Collaborating at Christ Church

Music as Meditation brings a Multi-Media Show 

to Christ Church

This season, the Music as Meditation series is every more collaborative than it has been. For our November 3^rd event, I've switched roles. I'm producing a theatrical/musical/visual art performance by a very interesting artist who goes by the name Barbara Toothpick. Ms. Toothpick attended a recent Music as Meditation and pitched the idea of using the event to stage her show. As soon as I began to read the script she sent me, I was a gung-ho supporter. Not only was the piece rife with humor of the most reflective sort, but she talks about raising worms. Any fellow-vermiculturist gets my full attention and I read on. This show is a reflection on so many aspects of life. I am looking forward to my role on the day of the show—as audience member. I hope many of you will join me. 

Some things about this performance remain the same as previous Music as Meditation events: It's on the first Sunday of the month at Christ Church in North Conway. There is no admission fee. We will accept donations toward the upkeep of the beautiful Steinway at Christ Church. The generous congregation of Christ Church is lending us the space and we are all hoping that attenders and artists alike will come away refreshed and ready for the next adventure life hands each of us.

Visual, Musical, and Theatrical artist Barbara toothpick will present One-Woman Show With Alan on Sunday, November 3 at 5 pm at Christ Episcopal Church as part of the Music as Meditation series. Featuring 17 costume changes, three life-sized effigies, and original music and paintings, toothpick’s show depicts her quest for what she can trust in an ever-changing world. Toothpick describes the show as “a romp” and notes, “It’s not preachy and telly, it’s showy and do-Eeeeeee!” It is directed and produced by Sarah Dalton-Phillips and Helen Swallow. Toothpick’s quest encompasses her reflections on the body, the solar system, poetry, visual arts, “the stern patterning of music,” her learning to become a team with mate Alan HorseRadish and raising children, and her view of all individuals. The multidimensional show will evoke “the delightful roller coaster road” she and Alan have traveled in pursuit of their artistic creations.

Working in the interface between painting (acrylic and watercolor) on triangular canvases, composing soundscapes with visual scores, and poetic writing of all kinds, Barbara toothpick’s work was recently seen in 2018 in a show at the University of Maine at Machias (with Alan HorseRadish). This year her work has been on view at Eastport Gallery, the Tides Institute, and Eastport Art Center. She currently has a book in the Philadelphia Center for the Book’s show at City Hall in Philadelphia. For the past three years, she has produced Play Theater in Philadelphia. Under the name Barbara Bodle Kirschenstein she earned BS and MA degrees from Ball State University.

While attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Alan HorseRadish painted large acrylic paintings but soon changed to watercolors, creating heavily saturated seascapes and faces. He has shown his paintings at the University of Maine at Machias, the Tides Institute, and many places in Philadelphia. Under the name Alan Kirschenstein he earned a BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

The show is part of the Music as Meditation series coordinated by Ellen Schwindt and hosted by Christ Episcopal Church. Admission is free, but donations are welcome and will go toward the upkeep of Christ Church's beautiful Steinway piano. For more information about the show or the Music as Meditation series contact Ellen Schwindt at ellenmschwindt@gmail.com.