The Westport Country Playhouse tonight hosted a free, open-to-the public Woody Guthrie-inspired hootenanny, a casual gathering of local musicians who brought their guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, and other folk song musical instruments to the Playhouse’s Sheffer Rehearsal Hall. The event was led by David M. Lutken (r), who will play Woody Guthrie in “Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie,” at the Playhouse from Jan. 9 to 20. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The Staples High School Orphenians performed today at the weekly meeting of the Y’s Men of Westport Weston at the Saugatuck Congregational Church. The performance by the 36-voice a cappella group directed by Luke Rosenberg was a prelude to the Candlelight Concerts of Dec. 15 and 16.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Sal Mollica for WestportNow.com

The Westport Library today announced that for the third straight year it has earned Five-Star Library status from Library Journal.

The ranking by the nation’s premier publication for libraries is a reflection of how a public library is used by its community, an announcement said.

Fewer than 1 percent of the nation’s 9,100 public libraries received Five-Star status, it said.

“This award is a welcome recognition of the Library team’s work and it is a great honor to be designated again this year,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer.

If the the iconic Doughboy statue in Westport’s Veterans Green could smile, today would be the day.

Westport Libray officials announced that “Regeneration,” Pat Barker’s novel about the experiences of soldiers during World War I, has been chosen as this year’s WestportREADS program.

The program started in 2001 aims to to strengthen the community through the shared experience of a book or author, the announcement said. WestportREADS is funded by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.

According to library officials, today’s announcement kicks off a month of programming running through Feb. 10. The program includes book discussions, films and workshops, among other events.

By Susan Granger

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” writer/director Martin McDonaugh’s darkly comic revenge drama, revolves around grieving Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), whose teenage daughter was brutally raped and murdered several months ago.

Since the Ebbing Police Department has been unable to find the killer, Mildred rents three abandoned billboards on a back road to advertise their ineptitude and complacency, focusing on Sheriff William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), who has been privately agonizing about not having solved the crime and is dying of pancreatic cancer.

Launching this outrageously merciless, one-woman crusade, Frances McDormand (“Fargo,” “Olive Kitteridge”) delivers a formidable, ferociously uncompromising performance that firmly places her on-track for another Academy Award. She’s adroitly supported by Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, as his moronic, rage-filled deputy.

Plus there’s Caleb Landry Jones as the local ad-sales agent, Peter Dinklage as the kindly car salesman who courts Mildred, Lucas Hedges as her long-suffering teenage son and John Hawkes as her abusive ex-husband.

Luke Rosenberg led the Staples High School Orphenians tonight as they performed at the Westport Town Hall Christmas tree lighting ceremony. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Sculpturist Stefania Urist installs “The Looking Glass,” one of two large sculptures in a seven-piece solo exhibit entitled “Structures of Vitality,” in preparation for tonight’s opening reception at 5 at p.m. at the Green’s Farms Church Gallery,71 Hillandale Road. Urist, a 2007 Staples High School graduate and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) 2013 graduate, currently is a Vermont resident. Urist said sculptures in the exhibit address the intersection between architecture and nature. “My work blurs the line between natural growth and man-made construction and by doing so questions the idea of home,” she said. The exhibit runs through Jan. 19. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com