Each week, arts writer Meredith Moss highlights the people and events making arts news in our region. If you have news you’d like to share, please contact Meredith: MMoss@coxohio.com
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With last weekend’s re-opening of the oldest branch in the Dayton Metro Library system, we thought it would be interesting to learn more about the woman for whom the library was named — Electra C. Doren.
Here’s what we discovered with help from the folks at the Dayton Metro Library and the League of Women Voters:
- Electra Collins Doren was associated with the Dayton Public Library for more than 40 years. She was Chief Librarian from 1896-1905, and then was called back to the librarianship to rebuild the book collection from the remnant left by the flood of March 1913. She remained at the library until her death in 1927.
- Doren, who began working at the library at age 18, introduced many new and lasting ideas into the field of library science and to the Miami Valley institution. In 1896, while working at the Dayton Public Library, she prepared the first book catalog, one of the first in the United States.
- She brought the innovative concept of a traveling library in the form of a book-wagon to Ohio — now called the bookmobile. She introduced training classes in the library, reading for the blind, betterment activities for the staff, and deposit libraries at factories such as Delco and the National Cash Register Company.
- Along with three others, she founded the American Library Association. During her tenure, Doren opened the library's shelves to the public for the first time. Previously, only library workers could access the shelves and retrieve items for the public.
- In addition to being part of the Ohio Women's Suffragist Association, she helped to collect and curate the history of the local suffragist movement.
- Over the years Doren went on to collect Ohio Women's suffrage materials including diaries, scrapbooks and correspondence. This collection is the basis for the library's Women's Suffrage Collection which is now recognized as one of the nation's largest collection of suffrage materials in the United States.
- To honor her years of dedicated service to Dayton and the library profession, the branch she had been planning was named for her. The Electra C. Doren Branch Library opened to great fanfare in the Old North Dayton neighborhood on Jan. 3, 1928.
- In 1997, Electra C. Doren was inducted into Dayton's Walk of Fame, and in 1999 she was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.
Tickets on sale for National Geographic Live series
National Geographic Live, the three-part speaker series that showcases the world through the eyes of explorers, photographers and filmmakers, has been slated for Feb. 16, March 23 and April 20. The series is a collaboration between the Victoria Theatre Association and Five Rivers Metro Parks. Tickets are now on sale.
The series kicks off with “Extreme Planet” with Carsten Peter, a German photographer and filmmaker who has rappelled into active volcanoes in the South Pacific and chased monster storms in Tornado.
“Coral Kingdoms and Empires of Ice” with David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes is the second lecture in the series and the final program features Cory Richards, the first American to climb an 8,000 meter peak in winter.
Individual Tickets start at $21 and are on sale at the Ticket Center Stage Box Office, by phone at (937) 228-3630, toll-free 888-228-3630 or online at www.ticketcenterstage.com. Ticket Center Stage Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday – Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and two hours prior to each performance. Series tickets are still available for purchase starting at $54.
Mid-Day Arts Cafe to focus on Zoot
The January Mid-Day Arts Cafe will feature the creative puppetry of The Zoot Theatre Company.
The popular lunchtime event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, in the Mathile Theatre, located inside the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.
Audiences will be treated to a hands-on puppetry workshop as well as a question and answer session. Zoot Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Tristan Cupp, will talk about recent developments with Zoot’s Touring Company, upcoming spring and summer productions, and a collaboration with the University of Dayton Theatre Program. UD Theater Department Director Michelle Hayford will also participate in the program.
Tickets are $15 each or $12 for current VTA Season Ticket Holders and include lunch and discounted parking in The Arts Garage. Order online at www.TicketCenterStage.com or call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630.
Mid-Day Arts Cafe is a series presented by Victoria Theatre Association.
Troy- Hayner Center to show “Niagara”
“Niagara,” the 1953 Film Noir thriller starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotton and Jean Peters, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16 at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center, 301 West Main Street, Troy.
The classic film is the story of two couples visiting Niagara Falls as the tensions between one wife and husband reaches the level of murder.
The evening is free and open to the public and includes an introduction to the film, cafe-style seating, popcorn and soft drinks.
Note that the film is intended for mature viewers and may not be appropriate for children under 13.
Music of Johnny Cash comes to the Cincinnati Playhouse
“Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash” is slated for Jan. 17 through Feb. 15 at the Cincinnati Playhouse.
The show, created by Richard Maltby Jr. and conceived by William Meade, was adapted from the Broadway production by Richard Maltby Jr. and Jason Edwards. Edwards, who starred in “Ring of Fire” on Broadway, will both direct and appear in the Playhouse production, which tells Cash’s story through his songs.
“The show tries, in a couple of hours, to touch on every aspect of Mr. Cash’s life — not just his troubled years or his drug years — but also his youth, his faith,” explains Edwards. “He was a very patriotic and spiritual guy, on top of running into some rough times. He never really lost the sense of where he came from and who he was.”
You’ll hear more than 30 of Cash’s classic songs including the title tune, as well as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Man in Black,” “A Boy Named Sue” and “I Walk the Line.”
Ticket prices start at $30. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at (513) 421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com.
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