By BILL BROTHERTON
LYNN — Not everyone loves Valentine’s Day.
Corey Jackson, managing director of Arts After Hours, realizes that. But he believes everyone — even those who have had relationships crash and burn — will have a lovely time at his organization’s annual Snow Ball fundraiser, set for Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Lynn Museum.
“It’s a real fun way to get everybody out,” said Jackson. “No matter if you’re pro Valentine’s Day or anti Valentine’s Day, you’ll have a great time.”
Jackson said there will be two boards set up, one where pro-romance messages can be posted and another for anti-romance screeds.
“We found the most outrageous collections of magnetic poetry,” added Jackson, with a bit of sinful glee. One magnetic poetry kit, D-bag Poet, contains words including “beatdown”, “cougar”, “drunk”, “hottie” and “fo sho.”
The Mixed Up Pick Up Lines option features such expressions as “astronaut pants”, “piece of heaven” and “your clothes”.
The Love choice includes mushy words like “dream”, “hug”, “goddess” and “smile”.
The Erotic kit includes, umm … well, words too hot for this family newspaper.
Attendees will also be able to send old-fashioned valentine cards “like the ones you sent to your crush in elementary school,” said Jackson. “The old-school valentines will be hand-delivered to other guests of your choosing in the room.”
Love messages will be announced via microphone and there will be a kissing / photo booth.
The event also features hors d’oeuvres, desserts (whoopie pies!), cash bar and dancing to live music from The Free Downloads, a high-energy cover band that’s fronted by Lynn native Sheree Dunwell.
The Free Downloads can also be heard in new movie “The Comedian” starring Robert DeNiro. They were recently profiled in The Item.
https://newitemlive.wpengine.com/lifestyle/from-a-small-town-to-the-big-screen/
“The Snow Ball will have something for everyone, whether or not you’re in love at the moment,” said Jackson.
The Arts After Hours’ seventh theater season schedule will also be announced. “Next to Normal,” the Tony- and Pulitzer prize-winning family drama about a woman dealing with mental illness, kicks things off in March. Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and the outrageous “Bat Boy: The Musical” will follow. All will explore characters that fall outside the bounds of society.
“The outsiders presented in this season’s productions are exiles from their homes, their families, their kingdoms, and themselves — or they never quite fit in from the beginning,” said Jackson. “They symbolize how we all fight to find our place in life, to recapture what was lost, or to create a new normal.”
Snow Ball tickets, at $25, can be purchased at artsafterhours.com, by calling (781) 205-4010 or by visiting Arts After Hours’ Facebook page. Money raised will help fund the nonprofit’s mission to engage and transform downtown Lynn through the experience of live theater.
https://newitemlive.wpengine.com/opinion/warren-newton-lesson-can-be-mass-win/
Bill Brotherton is The Item’s Features editor. He can be reached at [email protected].