If you missed last month’s entry, you can find it here: Nov/Dec 2025
It’s 2026!
I spent a LOT of time between Thanksgiving and mid-January working on something we’re really excited to share:
You can see it in PDF form at the link below:
January 1st-11th: Worked on The Diarist: Dispatch
January 11th: I went to the Board meeting for Milford Area Players (MAP), a community theatre in Milford, NH. Along with two others, I was officially appointed to the Board!
January 12th: Brad and I were honored to be invited to be the guest speakers at this year’s first meeting of the Dracut Historical Society!
January 14th: I attended my first Planning Committee Meeting for Points of Light.
Points of Light is an annual festival in Lowell which takes place in May. The festival is a celebration of light and water: floating lanterns decorated by community members are released into the Merrimack River, a gorgeous view underscored by local bands, community performances, and free to the public!
January 16th-18th: Brad went to Atlanta, GA on a mission to escape the cold, visit The Living Theatre Collection at Emory University, and to see the Boston Celtics play the Atlanta Hawks.
Stay tuned for more details on Brad’s archive adventure!
January 25th: I joined the Rainbow Dracuteers’ Advisory Board!
January 26th: Snow day!
January 28th: Dracut Community Chorus came back!
Because this year marks the 250th birthday of the USA (an occasion which is a big deal here in Massachusetts), our theme for the spring concert season is “Colors of America.” Not all patriotic songs, but songs by American composers that have colorful lyrics/titles, like Blue Skies and Orange Colored Sky. Our first performance will be in the next months in the Dracut Telethon!
Feb 4th: Went to Dracut Community Chorus rehearsal
Feb 8th: The Draketeer watched the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl! Also, my little brother’s 25th birthday. Happy birthday Graham!
Feb 11th: Went to Dracut Community Chorus rehearsal.
Feb 18: Brad went to California on another mission to escape the cold, visit The Living Theatre Collection at U.C. Davis, and to see the Boston Celtics play Golden State and the Lakers. School break week meant that there was no Dracut Community Chorus rehearsal.
Feb 19th: Brad went in for the first of two days in the reading room at U.C. Davis to view a number of boxes from The Living Theatre Collection.
Stay tuned for more on Brad’s archive discoveries at Davis!
Feb 20th: I helped with front of house for The Barzillai Lew Project, a concert at the Academic Arts Center at MCC.
In 1942, Duke Ellington composed a piano piece called “Barzillai Lew,” in honor of the African American soldier, fifer, and drummer who served with great distinction during the American Revolutionary War, and who was in the Dracut regiment under Joseph Bradley Varnum. Only a handful of recordings of Ellington’s band performing this work survive, mostly captured during radio broadcasts from 1942–43.
The Barzillai Lew Project concert brought to life a reconstructed portion of Ellington’s arrangement, assembled from original parts preserved in the Smithsonian archives.
Feb 23rd: Received a reminder from nature that winter isn’t over just yet: blizzard snow day! I took the extra time to work on planning the first few sessions of Dracut Youth Theatre Circle (DYTC) which will launch in April.
Feb 24th: Another snow day kept me home from school during the day but not from a game night with new friends in the evening.
Feb 25th: Had a Points of Light meeting. Went to Dracut Community Chorus rehearsal. Later, BB got home from CA!
Feb 26th: Brad and I stopped by Dracut High School during music rehearsal for The Old Man and the Old Moon, which they are putting on this Spring. Brad and I will do a Living Theatre workshop with them next week, so we popped in to say hi. We introduced ourselves and watched rehearsal for a while, which was great!
Feb 28th: Brad and I went to Winterfest.
Every year, on the last weekend in February, Lowell puts on this free outdoor festival to celebrate winter, complete with heaters in seating areas, ice sculptures, and fire dancers/installations. We perused the food trucks and couldn’t help but indulge in a couple of the offerings from the famed Cousins Maine Lobster truck. We also walked through the Experience Lowell Arts Market tent, organized by Mosaic Lowell.
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