How to stay warm in New Hampshire

It has been so brutally cold, I think each of us has imagined being on a beach, feeling the warm sand under our bare feet, wearing light linen clothes and absorbing a warm breeze against our skin. This as opposed to layers and layers of clothes, boots, hats and gloves.

There is another option. 

That is exploring what is happening inside at the theaters and galleries in the Lakes Region and around New Hampshire.

Lakes Region

Theater groups around the Lakes Region are in full swing preparing for upcoming productions through the remaining winter and spring. 

Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative, at the Colonial Theater in Laconia, will put on “LOVE/SICK” on Valentine’s Day weekend, Feb. 14-16. The show’s playwright John Cariani will be in the Lakes Region for the production. Powerhouse will also produce the last staged reading of his latest work ‘Darker the Night, Brighter the Stars’ on Saturday, Feb. 15, before its world premiere production this spring.

“John will watch the reading and then participate in a talkback with the audience to get feedback on the play. Yes, our audience can have a chance to shape a new work by an established playwright before its world premiere. We are so excited John will be hanging out with us for the weekend,” Powerhouse Producer Bryan Haperin said in a recent message to supporters. 

For more information about Powerhouse productions, visit

powerhousenh.org.

The Winnipesauke Playhouse will host several productions in the first part of the year. In February will be “Every Brilliant Thing,” followed in March by “Treasure Island: A Radio Show” and then “Heathers, the Musical” and “The Boxcar Children” in April.

The award-winning NH-based theatre KAPOW continues its 17th season with Duncan Macmillan’s “Every Brilliant Thing”  at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith the weekend of Feb. 21-23.

“‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is more than a play; it’s a community event,” said Director Emma Cahoon. While the play is performed by one actor who has learned the lines written in the script, the audience participates in the storytelling in a way that makes each performance unique from the one before it or the one after it. “Macmillian is brilliant for writing it this way. The play and the story it tells cannot be done with only one person, and I think this is a great metaphor for what he’s trying to say about how and why we wake up every day and continue telling the story that is life.”

Two actors will take turns performing this solo show. tKAPOW veterans Peter Josephson and Carey Cahoon will engage with audience members as the storyteller. Josephson will perform on Saturday, Feb. 22, and Cahoon on Friday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, Feb. 23.

For more information on productions at The Winnipesaukee Playhouse, visit winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org.

Greater New Hampshire

The Currier Art Gallery in Manchester is currently showing Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts: A Distant Conversation, on view through February. This is the last in a series of “Distant Conversations,” pairing the works by artists who share artistic and intellectual affinities across time and space.”

The late Basquiat is one of the most celebrated and influential American artists of his generation. New York based Ivorian painter Ouattara Watts New York has seven large paintings on view.

“These two artists met in 1988 at the opening of Basquiat’s solo show at Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris, which was held only seven months prior to his death. Following this first encounter, the two artists quickly established a strong intellectual connection and artistic partnership,” according to

currier.org.

The Capitol Center in Concord always has interesting programming of one sort or another.

For those interested in watching independent films not found in traditional theaters or streaming, there is always the Red River Theater in Concord, just a short drive from Laconia.  In January they are featuring a movie I highly recommend, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”  They are also showing the Bob Dylan movie, “A Complete Unknown,” and although I haven’t seen it, I understand from friends that it is a must see if you grew up with Bob Dylan.

At home

This weekend, we are on the cusp of February — along with it Valentine’s Day and the season of love. 

Even if you do not have someone who is a special love in your life, why not buy yourself a few red roses, bake a chocolate cake and just celebrate yourself. The roses and the sweet chocolate will make you feel young and vibrant.

Recently at a Waacking performance by the extraordinary Princess Lockerooo, she reminded us that “we are all fabulous” and feeling fabulous makes us feel warm on the inside, whatever the temperature outside.

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Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse Podcast, found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or through the Arts Fuse. Her career intersects journalism, marketing, and communications. “Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back,” a book she edited, was published in May 2016. She is the author of “A Day with Bonefish Joe,” a children’s book, published by David R. Godine. You can send her a note at: eh@elizabethhoward.com.