Cumberland Times-News
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Traffic patterns to change in South End
CUMBERLAND — The city of Cumberland announces the following changes in traffic patterns, effective on or about Monday, due to the street construction for the Virginia Avenue Corridor Improvement Project.
• Virginia Avenue will become one way from Oldtown Road to Industrial Boulevard.
• Traffic at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Industrial Boulevard will be detoured onto Industrial Boulevard to Lamont Street, and west on Lamont Street to the Oldtown Road/Maryland Avenue intersection.
• Parking will be prohibited in the immediate area of construction, but angle parking will be used in other sections of Virginia Avenue to maintain the amount of available parking.
Warning signs and new or changed traffic signs will be posted and road crew flaggers will be used. Motorists can expect delays.
Bird program set Wednesday
DEEP CREEK LAKE — David Yeany II, Important Bird Areas Program coordinator, will present a program titled Important Bird Areas: Making the Connection Between Birders and Bird Conservation on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Deep Creek Lake Discovery Center.
Audubon Maryland-DC uses IBAs to focus its statewide bird conservation efforts. Since 2006, the identification of new sites in the IBA network has relied heavily upon volunteer-based breeding bird surveys known as Bird Blitz. The results of 2009 Bird Blitz surveys across the state will be presented, with a focus on areas in Allegany and Garrett counties.
Performance about coal mining
FROSTBURG — Pennsylvania-based songwriter and musician Jay Smar will render the mountain region’s turbulent coal-mining history through story and song Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mountain City Traditional Arts, 25 E. Main St.
Smar’s show includes a variety of instruments and vocals. For more information and to hear clips, visit his Web site at jaysmar.com.
Donations will be accepted by Mountain City Traditional Arts. For more information, call (301) 687-8040, e-mail mountaincitytradarts@gmail.com or search for it on Facebook.
Play festival at Embassy to begin
CUMBERLAND — The New Embassy Theatre has selected two entries for a one-act play festival titled “Six Actors in Search of Two Plays.”
Festival coordinator Jerard Puckett devised the idea of two plays to be produced by a company of three male and three female actors. Puckett and the actors selected the plays from 16 submissions from all over the country. The cast consists of Mark Ashby, Chelsea Davis, Stephanie Gainer, Linda Julien, Tom Shanklin and Richard Wydro.
An Armenian-American family deals with both memories of triumph and trauma in “The Piano Lessons” by August Nigro kof Allentown, Pa.
In Enola, Pa., playwright Randy Gross’ comedy, “The Terror Merchants,” a married couple in a nursing home pretend to kidnap a fellow resident in order to get their nephew to visit.
The New Embassy, 49 Baltimore St., will present both plays on one bill for six performances over two weekends, April 16 through 25, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
This fifth in the annual series of one-act play festivals is partially funded by a grant from the Iris & Peter Halmos Art Fund. For reservations, call 301-722-4692 or log on to www.newembassy.org.
Free program for phys ed instructors
FROSTBURG — A professional development opportunity for physical education instructors will be offered April 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Mountain Ridge High School.
The free program, Learn the Secrets of the CIA: Linking Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, will be presented by Cindy Lins, 2005 EDA Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year, and Brooke Middleton, secondary physical educator, Howard County public schools.
Public discussion leaders needed
CUMBERLAND — Power of 32 is recruiting volunteer facilitators to lead public gatherings across 32 counties in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for citizens to have a say in the region’s future.
Outreach coordinators are planning Community Conversations to be held this summer to talk about how to make the region a better place by 2025.
Volunteer facilitators do not need any previous experience as they will attend the Power of 32 Training Camp in mid-May. AmericaSpeaks, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic engagement firm, will instruct all facilitators.
Applications are available at http://sites.google.com/a/powerof32.org/facilitator-application/home.
