Parenting classes; senior lunch; join the band; Poetry Month at Misty Valley; theater classes in Weston

Positive Parenting classes at CAES

The Collaborative is offering a free, six session, Positive Parenting course at 6–8 p.m., Tuesday, March 19, April 2, April 30, May 14, May 28 and June 11 in the library of the Chester-Andover Elementary School, 72 Main St.
The course, facilitated by Nancy Pennell of Chester, will teach strategies to improve family communication and family bonding. Parents or guardians will learn how to create a positive family atmosphere in which everyone is more likely to choose respect and cooperation.
Participants receive their own family guide workbook providing activities, discussion topics, as well as skill-building exercises and information on positive parenting techniques.
This course is recommended for parents or guardians of children in elementary school.
Snacks and childcare will be available. For more information or to register, contact The Collaborative by calling (802) 824-4200.

Chester Senior Citizens Club luncheon meeting

The Chester Senior Citizens Club is holding its monthly potluck luncheon meeting at 11:30 a.m., Monday, March 18 at the Chester First Baptist Church at 162 Main St. Attendees are asked to bring a place setting and dish to share. Gail Gibbons, Meals on Wheels board chair, and her husband, Bob, will give a presentation on the program. For more information or if you need a ride, call (802) 875-6242.

Misty Valley celebrates Poetry Month with Palma

Misty Valley Books will celebrate National Poetry Month with a special 4-part series on the works of William Wordsworth presented by Professor Michael Palma at 7 p.m. on consecutive Wednesday evenings April 3 through April 24.

He will present The Child is Father of the Man. The free sessions will last about an hour.

Author Michael Palma

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the most important figures in the history of English poetry. His Lyrical Ballads (1798), co-written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is universally acknowledged to be the beginning of the Romantic Movement.

Michael Palma, an acclaimed poet and translator, led  insightful discussions of Robert Frost’s poetry at Misty Valley.

Palma’s own poetry has appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies.  He is also an essayist, editor, critic and translator of other Italian poets, and his Inferno translation was reissued last year in paperback. He lives with his wife, Victoria, in Bellows Falls.
An edition of Wordsworth’s collected poems is available for sale at the bookstore.

Jam with the Springfield Community Band

The Springfield Community Band invites current and past members, and local musicians of all levels to join their first practice of the year, from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 14th in the auditorium at Riverside Middle School, 13 Fairground Road in Springfield. Musicians are asked to bring their own instruments. The band is seeking a location in Springfield to construct a bandshell and develop a concert site with lights and a roof allowing for community in all weather. For more information on the practice, or to offer suggestions for locales, contact conductor Nick Pelton at peltonn@gmail.com.

Rural Vermont annual celebration

Rural Vermont’s 2013 annual celebration will take place 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 at the Vergennes Opera House, 120 Main St., Vergennes. The keynote speaker will be Philip Ackerman-Leist, director of Green Mountain College’s Farm & Food Project and author of Rebuilding the Foodshed.
There will be a finger food potluck, wine and beer cash bar and raffle prizes.
The event is free and open to the public. Donations benefit Rural Vermont. For more info or to RSVP, call (802) 223-7222 or email Shelby Girard at shelby@ruralvermont.org.

Youth, adult theater classes offered at playhouse

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Co. is offering two classes this spring, one for adults and the other for children, to take place on Tuesdays, from April 23–May 21 in the company’s rehearsal space at 703 Main St., Weston.
For students, grades 4 through 8, they offer Broadway Bound at 4–5:30 p.m., and the adult class, Community Cabaret will be at 7–8:45 p.m. Broadway performer and Weston regular Susan Haefner is back to teach both classes.

Susan Haefner

Broadway Bound is designed for kids who love to perform. The course will cover singing, dancing and acting plus the basic skills needed to become a young Broadway actor. Students will develop confidence and learn how to project for the theater. The class fee is $85.
Community Cabaret will focus on choosing material, learning songs, developing skits and other skills needed to present a cabaret show. An additional session may be added to present the cabaret for an audience. The class fee is $125.
Deadline for registration is April 10. Class sizes are limited. Registration forms can be downloaded at westonplayhouse.org > Education > Classes. For more information, contact education director Jacki Brown by phone at (802) 297-7364 or email at jbrown@westonplayhouse.org