Sky, Dune, & Lake Watch

Fifty years ago Man stood on the Moon.  The photo of the earth caused such a sensation soon followed the first Earth Day.  We are celebrating the earth, sky, and waters this year in honor of this anniversary.

Come on our various excursions to learn and exult in our wonderful life.  Our first such trip is to the Merrillville Community Planetarium on Saturday night, April 21st to appreciated the night sky.  

ght, April 21st to learn about the sky.

Indiana Bicentennial Projects of Family Folklore Foundation,Inc.

pinhook bog indiana dunes national lakeshorePinhook Bog of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Bog Blog May 19, 2015
http://www.duneland.com/aer/indiana-dunes/pinhook-bog.html

Bog blog bags

We have an array of neon colored bags that are suitable for holding water bottles, snacks and our various hiking materials. Come join the fun May 30 at Pinhook Bog! You can meet in the Marquette Park United Methodist Church at 11 AM that morning and carpool and or car caravan to see what it's like to walk on a floating trail!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Anyone who would like to participate on our summer activities this year, Listen to this!

Our first free activity of 2015 is to meet at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Pinhook Bog at noon on Saturday, May 30! The bog is about 25 miles away from Miller.  We're going to take a walk for about a mile on an easy path, that is actually floating.

 If you want to car caravan from the Marquette Park United Methodist Church parking lot, meet at 11 AM that morning and Mandy Renslow will steer you in the right direction.

 

 

Directions:  The bog doesn’t have a street address since it isn’t a house, but you can put 0856 N Wozniak Rd, La Porte, IN in your navigational system and it will lead you to the  house across the street from the bog.

1. Pinhook Bog is right outside of Michigan City at the 421 exit going south.

2. When you get off of 80/94E and go south on 421... that's exit A (not Exit B which takes you through Michigan City.

3. Once you're on 421 S. you turn left at the first road which is 200 N. and you go for 2.2 miles to the stop sign.

4. There you turn right onto Wozniak road.

5.  Pinhook Bog is about three quarters of a mile down the road on the left.

 

We have hats for you, and bags with water bottles and treats and equipment for hiking on the floating trail. You need to dress in long sleeves and long pants with light clothing and old shoes or rubber boots and mosquito spray. Come join the fun.  We are going to gather information for making an ecology play, ‘Footsteps in the Dunes’, this summer! Be there or be square!

Signed Dr. Meg Demakas

Butterbird Christmas Debuts Live at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts

On December 7, 2015, we put on our first radio play, Butterbird Christmas.  This inaugural performance was given at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts to a standing room only crowd.  (Click here to view the performance on our YouTube channel.)

With scripts in hand, the players read their parts aloud into wireless mics, accompanied by the Calumet Jazz Duo and our foley artists.  The gallery was decorated with 1950’s newspaper advertisements and photographs of mid-century scenes from Northwest Indiana, in particular, the Grandfield family (the inspiration of Butterbird Christmas).

           

The Family Folklore Players took a cue from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Senior Players and set up their stage to mirror the radio plays that these pros perform regularly at the Chicago Cultural Center. Additionally, Koni Shaughnessy (of 90.9 FM), took us under her wing and explained the whys and hows of creating sound effects, she read our play and made recommendations for sound effects.

Members of Family Folklore Foundation Inc. and the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts worked together on this mutual labor of love.  The sound system was fine tuned, decorations for Christmas and Hanukah decked the hall, Addycake’s baker, Mallory Keller, brought designer cupcakes in the seasonal colors represented in our inter-faith tale, the band set the mood, and the foley artists lined up their sound gear.  

The play began on time at 4 o’clock and the whole cast and crew did a wonderful job!  The audience was friendly and seemed to enjoy the humor and mini tragedies featured in the story. Sue Ross of the Post Tribune reported and photographed the playand the article appeared December 19th.  A great time was had by all and the event was a success. We were able to raise funds to support other arts endeavors for our community and very humbled by the out-pouring of support we received in the planning/ execution of this program. Now, we’re focusing on finishing the post-production on our documentary of the making of this project.

 If you would like to listen to our fully mastered radio play mix click here.

Radio Play Sneak Peak

We're so excited about premiering our first radio play! We'll be performing it live this Sunday 12/7/14 in the Marshall J. Gardner Center in the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District.

Here is a "Butterbird Christmas" Sneak Peak to wet your whistle. Our lead, Maggie, meets her terror of a 1st grade teacher, Miss Sespal.

(production services provided by Almost Fairytales )

Our founder, Dr. Meg G. DeMakas, was interviewed recently on PBS's "Eye on the Arts" program. She discussed "Butterbird Christmas at length with the host, John Cain. View their entire interview here.

You can RSVP for our Sunday premiere via Facebook at this link.

Save the Date!!!

Butterbird Christmas Debuts on 12/7/14 at the Marshall J. Gardner Center

Butterbird Christmas Debuts on 12/7/14 at the Marshall J. Gardner Center

We are soooo stoked about our debut performance and hope that you will bring in the holidays with the Family Folklore Players! We will perform our original radio play, Butterbird Christmas, at 4:00pm at the Marshall J. Garner Center for the Arts in the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District of Gary, Indiana. Doors open at 3:30 PM, tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for children, a variety of baked sale goods will be available, and the Calumet Ridge Jazz Ensemble will be accompanying the project. 

Butterbird Christmas, is a hilarious romp for the whole family. Inspired by the era of classic broadcasting, the cast and crew banded together to create a timeless piece about growing up in Chicagoland.

Butterbird Christmas, is a hilarious romp for the whole family. Inspired by the era of classic broadcasting, the cast and crew banded together to create a timeless piece about growing up in Chicagoland.

Some very important characteristics differentiate Butterbird Christmas from many other radio plays out on the market today:

1.      It is an all-volunteer run production.

2.      Proceeds go to a multitude of projects dedicated to promoting literacy & arts education in Northwest Indiana.

3.      It is an intergenerational, multicultural radio play written about Da Region by a homegrown writer  

The Family Folklore Foundation’s mission is to offer educational opportunities to intergenerational community members using literacy and problem-solving strategies to make the world a better place. Over the course of the project, our players enjoyed communicating and communing with the wide range of volunteers and supporters. We have had the privilege of sharing in many special holiday moments with the cast and crew, and especially liked knowing all the goodwill this project will spread across the community. There is even a documentary being produced about the making of “Butterbird Christmas” that will be available in the spring.