Saturday, August 11, 2018
"We have become a victim of our own success," wrote board chair Peter Espenshade in an email. "The move will allow us to meet the demand for live theater and will allow us more room, from the lobby to backstage, to produce world-class theater," he said.
Tags: Vermont Stage , Main Street Landing Black Box Theatre , FlynnSpace , theater , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The aim of the Lockwood Prize is to "reward the pinnacle of arts leadership in Vermont by honoring the state's most influential artists," according to Todd R. Lockwood. He created the award in 2014 and named it for his younger brother, Herb, an artist and musician who died in a workplace accident in 1987 at age 27.
Tags: Bread and Puppet Theater , Herb Lockwood Prize , Todd R. Lockwood , Burlington City Arts , arts grants , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Laura Roald and Mary Beth McNulty of Complications Company are seeking submissions from playwrights for "Other Mothers," a production cum competition that prompts scribes to quickly draft dramas about each other's mothers. Participants will have 24 hours to create a short show, after being assigned a mom at a launch event at Butch & Babes on Friday, May 4. The lot will be staged on Sunday, May 6, at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington's Old North End.
So far, Roald says, the company has received four submissions through its website. She hopes to end up with 10 in total. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, May 2.
The questions on the submission form are a mix of multiple choice and essay that allow for tender, or not so tender, reflections on one's mother. For example, "If your mom were an animal, she would be a …" Or, "Advice from your mother you never followed." McNulty notes that they're not looking for solely sugar sweet reflections, citing the complexities of motherhood and parenting.
While Roald can't confirm which actors will be reading the finished scripts for the Sunday show, she says they're all relatively well known, locally. She and McNulty will serve as directors.
Roald and McNulty will meet with the actors on Sunday morning to run the scripts, and the plays will be staged that afternoon at 4 p.m. Complications Company is partnering with BurlingtonVT Moms Blog for the event. Judges from that latter organization will crown one of the subjects "Mother of the Year" at the end of the show. May the best mom win!
Tags: Off Center for the Dramatic Arts , Laura Roald , Mary Beth McNulty , Complications Company , Old North End , Burlington , theater , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
During his tenure, the release says, the Flynn flourished, "growing to a $7.7 million operating budget while maintaining the organization's commitment to presenting exceptional artistic, educational and community engagement programs."
In addition to securing significant grants for the performing arts facility, Killacky is perhaps proudest of the nonprofit's commitment to access and inclusiveness. The Flynn works with 75 human and social service agencies to provide discounted tickets for their clients; of the 38,000 students who annually attend shows, 7,300 attend for free; and the organization provides $30,000 in scholarships yearly for kids to participate in camps and classes.
Reached by phone for comment, Killacky said, first of all, that "all things are good" and he's "not going anywhere." While he wouldn't call this transition a retirement, Killacky noted that when he was interviewed for the ED position in 2010, he told the board that, if hired, he would stay "for five to seven years, and then my service would be done."
Tags: Flynn Center for the Performing Arts , John Killacky , arts administration , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 14, 2017
In the five years since Zephyr Teachout performed in Happy Days at the Unadilla Theatre, she has run for governor of New York and the U.S. Congress to represent upstate New York, where she lives in the Hudson Valley.
Now the former Vermonter is returning to the Marshfield summer theater to reprise her role of Winnie in the Samuel Beckett play.
"It's a lot easier to tell people what you think about fracking than to memorize Beckett," Teachout said over the phone, on break from rehearsal. She added that her experience in theater proved useful to her as a candidate for political office.
"I will say that being at the Unadilla, over the years, certainly makes you more comfortable standing up in front of people and telling them what you think about things," Teachout said.
Tags: theater , Samuel Beckett , Unadilla Theatre , Bill Blachley , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
The recent fundraiser was modest but successful: The OC topped its $5,000 goal by $32.68. Cofounder and director Paul Schnabel
Tags: Off Center for the Dramatic Arts , Burlington , theater , Green Candle Theatre Company , Saints and Poets Production Co. , David Schein , Paul Schnabel , Chris Caswell , Hour-Glass Youth Theatre , Vermont Playwrights Circle , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 12, 2017
The first weekend, Vermont Playwright's Circle performed five 10-minute plays. Those were followed by Joe O'Brien's "The Birth of Love: The Ballad of Miro Weinberger," performed by the Cosmic Noodle Improv Federation.
This past weekend, audiences were treated to two more theatrical debuts. "The Allegory of Flowing Water," written and directed by Martin Gil, and "Outpost," a one-woman show written and performed by Meredith Gordon.
Tags: Off Center for the Dramatic Arts , Burlington , Meredith Gordon , Julian Hackney , Martin Gil , Andy Sebranek , Kate Magill , Image , Video , Web Only
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Organized by Rabbi Jan Salzman, leader of the new nondenominational Rauch Hamoqom congregation, the show was a raucous affair that poked fun at current political figures in a lighthearted, dance-heavy atmosphere.
The Book of Esther appears in the Hebrew Bible. As the story goes, Esther is a concubine of the king. When she hears of a plot by his adviser, Haman, to kill all the Jews, she risks her own life to beg the King to spare her people.
The actors and organizers in last night's revelries included art activist Jen Berger, Junktiques owner Phinneus Sonin, Nicole D'Elisa of Nico Suave and the Bodacious Supreme, musician Sarah Griffin, artist Jabari Jones and Salzman's husband, Loredo Sola.
Tags: Jen Berger , Rabbi Jan Salzman , Purim , ArtsRiot , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Renata Hinrichs opens the series with performances this Saturday and Sunday, January 14 and 15. The New York City actor and playwright presents her autobiographical show, Random Acts, which chronicles her upbringing as the daughter of a white Lutheran minister on the South Side of Chicago. The show won Best Storytelling Script in the 2014 United Solo Festival.
Tags: Moxie Productions , Renata Hinrichs , Monica Callan , Martin Luther King Day , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 17, 2016
It's no coincidence that the six award recipients are clustered in southern Vermont. As Kira Bacon, VAC communications and outreach manager, explained, awardees are selected from a pool of nominees through a nomination process that is open to the public.
Trustees review all nominations, consider staff input and then provide the governor with a list of suggestions for the Governor's Award. Once he has selected a recipient, Bacon said, "We see if we can find a cluster [of arts leaders] in the same part of the state" to increase community momentum. Last year, the "cluster" was focused on the Montpelier area; in 2014, it was St. Johnsbury.
Tags: peter shumlin , governor's arts awards , vermont arts council , eric aho , peter gould , robert mcbride , rockingham arts and museum project , stephen rice , elsie smith , serenity smith forchion , new england center for circus arts , Image , Web Only