Performances by Peter Cook include pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement. And, as Cook is deaf, they highlight the connection between creativity and American Sign Language.
Cook visits Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, which has a large deaf studies department, Saturday to present a three-hour afternoon workshop and an evening show. All events are open to the public.
In the workshop, which runs 1 to 4 p.m., Cook encourages participants to explore their creativity through signing. He speaks about the relationship between deaf culture and literature and demonstrates technical aspects of American Sign Language, storytelling, and poetry.
There are also hands-on activities for audience members.
The evening show, 7 to 8:30 p.m., incorporates all Cook's styles and is appropriate for ages 10 and older.
Cook lives in Chicago and teaches in the ASL-English Interpretation Department at Columbia College.
Saturday's event takes place in NECC's Technology Center.
The workshop is $50, $20 for full-time students with identification. Admission to the show is $5 for ages 10-12; $8 for ages 13-18 and full-time college students; $15 for adults.
Tickets for both the workshop and show are $60; $25 for senior citizens and full-time college students.
Call 978-556-3701. For more on the artist, visit deafpetercookonline.com.
CLASSICAL COASTING: After a spring tour in California, including performances at four venues, the concert choir and chamber orchestra from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., return home for a final performance today at 4 p.m.
The 32-voice choir, under the direction of music instructor Ryan Turner, and the 19-member chamber orchestra, led by music instructor Peter Schultz, performed in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Atherton, and San Francisco.
Today's concert is in Phillips Church on the campus of the academy.
The groups perform classical works separately and join for the finale, "Te Deum," by Haydn.
The concert is open to the public and free. Call 603-777-4309.
ON THE FAST TRACK: He may be only 14, but Alek Razdan of Rockport has an impressive musical resume.
For two years, Razdan has been playing tenor saxophone regularly at area restaurants and clubs, and he's performed with Roomful of Blues at the Regatta Bar in Cambridge.
The freshman at Rockport High School also has a CD, "Tenor 12," which has had positive reviews in jazz publications such as Saxophone Journal.
Razdan performs with his quartet, A Train, at the West End Theatre in Gloucester at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $10. Call 978-281-0680.
AUTHOR'S CORNER: Steve Shipps of West Newbury is the author of the new book, "(Re)thinking 'Art': A Guide for Beginners." Based on the course Shipps teaches at Emerson College, the book is aimed at people who are uncertain how to understand art today, and offers useful tips along the road to art appreciation. . . . Veterinary surgeon Dr. Nick Trout reads from his memoir, "Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon," at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport at 7 p.m. Friday. The book is an insider's look at the heartbreak and triumph of caring for pets and dealing with their owners. Trout is a staff surgeon at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. . . . Joan Loveridge-Sanbonmatsu discusses her book, "Imperial Valley Nisei Women: Transcending Poston," at the Merrimac Public Library at 2 p.m. next Sunday. The book is a collection of oral histories of five second-generation Japanese-American women interned at Poston 1 in Arizona during World War II.
IN LOCAL GALLERIES: "Towering Inspiration," a collection of works by students at the Tower School in Marblehead, is on exhibit at New Civilitea in Salem through April 30. The 25 pieces were created by sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders at the independent school. . . . A long friendship, journeys, history, and the human form are the subjects of an exhibit at the Marblehead Arts Association opening Saturday. A reception with the artists - Beverly Seamans, Joan Hooper, Richard Paik, and Jaime Rodriguez - is 2-4 p.m. next Sunday. . . . The third annual "Artists of the Prep" show and sale is 2-8 p.m. Friday in the Ryken Center for the Arts at St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers. The showcase includes original art created by staff, faculty, students, and parents in many mediums, including paint, sculpture, pottery, and jewelry.
Items can be sent to wdkilleen@gmail.com. Photos can be sent, as jpeg attachments, to globenorth@globe.com.
