2 Firms Eye Reading Regional Airport Hangars

English: Reading Airport, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reading Regional Airport has two firms looking at potential hangar sites on the airfield – the newest of them to house corporate jets and the other a huge firm still interested in bringing hundreds of jobs to refurbish airliners.

Both have been looking at the site of the historic Hangar 501, built in World War II and razed in 2008, but also at other sites on the airfield.

And both would benefit from the state’s move last week to eliminate the sales tax on repair and maintenance of fixed-wing aircraft.

Airport manager Terry P. Sroka said that could bring many new jobs to the state.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=493499

The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust.

The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.

The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/sunday-review/the-holocaust-just-got-more-shocking.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp

‘On The Town’ Captures ‘Young Soaring Spirit Of The Country,’ Bringing Out Character And Nostalgia Of The 1940s

Logo of Muhlenberg College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Muhlenberg to celebrate Broadway’s golden age with Bernstein, Comden and Green in splashy WWII musical, Oct. 26 – Nov. 4

Allentown, Pa. (Oct. 2, 2012) — When the classic 1944 musical ‘On the Town‘ opens Oct. 26 on the Muhlenberg College stage, director Charles Richter wants the audience to feel as though they have returned to the golden age of the show’s 1944 opening.

“The show is a time-honored classic that captures the young soaring spirit of the country during World War II,” Richter says. “It brings out the character and nostalgia of the 1940s.”

Richter will once again be working alongside musical director Ed Bara and choreographer Karen Dearborn on Leonard Bernstein’s rich score, a zingy, fast-paced book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and choreography inspired by Jerome Robbins.

The show runs two weekends — just eight performances on Muhlenberg’s Empie Stage. Tickets may be limited, especially for the Nov. 2-4 performances during the college’s Family Weekend.

The curtain rises in the Brooklyn Navy Yard at 6 a.m. on a summer morning during World War II. Three sailors—Chip, Ozzie and Gabey—begin their 24-hour shore leave, eager to explore the big city. Gabey falls in love with the picture of “Miss Turnstiles, June 1944,” who turns out to be Ivy Smith. With the help of anthropologist Claire DeLoone and amorous cabbie Hildy Esterhazy, the sailors race around New York attempting to find Ivy before their leave ends and they have to ship out.

‘On the Town’ began as a story line in choreographer Jerome Robbins’ ballet “Fancy Free,” for which Bernstein had provided the score. Hoping to further develop his idea, Robbins sought out collaboration with Comden and Green, and the three sailors out on the town, looking for excitement and romance, became the kernel of a full-length musical, a fusion of classical and modern dance combined with jazz and vernacular moves — a Broadway first.

“The show brings together a collaboration of ballet and jazz, which had never really been done before.” Richter says. “The piece isn’t just a dance show; dance drives it. That’s why this show makes you feel so good.”

The show features a cast of 40, including 16 seniors, many of whom have worked with Richter in the past.

“‘On the Town’ brings out the sentiments of love and the sting of saying goodbye,” says senior James Patefield, who plays Ozzie. “With five of the six principals as seniors, the cast is very aware of the message of this show — the idea of hope, not cynically or sarcastically, but hope we can believe in, especially with so little time left with the ones you love and care most about.”

“The show emphasizes that you should live in the moment. Be spontaneous. And most importantly, love the one you’re with,” said senior Jessie MacBeth, who plays Claire DeLoone opposite Patefield. “With such a collaborative cast and production team, this show really embodies the sense of unity and feel-good entertainment that Comden and Green were striving for.”

Muhlenberg College’s Theatre & Dance Department offers one of the top-rated college performance programs in the country, according to the Princeton Review rankings. Muhlenberg is a liberal arts college of more than 2,200 students in Allentown, Pa., offering Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance.

“On the Town” runs Oct. 26 through Nov. 4 in the Empie Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown.

Performances are Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26-27, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, Nov. 1-2, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 3, at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults, $8 for patrons 17 and under, and $8 for students, faculty and staff of all LVAIC colleges. For group of 15 or more, tickets are $16.

Tickets and information are available at (484) 664-3333 or www.muhlenberg.edu/theatre.

At Lakehurst, Airships Are Taking Off Again

At Lakehurst‘s historic Hangar 1, made famous by the fiery Hindenburg disaster nearby 75 years ago, another airship is waiting to take off on its next mission.

While aloft, the manned 178-foot-long Navy blimp – emblazoned with red, white, and blue rudder stripes – has drawn wide-eyed stares from onlookers across Philadelphia’s suburbs and along the Jersey Shore over the last several months.

The MZ-3A‘s testing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is part of the U.S. military’s renewed interest in airships, known for their ability to stay airborne for long periods and land without runways.

“Over the past decade, as drones have gained favor in identifying and sometimes engaging enemy forces, an ‘old-new’ concept has also reappeared – the observation dirigible,” said Guillaume de Syon, an aviation historian, author, and professor at Albright College in Reading.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120730_At_Lakehurst__airships_are_taking_off_again.html?cmpid=124488469