Halloween partygoers at the Downriver Council for the Arts’ Monster Mash Bash on Oct. 8 at the Wyandotte Arts Center show off their costumes. From left are Ashleigh Alley of Lincoln Park and Tammy Trudelle (DCA executive director), and Chrissy and Kurt Hunter, all of Wyandotte. The party included the screening of the 1925 silent movie “Phantom of the Opera,” starring Lon Chaney, and the performance of a scene from a scary play by the Wyandotte Community Theatre.
By Evelyn Cairns
The Downriver Council for the Arts kicked off a month of ghosts, goblins and scary fun Oct. 8 at its Monster Mash Bash at the Wyandotte Arts Center.
Lining the steps leading to the center were pumpkins carved and decorated by DCA members at an earlier contest. Winners were Bobby Murray, Erika Fessler and Josh Torres.
Glen Reynolds, dressed as a muscular motorcycle rider, won a costume contest. Competitors included Tammy and Jeremy Trudelle (she’s DCA executive director), and Chrissy and Kurt Hudson, who wore costumes depicting different flavors of M&Ms.
In addition to pumpkins, decorations included ghosts, garlands, spiders and black and orange bal-loons.
Deejay Bulldawg provided music for dancing, and the 1925 silent movie “Phantom of the Opera,” starring Lon Chaney, was screened. In addition, the Wyandotte Community Theatre staged a scene from “Neighborhood Three,” a play about teenagers addicted to an online horror show.
The play will be presented in its entirety at 7 p.m. October 21, 22, 28 and 29 at the Arts Center, located at 81 Chestnut.
Additional activities at the center include a free family-fun Halloween-themed event from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 21, and the distribution of candy to trick-or-treaters who visit the center between 5 and 8 p.m. on Oct. 28.
An opening reception for an exhibit featuring the Michigan Woodworkers Guild and & Sculptors Guild of Michigan is slated for 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 28. The show will continue through Nov. 23.
Entries are being accepted for the DCA’s Winter Mixed Media Fine Art Show, to be held Dec. 1 to Jan. 13.
Prizes of $100, first place; $50, second; and $25, third, will be awarded. Drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture or textiles relating to the season are being accepted. There are no size restrictions. Artists must be 18 or older.
Additional information and entry forms are available by calling 734-720-0671 or going to www.downriverarts.org.
Lecture series starts Oct. 20
Sally Kellerman, film, television and theater actress, best known as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H*,” will kick off the 2011-12 Downriver Town Hall Lecture Series at 11 a.m. Thursday at Crystal Gardens, in Southgate.
Nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Glove Award for the role, Kellerman also was the voice behind the Hidden Valley Salad Dressing commercials, performs the voiceover for a current Milky Way spot and is a singer with two CDs.
The speaker appeared in the movie “Back to School,” opposite Rodney Dangerfield, and in “Big Blond” and “Boynton Beach Bereavement Club.” Her most recent CD, “Sally,” produced in 2009, features jazz, blues and rock.
Additional speakers in the Town Hall series will be J. Rufus Fears, Ph.D., professor of classics at the University of Oklahoma, Nov. 10; Steve Ross, pianist and cabaret singer, Jan. 12; Carol Hughes, comedienne, Feb. 9; and journalist Nick Clooney, father of actor George Clooney, and brother of the late Rosemary Clooney, March 8.
Lecture-series subscriptions are $60, regular, and $90, patron. Doors open at 10 a.m. Luncheons preceding the talks are $52.50, for all five, or $10.50 each. Additional information is available by calling 734-783-9224.
Crystal Gardens is at 16703 Fort St.
DYPAC sets Terp benefit
The Downriver Youth Performing Arts Center will sponsor a “Ladies’ Night Out” program from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday to raise funds for Terp Theatre to conduct a shadow-signed performance for the non-hearing at the Nov. 13 DYPAC staging of “Cinderella.”
Wine and snacks will be served at the ladies’ program, which will offer shopping for handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, pastries, gourmet foods and household items.
Additional performances of “Cinderella” are scheduled for Nov. 11, 12 and 19.
For more information about the fundraiser or the play, call 734-671-2202 or go to www.dypack.com.