Playhouse Jester

Alex the Jester will perform at the Vineyard Playhouse on Saturday, May 1, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 a person.

The first show will be appropriate for audiences as young as four and the second show, at 2 p.m., will be geared more for teens, adults and kids nine and up. All shows feature mind-bending sight gags, amazing stunts and are inspired by the rich tradition of the medieval fool.

The Vineyard Playhouse will hold open auditions for a new play by MJ Bruder Munafo, My Mom Is Trying To Ruin My Life, based on the book by Kate Feiffer. The playhouse is also preparing to audition for the summer production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by MJ Bruder Munafo.

On Wednesday, May 5, any time from 4 to 6 p.m., actors can arrive at the playhouse prepared to read a short scene from the play to be provided at the audition.

Last Friday, children at the Martha’s Vineyard Boys’ and Girls’ Club received copies of the Funhunters Scavenger Hunt. “Oh, we know all about the Vineyard,” they said, beginning an animated and interesting discussion about where they might find specific items such as a “mermaid’s purse,” a plane on a grassy airstrip, and a church that has no walls. These Vineyard youngsters then launched the Funhunters Scavenger Hunt on their next scheduled outing.

By LYNNE IRONS

Since the media is still talking about the Icelandic volcano eruption, I have to add another thought on the subject! In 1816 after an eruption which caused one of those summers that didn’t happen, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron were vacationing. Because there were long, wet, gloomy days forcing the couple indoors, Mary wrote Frankenstein. Wonder if a similar creative effort happened with one of the many stranded air travelers in Europe?

The Oak Bluffs Public Library, in conjunction with the annual celebration of Della Hardman Day on Saturday, July 31, is sponsoring a photography contest to select 14 images featuring Martha’s Vineyard that reflect Della Hardman’s legacy theme — “savor the moment.” The winning entries will be published in the 2011 Oak Bluffs Public Library Calendar.

The enticing aromas of mussels marinière and tilapia dieppoise wafting up Vineyard Haven’s Main street beckoned several dozen customers into Le Roux on a recent Wednesday to witness master chef Jean Dupon, owner of Le Grenier, work his magic.

With its water-themed issue on the stands, National Geographic will continue to focus on this most precious resource on Martha’s Vineyard this weekend with the launch of the new book Written in Water: Messages of Hope for Earth’s Most Precious Resource and the premiere of its film Shark Eden. Events on Saturday and Sunday bring world-renowned authors, activists, filmmakers and musicians together for a festival called Water Is Life, cosponsored by the Island nonprofit group World Waterway.

Yellow seems to be the color of the week, with two reports of unusual yellow birds.

On Monday I got an e-mail from Sue Hruby, reporting a yellowish bird bigger than a tufted titmouse that showed up at her West Tisbury feeder early on April 26. She correctly identified the bird as a western tanager, noting that the red was clearly visible, but not bright. She also took some photos of the bird, so it was easy to confirm the identification.

One spring morning in 1972, while riding his motorcycle across a bridge in New Jersey on his way to class at Fairleigh Dickinson University, William Marks glanced over the side to the river below and saw dead fish. Lots of dead fish.

The federal government has given approval for the development of Cape Wind, America’s first big offshore wind farm, on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound.

The Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced his decision to approve the project, with only minor changes, at a joint press conference with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick at noon on Wednesday.

Construction could begin within the year on the 130-turbine development, Mr. Salazar said.