SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local author Patricia A. Nugent has published her third book, “Healing with Dolly Lama: Finding God in Dog.” 

The book, Nugent says, is a fulfillment of a promise made to the heavens when her puppy suffered a near-fatal accident and reflects upon her experiences with the puppy who became her beloved companion and muse.

Exploring the human-canine connection and the divinity found in everyday lives, it is the story of how healing can come from unexpected sources.

After a long career in public school administration, Nugent was looking forward to retirement without obligation and deadlines. But then she was gifted a puppy by a well-meaning colleague. According to Nugent, she neither wanted nor needed this puppy. Until she almost lost her. 

Nugent begged the Universe to save her puppy, promising that they would “do something good” if Dolly survived the fall. Drawn from her private journals, that promise became this book –

Nugent’s previous books include “They Live On: Saying Goodbye to Mom and Dad,” and “Before They Were Our Mothers.” 

A reading will be held at noon on Dec. 5 at the Presbyterian New-England Congregational Church in Saratoga Springs. The theme of the reading is “Angels Among Us,” and 20% of all book sales will be donated to Community Outreach Court, a local project assisting homeless people charged with nonviolent offenses. 

“Healing with Dolly Lama” is available at Northshire Books. For more information, go to: journalartspress.com/healing-with-dolly-lama.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The band Chicago, and Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, along with Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin have announced a co-headlining 25-city tour across the U.S. that will stage a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 17, 2022. 

The tour will kick off June 7 in Phoenix, Arizona and conclude July 26 in Clarkston, Michigan. 

Tickets on sale Dec. 3 at livenation.com. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Home Made Theater will host open auditions for their February musical production of “They’re Playing Our Song,” book by Neil Simon, music by Marvin Hamlisch, and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. The show will be directed by Eric Rudy with musical direction by Richard Cherry and choreography by Arlette St. Romain. 

Auditions will be held 7-9 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 5 and Monday, Dec. 6, by appointment only. Dance auditions will be incorporated into callbacks, which will be Tuesday, Dec. 7 and/or Thursday, Dec. 9, dependent on demand. The auditions will be held at Home Made Theater’s rehearsal space at the Wilton Mall near JC Penney. There are 8 roles available to men and women aged approximately mid- twenties and up. Actors of any ethnicity or gender identification are encouraged to attend.

Performances are Feb. 11-13, and Feb. 18-20.  All performances will be at the Dee Sarno Theater, in Saratoga Arts. Rehearsals begin Monday, Dec. 13 and take place Sunday through Thursday evenings. There will be no rehearsal from Dec. 21 – Jan. 2. 

Actors should prepare a song of their choice, and bring sheet music in their key; a pianist will be provided. Also bring a current photo, a resume, and a list of potential conflicts from the date of the first rehearsal through closing (conflicts can be worked around if known about in advance). Photos cannot be returned. Readings will be from the script. For a detailed flyer, and to make an audition appointment visit Home Made Theater’s website, www.HomeMadeTheater.org. For questions call 518-587-4427 during regular business hours.

SCHENECTADY — Proctors Collaborative has announced the First National Tour of Mean Girls — the record-breaking new musical comedy produced by Lorne Michaels, Stuart Thompson, Sonia Fried-man, and Paramount Pictures based on the hit film — will be coming to Proctors from Tuesday, June 28 to Sunday, July 3, 2022. 

“Mean Girls features a book by Tina Fey, based on her screenplay for the film, music by Jeff Richmond; and lyrics by Nell Benjamin. Casey Nicholaw directs
and choreographs.

Single tickets are available from the Proctors box office by visiting Proctors.org, or by calling 518-346-6204. For more information, go to: www.proctors.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Jewish Community Arts brings the Hanukkah Film Festival to the Capital Region for 2021 starting November 28.

The association between Menemsha Films and ChaiFlicks with Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs and more than 200 synagogues and Jewish film festivals across North America, the first annual Hanukkah Film Festival begins Nov. 28 and continues for eight nights. 

This Jewish Community Arts event celebrates the Festival of Lights with 11 films available over eight days, featuring both world and U.S. premieres. 

Subscribers can sign up for the film presentations for one Gold Pass of $36. The additional purpose is to keep the benefits of subscribers within each sponsoring community. Half the total revenue is shared with each of the participating festivals and synagogues.

The festival registration is available at www.hanukkahfilmfestival.com and subscribers can apply a sponsor code to credit the Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, entering the code SJCHFF. The trailer for the festival is available at youtu.be/zaJNyoY6ZM8 

Highlights include the World Premiere of the animated Hanukkah short “The Broken Candle” on opening night. Also featured are two premieres of stories that illustrate the unique diversity of our origins, histories where you least expected it, from the short film Inquisition (“Xueta Island”) to a story of Pancho Villa in the feature documentary “UnRaveling.” Films continue through the week of Hanukkah. Closing night on Dec 5 premieres the most awarded family drama and winner of four Israeli Academy Awards, as well as the most popular Audience Award winner of the season, the film “Here We Are.”

Remember to identify SJCA as your sponsoring organization to assure your $36 price and credit to SJCA organization.  The code again is SJCHFF. For any questions regarding our sponsorship, email sjca.sjcf@gmail.com.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — S.M. Burke, who has worked with kids for more than 25 years at a local private hospital, has penned a newly released novel, inspired by his experiences working with kids who deal with mental illness. 

“Oakwood” ($10 softcover, 154 pages, Hodgepodge Publishing), a novel that targets middle grade readers, centers on the story of a 12-year-old boy who spends nine days at a children’s psychiatric hospital.

“One of the main reasons I wrote this book was to try and capture what it is like for kids who deal with mental illness, at least from my own experiences,” Burke says.  “I also wanted to try and help destigmatize the topic.”   

Book Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Kyle Womack loves to play the guitar. He has been playing ever since his father gave Kyle his first lesson. But after his parents’ divorce, playing the guitar is all Kyle wants to do. He stops hanging out with his friends. He stops doing his schoolwork. He even stops going to school and is about to fail the sixth grade.

After Kyle’s mother takes his guitar away until he starts going back to school, Kyle loses control. The argument between Kyle and his mother is so bad, the police become involved. And after a visit to the emergency room, Kyle is sent to Oakwood Children’s Hospital so he can be at a safe place.

Kyle thinks he knows all about Oakwood. It’s where all of the ‘crazy kids’ go, at least that is what kids at his school think. But as Kyle struggles to accept being at Oakwood, he soon realizes that maybe Oakwood is not as bad as everyone has said it is. Maybe, Oakwood might just be the right place for Kyle to be to work out all of his issues.

For information about purchasing the book, visit Northshire Bookstore Saratoga at northshire.com and enter a search for “Oakwood.” 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College invites the public to special in-person talks, tours, and sales to close out the fall semester.

All events are free and open to the public. 

• Tuesday, Dec. 7, 11:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m.: On Their Own Terms Gallery Talk. Students in the Scribner Seminar “Outsiders? Folk and Self-Taught Artists in the United States,” taught by Assistant Professor of Art History Nancy Thebaut, will present a public program about the process of making the exhibition and share their research and insights into works on view in the exhibition On Their Own Terms.

• Thursday, Dec. 9, and Friday, Dec. 10, All day: Tang Book Sale. The Tang will be selling a lim-ited supply of exhibition catalogues at reduced rates: $5 for Opener series catalogues; $10 for all other books. Discount applies to purchases made in-person at the museum, with no shipping avail-able. Dec. 9 hours are 9 am to 9 pm; Dec. 10 hours are 9 am to 6 pm. Peruse the Tang’s publica-tions online at tang.skidmore.edu/publications. 

• Thursday, Dec. 9, 6 p.m.: More Than You Notice Gallery Talk. Student curators of the exhibi-tion More Than You Notice: Photographic Reflections of Humanity and Socialization will present their research on the work in the exhibition in a public program as part of the social work course “Power, Privilege, and Oppression,” taught by Skidmore Assistant Professor of Social Work June Paul. 

• Friday, Dec. 10, 3:30 to 6 p.m.: Tang Holiday Bazaar. The Tang Student Advisory Council is or-ganizing a one-day marketplace for Skidmore students to sell a variety of wares, including art, jew-elry, clothing, pottery, and more. 

• Thursday, Dec. 16, 12 p.m.: Curator’s Tour with Ian Berry. Dayton Director Ian Berry gives a public tour of Opener 33: Sarah Cain—Enter the Center, offering in-depth information about the acclaimed artist and exhibition. 

In addition to the new events listed above, the Tang also welcomes the public to the following previously announced events—one in-person and most online—related to the community art-making project, the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef, which is part of the worldwide Crochet Coral Reef project by Christine and Margaret Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring. Participants’ corals will be assembled together to form the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef, which will be exhibited at the Museum as part of Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science, opening Jan. 29, 2022.

• Wednesday, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15, 12 to 12:30 p.m.: Lunchtime Crochet Online: Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara hosts a half-hour Zoom drop-in session of crocheting, chatting, and cre-ating corals online for our community art project. Registration required. 

• Tuesday, December 7, 7 p.m.: Crocheting Corals: Workshop for the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef: Join us via Zoom for a workshop and craft circle to learn to crochet corals for the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef. Instructors will lead beginners in the single crochet stitch, which is all you need to make your very own coral! Register via Zoom. 

Vaccinated members of the public are welcome to the museum and must show proof of vaccina-tion for admission. Masks are required to be worn by all visitors. The Museum is open Thursdays from noon to 9 pm, and Fridays through Sundays from noon to 5 pm through Sunday, Dec. 19, as well as for events listed above. For more information, call the Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit tang.skidmore.edu. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Former Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant, and American bluegrass fiddler and singer Alison Krauss announced their first tour in 12 years that will take them across the globe and land in Saratoga Springs next June. 

The duo have just released “Raise The Roof” – the long-awaited successor to their 2007 album, “Raising Sand,” produced by T Bone Burnett and featuring a “cosmic collision” of early blues, country deep cuts, revolutionary folk-rock and lost soul music 

The Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Tour kicks off June 1, 2022. The tour’s second date – on June 3 – will be staged at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. A date at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens follows, and the tour will subsequently conclude in Europe in late July. 

Tickets for US dates go on sale at 10 a.m.  on Friday, Dec. 3 via LiveNation.com.  For more information, go to: plantkrauss.lnk.to/RaiseTheRoof. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet presents its first full Nutcracker production featuring 85 Capital Region-area dancers ages 5-18 years old, with special guests Sarah MacGregor, Aram Hengen, and James Alexander. 

Performances will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the University at Albany’s Performing Arts Center. All ticket proceeds directly support the Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet, a nonprofit organization. 

For tickets go to www.eventbrite.com. Ticket prices are $35 general admission; $28 for seniors and students (ages 4 to 18); and free for children under 3. Learn more about Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet at saratogaspringsyouthballet.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Performing Arts Center announces “Fall Flavor Fusion: A Five-Course Plant-Based Dinner” created by NYC-based chef and founder of Graffiti Earth Jehangir Mehta alongside Head Chef of Yaddo Michael Blake and curator Chef Kim Klopstock of The Lily and the Rose. 

Presented as part of “CulinaryArts@SPAC,” the festive autumn feast will feature plant-based courses juxtaposing temperatures, textures and tastes with flavors from all around the globe. The special event will be held in SPAC’s Nancy DiCresce Room in the new Pines@SPAC facility at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m.    

“We knew that we had to bring Chef Mehta back to SPAC following his wonderful appearance at the 2019 Wine & Food Festival. His creative and unique approach to sustainable, plant-based cooking is an important part of the ethos of CulinaryArts@SPAC,” Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center, said in a statement. “We are delighted that he will be back and working with local chef Michael Blake.”

The dinner will feature vegetable-forward dishes that are environmentally conscious with flavors from Chef Jehangir Mehta’s native India and Persian heritage. The exclusive menu will feature “Zero-Waste Papadums” with ingredients gleaned from the farm, a “Harvest Jewels” soup with Saratoga squash, “Smoky Japanese Eggplant Buns,” “Thai-Style Mushroom Curry” using maitake mushrooms foraged in the Adirondacks, and “Steamed Chocolate and Coffee Pudding,” accompanied by wine and beer. 

Hailing from India, Jehangir Mehta was the chef/owner of New York City restaurants Graffiti and Graffiti Earth, (which have closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), and he plans to launch an online spice shop in their name. He currently operates Me and You for private dining experiences. Mehta is a frequent speaker on sustainability and a council member for “Menus for Change,” an initiative of the Culinary Institute of America, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Google. 

“Fall Flavor Fusion” is part of the Center’s CulinaryArts@SPAC initiative, which launched in the fall of 2020 and features educational classes, workshops, gourmet experiences and more to support local chefs, farmers, and the regional culinary community. 

Tickets to attend are $100 and include the multi-course dinner, open wine and beer, and tax and gratuities. Availability will be limited. All attendees are required to show proof of having completed their COVID-19 vaccination no sooner than 14 days prior to the event. Acceptable forms of proof include vaccination card, a photo of your vaccination card, or the Excelsior Pass. Verification will be required upon entry at the Charlie Gate adjacent to the Hall of Springs entrance. All attendees are encouraged to wear a mask when not eating or drinking. Visit spac.org for more details.