| FOLA Announces New Schedule FOLA (Friends of Ludlow Auditorium) has announced its first new schedule for 2024 following the well-received – and attended, Blue Jay Way Band Musical in March. In announcing the initial plans for the new season, Jim Alic, FOLA President, noted that "we've finally reached the point where we can look beyond Covid". He added that this initial schedule would be greatly enlarged in the coming months as people show an interest in returning to the Heald Auditorium. Scott Steans, FOLA's Program Director, indicated that plans are already underway for new events. "But we wanted to let the public know of the dates and times of the events that have been scheduled." Since this is a major political year, the schedule calls for two Candidate Forums where voters can hear directly from the candidates as to why they should be elected. A Primary Election candidates' Forum is scheduled for Thursday, July 18 at 7 PM. A General Election Forum will be conducted on Thursday, October 10 at 7 PM. The format and candidates for these events will be announced following the filing dates for the involved positions. Stearns also noted that FOLA's annual Silent Movie Festival would be returning to the auditorium on Saturday, August 24, starting at 7 PM. The silent movie selected is the classic film, "The Last Laugh", and will feature the return of Jeff Rapsis to provide the musical background. According to Stearns, future programs will likely include more musicals, some movies, plus new events co-produced with local organizations. These events and future new events for the year are available at https://fola.us. Pictured below is Emil Jannings from the silent movie, "The Last Laugh". The film is the story of the demotion of a
well-respected doorman at a major hotel who ended up having the last laugh. | 
