The Princeton Garden Theatre has announced the inaugural First Takes Shorts Series — a program of short films produced by high school, college, and young independent artists from the community. After the screenings on April 3, the audience will have the opportunity to engage these talented local filmmakers in a live Q&A discussion.

The Garden’s programmers sifted through 215 submissions to select nine titles across three categories: Student Filmmaker, for high school students; Emerging Filmmaker, for college students; and Indie Filmmaker, for those older than high school or college age.

The program exhibits an eclectic range of style, tone, and genre. Consider Sons of Adam, a sci-fi picture about a religious cult shot in stark black and white. Or Albion Rose, a darkly comedic fantasy that digs into the tense relationship between two sisters. Then there’s A Squonk’s Day, a stop-motion tale that brings to life a whimsical creature who tends to weep spontaneously. Each short will demonstrate the creative vitality of the local community that the Garden seeks to celebrate and promote.

The First Takes Shorts Series is supported by a grant courtesy of the Vesta Fund.

Tickets for the program are available at the box office or online at princetongardentheatre.org/films/first-take-garden.

“GALAXY GATEWAY” This work by by Marina Ahun of Princeton is part of “Cultural Connections: Eastern European Artists from the Greater Trenton Area,” on view April 5 through June 8 at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie in Cadwalader Park.

“Cultural Connections: Eastern European Artists from the Greater Trenton Area,” on view at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie April 5 through June 8, highlights the work of regional artists with Eastern European backgrounds. An opening reception is on April 5 from 2 to 4 p.m., and an artists’ talk is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 from 2 to 4 p.m. Also related to the show is a Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop on Thursday, April 19, 6 to 9 p.m., by artist Basia Andrusko of Yardley, Pa.

The artists of Cultural Connections:

Marina Ahun is a Princeton-based artist known in part for her watercolors that explore the architecture of Princeton, Trenton, and New York City. She was born in Soviet Russia, studied at the Imperial Academy of fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and is the licensed and commissioned artist for Princeton University. more

“SISTERS”: This photograph by Myhanh Bosse has been accepted for the 32nd annual “Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition,” on view March 30 through April 18 at the Phillips’ Mill Community Association in New Hope, Pa.

With its enduring theme of “Photography as Art,” the 32nd annual celebration of photography and photographers at Phillips’ Mill will open to the public on March 30. The Phillips’ Mill Community Association will hold not only a three-week juried exhibition, but also a week-long Mill Photo Committee members’ show.

This year, a panel of three jurors undertook the task of selecting 150 photos from the 1,037 submitted by photographers from across the country. The jurors were Jennifer King, an internationally acclaimed landscape and fine-art photographer; Kristen King, a Bucks County high school teacher of photography for over 35 years; and Nora Odendahl, a frequent exhibitor in past “Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibitions” and co-chair of the Mill Photo Committee. more

“BOYS”: Children’s Book Illustrator Mary Lundquist, whose work is shown here, will be the featured presenter for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center on Saturday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, March 29, at 6:30 p.m., painter and illustrator Mary Lundquist will be the featured presenter for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center. Lundquist, the illustrator of nine picture books, including as author of Cat & Bunny and The Little Forest Keepers, will discuss her life as an artist and her journey to becoming a published children’s book creator.

Lundquist has worked with publishers such as HarperCollins, Random House, and Bloomsbury. During her talk, Lundquist will show her illustrations, fine art, comics, and ongoing projects while weaving in personal stories. more

NOT-SENSIBLE SHOES: Cast members of the musical “Kinky Boots,” which tells the true story of a British factory owner who transformed his output of boring loafers to stilettos for drag queens, on stage at Kelsey Theatre March 21-30.

A struggling maker of men’s shoes reverses his fortunes when he transforms his footwear from functional to fabulous with the help of an entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos in the musical Kinky Boots, at the Kelsey Theatre, March 21-30, on Mercer County Community College’s West Windsor Campus.

Presented by Thank You 5 Productions, Kinky Boots is based on the true story of Charlie, who realizes the demand is dying down for his sensible men’s loafers. A chance meeting with Lola, a London entertainer in need of a sturdier pair of heels, results in a partnership leading to the factory pivoting to make shoes for a new clientele: drag queens.  more

Emily Boksner, Westminster Conservatory student, will perform with the Westminster Community Orchestra under the direction of Ruth Ochs on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. in Hillman Hall on the Westminster campus.

On Sunday, March 30 at 4 p.m., Princeton Pro Musica and Roxey Ballet will join creative forces to perform Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in the Kendall Main Stage Theater at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, under the direction of Princeton Pro Musica Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau.

Carmina Burana is a set of poems and songs written by Bavarian monks in the 13th century, uncovered in the early 19th century, and set for large mixed chorus, treble chorus, and orchestra by Carl Orff in 1936. While written nearly 800 years ago, the poems are relevant.

Themes of time, fortune, springtime, passion, debauchery, and satirical critiques of those in power are in the text, eschewing religious piety, and embracing instead basic and primal human experiences. more

Maria Irene Fornés
(Photo by James M. Kent)

Events highlighting theater-maker María Irene Fornés including a reconstruction of Fornés’ last play, Dr. Kheal, and a live podcast recording, both open to the public, part of a major symposium on Fornés at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

The 2025 Latinx Theatre Commons María Irene Fornés Institute Symposium is a co-production of Latinx Theatre Commons and the Lewis Center for the Arts.

Born in Cuba in 1930, Fornes is a playwright, director, designer, and teacher who became a guiding presence for emerging theater artists of the 1980s and ’90s, especially those invested in staging feminist, queer, and Latinx aesthetics and experiences. She died in 2018.

DrKheal2: One Big Thing offers a tandem encounter with Fornés’ 1968 play on March 21 at 5 p.m. in which a learned professor delivers a lecture about the meaning of all things. Professor Brian Herrera and alum Kyle Berlin each perform the role of Dr. Kheal simultaneously in different time periods in different venues for half the audience. The audiences then switch venues and experience the other Dr. Kheal, followed by an interactive conversation about the futures of higher education. The event is in CoLab and the Wallace Theater in the Lewis Arts complex. more