FILM

When Ray Baird develops amnesia from a car accident, it is his first wife, Allegra, who must talk him back into the present -- though he is now legally married to Rosalyn. In Ray's mind, he is still married to Allegra, and the year is 1975, not 2002. The accident has forced him to forget everything that happened after his affair with Rosalyn and his breakup with Allegra. He and Allegra relive all the details of their past together. Will Ray make the same mistakes? Will he make new decisions? Will he say all the things he never had the courage to say before? When his memory fully returns, will he tell Allegra, or pretend he only remembers the past? Both Ray and Allegra discover that in all the ways that matter, and despite heartbreak, the love of your youth is your love for life.

Vesper Reece is happily married with three children. Her husband is an affluent businessman and has given her all the spoils of a wealthy life. She has been a stellar mother and wife. To conquer boredom in her happy life, she has developed a hobby: She flirts with men, when her husband's not looking, of course. She likes to arouse them to the brink of satisfaction, then pull away. Vesper even keeps tape recorder journals of her near trysts, making a record of the ease with which she is able to manipulate the male libido. What will she do, though, when she, the seductress, gets seduced? Someone plays the game better than she does.

THEATRE

In a town that has been historically divided along racial lines by railroad tracks -- blacks on one side, whites on the other -- Chelsea Bridges and Toi Reynolds are best friends. They've had baby girls in the same hospital on the same day, which is big news in the small town of Sophia, North Carolina. When Chelsea's mother, Rita, has a mental breakdown and has to be institutionalized, Chelsea discovers a box of letters written between her mother and a man she loved. By the time she's read through the entire box, Chelsea discovers that the mystery man is her biological father ... and he's black. Having a best friend who is black has never presented an issue for Chelsea, but she now must confront her own prejudices as she tries to discover who she truly is beneath all the manners of race.

The world knows Lucy Terry Prince for one poem: a ballad called "Bars Fight." This poem firmly establishes her as the author of the first poem composed by an African-American woman. Stolen from Africa as an infant and sold to Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts, she is a remarkable woman whose many accomplishments have included arguing a case before the Supreme Court.

In 1756, after Lucy Terry marries Abijah Prince, a prosperous free black man who purchased her freedom, she begins to write poetry almost daily, even through the births of five children. A house fire destroys all of Lucy's poetry. Heartbroken by this misfortune, she abandons poetry but begins to keep journals of her lifelong love with Abijah Prince. Though she is depressed, her husband's steadfast love through the years is the only thing that saves her. By the time she is 97, and her days are spent remembering all that has happened in her life, a dear friend who was a neighbor does a final kindness for her by returning a copy of the poem "Bars Fight" that she's kept for Lucy all these years.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Wood Chips In My Shoes

What do grownups do when they are sad? How do they handle tough problems? The motivational child voice in this book tells adults how to shake the "wood chips" from their shoes.

I Close My Eyes

A warm, memorable book-length poem about the love between a father and child.

48 Sheridan Street

The house on 48 Sheridan Street can do so many things, including laugh. If you stand outside of it, you can hear its many noises from the street. With its colors and sounds, the house seems to have a life of its own. Come in. Sit down for a while. Listen to the house.