So. I just watched Lee Daniel’s The Butler. Now listen up (as my Daddy would have said))! You really really need to see it! It’s an old-fashioned, gorgeous picture that looks at the expanse of time from the late 1950’s right through the election of Barack Obama as seen through the eyes of an African American butler, who spends his life serving white people while his son, coming of age during the rebellions of the Sixties, spends his youth fighting the same people his father is serving. It’s a love story, of sorts, between husband and wife, father and son, and civil rights workers (both black and white) and their country.

There is so much to digest with this film. It starts out with Cecil, as a small boy, picking cotton on a southern plantation alongside his parents. Partly through the day, his mother is summoned by the drunken owner and brutally raped while the father stays in the fields helpless to stop it. When the owner comes staggering out into the fields and Cecil’s father goes to say something, he is shot dead in front of the boy.

And elderly white woman (probably the owner’s mother), apparently feeling some degree of guilt, brings the boy inside to learn to be a house servant. You are not to be seen or heard, she tells him, it must be as if you’re not even in the room. Later, when he leaves the farm to make his way in the world, he finds life tough and hostile to a young black man. He passes a bakery, sees the cakes in the window, and breaks in because he is starving. The black shop manager, seeing something of value in the boy and wanting to help him, bandages him up and gives him a job as a house servant there.

And from that position he moves on to a gorgeous hotel in Washington D.C. and from there it is a short stop to the White House. Now married and with two sons, Cecil works in the White House in a time of great change. Dwight Eisenhower must make the decision whether he will force integration in the South and Cecil watches as the white men in charge of the country go back and forth about whether they should do that. Tensions rise as the Feds step in, but slowly, steadily, the march to equality moves forward…slowly…one inexorable step at a time.

A wonderful scene juxtaposes college kids at a sit-in at Woolworth’s, the staff there refusing to serve them, eventually they are beaten and jailed, at the same time, many miles and an entire world away, Cecil and the black staff serve the guests at a formal state dinner. But as his son becomes more and more radicalized, Cecil becomes estranged from him and the strain shows on all the family. Cecil cannot imagine why a young person would choose to go to jail instead of college. He cannot understand where the street brawls will end. He’s frightened of and alienated from the world around him.

But slowly, as the world evolves, so does Cecil. And after he retires (during President Regan’s term of office) he begins to understand that great changes have come to America and will continue to come with each passing day. The fact that in his lifetime he could start out in the cotton fields and end up seventy years later casting a vote for the first black president – I’ll tell you – if that doesn’t bring you to tears you’re a tougher person than I am.

So, go see it. We still have so many racial problems in America, but we’ve come such a long way. And, admittedly, we have a long way to go. But see this movie. It’s such an important look at such a powerful movement. And you know, sometimes in small towns, where we really have no people of color, we can shrug off racial inequities. This movie makes it a little harder to do that. And it’s such a gorgeous film that it makes the medicine a little easier going down. Do come see it. You’ll be all the better for it.

So much talent graced the Dietrich stage at our recent Gathering of Singers and Songwriters 12. From thought-provoking lyrics, to great guitar playing, to fun banter between artists, you could not have asked for a better evening. We would like to thank Hannah Bingman, Eddie Appnel, Tom Flannery and Lorne Clarke for sharing their music with us. We are also grateful to Lorne Clarke for organizing these concerts for the past 12 years. The Gathering is our longest running cultural program at the Dietrich. What a great tradition!

The Dietrich also has a variety of upcoming classes and events for you and your family to enjoy this fall. Be sure to visit www.dietrichtheater.com for the complete schedule. I think there is just about something for everyone. Our first event for the fall season will be a nature presentation with Wildlife Conservation Officer Victor Rosa called Bears in Our Backyard. All ages are invited to join us on Saturday, September 7 at 11 a.m. for this program that will showcase Pennsylvania’s North American Black Bear. Take this opportunity to learn where black bears came from and why they are now common in northeastern Pennsylvania. Victor Rosa will also discuss den locations, bear cubs and how bears not only survive but thrive thanks to human urbanization. He will also share issues and problems with human/bear interactions along with humorous anecdotes pertaining to bears. This presentation will be followed by a Q & A session. Admission is free. Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-996-1500 and will be available at the door while they last.

Then on Sunday, September 15 at 3:00 p.m., come out to the Dietrich to see the Jimmy Welch Quartet live in concert. For over 38 years, Jimmy Welch and his musical colleagues performed for the Jazz Concert at the Wyoming County Courthouse gazebo. Now you can hear the Jimmy Welch Quartet on stage at the Dietrich. This quartet features Chuck Pirone on drums, Joe Weldon at keyboard, John Stellabot on bass and Jimmy Welch on trumpet. Hear favorites such as "Satin Doll" and "Jersey Bounce" and other jazz and Big Band favorites. Admission to this concert is free. Donations will be accepted to help support free cultural programming at the theater. To make your reservations, please call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 or pick them at the ticket booth as long as they last.

And don’t forget to reserve your tickets now for the opening night of the Dietrich’s Fall Film Festival on Friday, September 20. Gather up your friends for this festive evening filled with great film, food, wine, beer and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 each and are going fast. Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-996-1500. Visit www.dietrichtheater.com for the complete listing of film festival movies and show times.

Movie Times: (570)836-1022

	Upcoming Events Bears In Our Backyard At the Dietrich Theater in downtown Tunkhannock Saturday, September 7 at 11:00 a.m. For all ages Presented by: Wildlife Conservation Officer Victor Rosa Admission: Free Through this informative presentation which will showcase Pennsylvania’s North American Black Bear, Victor Rosa will help us discover where black bears came from and why they are now common in northeastern Pennsylvania. He will also give us a better understanding and appreciation of the black bear, from den locations to bear cubs to how bears not only survive but thrive thanks to human urbanization. Officer Rosa will also share his personal experiences with bears, discussing issues and problems with human/bear interactions along with humorous anecdotes pertaining to bears. The presentation will be followed by a Q & A session. Call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 for more information or for reservations. Tickets will be available at the door while they last. Jimmy Welch Quartet Concert At the Dietrich Theater in downtown Tunkhannock Sunday, September 15 at 3:00 p.m. Presented by: The Jimmy Welch Quartet Admission: By donation and proceeds support cultural programming at the Dietrich For over 38 years Jimmy Welch and his musical colleagues performed for the Jazz Concert at the Wyoming County Courthouse gazebo. Now you can hear the Jimmy Welch Quartet on stage at the Dietrich Theater. Chuck Pirone on drums, Joe Weldon at keyboard, John Stellabot on bass and Jimmy Welch on trumpet. You will hear "Satin Doll" and "Jersey Bounce", for sure and many more Big Band Dixieland and jazz numbers along with Frank Sinatra tunes. Call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 for details or reservations. Fall 2013 Film Festival Oktoberfest Opening Night Gala At the Dietrich Theater in downtown Tunkhannock Friday, September 20. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Admission: $35 Come out to our Oktoberfest Opening Night Gala. Bring your friends and enjoy food, film, beer, wine, desserts and good fun. The evening’s featured films include The Way Way Back and Blue Jasmine. Food will be provided by Epicurean Delight, Twigs Restaurant and Café, the Fireplace Restaurant and Ma Greenley’s. Beer will be provided by Nimble Hill Brewing Company and wine will be provided by Nimble Hill Vineyard & Winery. Reservations are required for Opening Night only. Call 570-996-1500 for reservations. Space is limited. Fall 2013 Film Festival At the Dietrich Theater in downtown Tunkhannock Friday, September 20 through Thursday, October 3 Admission: $9 – Evening (After 6:00 p.m.) $8 – Matinee (Before 6:00 p.m.) Enjoy fourteen days of nineteen foreign, independent and art films. Visit www.dietrichtheater.com for festival movies and show times. Call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 for more information.
www.DietrichTheater.com Friday, August 30, 2013
At The Dietrich by Hildy Morgan So. I just watched Lee Daniel’s The Butler. Now listen up (as my Daddy would have said))! You really really need to see it! It’s an old-fashioned, gorgeous picture that looks at the expanse of time from the late 1950’s right through the election of Barack Obama as seen through the eyes of an African American butler, who spends his life serving white people while his son, coming of age during the rebellions of the Sixties, spends his youth fighting the same people his father is serving. It’s a love story, of sorts, between husband and wife, father and son, and civil rights workers (both black and white) and their country. There is so much to digest with this film. It starts out with Cecil, as a small boy, picking cotton on a southern plantation alongside his parents. Partly through the day, his mother is summoned by the drunken owner and brutally raped while the father stays in the fields helpless to stop it. When the owner comes staggering out into the fields and Cecil’s father goes to say something, he is shot dead in front of the boy. And elderly white woman (probably the owner’s mother), apparently feeling some degree of guilt, brings the boy inside to learn to be a house servant. You are not to be seen or heard, she tells him, it must be as if you’re not even in the room. Later, when he leaves the farm to make his way in the world, he finds life tough and hostile to a young black man. He passes a bakery, sees the cakes in the window, and breaks in because he is starving. The black shop manager, seeing something of value in the boy and wanting to help him, bandages him up and gives him a job as a house servant there. And from that position he moves on to a gorgeous hotel in Washington D.C. and from there it is a short stop to the White House. Now married and with two sons, Cecil works in the White House in a time of great change. Dwight Eisenhower must make the decision whether he will force integration in the South and Cecil watches as the white men in charge of the country go back and forth about whether they should do that. Tensions rise as the Feds step in, but slowly, steadily, the march to equality moves forward…slowly…one inexorable step at a time. A wonderful scene juxtaposes college kids at a sit-in at Woolworth’s, the staff there refusing to serve them, eventually they are beaten and jailed, at the same time, many miles and an entire world away, Cecil and the black staff serve the guests at a formal state dinner. But as his son becomes more and more radicalized, Cecil becomes estranged from him and the strain shows on all the family. Cecil cannot imagine why a young person would choose to go to jail instead of college. He cannot understand where the street brawls will end. He’s frightened of and alienated from the world around him. But slowly, as the world evolves, so does Cecil. And after he retires (during President Regan’s term of office) he begins to understand that great changes have come to America and will continue to come with each passing day. The fact that in his lifetime he could start out in the cotton fields and end up seventy years later casting a vote for the first black president – I’ll tell you – if that doesn’t bring you to tears you’re a tougher person than I am. So, go see it. We still have so many racial problems in America, but we’ve come such a long way. And, admittedly, we have a long way to go. But see this movie. It’s such an important look at such a powerful movement. And you know, sometimes in small towns, where we really have no people of color, we can shrug off racial inequities. This movie makes it a little harder to do that. And it’s such a gorgeous film that it makes the medicine a little easier going down. Do come see it. You’ll be all the better for it.	Now Showing www.dietrichtheater.com/movie or (570)836-1022 for times Lee Daniels' The Butler August 16, 2013 - September 5, 2013 We're the Millers August 11, 2013 - September 5, 2013 Coming Soon www.dietrichtheater.com/preview or (570)836-1022 for times Kick-Ass 2 August 30, 2013 - September 5, 2013 One Direction: This is Us in 3D August 30, 2013 - September 5, 2013 Events www.dietrichtheater.com/event or (570)996-1500 to reserve Bears In Our Backyard September 7, 2013 Jimmy Welch Quartet Concert September 15, 2013 Fall Festival Oktoberfest Opening Night Gala September 20, 2013 Fall Film Festival Post-Festival Discussion October 4, 2013 Open Mic Night - September 27 September 27, 2013 19th Century Appliqued Quilts October 5, 2013 Guitar Music of South America October 6, 2013 Dietrich Classic Movie Series: The King and I October 9, 2013 - October 9, 2013 Fall Foliage Trip to Grey Towers October 12, 2013 Music for the Movies Silents to the 1960s October 13, 2013 The Magic of Bill Dickson October 19, 2013 Open Mic Night - October 25 October 25, 2013 Sing! Sing! Sing! October 26, 2013 Tunkhannock’s Cultural Heritage November 10, 2013 Dietrich Classic Movie Series: To Catch a Thief November 13, 2013 - November 13, 2013 Northeastern PA During the Jazz Age November 13, 2013 Winter – How Nature Readies for the Worst! November 16, 2013 Open Mic Night - November 22 November 22, 2013 Dietrich Radio Players Performance December 3, 2013 Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas December 6, 2013 - December 7, 2013 Holiday Workshop December 7, 2013 Dietrich Classic Movie Series: White Christmas December 11, 2013 - December 11, 2013 It’s a Wonderful Life December 17, 2013 - December 17, 2013 Classes www.dietrichtheater.com/class or (570)996-1500 to enroll All About Pottery & Sculpture, ages 5-8: Sept. September 13, 2013 - October 4, 2013 All About Pottery & Sculpture, Ages 5-8: Nov. November 8, 2013 - December 6, 2013 All About Pottery & Sculpture, Ages 9 to 12: Sept. September 12, 2013 - October 3, 2013 All About Pottery & Sculpture, ages 9-12: Nov. November 8, 2013 - December 6, 2013 Art Explorers Camp, ages 5 - 8 October 11, 2013 - November 1, 2013 Art Explorers Camp, ages 9-12 October 10, 2013 - October 31, 2013 Holiday Camp December 27, 2013 - December 30, 2013 Preschool Art Explorers October 10, 2013 - October 31, 2013 Preschool Pottery & Sculpture - Sept. September 12, 2013 - October 3, 2013 Preschool Pottery & Sculpture - Nov. November 7, 2013 - December 5, 2013 Quilting for Kids: Tumbling Blocks September 11, 2013 - December 11, 2013 Sidewalk Surfing October 1, 2013 - October 29, 2013 Sing Your Heart Out October 26, 2013 - November 23, 2013 Songs and Games for Tots November 6, 2013 - December 4, 2013 Writing Your Hat Off: Creative Writing for Kids October 2, 2013 - October 30, 2013 Open Studio & Portfolio Prep August 27, 2013 - November 26, 2013 Quilting for Everyone: Tumbling Blocks September 11, 2013 - December 11, 2013 Basic Knitting October 29, 2013 - November 5, 2013 Decorative Painting August 28, 2013 - December 18, 2013 Design a Painted Silk Scarf October 8, 2013 Golden Days of Radio Players October 22, 2013 - December 3, 2013 Holiday Yoga Relaxation December 11, 2013 Introduction to Resin Jewelry October 14, 2013 Introduction to Stained Glass October 21, 2013 Jewelry Making: Expressions in Fused Glass November 4, 2013 - November 18, 2013 Jewelry Making: Introduction to Metal Work November 11, 2013 Jewelry Making: Kumihimo Beading October 16, 2013 - November 6, 2013 Jewelry Making: Right Angle Weave November 14, 2013 Kundalini Yoga September 30, 2013 - November 18, 2013 Nia August 27, 2013 - December 10, 2013 Nutrition for Women October 3, 2013 - October 24, 2013 Recycled Glass Artwork August 26, 2013 - November 25, 2013 Simply Yoga September 4, 2013 - November 20, 2013 Writers' Group August 22, 2013 - December 12, 2013 Yoga for the Guardians of Your Health September 23, 2013	Live at The Dietrich by Erica Rogler Live at the Dietrich for August 28, 2013 So much talent graced the Dietrich stage at our recent Gathering of Singers and Songwriters 12. From thought-provoking lyrics, to great guitar playing, to fun banter between artists, you could not have asked for a better evening. We would like to thank Hannah Bingman, Eddie Appnel, Tom Flannery and Lorne Clarke for sharing their music with us. We are also grateful to Lorne Clarke for organizing these concerts for the past 12 years. The Gathering is our longest running cultural program at the Dietrich. What a great tradition! The Dietrich also has a variety of upcoming classes and events for you and your family to enjoy this fall. Be sure to visit www.dietrichtheater.com for the complete schedule. I think there is just about something for everyone. Our first event for the fall season will be a nature presentation with Wildlife Conservation Officer Victor Rosa called Bears in Our Backyard. All ages are invited to join us on Saturday, September 7 at 11 a.m. for this program that will showcase Pennsylvania’s North American Black Bear. Take this opportunity to learn where black bears came from and why they are now common in northeastern Pennsylvania. Victor Rosa will also discuss den locations, bear cubs and how bears not only survive but thrive thanks to human urbanization. He will also share issues and problems with human/bear interactions along with humorous anecdotes pertaining to bears. This presentation will be followed by a Q & A session. Admission is free. Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-996-1500 and will be available at the door while they last. Then on Sunday, September 15 at 3:00 p.m., come out to the Dietrich to see the Jimmy Welch Quartet live in concert. For over 38 years, Jimmy Welch and his musical colleagues performed for the Jazz Concert at the Wyoming County Courthouse gazebo. Now you can hear the Jimmy Welch Quartet on stage at the Dietrich. This quartet features Chuck Pirone on drums, Joe Weldon at keyboard, John Stellabot on bass and Jimmy Welch on trumpet. Hear favorites such as "Satin Doll" and "Jersey Bounce" and other jazz and Big Band favorites. Admission to this concert is free. Donations will be accepted to help support free cultural programming at the theater. To make your reservations, please call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 or pick them at the ticket booth as long as they last. And don’t forget to reserve your tickets now for the opening night of the Dietrich’s Fall Film Festival on Friday, September 20. Gather up your friends for this festive evening filled with great film, food, wine, beer and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 each and are going fast. Tickets can be reserved by calling 570-996-1500. Visit www.dietrichtheater.com for the complete listing of film festival movies and show times.
Movie Times: (570)836-1022 General Information: (570)996-1500