We’ll be back to Spying on Monday.
Ask Irma: Londonderry at 30 Years Old
While it might seem like Londonderry on the Tred Avon has been around almost as long as Easton itself, it was a bit starling to note that it only turned 30 years old. This innovative retirement community, which grew out of a group of friends connected to the Episcopal Church, started as an idea in 1990 and opened its doors in 1991-1992.
And like many new retirement facilities throughout the United States, Londonderry experienced some early growing pains in its first few years, but eventually, it became one of the most sought out residential communities in the Mid-Atlantic region. Indeed, it is now fully occupied with an impressive waiting list for those eager to settle there.
The Spy talked to Londonderry’s CEO, Irma Toce, to talk about those early days, what Londonderry has become now, and what might lay ahead for its future as one of the Eastern Shore’s most highly regarded communities of its kind.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Londonderry on the Tred Avon please go here.
Mid-Shore Food: A Chat with Banning’s Food Pioneer Steve Mangasarian
It’s hard for Steve Mangasarian to forget the early days of high cuisine on the Eastern Shore. After years of training with some of the top chefs in the New York City area and a few years in Vermont bringing a new brand of American food to the rural communities along the Connecticut River, a mixture of a love of sailing and dislike of snow, Mangasarian relocated to Easton to replicate his haute cuisine mission in Talbot County.
With fine dining restricted to places like 208 Talbot in St. Michaels and the Tidewater Inn in Easton, the opening of Columbia on Washington Street was the birth of a new era for the Mid-Shore. Rather than having to cross the Bay Bridge, diners could discover how our extraordinary local ingredients could be used to produce an exceptional dining experience.
After years of success and high praise from customers as well as accolades from critic forums like Zagats, Steve retired with plans to leave the kitchen pursuing other passions, but that plan didn’t last long. Within a year, he was back with the management of the beloved Hill’s Drug Store sandwich shoppe and the opening of Breakfast in Easton, the popular, cash-only morning grill. And eventually, he and his partner decided to open Banning’s Tavern to recapture the fun and comfort of a traditional English pub.
The Spy talked to Steve about his remarkable culinary history in Talbot County as well as the challenges he and his fellow restaurateurs are experiencing as he slowly brings Banning’s back to life after suffering through the pains of the COVID pandemic.
This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Banning’s Tavern please go here. For Breakfast in Easton please go here.
From and Fuller: Road Trip to Annapolis for an Unplugged Live Session
It should be no surprise that the Spy’s From and Fuller podcast has grown in popularity since it was started in April of 2020. The political wisdom of Al From and Craig Fuller, gained by working at the highest levels of American politics, has been drawing a national audience every Thursday as these two veterans attempt to make sense of the ever-complex world of national elections and “inside the beltway” maneuvering.
That popularity was recently on display in Annapolis last week as Al and Craig were invited to speak at the 707 Club, a community salon focused on politics and policy, for an extended conversation about Washington after Donald Trump. And unlike the From and Fuller podcast’s more limited broadcast time, Al and Craig were able to extend their thoughts about American politics for an hour thanks to the hospitality provided by the Flamant restaurant.
The Spy thought our readers and listeners of From and Fuller would enjoy this extended session, unplugged from time limits, as they discuss the Biden Administration and the GOP as the country prepares for the 2022 midterm election and the presidential election on 2024.
This video is approximately 60 minutes in length
Suicide, Evan Hansen and Reaching Out to Mid-Shore Youth: A Chat with For All Seasons’ Beth Anne Langrell
Five years ago, the Dock Street Foundation’s Amy Haines and Richard Marks made a unique gift to the For All Seasons organization, the region’s largest non-profit behavioral health center. The foundation provided funds for a charter bus and tickets for thirty For All Seasons therapists to attend the Broadway hit, Dear Evan Hansen.
While this philanthropy was a positive way to support and encourage those frontline professionals as they confronted the growing threat of teen suicide on the Mid-Shore, it also turned out to be the beginning of a long association between the play, with its moving story of teen suicide, and the For All Seasons mission to reach out to troubled young people.
Leading that charge has been Beth Anne Langrell, the organization’s CEO, who started the You Are Not Alone initiative after seeing the New York production. And over the last five years, that critical tool of songs and sharing the play’s plotline with young people has been a key part of For All Seasons participation in the national Suicide Prevention Month.
Now, with the release of the film version of Evan Hansen, the You Are Not Alone program has an entirely new life as hundreds of students view the movie and begin a franks dialogue on suicide, depression and other mental health issues.
The Spy talked to Beth Anne last week about the 2021 You Are Not Alone effort and how using Dear Evan Hansen can be such a successful strategy in reaching young minds and hearts.
This video is approximately four minutes in length. To make a donation or find more information regarding For All Seasons please go here.
At the Academy: Zoe Friedman’s Sentient Forest
On Friday of this week, the Academy Art Museum will be having a special moment. That evening, the supporters and friends of the museum will be gathering to celebrate an inaugural site-specific artist commission for the Museum’s newly-renovated Tricia and Frank Saul Atrium Galleries. And they could not have selected a better artist for this ooociain that Baltimore-based artist Zoe Friedman.
Drawing on her recent experience of becoming a mother, Friedman has created an immersive and layered universe of flora and fauna that explores the exuberant yet mysterious forces of life. Combining drawing, illustration, hand-cut paper, digital illustration and bespoke lighting elements, Friedman’s process mirrors the simultaneous joy and complexity of existence and invites the viewer to reflect on birth and growth.
In Friedman’s work, the playful, large-scale animal forms and the overlapping bold colors and patterns framing them beckon a heightened form of sentience. Illuminated by lighting elements of the artist’s own design, the installation is a portal into Friedman’s mythology of motherhood, in which she explores the instinct and power to care, nourish and grow. The large scale of each mural within the installation conveys the artist’s understanding of love as an expansive, forceful and overwhelming emotion. Much like a forest, the individual characters and forms in Friedman’s cast are connected and form a wondrous narrative.
The Spy spent some time recently with Zoe to talk about her work and her passion for making “big things” so her audience can be immersed is this fantastical forest.
This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Zoe Friedman: Sentient Forest exhibition please go here. It will be on display until August 31, 2022. The reception will be held of November 5, 2021 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
Chamber’s Young Professionals and Academy Art Museum Gear Up for Toys for Tots
Toys for Tots Kick Off
Thursday Oct 28, 2021 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Academy Art Museum 106 South Street Easton, MD 21601
Fees/Admission $10 which we’ll use to purchase toys for the 2021 Toys for Tots Toy Drive
The TAP’s Great Gatsby Comeback: A Chat with Director John Perkinson
In the post-COVID world there are many organizations that come back to life as Maryland and most of the rest of the country, slowly and carefully emerge from this catastrophic pandemic. And perhaps the most welcome of those are the Mid-Shore’s remarkable collection of community theater groups in Chestertown, Church Hill, Cambridge and Oxford. All of whom had to scrape almost two years of indoor performances as local and state shut-down orders were put into place.
The granddaddy of these volunteer-run theater companies, which first appeared on the Oxford Community Center stage in 1981, is the beloved Tred Avon Players. Now going on 40 years old, the TAP has somehow attracted some of the best talent this side of New York City to take community theatre productions to an entirely new level of professionalism.
And that tradition continues as TAP, under the direction of John Perkinson, presents F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby starting on October 28. Using playwright Simon Levy’s highly-praised adaptation, this gripping drama is set in and around New York City during the Roaring Twenties and tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth.
Considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s best work, The Great Gatsby examines America at the peak of the Jazz Age, exploring the ultimate impracticality of the American Dream.approved by the Fitzgerald Estate. The Great Gatsby is produced by John Norton and the cast cast includes Greg Allis as Nick Carraway, Iz Clemens as Daisy Buchanan, Weston Anderson as Tom Buchanan, Alex Greenlee as Jay Gatsby, and Cavin Alexandra Moore as Jordan Baker. Also appearing are Jaclyn Royer, Bob O’Boyle, Herb Ziegler, Lindley Bounds, Matt Rovine, Francesca Rendell, Mara Abrams, Barrie Abrams, and Marianne Petschke.
The Spy sat down with director John Perkinson for a short chat about this remarkable story and how this American classic is the perfect production for TAP’s long awaited return to the stage.
This video is approximately one minute in length. For more information about the Tred Avon Players and purchase tickets please go here
When the Caregiver Needs Care: A Chat with Compass’s Rhonda Knotts and Jean Anthony
It is understood from the beginning that when someone in the family is terminally ill, a spouse or adult child steps in to take care of the loved one. It is a testament to the power of love and strong family ties that these caregivers come forward and provide endless hours of attention and medical assistance throughout the end-of-life process.
And in many cases, those family caregivers carry this enormous burden with very little assistance. While places like Compass help mitigate this with support teams and other forms of assistance to reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with this role, the fact remains that many caregivers experience being physically exhausted and emotionally drained.
Compass grief services coordinator Rhonda Knotts and the hospice’s board trustee Jean Anthony have been aware of these caregiver challenges for many years. From Rhonda’s long tenure at Compass and Jean’s personal experience with her father during his end of life, they know first hand that the caregiver themselves needs care and support.
That is why they have joined forces to provide a monthly support group for area caregivers. Not only designed to be an outlet for emotional support, but the new program will also offer practical ideas and strategies to reduce the enormous strain a caregiver can experience.
The Spy sat down with Rhonda and Jean a few weeks ago for some background related to caregivers and how important it is to get the support they need.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Compass Caregiver Support Group, please contact Rhonda Knotts at rknotts@compassregionalhospice.org
A Chat with Talbot Hospice’s New Executive Director Chris Chekouras
Over the last few months, the Spy has been catching up in talking to newly appointed directors of some the Mid-Shore’s most important organizations. Sadly, most of these remarkable individuals accepted their positions in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and, consequently, were extremely limited in how they could reach out to the community.
One such case is Chris Chekouras, who became the executive director of Talbot Hospice in the late summer of 2021. With previous positions that included being interim president Saint Agnes Healthcare in Baltimore, president of the St. Mary’s Health System in Maine, and a ten-year career with Virtua Health in New Jersey, Chris came to Talbot Hospice with extraordinary professional experience.
In his Spy interview, Chris talks about that background and the challenges and opportunities that he will be facing in this new role. He also talks about his passionate commitment to hospice care’s vital role in the country’s health system and on the Mid-Shore.
This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about Talbot Hospice please go here.
