Theater at LCS
Potter Productions presents a staged reading of “The Sisters Rosensweig,” written by Wendy Wasserstein and directed by Rosann Balbontin.
The cast features Don Beaudreault, Barbara Pruitt, Sharon Lowry, Anne Drake, Maryanne Gibbard and Ed Tasca.
Sara Goode, an enormously successful American woman working as the British representative of a major Hong Kong bank, is about to celebrate her 54th birthday. Firmly ensconced in her lovely London home, she leads a quiet, almost cold, expatriate life with her daughter, Tess. For the birthday celebration, her two sisters, Gorgeous Teitelbaum and Pfeni Rosensweig, arrive. As if this weren’t causing Sara enough stress, Mervyn Kant, a furrier, and a friend of Geoffrey Duncan, prominent theater director and on-again, off-again, bisexual lover of Pfeni, shows up at her door. All of this comedic confusion adds up to unexpected romance, suspected partings, recriminations, reconciliations and, above all, newfound love and acceptance.
Show dates are Sundays, August 12 and 19, 4 p.m., at the Lake Chapala Society. Doors open at 3 p.m. Use the side entrance (same as for Open Circle). Admission is 100 pesos. Liquid refreshments and snacks are available for purchase, courtesy of Tails of Mexico. E-mail reservation requests to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and include your preferred date and number in your party.
Festival del Lago concerts
The Festival del Lago music fest sponsors four one-hour “Master Series” concerts at the Auditorio de la Ribera, featuring the faculty members of the festival, who are some of the most acclaimed classical musicians in the world.
Monday, August 13, The Gryphon Trio will perform works by Beethoven, Clarke and Piazzola. Wednesday, August 15, Schubert, Dvorak and Brahms pieces will be presented by Jamie Parker, Luke Fleming, Jacob Shaw and Minu Kim. Saturday, August 18, The Harp Quartet performs works by Beethoven and Friday, August 24, The Dvorak Piano Quintet featuring Mark Fewer, Aaron Schwebel, Jamie Parker, Jacob Shaw and Juan Miguel Hernandez will wrap up the series concerts. All concerts start at 8 p.m.
All ticket sales go toward scholarships for Mexican students for the following year. Master Series concert tickets (300 pesos general public and 100 pesos for anyone under 20) can be purchased through Maureen Welch, (376) 766-4784, or reserved at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. They will also be available at the door.
There will also be evening student recitals and masterclasses held at the beautiful Haus Der Musik at Constitucion 112, Ajijic. All performances are at 8 p.m. Tickets for these performances on August 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23 and 25 are 100 pesos and offered at the door.
Film Aficionados
Lake Chapala Society members can take advantage of Film Aficionados screenings each Thursday, 2 p.m. On August 16, “Red” (Rouge) (1994, Switzerland-France-Poland) will be shown. This is the third of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy on France’s national motto – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. A young model meets a retired judge. Irene Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintignant turn in masterful performances in the lead roles. (90 minutes.)
Cabaret
The Spotlight Club, lakeside’s newest live entertainment venue (formerly the Cave), has announced four grand opening shows featuring songstress and comedian extraordinaire Christine Deaver. The dates are Wednesdays, August 15 and 22, and Fridays, August 17 and 24, 7 p.m. Appropriately titled “In The Spotlight,” Deaver’s show is a true cabaret experience. This is her fourth visit to Ajijic in as many years. The Spotlight’s seating capacity is 120, so get your tickets early from Diane Pearl, Wild’s and The Spotlight. Group reservations via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Expo EnArt bus trip
Ajijic Concierge Services is sponsoring a bus trip to Expo EnArt in Tlaquepaque on Friday, August 17. This show at the Centro Cultural El Refugio brings together hundreds of exhibitors of top quality Mexican handicrafts in wood, glass, papier mache, jewelry, ceramics, textile and fiber, metalwork in tin, iron, pewter and more. Information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Spain/Mexico & art
The first annual Ibero-American Art Encounter: Mexico-Spain will open for viewing Friday, August 17, 7 p.m., at the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo in Chapala. This collective show featuring 12 artists from Mexico and Spain continues its tour in Chapala after visiting Zacatecas, Fresnillo, Guadalajara and Tequila. It next heads to Tijuana, Puebla and Mexico City. The works have been shown previously in Madrid, Zaragoza, Granada, Barcelona and Huesca in Spain. Of the 48 pieces on display, about 60 percent are abstract, 15 percent figurative and 25 percent of mixed techniques. The Spanish artists include Isabel Monfort, Maria Esther Florez, Pilar Xercavins, Joaquin Falco, Damace David and Gamar Jose Garcia Martinez. From Mexico are Veronica Jimenez, Jose Luis Malo, Carlos Alberto Sanchez, Victor Mora, Enrique Chiu and Javier Malo. The Mexican curator of the show is Martin Andrade and the Spanish curator is Gorgonio Sanjuan.
Big Band dancing
Dance to the sound of Big Band Rafael Terriquez, a lakeside group of 18 musicians – Mexicans and expats – who bring a big band style sound to the Chapala area. Musical director Rafael Terriquez, “El Pili,” a talented trombonist from Jalisco, has backed up such artists as Celia Cruz, Vicente and Alejandro Fernandez, Juan Gabriel, Eugenia Leon, Lupita D”Alessio, Ricardo Montaner and Paulina Rubio. His passion for the grand bands of the past gave rise to the formation of this group.
The concert is Saturday, August 18, 7 p.m., at The Spotlight Club, Independencia 159, San Antonio Tlayacapan. Tickets, 350 pesos, at Diane Pearl or via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 331-845-1523.
Eclectic sounds
AryaTara brings back its unique musical style to the Centro Cultural Ajijic Saturday, August 18, 6 p.m. Musicians Mari Camarena, Eddie Lara, Ravi Daniel Rangel and Noe Castro link flamenco, romanticism, accordion and percussion to create a distinct sound. Tickets, 100 pesos in advance and 120 pesos at the door, are available at the center.
Naked Stage
The Naked Stage Readers’ Theatre will present two one-act plays Friday to Sunday, August 24-26. Johan Dirkes, Fred Koesling and Jayme Littlejohn appear in “The Proposal” by Anton Chekhov, directed by Randy Warren; while Johanna Labadie and Ken Yakiwchuk appear in “The Exquisite Hour” by Stewart Lemoine, directed by Jean Llewellyn.
“The Proposal” is a comedy about two people trying to become engaged to marry one another if only they could for a moment not be at each other’s throat. This farce’s comedy comes from the fact that no matter what these two do they can’t seem to stop arguing long enough to get engaged. This is a play paired with another by Canadian Stewart Lemoine. “The Exquisite Hour” takes place in the backyard of quintessential bachelor, Zachary Teale, in the 1960s. While sipping his usual tipple of bourbon lemonade on a warm summer evening, his peace is interrupted by the entrance of a mysterious woman, who begins to question his general knowledge and reveals that she is there to sell him a set of encyclopedias.
Tickets are 100 pesos, reservations are by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The Naked Stage is on the Carretera in Riberas, across from the Catholic church and in front of the Baptist church. Parking available in the lot of the Baptist church.
Curtain rises 4 p.m. Box office and bar open at 3 p.m.
CCA anniversary
The Centro Cultural Ajijic (CCA) celebrates its 13th anniversary Friday to Sunday, August 24-26. An expo and sale of crafts, herbs and independent design will be open each day from 10 a.m. through the evening hours.
Friday, from 7 p.m., three bands play: Charales K (ska-reggae), MandLaguna (reggae) and The Waynes (rock). On Saturday, an aerial dance exhibition begins on the esplanade at 5 p.m., followed by Duo Quetzal at 6 p.m., puppet show La Cucaracha Titeres at 7:30 p.m. and the Boppin’ Royals (rockabilly) at 8:30 p.m. Sunday sees Danzon Ajijic take the floor at 6:30 p.m. and the Ballet Folclorico Jocotepec at 7:30 p.m.
Piano & guitar recital
Enjoy a recital by Duo Quetzal, Eddie Lara on guitar and Sofia Ramirez on piano, at the Centro Cultural Ajijic Saturday, August 25, 6 p.m.
Lara is one of the best classical guitar performers from this generation in Mexico and he has performed with world recognized guitar players. Ramirez, a jazz/classical piano player born in Mexico City, has been playing with jazz groups such as Les Femmes de Serge, Trialogo and Snow Trio, as well as with Duo Quetzal and in many chamber music ensembles. They will perform works by Debussy, Rodrigo, Coste, Grieg, Ponce and Arnold. Tickets 100 pesos (120 pesos on the day of the event) are available at the CCA.
Viva summer concerts
Viva la Musica has revamped its next “Romance in the Village” concert.
The “Opera Romance” gala on Thursday, August 30, features a new cast of performers, different from those listed in previous mentions in this column. Mezzosoprano Teresa Banderas, soprano Mari-Chuy Cardenas, tenor Jose Lopez, Baritone Ricardo Lavin and bass Salvador Ramos will perform arias, duets and quartets from “Carmen,” “La Boheme,” “Rigoletto,” “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute.” An eight-piece orchestra of piano, violins, cello, flute, clarinet, bassoon and French horn accompanies the singers. The concert will take place at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Riberas del Pilar, 4 p.m.
In the final concert of the series, Friday, September 21, Sergio Parra, a Viva scholarship student, will play a program of Chopin, Messiaen, Iberia and Debussy, also at St. Andrew’s.
Tickets for both concerts are 400 pesos and include champagne and canapes served at 3:30 p.m. in St. Andrew’s garden, before the 4 p.m. concerts.
Tickets are available at Diane Pearl, Mia’s Boutique and the Lake Chapala Society ticket booth, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to noon.
Mariachi Festival bus trip
LCS will take a bus to the 22nd annual International Mariachi Festival, Thursday, August 30, when a free concert will be held at the Forum Mall in Tlaquepaque. The bus leaves the sculpture at La Floresta at 4 p.m. Tickets are 370 pesos for LCS members and 470 pesos for non-members.
Fall Viva bus trips
Viva plans three “Live at the Met” bus trips to see opera on the big screen at Teatro Diana Saturdays in Guadalajara. October 13: “Aida” by Verdi; November 3: “Samson and Delilah” by Saint Saens; and December 15: “La Traviata” (The Fallen Woman) by Verdi. Tickets, 450 pesos for members, 550 pesos non-members, are available at the LCS ticket area, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to noon or by calling (376) 766-1801.