Hail the Pig

The Japanese paper-folding art of origami and the Chinese Year of the Pig will both be the focus of programs for children next week at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton.

Tomorrow, there’s a winter animals art program at 4 p.m. for ages 4 and up, and on Friday, Feb. 1, at the same time, that age group will do crafts inspired by the Chinese New Year. 

Phone case design is on the agenda for those in sixth grade and up on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Participants have been asked to take their own cases, preferably clear ones. 

On Wednesday, ages 7 to 12 will learn to make origami foxes, cardinals, and other Long Island animals in a program at 4 p.m. 

Advance registration has been requested for all. 

Also in Bridgehampton

Why is there so much variety in birds’ beaks? “Some are short, some are long, some are pointy, and some are round,” writes the South Fork Natural History Museum, and all of them are adapted for specialized uses. A program at the museum on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for ages 6 to 8 will explore these adaptations. Miles Todaro will lead, and advance sign-up is required. 

Across the street in Bridgehampton, the Children’s Museum of the East End’s Pizza and Pajama night on Friday, Feb. 1, will include a reading of Caralyn Buehner’s “Snowmen at Night” and a snowman craft. The fun is geared to kids 3 to 6 and runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It is free for museum members, $12 for everyone else. This program often sells out, so advance registration is a must.

At the East Hampton Library

Hands-on activities and virtual ones, food for thought and food for the belly are on the agenda at the East Hampton Library this week.

For high school students, there’s a button-making workshop on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., and then a virtual program on Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday brings the Socrates Cafe, a philosophical discussion group in which teens consider the stuff of our inner lives, at 3:30 p.m.

For younger children, there’s a pajama story time, with a craft, on Tuesday at 4 p.m. for ages 3 to 7. Kids 4 and older will decorate cupcakes to look like polar bears on Wednesday at that time. Each participant will get to take home three in a box. Next Thursday, “Happy Feet,” a movie about a penguin who’s born to dance, will be shown at 4 p.m. for all ages. 

Advance registration is required for most programs. 

Movie Day, Spa Day

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will show “Incredibles 2” on Saturday at 2 p.m. Popcorn will be served. 

On Sunday at 1 p.m., kids in fifth through eighth grade will learn how to make bath bombs and sugar scrub for a home spa experience.

A drip painting workshop on Tuesday at 4 p.m. will give kids 5 to 8 a chance to learn about and paint like the Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock. 

Art at Guild Hall

The Golden Eagle will team up with Guild Hall on Saturday to offer art workshops from 11 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 2 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. 

Those attending can also take in the East Hampton institution’s annual Student Art Festival, which includes work by kids in kindergarten through 12th grade from across the South Fork. Admission is free. The workshops are also free, but advance registration has been requested at guildhall.org. 

“Paw Patrol”

At the Montauk Library, Saturday afternoon is all about “Paw Patrol.” Kids 2 and older will design and build a sea patrol boat and then watch episodes of “Paw Patrol: Sea Patrol” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Later that day, at 3:30, teens and tweens can make glow-in-the-dark clay charms. Space is limited, so it’s best to reserve a spot in advance.

Basketball at Ross

The Ross School’s athletic department will host a free basketball clinic for players in third through sixth grade on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. 

At different stations, boys and girls will work on agility, individual skills, and team offense. They’ll learn drills to practice at home and play in three-on-three and five-on-five games. Nygel Roach, the school’s head varsity basketball coach, and Eugene Lee, an athletic trainer at the school and coach at the All-American Basketball Camp, will lead the clinic.

The program is open to anyone in the community, not only Ross students. Advance registration is through the athletic department at 631-907-5000, but walk-ins will also be accepted. The program will take place at the school’s great hall off Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.

The sixth to eighth-grade student “ambassadors” who will participate in the Springs School’s second annual Diversity Institute may be astonished to learn they are no older right now than Thursday’s featured speaker, Judy Sleed, was when Nazi soldiers arrived in Budapest in March of 1944 and took away her father and only brother, and then before long her mother, too. 

She was 12 and never spoke to them again.

Mrs. Sleed, who is now 86, has a remarkable story of surviving the Holocaust and immigrating to America that touches on nearly every theme the Diversity Institute hopes to convey to the 100 students and parents who are expected to attend from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Springs School gym.

The diversity ambassadors are described on their school webpage as “a student-driven task force that promotes cultural tolerance and peace by raising awareness of the devastating effects of bias and hate. . . . In our schools, intolerance manifests as bullying, harassment, and violence. Research shows that young people who are victims of intolerance are more likely to hurt themselves or others. History teaches us that when left unchallenged, bias and discrimination can escalate into hate crimes and even genocide.” 

Mrs. Sleed can speak to all of that. 

When Nazi soldiers came in October 1944 to a “yellow house” where she had been sent — it was called that because Jews had to put a yellow Star of David outside places they were living, as well as on their clothing, she said — Mrs. Sleed was among a group that was rounded up and marched on foot across Budapest to a holding spot. In the chaos after they all arrived, Mrs. Sleed saw an open door and slipped out into the street unnoticed — then walked away.

She knew her way around the city “a little” and spent most of that first night walking, finally choosing to sleep outside the house of a family friend who never arrived back home. In the morning, she resumed walking and searching for other Jewish families she knew and again came upon empty house after empty house. She finally made it to the home of an aunt who had avoided the Nazi sweeps by paying for false papers on the black market that said she was not Jewish.

Locating her brought Mrs. Sleed’s second lifesaving stroke of luck: Her aunt got her spirited into a Swiss-run safe house where she stayed out of the reach of the Nazis until the liberation of Hungary. She came to America shortly before her 16th birthday to live with one of her father’s 11 siblings. She eventually married Joel Sleed, the late Long Island Press newspaperman. One of their three children, Jeff, plans to be in the crowd to hear his mother speak.

For the Springs School’s original 24 student ambassadors, hearing Mrs. Sleed will culminate a year of varied learning experiences that they have been urged to pass on by mentoring the new students coming into the program.

Building off last year’s inaugural Diversity Institute night, the school’s assistant principal, Christine Cleary, who heads up the program, organized other activities throughout the year such as a United Nations trip to learn more about peacekeeping missions, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. The students had an opportunity to read books with social justice and human rights themes. They learned communication skills and ways to intervene if they see other students engaging in bad behavior. 

The student-ambassadors also plan­ned most of tonight’s program, which will also touch on topics such as culture and identity and present opportunities for their parents to participate.

Mrs. Sleed said when the Diversity Institute was described to her, she told Ms. Cleary, “I’ll do anything to help.” 

Mrs. Sleed said it’s been less than a decade since she felt comfortable even telling anyone she was a Holocaust survivor because of the pain it conjures up. But she’s since written a play called “Delibab” about her teenage experiences, as well as a children’s book called “The Fight of the Crayons” that advocates “you have to be equally nice to everyone in this world” regardless of differences.

She plans to mention both works during her talk.

After operating their Blocks, Trucks + Art workshops and BMX programs out of a retooled 18-wheeler at the Hayground School for four summers, the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Mayer and Angela De Vincenzo have opened a brick-and-mortar gallery and workshop space in Sag Harbor where they can offer children’s programming all year long. 

Those who have visited the couple’s big rig on the Hayground campus in Bridgehampton, where it is parked alongside a dirt BMX pump track that Mr. Mayer helped design and build, will see familiar elements in the bright and boldly colored BT+A Gallery on Washington Street. 

“We’ve really transformed this space to be our 18-wheeler, basically. Everything that was on the trailer is in here,” Ms. De Vincenzo said on Jan. 17 as the couple prepared for their grand opening on Jan. 20. 

Ms. De Vincenzo, a learning specialist, and Mr. Mayer, a designer, D.J., and former BMX pro, draw on the seemingly disparate elements of their combined backgrounds to “inspire children to find their passion through creativity, academics, and physical activity,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. 

Blocks, Trucks + Art began with a question: “How do we give kids what they don’t get enough of during the school day?” 

The answer, in part, was to provide more “open-ended experiences for kids.” The block work, based on a model developed at the City and Country School in Manhattan, where Ms. De Vincenzo once taught, is so much more than simple play. 

“While they’re building and working together and creating structures, there’s also a lot of deep work that’s involved with social pragmatics, problem-solving, spatial relationships, mapping.” Children learn to express ideas and collaborate while also working on planning and organization skills. 

At the Hayground Camp, they offered BMX biking on the track and D.J. lessons, block-building sessions, and tutorials on the truck’s trailer. 

Much of that will now happen at the Sag Harbor spot, as well. While there obviously won’t be biking in the Washington Street location, a multiuse room at the back of the gallery will allow for bike mechanics lessons. There will be rotating shows on the gallery walls — the first one features Mr. Mayer’s art and design — and the artists will be tapped to lead classes for kids while their shows are up. Ms. De Vincenzo will lead block workshops and private and small-group academic tutorials.

“A big part of the program is going to continue at Hayground,” she said, “but since it’s mostly seasonal with our outdoor tracks and the 18-wheeler, which doesn’t have heat, we really wanted a place to extend that work in the colder months and serve the local community.” 

The 18-wheeler will be transformed into an indoor skate park complete with half pipes, and skateboarding will be added to next summer’s curriculum. 

“I’m really excited for the skateboarding to happen because I’ve been wanting that to happen for a long time,” said the couple’s son, Luca, a third grader who is already a sponsored skater. 

After living together on the truck for three summers, the family left Brooklyn and moved to Sag Harbor full time at the beginning of last summer. Ms. De Vincenzo left her job at the Packer Collegiate Institute, a private school in Brooklyn Heights, to make the move. 

“The living on the truck piece was really insane, that we wanted to do this so bad that we lived on a truck as a family for three summers,” Mr. Mayer said. “It was crazy, but it’s what got us here.”

They had already been raising money to grow their program and eventually package it and take it on the road when the former Grenning Gallery space, right below their Sag Harbor apartment, came up for rent. 

To raise money for it, they hit upon the idea of selling memberships. “From doing our summers we did really amass a wonderful, devoted clientele,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. “Of course, it’s the summer clientele, so these are families of means, so we reached out to them as we were opening this space . . . because we really didn’t have a ton of working capital.” 

“If you’re doing good work, and people believe in you, don’t be afraid to ask,” Mr. Mayer said. They weren’t, and enough people stepped forward to help them make the gallery a reality. 

Gold memberships cost $10,000 and give children unlimited access to year-round programming and the pump track at Hayground and indoor riding. They get their own BMX bikes and helmets, gear designed by Mr. Mayer, and invitations to special events. Built into the price is a bonus: Each membership bought by a family that can afford it also buys membership and all the trappings for two other children who might not otherwise be able to take advantage of the Blocks, Trucks + Art offerings. 

“It bothered us that our summer program was only for a certain element of the population out here,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. “We kept feeling like . . . it would probably feel more satisfying if we were serving the local population, so that was a big impetus for the space.” 

Starting in February, she’ll offer a block workshop on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon. After a walking tour of the village, kids will sketch and research the buildings and then go back to the gallery to “recreate the buildings with realistic detail.” The cost will be $300 a month. 

Mr. Mayer, who D.J.s most Saturdays at Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor, will offer one-on-one lessons using the D.J. booth installation in the gallery. “I want to create a sound library where kids can come in and put headphones on,” he said. “There are so many fun things that we can do here.”

A zine-making class is on the horizon, and Ms. De Vincenzo, who is also an educational consultant, plans to host monthly talks for parents on such subjects as reading at home, how to overcome homework frustrations, and setting limits.

“I want the space to feel like a resource for the community of parents as well,” she said.

Clinics at Sportime

This week marks the beginning of volleyball, soccer, and inline skating clinics at the Sportime Arena on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett. 

A soccer clinic for ages 5 to 10 will be offered from 9 to 10 a.m. on Saturdays, this week through April 14. Roller hockey for 6 to 12-year-olds follows at 10. Equipment is required. Also at 10, there’s girls volleyball for fifth and sixth graders. A volleyball clinic for seventh and eighth graders starts at 11. 

Spaces may still be available in an inline skating clinic for ages 4 to 9 that started on Tuesday. It runs weekly from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The cost for each clinic is $125 for East Hampton Town residents. Sessions will not be held during school breaks or on holidays.

Registration is at the Arena.

Valentines and Fortune Cookies

The sweet nothings of Valentine’s Day, a nod to the Chinese New Year, and the Japanese art of paper folding will keep kids entertained this week at the East Hampton Library.

On Tuesday, sixth through eighth graders will make felt fortune cookies from 4 to 5 p.m. Felt will also be the medium in a valentine pillow craft workshop the next day at 4 p.m. for ages 6 and up. Umbrellas will be the theme of a story and craft time for ages 4 to 6 next Thursday at 4 p.m. On Friday, Feb. 8, children 6 and older will learn about origami and then fold their own owl and monster bookmarks in a program that starts at 3:30 p.m.

This afternoon at 4, the library will show the movie “Happy Feet,” about a penguin who may not sing like his brethren but can dance like a champ.

Looking ahead to Feb. 9, the library will offer a free practice ACT exam for high school students from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Although open to all students, preference will be given to those who are residents of the East Hampton Library District, which includes the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. 

Advance sign-up is required for most programs. 

Also at the Libraries

The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will celebrate the Chinese New Year with a craft program for ages 4 and up tomorrow at 4 p.m. Tin can lanterns will be the craft in a workshop on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for ages 7 to 12. 

Kids in sixth grade and up will explore virtual worlds in a virtual reality session on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. An animé and manga club for that same age group happens at the library next Thursday at 3 p.m. Snacks will be provided. 

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will have kids in second through fifth grades getting an early start on Valentine’s Day with a card-making session on Saturday at 3 p.m. After school at 4 on Wednesday, kids of all ages can stop in to make their own hot cocoa mixes using toppings provided by the library. 

An after-hours teen movie and book trivia contest is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 8, at John Jermain. It will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and pizza will be served.

In Montauk, a dance-and-play session with a Valentine theme for ages 1 to 5 goes down on Saturday at 11 a.m. Kids in second grade and up can make “extreme” milkshakes with the Baking Coach on Saturday at 3 at the library.

Advance registration is required for most programs. 

February Theater Camp

Now is the time to plan for the February school break, and Bay Street Theater has just the thing for kids who love performing. The theater will host Mighty Myths and Legends: A Musical Theater Camp for ages 7 to 12 and 13 to 18 from Feb. 18 through 22. Both sections run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bethany Dellapolla will teach the younger group, and Allen O’Reilly will lead the older group. 

In each, the theater says, participants “will work independently to a musical based on their life stories, incorporating their favorite classic myths and fairy tales.” A performance for family and friends caps the week.

Mr. O’Reilly, an actor and educator, is the director of education at Bay Street. Ms. Dellapolla, an actress, teacher, director, choreographer, and competitive ballroom dancer, is a founder of the NexGen Youth Theatre in New York City. The cost for the week is $470. Registration is by phone, and forms can also be found online at baystreet.org.

For Young Birders

The South Fork Natural History Museum’s Young Birders Club will meet on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Bridgehampton. The club, open to kids 8 to 18, will set out with binoculars and field guides to see what species they can find. Miles Todaro, an educator at the museum, will lead. Those who have binoculars should take them; a few pairs will be available for use.

At the Children’s Museum 

Chocolate chip sweet potato muffins will be on the menu (and in the oven) at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday during a cooking class for ages 4 to 7 at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The cost is $19, including museum entry, or $5 for members.

At 11 a.m. on Saturday, the Shinnecock Dancers will perform at the museum, and afterward kids will make a craft with an educator from the Shinnecock Nation. Members can attend for free. The cost is $3 for others and does not include museum admission.

Looking ahead to Friday, Nov. 23, Susan Verde will read from her book “I Am Yoga” at 10 a.m. and then lead children 2 to 8 in some yoga poses. Copies will be available for purchase. Entry is $15, free for members.

That evening at 5:30, a family disco party for adults with their 3 to 7-year-olds will get people dancing to burn off the heavy Thanksgiving Day meal. Forget about leftovers; pizza will be served. The cost is $15, $5 for members.

So Much in Sag

From virtual reality sessions to book clubs to an SAT workshop, there’s a lot happening this week at John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor.

Seventh through 12th graders can explore the library’s games and activities on its HTC Vive virtual reality system on Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. 

High school students can learn a few tips and strategies for taking the SATs and ACTs on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Also at 10, children 4 and older will have a chance to practice their reading skills with Wally the dog. 

Bagels and Books, a book club with breakfast for third through fifth graders, will consider James Riley’s “Story Thieves” on Saturday at 10 a.m. Next month’s book, for those who want to get an early start, will be “The Year of Billy Miller” by Kevin Henkes.

The holiday classic “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” will be shown on Saturday at 1 p.m. Popcorn will be served. 

On Sunday at 1, middle schoolers will meet for a quick talk on the graphic novel “The Tea Dragon Society” by Katie O’Neill. Registration is not necessary for the movie on Saturday, but is required for most other programs. 

Babysitters in Training

Those looking forward to embarking on what is a first job for many young teens might be interested in the East Hampton Library’s Getting Ready to Babysit program on Saturday at 1 p.m. The three-hour course for sixth through eighth graders covers many of the basics and includes hands-on activities and course certification. 

A tote bag with a fall theme will be the craft in a session for high schoolers on Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. 

“Hotel Transylvania 3” will be shown at the library on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The family movie is appropriate for all ages. On Friday, Nov. 23, “The Incredibles 2” will be shown at 2 p.m.

After Thanksgiving, on Friday, Nov. 23, the library has invited high school students to a potluck lunch from noon to 2. Attendees have been asked to provide leftovers or a dish to share with others. A microwave oven will be available to heat food. 

Also that day, Christopher Agostino, an artist and storyteller, will bring a story to life with help from the audience during his StoryFaces program at 1 p.m. As the library describes it, “an audience volunteer will be asked to come up and will have their face painted to illustrate the story as he tells it.”

Turkeys, Apples, Movies

At the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, kids 4 and older will make rolled-paper turkey decorations tomorrow at 4 p.m. 

A movie night for grades six and up tomorrow at 6:30 will feature a screening of Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.” That same age group has been invited to a Friendsgiving celebration, with cookie and cupcake decorating and a movie, on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. Tasty caramel apples and a story are on the agenda for kids 4 and older on Friday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m. 

“I Am Thankful”

Ria Alexander will take a storytelling performance, her “I Am Thankful” show, to the Montauk Library on Saturday at 1 p.m. The program, which includes singing and dancing, reflects on the meaning of Thanksgiving. It is best for kids 4 through 10.

Children 9 and older will work in small groups to make 3-D drawings using the library’s 3-D pens on Saturday at 3 p.m. Advance registration has been requested for both programs.

Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor is accepting applications for its summer college internship program, with positions for acting apprentices and in scenic stagecraft, lighting and sound, wardrobe, box office, arts administration, marketing, development, and other areas.

The program gives interns a chance to “experience firsthand the inner workings of a dynamic, professional theater, garnering invaluable work skills in the various aspects of technical and artistic production, as well as arts administration,” according to the theater. “By actively working with trade professionals, many with Broadway credentials, throughout the rigorously scheduled rehearsal and production process, interns directly explore their own suitability to  the demands and rewards of a life in the theater.”

Interns participate in workshops, training sessions, master classes, and team-building exercises, and also put together a production of their own, which will have a limited run in August. 

The program will run from May 20 through Aug. 27. For technical and production interns, priority will be given to those able to commit to an extended season from May 13 through Sept. 2. The deadline to apply is Jan. 14 for priority consideration. Applications received after that will be considered based on availability. Interns get a weekly stipend, along with housing and some meals. 

Applications can be found online at baystreet.org.

The costumes are hung on two long racks with nametags attached, ready to go. A few feet away in the Hampton Ballet Theatre School’s studio in Bridgehampton some prop candy canes and swords, gold crowns and feathery angels’ wings sit this way and that. Out on the floor, Sara Jo Strickland picks up her smartphone and restarts the Tchaikovsky music, and the dancers glide into motion again.

When they walked through the door these dancers were kids. Some as young as 4, they hailed from across the South Fork. But out on the floor for this three-hour Sunday rehearsal they were transformed into Sugar Plums and Toy Soldiers, Harlequin Dolls and Dew Drops, the Mouse King or whatever roles they have in the school’s 10th annual perfor­mance of “The Nutcracker,” which will run at Guild Hall from Friday, Dec. 7, through Dec. 9 this year.

“A lot of people tell us that our show is what starts off their holiday season,” said Ms. Strickland, a former ballerina who has been teaching and choreographing dance for more than 30 years.

When Ms. Strickland started the school in the 2007-8 season, the company consisted of just six children. Its holiday performance of “The Nutcracker” was far different from the elaborate production it puts on today. 

This year, the company numbers 77 dancers between the ages of 4 and 18, plus nine adults. Ms. Strickland, along with two partners, has opened a second studio in the Bridgehampton Community House offering additional classes in tap, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance. For the four performances at Guild Hall, Ms. Strickland will also import three professional male dancers — Nick Peregrino, Josep Maria Monreal, and James Stevko.

She believes giving her older dancers the experience of performing with partners is important if they continue their careers as ballerinas. 

Most of the elaborate costumes for “The Nutcracker” were designed by Yuka Silvera, and a few dozen additional people contribute annually to the show in other ways, from set design to photography, videography to sound. On performance days the dancers’ moms usually help with backstage costume changes, which can be hectic for a cast this big.

“We’re working with a lot of very young dancers, and we’ve had just about everything happen that could happen over the years during our performances,” Ms. Strickland admitted with a laugh. “We’ve had shoes fall off. Headpieces go flying. One year we had to hold the curtain on opening night because when the music started, one of the girls sitting on the stage was so nervous she started crying and couldn’t stop. We waited. Another year, it was very funny, a Sugar Plum leaped into the clock onstage and all you heard was this big crash.”

“I don’t know how it all works out in the end, but it always does,” Ms. Strickland added. “And when it does, it’s wonderful.”

Ms. Strickland makes it a point to challenge her dancers year after year to make sure they keep progressing. Currently, a record 22 members of the company are dancing on pointe (on their toes) -- a significant achievement in a dancer’s life.

Jillian Hear, a 17-year-old East Hampton High School senior who will share the role of Arabian Princess with Holiday Bovio in this year’s production, has been with the school for 9 of its 10 years. She said Ms. Strickland’s knowledgeable, caring approach is a big part of what’s kept her and many of her fellow dancers returning.

“We’re like a big family here, and she is amazing; she’s like our second mom,” Jillian said of Ms. Strickland. “I was pretty little when I first started, but once I did I just felt like this is what I’m supposed to be doing. And I think the discipline I’ve learned here has helped me in school too. She [Ms. Strickland] is very real with us, which I appreciate. She builds us up when we need it, and when we need to step up our game, she tells us that too. She knows how to reach everybody individually.”

Wendy Ordonez, who will dance several roles in this year’s “Nutcracker,” said she has had a similar experience.

“I started just four years ago, pretty late in the game,” said Wendy, who is 17 and attends East Hampton High. “I used to see ballet on YouTube videos and think, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that.’ But after one class here, I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I just fell in love with it. Now, I’m so committed.”

The last trait is important, because ballet requires commitment. Many of the dancers attend classes from four to seven times a week. Ms. Strickland said she begins casting “The Nutcracker” in her mind when the company reconvenes at the end of each summer, and with every year the competition for roles becomes more competitive. 

She finds enormous gratification in seeing her dancers master more skills.

“It’s important to me to let them know there are these dreams they can obtain if they work hard,” Ms. Strickland said. 

Hudson Galardi-Troy, 15, one of the company’s leading male dancers, is scheduled to rise to the major role of Snow King this year. Hudson, who will dance with two Snow Queens -- Lauren Gabbard and Sedona Silvera -- also performed as an actor at Bay Street Theatre and in other productions. He said nights like the four-performance run of “The Nutcracker” are part of the reward for all the work.

“When I was younger I thought ballet dancing was for girls, but what I found since then is it takes a lot of work and strength and conditioning,” Galardi-Troy said. “Strength is a big part of the lifts, but it’s also a lot about technique.”

Other top-level students in this year’s production are Beatrice DeGroot and Samantha Prince, sharing the roles of the Dew Drop Princess, and Devon Friedman, dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy.

And when it all does comes together? For 10 years now (and counting), the challenge for the Hampton Ballet Theatre School hasn’t changed.

“The goal is always to make the difficult look easy,” Ms. Strickland said. “And that’s what we try to achieve.”

Tickets to “The Nutcracker” cost $15 to $45 in advance at hamptonballettheatreschool.com or 888-933-4287, and $20 to $50 at the door.

Nutcrackers and “Mixed Nuts”

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School will present Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” tomorrow through Sunday at Guild Hall. This year’s production, the school’s 10th, features nearly 80 student dancers and three professional guest artists. 

It is, as ever, directed by the school’s founder, Sara Jo Strickland, with costumes by Yuka Silvera and lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski. Featured student dancers are Jillian Hear and Holiday Bovio as the Arabian Princess, Beatrice DeGroot and Samantha Prince as the Dew Drop Princess, Lauren Gabbard and Sedona Silvera as the Snow Queen opposite Hudson Galardi-Troy, and Devon Friedman as the Sugar Plum Fairy. The professionals joining the students are Nick Peregrino, Josep Maria Monreal, and James Stevko.

Show times are tomorrow at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $15 to $45 in advance at hamptonballettheatreschool.org or 888-933-4287, $20 to $50 at the door. 

Looking ahead to next weekend, the young dancers of Studio Three in Bridgehampton will present their holiday show “Mixed Nuts” at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. A combination each year of “The Nutcracker” and a different story, this year’s production introduces “The Wizard of Oz” into the Christmas classic, with Clara transformed into Dorothy, and Toto, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion all making appearances. Show times are Friday, Dec. 14, and Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $25. 

Creative “Spectacular”

Creative Edge Studio, which offers classes to young dancers 2 and older from Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Wainscott, will perform its “Holiday Spectacular” on Saturday at noon at East Hampton High School. Tickets cost $10 and will be sold at the door starting at 11 on the day of the performance.

More Spectacular

Another holiday spectacular, this one a party hosted by Camp SoulGrow at its downtown Montauk studio, will take place on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Santa will pay a visit, and there will be games, crafts, cookie decorating, dancing, karaoke, hot cocoa, and treats. The Clamshell Foundation is the co-host of the affair, which is free for kids 7 and older. Advance sign-up by emailing [email protected] would be appreciated.

Gingerbread, Gingerbread

If you like gingerbread, you’ve come to the right month. Again this week, there are lots of chances to decorate gingerbread houses and cookies. 

High school students can compete against one another in a decorating contest today from 4 to 6 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

As of Tuesday, space was still available in a Saturday gingerbread house workshop at Guild Hall with professionals from Citarella offering tips. The fun starts at 11:30 a.m., and the cost is $25, $20 for Guild Hall members. 

The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton has invited families to decorate gingerbread cookies on Saturday from noon to 1:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the Salty Canvas and Springs Tavern will team up for a workshop from 10 a.m. to noon. The cost is $45 and includes a preassembled house, ready to decorate, all the trimmings, and a cup of cocoa. Tax and gratuity are not included. Sign-up is at saltycanvas.com.

Finally, families will build their own houses and decorate them together in a workshop on Friday, Dec. 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Montauk Library.

Advance sign-up is required for all of these popular programs. 

Also at the Libraries

This week at the East Hampton Library, kids can make dolls and lip balm and take in a screening of a holiday favorite. First up is snowstorm-in-a-jar project for ages 8 to 11 tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, the library will introduce ages 4 and up to the meanings behind Hopi kachina dolls and lead them as they make their own. The workshop starts at 5 p.m.

Kids 5 and older can make lip balm to use themselves or give as a gift on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Next Thursday, “The Polar Express” will be shown at 4 p.m., and on Friday, Dec. 14, Olivia the pig will take center stage in a story and craft time for ages 3 and up at 3:30 p.m.

Kids in sixth grade and above will have a chance this week and next at the Hampton Library to make a gift for someone special (or themselves) from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on weekdays. This week’s project is T-shirt design; next week it’s sugar body scrubs. 

At the Montauk Library, the Art Nanny will be on duty for two polar bear watercolor workshops on Saturday. From 1:30 to 2:30, she’ll work with ages 2 to 5 and an adult; from 3 to 4, she’ll guide children in kindergarten and above as they make and frame their own painting. 

Advance registration has been requested for all programs.

The animating idea behind the Black Box Performance Project is deceptively simple. Its director, Tamara Salkin, said she and her co-founder, Amanda Jones, wondered what would happen if they stripped away all the usual adornments and detailed instructions that their youth actors usually get — the elaborate sets and costumes, the meticulous orders on where to stand, how to move, what to think — and instead challenged them to come up with most everything themselves.

Then, switching the point of view yet again, what would happen for the audience if you lessened the focus on the spectacle and trained it even more on the student actors and their work?

After nearly two months of rehearsals for “Antigone Now,” Melissa Cooper’s modern adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Antigone” by Sophocles, Ms. Salkin thinks the emerging answers are precisely what she hoped. 

“I think it proves that you don’t need all that extra stuff to have a really powerful experience at the theater,” Ms. Salkin said of the Black Box production, which will be performed on Friday, Dec. 14, and Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Southampton Cultural Center.

“I asked the students at the beginning, ‘Have you ever been allowed to make your own choices?’ ” Ms. Salkin said. “And there were some ‘Hmms.’ Some shuffling of feet. . . . What we’re doing is educational theater. Here, they’re doing really deep script analysis, thinking about why their characters say what they say, the motivation behind their actions. These are things that professional actors do that they’ve never really done.”

All of the actors in the Black Box Performance Project auditioned for their roles. Some work with Ms. Salkin through South Fork Performing Arts, the company she and Ms. Jones started. The cast ranges in age from a seventh grader, Dakota Quackenbush of East Hampton, who performed recently in “Evita” at Bay Street Theater, to Madeline Kane, a senior at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor who has an onstage part in “Antigone Now” and was also instrumental in suggesting some of the staging ideas that Ms. Salkin called “brilliant.”

One of those ideas was to have the traditional Greek chorus from the time of Sophocles reimagined and staged in a coffee shop. “Which was perfect, because where else do you go today when you want to gossip and discuss things with friends?” Ms. Salkin said with a laugh.

The goal throughout the process, she said, is for her young actors to have an immersive educational experience in all aspects of production as well as a performance experience, a combination that mirrors her own career path. Ms. Salkin, 34, is an actress as well as a director. She appeared most recently in “The Money Shot” at the Southampton Cultural Center. She also has a master’s degree in educational theater.

She grew up in Southampton, now lives in Sag Harbor, and said East End schools provide opportunities for young people who want to act — if not full-time jobs for teachers certified to teach theater arts.

“So I thought, ‘How can I be a part of a theater where kids are learning, not just performing?’ ” she said. The result was Black Box, with its spare sets and staging and sound (which Ms. Jones is overseeing).

“And I couldn’t be more excited,” Ms. Salkin said, thinking back to last weekend’s three dress rehearsals. “What it’s shown is the concept of Black Box works.”

General admission to “Antigone Now” is $15, or $10 for students under 21. Tickets can be purchased at scc-arts.org or by phone.

Hayground’s “As You Like It”

As the culmination of Shakespeare and Company’s 20th annual residency at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, five professional actors from the Berkshire, Mass., troupe will join Hayground student actors in presenting two performances of “As You Like It,” today at 1 and 6 p.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton. The programs are open to the public; tickets are $10 per family.

“Antigone Now” in Southampton

The Black Box Performance Project will stage two performances of Melissa Cooper’s play “Antigone Now” tomorrow and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Southampton Cultural Center. Set in a bombed-out city, the play is a contemporary response to the myth of Antigone, who attempted to secure a respectable burial for her brother against her uncle’s will. 

Seventh through 12th graders from across the South Fork make up the cast. Tamara Salkin directs the production. Tickets are $15, $10 for students under 21.

High School Playwrights Fest

The Young Artists and Writers Project’s annual High School Playwrights Festival will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater. 

This year’s festival features five short plays written by and starring students from the Bridgehampton School, Pierson High School, and the project’s summer workshops, and directed by professionals. 

Students were mentored by writing and theater professionals connected with Stony Brook Southampton’s M.F.A. program in creative writing and literature. Emma Walton Hamilton is the executive director of the Young Arts and Writers Program; Will Chandler is its program director. Ms. Hamilton, a co-founder of Bay Street Theater, is a best-selling children’s book author, editor, arts educator, and director of the Southampton Children’s Literature Fellows Program. Mr. Chandler, a screenwriter and teaching artist, was formerly an education director at Bay Street.

The Avram Theater is in the Fine Arts Building on campus. Admission to the festival is free; for reservations email: [email protected].

“Mixed Nuts” at Bay Street

Dorothy and the Tin Man will meet Clara and the Nutcracker this weekend at Bay Street Theater when the young dancers of Studio 3 perform “Mixed Nuts.” The program combines elements of “The Nutcracker” with “The Wizard of Oz,” while mixing ballet with other dance styles. Show times are tomorrow and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $25. 

Zines and ’Za

Guild Hall’s Teen Arts Council will host a workshop on creating zines with Brianna Ashe, an East Hampton artist, on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Participants will work on their own zines, in whatever medium suits them, but have been asked to supply old magazines for collaging. Pizza will be served, and there will be raffle prizes. The program is free, but advance registration has been requested through Guild Hall. 

For Young Birders

The South Fork Natural History Museum’s Young Birders Club will meet on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Bridgehampton. Open to kids 8 to 18, the club meets monthly to learn about birds and their local habitats. The club’s advisers are Miles Todaro and Frank Quevedo, the museum’s executive director. Those who attend on Saturday have been asked to take binoculars and field guides to birds of the eastern United States if possible.

On Saturday at 1 p.m., families have been invited to help decorate the museum’s trees for birds with ornaments made of seeds, suet, and dried fruits. Shoeboxes have been recommended so attendees can take decorations home for their own outdoor trees. There is a $5 materials fee per person.

Families with children 6 and older will study mammals and how they move in a drawing class on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the museum. Tara Smith, an artist, will lead the program, teaching not only drawing techniques but also features of animal anatomy. 

Registration ahead of time has been requested for all programs. 

Big Questions, Simple Fun

Sock puppets, life’s big questions, and cupcakes round out the schedule of youth programming at the East Hampton Library this week.

In the library’s Socrates Cafe program on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., high school students will ponder some deep thoughts in a discussion session meant to get them thinking. “This is not a debate, or an attempt to change anyone’s point of view,” the library website says, “but a chance for philosophical conversation.” Coffee, tea, and hot cocoa will be served. 

Moving on to simpler things, kids 4 and older will turn cupcakes into elves with tasty materials provided by the library on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Each participant will be able to take home three cupcakes. 

Using acrylic paint pens, high school students can decorate mugs for themselves or as gifts on Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. in the young-adult room. In a puppet craft program for ages 6 to 9 on Wednesday, kids will use socks, craft foam, and pompoms to create their own characters. Snowflakes made from Popsicle sticks will be the craft during a family program next Thursday at 4 p.m. 

Advance sign-up has been requested for most programs. 

Gift Ideas

Children and teens looking to make something special to give as a gift for the holidays can do so at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton this week. Kids in sixth grade and above can stop by today and tomorrow from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to make sugar body scrubs for themselves or someone else. Homemade candles will be the project on weekdays at the same time next week. 

For those 4 and older, a winter cardinal craft program tomorrow at 4 p.m. might yield a thoughtful gift. Sparkly icicle decorations, being made on Friday, Dec. 21, at the same time, could provide a last-minute touch to the Christmas decorations. A movie night for kids in sixth grade and up will kick off the Christmas break on Friday, Dec. 21. On tap: Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Showtime is 6:30.

Wally and “Elf”

Wally the dog will be on hand to listen to new readers 4 and older on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. 

On Sunday, the much-loved Christmas movie “Elf,” starring Will Farrell, will be shown at 1 p.m. This program is for teens and tweens, who have been invited to wear their pajamas. Popcorn and hot cocoa will be served. Advance registration, though not required, can be done online. 

Escape the Library

Kids in kindergarten and up will make spoon snowmen using paint, ribbon, and pompoms on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Montauk Library. Later that day, at 3:30, grades 4 through 12 can test their mystery-solving powers in an Escape the Library interactive game. “Find the hidden objects, figure out the clues, and solve the puzzles to earn your freedom,” the library writes. 

Katherine C.H.E. will lead children 1 to 4 and their caregivers in a session of music and movement on Tuesday at 11:45 a.m.