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QC04282016

82 The QUEE NS Courier • buzz • APRIL 28, 2016 FOr breaking news visit www.qns.com Spring season galas in full swing Victoria’s Secrets Nestled in the glorious Flushing Meadows Corona Park are two of Queens’ cultural icons: the Queens Theatre and the Queens Museum. Both institutions, which add much to all of our lives, held gala events this past week. Taryn Sacramone led the Queens Theatre into its 27th season with a showcase performance for the donors at the theater’s gala on April 18. I love that, under her leadership, a new program called Senior Ensemble Theatre has been created to show off the talents of our impressively large senior population. Thanks to my friend Linda DeSebato, I had frontrow seats to the show that followed the cocktail and buffet dinner. I was enchanted by the dynamic tap dancing of the Dorrance Dance group. They took my breath away with their performance. They’ve received rave reviews wherever they have performed. Thanks, Taryn, for bringing them to Queens! The president of Investors Bank, Kevin Cummings, was the gala honoree, making the night a spectacular success. I could tell how well the theater did by the huge smile on the face of Con Edison’s Frances Resheske, who is also president of the Queens Theatre board and whose company is a major supporter of the Queens Theatre Artistic Fund. Another corporate sponsor invites Queens residents who have never visited Queens Theatre before to get free tickets – thanks New York Community Bank Foundation! Queens Theatre is a wonderful institution, and I know that once you make a visit to the theater, with its free parking and convenient location off the Grand Central Parkway, you will want to come back! Then, just two days later, our Borough President Melinda Katz welcomed everyone to the stunningly redesigned Queens Museum during its April 20 gala. As a member of the board, I can tell you how unabashedly proud I am of the institution that doubled its size when the contiguous ice rink found a new home elsewhere in the park. The museum also just opened an exhibit featuring the Queens-born rock group The Ramones. Remarkably, more than 5,000 people made their way to the museum’s opening to see the exhibit. The museum gala honored artists Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Tania Bruguera and featured the unique, enthralling and captivating performers K-Pop-EXP. They danced and sang their hearts out and had a team of ‘caretakers’ wiping their brows and fixing their hair in between performances. Unique! I think the fun of attending these events is experiencing artists outside my life experience. It shows also that when you give, you get more than you could ever expect. Passover Seders A gala of another kind is the wondrous holiday of Passover, where we celebrate with dinner and prayers called a Seder. Families gather together to remember the trials of the Jewish people. My family shared one night at my stepdaughter Mimi’s house in Manhattan, and then I hosted my children and my daughter Samantha’s in-laws and their family for the Seder on the second night. The holiday reminds us of the Jews’ escape from bondage when the Israelite slaves fled the cruel pharaoh of Egypt. It retells the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, led by Moses, as the Jews escaped out of bondage and made the 40-year journey across the Sinai desert. Before the food is served, we read of those times from a book called the Haggadah. Then, to honor their journey, we eat unleavened bread known as matzoh and special foods to recognize how our ancestors ate during that journey. Our Seder service was led by Rabbi Agin, who retired from the Flushing Jewish Center. His daughter, Susan Agin, who runs the Queensborough Community College Performing Arts Center, accompanied him, brilliantly singing traditional songs and a few un-traditional ones. Susan has a gorgeous voice and she had us all singing and clapping our hands. Although it’s a solemn time of remembering, it is also joyous because we celebrate the freedom of the Jews. My favorite song is “Let My People Go” that I’ve sung since I was a child. So many memories....such precious time together! Dynamic $1500 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign DENTAL WORK CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION THE INVISIBLE WAY TO SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY STRAIGHTEN TEETH Third Generation Dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 Victoria SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@gmail.com tweet me @vschneps Rabbi Agin officiated at the Seder Blake found the afikoman that is needed to end the Seder and won a prize Samantha, with the children, lit the sabbaths candles to begin the Seder Taryn Sacramone, director of the Queens Theatre, with gala honoree Kevin Cummings, president of Investors Bank The Rubins at the gala (of the Rubin Museum) have repeatedly supported the Queens Museum, and a gallery is named in their honor


QC04282016
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