PinePitch November 2023
Question Everything
Be prepared to be transported to a world where secrets fester and the line between reality and illusion blurs when the Judson Theatre Company presents Gaslight, performed on Broadway as Angel Street, in five performances beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, and running through a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 19 at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Set in a charming Victorian London townhouse, Gaslight, starring Jennifer Hope and Matthew Tyler, revolves around a seemingly perfect marriage, beneath which lies a sinister plot. Sanity is questioned and strange occurrences unfold in a heart-pounding journey to unravel a dark mystery. For more information go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.
The Last First
The Main Squeeze, an American funk band from Bloomington, Indiana, will bring down the curtain — if there was a curtain on the outdoor stage — on the First Friday concerts for 2023. The music begins at 5 p.m. and wraps at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, on the Sunrise Square adjacent to the Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Everyone knows the drill. Food trucks. Check. Beer for imbibing. Check. Cujos? No so much. It’s the last one of the year, so leave your pets at home and wander by. For additional information call (910) 420-2549 or go to www.sunrisetheater.com.
Sugar Plums and Mouse Kings
Gary Taylor Dance presents The Nutcracker, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 24, at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. There will be additional performances of this holiday classic by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. For information and tickets go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.
Let There Be Light
Ring in the holidays at Southern Pines’ annual tree-lighting celebration on Saturday, Nov. 25, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to block after block of colorfully decorated trees, keep an eye out for Santa Claus. He’s available for pictures. Bring your own camera but no autographs, please. For information call: (910) 692-7376.
From Apartheid to Democracy
William Lucas, a 33-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, joins the Ruth Pauley Lecture Series with a talk titled “The Mandela-DeKlerk ‘Miracle’” on Thursday, Nov. 9, at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Lucas was twice assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, as a political officer serving from 1981-83 and again from 1988-91. He was the director, African Affairs, at the National Security Council in 2006. His current projects include a book on the transition from apartheid to democracy in the ’80s and ’90s, based on interviews with key South African and American officials as well as declassified documentation obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. For additional details go to www.sandhillsbpac.com.
11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month
Downtown Southern Pines’ Veteran’s Day Parade will be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. Bring the whole family to support our troops and veterans. All veterans are invited to join the parade. For more information call (910) 692-7376 or leaf through a history book. Freedom isn’t free.
Golf Talk Live
Join Southern Pines native and longtime PineStraw contributor Bill Fields in conversation with his old colleague and PineStraw editor Jim Moriarty as they discuss their decades covering golf and writing about it on Nov. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Fields, who will be at Weymouth as a writer-in-residence, has contributed multiple features to PineStraw and penned over 100 of his “Hometown” columns since it first appeared in the magazine in Dec. 2014. He was born in Moore County, graduated from Pinecrest High School in 1977 and from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in 1981. Fields has been a writer and editor for multiple golf publications and is currently a researcher on NBC’s golf telecasts, serving as the little voice whispering interesting facts into Dan Hicks’ ear. The program is free of charge but registration is required. For info go to www.weymouthcenter.org.
Sandhills Originals
The Artists League of the Sandhills begins its 29th Annual Art Exhibit and Sale on Friday, Nov. 3, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. The show continues on Saturday with a “meet the artist” session from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibit and sale runs through Dec. 15. For additional information go to www.artistleague.org.
Take a Deep Breath
World-renowned glass artists Einar and James De La Torre will give a glass-blowing demonstration at Starworks, 100 Russell Drive, Star, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9. There will be live music by Laura Jane Vincent and beverages available from the Starworks Café and Taproom. The House of Odell & Luella food truck will be on-site. The event is family and pet friendly, if everyone is on a leash. Well, the pets anyway. Tickets are $5. For more information go to www.StarworksNC.org.