One of our city’s many gems is the Players Guild of Dearborn Theatre, located at 21730 Madison in Dearborn, southwest of the intersection of Monroe and Outer Drive.

Year in and year out, The Players Guild of Dearborn delivers high quality entertainment at an affordable price. The Guild opened its 82nd season on Sept. 18 with the show “Inspecting Carol,” a farce by Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Company.

Jeff Ostrowski, president of the Players Guild of Dearborn, dropped us a note the other day reminding us that the show will run for another weekend, Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. Like this weekend’s performance, next Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Tickets are just $15. Student discounts of $2 (with valid I.D.) and group discounts are available. For more information, you can call the Guild ticket line at (313) 561-TKTS, or visit their web site by clicking HERE.

Here is what the show “Inspecting Carol” is about:

With their National Endowment for the Arts eligibility to be reviewed by an inspector, the Soapbox Playhouse is desperate to raise money and decides to mount yet another production of “A Christmas Carol.” An unknown, wannabe actor asks to audition for the company and is mistaken for the inspector. Desperate to stay afloat, the troupe caters to this bewildered actor, believing he is the NEA inspector. As hilarity piles upon hilarity, the theatre group finds themselves in a state of chaos, resulting in a thoroughly unprepared performance.

Dearborn’s own Brian Townsend is directing the show, with assistant direction by Mike Moseley (Allen Park). Sydnee Dombrowski (Dearborn) is the show’s producer.

A scene from 'Inspecting Carol' by The Players Guild of Dearborn. Tickets are still available for Oct. 2-4 performances.

The cast includes: Debbie Pletzer (Canton) as Zorah; Patrick Denyer (Dearborn) as Sidney; Tiffany Mullins (Westland) as Dorothy; Lindel Salow (Dearborn) as Larry; Alan Ellias (Farmington Hills) as Phil; Kenyada Davis (Detroit) as Walter; Nathan Booth (Dearborn) as Luther; Nick Graham ( Belleville) as Kevin; Margaret Winowiecki (Dearborn) as M.J.; Stan Guarnelo (Dearborn Heights) as Bart; Alex Gojkov (Redford) as Wayne; and Kori Bielaniec (Livonia) as Betty.

Mark your calendar for Sept. 15 that is when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Music Director Leonard Slatkin present a free concert in Dearborn at 8 p.m. in the Michael A. Guido Theater at Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are free but reservations are required. To reserve tickets for the Sept. 15 performance, call The Center’s box office at 313.943.2354. Parking at The Center is free.

The DSO also is performing for free on Monday., Sept. 14 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center located at 22305 W. 13 mile, Beverly Hills; Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center located at 1627 W. Fort St., Detroit and Friday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Detroit School of Arts located at 123 Selden St., right behind the Max M. Fisher Music Center, Detroit.

These concerts will culminate with a sixth free concert held at 3:00 p.m. during the DSO Open House running from 1 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Max M. Fisher Music Center on Sept. 20.

“In these difficult times, bringing music to a larger public is more important than ever,” said DSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin. “The DSO is committed to expanding its audience and it is my hope that as we reach out to different constituencies, they in turn will come to visit us as well.”

Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum (AANM) has the chance to earn up to $200,000 in matching funds on Tuesday but only if you are prepared to take action exactly at 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (Eastern Standard Time).

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s Challenge Arts & Culture, is providing up to $1 million to match gifts to arts and cultural organizations like the AANM, one of 75 institutions eligible for this program. There is fierce competition for these funds and thousands of art supporters throughout southeast Michigan, including The Henry Ford in Dearborn, are urging their supporters to be online Tuesday to donate. 

The AANM has the opportunity to receive a 50 percent match on every contribution made online. To make a donation, use the pull-down menu to select the AANM at www.cfsem.org . The key thing here is to be online at 10 a.m. today. Gifts must be made by credit card or e-check; minimum $25, maximum $10,000 per contributor.

It is expected that this match money will be exhausted just a few hours after the challenge begins. The early-bird supporters of each institution, along with the family, friends and coworkers they recruit, will be the ones to generate the most match money.

The funds are crucial to maintain the quality of the museum’s educational and public programs.  There can be power in numbers.  The challenge begins at  www.cfsem.org.

Just two years after graduating from Dearborn High School, Sean O’Reilly, the son of Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., already is making a name for himself on the silver screen. Sean O’Reilly appears in two scenes in this trailer for an upcoming movie called “Whip It.”

The movie is about a young Texas teen, tired of being pushed into beauty pageants by her parents, who finally finds herself after joining a female roller derby team.

Directed by Drew Barrymore, Whip It is slated to be released October 9. In addition to Barrymore, the movie also stars Ellen Page, Zoe Bell, Marcia Gay Harden and Kristen Wiig,

O’Reilly can be seen, albeit briefly, in two scenes in this trailer. One where a teen is pouring water on two kids (he is far left on screen) and a second time in a restaurant scene where a group of teens are sitting in a booth (he is the second one from the right).

From the looks of the movie preview, this looks like a fun film made even more special because many of us can say we know a certain Dearborn High School graduate who appears in it. How cool is that?

Oh, yeah, and O’Reilly also is appearing in a second film called “The Irishman”. For a bit more on that film, please click HERE. We’d say quite an accomplishment just two years out of high school.

The January fire at the Sarah Jordan Boarding House . . .

If you haven’t made it over to The Henry Ford yet this summer, there is still plenty of time to take in a visit to this national gem located right here in the City of Dearborn.

If you take a walk through Greenfield Village, visitors will also notice that the Sarah Jordan Boarding House has been restored to its original condition since the building was damaged by fire in January.

Visitors will be hard-pressed to notice any changes to the circa-1870 duplex. The conservation effort has returned the 10 rooms to their original condition.

The Sarah Jordan Boarding House was home to many of Thomas A. Edison’s unmarried employees in Menlo Park, N.J. in the late 1870s and early 1880s. It was one of the earliest buildings brought to Greenfield Village.

. . . The Sarah Jordan Boarding House in August, restored to its original condition.

“As fires go, we were pretty lucky,”  Mary Fahey, chief conservator at The Henry Ford says on The Henry Ford web. The fire had been burning for only about 20 minutes when it was reported, and Dearborn firefighters arrived quickly to extinguish it.

In some areas of the home, damage was minimal and most of the furnishings inside the house survived the fire, Jeanine Miller, The Henry Ford’s curator of domestic life, says on the museum’s website. The Sarah Jordan Boarding House contains 806 artifacts. Of those, 33 have been replaced since the fire.

Now a small number of small artifacts — such as hair brushes, a doll and some linens — have been replaced. The wallpaper patterns in Sarah Jordan’s parlor on the main floor and in the north bedroom upstairs had to be changed. As for large items, a different table sits in the boarders’ parlor on the main floor, a new dresser and bed furnish the north bedroom upstairs and a different bed is in the south bedroom upstairs. The large items that replaced those damaged in the fire are all from The Henry Ford’s collection.

Below is a video that captures a portion of the restoration that took place at the house paid for by the company that did some of the work. You can view the video full screen by pressing the tab at the lower right of the video box.

For more information about The Henry Ford or to order tickets, click HERE.

Fans of Harry Potter who haven’t seen the new movie “The Half-Blood Prince” should mark their calendar for July 29. That’s when the movie magically transform into a larger-than-life experience as only Dearborn’s Henry Ford IMAX can do.

If you have never been to Dearborn’s IMAX you’re missing out on what is easily one of the most amazing movie experiences in Michigan. And it is right here in our own Dearborn backyard.  The technology behind what makes IMAX so special begins with its million dollar projector, which is about the size of Ford Focus.

It is worth the wait to see  Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Hogwarts at the Henry Ford IMAX because it simply won’t be the same anywhere else, including having the chance to experience the film’s explosive opening in IMAX 3D on Michigan’s largest IMAX screen.

You can view the movie trailer and order tickets by clicking HERE.

Each year students in Dearborn High School’s video program (WDHS) produce a full length feature video. This year is no different and tonight at 7 p.m. at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center the world premier of  “Dare to be Amish” will be shown.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr. shaved his moustache for his role in the student video, Dare to be Amish.

The video is a story of a simple, sincere, Amish teenager that is banished from the Amish community. He then stumbles upon the unexpected world of cheerleading at his new high school, against the wishes of the squad.

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $7.

Moviegoers will recognize many Dearborn locations in the video, including Greenfield Village, who allowed the students to tape on their grounds. There also is an appearance by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. who plays Judge Yoder, the leader of an Amish community, who serves as a kind of mayor, judge and priest.

To keep to the Amish look, O’Reilly, who has a theater background, shaved his moustache for the part.

“The film class is really a great program and the students do a wonderful job each year with their movies,” O’Reilly earlier told the Dearborn Press & Guide. “I’m glad to have this opportunity to be part of their efforts. I know I’ll get questions, but it’s all worth it.”

For more about the feature video, click HERE.