Chester Theatre Company and Cornerstone Cafe are co-sponsoring a free origami workshop, appropriate for all ages and open to Chester and neighboring communities, on Friday, July 13 from 6:30-7:30pm. The workshop will be led by Northampton-based arts and craft educator and retired professor of library sciences, Dee Michel. CTC’s first show of the 2012 season, Animals Out of Paper, an origami-inspired love story, will be playing at 8pm that night.

“Since our plays are primarily for adult audiences, CTC wanted to create a program that would be accessible to anyone of any age in our community,” according to CTC Managing Director, Todd Trebour. “Our neighbors two doors down at Cornerstone Cafe are also interested in reaching out and enlivening our town of Chester. This workshop is a perfect opportunity to showcase the new Cornerstone Cafe space, bring attention to CTC’s summer programming, and do something just plain fun. It is a win-win situation for all involved.”

Workshop leader, Dee Michel, has a PhD in library science. On the faculty of the library school at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, he taught cataloging and the organization of information. Dee loves sharing crafts and has taught  origami, string figures, and lanyard. Currently, Dee’s collection of large origami animals is on display at the Forbes Library in Northampton. For the workshop, Dee will instruct people on how to fold a heart, frog, and other animals.

The origami workshop is one of several programs accompanying Animals Out of Paper. Origami artist and WNEU professor of mathematics Tom Hull will be giving a free lecture on Friday July 7 at 7pm on the intersection of origami and higher mathematics before that night’s 8pm performance of Animals Out of Paper. The foyer of the Chester Town Hall will have the art work of both Professor Hull and Dee Michel on display during the performance run, from July 5-15.

[sc:Col-1-2-Right-Start]

Cornerstone Cafe is located two doors down from Chester Town Hall at 1 Middlefield Road, on the first floor of Cornerstone Christian Church; the entrance is off of Main Street. The cafe is opened limited days and hours, but will be open for lunch (11:30am-1:30pm) and dinner (5:30pm-7:30-pm) on July 12, July 19, August 2, and August 16, as well as a community dinner on July 27 from 5pm-7pm. Reservations are required; call 413-650-5480.

Workshop is free, but please call ahead to reserve a space: 413-354-7771.