Lowcountry Chorale looking for director
The Lowcountry Chorale is a non-profit, mixed-voice chorus that has provided a singular, popular brand of music to the greater Beaufort community for the past 15 years.  Its twice-a-year concerts held at St. John’s Lutheran Church have drawn increasingly enthusiastic audiences.
The chorale’s long-time music director recently announced that he will soon leave the area.  The chorale is urgently seeking an interim director as it heads into rehearsals for its upcoming fall/holiday performances. Experience in leading a choral group is preferred. For more information or expressions of interest in the position, please contact 812-8644.

Auditions being held for ‘Honky Tonk Angels’
USCB Center for the Arts and the Beaufort Theatre Company are seeking three female actors for the cast of “Honky Tonk Angels” (Dreamgirls? Dixie Chicks? or a little bit Nunsense?)
This rollicking country/pop  musical comedy follows the hilarious escapades of a female singing group in Honky Tonk Heaven. Songs include “9-5,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Stand by Your Man,” “Harper Valley PTA” and “I Will Always Love You.”
The audition will be held on Tuesday, July 31 at 6 p.m., at the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts.
Roles available are: Angela, a Texas housewife in her mid thirties. She has a great sense of humor and a fiercely independent streak. She identifies with Roseanne,  “an earth-mother comedienne.”  Darlene is a young woman from the deep South in her late twenties, early thirties. She is pretty, sweet and simple, a young woman who grew up in a coal-mining town in West Virginia and the Mississippi Delta.  Sue Ellen, a Los Angeles career woman in her mid to late thirties.  She is “citified” country girl,  smart, very attractive, sexy and frustrated. She dances, roller skates, and twirls a baton if possible. The performance is scheduled for October 20 – 28.
Those auditioning should arrive promptly to fill out forms and provide a non-refundable photograph. The rest of the audition will consist of performing two prepared songs (bring your own back-up CD or sheet music in the key you wish to sing) and readings from the script. For more information, call the USCB CFA office 843-521-4145.

Film festival supports Muslim women’s voices
As part of the upcoming “One County Reads One Country” project, the Beaufort County Library will host a short film festival titled “Women’s Voices From the Muslim World” at the USCB Center for the Arts on Sunday, August 12 at 2 p.m. Immediately following will be a panel discussion led by university scholars.
The films are part of an ambitious filmmaking project undertaken by the nonprofit organization, Women’s Voices Now (www.womensvoicesnow.org),  to record the personal stories about women living in Muslim countries — their lives, hopes, struggles, and solutions. The organization is led by a team of professionals experienced in the fields of film, human rights, law, corporate management and the Near East.
This event is made possible through the receipt of a federal Library Services and Technology Act grant administered through the South Carolina State Library.
Program is free. For a full listing of One County Reads One Country events, go to www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/ocroc and click on directory of events.

Photography Club of Beaufort has meeting
The Photography Club of Beaufort will have Bluffton photographer Marge Agin as its guest speaker for its August meeting. Marge’s program is “Out Of The Box In Photoshop.”  She will show how to enhance average or even exceptional photos using Photoshop techniques. Marge will begin with a slide show that compares before and after images using the computer and Photoshop and talk about the equipment she uses and her workflow patterns.

[caption id="attachment_7541" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Arts-Photo-club.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-7541" title="Arts-Photo club" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Arts-Photo-club-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a> Bluffton photographer Marge Agin.[/caption]

Marge Agin’s work is an art form that encompasses the use of digital camera equipment and computer capabilities. Her finished work combines talent, imagination and unique techniques that she will share with the audience.
Her professional career began in Southern California where she worked as an event photographer, photographic illustrator and portrait photographer, specializing in outdoor photography.
Today, Marge works exclusively in fine arts photography and her travels have taken her around the world.  Presently residing in Palmetto Bluff, her images revolve around the scenery of the Lowcountry.
Marge is the author of the new book “Bluffton, Changing Tides” which will be offered for sale prior and after the meeting. This book is both historical and eccentric, “full of character and characters”, admits Marge. In it she captures the essence of life along the May River and the magic of what makes Bluffton a special place to live and visit. She also has published a book on Palmetto Bluff.
The meeting is August 13 at 7 p.m. in ARTworks in the Jean Ribaut Square on Boundary Street in Beaufort.  The pubic is invited to attend. For more information, visit www.photoclubbeaufort.com.