Mother’s Day weekend brings a range of unique events to the Seacoast, including theater, art, all manners of music, and a kitchen stroll. Check out some of the highlights below.
“Birth” the play
Karen Brody’s documentary-style play “Birth” is about how low-risk mothers give birth today. The play resulted in Bold, a movement to raise awareness and money to improve birth. On Friday, May 12, at 7 p.m., the show comes to the West End Studio Theatre in Portsmouth. Tickets are $28, with profits benefiting Hope on Haven Hill, a recovery facility in Rochester for pregnant women with substance use disorders and their babies. For more information, click here.
A weekend of PMAC
It’s a big weekend for the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center. On Friday at 7 p.m., the New Horizons Band performs at Second Christian Congregational Church in Kittery. On Saturday, 3S Artspace in Portsmouth hosts the Teen Rock Show at 11 a.m. and the Jazz Institute Show at 2 p.m. The Seacoast Youth Symphony Orchestra performs on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Paul Creative Arts Center at UNH, and on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Portsmouth Public Library.
Portsmouth Kitchen Tour
A fine family activity for Mother’s Day weekend is The Music Hall’s 26th annual Kitchen Tour, taking place near downtown Portsmouth on Saturday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s self-guided tour features a dozen houses in Portsmouth’s Little Harbour neighborhood. Participants can visit kitchens with contemporary and vintage styles created by some of the region’s top designers and builders. Tickets are $25-$30; for a map, tickets, and more information, click here.
Wrong Brain Spring Bizaare
photo by Carly Johnson Strathdee
In its ongoing mission to promote “strange, unconventional, underground, alternative and emerging” artists, Wrong Brain presents an alternative craft fair on Saturday, May 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Spring Bizaare features an arts market, pop-up gallery, and live music at the Millspace in Newmarket. Among the highlights is a performance by Chelsea Paolini (pictured above; read about her new album here). There is a $1 suggested donation; for more information, click here.
Clark Terry tribute show
Last year, Ryan Parker assembled a group of area musicians to record a tribute to late jazz legend and UNH Professor Emeritus Clark Terry. Proceeds from the album, “Get Happy!,” are matched with donations to the Clark Terry/Dave Seiler/Paul Verrette Scholarship Fund and the Cocheco Valley Humane Society. On Sunday, May 14, from 6-9 p.m., the Ryan Parker Big Band plays a CD release show at The Press Room in Portsmouth. Tickets are $10; more information here.