Edward Beck is not your average priest. Four years ago he wrote the first draft of a play called Sweetened Water.

Students of Rosie’s Theater Kids, which connects youths from New York city with performing arts, have spent a week at Vineyard Arts Project.

Monday night’s rehearsal for the Island Theatre Workshop’s summer production of The King and I began with Lee Fierro and director Kevin Ryan gathering the cast to give them feedback. Amidst the technical discussions typical of this sort of assembly were kind words from both. At one point Ms. Fierro even became teary as she complimented nine-year-old Zachary Mathias on his performance in the first scene the night before.

Amidst shouts in Italian and a few anachronistic jokes, James Reston Jr.’s play, Galileo’s Torch, based on the life and trial of Galileo Galilei had its Martha’s Vineyard premiere Monday night in a reading at Vineyard Playhouse directed by Scott Barrow.

Jon Lipsky’s inspiring and unique career as a playwright, director, acting professor and dream researcher ended in March 2011, when he died at his West Tisbury home after a long illness. But now a handsome compendium of eight of his best plays has been published, and Mr. Lipsky’s robustly imaginative personality jumps up from these pages like a frisky friend who returns to announce, “See that! Did you really think I was gone?” The two-volume set (almost 800 pages) has been meticulously edited by Bill Barclay and Jonah Lipsky, Jon’s son.

Hair will be performed at the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School on August 6, 7, 8 and 9, all shows beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.