SVSU's "Absurd Person Singular" a hilarious night at the theater

review by Janet I. Martineau
photo by Katrina Robinson

A capacity audience nearly laughed itself to death Tuesday night when Saginaw Valley State University opened its four-night run of “Absurd Person Singular.”

Quite an accomplishment given the fact it deals with such dark issues as infidelity, attempted suicide, depression, alcoholism, economic downturn, bullying, gossiping, and the ups and downs of friendship.

Jordan Stafford and Mykaela Hopps in an Act II scene

But guffaw we did...often with deep belly laughs in one of the funniest plays SVSU has produced. Probably because, as the woman next to me said, “It’s so real.”

Quite an accomplishment there too, given the fact “Absurd” is of the farce genre. It hovers delicately and beautifully  between the stark reality of our lives and being too broad in making light of it.

The 2 1/2 hours simply flew by as director Tommy Wedge and his six cast members totally delivered the goods in portraying three English couples suffering through through three Christmas parties (last, this and next). 

Act II, dealing with attempted suicide, was  one of the funniest farcical acts I’ve ever seen and the cast’s timing of it was impeccable. 

Presented in the snug Black Box Theater, every nuance and inflection is “in your face” from the actors ...  as well as the acrid smell of bug spray and even a drop of water from a kitchen sink encounter.

Mykaela Hopps delivers stony stares and chilling looks that could kill, and her silence and physicality in Act II gets funnier and funnier the longer it continues. Jordan Stafford’s  double takes are hilarious. Rustin Myers squints his eyes as if nearly blind when trying to read something and pushes his head backward when intimidating his wife.

Jessica Rockwell is a riot donning her rain gear, emptying her oversized galoshes of rain water, cleaning the oven, cowering when her hubby bellows. With Erica Tatum it is a bored and sarcastic roll of the eyes. And when David Ryan gets an electric jolt, his shakes never stop.

Part of the fun is to divert the eyes from the person or persons speaking, the focus of the action, and watch instead the silent actors reacting -- always in total character. Fun, too, is watching the audience members watching -- since this thrust stage puts them right across from you with the actors in between.

Simply put, there is more than the eye can often take in with this show since there are bits of business everywhere.

Physical antics and body English aside, the Alan Ayckbourn script also sports more than a few hilarious lines. “Sexual flying Dutchman” is one. A few others are  politically incorrect so we won’t repeat them. And when the Hopps character finally finds her “voice,” yikes!

A piece of advice if you go see the show -- DO NOT leave the theater during the two short intermissions. Watching the crew, director Wedge himself among them, is every bit as entertaining as they quickly transform the set since the three-scene show takes place in three dwellings. Washing machines are shoved out and ovens in. A huge dog crate replaces a storage cabinet. Christmas trees change. A huge kitchen island is shoved to the other end to serve as a work island.

And what is that set-changing crew wearing for this dark comedy....black stocking caps with Bah Humbug!  written on them.

A fun time at the theater, with a little bite to it for good measure, does not come come much better than this production.

SVSU opens challenging play "Absurd Person Singular" on July 10

“Absurd Person Singular”

SVSU Black Box Theatre

7:30pm Tuesday-Friday (July 10-13)

$10, ($7 seniors and students)

989-964-4261

by Janet I. Martineau

Three couples, three kitchens, three Christmas Eve parties...and as the plot thickens, the lower class duo of the trio rises to the top of an ever-evolving social status roster.

That, in a nutshell, is the plotline of “Absurd Person Singular,” a 1972 British play opening a four-night run Tuesday at Saginaw Valley State University.

“It has lots of layers,” says director Tommy Wedge of the Alan Ayckbourn play. “It is a farcical tragic comedy. I hope people who come and see it laugh hard and have a good time....but then have something to think about when they go home because a lot just doesn’t sit right.

“I think this is one of the hardest comedies (to stage) out there. And it is an ensemble work. There are six characters in this play and all six are lead roles. All the parts are equally challenging as the play explores their relationships to each other.”

From left,  Rustin Myers, Erica Tatum, David Ryan, Jessica Rockwell

Including the second act during which one of the characters speaks not a single word AND tries to end her life seven times “but the rest of the characters are so self-absorbed they don’t realize what she is doing.

"The second act is the most farcical act but the characters all take it  seriously. They are so busy trying to look happy that they forget to be happy.”

What the audience witnesses is “behind the scenes” dialogue. The actual Christmas parties are taking place offstage; the action is set is the kitchen, where the real dirt is dished up in “private.” 

And in a nod, perhaps, to Charles Dickens and “A Christmas Carol,” the time periods are Last Christmas, This Christmas and Next Christmas.

“Last Christmas” is set in the lower class home of Jane and Sidney Hopcrofts, who are anxiously giving a party for their bank manager and an architect neighbor and their wives. The Hopcrofts are played by SVSU seniors Jessica Rockwell and Rustin Myers.

“This Christmas” shifts to the kitchen of the architect and his wife, Geoffrey and Eva Jackson, in a flat menaced by their huge, psychotic dog George. The Jacksons are played by SVSU junior Jordan Stafford and sophomore Mykaela Hopps.

And in Next Christmas” the action moves to the upper class Victorian home of the  bank manager and his wife, Ronald and Marion Brewster-Wright, They are played by SVSU junior David Ryan and Erica Tatum, currently a student at Kirtland Community College but who will transfer to SVSU in the winter term. 

Each act, says Wedge, also has a huge ongoing joke in progress.

Challenges?

-- Wedge says all six actors have been strongly coached on speaking a proper British English dialect. 

-- Given the small space of SVSU’s Black Box Theater, the three very different kitchens will be more minimal than totally detailed. Since the play’s script does not assign years,  Wedge and crew are setting it in the 1990s.

-- The fine line that the show is a farce but not a farce, says Wedge. Rather than use the typical farce device of many doors opening and closing, he says, the playwright employs pauses as well as synchronizing off-stage party talk with the door that opens to the kitchen.

As for the title, Wedge advises not trying to make sense of it in light of the action. It has no connection to the play, he says, but instead was a stock title  Ayckbourn applied to it, plucked from an earlier abandoned play and before he had written a single word.

Saginaw's Castle Museum offers a summer of cultural 'trips'

by Janet I. Martineau

Travel costs and airport security issues leaving you unsettled about summer plans? 

How about the chance to visit China, Eastern Europe, Germany, Great Britain, French Canada and the Middle East -- all without leaving Saginaw and for the grand total of $14 if you include all the destinations.

Once again the Castle Museum of Saginaw County, 500 Federal, is offering a series of culture celebrations, starting Tuesday (June 19) and running through Aug. 16.

Each Tuesday and Thursday, at noon, it’s a different country. Most of the programs run an hour, for travelers who have daytime jobs. Each one, for $1 admission, includes a culturally-themed dessert and beverage (and because of that, reservations are required by calling 752-2861, ext. 315).

Following is the itinerary (with July 31/Aug. 2 TBA):

CHINA

Tuesday, June 19, tai chi instructor Jim Bush from Cloud Hands Michigan shares the history of tai chi, explains what it is and demonstrates some of the moves.

Thursday, June 21, participants of all ages will make their own dragon kite and learn about the significance of kites in Chinese culture.

Tom, Diane Bradley

EASTERN EUROPE

Tuesday, June 26,  Tom and Diane Bradley of Bannister will demonstrate Czechoslovakian polka music and dancing. The couple was recently inducted into the Michigan Polka Music Hall of Fame and has been teaching and performing for many  years.

Thursday, June 28,  Hoyt Library’s Linda Bryant will discuss the significance of Russian fairy tales and fables and introduce some of the most famous writers and stories. She will finish by reading a few of her favorite stories.

ISLAM/MIDDLE EAST

Tuesday, July 10, Dr. Waheed Akbar will  explain what Islam is in a lecture titled “Knowing Islam.” There also will be a small display of items reflecting Islamic culture.

Thursday, July 12, in an “Islam Sampler,” participants can visit “stations” and learn about Islamic art, music, food and henna tattoos.

GERMANY

Tuesday, July 17, During “Breweries in Saginaw: One Family’s Story,”  Bob Rosa will discuss his family’s history owning and operating some of the area’s breweries at the turn of the 20^th century.

Thursday, July 19 – To Be Announced.

FRENCH CANADA 

Tuesday, July 24, D.  Laurence Rogers will investigate “The Legend of Paul Bunyan.” Somewhere in the old St. Joseph Cemetery in Bay City lies the last remains of Fabian “Joe” Fournier -- a man whom many are  convinced inspired a major portion of the legendary figure Paul Bunyan. 

Rogers wrote the  book “Paul Bunyan: How a Terrible Timber Feller Became a Legend” in which he outlines his theory with enough evidence from many sources to present a convincing case.

The Saginaw Voyageurs

Thursday, July 26, The Saginaw Voyageurs is a living history re-enactment group sponsored by the Castle Museum. 

The members participate in a journey each summer tracing the routes of the original Voyageurs and fur traders of the Great Lakes as a way to promote an understanding and appreciation for the early Great Lakes fur trade, the life of the voyageurs, and the role Saginaw played as the fur trading center. 

Voyageur John Severs will talk about the group and what it does and where the group is going in early August as it prepares for its 27^th annual excursion.

GREAT BRITAIN

Tuesday, Aug. 7, the summer Olympics are in London this year, so in “The Olympics, Facts and Fun” participants will play a game related to the Olympics, hear a brief history of the Olympic Games, and test their knowledge on the flags and countries of the more than  200 nations that participate in the Olympics.

Thursday, Aug. 9, bring your own tea cup and enjoy a traditional British high tea. Great Britain native Maureen Jones, who now lives in Saginaw, will talk about tea time in Great Britain as one and all enjoys some delectable finger foods and a nice cup of tea.

CAJUN

Tuesday, Aug. 14, the owners of A Touch of Cajun in Saginaw will share some of their favorite foods and explain what Cajun cooking is all about.

Thursday, Aug. 16, a lively performance by the Saucecats, formed in the fall of 2001 by a group of seasoned musicians seeking to play New Orleans funk, zydeco, blues, Latin and Caribbean music.

Attention to details, strong acting enliven "Strange Snow" at SVSU

review by Janet I. Martineau

Details. Details. Details.

Oh my gosh they shine in SVSU’s production of “Strange Snow,” which opened Tuesday night in the Black Box Theatre.

Bloody knuckles and noses, upset stomachs,  the dirty hands and nails of a mechanic, an 1970s aura apartment filled with crap from that timeframe, soup poured from a pot and brewing coffee, a flower child dress, big eyeglass frames, cherry tomatoes...we could go on.

Rustin Myers, Cassidy Morey in a light-hearted moment

Bravo director David Rzeszutek, scenic designer Jerry Dennis and costume designer Elise Shannon for making this show live and breath with realism.

But, of course, plays are far more about their scrips and acting than about the window dressing.

And for the most part “Strange Snow,” playing through Friday night, delivers just as strongly there as well.

Written by Stephen Metcalfe, “Strange Snow” deals with two small-town, working-class buddies who served in Vietnam and lost their best buddy there. 

One lives with his school teacher sister now, and a romance is developing between her and her brother’s buddy -- much to the brother’s anger.

To be truthful this is not the strongest script in the world and reverts to one to many cliches about love and war and healing. But its three characters are despite that interesting people -- and played strongly by David Ryan as the overly enthusiastic and high energy Megs, Cassidy Morey as the shy sister, and Rustin Myers as the depressed, angry and alcohol-sodden brother.

It is such a joy to watch their emotion-filled faces in this small theater, to watch their body English, to observe them move with realism and comfort around the set with its kitchen, dining area and living room. These three are living their characters in full throttle, and we often notice our own faces are mirroring theirs as we get caught up in the humor, pathos and coming to terms progression of the play.


Their only glitch comes when the two men finally, in a heated exchange, reveal what it was that happened in Vietnam -- to them and to their buddy. The passion is rightfully intense here, but the words exchanged a little too fast and furious and less clearly enunciated for the audience to catch it all. 

Rzeszutek has set the play in Massachusetts to give his cast an exercise in a difficult accent. Morey is spot on with it  from start to finish, whether she is being coy and shy or raging at her brother in fed-up anger. She also is the one of the trio who shows the most movement in her character evolving and changing and it is delightful to watch the progression.

Myers is, frankly, rather scary. From the get go his David is like a coiled rattlesnake and we are not sure when he is going to strike, and at whom, and why. We just know that his character is oozing with something pent up and it makes us uncomfortable -- except for that one brief moment he teases his sister about her love life and she teases back. Nice performance all around although his accent comes and goes.

Ryan seems to have no accent at all, and struggles throughout with lines, but his Megs is an enjoyable high-energy yet gentle giant guy trying to bring some spark of life back into sullen David. But, we start to suspect, is that high-energy and enthusiasm hiding something as well. And when it erupts out of nowhere, we jump in our seat we are so startled.

Over the years we tend to judge the impact of a play on whether or not we give a rip about its characters beyond the ending of the play, Do we care what the next day, next year, next decade is like in their lives.

With these three characters, thanks more to the performances than the lines, we cared a lot.

Whimsical felted animals debut at Andersen Art & Garden Festival

by Janet I. Martineau

Sauer's giraffe....

A mother and daughter team up Wednesday, June 13, to sell felted animals at the Andersen Enrichment Center’s 8th Annual Art & Garden Festival.

“I make giraffes, lions, bears, horses, whales,” says Elizabeth M. Sauer, “and my mom, Robin,  makes birds. It’s the first time either of us has sold them at an art  festival or fair.”

The Art & Garden Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Andersen, 120 Ezra Rust. Nearly 25 vendors will sell plants, paintings, garden art, clothing, pottery, candles. Other activities include gardening lectures, a silent auction, and a Koegel hot dogs/chips/ pasta salad lunch with strawberry shortcake for dessert. Admission and parking is free.

Sauer is serious about art,  despite the colorful and whimsical animals she has been making for the past year and a half.  The Saginaw native just graduated with a BFA in ceramics from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and is headed this fall to the University of Florida to  pursue her MFA.

And for the past two years, she was accepted into the prestigious ArtPrize  exhibition in Grand Rapids. In 2010, she displayed a 16-foot-in-diameter bird’s nest and last year a life-size clay sculpture of a Haitian woman.

Ceramics, welding and mixed media are her preferred art media, says the Nouvel Catholic High School alum who for the past several years also has been a drummer and dancer with Saginaw’s Celtic band Equinox.

“I make the felted animals for fun,” says Sauer, “although right now I am stressing to get enough made to sell Wednesday. I love color, so they are not the normal colors of the animals. I hunt down woolen material in crazy colors and then just mix and match them into something whimsical.”

... and a horse

The critters range in size from 4 inches high to a foot (the giraffe) and sell for between $20 and $50. 

“People have no idea how time-consuming the craft of felting is -- taking raw wool, stabbing away at it to shape it into the form of the animal and then adding the colored wool over top.”

One of those giraffes she favors takes eight hours to create, she says.

As for her two ArtPrize winners, the giant bird’s best was constructed out of apple tree branches. “And there was nothing (no birds or eggs) in it because I liked the idea of ambiguity -- letting the people looking at it come up with different ideas.”

The 5-foot ceramic/mixed media/welded Haitian woman “was my response to when I went to Haiti a year and a half ago.” She also dressed the woman, in blue and green retro garb with big pockets, typical of many of the clothes Americans donate to Haiti.

Elizabeth Sauer

Sauer hopes to eventually teach at the collegiate level and maintain an art studio on the side, working in ceramics or sculpture.

Other vendors at the Art & Garden Festival include native Michigan perennials, ferns and trees from Better Finds LLC; vintage and new pottery, china and glass assembled into tiered garden art and stands by Janet Hahn; cement lawn art from Mother Earth Ceramics; paintings by the Saginaw Area Watermedia Artists;  garden stones, glass, potting tables from recycled items by Judy Rich; cider slush, baked goods and donuts from Leaman’s Green Apple Barn, and honey-beeswax candles, lip balms and soaps by Jeanette Waibel.

The gardening lectures are: 

-- 10:30am, Vegetable Gardening, presented by Anne Birkam, a member of the Saginaw Valley Master Gardeners Association.

-- 11:15pm, Shade Gardening, presented by Sally Suttle of Abele’s Greenhouse and Garden Center.

--  Noon, Flower Arranging, presented by Shelley McGeathy,  director of the Downtown Saginaw Farmers’ Market.

-- 12:45pm, Rose Care, presented by Jackie Steinert and Clint Bremer of the Saginaw Valley Rose Society).

Mural, birthday memories, play acting all a part of "In a Poet's Backyard" summer programs

by Janet I. Martineau

A series of 11 backyard picnic programs will keep participants busy this summer  -- painting a 16-foot mural, sharing memories of their birthdays, and acting in a readers theater  play about a famous Saginawian.

“And we will serve birthday cake and ice cream with the birthday memories event,” says Annie Ransford of the “In a Poet’s Backyard” offerings at 1805 Gratiot, the boyhood home of Pulitzer-winning poet Theodore Roethke, as well as  three off-site venues.

An earlier event, with Roethke's house in the background

Most of the programs, in fact, include food -- catered by such venues as dawn of a new day, Crumbs, Sullivans and The Savoy, says Ransford, the president of the Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation which owns and operates the Roethke home. And several are aimed at family participation, she adds, with affordable admission.

Following is the summer schedule:

-- Tuesday, June 12, “The Human Pang: Writing About What Matters,” led by Holly Wren Spaulding. Noon-3:30 pm. $20 includes lunch from dawn of a new day,

Spaulding currently  teaches writing at Northwestern Michigan College and leads monthly Poetry Boot Camps in Traverse City.

In this workshop, aimed at poets. essayists, memoir writers and fiction writers, Spaulding will discuss the necessity of taking emotional risks in writing and how to tackle  big themes and experiences. She will read works in which the author writes with "something at stake";  guide participants into  improvisations designed to encourage leaps of the imagination, unlikely associations, fresh imagery and dazzling language, and provide strategies for getting started.

Spaulding studied creative writing at Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Michigan, and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Her articles, essays and poems have appeared in The Nation, Michigan Quarterly Review, Witness and Wake and among her honors are  five Avery Hopwood Awards.

-- Tuesday, June 19, “Raising Awareness: Getting One’s Mental and Physical on Par." 7-8:30 pm at Zauel Library, 3100 N. Center. Free.

This summer, Roethke House extends its reach into mental health issues,  in consideration of Roethke's own struggles with mental illness. Dr. Harold Lenhart and Mary Ann Fournier will discuss Roethke’s diagnosis, his writing and his life through  family stories of awareness and survival.  

-- Wednesday, June 20, “Saginaw Community Garden Project.” 10am-noon at Good Neighbors Mission, 1318 Cherry. $10 includes snack.

Padaric Ingle, the founder and director of the of Grow Saginaw project seeking to establish community gardens throughout the city, will construct  one or more raised bed planters at this site as he talks about the importance of  community gardens and how Roethke’s family once owned the largest greenhouse in the Saginaw area and was heavily involved in gardening.  

-- Thursday, June 21, “Create a Mural With Poetry and Paint.”  10am-noon. $10 a person/$15 family includes a snack.

Bay City artist/author Mary Blocksma will read her children's poem "Scammon's Lagoon," describing a magic place where the gray whales congregate every year, and then guide those attending in the painting of a 16-foot mural. 

“We’ll line up the mural paper on tables stretched across the yard,” says Ransford, “and hopefully find a place willing to showcase the finished product.”

-- Wednesday, June 27, “Finding and Shaping Your Narrative.” 10am-12:30pm. $20 includes lunch from Crumbs.

   

Roethke was a master at observation, drawing word pictures so clearly that readers can see, and feel, the details of his life experiences. 

Artist and writer, Wilma Romatz will lead writers into drawing meaningful objects that will tap into their memories in a surprising way and will demonstrate how examining old photos can spark creativity in much the same way that walking into a greenhouse inspired Roethke. 

And author and educator Gloria Nixon-John will read from “Learning From Lady Chatterley,” her memoir in narrative verse, as she shares  Roethke’s proclivity toward narrative in his verse even before it was fashionable. Also shared is narrative verse penned by Sharon Olds and Michael Ondaatje before participants dabble in their own creations.

-- Thursday, June 28, “Touching Spirit Bear, A Novel Discussion.” 4-5pm. $10 a person/$15 family includes lemonade and cookies.

Rob Joslyn, an English teacher at White Pine Middle School, will lead a family conversation about Ben Mikaelsen’s award-winning novel  “Touching Spirit Bear,” dealing with the issue of bulling. 

Joslyn was one of the teachers who participated in this year’s Great Lakes Great Read project during which middle school students in Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties read the book and attended  presentations by Mikaelsen. The project was sponsored by Saginaw Township Community Education, SVSU, Creative 360 and Bay City Public Schools. 

-- Tuesday, July 17, “Party at the Zoo.” 2-3pm at the Children’s Zoo at Celebration Square, 1730 S. Washington. Free with $7 admission to the zoo.

In a collaboration between Bay Arenac Reading Council and Friends of Theodore Roethke, the party includes poetry reading, games, party hats and animal crackers. Roethke penned a book-long poem titled “Party at the Zoo,” eaturing story of his goddaughter Meg Walkenshaw Fuell.

-- Tuesday, July 24, “Roethke’s Letters From Home,” performed by members of the River Junction Poets. 7-8pm. $10 includes  dessert from The Savoy.

Alfreda Harris

Roethke’s letters express his feelings during Saginaw summers as he writes to his girl friend Kitty Stokes, makes ice cream with his mother, hangs up wash in the back yard  and goes to the movies. Reading with letters with dramatic flourish are Maxine Harris, Betty Van Ochten and Marion Tincknell.

“This is taken from letters that were published, spanning the 1920s to the 1940s, during Roethke’s visits to Saginaw” says Ransford. “What will be special about this program is that the letters will be read at the house where they were written.”

-- Thursday, July 26, “Celebrate Birthday Memories and Stories With Alfreda Harris.” 7-8:30 pm. $10 a person/$15 family includes cake and ice cream.

Harris is a professional storyteller who shares stories that transcend cultural boundaries and expand global horizons in performances at schools, libraries, museums and nursing homes. 

In this offering she will  share personal and fictional birthday stories and then participants will have an opportunity to share a favorite birthday celebration memory in a story circle.  Art supplies will be available for those who want to create an illustration to accompany their story.  

“This program is more verbal than about writing,” says Ransford, “as people swap stories.”

Harris was a member of the  Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands. She also has participated in two Roethke oral history projects supported by Michigan Humanities Council. During Flint’s 150th anniversary celebration she collected more than  600 stories from past and present residents of Flint neighborhoods for an exhibition at the Sloan Museum.

-- Thursday, July 31, “Roethke Readers Theater.” 6-7:30pm. $20 includes dinner from Sullivans.

Roberta Johnson, a retired California judge and law school professor, will create a readers theater script from “The Glass House,” a Roethke biography penned by Alan Seager. It will focus on the Roethke family and its life at 1805 Gratiot, says Ransford, including the divide between his boyhood home and his uncle’s house next door. Those attending will then read and play the parts.

Johnson has created several readers theater programs dealing with women in history.

-- Wednesday, Aug 22, “Creatives Conquered and Conquering, From Michigan to Memphis.”  6-8pm. $20 includes dinner from Sullivans.

Mike Mosher, a professor of art, communication and digital media at Saginaw Valley State University, examines what can be learned about Roethke from investigations of tf Elvis Presley, defeated by his depression, and that of a contemporary Michigan children's musician who creatively thrived once he got his bipolarity under control.

Mosher also will perform several original songs on the Roethke family piano.

Reservations are required for all of the programs including a catered lunch or dinner. Call (989) 928-0430 or e-mail info@roethkehouse.org. by noon the day before the event. Tours of the house and registration begin 30 minutes before each program. Chairs are provided, but participants can also bring their own.

The “In a Poet’s Backyard” series is sponsored by grants from the Arthur D. Eddy Charity Trust managed by Citizens Bank Wealth Management, Saginaw Celebrates Summer/Hemlock Semiconductor, and the Michigan Humanities Council.

11th Annual "D.E.A.R. at the Zoo" set for June 13

by Janet I. Martineau

Children at 2011 'D.E.A.R. at the Zoo"

Animals and books team up for the 11th year on Wednesday, June 13, when the READ Association of Saginaw County invades the Children’s  Zoo at Celebration Square for its  always-popular “D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) at the Zoo” event.

Running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., among the activities are selecting a new and free book for each youngster, 12 booths with animal and reading themed activities, a presentation and book signing by a Michigan author, and special guests reading books in the zoo amphitheater.

“Research confirms that children who read during the summer months are more likely to maintain and even improve their reading skills,” says Carol R. Lechel, the director  of the READ Association of Saginaw County, “so we began this event 11 years ago to foster that.”

Sponsoring the activity booths spaced throughout the zoo grounds are  Barnes and Noble Booksellers, the Child Abuse and Neglect Council of Saginaw County, the Castle Museum of Saginaw County, the Children's Book Company,  Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum, Mid Michigan Waste Authority, Public Libraries of Saginaw,  Covenant HealthCare, Saginaw County Birth to 5 Program, Saginaw Community Foundation Youth FORCE, St. Mary’s of Michigan and Target.   

The featured author is award-winning Nancy E. Shaw, who penned “Sheep in a Jeep,” “Sheep on a Ship,” “Sheep Take a Hike” and four other sheep books as well as the 2008 Michigan READS! selection “Raccoon Tune.”   

As a child, Shaw played word games during long car trips with her family and those trips helped develop her love for words and rhymes. The author was on a dull car trip in 1982 with her own daughter and son when she began tinkering with animal rhymes.  The resulting silly stories turned into the first of the sheep series..

Author Nancy E. Shaw

At noon, Shaw will read from her books in the amphitheater, and the rest of the time (between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.) she will sell and autograph copies of her books. She lives in Ann Arbor,

The other readers at the amphitheater are:

-- 10:30 a.m., Judge Terry L. Claek of  the 70th District Court reading “The  Fox and the Hen” by Eric Battut.

-- 11:15 a.m., Anita Richardson of the MDOR Office of Communications, reading  “Who  Ate All the Cookie Dough?”  by Karen Beaumont.

-- 1:15 p.m., Staff members from the Public Libraries of Saginaw reading  “Big Chickens” by Leslie Helakowski.

-- 2:15 p.m., a surprise reader reading “Tanka Skunk!: Stamp Your Feet to the Skunka Tanka Beat!”  by Steve Webb.

The zoo is located at 1730 S. Washington in Saginaw. Admission to “D.E.A.R.” is $7 for adults and children (with infants through 11 months free.). The day takes place rain or shine.

The READ Association of Saginaw County is a grassroots literacy organization whose mission is to help students improve their reading skills and discover the joy of reading. It currently  has more than 500 volunteers who read one-on-one with more than 1,100 children during the school year at 42  locations throughout the county.

Sponsoring “D.E.A.R. at the Zoo” are thee Harvey Randall Wickes Foundation, Michigan CardioVascular Institute,  the Saginaw Celebrates Summer program sponsored in part by Hemlock Semiconductor Group, and proceeds from the 2012 Bee for Literacy event cosponsored by Altrusa International of Saginaw and Rotary Club of Saginaw.