The Friends of the Hopkinton Library is getting ready for a busy September. The group’s ever-popular apple crisp will be offered at PolyArts and is looked forward to every year.

In addition, the Friends will offer two free programs to the community; the English Language Learner (ELL) Conversation Circles and a Lifelong Learner program.

The Friends’ English Language Learner offering is beginning its third year. The program provides support to people who are new to our community and need help developing English fluency. Hopkinton volunteers who are creative, supportive, and fun lead our Conversation Circles. Interested parties can sign up through the Library’s web site.

Broadway Musicals, the Golden Years is the newest Lifelong Learner program financed by the Friends and offered free to the community. This online course will begin with the opening of Show Boat in 1927. This musical would go on to become the standard of shows on Broadway, especially in the 1940s and 1950s with great shows by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The course will discuss the development of this new musical form and offer clips of the best and brightest Broadway has to offer. Plan to take a journey through the years that made the musical one of the great forms of theater. It is truly an American
invention.

The program’s instructor is Fran Corvais Lautenberger. Fran was a member of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Theatre and Dance faculty for 26 years and was awarded Emeritus at her retirement. She has directed numerous shows, including many musicals. Broadway Musicals, the Golden Years will provide an opportunity to learn while having fun.

This online course begins on September 13 and will meet for six weeks. Participants can register through the event calendar on the Hopkinton Library’s website.