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Salem Theatre Company presents ‘Shining City’

“Snake Eyes” by Ken Riaf will be included in “Driven,” a new show at Flatrocks Gallery.

IRISH GHOST STORY: Salem Theatre Company continues its 10th season of main stage productions with “Shining City” by Conor McPherson, opening Thursday.

The play is set in Dublin, where a guilt-ridden man reaches out to a therapist after seeing the ghost of his recently deceased wife.

The therapist, who is wrestling with his own demons, can only do so much to help. Routine visits between the two men quickly become a struggle to survive, changing both of their lives.

The man, John, is played by Stephen Cooper  of Marblehead and the therapist is played by Joseph O’Meara  of Brookline.

Also featured in the cast are Angela Gunn  of Somerville and Thomas Rash  of Rockport.

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James Wilkinson  of Danvers is the production stage manager, and Bruce Greenwald, Gregory Mancusi-Ungaro, Jean Fogle, and John Fogle  of Marblehead designed the set, lighting, set decoration, and sound, respectively.

The show runs through Feb. 18, with performances 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, at 90 Lafayette St., Salem.

The preview shows this Thursday and Friday are “Name Your Own Ticket Price” at the door. People may also ensure seating for the two preview performances by buying tickets for $10 online at salemtheatre.com.

Tickets for regular performances are $25, $20 for senior citizens, $10 for students.

For advance and day-of-show reservations for pickup at the box office, call 978-790-8546 or e-mail info@salemtheatre.com.

INSTRUMENT OF ANGELS: The second event of Close Encounters with Music, a five-part series that combines lecture and performance to explore the world of classical music, is Jan. 28 at the Peabody Institute Library.

Virtuoso harpist Barbara Poeschl-Edrich  presents “Harps Modern and Tall, Ancient and Small,” a guided tour of the harp combined with music.

Poeschl-Edrich entwines the story of the harp with examples of different instruments.

The series, presented by Music at Eden’s Edge, combines traditional live classical music performances with interactive dialogue among performers and listeners.

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Performers reflect on the history of their instruments, cultural context of music performed, literary and artistic cross-discipline connections, and their personal insights into the music they perform.

It is geared for newcomers to chamber music, as well as seasoned concertgoers.

The series takes place at the main library, 82 Main St., Peabody.

To reserve a seat, call 978-531-0100, ext. 10, or visit www.peabodylibrary.org.

AUTHOR’S CORNER: Jim Gustafson of Haverhill, a retired minister and Northern Essex Community College  philosophy and religion professor, is the author of “Psalms/Tweets: Psalms in Contemporary Style.” For the book, Gustafson rewrote all 150 psalms as tweets. Using slang and modern-day expressions, he condensed the psalms to 50, 20, or in some cases 10 percent of the original text. For purchase of the book, Gustafson asks only for a donation to the Benevolent Fund of the West Congregational Church in Haverhill, where he served as minister during the 1960s and associate pastor until 2000.

He continues to preach when needed, remains the church organist, and travels regularly on missionary trips. To purchase a book, e-mail jgustafson@necc.mass.edu.

IN LOCAL GALLERIES: “Driven,” a new show at Flatrocks Gallery  in the Lanesville section of Gloucester, focuses on the obsessive aspect of the creative process; the urge to work and rework an idea or an image until its possibilities have been exhausted. It features new mixed-media works by Jon Sarkin, photographs by Paul Cary Goldberg, and assemblage by Ken Riaf. The show runs through Feb. 24.  . . . “Renewal and Metamorphosis,” an exhibit of photographs from the Navigator Foundation, is in the Winfisky Gallery at Salem State University through Feb. 7. Years of on-site work in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia during the last decade of the Cold War and beyond enabled the Navigator Foundation of Boston to gather extensive collections of 20th-century photography from those locations. This exhibition presents Russian photographic accomplishments from World War II through the 1990s. A reception is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday. Murray Forbes,  executive director of the Navigator Foundation, is presents a lecture at 12:15 p.m. Jan. 29.

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Items can be sent to wdkilleen@gmail.com.