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Luzerne County restaurant inspections: Nov. 19 - 24

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Kachmarsky celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary

<p>KINGSTON &#8212; Smack! Pow! Bam!</p><p>In a classroom filled with 16 people, eight of them appeared to slap or punch their hapless victims, some of whom dramatically reeled and fell to the floor &#8212; before they inevitably stood up and laughed.</p><p>That wasn&#8217;t the only unusual scenario that played out at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts on Thursday, where dozens of hesitant hoofers took their first-ever Bollywood dance lesson. &#8220;You can add some hip action,&#8221; instructor Nisha Parikh encouraged Rob Bresnahan from Kuharchik Construction. &#8220;There you go!&#8221;</p><p>Then there was the little skit during which half the actors, representing Canada, chanted &#8220;deca, hecto, kilo&#8221; as tribute to the metric system while the other half chanted &#8220;inch-es, inch-es&#8221; before demanding the United States&#8217; neighbor to the north reclaim singer Justin Bieber. &#8220;Take him back! Take him back!&#8221; they heckled.</p><p>What was going on?</p><p>&#8220;The key word is collaboration,&#8221; said Lori Nocito, executive director of Leadership Wilkes-Barre, explaining how some 50 members of the leadership-building program&#8217;s 2015-2016 class worked together on a day devoted to the arts.</p><p>Stepping away from their day-to-day jobs as accountants, attorneys and other occupations you might associate with formality, class members had a chance to tussle during a stage combat and improv class led by local actor/director Angel Berlane.</p><p>Thanks to Parikh they had a taste of Bollywood, too, experimenting with dance moves you might spot in a movie from Bombay and, led by Nocito, they paged through magazines in search of photos they&#8217;d cut out and reassemble to create &#8220;Vision Boards&#8221; that showcased their dreams for the future.</p><p>&#8220;Travel, retirement, health, kids, grandchildren,&#8221; Katie Noone from Navient said, listing the goals her &#8220;Vision Board&#8221; would contain.</p><p>Then there were the skits, performed by three groups of Leadership Wilkes-Barre participants who each received a bag of props.</p><p>&#8220;Can Chris use that box as a &#8216;hover board&#8217; to get to the mall where the fight breaks out over the jewels?&#8221; Dan Lynn from Mohegan Sun Pocono asked as his group planned a Black Friday skit.</p><p>&#8220;We should give everyone numbers,&#8221; Pam Heard from Luzerne County Community College suggested, hoping that would help actors remember the order in which they&#8217;d deliver their lines.</p><p>Another skit, put together in a brief 20 minutes, featured people who did not appreciate their holiday gifts. &#8220;A first aid kit? Do you think I&#8217;m clumsy?&#8221; one asked angrily. &#8220;How can I ever find shoes to match this?&#8221; another asked as she brandished a gaudy handbag.</p><p>All was not lost, as each &#8220;negative person&#8221; cheered up after a &#8220;positive person&#8221; pointed out something good about the gift.</p><p>The third skit involved a &#8220;war&#8221; between Canada and the United States which was actually a dodgeball game. At stake, Ron Solomon from Dyller Law Firm explained, was the United States&#8217; possible conversion to the metric system.</p><p>&#8220;At one point they&#8217;ll ask for concessions and we&#8217;ll say there&#8217;ll be no concessions except for these,&#8221; he said, balancing a plastic tray of food and drink.</p><p>The props weren&#8217;t always used as one might expect, several actors said, pointing out a necktie that one person wrapped around his head so he could portray &#8220;a hippie protesting the war.&#8221; Another wore a red table cloth like a cape, the better to intimidate his dodgeball opponents.</p><p>Also increasing the dodgeball intensity was Katherine Pohlidal from Misericordia University. &#8220;I&#8217;m leading the charge, with this,&#8221; she said, waving a toy bugle.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Rob Bresnahan of Kuharchik Construction joins other members of Leadership Wilkes-Barre in doing Bollywood dancing at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s F.M. Kirby Center for Creative Arts in Kingston. The exercises were designed to build collaboration and creativity. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_creativearts1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Rob Bresnahan of Kuharchik Construction joins other members of Leadership Wilkes-Barre in doing Bollywood dancing at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s F.M. Kirby Center for Creative Arts in Kingston. The exercises were designed to build collaboration and creativity. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120715creativearts_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Leadership Wilkes-Barre members Ali Zurawski of Community Bank, N.A., left, Kelly Novakowski of Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and Pam Heard of Luzerne County Community College page through magazines looking for attractive photos and text to use in a &#8216;Vision Board&#8217; project. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120715creativearts_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Leadership Wilkes-Barre members Ali Zurawski of Community Bank, N.A., left, Kelly Novakowski of Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and Pam Heard of Luzerne County Community College page through magazines looking for attractive photos and text to use in a &#8216;Vision Board&#8217; project. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120715creativearts_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kim Warunek of Geisinger Health Plan, right, appears to &#8216;slap&#8217; Jason Cyphert of One Source H.R. Solutions in the face as they learn about stage combat with other members of Leadership Wilkes-Barre at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts in Kingston. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120715creativearts_2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Kim Warunek of Geisinger Health Plan, right, appears to &#8216;slap&#8217; Jason Cyphert of One Source H.R. Solutions in the face as they learn about stage combat with other members of Leadership Wilkes-Barre at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts in Kingston. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Leadership Wilkes-Barre class of 2015-16 takes part in day of artistic activities at Wyoming Seminary’s Kirby Center for Creative Arts.