Slayton House

Slayton House will celebrate its 40th birthday this summer with a "Fabulous at 40" Birthday Bash sponsored by Wilde Lake Community Association. The event, to be held June 16-17, will include entertainment, food, games, a historic-home tour and a dedication. Volunteers are needed to help coordinate the event. The first meeting for volunteers will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 26 at Slayton House. Registration is requested. Information: Carol Hobelmann, 410-730-3987. Oakland Nights concert is Feb. 9 Oakland Nights Music Series, sponsored by the Town Center Community Association, will present a performance by singer Samantha Hammer Kadrmas and pianist Kirk Kadish from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the ballroom at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road.

The Yoga Center of Columbia will continue to offer classes at Slayton House on Wilde Lake Village Green. "Baby and Me" is offered at 6:15 p.m. and "Adult Yoga" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. A six-week session is to begin Feb. 20. The cost is $90; $18 to drop in. "Senior Yoga" will be offered from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursdays, Feb. 22 through March 27. The classes are slower paced and emphasize yogic breathing and stress reduction. The cost is $78 for six weeks or $15 to drop in. Columbia lien payers can request a 10 percent discount.

"Family to Family II," a benefit concert of original music, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at Slayton House in Wilde Lake Village Green. Baltimore pianist and composer Robert Hitz and his students will perform original music for piano, voice guitar and flute. Tickets are $10. Checks can be made out to the Family Crisis Center, which is to receive all the proceeds. Tickets will be held at the door. Information or to reserve tickets: 410-655-8361. Fashion show planned Aug. 17 "Fall Into Fashion," a show featuring clothes by Coldwater Creek, will be presented at Slayton House at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 17. A luncheon is part of the show.

Howard County and Columbia, in particular, are alive with talented young actors. Anyone who saw any of the plays and musicals staged this past school year by high school drama departments can attest to the talent displayed.Although school is out for summer, many elementary, middle and high school students continue to expand their talents by participating in summer acting camps. One such camp is the Slayton House Camp of the Arts, which has been enhancing the acting talents of young people for a number of years.

The Maryland/DC Anti-Car Theft Committee and the Howard County Police Department will offer free vehicle identification etching from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, weather permitting, at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Center. Those who attend can have their vehicle identification number engraved on all the major pieces of glass in the car to act as a deterrent to theft and ease the return of the vehicle to its owner if stolen. Registration in the Watch Your Car Program, a national theft-prevention program, will also be available.

Slayton House Conservatory Camp, an arts camp for youth in grades nine through 12, is holding auditions for High School Musical, to be performed June 25 through July 13, and West Side Story, which is to run from July 16 through Aug. 4. Sharon Lea is camp coordinator. Cate Barry of the Glenelg Country School will direct High School Musical; Kathryn Carlsen of Centennial High School is to direct West Side Story. Auditions will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday; 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 27 and 10 a.m. to noon April 28. To arrange for an audition: 410-730-3987 or 301-596-4883.

The Slayton House Conservatory, a musical theater camp designed for those in grades one through eight, will present its production of Disney's High School Musical at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Sunday at Slayton House on Wilde Lake Village Green. Cate Barry, drama teacher at Glenelg Country School, is director and pianist Aaron Broderick is musical director. Tickets are $10; $8 for senior citizens and students. Information: 410-730-3987. ArtsCentric planning excerpts from `Aida' The Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia, will hold a dinner theater at 4:30 p.m. July 17. ArtsCentric, a Baltimore-based performing arts company, will present excerpts from the Broadway musical Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice.

Every corner in master basket maker Susan Gribble's house in Clary's Forest in Columbia is a study in woven grace and beauty.A hatrack in the kitchen bristles with heart-shaped boxes interwoven with whimsical pink bands and delicate double-bottom egg baskets. They're next to a shelf crammed with colorful fruit and nut baskets.Her favored work sites, the back porch (for summer) and a second-floor study (for winter), are stacked with rattan splints and works in progress, while a crab pot filled with dye simmers on the stove.

THE FIRST session of the Slayton House Camp of the Arts closed last week with two evening performances. The Wilde Lake Community Association camp, directed by Billy Burke, trains 7- to 15-years-olds in art, dance, music and theater.Opening the show was "To Be Clueless or Not to Be Clueless," directed by Michelle Fowler and Natalie Johnson. Performing were Sam Goertler, Channing Evans, Jessica Sims, Kate McNamee, Brittany Delmore, Jamille Peyton, Leah Miller, Dan Piper, Alex McGee, Matt Springle, Brad Hamerly, Danny Russell, Chrishelle Gilbert, Hillary Yale, Amanda Greenberg, Lauren Johnson and Sholie Aina.

FORMER WILDE Lake Village Board member Janet Mason will be one of two artists exhibiting work at the Slayton House gallery Jan. 9 through Feb. 1.Mason's exhibit of oil and acrylic paintings, titled "Simply Landscapes," will be in the Bill White Room Gallery.L Mason said she likes to begin a work by painting with color."Different colors have a lot of power," she said.While working with the paint, "something comes through for me," she explained.Most often, the "something" is a landscape triggered by a memory.