Opening Night

katec@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The new play's the thing at the Contemporary American Theater Festival. For the 13th year, four new works of American theater will be presented at Shepherd College. The festival also includes lectures, discussions, staged readings of two new plays, music by the ARDO Consort and composer Byron Petty and a showcase of the talents of the annual event's interns and apprentices. Under-the-Tent lectures will be held at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, July 12, 19 and 26, and Aug. 2, on the front lawn of the Frank Center for the Creative Arts.

By MARK KELLER Staff Correspondent The standing room only crowd at St. Maria Goretti for opening night of the 14th Annual Mid-Atlantic Invitational Tournament could not have asked for more excitement. Both of Friday's opening-round games were decided in the final seconds, as the four teams pushed aside early-season jitters and treated the fans to a tremendous show. Sophomore Anthony Sowers drained a 15-foot jumper with five seconds remaining to lead Goretti to a 64-62 victory over Providence Day School of Charlotte, N.C., in the second game of the double bill.

shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - William Saul and Ron Fraley said they hope to be working as volunteers at the REACH Cold Weather Shelter when it opens at a permanent site. But for the time being, both are trying to use the roving shelter as a helping hand to go from homeless to helpers. Saul and Fraley were two of about 30 people who sought refuge from the cold Sunday night as REACH, Religious Effort to Assist and Care for the Homeless, opened its annual shelter for the 2004-05 season.

Leave it to kids to settle a dispute among adults. It was one weekend in April, yes, but it might have been the most meaningful weekend in Hagerstown since 1996, when Otis Rush, John Hammond and company helped put Hagerstown on the musical map by ushering in Western Maryland Blues Fest. Probably a lot of people, and by a lot of people I mean me, thought the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts was overreaching by choosing to perform "Phantom of the Opera," a complex musical that's taken the place of "Cats" as the longest-running Broadway production.

Tessa Wiles of Washington County was third runner-up in the Miss Maryland Agriculture contest on Aug. 26, the opening night of the Maryland State Fair. Casey Miller of Clinton, Md., won the title. The competition was sponsored by the Maryland Farm Bureau and Maryland State Fair. Hannah Hood of Frederick, Md., also competed in the event.

Taylor Smith, left, Callie May and Amber Kress, back, inspect Christmas trees during Thursday's opening night of the annual Festival of Trees at The Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg, Pa. Evie Gray of Chambersburg admires the peacock feathers that adorn one of the trees during the festival. The event continues today, Saturday and Sunday at the theater, 159 S. Main St., and concludes with a live auction for the trees from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday. For more information on the fundraiser, call 717-264-7101.

pepperb@herald-mail.com The Outback Steakhouse opened Monday night to an expected crowd of about 750 to 1,000 customers, proprietor John Staub said. Staub said so far the community has been supportive of the new restaurant, one of a half-dozen steakhouses in town. "I've never seen anything quite like it," he said. Staub said the restaurant was preparing for the large crowd on opening night with three days of mock service, which ran restaurant employees through practice rounds of serving free food to family, friends and restaurant suppliers.

Joe Beamer said he is homeless and sleeps on the streets. Beamer lost his house after he lost his job. The Hagerstown man said his wife is living in a homeless shelter in West Virginia. But at least Beamer had a hot meal Sunday night. Beamer was among a handful of people who stepped inside the doors of the fellowship hall at the First Church of God and Saints of Christ church at 100 S. Mulberry St. for the opening of a new soup kitchen. Volunteers with the Helping Hands Youth Ministry Network worked to get a meal of spaghetti with meat sauce ready on the opening night of the Heavenly Made Soup Kitchen.

Starting Sunday, a five-day Life and Liberty Crusade will be held nightly at 7 p.m. under a tent erected at Grace Academy, 13321 Cearfoss Pike west of Hagerstown. Three generations of the Merrill Ministry Team will preach and provide gospel music at all services. A children's crusade will be held on the grounds each night. The event is sponsored by nine area churches which describe themselves as Bible-believing congregations. They include Victory Baptist in Boonsboro; Evangel Baptist in Hagerstown; Child Evangelism Fellowship of Waynesboro, Pa.; Chestnut Grove Bible Church, Keedysville; Kasiesville Bible Church in Mercersburg, Pa.; Greencastle (Pa.)

"Carry the Tiger to the Mountain. " Shepherd College, Frank Center for the Creative Arts, Shepherdstown, W.Va. $16 to $30. Wednesday, July 8, at 8 p.m. (pay what you can preview) Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. (opening night) Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 16, at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 18, at 8 p.m. Sunday, July 19, at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, at 8 p.m. Friday, July 24, at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at 2 p.m. "Interesting Times.

Organizers of the second annual Maryland International Film Festival in Hagerstown announced plans Tuesday for the April 11-13 event, which will feature a Washington County man who was at the center of the Academy Award-winning movie “Argo.” Tony Mendez, who lives in Pleasant Valley in the southern part of the county, is expected to play a part in the festival, which will have an emphasis on student-produced movies. On the festival's second day, four movies produced by Washington County students will be shown at Bridge of Life Center on South Potomac Street, where high school students are expected to be bused to see the films, Thomas B. Riford, president of the film festival's board of directors, said Tuesday during a news conference in Hagerstown City Council chambers.

The top five things to do this week Music in the Maryland Theatre Rock out Saturday night at the DMV Tri-State O.N.O. concert at The Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown with musical acts such as Hawk Boyz, Spence 4Hire, Travis Dupri and more. 7 p.m. The Maryand Theatre, 21 S. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown. $25. Call 301-790-3500 or go to www.mdtheatre.org . It's a Winter Throwdown It's a Winter Throwdown Saturday night with bands such as Stillglow, The Odyseey, Distances and more, at Right Choice Ministries in Hagerstown.

South Potomac Street between Washington Street and Antietam Street in Hagerstown will be closed to traffic from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Thursday for the inaugural Maryland International Film Festival, according to a traffic advisory from the City of Hagerstown's website, www.hagerstownmd.org . The festival is to begin at 5:30 p.m. at The Maryland Theatre. Traffic will be detoured to East Washington Street, South Mulberry Street and East Antietam Street, according to the advisory.

Tessa Wiles of Washington County was third runner-up in the Miss Maryland Agriculture contest on Aug. 26, the opening night of the Maryland State Fair. Casey Miller of Clinton, Md., won the title. The competition was sponsored by the Maryland Farm Bureau and Maryland State Fair. Hannah Hood of Frederick, Md., also competed in the event.

Leave it to kids to settle a dispute among adults. It was one weekend in April, yes, but it might have been the most meaningful weekend in Hagerstown since 1996, when Otis Rush, John Hammond and company helped put Hagerstown on the musical map by ushering in Western Maryland Blues Fest. Probably a lot of people, and by a lot of people I mean me, thought the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts was overreaching by choosing to perform "Phantom of the Opera," a complex musical that's taken the place of "Cats" as the longest-running Broadway production.

Despite the normal opening night jitters, Greencastle-Antrim High School senior Amelia Thorne wasn't a bit nervous on Thursday. "Maybe I will be when the music starts, but for right now I'm pretty excited," Amelia said a few hours before the curtain rose on the school's production of the classic, "Annie. " "This is a good play — very wholesome. It's a play for everybody, and it's comical," she said. She and fellow G-AHS senior Shyanne Smith are serving double duty, on alternate nights, as Annie and Sophie, a cranky hobo.

Joe Beamer said he is homeless and sleeps on the streets. Beamer lost his house after he lost his job. The Hagerstown man said his wife is living in a homeless shelter in West Virginia. But at least Beamer had a hot meal Sunday night. Beamer was among a handful of people who stepped inside the doors of the fellowship hall at the First Church of God and Saints of Christ church at 100 S. Mulberry St. for the opening of a new soup kitchen. Volunteers with the Helping Hands Youth Ministry Network worked to get a meal of spaghetti with meat sauce ready on the opening night of the Heavenly Made Soup Kitchen.

Top Five Get 'Into the Woods' Friday is opening night for Hagerstown Children's Theater's production of "Into The Woods. " The musical intertwines the stories of fairy tale characters such as Cinderella, Prince Charming, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and explores the consequences of their hopes and dreams. 8 p.m. Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1; 2 p.m. Saturday, May 1. The Maryland Theatre, South Potomac Street, downtown Hagerstown. $20; $17, children and seniors.

HAGERSTOWN -- The night was cold and drizzly and the rural landscape around Tri-State Fellowship was dark, but at the back of the Cearfoss Pike church building Friday night, soft light and rock music poured from the windows of an upstairs room. That room was what church members call "the Attic," and inside, in a space filled with mismatched couches, game tables and a large plywood cross, a new coffeehouse-style ministry was celebrating its opening night. The event, called "Third Fridays at the Attic," was organized by members of Oasis, a young adult Bible study group at Tri-State Fellowship, co-organizer Luke Greffen said.