Jason Guenzel has a passion for exploring the cosmos with his camera. 

The Michigan-based astrophotographer will appear at the Ann Arbor District Library's Downtown location at 7 pm on June 29 to discuss his love of astrophotography. Guenzel will talk about his journey to the stars, the equipment he uses, and how you can get started in this discipline, which mixes science and art. He'll also present many of his fascinating photos of the cosmos, explaining the specialized techniques he used to capture these breathtaking images.

I spoke with Guenzel ahead of his AADL appearance.

You don't need to go to Tromsø, Norway to see the aurora borealis—even though the town, more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is considered one of the best spots to view the natural phenomenon.

You don't even need to drive your car to the upper parts of Canada to see the northern lights, which occur when energized sun particles smash into the Earth's outer atmosphere and are redirected by the magnetic field toward the planet's poles. (Southern lights exist, too.)

Melissa Kaelin—founder of the Facebook group Michigan Aurora Chasers, co-founder of the International Aurora Summit, and author of Below the 45th Parallel: The Beginner's Guide to Chasing the Aurora in the Great Lakes Region—will tell you how to witness this beautiful sight here in Michigan when she appears at the Ann Arbor District Library's Westgate Branch on Thursday, May 11, 6:30-7:30 pm, for a chat.

Astronomy at the Beach (AATB) is an annual two-day event each fall sponsored by the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs. This year AATB will take place in person after two years as a virtual-only event. It runs September 16 and 17, from 4 pm until midnight each day, at the Island Lake Picnic Grounds inside Island Lake State Recreation Area in Brighton, Michigan.

We asked AATB’s communications volunteer Brian Ottum to give us an overview of the event and what we can expect this year.

Astronomy at the Beach (AATB) is the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs (GLAAC)'s signature annual event. Held each year at Island Lake State Park near Brighton, Michigan, and attended by thousands, this year’s two-day event on Friday and Saturday, September 25-26 has been moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adrian Bradley is president of GLAAC and an avid amateur astronomer and photographer who especially loves nightscape photography. He is also a member of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, the local astronomy club partnering with AADL to provide and maintain the library's circulating telescope collection.

We chatted with Bradley about this year's Astronomy at the Beach lineup.

You can’t go wrong with George and Ira Gershwin, especially when you pull together some of their best material from old musicals (“Embraceable You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “I Got Rhythm”) and repackage it with Fred-and-Ginger Broadway glamour, wild west shenanigans, and a wispy thin plot that demands a Mickey-and-Judy let’s-put-on-a-show production number.

Such is the case with 1992’s Crazy for You, with a book by Ken Ludwig, a romantic musical comedy based in part on the 1930 musical Girl Crazy.

The plot, such as it is, centers on Bobby Child, a wealthy Manhattan ne’er-do-well and would-be song and dance man, who ends up in a broke Nevada mining town, falls in love with the local girl, and decides to rescue its bankrupt theater. Directed by Caroline Huntoon, with music direction by Seth King-Gengler and choreography by Erika Jost, Crazy For You is an uplifting jaunt presented YPT style for audiences of all ages.

For more information, visit http://www.youngpeoplestheater.com.

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

YPT’s Crazy for You runs Thursday, November 17 - 20 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, University of Michigan, 911 N. University, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. Tickets available through the Michigan Union Ticket Office (MUTO) by phone: 734-763-TKTS; in person at 530 S. State, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 - UM Michigan Union; or online at http://www.muto.umich.edu.

Singer and songwriter Mary Gauthier will appear at the Green Wood Coffee House Saturday, playing songs from a "...heavyweight catalog she's built out of unflinching introspection and Southern Gothic-shaded storytelling.” (NPR).

Gauthier didn't begin her songwriting career until she was 35, but her backstory makes for some moving material. Born in New Orleans to a mother she never knew and left in St Vincent's Women and Infants Asylum, Gauthier was adopted at age 1, ran away from home at age 15, and spent the next several years in drug rehabilitation, halfway houses, and her 18th birthday in a jail cell. She later studied philosophy at Louisiana State University and ran a Cajun restaurant in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood for 11 years.

Gauthier's repertoire Saturday will likely include the timely "Mercy Now" from her 2005 album of the same name, a song that resonates in our current political climate:

"My church and my country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit it's going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down
I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now..."

Her latest album, Trouble & Love, has garnered praise from Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fresh Air.

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Mary Gauthier will appear Saturday, November 12 at 8:00 pm at the Greenwood Coffee House, 1001 Green Rd., Ann Arbor.

Ann Arbor's Skyline High School Theater presents Les Misérables: School Edition, beginning this weekend and running through November 20. Adapted for high school performers and produced by special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), this musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel is a timeless story of human kindness, cruelty, revenge, love, and the survival of the human spirit.

“This is our most elaborate production to date,” says Anne-Marie Roberts, Skyline Department Chair for Theatre Arts. “We are so excited about staging this wonderful production that combines the drama of a pivotal time in history with an inspiring story of sacrifice, faith and love.”

The story centers on escaped convict Jean Valjean after he breaks parole and is pursued relentlessly by police inspector Javert. Valjean is soon forced to leave his past behind in order to keep his promise to raise the orphaned Cosette, but as Javert closes in and revolution kindles the Paris Rebellion of 1832, Valjean ends up sacrificing everything to protect those he loves.

“Community support of these events is critical,” adds Roberts. “It means so much to our students to have friends, families and neighbors attend these events, and support their long hours and the hard work they have put into creating a terrific production. And ticket sales are vital to ensuring we can continue to provide our students with great opportunities to showcase their incredible talent. We hope everyone will come and “hear the people sing’.”

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Show times are November 12, 18, 19 at 7:30 pm, and November 13 and 20 at 2:30 pm. Ticket prices are $25 for VIP seats (reserved seats in the front rows with a treat); $15 for adults; and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets are available online at http://www.skylinehstheatre.org/cart and will also be available for purchase at the performances. Skyline High School is located at 2552 N Maple Rd, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103.

Pioneer Theatre Guild's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a special production: First, PTG is one of a handful of American schools piloting the musical before its rights are released to theater groups across the country. Second, they may well be the first to perform it, with a few other venues performing the musical during winter and spring 2017. So it's not only an Ann Arbor premiere, it's also a sort of world premiere as well.

In preparing for the show, PTG has been fortunate to have the technical assistance of University of Michigan Professor Peggy McCracken, whose expertise in France during the Middle Ages has helped the students and directing staff understand this period and place as well as the motivation of their characters. Then, to even top this unexpected source of expertise, the production group has had the opportunity to Skype with the show's musical composer, Alan Menken, for additional pointers.

The show's haunting, beautiful music -- featuring a full choir that helps narrate the plot and give a historical feel to the theater -- showcases the timeless and powerful story of Quasimodo and his love for the beautiful Esmeralda against the backdrop of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral. Set in 1482, a time of mystery and havoc, the story follows Archdeacon Claude Frollo’s dark past and how he came to raise the disfigured child Quasimodo who is prohibited from ever leaving the Notre Dame environs. Others among the bustling city of Paris below the church bells are the aforementioned Esmeralda; the war soldier Phoebus; and the unexpectedly heroic Clopin Trouillefou.

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame runs Friday, November 4, 7:30 pm; Sunday, November 6, 2:00 pm; Friday November 11, 7:30 pm; Saturday, November 12, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, November 13, 2:00 pm. (Note: No show Saturday, November 5 because of U-M game across the street.) Tickets: $10 (Students, 65+ Seniors, PHS Staff); $15 (Adults). Reserved Seating Tickets will be available in advance at http://showtix4u.com, beginning on October 24, 2016. General Admission tickets will be available at the door starting one hour before each performance. All performances in Schreiber Auditorium.

Something wicked this way comes to Huron High School beginning Friday, October 28, when the Huron Players present Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Celebrate the spooky season, enjoy some epic battles - and get extra credit in an English class - with the Shakespeare play where fair is foul, and foul is fair.

This classic tragedy of greed gone bad begins when Macbeth, a Scottish general, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will one day become King of Scotland. Spurred on by his vicious wife and and consumed by his own ambition, Macbeth’s fate is cast when he murders King Duncan. And from there things get much worse.

To learn more about the cast and crew visit the Huron Players website.

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Macbeth performances are October 28th, 29th and November 4th, 5th at 7:30 pm in Huron's New Theater, 2727 Fuller Rd. Tickets: $6 students/seniors and $8 general admission. Some themes may be unsuitable for children.

Redbud Productions celebrates its 18th year with the Tony-nominated comedy/drama Good People, a delightful play named Best Play of the Year by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. From the writer of the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People explores the struggles, shifting loyalties, and unshakable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.

Welcome to Southie, the Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo; where this month’s paycheck covers last month’s bills, and where Margie Walsh (Katie Whitney) has just been fired from yet another job.

Facing eviction from her eccentric landlady (Linda Lee Austin) and scrambling to catch a break, Margie, on the advice of her best friend (Emily Rogers), approaches her former boyfriend (Dave Barker), now a wealthy doctor, in hopes that he is her ticket to a fresh new start. Will this self-made man face his humble beginnings? Margie risks what little she has left to find out.

David Lindsay-Abaire’s play Rabbit Hole was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, five Tony Award nominations, and the Spirit of America Award. Good People premiered on Broadway and received two Tony Award nominations and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year.

“Good People maps the fault lines of social class with a rare acuity of perception while also packing a substantial emotional wallop.” - Boston Globe “A wonderful new play … poignant, brave and almost subversive in its focus on what it really means to be down on your luck” - The New York Post

Amy Cantú is a Production Librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Good People runs October 13-15 at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 North Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor. General Seating Tickets - $20 for adults; $15 for students (limited front row café table seating for groups of 2 - 3 for $25 a seat. For reservations, call Kerrytown Concert House at 734-769-2999 or visit http://kerrytownconcerthouse.com.