In 2015, director Giselle Ty created a series of immersive theatrical installations at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. Titled “All at Once Upon a Time (or Variations on the Theme of Disappearing),” the project took audience members through three floors of the Gardner-Pingree House for dreamlike performances created specifically for the National Historic Landmark. At first blush, Ty’s Peabody Essex installations seem a world away from the director’s upcoming production of  “Cavalleria Rusticana” from the Boston Lyric Opera.

But in a theater scene still figuring out how to thrive while coming out of a pandemic, Ty has adapted what she’s learned in the past to create a unique telling of composer Pietro Mascagni’s one-act opera at a rock venue.

“I’ve done a lot of site specific work where you have to be flexible with what you can do in a space and how an audience lives in that space,” she told the Boston Herald. “At the Peabody Essex Museum, where the space is so present, not only are there logistical concerns like you can’t screw anything to the walls of these historic houses, but also each space has its own vibration, its own soul. You have to acknowledge truthfully and honestly what the space is. Everything doesn’t fit everywhere.”

For the BLO production of “Cavalleria Rusticana,” Ty needs to navigate a space diametrically opposed to the history halls of the Peabody Essex. The BLO opens its new season with Oct. 1 and 3 performances of  “Cavalleria Rusticana” at the Leader Bank Pavilion, a concert venue on the Boston Waterfront that hosted Alice Cooper, the Violent Femmes and Megadeth in recent weeks.

The move could make these two of the BLO’s best-attended performances — the Pavilion can hold over 5,000 for rock shows, it is an open-air venue on the breezy waterfront making it safer than an indoor space, and tickets start at $10 (that’s less than the cost of a movie). It also makes mounting the show a logistical challenge.

“If you are used to touring with Lady Gaga or pop stars, the show is set and they have done it 200 times,” Ty said. “We have very little time to tech it. Normally BLO would be in residency for a week with more time to do lighting, more time to do spacing, more time to settle into the space.”

At the Pavilion, the BLO can’t bring in a set. The team has only a few hours to map out the production in the space. One performance is at night, one during the day, so lighting will have to shift dramatically.

The BLO team seems to be rising to the challenge — for instance, lighting designer Molly Tiede has created a 3D-model of the lighting design with cutting edge software. Costume designer Gail Astrid Buckley and wig-makeup designer Ronell Oliveri have been instructed to “go a little wilder than a traditional opera house (production).” Ty is working with choreographer Levi Marsman to bring an emotional depth and excitement to the stage without a lot of clunky set pieces.

“I tend to not love naturalistic or realistic staging anyway,” she said. “I’m not a fan of huge, heavy operatic sets even when it’s not a question of time or money. I like things to move.”

The BLO has a reputation for reinventing spaces: Right before the pandemic, the company reimagined an adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” at a Harvard gymnasium and transformed an ice skating rink in the North End into a roadshow carnival with midway games and circus performers for “Pagliacci.”

This version of “Cavalleria Rusticana” looks to continue that tradition while playing to its director’s strengths.

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For tickets and details, go to blo.org.

Social media is a minefield of adolescent anxieties, as any parent can attest. Numerous studies have suggested a connection between excessive use of online platforms (and the devices used to access them) and worrying trends in teenage mental health, including higher rates of depressive symptoms, reduced happiness and an increase in suicidal thoughts.

Even in this grim context, Instagram, the wildly popular photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc., stands out. Its star-studded milieu — glossy, hedonistic, relentlessly sexualized — seems finely tuned to destabilize the teenage mind. Studies have linked the service to eating disorders, reduced self-esteem and more.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that an internal research effort at the company, revealed this month, found that teens associate the service with a host of mental health problems. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” said one slide. “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another. “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”

If Facebook was concerned about these findings before they became public, it didn’t do much. In July, Instagram rolled out several policy changes it said were intended to protect teens, such as limiting how advertisers can target them and setting their accounts to private by default. “Instagram has been on a journey to really think thoughtfully about the experience that young people have,” a company rep said at the time.

Unfortunately, all that thoughtful thinking yielded an incoherent result. In the very same post in which Facebook announced the changes, it also conceded that it was moving ahead with a new version of Instagram intended for children under 13. Dubbed Instagram Youth, the concept was so obviously distasteful that it earned the opprobrium of health experts and consumer advocates, lawmakers of both parties, and nearly every state attorney general in the country.

A letter from health experts could hardly have been blunter. “The platform’s relentless focus on appearance, self-presentation, and branding presents challenges to adolescents’ privacy and wellbeing,” it said. “Younger children are even less developmentally equipped to deal with these challenges, as they are learning to navigate social interactions, friendships, and their inner sense of strengths and challenges during this crucial window of development.”

Facebook justifies this plan on the (rather shameless) theory that, since it has largely failed to keep children off of adult Instagram, the kids’ version will “reduce the incentive for people under the age of 13 to lie about their age.”

One might ascribe all this to Facebook’s standard-issue tactlessness. Its Messenger Kids app is targeted at users as young as 6, even though experts have warned that it’s highly likely to “undermine children’s healthy development.” That these schemes keep going horribly awry doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent.

One wonders what would be. As a start, lawmakers should pressure Facebook to scrap Instagram Youth entirely and make a more earnest effort to protect teenagers across its services. Congress should consider extending existing online protections for children to all users up to age 15, for example, and create a legal expectation that platforms do more to prevent minors from lying about their ages.

Social media is hard enough on consenting adults. It’s no place for kids.

The days are shorter and still feel a bit warm here in the Northeast. But in the evening, that crisp autumn air is blowing in.

And I say this: Forget the pumpkin spice flavored everything: Give me the foliage.

Few places give you more ways to celebrate all that seasonal color than Vermont.

This week, as far northern Vermont moves toward peak color and all points south from there begin their show, it’s a great time to head north.

First, some honesty from Michael Snyder, Vermont’s “Chief Foliage Forecaster,” (or as he is officially known, commissioner of forests, parks and recreation for the State of Vermont).

“I was burned by too many misguided snow reports as a kid, so I always like to be transparent,” he said.

Snyder notes that the state did experience an uptick in LDD caterpillar impact on the west side of the state, as well as some Maple Leaf Cutter caterpillar impact on some hillsides throughout the state.

The good news, he said, is that most has grown back and even with the spots where it has not, the vast majority of trees are healthy, the weather has been cooperative and the colors are starting to burst.

In other words: The show will go on.

Dylan Debruyn, meteorologist for Local 22 and 44 in Burlington, told the Herald that viewers are already sending in photos showing brilliant color against the Vermont backdrop with enthusiastic comments.

“The geography of Vermont makes it unique and beautiful,” said Debruyn, who grew up in Plymouth.

“The lakes, the mountains, the fields — it’s all just a perfect backdrop for this,” he said.

“The hype is there for a great foliage season,” he added. “It always lives up to expectations.”

How to see it all?

Snyder says the timeline can dictate where in the state you head — and can also give you a few opportunities to see peak colors over the coming six weeks or so.

First up, he said, is the Northeast Kingdom, “where the show begins.”

The Northeast Kingdom is sparsely populated and dotted with quaint towns. Taking Route 2 can bring you to some great spots.

Pro tip? Head to Jay Peak (jaypeakresort.com) and take a tram ride — or hike — to the top of the mountain for foliage views of both the U.S. and Canada.

The foliage peak moves south bit by bit, into mid Vermont in early October and then spreading both west and south.

Vermont has ample spots for cycling, hiking, kayaking and canoeing as well.

“Seeing foliage from the water is a special experience,” Snyder said. “The combination of the water, forest and hillsides, well, you just cannot go wrong with it.”

Some less busy and totally worthy foliage spots include the Molly Stark State Park (vtstateparks.com/mollystark.html), a lovely park just past the Massachusetts border in Wilmington, where you can hike to a fire tower, have a picnic with a view and savor nature. That’s a great choice for later in the season, as the southern locale means later peak color.

Farther north, should you head out sooner, Elmore State Park (vtstateparks.com/elmore.html) offers fire towers along hikes, water views and more.

Those who like bikes should consider heading up to Burke Mountain, where mountain biking is king. Located far north, Burke is a great spot for any level cyclist, even a first timer, to get out and move among the color.

It also should be a law that every foliage peeper spends some time hanging out at a Vermont brewery. Yes, the beer is great (craft beer was pretty much born in Vermont) but so are the settings. You can find just the right brewery for you via the Vermont Brewer’s Association (vermontbrewers.com). And yes, most are family friendly.

Another favorite foliage visit many have may seem strange: Montpelier.

The state capitol is a city, but it’s quaint, comfortable, walkable and most of all, tucked up against nature. The view of the capitol building surrounded by autumn colors is totally worth a visit, and their downtown is perfect for shopping and dining among the beauty.

Foliage season is busy in Vermont, but with its wide open spaces, plentiful lakes, unique mountain towns and an endless supply of “oh my gosh” vistas, there’s room for all.

“You can’t go wrong, is my point,” said Snyder. “Vermont foliage is well known for a reason.”

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You can learn more, including updated foliage maps, at vermontvacation.com.

What would family court think of my ex, a mother who prompted our separation (we were never married, but have two children together) and then three months later proceeds to move in with my brother? What’s good ex-etiquette about that?

Although morally questionable what you describe is not against the law in most states. A handful of states still have laws on the books offering various fines and restrictions if you move on too quickly when you have been married, but I know of none that have those restrictions if you were never married. (Remember, I’m not an attorney.)

In states where no law has been broken, although a judge might reprimand the parties from the bench, the main concern is the safety of the children. If they are not “safe,” Child Protective Services would most likely be involved, and that adds another layer to the story.

Some might question the children’s emotional “safety” under these circumstances. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine the emotional aspects. Safety is most often determined by outward scars and bruises.

So as reprehensible as you feel your ex’s behavior was, I don’t believe the courts will intercede. My suggestion is to keep the lines of communication open, no matter how you feel. That means look for ways to communicate calmly. Respond when she calls about the kids, and never badmouth her in front of the children, no matter what you think of her. The last thing your children need right now is two parents bickering about things they probably do not understand.

Finally, under the circumstances, I suggest you do go to court, but to put a parenting plan in place so you can successfully share the children’s time and keep arguing to a minimum. Routine and stability are important for children, especially immediately after a breakup. The not knowing where you will be and with which parent can be very confusing. A parenting plan will assign days and times, and they will then know when they will be with mom and when they will be with dad, and hopefully be able to settle in more quickly. It will also reduce the time you and their mother will spend negotiating things that could erupt into arguments.

You are right in the middle of your breakup turmoil. It will not be easy for anyone. The most important thing, no matter how angry and hurt you are, is to be a stabilizing force for your children. That is good ex-etiquette.

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Dr. Jann Blackstone is the author of “Ex-etiquette for Parents: Good Behavior After Divorce or Separation” and the founder of Bonus Families, bonusfamilies.com. 

 

 

My ex is on SSDI. I do my best to make ends meet as a home health aide with the funds the children get from SSDI and his nominal $25 per week child support payment but it is incredibly stressful. I only work part time because child care is so expensive. I know the child support guidelines are changing in October and I hoped this meant he was going to pay more. But someone told me his support might be cut in half. That would be so unfair. I can’t imagine why they would cut my support.

I was going to try to modify the order to get more money from him since your last column said day care costs are going to be shared. If I can get him to pay half of day care, I can work more hours, which I really want to do — I would like to make enough that I can start nursing school. Now I don’t know whether to try to get more or to sit here grateful for the small amount I do receive. What do you suggest?

The new child support worksheet calculator is now available on the Mass.gov website as a fillable pdf. You can find it at courtforms.jud.state.ma.us/publicforms/PFC0001_2021. Make sure to use a browser other than Internet Explorer if you want the form to work. In order to make a decision as to how to move forward, play with the form and run some different scenarios. The form now has distinctive places for you to include what your children receive on account of SSDI, what he receives and, of course, the amount of child care costs.

When I say play with the form, first put in the numbers used to arrive at your current support order when it was entered so you know what the new order would look like. Then increase your child care expenses, which will allow you to work more hours — of course you will also need to increase your income if you are working more.  See whether it makes sense to take on more hours and more child care based on the new formula and what that does to your child support order. If it makes sense, you need to enroll them in more child care and take on the new hours before you file a modification.

As you look at scenarios, keep in mind that the task force who came up with these new child support guidelines recognized that some lower income folks were losing out on government benefits because their child support was too high. The new minimum weekly order is $12. You have the previous weekly minimum so before you make a decision, you may want to inquire into what additional government subsidies you and your children might receive if your child support was decreased. While you are at it, look into whether there are low-income child care programs you are not already participating in that could also allow you to work more hours.

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Email questions to [email protected]

Dear Abby: My husband and I have been married more than 30 years. We have a problem I cannot seem to get past: We didn’t have a church wedding because he threatened not to marry me if I demanded one. I went along with him because of my low self-esteem, and I’m still sad and angry about it. He also refuses to take vacations with me because he “traveled too much” during his career. What can I do?

— Pouting in the South

Dear Pouting: I can’t do anything about the church wedding you were denied, but I do have a suggestion. Quit pouting over what you can’t change and assume some control over your life. Accept that because you had low self-esteem, you were willing to marry someone this self-centered and controlling. Because you have a desire to travel and, I assume, can afford to, ask some of your women friends to join you. If you do, I’ll bet you will have a great time sending photos back to your homebody hubby.

Dear Abby: I have been divorced from my ex for 36 years. Our son is now 44. My ex and I haven’t spoken since the divorce because it was ugly. Now that we are older, for the benefit of our son, I would like for my ex and I to be civil to each other. I’m tired of hating and I don’t want him to hate me. I wonder if it would make my son happy if his father and I were on better terms, so I have been thinking of writing to my ex and asking if we could talk sometime. What do you think?

— White Flag in the West

Dear White Flag: I see no harm in writing the letter to your ex. However, do not expect a miracle. Because the divorce was “ugly,” do not expect him to react positively after more than three decades of icy silence. As to your son, whatever the situation has been for most of his life, he is accustomed to it.

Dear Abby: My granddaughter, “Suzie,” is getting married in a month in a fairly large wedding. She is my only grandchild. Suzie’s father is not in the picture. Because of the pandemic, my husband and I must decline the invitation. We are in our mid-70s and both of us have some health issues. The wedding party will mostly be young people. My daughter and granddaughter are very upset that we are not coming. What is your opinion?

— On the Side of Caution

Dear Caution: Given the fact that you and your husband have health issues, you are making a mature and appropriate decision. Soften the blow by agreeing to attend via Zoom or one of the other video-chat platforms. This may not fulfill your daughter and granddaughter’s fantasy, but it’s better than nothing. If Suzie loves you — and I am sure she does — she would never get over the guilt if one or both of her grandparents became infected and possibly died of COVID because she pressured them into attending.

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Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at DearAbby.com.

The Revolution set a club record for points in a season (62) with Saturday night’s 2-1 victory over Orlando City SC at Gillette Stadium.

The Revolution improved to 19-4-5 and 11-1-2 at Gillette while getting three points closer to securing the first Supporters Shield in club history. The Revolution played their third game in 11 days and wrap up the stretch at CF Montreal on Wednesday night.

“We are just finding ways to win and I know these guys are riding that high,” said Revs’ keeper Matt Turner. “We have a lot of areas we can clean up and do better and be the best team we can be.

“You don’t win 19 games by accident. We are a battle-tested team and we are a team that has made some good runs in tough places.”

The Revs went up 1-0 in the ninth minute. Tommy McNamara led Gustavo Bou on a run down the left flank while Adam Buksa gained favorable position on Orlando defender Robin Jansson in the penalty area. Bou made a long cross that Buksa kicked by keeper Pedro Gallese for his 12th goal of the season.

“Gustavo is buying into being a team player,” said Arena. “He did a wonderful job creating the first goal.”

Orlando tied the game 1-1 in the 18th minute when striker Daryl Dike muscled center back Henry Kessler off the ball and beat Turner to the far post.

The Revs regained the lead in the 35th minute. Tajon Buchanan made a hard run down the right flank and fed Buksa in the danger area. Orlando Rodrigo defender Rodrigo Schlegal got tangled up with Buksa and put it in his own goal.

Turner preserved the lead when he stoned Nani on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. Bou was denied his 13th when he hit the crossbar with a missile in the 85th minute.

If Nathan Eovaldi’s performance in Friday’s series opener was uncharacteristic, Saturday’s follow-up played out more like the potential American League Wild Card game that could take place between the Red Sox and Yankees in October.

But for the Red Sox, the result was even more gutting.

Darwinzon Hernandez looked, but he didn’t need to, and Alex Cora could only look on from the dugout with wonder. The Red Sox’ bullpen had played with fire for three innings against the Yankees, and it finally caught up to them. Giancarlo Stanton finally punished them with a mammoth go-ahead, two-out grand slam in the eighth inning sent deep into the Boston night and still might even be rolling along with traffic down the Mass. Pike.

Yankees 5, Red Sox 3, and now deadlocked atop the AL Wild Card standings with seven games left. In a season full of them, this crushing loss had to rank near the top.

“We have to show up (Sunday),” Cora said. “We know where we’re at, and be ready to play.”

A win was within the Red Sox’ grasp as they led 2-1 into the eighth behind a dominant effort from Nick Pivetta. But the bullpen — which has been lights out for the better part of the last month — played with danger one too many times.

They had escaped the sixth, when Hansel Robles threw a wild pitch that scored the Yankees’ first run, and they had gotten away from the seventh with the lead after Tanner Houck, in the biggest spot of his rookie season, issued two four-pitch walks to open the frame. But they weren’t as fortunate in the eighth.

Houck struck out the first two batters of the inning, but didn’t record another out. He lost two full counts with Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge and walked both. And with left-handed hitting Anthony Rizzo coming up, Cora turned to the lefty Hernandez despite Rizzo’s good numbers against lefties (.326 entering Saturday). Josh Taylor was unavailable because he’s getting an MRI on his back, and Cora thought Hernandez, who entered Saturday with nine consecutive scoreless outings, was the right man for the job, even with Stanton waiting on deck.

“It’s not that you’re thinking something negative is going to happen with the lefty, but we do believe he can get the righty out in that spot, too,” Cora said. “So we went with him.”

But it backfired. Hernandez plunked Rizzo with a 3-1 pitch to load the bases, which necessitated a mound visit from Cora. It didn’t seem to do much. Hernandez’s first pitch to Stanton was a 94 mph fastball right down the middle, which the Yankees hitter has made a living of demolishing. He made no mistake, cranking it 452 feet out of Fenway Park. It looked much farther than that.

“Electric,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton’s slam, which created an expected stunned reaction from the mix of Red Sox and Yankees fans among the sellout Fenway crowd.

The crushing blast can be blamed on Cora’s decision to go to Hernandez, but it also never gets there if Houck finished off Gardner or Judge.

Despite starting the seventh with back-to-back four-pitch walks, Houck rebounded and thought his stuff was sharp, particularly his slider. He felt that he had a strong at-bat against Gardner, who he got ahead with a 1-2 count before throwing three straight balls. Against Judge, he had two strikes on him but narrowly missed on a 2-2 slider before walking him on a 3-2 fastball, which ended his night.

“The third and fourth walk, (they) just put together some good ABs,” Houck said. “(They) held off on some good pitches and just got to kind of tip your cap. It’s really unfortunate in that circumstance. I would have loved to have got that 2-2 call (to Judge) but that’s how the game is, you’re going to miss off just a little bit here and there and not get the calls. … It’s just part of the game. I felt good out there,”

The Red Sox, once dominant against the Yankees this season, need a win Sunday night to avoid being swept and losing the top spot in the Wild Card standings heading into the final week, after receiving two painful doses of reality the last two nights.

“We’ll be fine,” said Kevin Plawecki, whose X-rays came back negative on his foot after being hit by a pitch. “It’s what it’s all about. Nobody said it would be easy. It hasn’t been easy for us all year. We have grinded. We’ll be ready to get back to it (Sunday) and play the best baseball we can and whatever happens, happens. There’s no reason to put extra pressure on ourselves.”