Tregoning and Company

Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Satchel Paige bio author and artist Matt Dibble are in the Critic's Circle
by Plain Dealer Entertainment Editors
Sunday July 12, 2009, 12:01 PM
Cleopatra (Carly Germany) smiles on Antony (Brian Pedaci) in "Antony and Cleopatra."
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
Sometimes. Exhibit One: The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival has begun its 12th season of trekking about Northeast Ohio, bringing the Bard to audiences in the great outdoors. Theater critic Tony Brown caught a matinee of "Antony and Cleopatra" recently and notes that strong performances help ensure that it's "one of the best entertainment bargains of the summer." In repertory with "The Winter's Tale" weekends through Sunday, Aug. 2. For a schedule, go to cleveshakes.org.
Larry Tye
Exhibit Two: Baseball has not beenn very, very good to us this summer, but if you're still hooked on the sport, you'll want to meet Larry Tye, author of the nifty new biography "Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend," a profile of Satchel Paige. Book editor Karen R. Long calls Tye's 2004 "Rising From the Rails," about Pullman porters, "a gem of history writing." Tye will be reading from and signing "Satchel" at 7 p.m. Thursday at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 24519 Cedar Road (Legacy Village), Lyndhurst. Call 216-691-7000.
Exhibit Three: Matt Dibble has been quietly making a body of work over the past decade or so from his studio on the near East Side, exploring a range of styles from Picasso-esque neo-Modernism to three-dimensional pieces that mix painterly craft with sculpture. Now he's ready to stake his claim with the exhibition "Matt Dibble: Paintings and Constructions" at Tregoning & Co., 1300 West 78th St., Cleveland, on the edge of the Gordon Square Arts District. Call 216-281-8626 or go to tregoningandco.com. Again, free is the word.