First Posted: 11/11/2014

Last Sunday a great crowd came out to learn about Great Britain’s involvement in America’s Civil War during Dr. Len Gougeon’s lecture “The Civil War: America’s Second Revolution.” It was a fascinating afternoon.

Before the talk, I didn’t realize how much England’s aristocracy sympathized with the South and how similar their social structures were. These structures, as Dr. Gougeon shared with us, were focused on class, caste and race and not equality. The talk was followed by an interesting question and answer session.

So many good questions were asked, such as “How did the Civil War affect American literature?” According to Dr. Gougeon, it brought realism to novels with authors like Mark Twain. We would like to thank Len Gougeon for sharing his research on the Civil War with us and we hope to have him back again sometime in the future.

This weekend the Dietrich has a wonderful event for children and families to enjoy. The Dietrich Children’s Theatre will bring the production “Balto: A True Story of the Bravest Dog in America” to life at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. Go back in time with them to the blinding blizzard of 1925, which almost shut down the Alaskan town of Nome. During that storm, an outbreak of disease threatens the children, and medicine needed is 800 miles away. No one can get through the storm by plane, train boat or car so it is up to a fearless sled dog named Balto to travel through the blizzard and save the town, if he can get there in time.

The show is sponsored by Toni Hockman and admission is free. Reservations are available by calling the Dietrich 570-996-1500 or at the door while they last.

Another event to mark your calendar for is the Golden Days of Radio Players performance at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2. The cast of 18 community members directed by Esther Harmatz will perform favorite radio plays to get the audience into the holiday spirit, including Christmas episodes of “The Great Gildersleeve” and “Father Knows Best.” The show will include live sounds effects. Admission is free and a light reception will follow the show.

The Dietrich also has a variety of holiday classic movies to enjoy at the beginning of December. This year we will show “A Christmas Story” at noon and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3. It is one of my husband’s favorite movies, so I know he will be at the Dietrich to see it on the big screen. Then at the same times on Wednesday, Dec. 10, the Dietrich will bring in “Holiday Inn.” Fred Astair and Bing Crosby act in this Irvin Berlin musical.

Tickets to these holiday movies are $5 and can be purchased at www.dietrichtheater.com or at the Dietrich Theater ticket booth.

And of course Christmas at the Dietrich would not be complete if we didn’t bring back “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” on Dec. 5 and 6 for Christmas in Our Hometown and “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Dec. 16. Both of these movie events are free and are sponsored by Ace-Robbins Inc.

As you can see, the Dietrich is so much more than the movies!