LAKESIDE LIVING

 

Sandy Olson
Phone: 331-283-8529
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

January 2016

 

 

(&^%#&$@!)?&#@!

Glengarry Glen Ross, directed by Bernadette Jones, will be performed this month at the Bravo! Theatre. An almost all female cast is the twist they are bringing to this Pulitzer Prize winning play about a very competitive real estate sales office.  There are no changes to the script and there is a lot of $%#@^^&* $ language, so be warned.

 


Cast members are Kathleen Carlson, Jayme Littlejohn, Kathleen Morris, Barbara Pruitt, Jacinta Stringer, Roseann Wilshere and Ken Yakiwchuk.

 

 Performances are January 5 – 14, with 3:00 p.m. matinees on January 6, 10 and 13, and 7:30 p.m. evening shows on January 5, 7 8, 9, 12 and 14. Tickets are 200 pesos and are available at Diane Pearl Colecciones, Mia’s Boutique or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The Bravo! Theatre is at Rio Bravo #10.

OPEN CIRCLE

Sunday morning finds many Lakeside residents at the Lake Chapala Society and Open Circle, a forum on a variety of stimulating topics. A social hour with coffee and snacks at 10:00 a.m. is followed by an interesting lecture and discussion at 10:30. Here’s the program for the month.

January 10. Ocular Diseases. What You Need to Know about Your Eyes.

Presented by Gabriel Dery, OD.  He will teach us what we need to know about our eyes, especially during this time of life, and make us aware of symptoms of eye diseases we may have but not recognize.

A Change Of Venue: This is a PowerPoint lecture that will take place at the Club Exótica inside El Jardín Restaurant in the Ajijic Plaza, at 10:30.

January 17 The Future of Senior Living in Mexico. Presented by David Truly As the world population continues to age, so will the demand for quality, affordable senior housing and care. This lecture focuses on recent trends in senior housing and care around the world and offers insights into the growing senior housing industry in Mexico and the Lake Chapala area.  David Truly has a PhD in geography and has studied retirement migration to Mexico since 1997.

January 24 Annual Update on Lake Chapala and Lakeside Villages. Presented by Dr. Todd Stong. He will report on the current and future state of the lake (water levels, fishing, aquaculture, and water quality), as well as the progress of various water-related projects in 10 villages. He will discuss current challenges facing the villagers living about the lake and expectations with the new three-year cycle of village and county governments.

January 31 Understanding the Death with Dignity Movement. Presented by Loretta Downs. She returns to Lakeside to share new information and personal insights about the social revolution to improve care and choices at the end of life, including advance care planning, legalized physician-aid-in dying, euthanasia and dementia decisions. She will make you laugh and cry and you will never look at dying quite the same again.

February 7 Ensemble Contemporaneo. A sextet of musicians from Guadalajara--strings, piano, and percussion instruments--will perform classical and contemporary favorites.

CLASS DISTINCTIONS IN AMERICA?

Come to the Lakeside Little Theatre production of Good People, a Tony award winning play. It runs January 15-24. The director is Lynn Phelan.

It’s a story of a minimum-wage single mother in South Boston, who meets her old high school flame, now a successful doctor living in upscale Chestnut Hill. A reviewer says, “The dramatist’s beady observation of the class divide constantly rings true.”

 


The cast, left to right:  Russell Mack, Patricia Guy, LB Hamilton, Rosann Balbontin, Connie Davis, Greg Clarke, Alan McGill.

 

Tickets are available through the run of the show (10 am to noon), except Sunday, and for one hour before the opening of each show. Tickets also available anytime by email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.);) or via message at the LLT Box Office (376 766 0954).

LET’S HEAR IT FOR EQUANIMITY

A special person is coming to Lakeside this month. DaeJa Napier is leading a retreat here in Ajijic titled “Equanimity--Guardian of the Heart.” DaeJa has been practicing and studying in the Zen and Vipassana traditions since 1974.

 


DaeJa Napier

 

Dates for the retreat are January 15-17, held at Guadalupe Victoria #101.  The registration is 350 pesos for sangha members, and 450 pesos for non-members. The fee includes brunch on Sunday, (but does not include dana/donation for the teacher).  To register by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information, call Janet Reichert at 766-6069.

VIVA MUSICA 

There’s an exciting winter and spring schedule for opera lovers. Here are the next “Live from the Met” productions at Teatro Diana.

Saturday January 16 The Pearl Fishers by Bizet, an opera of carnal desire and earning with soprano Diana Damrau as Leila

Saturday February 6 Turandot by Puccini. This is one the grand operas in the repertoire, with soprano Nina Stemme as the proud princess, and tenor Marco Berti as the prince calyph.

Saturday March 5 Manon Lescaut by Puccini-- a story of obsessive love, with sultry soprano Kristine Opolais and tenor Jonas Kaufman in the lead roles.

Saturday April 9 Madame Butterfly by Puccini, featuring outstanding soprano Kristine Opolais as Butterfly and Roberto Alagna as Pinkerton.

THESE TICKETS  GO REALLY  FAST

A very popular event here at Lakeside is—go figure—a celebration of the birthday of Robbie Burns, Scotland’s greatest bard.  Niños Incapacitados sponsors this fundraiser and it’s a good one.  It’s held on Monday, January 25 at 5:00 p.m., at the Hotel Real de Chapala, Ajijic.

Here’s your chance to try haggis. You can wash it down with Scotch, too. Otherwise, choose the delicious turkey dinner and lift a salute to the bard, at the no host bar.

Niños Incapacitados says: “Join us for tributes and toasts, dancing and singing. Come see pipers and kilts swirling, and you’ll learn a little bit about the lad himself.”

Tickets are 375 pesos per person. Guests can reserve a table of 10 or be seated at an open table.  Please contact Anne Flaningam at 766-1609 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., to reserve your tickets as soon as possible.

TEE UP AND HELP THE CHILDREN

On Monday, January 25, the Lake Chapala Shrine Club will host a golf tournament at Atlas Country Club.   This will be a round of 18 holes limited to 72 players (36 twosomes…men and women welcome!).  The format will be a go go/scramble.  Registration will begin at 8:30 am and play will begin at 9:30 am, a shotgun start.

The fee is 1,600 pesos (1,400 pesos for Atlas members), which includes a continental breakfast, greens fees, golf cart for two persons, and the awards banquet.   Caddies are not included in the fee. Family, friends and all others are welcome to attend the banquet. Individual tickets are 250 pesos.

 

 

Registration forms are available at the Atlas Country Club Tournament Office located by the starter’s shack, the Chapala Country Club pro shop or by contacting Denny Strole, 376-766-0485 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Completed forms with fees should be delivered to the Atlas tournament office or contact Denny Strole.

All funds raised from this tournament will be donated to the Lake Chapala Shrine Club’s Transportation Fund.  From 2006 through 2014, the Shrine Club has funded 735 trips to the Shriners’ Hospital for Children in Mexico City, and funded 491 treatments locally at Lakeside and Guadalajara.  The total cost during this period was $2,393,410 pesos. 

SEE BEHIND THE WALLS…

Now see beautiful homes on the next Behind the Walls Home Tours to benefit children at the School for Special Children in Jocotopec.  The next tours are on January 28, February 25, March 24 and April 14. .

Tickets are 200 pesos for the regular tour, 300 pesos for the Christmas tour and  1100 pesos for all six tours. Tickets are available at Diane Pearl Colecciones or at Charter Club Tours at the Plaza Montana.  If not sold out, tickets will be available at the Pier.  Tours leave at 10:30 a.m.  For more information call Jessie Wynant  at 766-1438, Kathy Baker at 766-0420, or  Leslie Martin at 766-2274.

OPEN HOUSE AND LUNCH AT JALTEPEC

An Open House at Jaltepec Centro Educativo will happen at 11:00 a.m. on January 28.  Visitors can listen to a bit of history on Jaltepec, and learn about the academics and scholarship program, and take a tour of  the facilities.

 

 

To put icing on the cake, so to speak, students will prepare and serve lunch so that guests can see for themselves the quality of education students receive in this Technical Universitario en Hoteleria. 

Reservations are a must, as seating is limited.  Please contact Linda Buckthorp at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her at 766-1631.

HIS EX-WIFE RIPPED HIS HEART OUT

The January 29-31 production from The Naked Stage is Italian American Reconciliation.

The play is set in Little Italy, New York. It’s been three years since his divorce; and Huey is still stuck on his ex-wife, Janice. She ripped his heart out, killed his dog and tried to shoot him, but he still wants to get her back (for reasons that escape us).

 


From left to right, front row: Shirley Mercer, Sharon Lowry, Chris L´Ecluse, Florette Schnelle. Back row:  Clay McAdam, Jon DeYoung, and Director Pierre Blackburn.

 

For more information and reservations, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and, for those who use Facebook, look for their page, The Naked Stage, for breaking news and updates.

PLAYS! OPERA! BALLET!

After a fine start last season through its collaboration with London’s National Theatre Live, Lakeside Little Theatre has broadened its Playhouse Series to be a key offering throughout the year.  Also, an agreement with London’s Royal Opera House will enable the theatre to present several operas and ballets.

For 2015-16, the Playhouse Series encompasses six National Theatre Live plays, along with four operas produced by Royal Opera House and two ballets produced by The Royal Ballet.  All of these are actual performances recorded in stunning high definition before live audiences and shown on LLT’s new 14 x 8 foot screen.  Here are scheduled performances in January through March.

Skylight by David Hare, with Bill Nighy, January 30-31 

Le Nozze di Figaro opera by Mozart, February 13-14 

Romeo & Juliet ballet, created by Kenneth MacMillan, March 5-6 

Performances are Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets (200 pesos) for the upcoming two shows can be purchased at the LLT box office every Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. until noon.

THEY’VE DONE IT AGAIN

They just keep on writing and publishing. These three stalwart members of the Ajijic Writers’ Group—Jim Tipton, Janice Kimball and Antonio Rambles-- are contributors to an anthology that has 22 short stories and essays about life for expats and villages across Mexico.

 


Jim Tipton, Janice Kimball and Antonio Rambles

 

The title of the anthology is Mexico: Sunlight & Shadows. The award-winning Kindle version and paperback copies are available at Amazon.com.

Starting next week, limited copies will be available at Janice Kimball’s gallery Aztec Art Studios,  232 Carretera Poniente, in West Ajijic, and also at Diane Pearl Colecciones.

WHAT IF…..

….we hadn’t sold that house in San Francisco?

….at age 35 we hadn’t sold that slightly used ’57 Thunderbird to pay for a ticket to Europe?

…..we had taken the advice of our nerdy cousin and bought Apple stock before the price per share took off?

 

 

Well, what about those and other “what  ifs?” Our esteemed Editor-in-Chief Alejandro Grattan once co-wrote, directed and produced a movie at age 25 (imagine that!) entitled No Return Address. But at that stage of the game, who had ever heard of Turner Classic Movies? Now Alex has heard that No Return Address has been sold to Turner Classic Movies. Check it out by going to TCM-No Return Address.  He jokes, “I sold out my financial interest so many years ago, it’s entirely possible that I was paid in Confederate money.”

 


Shauna Dietlien--young star of No Return Address

 

Earlier, his Only Once in a Lifetime had also been sold to Turner Classic Movies. No Return Address is a little black and white story whose script had first been sent to the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV program. Sometime later, the great director himself called to say that the story was not quite right for his series, but if substantially amplified might make a fine little feature film. “The conversation could not have lasted more than a minute or two,” Grattan says, “but it changed my life.

 

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