West metro arts briefs

'Jack and Rochelle' opens Friday at JCC "Jack and Rochelle," a drama based on a love story during the Holocaust, will be presented at the Sabes Jewish Community Center's Theatre Or starting Friday and running through March 28.

The play is based on the memoir, "Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance," by Larry Sutin. It is the story of his parents, Jack and Rochelle Sutin of St. Louis Park, and how they escaped from Nazi ghetto labor camps, joined a Jewish resistance group and eventually escaped to America.

It was commissioned by Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins in 2004 and was presented to sold-out audiences from all over the region. The show is considered appropriate for ages 10 and older.

Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. on Sundays, plus a 10 a.m. show on Fridays. An additional performance is set for 7:30 p.m. March 22.

An opening-night reception will follow the performance on Saturday. All performances will take place at the Sabes JCC, located at 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road in St. Louis Park.

Tickets are $17 for the general public, $15 for JCC members, and $12 for students and groups of eight or more, with pay-what-you-can shows on Thursdays as well as on March 22.

For more information and tickets, go to www.theatreor mpls.org or call 952-381-3499.

Poetry-writing project underway "Our Town: Verses & Voices," St. Louis Park's year-long community poetry project, is organizing workshops for local residents, including kids, to get them to help write poetry about the city.

At Cedar Manor Elementary School on Thursday, kids who wrote lines of poetry with a poet at a workshop last week will get together again with Community Poet Diane Pecoraro to read their poems aloud and hear her read her poetry. The event is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at Cedar Manor Elementary, 9400 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park.

Meanwhile, the staff at Sabes Jewish Community Center is conducting a poetry workshop as a staff development opportunity. Workshops also are planned at the St. Louis Park Library and the Bean Good Coffee shop, as well as the Sholom Home and the Westwood Nature Center. Each is being led by a professional poet.

The goal is to get 100 lines of poetry written and submitted through seven planned workshops and to compile it all into a Renga -- a collaborative community poem. For more information on how to participate, e-mail info@slpfriendsofthearts.org or call 952-928-6422.

A Community Poetry Jam is also scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on April 20 at Bean Good Coffee Shop in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The events have been organized by the St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts. For information, go to www.slpfriends ofthearts.org .

Celebration of teacher's life, work at MacPhail MacPhail Center for Music will celebrate the life of a beloved piano teacher, Gary Sipes, from 2:30-5 p.m. Sunday at the center, 501 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis.

Former students and other who knew Sipes are invited to reminisce about his performance career and more than 40 years of teaching at MacPhail.

Sipes, who died in December, came to teach at MacPhail in 1962, and was MacPhail's longest-employed faculty member.

The event will include a commemorative concert beginning at 3 p.m. in Antonello Hall, featuring performances and remarks by colleagues and students. A reception will follow. There is no charge for admission to the celebration. For more information, go to www.macphail.org.

Battle of the Big Bands dance is March 27 The Second Annual Battle of the Big Bands Swing Dance will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight on March 27 at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus Hall, 1114 American Blvd., Bloomington.

The event will feature the Minnesota Jazz Orchestra vs. the Bend in the River Big Band. The two bands will alternate hour-long sets, with a finale featuring the combined bands of 34 musicians.

Tickets will cost $10 at the door and $8 for KBEM Jazz 88 and Twin Cities Jazz Society members.

For more information, go to www.minnesotajazzorchestra .com .

Library board members named A Minneapolis attorney and a public school technology specialist from Plymouth have been appointed to the Hennepin County Library Board.

Gary Thaden of Minneapolis and Caitlin Cahill of Plymouth were named by the Hennepin County Board last week to replace two members whose three-year terms ended last year. County commissioners also reappointed Claudia Kelly, a writer from Medina, to her second term.

The Library Board consists of 11 county residents who review budgets and determine library policies. They meet monthly at a library.

Cahill, 24, works for the Orono School District. She also is a professional photographer and runs her own digital imaging business. Thaden, 55, a former member of the Minneapolis Library Board, is a construction trade lobbyist for Pettersen & Associates. He belongs to the American Library Association and writes a monthly column on libraries for two Minneapolis neighborhood newspapers.

Kelly, 48, is the library board's vice president and was first appointed to the board in 2007. She is working on a novel, and her first play was produced last summer at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Youth Choirs to appear with CANTUS CANTUS, a renowned male vocal chamber ensemble, will appear along with the Minnetonka Youth Choirs at the Minnetonka Youth Choirs' Gala Benefit at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arts Center on 7, 18285 Hwy. 7, Minnetonka.

Tickets are $20 in advance for adults ($25 at the door) and $15 for students. Proceeds will go to the Youth Choirs Scholarship Fund.

Then on Sunday, the Minnetonka Civic Orchestra and the St. Paul Jewish Community Center Orchestra will present "Creative Connections: A Concert for Two Orchestras" at 7 p.m. at the Arts Center on Hwy. 7. Admission will be by free-will donation.

For more information on either concert, go to www. musicassociation.org or call 952-401-5954.

STAFF REPORTS

Peter Zelle exhibit set at Sabes JCC Selected works by Peter Zelle will be on display Thursday through April 22 at the Tychman Shapiro Gallery in the Sabes Jewish Community Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Road South, St. Louis Park.

An artist's reception is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Sabes center, with a wine tasting from 6 to 6:30 p.m. followed by a reception and gallery tour led by Zelle.

The reception and tour are free; the wine tasting will cost $5. No are reservations necessary.