Scenes from today’s Nutcracker Tea Party at the Westport Woman’s Club with members of the Westport Academy of Dance to benefit Bridgeport’s Waltersville Elementary School. Larry Untermeyer for WestportNow.com

The Westport Community Theatre beginning Friday presents “The Miracle Worker,” the Tony Award-winner for Best Play and dramatic story of a young Helen Keller. Performances are through Dec. 13 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Sundays, with a Thursday performance on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $23, $21 for seniors and students, and can be purchased at http://www.westportcommunitytheatre.com or by calling (203) 226-1983. The Westport Community Theatre is located at Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Ave. Pictured are Emma LaPlace as Annie Sullivan and Nora Watson as Helen Keller, who lived in Easton not far from the Westport town line. This led some biographies and even The New York Times to say erroneously that she died in Westport. (See WestportNow June 1, 2003) (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Westport artist Ann Chernow has been recognized as a Distinguished Professional in her field through Women of Distinction Magazine. 

Ann Chernow: Distinguished Professional. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

She will be featured in the forthoming edition of the magazine, an announcement said.

With more than 50 years of practical experience as an artist, Chernow began her career at the age of 22.  Founding her art business as a way to promote and sell her artwork, Chernow’s website includes more than 300 print images of her work.

They are all based on specific impressions related to movies from the 1930s and ‘40s and refer to actual films, studio publicity material, fan magazines, and other memorabilia.

By Susan Granger

With “Creed,” writer/director Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”) has not only revived “Rocky” nostalgia but also introduced an entirely new character: Adonis (“Donnie”) Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), son of legendary boxing champion Apollo Creed.

Born out of wedlock to a mother who died, then shuffled through foster care and juvenile detention, adolescent Adonis is adopted by Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad), who knows he’s her late husband’s illegitimate son.

Raised and educated in L.A.’s posh Baldwin Hills, Donnie lands a cushy corporate job but spends weekends prize-fighting in Tijuana - until he goes to Philadelphia to track down his father’s fabled nemesis/friend, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone).

Still tending Adrian’s restaurant (named after his late wife), Rocky is reluctant at first but soon relents, patiently teaching and training Donnie. Problem is: Donnie’s determined to use his own name, which turns off ambitious promoters.

Liana Sonenclar: honored at mystery writers conference. Contributed photo

Liana Sonenclar of Westport has received honorable mention in the 2015 Al Blanchard Award contest for short crime fiction by a New England author or featuring a New England setting.

Sonenclar, daughter of Sheryl and Ken Sonenclar, was honored for “Alibi,” about a lawyer’s struggle to defend a boy who wants to be convicted for a crime she thinks he didn’t commit. It is her first short story.

Sonenclar, a 2014 Staples High School graduate where she was photo editor of Inklings, has completed her freshman year at the University of Chicago. She is taking this year off to study drama and dramatic writing at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York.

The award was announced at the 14th annual New England Crime Bake conference for mystery writers and readers in Dedham, Mass.

The finals round of the 2015 Heida Hermanns International Music Competition, this year featuring piano, was held today at First Church Fairfield in Fairfield. Winner of the $5,000 first prize was Wenjie Lu (r), a native of China who began playing piano at age 5. He is a student at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. The two-day competition was presented by the Connecticut Alliance for Music (CAM) with the support of the Westport Arts Center. Others pictured: (l-r) .Barry Persky, president of CAM; Soyoung Kim, Ye-Eun Kwag, Hsin-Chao Liao, all honorable mention; Gvantas Zangaladze, third place, and Vladimir Rumyanivtsev, second place. The competition is named after Heida Hermanns, a world-class concert pianist and child prodigy who fled Nazi Germany and eventually settled with her husband in Westport. She died in 1995 at age 89. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

David Leopold, creative director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, was at the Westport Library today talking about the legendary artist and a Hirschfeld memoir he edited, “The Hirschfeld Century: Portrait of an Artist and His Age.” He said Hirschfeld was working for The New York Times doing caricatures when his daughter Nina was born. To celebrate, he drew a baby with the name incorporated in his drawing. From then on, Leopold said, Hirschfeld incorporated her name into his sketches and people began to expect it. Hirschfeld died in 2003, five months shy of his 100th birthday. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

It was Family Art Day today at the Westport Arts Center. The gallery was transformed into a workshop space, featuring stations designed to enable interaction with different materials and to foster a lifelong love for the arts. Youngsters worked alongside their parents and siblings as they drew on inspiration from the “DREAMscapes” exhibition featuring 42 member artists. The Westport Arts Center will be holding a December Drop & Shop event for ages 5 to10 on Saturdays Dec. 12 and 19 from noon to 4 p.m.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Leslie LaSala for WestportNow.com

Staples Players, the Staples High School award-winning theater group, raised more than $5,800 for Save the Children’s Syrian Children’s Relief Fund during its two-week run of “Fiddler on the Roof.”  After Saturday night’s closing night curtain call, Staples Players Officers Nick Ribolla, Sam Galvao, Vignesh Namasivayam, Brooke Wrubel, and Keanan Pucci, along with director David Roth, presented a check to Marcy Begian, associate director of community engagement and fundraising for Save the Children. More than $1,000 in additional funds were contributed by the closing night audience. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Kerry Foley for WestportNow.com