Lights out, act up, culture’s in

June 05, 2011|By Ron Driscoll, Globe Correspondent

DENNIS — With a sweep of her arm, Alison Whitehead-Miller showed off the bright confines of Cape Cod Chat House, which opened a few weeks ago on historic Route 6A. The circa 1850 house has been transformed into a multiroom art gallery and coffeehouse that has attracted locals and 6A meanderers.

“I never know who’s going to walk through the door,’’ said Brett Warren, who opened the venue with her husband, John. One day, she welcomed a couple who told her they had been married in the house 32 years ago, when the woman’s parents owned it. Another visitor asked whether they planned to host live music. Warren said they did, and the woman asked if she could play a couple of songs.

One visitor said the combination of art and conversation was “like an accessible museum.’’ Whitehead-Miller, the cafe manager, who grew up in nearby Yarmouthport, said, “If there had been a place like this when I was in high school, it would have changed everything.’’

Change is evident as the Cape reinvents itself for another summer, with venues from Falmouth to Provincetown showcasing nighttime cultural offerings, new and tried and true.

Cape Cod Chat House The former Dennis farmhouse has been renovated in an eco-friendly manner, and the coffee, snacks, and desserts — many of them organic — are from local producers. The Warrens have chosen pieces by artists Richard Neal and Jackie Reeves, both of Chalkboard Studio in Barnstable Village, to set the debut mood. There is plenty of room to sit and kibitz (with free Wi-Fi), and an outdoorpatio. 593 Route 6A, 508-694-7187, www.capecodchathouse.com

Summer Stock After a two-year hiatus, the restaurant on the Cape Cod Center for the Arts campus in Dennis has reopened as Summer Stock, with the attached Bar Lilly wine bar (named for fashion icon Lilly Pulitzer), and an outdoor “Twilight Garden.’’ Owners Joe and Bev Dunn’s third Cape restaurant, it shares its parking lot with Cape Playhouse (the oldest professional summer theater in the country), Cape Cod Museum of Art, and the Cape Cinema art-film house. The menu offers lunch, dinner, and “nosh abouts’’ for pre- or post-show snacking. A “Wizard of Oz’’ movie theme includes a huge mural of poppies in the dining room and bathrooms marked “Dorothy’’ and “Scarecrow.’’ 36 Hope Lane, 508-385-8300, www.summerstockrestaurant.com

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