As the cold gives way slowly to warmer temperatures, things will remain comfortably cozy as ever at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough) with a number of diverse shows scheduled over the next few months.

Be it live music or musical theatre, or even “I-can’t-believe-what-just-saw” magic, general manager Chad Hogan and his staff are set to welcome a steady stream of great entertainer to the historic hall’s stage.

New music from a local singer? A rousing musical performed by Trent University students? Wizardry of the hypnotic variety from a master? Classic rock as performed by one of the best guitarists of his generation? Folk and blues music served up by two of Canada’s finest songwriters? Whatever your fancy, your appetite is sure to be fully satisfied.

Missy Knott EP Release Party on February 17 at 8 p.m.

If you’re going to throw a party, well, the more the merrier.

So it is that when Peterborough-based singer and songwriter Missy Knott releases her Nashville-recorded new EP, My Sister’s Heart, on February 17 at 8 p.m., she’ll be surrounded by a number of musical friends as special guests — Kate Suhr, Jace Martin, Cody Carslake, Gary Williams, Hillary Dumoulin, Kate Edwards, Brian Mehlenbachr, Jayde Taylor, Denise Ferguson and Nathan Bottomly will each add to their talent to the evening.

“This is the coolest thing I’ve done thus far, with getting the (Ontario Arts Council) grant and being able to work with Crystal Shawanda as my mentor in Nashville,” says Knott.

“Peterborough is a huge part of my career and where I’m going with it. I want to include a number of people I’ve worked with and have inspired me. It just makes it way more fun.”

VIDEO: “One Last Touch” – Missy Knott

“Right before I got pregnant, I was getting very close with my community of Curve Lake. My little sister and I are very close. It (the EP’s title) was my way of telling her I love her. It’s a tribute to my whole family really; to my roots and to my culture.”

Knott admits to being in a very good place now following her struggle with post-partum depression.

“It was pretty awful. I was angry and everything I was doing I was forcing myself to get out of bed to do. Now I’m just so grateful for (my daughter) Lyrik’s health and our roots. I can’t stop writing. I have so much to say. I don’t think I would care or appreciate it all if it wasn’t for Lyrik.”

Helping lift Knott’s spirits is a scheduled performance at this year’s Havelock Country Jamboree. “That’s always been a little girl dream for me,” she says, saying her focus on the country music genre may surprise some but it’s a very comfortable fit for her.

“I’m getting closer and closer to finding my niche. It just sort of unfolded this way and I’m OK with it.”

Tickets for Missy Knott’s EP Release Party, presented by the Peterborough LIVE Music Festival, are $20 ($15 for students) and are available from the box office at Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146 or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

The Anne Shirley Theatre Company presents Bare: A Pop Opera on March 10, 17, at 7 p.m. and March 11, 18 at 2 and 7 p.m.

Since marking its arrival in 1971 with the staging of Anne of Green Gables, The Anne Shirley Theatre Company has strived to remain true to its stated mission: provide opportunities for Trent University students to experience all aspects of theatre, both on and off the stage.

Well, it’s mission accomplished for the student-run theatre troupe, which has served up a diverse menu of stage productions since adopting the name of Anne of Green Gables’ central character as its calling card. With artistic director Kalene Upton at the helm, that success story continues unabated with the staging of Bare: A Pop Opera on March 10th and 17th at 7 p.m., and March 11th and 18th at 2 and 7 p.m.

Based on the book by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo — they combined on the music and lyrics as well — the musical premiered in October 2000 at Hollywood’s Hudson Mainstage Theatre. What followed were numerous critically acclaimed runs in the United States and across the big pond in Wales and Ireland.

The story follows the experiences of a group of high school students as they navigate their final year at St. Cecilia’s, a Catholic high school. Like most all teens, they experiment and party their way through school, all while dealing with pressures courtesy of their parents, their church and their peers. In the end, facing obstacles, the students are forced to decide on what, and who, they will place their faith in.

Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and seniors) and are available from the box office at Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146 or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

Market Hall presents Spidey: Make Believe – Magic Of Your Mind on March 25 at 8 p.m.

When you’re a hypnotist, illusionist and magician and Penn and Teller profess to be blown away by your performance, you know you’re doing something special.

Since beginning his career 10 years ago, Spidey has enthralled audiences around the globe as well as millions online, wowing the judges on America’s Got Talent and Canada’s Got Talent to achieve finalist status on both. Combine that with nominations for Canadian Magician of the Year and Canadian Variety Artist of the Year and, well, you get the idea — this guy knows how to entertain.

It’s clear that Spidey isn’t disappearing anytime soon, although he could if he wanted to, and right before our unbelieving eyes.

VIDEO: “Make Believe – Magic Of Your Mind”

Market Hall Performing Arts Centre presents Spidey’s acclaimed mind-reading show, Make Believe – Magic Of Your Mind, on March 25 at 8 p.m. The same show has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and The Discovery Channel, the latter describing Spidey’s wizardry as “ridiculous … just crazy.” Now a local audience can experience what all the fuss is about.

General admission tickets are $25 ($20 for students and seniors) and are available from the box office at Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146 or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425). Cabaret-style table assigned seating is available for $30.

Market Hall presents Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre Band on April 11 at 8 p.m.

While you may not know Martin Barre by name or face, if you’re a fan of the music of classic British rock band Jethro Tull, you are most familiar with his talent.

The guitarist joined Jethro Tull for its second album Stand Up in 1969 and, with Ian Anderson, anchored the band’s progressive sound over the next 45 years. But it was Barre’s contribution to the album Aqualung — his work on the title track has been voted among the top rock guitar solos of all time by a number of music industry magazines — that he remains best known for.

Barre also played flute and mandolin with Jethro Tull, again adding to the band’s trademark sound that brought it a Grammy Award and album sales of more than 60 million.

VIDEO: “Song for Jeffrey ” – The Martin Barre band

If he wasn’t busy enough, Barre launched a solo career in the early 1990s and subsequently recorded four albums, the latest being 2015’s Back To Steel.

Market Hall Performing Arts Centre presents Barre April 11 at 8 p.m. as part of as extensive tour of Canada and the United States. Joining him will be singer Dan Crisp, drummer George Lindsay and bassist Alan Thomson. Expect a healthy dose of signature Jethro Tull songs as well as performances of Barre’s solo work.

Tickets are $35 and are available from the box office at Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146 or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets for Row C and Tables 8 and 18 are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425). Cabaret-style table seating is available for $30 while VIP table seats cost $75 and include a meet-and-greet with Barre, complimentary refreshments, and a signed poster.

Market Hall presents Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer on April 14 at 8 p.m.

After meeting by chance at a jingle recording session in 2006, Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers discovered they had a mutual love for folk and blues music. That led to their forming a duo, Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, and a wide acclaim for their live shows.

Singing and playing guitar, harmonica and foot percussion, the duo has recorded four studio albums and been a major player on the festival circuit across Canada. The music industry has sat up and taken notice as well, evidence of that including a Juno Award nomination for their 2014 album, A Real Fine Mess, as well as a Sirius XM nod in 2013 for Blues Artist of the Year.

VIDEO: “Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To” – The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer

Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer will be performing at the Market Hall at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 14th. General admission tickets are $25 ($20 for students) and are available from the box office at Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146 or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425). Cabaret-style table assigned seating is available for $30.

Sunday morning services with Peterborough City Church

When you think of the Market Hall, you probably imagine performing arts rather than religious services. But the latter is one of the more innovative uses of the venue this year, after the formation of Peterborough City Church a year ago this month.

Pastors Chad Trivett and Sasha Trivett hold services every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Market Hall as part of their non-denominational church.

Both Trivetts are ordained with the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, a pentecostal Christian association. They met at Toronto’s Tyndale University College and Seminary and eventually married. Just after getting married, they moved to Tokyo in Japan, where they started an international, interdenominational church.

In 2007, after spending six years in Tokyo (where their son Ari was born), they moved back to Sasha’s hometown in Peterborough to be closer to family, and decided to form another interdenominational church. Peterborough City Church was born.

But the Trivetts needed a location to hold their weekly services, and realized the Market Hall would be an ideal space. There’s also a connection between the church and the performing arts: Chad is in a band that performs contemporary music at the church.

Peterborough City Church offers “inspirational messages and music in an educational and engaging atmosphere where each can worship, pray and learn at their own pace.” For a calendar of Sunday services at the Market Hall, including topics and special speakers, visit www.ptbocitychurch.com.

Sometimes the story of a lifetime can come from the most random of places. For Toronto-based documentary filmmaker Jamie Kastner, a visit to his auto mechanic eventually took him to the Cuban underground and face to face with convicted mass murderer Ishmael Muslim Ali.

On Thursday February 16th, A71 Entertainment (co-founded by Peterborough native Chad Maker) will present Kastner’s documentary about Ali, The Skyjacker’s Tale, for a special screening at the Market Hall in Peterborough. Filmmaker Jamie Kastner will attend the screening for a question-and-answer session.

The Skyjacker’s Tale revisits the obscure and strange story of Ali, who has been on the FBI’s most-wanted list since 1984 after successfully hijacking an airplane and escaping into Cuba. For the first time, Kastner’s film presents Ali’s side of the story.

“I came to the story completely by random through my car mechanic,” Kastner tells me during a phone interview. “My mechanic had said to me ‘I have a buddy who goes down to Cuba and he met this man in a bar with a story. You do documentaries. Would you be interested?’ In the mechanic shop, we looked (Ali) up on-line and found fragments of this story.”

The story of Ali, formerly known as Ronald LaBeet, is an intriguing one. In 1972, five masked men entered the Fountain Valley Golf Course in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, and began to shoot up the club house primarily filled with staff and American tourists. By the end of the massacre, eight people were dead with many more wounded. Ali, a former Vietnam soldier and known political activist in St. Croix, was one of the five men convicted of the murders and was sentenced to life in prison in 1973.

Eleven years later, on December 31, 1984, Ali was being transferred under armed escort from St. Croix to New York on American Airlines Flight 626. Feigning air sickness, he obtained a gun hidden in the plane’s washroom and hijacked the plane, forcing it to land in Havana, Cuba, where he has been living in as a fugitive ever since. To this day, Ali maintains his innocence and says he was nowhere near the Fountain Valley Golf Course the day of the massacre.

“There were only scraps of information published about this strange crime in which he was originally convicted,” Kastner recalls. “I couldn’t make sense of it. Five masked men go into a golf course at three in the afternoon and shoot the place up and they make off with less than a thousand dollars from the till. There were suggestions that this was a politically motivated crime. I just couldn’t quite put these shards of information together. But having only heard one side of the story, I figured that at the least I could meet with a mass murderer (to get his side of the story).”

Through the help of the mechanic’s friend acting as a middleman and with funding from a successful pitch he gave to Hot Docs Festival, within weeks of discovering Ali’s story for the first time, Kastner was on an airplane to Cuba to meet Ali in person.

“He met me on the outskirts of town,” says Kastner of his initial meeting. “He is this tall imposing guy. He was 70 at this point, but he is still an impressive figure; he’s not elderly in any obvious way. He has a definite swagger to him, and it seems like he’s stepped out of a 1970s’ blaxploitation film — which in a way he has, in the sense that was the last time he was free on the streets in America.”

“That ended up in informing some of tone and the aesthetic choices I made in the movie, since it was built around his voice. This was a guy who managed to survive Vietnam, a dozen years in a hard maximum security prison and, eventually, hijacked a plane to Cuba where there were scores of unsuccessful hijackings. He’s a fairly impressive guy, whether you love him or loathe him.”

By spending time with Ali, Kastner began to put together another side of the story never revealed before.

“From the information out there, all that is known about Ishmael is that he is one of America’s most-wanted fugitives and, up to this point, has been universally painted as a mass murder and hijacker,” Jamie says. “But then I met him and heard a completely different side of the story. It’s very convincing in its way, and more detailed than anything published. Eventually I saw him as a murderer and I saw him as a victim. I put that spectrum of impressions in play for the audience to let them decide what they think of him and what they feel the crucial part of this story is.”

Kastner and his team of researchers also bring other voices to the film, of people directly affected by Ali. With these other voices represented, Jamie was able to flesh out the story further.

“The film is built around access to Ishmael, but goes back and investigates the hijacking, the original murders, and the trial,” Jamie explains. “From all those points of the story, my team and I were able to unearth a great range of characters. From the pilot and flight attendants and passengers that were on the plane, to the cops and FBI agents who investigated the crime, to witnesses to what was going on on the Virgin Islands at the time, to lawyers on both sides of the case, to people who knew the judge.”

“It’s just what you dream of when you’re trying to bring to life a story that happened decades ago.”

Premiering at TIFF in September 2016, The Skyjacker’s Tale found enthusiastic audiences and also caught the attention of The Innocence Project, a group of civil rights lawyers in the United States who have been successful at overturning wrongful convictions. With three of the five convicted men still incarcerated in U.S. prisons, The Innocence Project is using Jamie’s film as a launch pad to reopen the case.

“There are still three men who have been in jail for 45 years by this point,” Jamie notes. “One guy, in a strange set of circumstances, had his sentence commuted and was let out but died in mysterious circumstances four years late. The Innocence Project is reinvestigating the original trial and convictions based on revelations from the film. There are some amazing revelations that occurred on camera for the first time.”

Jamie notes that being a filmmaker from Canada greatly impacted his ability to tell Ali’s story.

“It would have been impossible to do this story if I were an American,” Jamie says. “My access to this story was based on the fact that I am Canadian. From Canada’s relationship with Cuba over the years, to the fact that the story was first told to a Canadian tourist, to my ability to travel there, to the fact that Ishmael is fairly anti-American himself — from what he experienced both as a soldier in Vietnam and at the hands of the American justice system. I am sure that the fact that I am Canadian was part of what got me in the door there.”

“It’s amazing to me how this guy who is in exile and underground in Cuba decided he wanted to tell his story, with a particular motivation to help his co-defendants who are also convicted of murder, and he managed to do it by randomly talking to Canadians in a bar.”

Don’t miss the chance to see The Skyjacker’s Tale at Market Hall, on Thursday February 16th. The film begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by question-and-answer session with Kastner. Tickets are $10, available at the Market Hall Box Office, by calling 705-749-1146, or online at www.markethall.org (a $3 box office service fee applies).

VIDEO: The Skyjacker’s Tale – Official Trailer