True Food: Vrai–healthy, tasty–and maybe a glass of wine.

April 29, 2016 | by Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

For their first restaurant venture, Shelly and Mike Page had a plan. They wanted to offer healthy options to area diners and do so in an atmosphere evocative of an informal European bistro.

So, they transformed a former Verizon store, located in a small strip mall, into a contemporary, attractive space and planned a menu around one simple word—Vrai— French for “true.” Pronounced with a long “a” sound, Vrai is all about “clean” food, according to Shelly.

“No hormones, no pesticides,” she said. “We use no white sugar, avoid white flour and use vegetables as a bigger part of the plate.”

By providing consumers with more wholesome options, the health-conscious couple taps into a movement towards more nutritious consumption. According to the National Restaurant Association, locally sourced and minimally processed foods are both among the top five restaurant trends for 2016.

The couple chose Lemoyne for its proximity to their home.

“I thought it would be a great location because I knew I’d have community support,” Shelly said.

The short commute also factored into her decision.

“Especially since I knew I would be living here seven days a week,” she added.

During the day, the large glass window at the front of the restaurant allows ample natural light to illuminate the space. After dark, modern, green-glass lighting fixtures combine with pendant lighting to lend a soft glow. A curved marble bar seats about 14 patrons, and the teal and black banquettes along the wall are comfortable and spacious. Chairs in black and white are paired up with wooden tables in the middle of the room.

Shelly remarked on the provenance of the chairs.

“They’re made of Coca-Cola bottles,” she said.

Most striking of all, though, is the beautiful, black-and-white tiled Mugnaini wood-burning oven located behind the bar, which hails from Italy and spans from floor to ceiling.

“I feel like the wood fire does make a better product than the gas,” said Shelly. “The wood is FDA approved and bug- and chemical-free.”

The oven does indeed get a workout. The pizzas are popular and range from the traditional Margherita, to mushroom, sausage and a special vegan pizza, with broccoli, sweet pepper, tomato sauce and a dairy-free cheese.

Passions

Shelly embarked upon the ambitious undertaking after a 25-year career in accounting and finance.

“I think that, when you get older, you get this urge to fulfill some passions that you have,” she said.

Taking the next step, she enrolled in the National Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York to learn more about running a restaurant and healthy food preparation. The menu at Vrai includes starters like flatbreads, with toppings ranging from dates to figs and prosciutto. Turkey meatballs are a crowd pleaser, as are wood-fired vegetables like Brussels sprouts, beets and cauliflower.

Among the selection of five salads are arugula with whole-grain croutons, shaved gouda, egg and Meyer lemon vinaigrette, a kale and farro salad, which includes dates, apricots, pumpkin seeds and shaved fennel, and the special Vrai salad, which is comprised of baby greens, roasted honey carrot, pickled and grilled corn, smoky carrot chips and orange tarragon vinaigrette.

Entrees include chicken, vegetarian options, the aforementioned pizza, fish and a selection of pasta like house-made, short-rib ravioli served with a horseradish cream and pecorino.

Rounding out the menu are dessert selections like vegan blondies and zucchini brownies with homemade ice cream.

Rewarding

Vrai is not only breaking ground in Lemoyne cuisine-wise, but drink-wise.

Serving alcohol in the borough was banned until six years ago, and Vrai is the first restaurant to obtain a liquor license there, acquiring it from the former Coakley’s in New Cumberland. So, wine, craft beer and cocktails are now offered for those who enjoy an alcoholic beverage with their meals.

“I’m thrilled to have an additional healthy and sophisticated dining option in this area, and Shelly has done a tremendous amount of research to find high-quality ingredients using local sources,” said customer Sharon Turner.

Among the menu items the Lemoyne resident has sampled are the salmon, cod, Vrai salad and BBQ chicken pizza, all of which received applause. Turner also appreciated the wine selection.

“The wine list offers great variety at a reasonable price,” she said. “They’ve really done their research and know their wines.”

Patron Erin Martin echoed Turner’s appreciation for a healthy dining alternative in a beautiful setting.

“You feel like you’re in a different city,” said the Mechanicsburg resident. “I’ve had the homemade ravioli with butternut squash that was absolutely out of this world and the vegan black bean sweet potato burritos, which were delicious, and the pizza is also good.”

According to Shelly, plans for Vrai might include an expansion of the brand, but, for now, the couple is thrilled to fulfill their dream of running just one restaurant.

“Food brings people together, and being able to focus on providing healthy, good food for our customers is very rewarding,” she said.

Vrai is located at 1015 Market St., Lemoyne To learn more, call 717-412-0067 or visit www.vrairestaurant.com or the Facebook page: Vrai Restaurant.

A New Craving: At Crave the Food, the cuisine, decor are all grown up.

April 29, 2016 | by Gina Napoli

Recently, the website WalletHub dubbed Harrisburg as the state capital with the most restaurants per capita.

Indeed, Harrisburg has a wealth of amazing eateries for such a small city. But, come on, we can’t eat all our meals in the urban confines, right?

So, recently, I took a break from the Midtown and downtown scenes to a newish place serving modern American cuisine.

Crave the Food bears a similar name to an all-vegetarian restaurant on 2^nd Street. However, that’s where the similarity ends. When I crave food, I’m an unapologetic carnivore, so I felt more than comfortable heading out to Colonial Park.

The restaurant’s sleek décor and muted lighting contain no trace of Friendly’s, the building’s former tenant. Ten years ago, when my little guy was actually little instead of towering over me, Friendly’s was his favorite place. Specialty ice cream and placemats with crayons kept him happy. With the exception of a small selection of kids’ choices for breakfast, Crave the Food is a decidedly grown-up bistro lounge.

Burgundy red walls, black accents, deep wooden floors and smatterings of mossy green natural elements make the inside look subdued. It smacks of a place you would meet someone other than your significant other. I invited my husband instead. He didn’t mind the lack of placemats.

Just to be sure I would provide a fair assessment, I sampled multiple dishes on multiple trips. When my husband gave me one of his snippy stares for ordering dessert, I shot back, “My research is thorough.” I would have shoved a bit of gooey, mixed-nut baklava in his mouth to silence him, but that would have meant one less bite for me. It tasted too amazing to share, even with him.

The menus contained the normal fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner—plus a few upscale and ethnic items to keep it saucy. The breakfast menu featured options like salmon, Nutella and different versions of eggs Benedict.

A Middle Eastern drink called sahlab appeared on each menu. I took my cue from whatever forces higher than mine (the power of three?) that I should try it. More like a hot pudding than a drink, it tasted like steaming peanut butter milk and smelled like roses. The waitress thoughtfully served it with a spoon.

The smoothie I ordered was pure, perfect pulp. The server pulsed the fruit instead of using the puree setting. That attention to detail took extra time, and it made all the difference in texture and taste.

The kitchen, whose noises I could hear as part of the ambience, gave that same attention to detail to the food preparation. Garden colors balanced themselves against a backdrop of greens and blackened chicken. Even in late winter, the produce held that familiar, summertime lip-smack.

The main dishes, even the obligatory Lenten Friday fish, were seasoned well with a successful palette of spices. My husband and I usually sneak a bite of each other’s meals. It’s safe to say we crossed forks like dueling swords several times—over fish, of all things—mine fried and flaky, his steeped in butter and lemon.

Most people eating breakfast and lunch at Crave the Food were either coworkers or retirees chatting under the patter of Fleetwood Mac and Air Supply on the local radio station. The dinner crowd drew couples for BYOB and live music. The venue could well accommodate a semi-large party (if you’re the person who has to find a location for your next office party, you might give them a call).

On review sites such as Yelp! and TripAdvisor, Crave the Food initially craved higher ratings. It seems to have worked out most of the initial kinks with service and food quality found with many new restaurants.

If you’re looking for a relaxing, bistro-lounge atmosphere and appealing options served by a detail-oriented staff, then consider Crave the Food.

Crave the Food is located at 4010 Jonestown Rd., Harrisburg. For more information, call 717-545-0700 or visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.

An Educator of Health: An online message prompts a recollection of one of our area’s most celebrated doctors.

April 29, 2016 | by Barbara Barksdale

Recently, I received a Facebook message from a woman named Suzanne, living in North Carolina, who had been searching for her father’s obituary for several years to no avail.

Suzanne knew about my work with the historic Midland Cemetery, an African-American cemetery just outside Steelton. Former slaves are buried there, along with black soldiers from conflicts dating back to the Civil War. Suzanne knew, from the cemetery’s website and Facebook page, that I occasionally do genealogy research for people looking for information on their ancestors. She was looking for a George Albert Jones, a doctor who’d once had an office in downtown Steelton. I asked her a few key questions and, in a matter of minutes, located the obituary. She was thrilled.

The conversation pulled at a memory of my own, from many years ago, when I visited Dr. Jones to get a physical for my driver’s permit. I learned to drive on my dad’s car, an old black Rambler with push buttons, and I would later take the exam in my brother’s old ‘58 Pontiac Bonneville. Back then, the state police administered the test—and of course, the officer who got in the car seemed like the meanest person alive, his deep voice causing your heart to pound to the point you thought someone was blowing a horn.

My parents sent me to Dr. Jones by myself, as if to help usher me through the gateway to young adulthood. His office was in a beautiful, gray stone building on N. Front Street, behind an iron gate that opened on a pathway leading to a large wooden door. When he asked why I was there, I quietly explained that I needed a physical to get my driving permit paper signed. He checked my heart with the black tubes of the stethoscope, then my lungs, and then signed my paper and sent me on my way. That was not too bad, I thought, on my way back up to Bessemer Street on that hot June day. But I was so glad it was over.

I love finding out about people and their connection to my little town of Steelton. When I started to research Dr. Jones, I quickly realized what a life he had. He affected the lives of thousands, yet he remains unknown to many in the area, especially the young.

George Albert Jones was born in New York in December 1904. His family moved to Harrisburg some time after his mother died. His father, James, owned James’ Restaurant on Pine Street downtown, where George would work as a waiter for years. He attended the Harrisburg Technical High School for boys, where he played the cornet in the orchestra and band, but, at some point, he abandoned thoughts of being a musician and focused his efforts on a medical career. He may have been inspired by Dr. Charles Crampton, a well-known Harrisburg doctor and one of the physicians for the school’s sports teams. When he graduated, in 1924, his high school yearbook noted that he “expects to enter Howard University, at Washington, D.C., where he will pursue the study of medicine.”

At that time in America, in the era before the Civil Rights movement, to go to college, let alone to become a doctor, was a dream many blacks did not entertain. Slavery was a not-too-distant memory, and Jim Crow laws still reigned in the South. But George was surrounded by eager, aspiring peers. He spent his undergraduate years at Lincoln University, in Chester County, Pa., an institute designed for people of African descent with the motto, “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Among his classmates were Thurgood Marshall and Langston Hughes.

After graduating from Howard University Medical School in 1935, George went on to an internship at Freedman’s Hospital. Freedman’s had been established in 1862 as the “Contraband Hospital,” serving slaves and people seeking freedom in the D.C. area. Students of color could only practice on people of color, and Freedman’s gave students a place they could spend their internships, working with the hospital’s African-American patients. Jones became a licensed physician in Pennsylvania on Jan. 22, 1937.

I found notice after notice of Dr. Jones’ civic involvement. He joined a group of African-American doctors in the area who sought to curb the problem of tuberculosis in the black community. They tested children at schools and workers at restaurants and hotels. Dr. Jones was also an avid speaker, constantly seeking to enlighten the community on health issues. He spoke at the Hygienic Civic Club and during Negro Health Week at the Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the Y.W.C.A. In 1938, he orchestrated a drive for diphtheria prevention.

He also advocated for social justice in the schools. He tried to get the Steelton school system to let his daughter—Suzanne, the woman who would call me all those years later—attend the mainstream Felton School. Other schools in Steelton had already embraced integration, yet Dr. Jones, despite several attempts, was unsuccessful. Around the same time, he became involved with the Non-Partisan League, which wrote, in an open letter to the school board, that it seemed “very strange that we of Harrisburg should allow segregation and discrimination to exist in our educational system when the radio, the press and liberal-minded commentators throughout the country are bitterly protesting the same.”

One of Dr. Jones’ most notable projects was to raise money for the United Hospital Building Fund for the benefit of Polyclinic Hospital and Harrisburg Hospital. The funds were to be donated in memory of the great African-American scientist George Washington Carver. At the time, Jones said it was the project committee’s aim “to have every Negro resident of the region represented in the fund which will perpetually honor Dr. Carver in the hospitals which are dedicated to the health protection of all.” With the help of area churches and fraternal organizations, he exceeded the campaign’s $10,000 goal.

Jones died Feb. 26, 1992, and is buried at William Howard Day cemetery. His daughter Suzanne told me that he wrote his own obituary, which mentioned he was the first African-American doctor appointed to the medical staff of the former Polyclinic Hospital. Through his lectures, his civic involvement and his practice, Dr. Jones laid the foundation for equal rights in education and health in our community.

Barbara Barksdale is the founder of Friends of Midland, a nonprofit devoted to maintaining the grounds and records of Steelton’s Midland Cemetery.

Stocked Market: So–have you been to the Broad Street Market lately?

April 29, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

illustration by Rich Hauck.

“This market is rocking!”

A few weeks back, on a Saturday afternoon, an enthusiastic Ryan Hummer gave me his assessment of the action at the Broad Street Market.

The thing is—I hadn’t asked him.

My wife and I were at his stand, Hummer’s Meats, collecting our usual provisions for the coming week, when he spontaneously shared his excitement over the crowds of people elbowing their way through the narrow aisles of the brick building.

“Quite a change,” I said.

“Day and night,” he responded.

Hummer’s Meats is a market stalwart, and the family traces its roots there back to the 1920s. Ryan is the fifth generation to cut meat and, for a while, it looked like he might be the last of his family to sell anything inside Harrisburg’s only city market.

“I’m just about out of here,” he told me four years ago, after an infestation of bugs and rodents forced the market to shut down, the second time it had closed in two years for basically the same reason.

Back then vendors were at wit’s end—angry with management, with the board, even fighting with each other. The market still had its regulars, but, on many market days, more people seemed to be working there than shopping there.

The 150-year-old market was in the same funk as the rest of Harrisburg—a once great place now dirty, depopulated and struggling.

Then something happened—or, more accurately, a series of somethings.

Ask vendors what that was, and you’re likely to hear a trio of reasons: better management, a better mix of vendors and a better neighborhood.

Two years ago, Ashlee Dugan was appointed market manager followed, last year, by Beth Taylor. The vendors I spoke with described both women as caring, committed and competent, with a hands-on, problem-solving style of management. They also praised them for helping to bring stability to a market long plagued by turmoil.

Importantly, Dugan and Taylor put recruitment of new, high-quality vendors near the top of their priority lists, and that effort has born fruit.

On a typical Friday or Saturday, large crowds huddle around three newcomers that have their stands in a row in the brick building: Radish & Rye Food Hub, Evanilla doughnuts and Elementary Coffee Co. But it’s not just the newbies. Long lines often greet the hungry at long-timers like Fisher’s Deli, Lil’s Pretzels and Peach Ridge Produce. The newer vendors, though, clearly have injected life and brought fresh faces into the market.

Lastly, the neighborhood in general—and the Millworks in particular—deserve some credit, vendors told me.

For years, Midtown Scholar Bookstore was about the only complementary business to the market. But, over the past year, Zeroday Brewing, H*MAC (especially the Kitchen and the monthly HBG Flea), the Susquehanna Art Museum and the Millworks have recruited people into Harrisburg. Several vendors singled out the Millworks not so much for generating pedestrian traffic across Verbeke Street (though there is some of that), but for introducing—or reintroducing—folks to Midtown, some who return to shop at the market.

Interestingly, not one vendor I spoke with cited the once-ballyhooed Broad Street Market Task Force as a player in the improvement. More than two years ago, the city formed the task force to make recommendations on how to improve the market and, last year, the group issued its report.

Perhaps most significantly, the task force suggested changing the market’s complex management structure, currently a multi-tiered mess consisting of the city, the Broad Street Market Corp. and Historic Harrisburg Association. Instead, the report said, the market should become a nonprofit entity, which would better enable it to raise money and operate smoothly.

That hasn’t happened yet, nor have the report’s other suggestions been implemented (with the possible exception of slightly expanded market hours). Still, progress—substantial progress—has been made, judging by the large crowds and seemingly satisfied vendors. So then what’s the lesson?

Well, leadership matters a lot and, by leadership, I mean committed, every day, on-the-ground (not board-level) leadership. Secondly, synergy matters a lot. It was tough to get outsiders to venture into a desolate Midtown but got easier once several new businesses created a buzz and more options in the neighborhood, allowing people to walk from one place to another.

What doesn’t matter so much? Bureaucracy, reports, endless meetings. Perhaps, one day, the market will shed its layers of overseers. But, until then, it clearly can make headway regardless. As for the task force’s other recommendations—heck, we already knew the market needed infrastructure improvements, better hours and a focus on good food.

The Broad Street Market, like Midtown itself, has been struggling for decades, and numerous administrations and consultants have devised plans to fix it. Nothing seemed to work. All the reorganizations and master plans could not solve its two greatest problems: a dearth of high-quality, focused leadership and, most importantly, a lack of customers.

After years of almost nonstop woe, people have been returning to the market. It seems so sudden and unexpected, but perhaps it shouldn’t be any surprise that, as Midtown goes, so goes the Broad Street Market.

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

More than Just Plays: Outreach as important as acting at Gamut Theatre.

April 29, 2016 | by Meghan Jones

Shouldn’t it be enough to just do good Shakespeare? Or, more generally, shouldn’t it be enough to just put on good plays?

It is a question that could be asked of any theater company, but Gamut Theatre Group has a firm stance on the matter—no.

“You need to be committed to some form of outreach and some form of community engagement in order to make what you do accessible,” said Thomas Weaver, associate artistic director of the company and part of the team that focuses on community outreach.

Harrisburg is a city with a complicated and divisive racial and class history, and one way to try to achieve greater unity is through art, Weaver believes. Art, he said, helps create a city’s identity, and the goal of any arts organization should be to connect with the people it serves to help build up that identity.

In its origin, Gamut Theatre Group was known solely as the Popcorn Hat Players, a children’s theater company that still is a focus in the organization.

“Gamut was founded in a lot of ways on a basis of outreach,” Weaver said. “We don’t expect the audiences to always come to us; we go to them.”

The Popcorn Hat Players are, primarily, a touring company, reaching schools, daycares and community centers across the state and beyond. Later this month, during the city’s annual Artsfest celebration over Memorial Day weekend, the Popcorn Hat Players will present Kidsfest, offering free performances, face painting and craft making.

“Kidsfest is a way for us to reach people who may not have the means or ability to join us at our theater downtown,” Weaver explained.

It is in Gamut’s mission to tell stories in a new and exciting way to help engage, educate and elevate the community, he said. However, that mission is not exclusive to the Popcorn Hat Players.

One of the greatest outreach programs that Gamut offers every year is actually with its other company in the group, Harrisburg Shakespeare Company— Free Shakespeare in the Park.

Shakespeare in the Park has taken place annually on Allison Hill for more than two decades.

“It’s one of our biggest productions every year in terms of budget, cast, crew and the amount of resources that go into producing it, and it’s offered absolutely free,” Weaver said.

The event is unique not only in its free-ness, but in its opportunity to engage with the community.

“There are families that expect us to be there that wouldn’t be able to see us otherwise,” Weaver said. “During rehearsals, we have families and neighborhood kids come out, right after school, and watch us, oftentimes learning the actors’ lines and fight choreography.”

They may be doing free Shakespeare, but those kinds of connections with the families of the neighborhood are just as, if not more, important than putting on a good play.

Weaver said that Gamut’s principals and actors firmly believe they must try to reach and include everybody in what they do, as one of the primary purposes of art is to enrich lives. Theater provides this to a community because art is a communal experience.

“It’s the same reason why people like to go see live music— it’s not just to hear the music, but to be in a room and experience that thing with others,” Weaver said. “It gives a sense of commonality. It’s a unique experience for people to come together and experience and feel something.”

Ultimately, the goal of an arts organization is to make meaningful connections with the people in the community, Weaver said. If you aren’t putting in the effort, you aren’t making those connections.

Gamut, he added, makes connections all over the place: from Popcorn Hat Players to Free Shakespeare in the Park to a mentorship program at Ben Franklin Elementary School to Kidsfest. There are many ways in which the company does more than just good plays.

The Popcorn Hat Players will offer Kidsfest during Harrisburg’s Artsfest celebration, May 28 to 30, at Riverfront Park, Harrisburg.

Harrisburg Shakespeare Company will present “The Merry Wives of Windsor” as its 23^rd Annual Free Shakespeare in the Park in Reservoir Park on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings beginning June 3 through June 18. More information can be found at www.gamuttheatre.org or by calling 717-238-4111.

MAY THEATER EVENTS
AT HARRISBURG’S
PROFESSIONAL DOWNTOWN THEATERS

AT GAMUT THEATRE
www.gamuttheatre.org

POPCORN HAT PLAYERS PRESENT “ROBIN HOOD”
May 14-21
Saturdays at 1 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday performances available for groups of 20+ in advance
Tickets $8

TMI IMPROV TROUPE MAINSTAGE SHOW
May 20
Bar opens at 6:30 p.m.
Show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Pay what you will

POPCORN PLAYERS PRESENT ANNUAL KidsFest at ArtsFest!
May 28-30
Look for our tent in Riverfront Park
Craft making, face painting and free performances offered throughout the weekend

AT OPEN STAGE OF HARRISBURG
www.openstagehbg.com

2016 STUDENT SHOWCASE
May 1
An evening of scenes, monologues and songs
7 p.m.
Free admission

OSHKids Performance Company presents
“NARNIA: THE MUSICAL”
May 12-15
Tickets $10

Phantom of the Theater: Edgy, progressive plays help people “dare, discover, dream.”

April 29, 2016 | by Lori M. Myers

Photo courtesy of Kate Acquaviva.

In 2009, they were the new kid in town, the Phantom Theatre Company, and they boldly dove into an already crowded pool of Harrisburg theatrical options—Theatre Harrisburg, Gamut Theatre, Open Stage of Harrisburg and others on the west side of the river.

Around the same time, other groups popped up, too, and many came and went, but Phantom hung on. After several years of thinking they had their own building then losing it because of zoning changes, it survived. And, while it’s currently without a permanent home, Phantom is making its own kind of music—from pop opera to an upcoming production of “West Side Story.”

“We felt there was a gap to be filled for more current, edgy shows and the audiences they draw,” said Wendi Dobson, president of Phantom’s board of directors. “We wanted to offer more to the community, including workshops, cabarets and full productions, particularly some of the more contemporary, thought-provoking shows that aren’t often seen in this area.”

Years ago, the theater’s schedule started with “Bare: A Pop Opera,” and a bunch of creative types and theater-lovers came out to lend a hand to make this area premiere a reality. The production was so successful, said Dobson, that Phantom was able to donate 20 percent of tickets sales to the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention organization for young people.

“We are very community-oriented and make an effort to give back and support other organizations, as well,” Dobson said. “In the past, our shows have benefitted Toys for Tots and Homeward Bound Animal Rescue.”

Phantom currently does more family or mainstage productions, which include adults and school-aged children. It also does youth productions—like “Honk! Jr.” and “Godspell Jr.”—so kids with stars in their eyes can get a chance to tread the boards and see what it’s like to perform. Both were successful productions, but Phantom wanted to up the ante.

So, in February, Phantom was the first area theater to present “Heathers the Musical” at Gullifty’s Underground, and, last month, hosted the Macaulay Triplets, a singing group from New York. In July, they’ll stage their big summer production, “West Side Story,” with auditions this month. Then, in August, there will be a student internship production of the play, “Punk Rock,” and, in December, a “Classic Crooners” cabaret.

“We often will offer students an opportunity to assist with directing, stage managing, set design or other areas they are interested in learning,” Dobson said. “We are always looking for college students who wish to build their experience not only in theater, but in areas such as marketing, website design, fundraising and public relations.”

The Very Best

Dobson had a love of theater as a young girl and, she admits, an obsession with Broadway shows, in particular.

Drama club fueled that interest, as did her years of dance, voice and both professional and community theater experiences. But the real fire sparked when her two daughters became involved in the local theater scene. Dobson put in her time painting sets, running concessions, ushering, costumes, make-up, helping backstage, assisting directors and wrangling child actors.

“This is also how I met most of the other people who are involved with Phantom, including co-founder Melinda Lafferty,” Dobson recalled. “We have surrounded ourselves with and learned from some of the very best theater people around. All of our board members have connections to the performing arts, and we all share a passion for bringing shows to life.”

Though a phantom lacks physical structure, this company has been on a quest to establish a solid, brick-and-mortar presence, a feat that takes money and patience. To build its dream theater, Phantom will be embarking on a capital campaign. Until that day, it will have to make do by producing shows in various venues on the east and west shores.

“Our goal, once we have a home, is to provide more educational opportunities, such as workshops, summer camps and internships and to produce a full season of musicals, plays, special events, cabarets, youth theater and much more,” Dobson said.

Dobson has put her heart and soul into this company and hopes that the theater’s mantra, “Dare, Discover, Dream,” will be shared by its audiences now and into the future.

“I want everyone to leave our performances taking a piece of it with them,” she said, “whether it is a favorite show tune stuck in their head, a really funny, laugh-out-loud scene, a poignant moment, or a thought-provoking message that inspires them to make a difference.”

To learn more about Phantom Theatre Company, visit www.phantomtheatrecompany.org.

Susquehanna Charm: This year’s HYP Home Tour drifts into Shipoke.

April 29, 2016 | by Rachael Dymski

Say the word “Shipoke” and several thoughts may cross your mind.

History. Beauty. Sometimes tragedy.

For those who live there, Shipoke also means home and neighbors. Some of the oldest houses in Harrisburg line the narrow, winding streets of this compact, close-knit community.

This month, the HYP Annual Home Tour returns to Shipoke, showing off its architecture, décor and classic charm.

“We’ll give out programs at the beginning of the tour, which give a description and introduction to the home,” said Laura Evans Cullison, co-chair of the Harrisburg Young Professional’s city living committee. “We’ve partnered with the Dauphin County Historical Society to add a historic element to the tour.”

At press time, 14 homeowners had agreed to open their doors for the tour, but more homes may be added, she said. Restaurants Passage to India and Los Tres Cubanos also will take part.

In most cases, entire houses will be open, and homeowners will be present to answer questions. Volunteers also will be stationed at each location.

City Living

Shipoke was the site of one of the first permanent European settlements in our area.

An English trader, John Harris Sr., settled on the banks of the Susquehanna in 1719 and, for many years, Shipoke was the location of the family farm. In the 1840s, the Harris family began selling off parts of the land, giving rise to the residential neighborhood. For years, the community was working class and a transportation hub, with many residents employed by the Central Iron and Steel Co. By 1950, the population of Shipoke had climbed to nearly 3,000 people.

In 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes took a toll on the neighborhood, as did other floods and the extension of I-83. Nonetheless, Shipoke has continued to survive and evolve. Today, it is one of the most desirable locations in Harrisburg, known for its restaurants, art, gardens and Victorian townhouses.

The home tour also coincides with the 250th anniversary of the John Harris-Simon Cameron Mansion, first built by John Harris Jr. in 1766 on a hill overlooking the Susquehanna.

Participating homeowners seem excited to show off their houses. Kathy Vander Woude, who will be opening her house on Front Street, looks forward to visitors seeing her living room.

“I love to sit in a sunbeam at the front window and view the river,” she said.

Her house, originally built in 1889, features a beautiful piece of stained glass acquired from a Shipoke church demolished in the 1972 flood.

She and her husband Todd moved to Shipoke in 1991, then to their current house in 2000. They were drawn to the Shipoke area because they wanted a neighborhood that was walkable and close to shops and restaurants.

“Todd and I moved here from the Fan District in Richmond, Va.,” she said. “We were looking for a neighborhood that would be close to many things.”

This is Kathy’s third time with the HYP Home Tour. Her motivation for participating?

“I want to show people that this is a family home,” she said. “Many couples choose to leave the city when they have children. The neighborhood has been our family, and it was wonderful raising the girls in it.”

The Home Tour also acts as an incentive for prospective buyers to look inside the city limits. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the HYP “Home in the City” program. The program provides $1,000 grants to HYP members buying a home in Harrisburg.

The home tour benefits the city in more ways than one.

“It exposes people to beautiful homes, restaurants, and artists in the area, and it brings together the neighborhoods involved,” said Evans Cullison. “The home tour brings awareness to the benefits of city living.”

The HYP 18^th Annual Home Tour takes place on May 21, 1 to 4 p.m., with an after-party from 5 to 7 p.m. For ticket and event information, visit www.HYP.org or call 717-831-0726. Sponsorships are still available. Interested parties should contact Derek Whitesel at 717-831-0726 or [email protected].

All Hail the Mud Queen: Step into her realm–and throw away your worries.

April 29, 2016 | by Rebecca Oken

In the heart of Linglestown, sunny Mud Queen Pottery welcomes all comers with classic jazz music and the smell of the holidays, even months later. Handmade clay pieces of all shapes, sizes and designs line the shelves, and a quick walk through leads to four potter’s wheels in the back of the studio.

On a spring-like Saturday, Beth Wagner and Deb Lytle sat over wheels with the Mud Queen herself, Audra Doughty, their hands coated with wet, gray clay. They were throwing—potter’s lingo for making clay pots on a wheel—for the first time.

“Your hands are the boss of the clay. You’re letting the clay be the boss of you!” Doughty told Wagner.

Pottery has been in Doughty’s life since childhood. Her father’s mother and mother’s grandmother both worked with clay, and Doughty remembers being mesmerized by the wheel throwers as a kid when she did slipcasting, a process where a liquid clay base, or slip, is poured into molds.

Doughty wouldn’t discover her passion for pottery until many years later, though. She inherited her grandmother’s kiln when she passed away, but it sat in her garage for 10 years. Her daughter, now a junior in college, did a project in high school about pottery, and the two took a class together for it. The first piece Doughty made sits in the studio among many of her other handmade pots, holding various tools.

Excited she finally had an excuse to use the kiln, she bought a wheel two weeks into her first class. “Grandma’s kiln was in the right place,” she said. “I knew I was going to do something like this.”

Doughty eventually acquired two more wheels and began giving lessons out of her basement. She didn’t like having to take students through her home to access her makeshift studio, so, when a like-minded friend discovered “the perfect place,” she told Doughty she had to come see it.

“This place was a mess. It was so gross and rundown,” Doughty said. “They completely gutted the whole building according to how I needed it set up.”

Two years and hundreds of students later, the Mud Queen still reigns.

Second Nature

Wagner and Lytle were attending their first of four, three-hour Saturday classes at Mud Queen, and they already had gained a newfound respect for the craft.

They completed several pots during their first lesson, each one an improvement on the previous one. Still, the retired teachers joked they had a long way to go.

Encouraging, patient and lighthearted—with just the right amount of critical—Doughty acknowledged that pottery is not as easy as the professionals make it look.

“It’s a lot of technique, and it’s a lot of awkward movements,” she said. “You don’t normally move your hands in the ways that you need to move them here. Then when you get it, it’s like second nature.”

Each piece begins as a basic cylinder, Doughty said, so her students always start there. They then learn how to move the clay into other shapes and types of pots using their hands and a number of other tools.

Doughty switched between Wagner and Lytle to give individual instruction, her hands-on approach helping them understand the subtle, unfamiliar movements. Never overbearing, she guided their hands with hers as they learned new positions and let their pieces take unique shapes as the students learned.

As a result of putting too much pressure on a section of the wall of her piece, Lytle accidentally ripped off the top half of her work-in-progress.

“At this point, I encourage you to sort of play with what’s left,” she said. “It also teaches you to see what you can get away with and what you can’t.”

At Wagner and Lytle’s second class, their pieces, having been wrapped in plastic for the week in between, will have dried to the leather-hard stage, where the clay is harder but still workable. All imperfections are smoothed out at this stage, and this is also the time when designs are made in the clay using a number of techniques.

Useful Things

The majority of the pottery for sale at Mud Queen is Doughty’s—from ivy-etched mugs to curvy vases to multicolored vessels for oil. In the kiln room, the shelves are full with her pieces waiting to be fired.

“I create what I like,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of research in looking at other potters’ pots. I don’t make anything that I want somebody to put up on a shelf. I like useful things, so I make useful things.”

Classes are offered in four-week or eight-week blocks, and more advanced potters can pay a flat monthly rate for studio time. Once a year, students can set up tents in the shop’s backyard and sell their own pieces.

As a member of the Linglestown community—she lives a mile and a half from her studio—Doughty knows Mud Queen is about more than just her passion as a potter.

“So many of the new businesses here, we’re all in the same mindset, trying to really bring a little bit more energy, a little bit more art,” she said. “And a little more interaction between people.”

Mud Queen Pottery is located at 1342 N. Mountain Rd., Linglestown. For more information, call 717-652-1000 or visit www.mudqueenpottery.com.

Honest Bride: “Wedding Doll” part of this month’s Jewish Film Festival.

April 29, 2016 | by Sammi Leigh Melville

The Jewish Film Festival approaches once again.

As usual, there is an incredible lineup of films, including Israeli director Nitzan Giladi’s newest film, “Wedding Doll,” a movie whose protagonist will charm the socks off of you with her honest vibrancy.

Hagit (Moran Rosenblatt) wants to be a bride. There are two reasons you can be sure of this fact. One, the little dolls she makes from the materials at the toilet paper factory always have little, white toilet paper dresses and veils, and, two, because she will tell you.

Hagit wears her heart on her sleeve—and her smile, and her fear. This is something that Omri (Roy Assaf), son of the factory owner, loves about Hagit. They are secret lovers, enjoying their time together when Omri’s father leaves the cutting floor, and they meet out on the cliffs every night when she’s supposed to be in bed.

But Hagit has a mental deficiency and is unable to understand why Omri may not want to tell people about their relationship. There are quite a few things she doesn’t understand, actually, and her overprotective mother (Asi Levi) has sacrificed her entire life to keep her out of harm’s way—an act that prevents both of them from really living life. Hagit desperately wants her independence, a task that proves difficult when she learns that the toilet paper factory soon will be closing, and she will lose her job.

The film vacillates between adorable and vastly uncomfortable, as some of Hagit’s interactions keenly reflect society’s perception of people like her. And though every mother-daughter relationship contains some amount of struggle, Rosenblatt and Levi’s on-screen chemistry really draws out the brutal truth of the situation. What results is an incredibly real and applicable character sketch of a girl with disabilities—and a beautiful one at that.

“Wedding Doll” will make you not only laugh, but also deeply feel Hagit’s sorrow and joy throughout its 82 minutes. It’s definitely a film you shouldn’t miss. It will play this month as part of the Harrisburg Jewish Film Festival at Midtown Cinema.

For more information about the Harrisburg Jewish Film Festival, see the story in this month’s issue or visit www.hbgjff.com.

Midtown Cinema
MAY SPECIAL EVENTS

The Late Shift with Zeroday
“Fight Club”
Saturday, May 7, 10:30 p.m.

Classic Film Series
“Chariots of Fire”
Sunday, May 8, 6 p.m.

Down in Front!
“Samurai Cop”
Friday, May 13, 9:30 p.m.

Jewish Film Festival
May 19-26
Various times, check the schedule

3^rd in the Burg $3 Movie
“A League of Their Own”
Friday, May 20, 9:30 p.m.

Faulkner Honda Family Film Series
“Space Jam”
Saturday, May 21, 12 p.m.
Sunday, May 22, 2 p.m.

15^th Anniversary Series
“Bend It Like Beckham”
Saturday, May 28, 8 p.m.

Who Works in Harrisburg? Our mapping project shows where commuters come from—and where they’re going.

April 29, 2016 | by Paul Barker and Stephen Cline

Who works in Harrisburg?

Last year, when the city proposed a hike in the local services tax, from $1 to $3 per week, the age-old distinction between the capital’s residents and commuters reared its head.

The tax affects everyone who works in the city, regardless of where they live, with the exception of people below a set poverty threshold. But because an overwhelming number of the city’s workers commute, the local services tax is often branded a “commuter tax”—it’s one of the few means Pennsylvania’s third-class cities have of taxing people who work within their borders, but don’t live there. According to numbers provided by city hall, commuters paying the tax would outnumber residents by a ratio of 5 to 1.

How you view this statistic probably says a lot about how you view the relationship between the city and commuters. To some, it demonstrates how much the city depends on commuters for revenue—not only in the form of taxes, but in the money they spend on lunch at local restaurants and happy hours at local bars. “This mayor needs to keep in mind, all the revenue is coming from commuters,” one young commuter, who worked as a valet at the Hilton Harrisburg, told me in regards to the proposed hike back in December. “I hate to say it, but not much is coming from the residents.”

To others, it demonstrates how deeply people living outside the city depend on it as the region’s economic center and source of jobs.

This month, TheBurg teamed up with Stephen Cline of Urban 3D Modeling to help readers visualize the resident-commuter relationship in the form of an interactive map. Using data from OnTheMap, a U.S. Census Bureau program, Cline divided the city into nine neighborhoods and linked the number of jobs in each to the locations from which workers commute each day to reach them.

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When you click on a neighborhood, you’ll see the total number of jobs, along with the distribution of city residents who hold them (in purple) and commuters (in yellow). Each circle on the map corresponds to an individual census block, the smallest unit available in the census data. Each circle’s size is proportionate to the number of workers who live on a given block and work in the selected neighborhood.

OnTheMap combines state employment data with demographic information collected by the federal government. It’s not a perfect representation of actual employment numbers and commuting distances. The source records cover about 95 percent of private sector jobs, plus most civilian federal jobs, but they exclude members of the military, U.S. postal workers and the self-employed. The program also uses “synthetic” data methods to keep workplace and residential information confidential. According to the Census Bureau, the OnTheMap data are “statistically analogous to actual worker counts and locations but not exact.”

For the interactive map, Cline grouped the jobs into nine city neighborhoods, based roughly on the zoning code and generally accepted geographic boundaries. Four of these neighborhoods—Uptown, Midtown, South Harrisburg and Allison Hill/Harrisburg East—are primarily residential, with an assortment of employers sprinkled among their living places. Employers in these areas include the businesses along 3^rd and Maclay Streets in Midtown; the PinnacleHealth Polyclinic Campus and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Uptown; Pennsy Supply and Paxton Street’s strip malls and auto dealers in South Harrisburg; and the Derry Street commercial corridor and the public schools in Allison Hill.

Most of the jobs, however, are in the areas we labeled as Downtown, the Capitol Complex and the Industrial Corridor. Our Industrial Corridor is the primarily non-residential district straddling Cameron Street between the Harrisburg Area Community College campus to the north and the Amtrak station to the south. It encompasses a range of employers including Capital Area Transit, HACC, Goodwill, Dayton Parts, K&D Factory Service and Consolidated Scrap Resources. The Capitol Complex captures the almost exclusively public administration jobs of the statehouse and state agencies, while Downtown adds lobbying, banking, and law and advertising firms, along with a high concentration of food and entertainment jobs, to the tally of additional state workers.

For some, the map and the census data may simply give statistical confirmation of something already observed while living or working here. (I’m thinking, for example, of the long lines of cars on 2^nd and Forster each weekday between 4 and 5 p.m., waiting to cross over one of the bridges out of town.) But there may also be some surprises. It’s interesting to see the numbers of people who travel long distances to the city for work. I was also surprised to see that, in 2014, some 15,000 Harrisburg residents are estimated to have commuted to a job outside the city (a fact not reflected in the graphic, but available from the OnTheMap tool).

Most people, during their travel to and from work, probably don’t think of the municipal boundaries they’re crossing. But in a distressed city like Harrisburg, the border matters. When an employer creates jobs or relocates them to the city, is it any wonder that officials see dollar signs? Starting last September, the state Department of Human Services began moving its employees from a building just outside the city, on the State Hospital grounds, to the so-called Verizon Tower downtown. The floor-by-floor move-in, which continued through last month, will eventually bring nearly 800 workers to town.

The lease negotiations were led by the city’s state advisors, who, in an April 5 update to the Commonwealth Court, pointed to some of the benefits of the move. Among other things, they said, the new employees “will increase Local Service Tax to City by approximately $42,000 per year.”

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