Dogwood

The Dogwood Summer Youth Theater will present the sequel to the story of “Anne of Green Gables”, “Anne of Avonlea” which covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley.   The play follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea School.  It includes many of the characters from “Anne of Green Gables”, as well as new ones like Mr. Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy.
The cast will include 36 parts. Youth ages 12 and up are encouraged to audition on Wednesday, May 16 or Thursday, May 17 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Dogwood Center.
This program is funded by a Fremont Area Community Foundation Summer Youth Initiative Grant.
Please call 231.924.8885 for more information. Performance dates are set for July 13 and 14.

The Fremont High School Theatre Company invites you to their 36th season’s production, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” May 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee performance on May 12 at 2:00 p.m. on the Main Stage.
The production is a wonderful theatrical adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ much beloved Narnia. It is a heroic tale of love, faith, courage, and sacrifice. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy discover the magical land of Narnia; where animals both real and imagined talk and walk. The children climb into a wardrobe and out into this magical land where evil and good are fighting to gain control. The adventures that await them thrust them into a life and death struggle.
Click here to purchase tickets on-line now!
Adults Presale Tickets: $10. Adult Night of Show Tickets: $12.
Students 18 and under: $5. Elementary Students: Free Admission with paid adult ticket.
Box Office hours are Tuesday – Friday 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and two hours prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.
NCCA-Artsplace hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  For information, phone 231.924.4022.
For more information, call 231.924.885.

The Newaygo County Community Choir presents “Music from the Masters” with the Fremont High School Orchestra. Free admission. Main Stage. 3:00 p.m.

Come experience local talent as the Newaygo County Community Orchestra presents their first concert!
Free admission. Black Box. 3:00 p.m.

This performance will be a magnificent evening with the Satellite Ballet and we hope you join us!
Satellite Ballet, under the direction of choreographer Troy Schumacher and producer Kevin Draper, designs collaborations between digitalartists, dancers, musicians, photographers, and writers. The Dogwood Center premiered their debut production “Empire” in 2010 and they performed “Progress” , “Epistasis” and “Cosmonaut” in 2011.
Satellite Ballet will perform two new works this year, exploring their unique form of ballet, multimedia and cutting edge musical composition.  The new works will be a ballet and a song cycle that further explores the stories and characters introduced in the ballet.  This new story is set in New York, and tells the tale of a woman who meets a thief who has collected her past – and offers it to her in exchange for her future.
These new works will take the Satellite Ballet exploration further into an intense, integrated experience.  The music is now accompanied by a soundscape, using both live musicians and computer sampling during the performance.  Lighting design advances to include lighting the actual space as well as the performance, to transform the theater architecturally.  Projections create a realistic, but also fantastical, setting from live shots of the city of New York.  As always, the dance performers are from the New York City Ballet, young dancers at the top of their careers and the finest in the world.  The Satellite music ensemble are a unique blend of classical music, and an indie music sense of melody and drama.
The program will also include an expanded version of the well received ballet “Epistasis” which was previewed last year at the Dogwood Center and then performed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City in October of last year.
New York City Ballet dancers involved in the production include:  David Prottas, Sam Greenberg, Lauren King, Ashley Laracey, Emilie Gerrity, Taylor Stanley, and Lydia Wellington.  Musicians include Nick Jaina, Nathan Langston, David Moss, and Amanda Lawrence.
This program is supported through funding from Fremont Area Community Foundation, Nestle Nutrition/Gerber Products and SAP.
7:30 p.m. Main Stage. Click here to purchase tickets! Adults $15.00, children 18 and under $5.00. Tickets are also available at the Dogwood Center Box Office or at NCCA-Artsplace in downtown Fremont.
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 am – 2:30 p.m. and two hour prior to an event. For more information please call 231.924.8885.
NCCA-Artsplace hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  For information, phone 231.924.4022.

Cirque Amongus will provide “Circus Day” at the Dogwood on Friday, June 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Discover the Big Top Within….Cirque Amongus, a one-day Circus Camp will introduce children, ages 6- 12 years old, to a range of circus skills.  There will definitely be an abundance of fun as participants laugh and giggle while they ride unicycles and tiny bikes, walk a tightrope or with stilts, jump rope, do magic tricks, stay atop a rolling barrel, swing on a trapeze, or learn to juggle.
In the morning, students will learn each of the 10 different circus acts.  After lunch, they chose their favorite and spend the afternoon perfecting it and putting together an act with other participants, assisted by Cirque Amongus instructors and volunteers.  At the end of the day, when their families come back, the whole troupe puts on a show with their newly found skills.
The daylong program by Cirque Amongus, a Livonia company that brings all the equipment and instructors for “Circus Day”, will promote teamwork, self-esteem and fun throughout the day.
The cost for the day is $30 per child.  Children must be ages 6 – 12 years old to participate and the program will be limited to 50 participants.  It will be a full day of activities between 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.  and followed immediately with a performance for the families at pick-up time.  Children will need to bring a sack lunch.  Light snacks will be provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  Advanced registration is required. Click here to register today! Or register through the Dogwood Box Office or downtown Fremont at NCCA-Artsplace.
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and two hours prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.
NCCA-Artsplace hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  For information, phone 231.924.4022.

When two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, they want to get out of town and get away from the gangster responsible, Spats Columbo. They’re desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is an all-girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a ukulele-playing vocalist. Joe sets out to woo Sugar Kane while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. Mayhem ensues as the two men try to keep their identities hidden and Spats Columbo and his crew show up for a meeting with several other crime lords.
Click here to purchase tickets. $5. Comedy. Not rated. Running time 120 minutes. 1959.
Dogwood Box Office hours are Tuesday – Friday 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and two hours prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.
NCCA-Artsplace hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  For information, phone 231.924.4022.

The Dogwood Center is replaying popular January Series lectures! Admission is free.
3:00 – Dancing with Dinner – Speaker: Joel Salatin
Joel Salatin is a fulltime alternative farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.  He writes extensively for agriculture magazines and is a popular speaker who defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.  His family’s farm, Polyface Inc, has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Gourmet, and countless other radio, television and print media.  Profiled on the Lives of the 21st Century series with Peter Jennings on ABC News, his after- broadcast chat room fielded more hits than any other segment to date.  The farm achieved iconic status as the grass farm featured in the New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma by food writer guru Michael Pollan and more recently the movie Food, Inc.
4:30 p.m. – How God Became King – Speaker: N.T. Wright
“There is just now a fashion for upholding something called ‘Nicene’ Christianity. But the great creeds of the fourth and fifth centuries were never intended as a complete teaching syllabus, and when used that way they screen out the central theme of the four Gospels: How God Became King (aka The Kingdom of God). Western Christianity has thus lurched between a faith based on incarnation and cross (but without ‘kingdom’) and a social-gospel ‘kingdom’-movement (but without incarnation and cross). How can we put back together what the Gospels were trying to tell us all along?”
Tom Wright is a leading New Testament scholar and former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. His academic work has usually been published under the name N. T. Wright; his books aimed at a more popular readership, such as What St Paul Really Said and Simply Christian, are published under the less formal name of Tom Wright. He is generally perceived as coming from a moderately evangelical perspective. He is associated with the so-called Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, and the New Perspective on Paul (a complex movement with many unique positions, originating from the probing works of James Dunn and E. P. Sanders). He argues that the current understanding of Jesus must be connected with what is known to be true about him from the historical perspective of first century Judaism and Christianity .
Wright has written over 50 books.
He has completed three books in a projected six-volume scholarly series Christian Origins and the Question of God. These are The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God and The Resurrection of the Son of God.
He has also written books on a popular level, including The Challenge of Jesus and the recently completed twelve volume For Everyone Bible commentary series in a similar vein to William Barclay ’s Daily Study Bible series.

The Dogwood Center is replaying four of the most popular lectures from the 2012 January Series! Admission is free.
3:00 p.m. – Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – Speaker: Eric Metaxas
In a decidedly eclectic career, Eric Metaxas has written for Veggie Tales, served as writer and editor for Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint, and written for the New York Times.  He is a best-selling author whose  biographies, children’s books, and works of popular apologetics have been translated into Albanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, and Macedonian.  He is the founder and host of Socrates in the City: Conversations on the Examined Life, a monthly event of entertaining and thought-provoking discussions on “life, God, and other small topics” held in New York City.  He is a frequent cultural commentator on CNN and the Fox News Channel and he has been featured on many radio programs, including NPR’s Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation and others.  He is the author of two highly acclaimed biographies Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
4:30 p.m. – Adventures of the Appalachian Trail  – Speaker: Jennifer Pharr Davis
After graduating from college with a Classics degree, Jennifer wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. She is drawn to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175-mile footpath that stretches from Georgia to Maine. Though her friends think she’s crazy and her mom worries about her safety, she sets out alone to hike the trail, hoping it will give her time to think about what she wants to do next.
The next four months prove to be the most physically and emotionally challenging season of her life. She quickly discovers that thru-hiking is harder than she had imagined: coping with blisters and aching shoulders from the 30-pound pack she carries; sleeping on the hard wooden floors of trail shelters or trying to put up a tent in the dark; hiking through endless torrents of rain and even a blizzard.
With every step she takes, Jennifer transitions from an over-confident college graduate to a student of the trail. She learns that she is stronger than she thought she was as she braves situations she never imagined before her thru-hike. The trail is full of unexpected kindness, generosity, and humor. And when tragedy strikes, she learns that she can depend on other people to help her in times of need. Read more about her 2005 AT journey in her adventure memoir, Becoming Odyssa. It is a drama filled, laugh out loud, coming-of-age story that will be enjoyed by both hikers and non-hikers.
Jennifer has hiked over 11,000 miles of Long Distance Trails. She has trekked on 6 continents and currently holds endurance records on The Appalachian Trail, Long Trail and Bibbulmun Track.

Thomas D. Jones, PhD, is a veteran NASA astronaut, scientist, speaker, author, and consultant. He holds a doctorate in planetary sciences, spent more than eleven years with NASA, and few on four space shuttle missions. On his last flight, Jones led three spacewalks to install the centerpiece of the International Space Station, the American Destiny laboratory. He spent fifty-three days working and living in space. He piloted B-52D strategic bombers, studied asteroids for NASA, engineered intelligence-gathering systems for the CIA, and helped develop advanced mission concepts to explore the solar system prior to joining NASA’s astronaut corps.
This program is sponsored by: Fremont Area Community Foundation, Chemical Bank, Newaygo Conservation District, the Gerber Foundation, and the Newaygo County Dark Sky Astronomers.
Click here to purchase tickets. Adults $10, free admission for children 18 and under but ticket is required. Main Stage. 7:00 p.m.