Elsa Haas
Staged Reading | June 14, 10am-11:30am
St. George Theatre | 35 Hyatt Street (St. George)

If you choose baby slings, breastfeeding and a (carefully-prepared) king-sized bed over strollers, playpens, bottles and cribs, do you get a happier baby who cries less and doesn’t suffer from insomnia? Is Jean Liedloff, an observer of tribal cultures, right in that our civilization’s woes stem in part from how we treat our babies? Elsa Haas, her son Tyler (now 9), and a varied cast will perform excerpts from her future poetry/prose book, “Wearing my Baby.” Family-friendly (sound piped out to glass-doored lobby in case of restlessness).

Jill Jichetti

Short Story Reading | June 12, 7pm
Barnes & Noble | 2234 Richmond Avenue (New Springfield)

"His eyes, like my words, born here, just outside the shadow of il companile, a beckoning to the four quarters of Florence. In this light, no one can tell me I'm not where I think I am. No one can tell me the bell tower isn't me. Sono il companile. I rise, I summon, I point to the stars. As does he." Jichetti will read sections from her short story Angels' Dares, a surrealistic journey that takes place through four locations. It is told in four sections and out of sequence, exploring four different dimensions of the characters' relationship, and their inner world, which finds parallels in the seasons outside of their car, place of worship, hotel, and home.

Marguerite Rivas
Poetry Reading | July 10, 6:30pm
Tibetan Museum | 10 Lighthouse Avenue (Lighthouse Hill)

At this reading, Ms. Rivas willl offer samples of her lyric poetry that will interweave the subjects that inform her writing--Staten Island people and places; motherhood and single parenthood; domestic abuse; love with all its heartbreaks and joys and the hilarious aftermath of finding oneself single and dating again at fifty; working poverty-to express the capacity for human resiliency, determination and hope. Her presentation will include music and projected imagery.


Larry Schwabacher
Play Reading | July 24, 7pm
The Cup | 388 Van Duzer

Just like most of life's triumphs and dramas, food is usually involved and these three short plays introduce three different situations that happen around food. In Cafe Ole, Mavis is having her usual coffee. Enter Lenny who questions where she's been for the past three days. Mavis doesn't know Lenny. Humble beginnings and social ascent are explored in Doing Lunch, while the cheese doodles fly when Glenn brings Melanie to meet his friends in Cheese Doodle Fingers.


| All events take place on Staten Island |