Wellesley theater productions round-up

January 16, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Here’s a round-up of what a couple of Wellesley theater groups are up to:

Wellesley Repertory Theatre presents boom

Wellesley Repertory Theatre, the award-winning professional theatre company in residence on the Wellesley College campus since 1998, will bring playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s boom to the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre at Wellesley College on January 16 — February 9, 2020.

Wellesley Repertory Theatre, boom

At an evolutionary museum far in the future, a curator tells the story of two present-day people on a first date interrupted by a comet hitting the Earth, with globally catastrophic repercussions. This couple soon finds themselves as the last two people on the planet; the fate of humanity suddenly lands on their shoulders as they realize they could be the new Adam and Eve. Spanning billions of years, boom riotously looks at the depths of humanity – what we want from one another, how we take care of each other, and how our stories become important.

Wellesley Theatre Project to perform in Atlanta

Wellesley Theatre Project‘s (WTP) audition-only touring group, IMPACT! will attend the Junior Theatre Festival January 17 – 19 in Atlanta Georgia as the only group from Massachusetts, along with 6,000 others performing artists representing 129 groups, 31 states, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. WTP will present a selection from Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Wellesley Theatre Project

At the festival, youth theatre companies perform 15-minute staged selections from titles in musical licensor Music Theatre International’s Broadway Junior collection for adjudication, after which students attend interactive workshops. Students interested in technical theatre can participate in the tech track, which includes the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals backstage for the festival’s main stage events.
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Babson College President to speak at The Wellesley Club meeting

January 6, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Babson College, Wellesley — Dr. Stephen Spinelli, Jr.,
President of Babson College.

The Wellesley Club will welcome guest speaker Dr. Stephen Spinelli, Jr. to its January 13, 2020 meeting at the Wellesley College Club. Dr. Spinelli, Babson College’s 14th president, assumed his new role in July 2019. A successful entrepreneur, academic leader, scholar, and philanthropist, Dr. Spinelli co-founded Jiffy Lube International in 1979 and was chairman and CEO of the American Oil Change Corporation, helping to pioneer the quick-lube industry nationwide and turning Jiffy Lube into the nation’s dominant competitor.

MEETING LOCATION: Wellesley Country Club, 300 Wellesley Ave.
DATE: Jan. 13, 2020
SOCIAL HOUR: 6pm
DINNER: 7pm

The Wellesley Club is the oldest civic organization in Wellesley, having been established 130 years ago in 1889, and has been influential in the development of the Town. The Club’s mission is to promote literary and social culture among its members, with a focus on discussions relating to the welfare of the Town of Wellesley. The Club provides a forum for public discussion of
pertinent topics and an opportunity to meet and discuss a wide range of issues. Town residents with an interest in the Club should contact Club Secretary, Peter Cory at [email protected]

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Wellesley Theatre Project presents “Frozen, Jr.”

December 6, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley Theatre Project, Frozen Snow and ice will be here soon as Wellesley Theatre Project (WTP) presents Disney’s FROZEN, JR Friday, December 13th at 5pm and 8pm and Saturday, December 14th and Sunday, December 15th at 2pm and 5pm. All performances will take place at the Sorenson Center at Babson College, located at 19 Babson College Drive, Wellesley, MA 02482.  Tickets are priced $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, and may be purchased online at http://wellesleytheatreproject.org in advance, or at the door for $18 for adults and $12 for students and seniors.

Based on the 2018 Broadway musical and the 2013 Disney film, Disney’s FROZEN, JR brings Elsa, Anna, and the magical land of Arendelle to life, onstage. A story of true love and acceptance between sisters. When faced with danger, Princesses Anna and Elsa discover their hidden potential and the powerful bond of sisterhood. With a cast of beloved characters and loaded with magic, adventure, and plenty of humor, it is sure to thaw even the coldest heart!

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Wellesley schools roundup — Babson gets big bucks; Fay Classroom Visit; WHS Jazz concert; Cotillion news; MassBay and student hunger

November 22, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Babson gets $50 million donation

In his greatest gift to New England since his Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank has bestowed $50M on alma mater Babson College in Wellesley. READ MORE

Fay School Classroom Visit Day

Fay School, Southborough — Fay School, Fall 2019

Join Fay School for a Classroom Visit Day. It’s a unique opportunity for day students and their families to see Fay School at its best as you tour our campus, talk with teachers and lead administrators, and observe students and teachers in action on a typical school day. For more information and to RSVP, visit www.fayschool.org/visitdays

WHEN: Thursday, December 5
TIME: 10am – noon
WHERE: 48 Main St., Southborough, MA

Wellesley HS Fall Jazz Concert

Wellesley High School Performing Arts presents Rice Street Singers, the One O’Clock Jazz Band, the Two O’Clock Jazz Band, and guest artists Kim Nazarian & Darmon Meader from New York Voices. Free admission.

DATE: Monday, Nov. 25
TIME: 7pm – 9pm
WHERE: Wellesley High School Auditorium, 50 Rice St.

Wellesley Cotillion moves formal dance location to Randolph

After three years at Boston University, the Wellesley Cotillion Committee has announced a change of venue for the annual formal dance. This year the town’s juniors and seniors will dance the night away at Lombardo’s in Randolph, Massachusetts. The big night will be Saturday, January 4, 2020, 7:30 – 10:30pm. READ MORE

Thanksgiving recess

Wellesley Public Schools will be closed on the following dates:

Thursday, Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day)
Friday, Nov. 29
Monday, Dec 2 (Professional Day)

MassBay tackles student hunger

MassBay, Wellesley MassBay Community College’s Student Nourishment and Care Committee (SNACC) has awarded 48 students with meal cards totaling $15,000 for the fall 2019 semester, as part of the new Meal Scholarship Program. Launched as a pilot program in March 2019, The MassBay Meal Scholarship Program first awarded 29 students’ meal cards totaling $2,430 before it was expanded this semester. As a committee, SNACC is committed to helping students overcome food insecurity to ensure their academic goals can be attained.

“Students cannot focus on their studies if they are hungry, if their blood sugar is low, if they are worried about where their next meal is coming from, or if they are worried about whether they can feed their children,” said MassBay President Dr. David Podell. “The SNACC committee is working to eliminate this barrier, because we know lack of basic needs can derail a student’s goals. This initiative is an important step to eliminate student hunger on our campuses.” MORE

Here’s how to get your school’s news into Swellesley’s weekly Schools Roundup post:

Send in a short blurb and/or picture about news and events going on at your school. Email: [email protected]com

Stuff that’s newsworthy:

Upcoming events such as bake sales, book sales, fairs, etc.

Dates such as for Back to School Night, meetings, etc.

Pictures of events that may not have been open to the public but that give people an idea of great things that are happening in your school, such as authors’ visits.

Congratulations to faculty/staff who are retiring, or who are new hires.

The weekly deadline is Wednesdays at noon. The post will appear each Thursday.

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Babson gets $50 million Blank check for entrepreneurial leadership

November 19, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Blank’s foundation will fund the establishment of a school within Babson for entrepreneurial leadership focused on ventures that do good for the world. This is the biggest individual gift the foundation has granted, and the biggest Babson has received.

Babson, which costs more than $70K to attend, is rolling in money these days, with an endowment well over $400 million. It has been piling up giant donations and building modern facilities, such as the Weissman Foundry and new recreation complex.

The vision for how the Blank funding will be spent includes allowing for more need-based scholarships, supporting research, and creating an entrepreneurial village designed to foster collaboration on campus.

Establishing a center for local and business journalism would be another brilliant idea.

Overcoming inertia to attend Wellesley’s Isaac Newton exhibit

September 18, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Temps reached into the 80s Saturday, making for a beautiful day. Mrs. Swellesley was off hiking in western Mass with friends. I was laying low, resting my legs in advance of a sure-to-grueling 5K road race.

OK, I guess I’ll actually pop over to the Babson College pop-up exhibit of Sir Isaac Newton artifacts that I signed up for back in July. How boring can it be?

As it turns out, not boring at all.

Sure, as I assembled in the lobby of the Sorenson Center I realized my worst fears. Asked by a visiting curator from the Huntington Library in California what drew us to this exhibit, the majority of the group responded that they were engineering grads from Olin College. A Wellesley College instructor also was in the mix. Then there was me, a lowly wordsmith looking for a touch of enlightenment.

While I know my basic Newtonian facts, such as the Big 3 laws and that he didn’t discover gravity by getting bonked on the head by an apple, I didn’t quite appreciate the extent to which he was one of those Ben Franklin types who was the best at seemingly everything he did. That he was doing STEM before there was STEM.

Not only was this down-to-earth 17th- and 18th-century figure a great mathematician and scientist, but the Master of the Mint, an alchemy enthusiast, and “the most learned religious scholar of his time,” according to Huntington’s Joel Klein, an alchemy expert himself. Newton’s religious research, including his own blasphemous beliefs, mainly came to light after his death, when collectors like Babson acquired his works at auction.

“No problem was too big for Newton,” Klein asserted.

Babson Newton exhibit

Because this exhibit was so small, featuring about a dozen items enclosed in 4 cases borrowed from Harvard, attendees were forced to zero in on what was before them. It reminded me of The Raconteurs show I’d just attended at the House of Blues, where attendees were required to lock their phones in pouches to compel them to stare at Jack White and his band mates for 90 minutes instead of holding up and checking their phones during the show.

On display at Babson from Sept. 20-22 was just a sampling of the massive Newton collection assembled by Grace Babson, first wife of college founder Roger Babson. Roger Babson was known to have a fascination with Newton’s laws, applying them to business, as well as with the concept of anti-gravity.

Babson Newton exhibit — Huntington Library curator Joel Klein, talking alchemy

The Newton exhibit, set in a black box theatre, included an original edition of Principia, THE math book, with Newton’s hand-scrawled notes in the margins. Also on display were very old coins, at least one of which was clipped, or cut off around the edges. Schemers did this to sell off the silver and still use the coin for its own value. Though they did so at the risk of being burned, hung or drawn and quartered. Such ploys were high crimes at the time, Klein said.

A cryptic Newton sketch related to his efforts to discover the philosopher’s stone, which in theory could turn base metals into silver or gold, also made for interesting viewing. Especially after Klein noted Newton’s focus on the substance antimony, and something about the “menstrual blood of a sordid whore.”

I didn’t see that coming.

Nor did I foresee myself reserving a book called Newton and the Counterfeiter from the library after my visit. But I did.

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Registration opens for Hope Walks cancer patient benefit in Wellesley

September 17, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

Registration is underway for Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s 10th annual Hope Walks event, to be held on Sunday, Oct. 6 at the campus of Babson College in Wellesley.

Funds raised benefit the Mass General Cancer Center at Newton-Wellesley. The event supports a number of programs and services for patients, including advanced treatments, clinical research and integrative support therapies such as massage, reiki, psychosocial counseling and survivorship classes.

hope walks dogs

At this year’s event, participants can complete one lap around the Babson College campus for a 1.5-mile walk or two laps for a 3-mile walk. Check-in begins at 9:00 am, opening ceremonies start at 9:30 am, and the walk begins at 10:00 am. Adult walkers (ages 10 and up) can register for $40; student walkers (college students) for $20; youth walkers (ages 3-9) for $10; two and under can join for free; dogs (on leash) are also welcome.

Walker registration includes an event t-shirt, a special gift, refreshments and a post-walk celebration with DJ entertainment and family-friendly activities such as lawn games, a bouncy house, face painting, a balloon artist and more.
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Beth Anthony, Director of Events and Corporate Partnerships, at [email protected].

Happy 100th Birthday Babson

September 3, 2019 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

I know an increasing number of people, perhaps of a certain age, who are saying the hell with it and celebrating their birthday for a week, month or more. Babson College has turned celebrating its birthday into an art form, but when you’re 100, you get to do what you want.

Babson officially turns 100 today, Sept. 3, and has been partying since the start of the year.

First, Babson College’s new Centennial Park, created to celebrate the Wellesley school’s 100th year in business, got a new name: Kerry Murphy Healey Park.

Then the giant Babson Globe was moved to the park over the winter, and now it spins again. It hadn’t done that in years.

In August, the school introduced a big bronze statue of its founder, Roger Babson, to the park.

roger babson sculpture — Note some of the flags behind the Roger Babson sculpture at Babson College’s park (photo by Lara Smith)

Surrounding the whole park is a collection of world flags, which used to welcome library visitors. For now, there are 53 flags at the park, but Babson plans to fly 100 of them by the end of this academic year, sticking with the Centennial theme. The school explains that underground utility work delayed getting all 100 up at the start.

In an effort to represent its diverse and international student body, Babson has crunched some numbers and worked out a formula to represent everyone given there are more countries than flagpoles.

“Our student body and alumni network includes students from more than 80 countries and an international network with more than 41,000 alumni in 119 countries,” Babson writes on its park page.

“In the future, the flags flown in the park will always reflect countries of our students. Each semester a list of flags will be confirmed based on currently enrolled students. Whenever there are more countries than flagpoles available, the list of flags to be flown will be based on alphabetical order during the fall semester and reverse alphabetical order during the spring semester. This will ensure that the flags for all countries of current students will be flown at some time during each academic year.

“The Glavin Office of International Education, in cooperation with the Registrar’s Office, will confirm the list of flags within the first six weeks of each semester based on the Registrar’s final list of enrolled students. The USA, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Babson flags will be flown continuously.”

Zakim Bridge tribute to Babson & more

Babson will crank its celebrations into high gear Sept. 18-22 in Boston and Wellesley, with events mainly catering to alumni. But those of us who are merely honorary Beavers can enjoy some of the action, too.

For example, the Zakim Bridge in Boston will be lit up green in honor of Babson later this month (I assumed this was something Babson would have had to pay for, but the state tells me that this is actually not the case). The Pru will go green, too.

Babson is touting its education over the years of the world’s leading industrial families, from the Fords to the Toyotas and Zildjians, not to mention newer business names like Arthur Blank of Home Depot, Alberto Perlman of Zumba Fitness and Polina Raygorodskaya of Wanderu.

Also on the agenda:

$100,000 entrepreneur pitch competition
Exhibition of original books and documents of Sir Isaac Newton

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Wellesley runner proves mortal: 47 years, 83 marathons, 80,000 miles, then snap!

September 2, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Word of running injuries spreads fast in Wellesley. A lot faster than most of my crew runs these days.

And so it was that I heard about Wellesley resident and Babson College Prof. Rick Cleary‘s ill-fated run near Morses Pond, while I was on a run of my own shortly thereafter.

“Yes, 47 years, 83 marathons and about 80,000 miles of lording my indestructibility over my oft-injured friends was over in a matter or seconds,” wrote Cleary to me.

This message came after he wrote to a group of his running friends to break the news of his injury:

“Hello boot camp buddies and other Babson running pals:

I was supposed to be running a 10 mile race in Manchester, NH this morning with many of you, but my right quadriceps tendon had different ideas. Last night about 6:30 it blew out completely while I was doing a two mile run with Tommy on the Pickle Point trail along Morse’s Pond in Wellesley, a narrow woods path just off a wide aqueduct trail. I stumbled a little and fell, not a hard fall but I knew immediately that something was seriously wrong. I knew this because the space between my quad muscles and my knee cap on my right leg featured a divot about four inches deep and around. It was pretty ugly, and really quite painful. I couldn’t move my lower leg at all. After a few minutes it felt a little better and I tried to stand up. People who live on the perimeter of Morse’s Pond will be talking for years about the howls of the ghost of Pickle Point. It really hurt. ”

Hope you weren’t eating dinner while you read that.

Cleary’s wife, Ann Trenk, was out of town, and their son Eddie Trenk was at a Wellesley High cross country team pre-season camp, but as it would turn out, Rick still had a strong support system.

Hatching a plan

Fortunately, 13-year-old Tommy Trenk was on hand, and hatched a plan with his Dad to get help.

Rick says Tommy was fresh off the town’s Fire Rescuers camp program, and thanks Wellesley Youth Commission’s Maura Renzella and the Wellesley Fire Department for instilling some handy skills in his son.

The plan:

“Step 1: Run home. (We were about a mile away from home on a rarely used path, though the busier aqueduct path was only perhaps 100 yards away.)

Step 2: Turn off oven. (We had a very good pasta casserole cooking.)

Step 3: Call 911 and tell them your Dad is stuck.

Step 3a: And when you come back bring both of our phones so we can make plans.”

Rick spent the next 20 minutes swatting mosquitoes (fortunately, Wellesley is at a low-risk level for EEE), and tried to stay otherwise still. Until he didn’t.

“Eventually I got bored with that and realized that I could sit up and scoot backwards with my right leg dragging along. It took me about five minutes to go about 50 yards, but it felt good to be able to move on my own. About half way back to the main aqueduct trail, I heard Tommy coming with two police officers and two EMTs; the policemen had picked him up at our house so he could lead them on the trail. The officers were very complimentary of Tommy’s mature approach to leading them to me. The EMT who was driving enjoys off-road trucking as a hobby and really liked getting to back the ambulance way down the aqueduct trail.” (Cleary notes he was sure to mention to the officers that he runs in the Wellesley Police Department’s Officer Savage memorial race each year.)

Tommy called family friends to pick him up, while Rick headed to Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s emergency room. Tests confirmed the original diagnosis, and showed there were no broken bones. Rick made it home just before his wife did, and the casserole tasted great. Nothing to see here…

The aftermath

Tommy and Rick Cleary — Fire Rescuer Tommy Trenk and a temporarily hobbled Rick Cleary

Though those of you who cross Cleary’s path will see he’s wearing a knee immobilizer and will be sporting crutches. Surgery to re-attach the tendon is slated for this week. “It’s a serious injury but the surgery and recovery are straightforward,” assures a friend of Cleary’s who’s had it done twice.

Cleary concludes that “I’m glad that when I finally got injured it was a no-doubt-about-it doozy. I’d have felt bad saying, ‘My knee is a little sore, I guess I’m finally hurt.’

He now turns his attention to teaching, where he acknowledges his style will be cramped. “It usually involves a lot of movement around the classroom.”

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More: Running every street in Wellesley (you need to scroll down)