of director Gleo Huyck, last played together in early 2020, before pandemic restrictions temporarily ended rehearsals. This fall concert combines
Cozy, the lovable musk ox, shows how helping your friends is always the right thing to do— no matter who is watching. Brett’s art is inspired by expeditions to Alaska, where she encountered musk oxen in the Matanuska Valley, horned puffins playing at a waterfall on Fox Island in Resurrection Bay, and a charming pod of beluga whales carrying seaweed on their heads in Turnagain Arm.
bigger concern—his friend Bella the beluga whale is about to get trapped in fast-forming ice. Cozy races to the inlet, where Bella is in trouble. Luckily, he thinks of a new way to use his strong legs and tough horns to help save her.
Theparents.Musk
This dear friend of the Musk Ox Farm is offering a rare opportunity to have her sign and personalize your copy so that it’s available on the release date of November 8th. Get your personalized copy availablemuskoxfarm.org/musk-ox-books,atwhilesupplieslast.
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Contributed by Musk Ox Farm
With over 44 million books in print, JAN BRETT’s exquisite art is universally recognized as being among the finest in children’s books today. For over 40 years, she has brought highly-praised folktale retellings to millions of youngsters, their teachers, and
Setfriend.inAlaska,
Jan Brett, one of the most prolific children’s book authors and illustrators, is following her recent bestseller, COZY (the musk ox!) with a follow-up, COZY IN LOVE!
“Awe-inspiring detail of the frigid Alaskan landscape and its creatures will enchant readers.”School Library Journal
COZY IN LOVE (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; on sale November 8, 2022) is a gorgeous reimagining of the classic folktale, The Crow and the Pitcher. No one does winter like Jan Brett. The Alaskan landscape and animals will delight teachers, librarians, and kids. After a defeat in a battle of strength, Cozy is convinced he’ll never impress radiant Lofti. But while he is sulking, he learns of a
Ox Farm was honored to work with Jan on her first musk ox book, “Cozy,” and are thrilled that Cozy is coming back, better than ever, and this time with a new
ArtsBooks
Wrap a KAT around your neck, a KAT scarf that is. Handcrafted individually designed scarves, all beautifully rendered in supple luxurious silk by designer Kitty Kincaid can revolutionize your wardrobe, kickstarting it into high gear. Her one of a kind scarves can make the most unexciting garment pop. Using a combination of techniques from batik to Italian marbling, each KAT scarf is a unique work of art.
Kincaid was bewitched by the artistry of batik with it’s reverse layering of colors and waxes laid one on top of another to ultimately create a design. She decided
Go to cirquejournal.com. Click on Back Issues. Look for Volume 11, No. 2, with the painting of the red salmon on the cover. Check the table of contents for
also explored Italian marbling and admits her first attempts were abysmal. With some training from a visiting New York artist, her early failures were transformed from blobs into beautifully flowing marbleized silken wonders.
With ten times the population of Alaska, there were possibilities of meeting many nice creative folks, and I planned to do lots of writing and editing.
when you get cancer, you hop on that horse and ride that bronco as long as you must. I did eventually meet lots of nice creative folks, just mostly over CirqueZoom.
turn out not-so-great. In October 2019 I left Alaska for what I thought would be a two-year stint in Sun City, Arizona. I knew already I wouldn’t like the heat but wasn’t there for the climate. I moved 2670 miles closer to family and friends I didn’t see often. It will be fun, I thought. It will be easy, I thought.
she markets her one-of-akind scarves on her website and in the Valley at Matsu Senior Services Gift Shop. Though crafted in silk, all scarves are both washer and dryer safe, a huge
Contributed by GoodrichRebecca
non-fiction and you’ll see my name, and well, you know the drill. In further book news, the chapbook about my father, Emergency Rations: How One Young Tail Gunner Survived World War Two, is under consideration at Fathom Publishing in Anchorage. Currently it’s available as an eBook on Smashwords.com.
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Contributed by Charice Chambers
Kincaidstyle.
literary journal published a chapter of my forthcoming memoir last year. This year that chapter received first place at national level competition run by National Federation of Press Women, an 85-year-old organization, with chapters in Alaska since 1961. See link: Eventinyurl.com/5n7u4y86better,youcanread that memoir chapter for free online.
interests. Always one to try new mediums, her mother convinced her to join a silk painting class through APU. There she learned the intricacies of applying silk paints and dyes to fabric using Guttas or resists which were intended to prevent the colorants from bleeding into unwanted areas of the design. Excited by the medium, Kincaid, who had always loved scarves, realized that they were the perfect products to showcase her painting skills. Soon she was off and running, developing her own signature
to write a memoir of any sort must delve into the past, with all its pain and joy. It’s often a perilous adventure, to do that personal archaeology and discover much—beautiful and heart-breaking both—you didn’t even suspect of lying beneath the surface.
Those cheer-leading phrases in my brain knew nothing about the future. Nobody knew there would be a worldwide pandemic. (I didn’t do well with quarantine, doing little or no writing or editing.) Nor did I imagine I’d get breast cancer, requiring a third year in a distant place to start and finish treatment. But
As some of you know, I wrote a memoir, finishing the draft in 2019. Then I thought I’d pop down to Arizona for a bit. Some great ideas are destined to
to visit Indonesia to tour it’s myriad batik factories. There she gleaned much about not only the batik process, but gained techniques that helped to refine her skill with the canting, a sort of batiking pen. It is filled with melted wax which is then used to draw a design on cloth prior to multiple layer dyeing.
Contact Goodrich by phone: 480-6827520, or email: scribing@hotmail.com
Kincaid’s silk scarves can be seen in the shop on Saturday, September 17th from 10 am to 4:30 pm in conjunction with the first annual Senior Walk and Vendor Fair.
bonus for the customer. The gift shop is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 2 pm and located at 1132 South Chugach Street, adjacent to and across the street from Palmer Junior Middle
InSchool.addition
Returning home, what had started as a hobby, became a personal passion. Her professional career was not going in directions for which she had hoped. Taking a giant leap of faith, she poured her energies into her passion as a full-time silk scarf artist. She did trade shows up and down the West Coast as well as across the Midwest for a time. She has now scaled back her effor ts to something a bit more manageable. Kincaid produces only 100 to 125 scarves a year for which she admits there is high
There’s a name for people who write a memoir: time evenAnyonetraveler.who’sattempted
Born and raised in Alaska, Kincaid also lived in Oregon and Hawaii. She earned a Graduate of Arts degree in Oregon and later followed it with an MBA in business. Along the way, she mastered silk screen printing, and for a time, produced products related to her sports
to regular hours, this week
Finally, now, this time traveler has packed up her laptop and her cat, to return to “the brilliant stars in the northern sky.” It will be a ground-kissing Seemoment.youend of September. I’ll be staying in Wasilla initially, hanging my Consulting Editor shingle up in the Great Land once again.
Currentlydemand.
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forty a plan contrived
The cold that measures records, breaks The lows below the zero makes And climbs to where a heatwave slakes, The body and the mind.
LEAVES
THE PRISON WITHIN
A doppelgänger is revived
It’s alright to me, it’s apart of the promotion. Now nobody’s knowing it’s out there.
By Robert Lyons
WINTER’SProseCOLD
I stand there staring a tree so tall I cannot see the top shinning beads of light scattered on never ending branches emitting memories smells of freshly baked muffins gooey chocolate chips and pumpkin spice my mother smiling from the kitchen licking frosting from our fingertips the sound of my best friends laugh the warmth of my childhood cat memories captured in time enveloped in tiny crystals clinging to branches the excitement from my first swim meet and dance performance the feeling of rain and a good book I keep them here in my tree of glittering diamonds memories captured from days gone by
THERMAL MATES
Oh, the pain, this suffering, this cage, it was too much to bare, The rage, the endless malevolence, the uncaring, my cup always empty then one morning I didn’t wake up, and it wasnt there, niether am I I thought, unaware, smiling ear to ear, Now having plenty, unhindered up here
By Charles Dean Walker
Shading, fading, graying ‘til none, passing restlessly from the sun, the chilling whispers - summer’s done.
By Katherine Baker
It felt amazing to see myself selling for the first few days on Amazon. However, I made not a dime.
Conversion as equals strived, Asymmetry no more.
Then from Fahrenheit to Centigrade Once calculated and overlaid In numbers temps do escalade, Obverse sums of their mate’s.
My mind’s awareness Never sleeping with windchill Intensifies it.
Branches shiver, quiver, wither, in a rush, the shadows slither, leaves afloat abandoned river.
MEMORY TREE
By Sharon Ann Jaeger
By Haley Keil
Living my dream in reality, but it ain’t going the way I thought it would. Now I’ve self published my first book of poetry. Hopes, Dreams, And Worries.
He is her pillar of fire, her cloud of glory trunk and branches her tree of knowledge the burning bush from which God speaks unconsumed
though the flame shines from afar the night seems darker still and death, dark and alone presses heavily where the weight of love’s body once enclosed her
By Nan Potts
Poetry &
Am I a ButProbably.failure?perhapsIcan gain the attention to readers, by going back to where my art first showed. A place where thousands read for free. Whether this book fails or not, my art doesn’t stop.
Forming, swarming, blackened sculptures, overhead, intrusive vultures, bulging with imminent rupture.
Silhouettes merging, diverging, back and forth in silent surging, responding to nature’s urging.
By Yvonne Moss
AtBut,minus
Subzero nights bring Stabbing chill but warms to ice Ensues a heatwave.
SWAMPFIRE, WILDFIRE
CHECK OUT MY BOOK: HOPES, DREAMS AND WORRIES
Andrea Childers, who is also their teacher, took first place in the open division and second place in the final Congratulationround.
Contributed by Andrea Childers
THE ALASKA STATE FAIR FIDDLE CONTEST
If you have a student interested in private lesson or would like help
David Bachelder, who has been playing for one year, took first place in the youth division and advanced to the final round.
to Wren from Anchorage who took 1st place in the final round and Elias, also from Anchorage, who took 3rd in the final Weround. look
The Alaska State Fair Fiddle Contest was held September 3 at the Colony Stage. We are so proud of all the Wood & Wire students that competed this year!
Antoinette Mancini took third place in the open division and has only been playing fiddle one year.
forward to next year and hope to see more valley musicians represented.
Come see us at our new location at 3020 N Glenn Highway in Palmer.
training for next year’s fiddle contest, please contact Wood & Wire Guitars & Music at 907 745-7457 or Andrea Childers 907 887-4710.
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year, they practiced very hard and competed very well!
Silas Hanestad and Laura Bachelder both competed in the teen division. While they did not place this
