Community Calendar for Franklin County

 DATE \@ "MMMM d, yyyy" January 21, 2010 Hilliard, Ohio – Love and family, and the entanglements of the two, are the themes intertwined throughout the Bread and Circus Theatre Company (BCTCO) production of Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel, which will be performed Fridays and Saturdays, February 12, 13, 19, and 20 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 14, at 2:30 p.m. at the Harmony Artistic Center, 3979 Parkway Lane, in Hilliard. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. For reservations, call 614-470-4895, or visit www.bctco.org.

The Tony Award winning Dancing at Lughnasa tells the story of an Irish country family in the early part of the 20^th century through the eyes of Michael Evans, and his memory of August 1936, when he lived in the town of Ballyberg, County Donegal, with his mother, Christina, and his four aunts: Kate, a Catholic school teacher; Maggie, a jokester and the family confidant; Agnes, fastest knitter in Ballyberg and the family caregiver; and Rose, the free spirit who is eternally a child. It’s an eventful month for Michael and for the Mundy sisters. Their only brother, Father Jack, returns from 25 years of being a missionary in Africa, to recuperate from a bout of malaria. And Michael’s far-roving father, Gerry, makes a surprise visit to check-in with Christina, and fall madly in love for the first time...again.

Most transforming of all, though, is the sisters’ purchase of a Marconi wireless set, which quickly takes a "voodoo" hold over the women – especially during the three-week-long Festival of Lughnasa, which heralds the harvest season. Through Michael’s memories, we learn how the music the wireless brings to their home, and the dancing it engenders, enables everyone to cope with the troubles of their life and reap a harvest of love and anger, sorrow and joy.