Busy Weekend For Entertainment at WHBPAC

Looking for something to do this weekend? may have a solution. This weekend’s entertainment includes a blues concert, theater for children, a documentary and a concert featuring a band emerging on the international scene.

Presenting a diverse slate of programming is a mission for the performing arts center, said WHBPAC executive director Clare Bisceglia.

“There’s always something going on at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center,” she said. “In January, we have two concerts, four movies and two family-friendly shows. We have our after-school classes: Cabaret Kids, Acting Up and Adventures in Acting. We just started our new program, Teen Theater Troupe. Our mission is to bring the finest in all the arts to our community, year-round.”

The flurry of entertainment begins on Friday with the band Wakey!Wakey!. The concert launches a Breakout Artist Series. The new series is collaboration between WHBPAC and the radio station, WEHM, said Frank Russell, the director of production for WHBPAC.

The series will feature “up and coming” artists that may appeal to those in their twenties and thirties, said Bisceglia. Monthly concerts will be held through April and start up again in October, Russell said. Future artists will be announced on the WHBPAC’s website.

Wakey!Wakey!’s music has been featured on the television show, One Tree Hill and the group’s concert in Westhampton Beach is sandwiched between performances in London, Paris and Boston, according to their website.

Tickets to the concert are $22.

Saturday brings a family production to WHBPAC in the afternoon with  a documentary in the evening.

At 3 p.m., Omaha Theatre presents a stage adaption of the book, If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff. The show is geared for kids 3 to 9 years old and tickets rage from $15 to $25. 

At 7:30 p.m., the documentary, Inside Job will screen. The film presents “a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008…which nearly resulted in a global financial collapse,” according to a WHBPAC press release. The film, which is narrated by Matt Damon, is rated PG-13. Tickets range from $10 to $3 for WHBPAC Film Society Members. The movie is part of WHBPAC’s Finest in World Cinema Series.

Sunday brings a performance of Hot Tuna Blues at 8 p.m. The band features Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Charlie Musselwhite and Jim Lauderdale. Musselwhite has received six Grammy nominations and 18 W.C. Handy awards for his blues harmonica playing. Lauderdale has won two Grammys and is a “premier Americana and Bluegrass” musician, according to WHPBAC. Lauderdale hosted the Americana Music Association Awards last year and from 2002-2008, WHPBAC stated.

Kaukonen and Casady are known for their work with the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. The pair have performed and recorded regularly for the last 40 years. According to WHBPAC, Hot Tuna Electric, which includes all four musicians, is performing almost daily from Jan. 27 through March 11.  Afterwards, frequent shows are scheduled through July 30, 2011. Saturday’s concert at WHPBAC will be a mix of acoustic and electric. Tickets are $55 to $85.   

Entertainment doesn’t end in Jan.  Singer Neko Case will take the stage on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 to $70. Three films will also screen in Feb. as part of the .

February’s schedule at WHBPAC wraps up with a public performance of the Tortoise Versus The Hare staged by students enrolled in WHBPAC’s School Vacation Musical Theatre Camp on Feb. 25.