When people gather for the Friday Night Song Circle in Toronto, Canada, magic happens. For many, the song circle is the best part of their week, and they’ve been coming for years. When its founder falls ill, the life-affirming connections in the song circle help sustain her and we discover the glue that binds the song circle together.
Director Polly Wells will have the premier of her new film It Happens When We Sing at Fallsington Friends Meeting on Saturday, March 28 at 7:00 pm. The film takes us into the song circle’s past and present, interweaving intimate stories of isolation and connection, hardship and resilience, loneliness and love.
Polly remembers, “I grew up with a hunger to sing. When I discovered the Friday Night Song Circle it felt like a gift from our collective past, a living, breathing antidote to the pervasive loneliness of modern life.”
Polly Wells
Polly Wells trained as a journalist and has worked in factual television in the U.S. and Canada for thirty years. She is also a photographer, an artist, and the author of Freaking Out. This is the second of two films she has directed inside the vibrant musical subculture of informal singing.
Polly will talk briefly about her inspiration for the 28-minute film, and after a refreshment break, local musician Amy Duckett Wagner will lead a group sing on guitar.
Amy Duckett Wagner
Amy Duckett Wagner, a trained vocalist and guitarist with a music degree, has a mission to share music that improves lives. A Bucks County native, she brings a large repertoire that audiences know and love and three original albums. She entertains and leads music workshops internationally at international places of worship, folk venues (like the Philadelphia Folk Festival), and retirement communities, inspiring new audiences every week.
The event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome to join in, sing, and bring an instrument or a friend; songbooks provided. The Meetinghouse is handicapped accessible.
For more information contact: Amy Duckett Wagner, (215) 736-1277 Email: amyduckettwagner@gmail.com