Classes - Programs

**For sign-ups or questions please call (609) 967-7155**

Special Programs

Children's Programs

Visit our Kids & Teens page for Children's Program list.

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Acting Lecture- How to Make a Living From It

Acting Lecture
How to Make a Living From It
with Tom McCarthy
Thursday, August 9
7 p.m.
Multipurpose room
Tom will share tips on auditioning & booking jobs and the
difference in craft for TV, stage, and film.

Tom McCarthy is a native Philadelphian who has performed in most of the Equity theatres in the city. McCarthy was president of the Screen Actors Guild in Philadelphia for 30 years and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia in 2003. Productions have included Arden Theatre Company's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Working, All My Sons, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Act II Playhouse's Old Wicked Songs; Walnut Street Theatre's Orphans and Brighton Beach Memoirs; People's Light & Theatre Company’s Glengarry Glen Ross; Wilma Theater's Escape from Happiness and Philadelphia Theatre Company's Minutes from the Blue Route.

In 2005, Tom was inducted into the Wall of Fame for Delaware County. That same year, McCarthy conceived, acted, and produced The Philly Fan, a one-man-show about a frustrated Philly sports fan. The performance sold out at numerous theater venues and continues to be produced throughout the Philadelphia Tri-State area.

         In 1997, Tom received the Barrymore Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman at the Arden Theatre Company. McCarthy's television appearances include the West Wing, Law & Order, Homicide, New York Undercover, Ed and Hack. Past film credits include Random Hearts, Fallen, Up Close & Personal, The Wire and Blow Out. McCarthy also did a looping job for one of the characters in the Vince Papale movie, Invincible. 

         Most recently, he has appeared in the Cloris Leachman 2010 film, The Fields, and The Mighty Macs, the movie released last year about the 1972 Immaculata College Women’s Basketball team and its new head coach.

           

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Acting Workshop - Shakespearean Play

Shakespeare In Depth:
Exploring "Much Ado About Nothing"
with Mark Lang and Alison Murphy
Tuesdays, July 31 and August 7 and 14
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Ages 13+
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
Avalon property owners may register on June 30.
All others may register on July 14.
This workshop is designed to give participants a chance to focus on a single play. A slightly abridged script of Much Ado About Nothing will be used, focusing on featured scenes for reading and discussion. Lead roles will be rotated and the play will be divided into three parts, one for each class session.

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Alzheimer's Lecture Series

Alzheimer's Lecture Series
with Carolyn Peterson
the Alzheimer's Association
Delaware Valley Chapter
Thursdays, July 19, 26, and August 2
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Multipurpose Room
July 19
Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters
Being prepared
Importance of early detection
Risk factors
Relation of lifestyle and brain health
July 26
Memory Loss, Dementia, and Alzheimer's Disease: The Basics
Age-related changes
What is Dementia?
Alzheimer's Disease
Risk factors
Getting a thorough diagnosis and how to proceed
August 2
Understanding Communications and Behaviors
Cues and Clues, Triggers, Challenges and Tips

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Art Appreciation Lecture Series

Art Appreciation Lecture Series
with Cheryl Crews
1^st Tuesday of each month
October thru May
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Multipurpose Room
These lectures will explore art appreciation topics such as exploratory survey of art, subject, form and content, and art historical references. Discussion and slideshow presentation will be included.
February 7 - The Element of Shape
Instructor will explore shape throughout art history with discussion and slideshow of paintings and sculpture. 

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Art Workshop- Fundamentals of Drawing

Fundaments of Drawing
with Buddy Jacobs
Saturday, March 17
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ages 16+
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
Avalon property owners may register on February 17
All other may register on March 2
This workshop will begin with the fundamental qualities and types of line, such as weight, value, contour, cross contour, gesture, and analytical lines. Next, different techniques of creating value and texture will be explored. This will lead us to drawing objects in light and shadow, as we see them in reality.
Materials needed:
18 x 24" ROUGH Newsprint pad
Drawing board & clips
4B or 6 B graphite pencil
Soft Vine Charcoal (at least 6 sticks)
Compressed charcoal
6B charcoal pencil
kneaded eraser & white plastic eraser
white conte crayon or white pastel
sketchbook
 (Optional: A few sheets of good quality charcoal or pastel paper-
tinted light grey or tan). 
(Bring in an object to draw, for a Still Life setup.)

 

 

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Art Workshop- Intermediate Pastels

Pastels Art Workshop
Intermediate skill level
with Linda Coulter
Saturday, May 12
10am to 4pm
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
Avalon property owners may register on April 12
All others may register on April 26
Experienced in pastel only

Linda Coulter will be teaching an intermediate pastels workshop. Participants should bring white Wallis sanded pastel paper, watercolors and a stiff brush acrylic brush. The project will be a watercolor under painting.
Other supplies required:
Nupastels (Hard)
Soft pastels
Table or regular easel
Vine Charcoal
Support board to tape paper to
Optional: Pastel pencils
The instructor for this program will bring a photograph to use as a model. Each person will work individually after a demo on how to use the watercolor for a base.

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Author Lecture- Alice Ozma

Author Lecture
with Alice Ozma
Wednesday, July 25
 7 p.m.
Gymnasium
Alice Ozma is the author of The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Share. In the book, Alice describes her childhood and her father's ritual of reading  aloud to her every night without fail from 4th grade until the day she left for college. Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about her relationship with him and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.
A Q&A and book signing will follow.
To watch video of Alice speaking for ALA 2011 and other past lectures
on YouTube, click here
To visit Alice's website, click here

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Author Lecture- John Bailey

Author Lecture
with John Bailey 
Tuesday, July 24
 7 p.m.
Multipurpose Room
Author John Bailey will visit the library for a lecture to discuss two of his books in the multipurpose room on Tuesday, July 24 at 7 p.m. He will be speaking about Cape Island, The Jewel of the Jersey Shore, a comprehensive, chronological history of the people of the town of Cape May beginning with the Native Americans and ending in 2011. The book contains illustrations of John's watercolors, drawings, photos and postcard collection and focuses on the individuals and personalities of those that explored the Island, those that owned the Island, and those that developed the Island.

Bailey will also talk about Juet's Journal, A Translation,  the story of Henry Hudson and his crew sailing the Half Moon, a ship that explored the east coast of North America, searching for a passage to the Orient in the summer of 1609 under the Dutch flag. Hudson's clerk, Robert Juet, kept a detailed log of the journey, written in archaic English of the time. You can read the original here.
Q&A and book signing to follow lecture.

 

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Author Lecture- Robert Strauss

Author Lecture
with Robert Strauss
Tuesday, July 17
 7 p.m.
Multipurpose Room
Robert Strauss, author of Daddy's Little Goalie: A Father, His Daughters and Sports-
a funny, sentimental memoir about being the dad of girl athletes. It is both a parenting book, spotlighting the little-talked-about dynamic of dads and daughters, and a contrapuntal take on the Tiger Mom way of doing things.
A book sale,signing and Q&A session will follow.
To read a story Robert wrote for the New York Times complimenting the book,
click here
Click here to read a review of the book written by Philadelphia Inquirer's
Hall of Fame columnist Bill Lyon

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Author Lecture- Saloma Furlong

Author Lecture
with Saloma Furlong
Wednesday, July 11
 7 p.m.
Multipurpose Room
Saloma Furlong, author of her memoir, Why I Left the Amish, will be giving
a talk about her book and showing a DVD that features her
and her husband telling their story.
A book sale,signing and Q&A session will follow.
For more information on the author, please visit her website here.

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Baseball Parks Lecture

Baseball Parks Lecture
with Dr. Jerrold Casway
Professor and author of Philadelphia baseball history
Thursday, July 12
7 p.m.
Multipurpose room
Jerry will present a powerpoint presentation of major league baseball sites in Philadelphia. His talk covers pre-Civil War Philadelphia up to the current ballpark. Pictures will also convey the changing neighborhoods around these sites.

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Boat Spring-Make Ready Seminar & Demo

Boat Spring Make-Ready Seminar & Demo
with Steve Schall
Instructor- Small Engine Repair
CMC Technical School
Thursday, March 29
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Multipurpose room

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Book Club

Book Club
with Melanie Matt
Second Wednesday of each month
except February 15
October 12 to April 11
6 to 7:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED



February's book title
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Sefran Foer
Reviews

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Book Delivery for the Homebound

The library will deliver books to homebound residents of Avalon. Call the library at 967-7155 to learn more.

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Classic Movies

Classic Movies
3rd Tuesday of each month
6pm




February 21 - Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968) - Internet Movie Database



March 20 - Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) - Internet Movie Database



April 17 - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) - Internet Movie Database



May 15 - To Catch A Thief (1955) - Internet Movie Database

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Computer Classes - MAC

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Computer Classes - PC

PC Computer Classes
with Greg Foote
Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.
Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Thursday, 6-8pm, February 9- Office Essentials
Explore Word, Excel, and more for all your productivity needs.
In-Person Only
Register by calling 967-7155 or stopping by the circulation desk

Thursday, 6-8pm, February 16- Google and Cloud Services- What is the cloud and how can it benefit me? Discover some of the many free services Google has to offer.
Online PC Class
Register here

Saturday, 11am-1pm, February 18- Ebooks for Free- Explore the most popular options for ebooks on the Internet, from borrowing from the library with Overdrive to downloading free ebooks from Google Books and Project Gutenberg.
Online PC Class
Register here

Thursday, 6-8pm, February 23- E-Resources@ your library- find a whole new world of information and entertainment available to you at your library.
Online PC Class
Register here

Saturday, 11am-pm, February 25- Advanced Office Tips and Tricks
Learn how to use shortcuts, tips and tricks in Word, Excel and PowerPoint to make you more productive.
In-Person Only
Register by calling 967-7155 or stopping by the circulation desk

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Computer Classes - Webinars

Thursday, 6-8pm, February 16- Google and Cloud Services- What is the cloud and how can it benefit me? Discover some of the many free services Google has to offer.
Online PC Class
Register here

Saturday, 11am-1pm, February 18- Ebooks for Free- Explore the most popular options for ebooks on the Internet, from borrowing from the library with Overdrive to downloading free ebooks from Google Books and Project Gutenberg.
Online PC Class
Register here

Thursday, 6-8pm, February 23- E-Resources@ your library- find a whole new world of information and entertainment available to you at your library.
Online PC Class
Register here

 

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Digital Camera Users Group

Digital Camera Users Group
with Harry Keyser
4th Monday of each month
6:15 to 7:45pm
Whether you use a Point and Shoot or a DSLR's, if you have an interest in Photography, this Users Group is for you. Come one, Come all, to share your successes and lament your failures.
February 27- Free and Inexpensive Photo Editing Sotware

 

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eReader/Kindle Users Group

eReader/Kindle Users Group
with Greg Foote
Tuesday, February 21
6:15 to 7:45pm
Bring your Kindle or other eReader. Bring your questions

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Feature Film Night

Feature Film Night
Multipurpose Room
2nd Tuesday of each month
6 p.m.
Refreshments will be served.
No one under 13 will be admitted without parent or guardian.



February 14- Twilight Breaking Dawn, Part 1
starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner
Rated PG-13 - Internet Movie Database

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Film- Documentary, Dinner, and a Side of Discussion

 

February 9  - Racing Dreams - PBS POV

Fondly described as "Talladega Nights meets Catcher in the Rye," Racing Dreams chronicles a year in the life of three tweens who dream of becoming NASCAR drivers. Though they aren't old enough for driver's licenses, Brandon, Josh and Annabeth race extreme go-karts at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour in the World Karting Association’s National Pavement Series, the "Little League" of professional racing. Filmmaker Marshall Curry. PBS Broadcast: February 23, 2012

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iPad- Using Your iPad

Using Your iPad
with Harry Keyser
Tuesday, February 7 and 28
4:30 to 6pm

Please bring your iPad to learn about its features.No registration required.

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Italian Culture Group

Italian Culture Group
The second Wednesday of the month from 3:30 - 4:30 p. m. 
Meet with others interested in reviewing Italian learned in the Italian class and those interested in learning more about Italian art, music, architecture, history, lifestyles.8, 

2012 Dates:
February 8, March 14, April 11, May 9, June 13,
  September 12, October 10, November 14, and December 12

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Italian Language Classes

Italian Language Classes
with Jessica Blakeslee
Tuesdays and Thursdays
July 3 thru July 19
July 31 & 8/2
8/14 thru 8/30
5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
Avalon property owners may register on June 3.
All others may register on June 17.

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Kindle/eReader Users Group

eReader/Kindle Users Group
with Greg Foote
Tuesday, February 21
6:15 to 7:45pm
Bring your Kindle or other eReader. Bring your questions.

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Knitting Club

Knitting Club
Mondays at 3:30 p.m.
Learn and share knitting techniques. No sign-ups are necessary;
all levels of knitters are welcome, from beginner to advanced!

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Lecture and Book Signing- Vince Papale

Author Lecture and Book Signing
with Vince Papale
Wednesday, July 18
7 p.m.
Elementary School Gym
Former Eagle and special teams captain Vince Papale will be guest author and speaker on Wednesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. Vince and his wife, Janet Cantwell-Papale, will be talking about their book, Be Invincible! A Playbook for Reaching Your Full Potential.  The playbook, written by Vince and Janet along with Tim Vandehey, describes invincible moments experienced by Vince, Janet, and others; including athletes, journalist, veterans, family, and friends. No tickets are required for the Papale lecture and the event is open to the public. Seating will be on a first-come-first served basis, beginning at 6 p.m.

Vince and Janet will be available following the lecture to sign books only.

Reviews on Be Invincible! A Playbook for Reaching Your Full Potential

For more information on Vince's amazing career, visit his website.

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Mac Users Group

Mac Users Group
with Harry Keyser
Second Monday of the month
6:15 to 7:45 p.m.
Meet with other Mac computer users
to share problems and solutions. 
February 13- iPods and iTunes

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Magic Workshop

 Magic Workshop
with Magician Joe Fischer
Tuesday, July 10
7 to 7:45 p.m.
Ages 16+
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
AVALON PROPERTY OWNERS MAY REGISTER ON JUNE 10
ALL OTHERS MAY REGISTER ON JUNE 24
Magician Joe Fischer will teach a 45-minute magic workshop by
demonstrating tricks and helping participants practice them. Bags of
tricks will be distributed for participants to take home.

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Musical Performance- Buddy Holly Tribute Band

 Musical Performance
with Rave On!
Stories and Music of Buddy Holly
Tuesday, July 3
7 p.m.
Elementary School Gym
The Rave On! show will feature Buddy Holly's music, along with stories and history of his life, tragically cut short at the age of 22. His music influenced The Beatles, and continues to influence today's artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and countless others.

Click here to listen to a sample of Rave On! music

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PC Users Group

PC Users Group
with Joe Kash
Third Monday of the month
6:15 to 7:45 p.m.
Meet with other personal computer users
to share problems and solutions.
February 20- Five Steps to take with a new computer BEFORE you use it!

For more info on the PC Users Group topics
Visit Joe Kash's blog at alpcusers.wordpress.com

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Scrabble

Join the “Scrabblers” 
5:45 to 7:45 p.m. 
Second and fourth Monday of every month for word play.

July 11 & 25, August 8 & 22, September 12 & 26, October 10 & 24, November 14 & 28, December 12 & 28* (Wednesday this week because the library is closing at 5 on December 26th)

Play dates planned for 2012: January 9 & 23, February 13 & 27, March 12 & 26, April 9 & 23, and May 14.

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Smart Phone Users Group

Smart Phone Users Group
with Mike Matthews
1st Monday of each month
6:15 to 7:45 p.m.
Bring your smart phone to this users group and the instructor will help you
learn how to use its features. He will review new app releases, hardware and accessories.
Mike will be lecturing and answering questions on this schedule:
6:15 to 7 p.m. -  iPhones
7:00 to 7:45 p.m.- Droid & Windows phones

All smart phone users, depending on the type of phone you have, are welcome to attend during the above schedule hours or for the entire session.

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Spanish Language Classes

Spanish Language Classes
with Jessica Blakeslee
Tuesdays and Thursdays
July 3 thru July 19
July 31 & 8/2
8/14 thru 8/30
5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
Avalon property owners may register on June 3.
All others may register on June 17.

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Vince Papale Lecture and Book Signing

Author Lecture and Book Signing
with Vince Papale
Wednesday, July 18
7 p.m.
Elementary School Gym
Former Eagle and special teams captain Vince Papale will be guest author and speaker on Wednesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. Vince and his wife, Janet Cantwell-Papale, will be talking about their book, Be Invincible! A Playbook for Reaching Your Full Potential.  The playbook, written by Vince and Janet along with Tim Vandehey, describes invincible moments experienced by Vince, Janet, and others; including athletes, journalist, veterans, family, and friends. No tickets are required for the Papale lecture and the event is open to the public. Seating will be on a first-come-first served basis, beginning at 6 p.m.

Vince and Janet will be available following the lecture to sign books only.

Reviews on Be Invincible! A Playbook for Reaching Your Full Potential

For more information on Vince's amazing career, visit his website.

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