Here at The Editorial Entertainers we’ve decided to be completely honest with you; these publications have been for class assignments and this is our final installment. We hope to have been able to show you some things you didn’t know were happening in our greater Danbury, Conn. area, including various movies, shows, restaurants, parks, museums, festivals and even farms. With any luck, you’ve found a few things to do that interest you and helped you figure out things to do to get your mind off life’s stresses for a little while.

            Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is only a few weeks away, so if you’re someone who enjoys spending time outside in the fresh air at all, do it now while it’s still closer to comfortable out. So far this fall, yes we’re still in fall for a couple more weeks, we’ve already had two snowstorms and a trail of power outages with people trapped behind downed trees after Sandy that I hope make it apparent how not existent this mild weather we’re currently enjoying will soon be.

            Walk around in the grass. Even if you have your shoes on it will still feel much different once the ground freezes over and is coated in snow. Soon it will take almost ten minutes to get ready as we layer ourselves in extra clothing, lace up some high-top boots instead of throwing on sneakers, zip and button up, and throw on the extras like scarfs, gloves and winter hats, all before many of us step outside.

(The Streets of Danbury.  Photo taken by and Edited for dust and exposure by Travis Greene.) 

            With that said, this mild weather will soon be gone and we won’t be uploading any more ideas for things to take advantage of. So. Even though everything will be coated in white, that doesn’t mean you have to go into hibernation. Life will still go on, and we’ll still have to carry on with its chores and stressors. But there will also be another bounty of ways to entertain yourself out there; they call it a “Winter Wonderland” for a reason.

            Yes there will be some amazing sights this winter, but the sights are already there now, no reason to wait until we’re stuck behind glass panes or bundled up like a Michelin Man or Woman. When you get the chance to unplug yourself from your to-do list and get a chance to enjoy yourself, we hope we’ve at least sparked an idea for something entertaining you can do.

(Snowstorm Last Year.  Photo taken by and Edited for exposure and dust by Travis Greene.) 

Article by Travis Greene.

          I stepped into the foyer of the Javits Center and immediately found myself face-to-face with Superman, Spider-Man and Captain America.

            Only at Comic-Con.

            From Oct. 11-14, the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City was packed with an estimated 115,000 attendees of the New York Comic-Con (NYCC).  First held in 2006, NYCC has grown to become a spiritual rival and successor to the highly-hyped San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), which has been held annually since 1970.  

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            Our publication, “The Editorial Entertainers” has been providing the public information about places to go, things to do and events to attend. This piece is about people to keep an eye out for in the future – all or either current students or alumni of Western Connecticut State University.

            If you look around there are many students on campus who are performers.  The drama department will be performing “Into the Woods” on Dec. 8 and 9. It will be shown at the Berkshire Theater at the midtown campus. It features a very large cast of WCSU students from all over Conn.  And there is a performance of the holiday classic “Amahl and the Night Visitors” on Dec. 7 and 8 in the Ives Concert Hall at the midtown campus as well. One of the chorus members is Kaitlyn Bogue who is a current student at WCSU. She considers herself a performer in both opera and musical theatre.  Bogue said that she has “always wanted to perform and sing for as long as I can remember. I would like to do this as my main career; however I also work as a special education teacher to make ends meet.”  She will be playing Constance in the opera “Dialogues of the Carmelites” in the spring. She has also been involved with the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Organization where she said “I hold the local title of Miss Capital Region. For the talent portion of the competition I sang opera.”  She performs on the weekends for a living and tries to not let it interfere with school.  For more information about “Amahl and the Night Visitors” go to http://www.wcsu.edu/tickets/.

            Another location to see WCSU students past and present is the Midtown Coffeehouse on Thursday nights in the Alumni Hall on WCSU midtown campus. Last September one of those performers was Erik Ofgang, otherwise known as Mageerik. He has been interested in magic since he was a child and unable to figure out any of the tricks. As he got older he apprenticed with “old time magicians who used to meet at a diner off Broadway in New York City. They were real characters and incredible magicians.” Although he does not do big illusion shows any more he still performs a lot of solo shows that are mostly for private events. He use to open for MacTalla Mor but now that he is part of the band he incorporates his magic into the “actual show as kind of a ‘magic solo’ instead of an instrumental solo,” Ofgang said. When he was an undergraduate at WCSU he said the “craziest experience ever was going to class on Friday morning then driving to North Carolina for shows over the weekend then driving back in time for class Monday morning.” He is part of the MFA Program at WCSU and is able to find time to do all three of his loves: perform magic, perform music and write. Erik said that “they really are all related and are all different ways of telling stories. I love telling stories in every medium.”  To find out more about Mageerik go to http://www.mageerik.com/ and to get more information on the Coffeehouse visit www.wcsu.edu/stuaffairs/Coffeehouse.asp.

           MacTalla Mor is a Celtic roots band consisting of the members of the Ofgang family. At this time it consists of their mother Patty and sons Erik, Levon (a current WCSU student) and Jesse (an alumni of WCSU). All the children were homeschooled until they started WCSU. The band started approximately 11 years ago when their older sister Ilana (an alumni of WCSU as well) was a jazz piano major, Jesse was playing the bagpipes and their mother played the Irish drum called the bodhran. They decided instead of practicing in separate rooms all over the house to practice together and from there the band was born. Jesse Ofgang is now a music teacher at a local private high school and said “Some of my teachers (at WCSU) were upset that I had to miss some classes. I never understood their motives as I was playing music professionally, a goal of students and teachers alike. I still had a great experience touring around the country with the band. Ofgang would always hand out flyers and advertise when their band was playing and in fact “took 30 of his students to one of his shows and they loved it.” Ofgang said that for him, “I really enjoy being part of a band. I am sure I could find other ways of being happy but since music is such a big part of my life, whether it’s teaching or performing, playing with a band seems like a no brainer for me.”  To find out more about MacTalla Mor go to www.mactalla.com.

Article by Suzanne Davenport.