68 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • OCTOBER 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
New community-funded bookshop in Kew
Gardens will offi cially open this Saturday
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Kew & Willow Books, a bookshop
started by three former Barnes & Noble
employees, will offi cially open on Oct. 7.
Vina Castillo, Natalie Noboa and Holly
Nikodem settled on the location at 81-63
Leff erts Blvd. in May aft er raising more
than $72,000 from the Queens community
to open the bookstore.
Th e 700-square-foot Kew Gardens space
will display adult fi ction and non-fi ction
‘Jimmy & Carolyn’ at Queens Theatre
Dysfunctional families of the world
unite! Your newest champions are at
Queens Th eatre.
Th e world premiere of “Jimmy &
Carolyn” off ers four fi ne actors who spar
verbally for two acts.
Playwright James Andrew Walsh and
Queens Th eatre’s Executive Director Taryn
Sacramone greet the audience before curtain.
Th ey remind us that this production
is part of their ongoing works in progress
philosophy. Everyone on hand is asked for
suggestions to help improve the performance
as they go forward.
Th e show is really two separate plays.
Th e fi rst is a lighthearted comedy in
which elderly retired parents from
Florida (Lisa Harrow, Sam Tsoutsouvas)
visit their gay son (Brad Bradley) and his
partner (Luis Carlos de la Lombana) in
New England. Th e interchanges are oft en
loud with the requisite misunderstandings.
Th e set (Alexander Woodward) is
a cheery kitchen complete with refrigerator,
sink, “island” and working electricity.
And it does bring a smile. Th at is, until
the show turns deeply dark.
From the closing moments of the fi rst
act through most of the second act, the
dialogue and interactions plunge into
intense, shocking revelations. Th ere is
wrenching anger and fi erce psychological
overtones. Director Brooke Ciardelli
certainly has challenged us to stay with
the characters’ twists and turns.
As WillIe, Lombana is the most likable
character. He delights in obtaining his
wardrobe at the local thrift store (Sharon
Sobel, costume design). He is genuinely
good natured but he does have his breaking
point. Carolyn (Harrow) never gains
our aff ection despite her suff ering. She
constantly verbalizes her anger against
her husband, Jimmy (Tsoutsouvas).
Clearly he is the most paradoxical. Are
his many fl aws a result of his deteriorating
health? Were his past sins really
unforgivable? Finally, the biggest and
most shocking character is Jimmy, their
son, played by Brad Bradley. He has the
expected impatience that is sometimes
displayed when dealing with elderly parents.
Yet his shocking behavior in the
second act is more than a wakeup call.
Backstage support is strong and consistent.
Bows for Garrett Kerr, Jason Fok,
Eliza Anastasio and Stephen DeAngelis.
For information on this and future
productions, call the box offi ce at 718-
760-0064 or click on www.queenstheatre.
org. As always, save me a seat on
the aisle.
books, and the back of the store will
be dedicated to children’s, young reader
and young adult books with room for
story time.
As a general purpose bookstore, Kew
& Willow Books will stock every genre,
including fi ction, history, biography,
self-improvement and more. Owners will
also highlight local authors with a display
for Queens writers that will rotate once
a month.
Th e name, which pays homage to
Kew Gardens, is also inspired by the
Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter
series. Th e author J.K. Rowling created
the tree for her series aft er visiting the
the Kew Gardens Botanical Garden in
England.
For now, the shop will only be open
on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and
Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Th e owners
said they will open on weekdays “further
down the road.”
Photo via Facebook/TheQueensBookShop
Kew & Willow Books will offi cially open to the public on Oct. 7.
A VIEW FROM
THE CLIFF
BY CLIFF KASDEN