Nov. 22: Play that goes Wrong, holiday bazaar, culture grant

“The Play that Goes Wrong” entertained audiences at four weekend performances, including a Sunday matinee. According to director Tod Sebens, everything went exceptionally well. “I am really pleased. I think it was one of the best shows – if I can say so myself – that Haines has had. The set was fantastic, the actors did their jobs beautifully.” Each performance incrementally increased in audience attendance, with an almost full house for the Sunday matinee. Sebens said that’s unusual. “I think the word just got out more and more each day,” he said. Not only was the play well attended, varying from an approximate 30% theater capacity to an eventual 90% on the last day, but there were repeat audience members as well, with some reportedly attending two or more performances. The weekend ended with a cast pizza party on Sunday night at the Fogcutter Bar. Cast are reportedly preparing a slideshow with photos of the play – with an emphasis on photos of minor bruises, scrapes, and cuts sustained during the performances.

Locals Thom Ely and Aimee Creelman have returned home from an eight-week trip to the Lower 48. The couple visited parents in New England, spent some time in Vermont, and went to Newport, Rhode Island for former resident John Brainard’s 70th birthday party. The celebration was held at Brainard and Portia Witley’s Rhode Island home. Ely also spent some time at a family cottage in Connecticut, which was built in the 1940s. “I spent my childhood summers there,” he said. Ely also attended Willy Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival. The travelers stayed with Nick and Kim Bird in Seattle on the way back, arriving home mid-November.

The Haines Woman’s Club held its 91st annual holiday bazaar on Saturday , with a good turnout, both in terms of vendors and shoppers. “The turnout was great,” said Judy Ewald, who has been involved with the club for more than 10 years, “The gym was full… It was fun. Everybody seemed happy to be out and about.” The bazaar hosted around 35 vendors, with a total of 40 tables. Among the many vendors was a large table of Woman’s Club baked goods, and a homemade chili table hosted by “the husbands” of the club. This husband-hosted table advertised itself as “woMAN’s Chili.”

Correy Ericksen and Abby DeKoekkoek were married on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Left Bank Annex, a converted industrial event space in Portland,Ore. The wedding was attended by parents Mira and Randy Ericksen and Steve and Carol DeKoekkoek, and was officiated by Mira Ericksen’s sister, Laura Hyman. There were 10 members of the wedding party, one of whom was Correy’s sister, Dana Ericksen, who was his “Best Person.” The wedding was in the late afternoon, followed by dinner and dancing.

Haines School alumnus and junior at Michigan State University Mark Davis recently auditioned for the super-competitive Detroit Opera. After a seven-hour audition, which dad Matt Davis described as “grueling,” the 21-year-old Davis secured a spot as a second chair trumpet player, despite competing against master’s-level performance students, some of whom drove from as far away as Kansas for the audition. The position is paid. “He texted me, “Daddy, Detroit is 70 miles away. The bike’s not gonna cut it,” said Matt Davis. Mark Davis won the state fair talent show earlier this summer.

Lani Hotch was recently awarded a grant for $100,000 from the Native Arts and Culture Foundation. Hotch’s SHIFT award will be distributed over two years and will be used to mentor four apprentices in the creation of five Chilkat Salmon Protector Robes, “which will be utilized as a tool for advocacy and cultural education on the vital importance of the Chilkat River Salmon and the prevention of industrial development that threatens the Chilkat River/watershed,” according to a press release about the awards. The SHIFT grant program supports artist and community-driven projects responding to social change issues through a Native lens, according to the foundation’s website. Hotch, a Chilkat weaver and culture bearer from Klukwan, has previously used the art form for cultural healing in the 2001 Klukwan Healing Robe project.