Concert, opening celebrate Wagers

SANDPOINT — She was there, helping to lead the charge, when the community rallied to save the Panida Theater in the mid-1980s. More than 20 years later, with the main theater paid off and countless improvements completed, she was in the forefront of bringing another project home when the Panida made its final installment on the “little theater” space in late 2007.

This Friday and Saturday, two more events will carry on the legacy of love and leadership created by Laurel Wagers, who passed away on Feb. 13. Along with Jane Evans and Susan Bates-Harbuck, she was one of the “Founding Moms” who stood between the wrecking ball and the historic downtown theater that went on to become a symbol of community spirit.

On Friday at 7:30 p.m., pianist/composer Scott Kirby performs in concert to benefit the Panida and honor the woman who worked so hard to keep it alive.

Titled “Pan-Americana,” the main stage performance will span more than 150 years of music from North and South America and the Caribbean, with selections from Scott Joplin, John Philip Sousa and Stephen Foster interspersed with the music of Brazil Cuba, the West Indies and original compositions by Kirby.

The concert is billed as a tribute to Wagers, an accomplished actress and published author who was a pianist and vocalist herself.

“We’re doing it in memory of Laurel,” said Karen Bowers, executive director for the Panida Theater. “We had talked about doing something like a plaque, but she would have much rather had a party. So a concert seemed like the right thing to do.”

This Saturday from 4-10 p.m., Kirby and his wife, photographer Marie-Dominique Verdier, will add another jewel to the Panida’s crown as they celebrate the grand opening of their new business, First Light Gallerie & Studio.

Part photo studio, part art gallery and part performance space, the couple’s venture will showcase their respective talents in a cozy, brick-walled venue located immediately north of the theater.

Along with his musical pursuits, Kirby is a visual artist whose paintings are often rooted in the power of America’s heartland. Verdier, meanwhile, has a practiced eye for quirky detail — as shown in her photographic collection, “The Alleys of Sandpoint: Where Time Stands Still” — and a flair for portraiture that captures a subject’s essence, not just an image, in the lens. Both Kirby and Verdier will hang their work in the new gallery space, along with that of other artists.

“Ideally, we’ll have one wall that’s rotating with guest artists,” said Verdier.

Rounding out the artistic environment will be the inclusion of Kirby’s piano. While his wife plans to use the setting as a studio for modeling work, portraits and art photography, the composer expects to use it as both a creative hideaway and open musical forum.

“It will be a space where I can work, so in that sense, it will be my studio, too,” he said. “I’ll be in here noodling around all the time.”

For those unfamiliar with Kirby’s multiple CD releases and long history of worldwide concert and broadcast performances, the chance to hear him “noodle” is like turning a spyglass on the creative process itself, perhaps being lucky enough to catch a phrase or musical motif from a future composition at the moment of its birth.

The couple plans to bring a taste of their former home in New Orleans to Sandpoint as they open up the gallery, salon style, to the public for impromptu musical sessions where everyone gets involved by raising their voice in song.

“We got the idea from when we lived in Louisiana,” Verdier said. “On Saturday mornings, people got together for Cajun food and music in a fiddle maker’s shop.”

As an extension of the salon aspect, the two artists also plan to offer community outreach events, including photographic workshops and musical symposiums.

Tucked neatly alongside the Panida and adjacent to the new entrance to its little theater, First Light Gallerie & Studio initially will be open Thursday-Saturday from 1-6 p.m., as well as some evening hours when performances are scheduled at its neighboring theaters.

According to Bowers, the new studio and gallery space is “the right fit” to establish a third point on the Panida’s artistic triangle.

Wagers, too, liked to idea of having artists hanging their shingle next door, the executive director noted.

“Laurel knew the gallery was going to be happening,” Bowers said. “When we talked about it in January, she was pleased.”

Tickets to Friday’s “Pan-Americana” benefit concert, which also will feature a showing of Scott Kirby’s original watercolors and drawings, are $15 for adults, $8 for students and available at Eve’s Leaves, Pedro’s at the Panida and First Light Gallerie.

For more information on the new gallery, visit: www.firstlightgallerie.com.