Writers and Readers at Castle Hill
Novelist Karen Dukess will talk with Deborah Jackson Taffa, a citizen of the Yuma Nation and Laguna Pueblo and author of Whiskey Tender, a 2024 National Book Award finalist, in a Wednesday, Jan. 22 online event as part of Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill’s monthly author chat series.
In her memoir, Taffa braids the history of Indigenous nations in New Mexico and California with stories of her personal struggles and conflict with her parents’ assimilationist ambitions. Taffa drops out through drugs and alcohol before finding a way to integrate her tribal and academic identities.
In a recent course at the Fine Arts Work Center, Taffa drew from her own experience to help fledgling writers who are “consistently swimming against the tide” and “misperceived by others” to hone their craft, according to the course description. She directs the M.F.A. in Creative Writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, a tribal land grant university in Santa Fe.
Dukess is the author of The Last Book Party, set in Truro, and the forthcoming Welcome to Murder Week. She grew up on Tom’s Hill Road in Truro — her mother is artist Mona Dukess. Eager for conversations with other writers, she began hosting both online and live interviews with writers and readers curious about recently published books.
“The format lets people join from anywhere and gives us access to authors from anywhere,” she says. “We can see each other’s faces. It makes for a nice sense of community.”
Subjects range from a writer who creates video games to another whose publications combine writing and drawing. Another writer was a musician whose thrillers involve musical instruments. Some have lived in Truro or have, like Taffa, taught at the Fine Arts Work Center. Others hail from Germany and the United Kingdom.
Each chat lasts about an hour and is free, although donations are appreciated. Participants are not required to have read the book being discussed. The talk on Jan. 22 begins at 6 p.m., and registration is required. See castlehill.org for information. —Susan Rand Brown
A Star-Studded ‘Concert for America’ on Inauguration Day
On Inauguration Day in 2017, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson staged a live “Concert for America” in New York City that brought Broadway and screen stars together to raise money for human rights causes. A dozen similar concerts followed.
With Donald Trump returning to the White House, “Concert for America” is back, too. This year’s version will take place on Monday, Jan. 20 — which also happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And while the event’s focus remains on social justice and helping marginalized people, Rudetsky, in a social media announcement, says it will emphasize “hope, joy and keeping and making the world a beautiful and peaceful place.”
The concert will be livestreamed, and 29 stars are scheduled to perform, including several award-winning Broadway performers with whom Rudetsky has appeared in Provincetown over the past decade-plus: Judy Kuhn, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Jessica Vosk, and Liz Callaway.
Comedian Judy Gold, a Provincetown regular, and drag queen Nina West, who headlined last summer’s Bear Week, are also involved. Other performers and actors slated to participate are Ali Stroker, Cecily Strong, Charlotte d’Amboise, J. Smith-Cameron, Merle Dandridge, Javier Muñoz, Keala Settle, Piper Perabo, and Rosie Perez. Representatives from the Sierra Club, Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Theatre United, and the National Immigration Law Center will also offer how-to-help information on key issues.
In announcing the reboot, Jackson said that past shows gave many viewers hope. And as Trump takes office for the second time, Rudetsky noted, “we will be there not only on Inauguration Day with entertainment and calls to action but over the next four years, too.”
Jackson and Rudetsky have raised money and visibility for multiple causes and won national leadership awards. Their “Broadway for Orlando” recording of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” raised more than $100,000 for Orlando’s LGBT Center following the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. Through 500-plus episodes of the pandemic-era livestream show Stars in the House, they raised $1.3 million for the Entertainment Community Fund and over $600,000 for other charities and became part of the Library of Congress’s Covid history archives.
More information on the series is available at concertsforamerica.com. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
Stories of Racism and Discrimination
Playwright Judith Partelow addresses the elephant in the room at the start of Neighbors: yes, a narrator acknowledges, a white woman created this play about racism and discrimination. But the real-life stories — most of them from Cape Cod — that Partelow wove together came from people of various races and religions.
“We’ve tried to be as authentic as possible with our storytelling and our casting,” says Partelow, a writer, actor, director, and 40-year Cape Cod resident who collaborated with 14 other writers to create 19 vignettes and monologues. “I am passionate about this subject.”
Partelow, director Mark Bishop, and a multi-racial cast of 20 actors will present a staged reading of Neighbors to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. at the 204 Cultural Arts Building (204 Sisson Road, Harwich). New scenes have been added to the script since previous readings held in Cotuit in 2022 and in Wellfleet in 2023 and 2024.
The play began as a final project for an online course about racism that Partelow took during the pandemic. Previously, she had turned poetry into a play called A Woman’s Heart and followed a similar path re-creating real-life encounters for Neighbors.
One scene, starring Truro-based actor Sally Tighe and Bill Salem, depicts a Black woman being greeted at an Osterville bar by a condescending white man who assumes she’s visiting from Harlem. Another is about a Native American man clamming under aboriginal rights who’s reported to police by a white woman about being on her “residents-only” beach.
Group scenes include a discussion about racial slurs; sociology students debating who should be considered white or Black; and people sharing personal stories about discrimination, including a job-seeking model being badly treated because she’s Jewish.
“It can be such a revelation if you haven’t had this kind of experience,” Partelow says. “People in the audience have cried. Some told me they think everybody should see this because it’s so important.”
To reach as many people as possible, says Partelow, the Jan. 20 performance is free, but donations are welcome. See 204sisson.com for information. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
A New Fund to Further an Activist’s Legacy
The Commons in Provincetown is accepting applications for a new grant to fund programs or projects that activate communities on the Outer Cape “around shared challenges that creatively build relationships across differences,” according to a press release.
When writer, lawyer, LGBTQ activist, and Commons founding board member Urvashi Vaid died in 2022, her friends and admirers began raising money for a fund to continue her work and legacy. To date, over 150 people have donated about $400,000 to the Urvashi Vaid Changemaker Fund. The current call for applications is the first from the fund.
Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded twice a year, and smaller grants of up to $500 will be awarded throughout the year. Applications for the grants are due annually on Jan. 31 and Oct. 31.
“The grant is focused on supporting projects and programs based on Urvashi’s work with activism and intersectionality,” says David LaFrance, Director of Operations of the Commons. “The vision for awardees is broad, and the Commons is accepting applications from individuals, artists, nonprofits, and small businesses who are raising awareness in and across a variety of social issues.”
LaFrance adds that funding priority will be given to “groups that have historically been underrepresented,” and projects will be assessed according to intersectional engagement, community need, community activation, and long-term impact.
See provincetowncommons.org for more information. —Abraham Storer
Winter Weekends Offer Art in the Off-Season
A new cooperative venture by several Provincetown art galleries and venues will provide some welcome color and community involvement during the remaining months of the off-season.
Presented by the Provincetown Art Gallery Association (PAGA), the Winter Weekends in Provincetown series will take place monthly over four weekends beginning Saturday, Jan. 18. Each weekend will include events curated by PAGA member galleries, artists, and creators, and will include a special “anchor” event to provide a central focus for the weekend’s programming.
The first round of Winter Weekends programming from Saturday, Jan. 18 to Monday, Jan. 20 (over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday) will include the Outer Cape Artists open call art show at the Commons (46 Bradford St., Provincetown) as its anchor. The exhibition will be on view on Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Monday, Jan. 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Other events that weekend include a viewing of current exhibitions at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (460 Commercial St.) on Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19 from noon to 5 p.m. and two afternoons of music by WOMR DJ Mike Ployer — who will play the “best songs” and playlists from 2024 — at Schoolhouse Gallery (494 Commercial St., Provincetown) on Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19 from noon to 5 p.m.
All events are free. See provincetownartgalleryassociation.org for more information. —John D’Addario
