Jane Mayer is not afraid of the dark. She’s reported first-hand on terrorism in Beirut and traced a high-pressure pipeline of hidden money aimed at swamping the American political system. Most recently, in the New Yorker, she’s turned her gaze on Donald Trump.

Performing artists come to the Vineyard to refresh themselves creatively and develop new work, and Island audiences see exciting performances in return: new plays, musicals and even ice-skating dancers from Canada.

James Lapine is working. He looks as relaxed as any other summer resident, bicycling around Edgartown in shorts and T-shirt, but this is no vacation for the Pulitzer, Tony and Peabody award-winning dramatist, theatre director and filmmaker.

Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, the small staff at Island Grown Initiative's Thimble Farm — now doing business as Island Grown Farm Hub at Thimble Farm — tends more than 30,000 square feet of greenhouses.

The set of High Time, the new play that opened at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse last week, is an early-1960s suburban interior.

More than 40 people turned up at the Vineyard Haven Public Library last Wednesday evening for a panel discussion on the perils of charity work, featuring several Island residents who shared their volunteering experiences.