Pioneer Valley Theatre Newsletter June 18, 2015

Pioneer Valley Theatre Newsletter View this email in your browser June 18, 2015 The 25th anniversary season at New Century Theatre opens tonight. Four powerful plays, all written by women, will perform for ten performances each over the next eight weeks. The first two shows are already in the newsletter - check them out! If there is something missing from this newsletter, submit it! Next weeks issue will include events through July 15. Help me help you spread the word about all the wonderful theatrical events in the Pioneer Valley. Any questions, comments or feedback? Email me at pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com Submit Your Theatre Event New Century Theatre presents SEMINAR by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Maggie Miller, June 18-27. See more details below.  PERFORMANCES Hampshire Shakespeare Company presents ROMEO & JULIET directed by Brianna Sloane June 18-21, 24-28 at 7:30 PM The Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, 650 E Pleasant St, Amherst, MA 01002 General Admission $18.00 Students & Seniors $15.00 Children (to age 12) $7.00 Group Rate (10 or more) 20% Discount of General Rate All seating is general admission, on a first-come, first-seated basis. We welcome and encourage you to bring a picnic!  Tickets are available at the box office starting approximately 1 hour before each performance. Tickets are available online.  And tickets can also be purchased at:  Amherst Books (413) 256-1547 Broadside Bookshop (413) 586-4235 For additional information, visit hampshireshakespeare.com, or send an email. New Century Theatre presents SEMINAR by Theresa Rebeck  directed by Maggie Miller June 18-27  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 7:30 PM, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 2:00 and 7:30 PM Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College Northampton NCT opens its twenty-fifth season with a new comedy, by a Pulitzer Prize nominee, that critics hail as one of Rebeck’s best works with big laughs. Four young and aspiring novelists with high hopes for fame sign up for private writing lessons with Leonard – a best-selling author and international literary figure.  His unorthodox instruction and shockingly honest assessment gives them the schooling of their lives. The New Yorker calls SEMINAR “Slick and satisfying.” We call SEMINAR the perfect opener in our 25th Anniversary season. Tickets are now available online or by calling 413-585-3220. THE FULL DISCLOSURE FESTIVAL June 19 and 20, 6:00 and 8:00 PM, Downtown Greenfield Different from the sister Double Take Fringe Festival, Full Disclosure is a festival of new theater pieces commissioned to share unique experiences with her audiences. Full Disclosure is four different offerings from four different artists: Lindel Hart, Amy Swisher, John Sheldon, and Joe Dulude II. Each show will run twice a night at 6 pm and 8 pm and audiences may choose to see one, or two each night, and all four if they come both nights. Each show runs between 60 and 90 minutes. Tickets also at Artsblock on the nights of the show. A single $20 ticket gets you into everything.  Lindel Hart is creating a piece called, INTERVIEW that will take place at Greenfield Community Television at 393 Main Street. John Sheldon is doing a new piece about his life through music and Jules Verne’s JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH at Artsblock on the corner of Main and Bank Row. Amy Swisher is doing an evening of participatory improvisation limited to sixteen people per show that will have sign ups in advance called STORYLINE at Community Yoga on 16 Federal Street. Joe Dulude II has written his very first play that will receive a production on the second floor of Hope and Olive called IN THE END that grapples with the LGBT experience of finding love and opening your heart. To participate in Amy Swisher's improv STORYLINE sign up with Linda at: lmciner@gmail.com after purchasing your ticket online. And following John Sheldon on Saturday night at Artsblock - ODP's new name launch party! Silverthorne Theatre Company presents THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH directed by Toby Bercovici June 25, 26, 27, 28 and July 2, 3, 4, 5 Thursdays at 7:30, Friday & Saturday at 8:00, Sunday at 2:00  Sloan Theater at Greenfield Community College Thornton Wilder’s 1940s classic (and still relevant) comedy! A not-so-average New Jersey family survives humanity’s greatest disasters from the Ice Age to contemporary conflicts “by the skin of their teeth!” The winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize, and a huge hit, the Herald Tribune called the show “A tremendously exciting and profound stage fable.” Time magazine said it was “A sort of Hellzapoppin’ with brains.” Our Brechtian take on this perennial favorite is sure to involve you – literally!     This program is supported in part by grants from the Bernardston and Northfield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.   Tickets and more information available online. Valley Light Opera and Amherst Ballet present PINEAPPLE POLL and THE ZOO June 26 and 27 at 8:00 PM, June 28 at 2:00 PM Academy of Music Theatre, Northampton At the end of June, lovers of light opera and ballet will have a rare opportunity to see two dazzling shows paired together in one performance. Pineapple Poll is a rollicking ballet (no singing) set to music from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas by the late Sir Charles Mackerras. Choreographed by Amherst Ballet Executive Director Sueann Townsend, Pineapple Poll is not unlike some well-known G&S operas: nautical, silly and full of surprises. It will be danced by the company of Amherst Ballet. Mackerras's arrangement of Sullivan's music is brilliant. Fans of the G&S operas will love spotting the tunes as they rush by (see link below for a list), yet people of all ages will enjoy this energetic and beguiling ballet, regardless of their familiarity with Gilbert and Sullivan. Pineapple Poll will be preceded on the program by The Zoo, a one-act comic opera (lots of singing here) featuring music by Arthur Sullivan and a whimsical libretto by B.C. Stephenson writing as Bolton Rowe. With this program, Valley Light Opera caps off celebrating 40 years of bringing high-quality light opera to Pioneer Valley communities. For an added treat, the two pieces will be conducted by two of VLO's founding fathers, Bill Venman and Michael Greenebaum. More information available on their website. New Century Theatre presents THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman Directed by Ed Golden July 2-11 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 7:30 PM, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 2:00 and 7:30 PM Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Northampton, MA The work of one of America’s finest and most provocative dramatists spanned thirty years. Lillian Hellman’s life was filled with sex and scandal.  She lived her life on her own terms – apologetic to no one. THE LITTLE FOXES, perhaps her most produced work, is also steeped in sex and scandal. Set in the deep south at the dawn of the 20th century, the ruthless, moneyed Hubbard family live by the “all is fair in love and war” credo. Penned in 1939, the events in Hellman’s work unfold with the stark inevitability of a Greek tragedy. Tickets are now available online or by calling 413-585-3220. New Century Theatre presents JUNIE B. JONES, THE MUSICAL Book and lyrics by Marcy Heisler, Music by Zina Goldrich, Adapted by Barbara Park from the Junie B. Jones Series of Books Directed by Cate Damon with Musical Direction by Mitch Chakour July 8-11 and 22-25 at 10:30 AM Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts Northampton, MA Hooray! Hooray! NCTKids is bringing everybody's favorite first grader to the stage in this lively musical adaptation of Barbara Park's beloved Junie B. Jones book series. Junie B. (the B. stands for Beatrice only she does not like Beatrice, just B.) sings and dances her way through First Grade with the help of her teacher Mr. Scary, the Cafeteria Lady and friends like Sheldon and Herb and even that tattle- tale, May. Grab your top-secret personal beeswax journal and join us for all the fun of JUNIE B. JONES: THE MUSICAL. Tickets available online or by calling 413-585-3220.   AUDITIONS & OPPORTUNITIES Summer Apprenticeships at New Century Theatre The apprenticeship program at New Century Theatre is a part-time summer program for local high school students. High school students will have the opportunity to learn all about backstage work, from lighting and set painting, to props and costume building, running a show backstage and working front of house.  More information can be found on the NCT website or by emailing info@newcenturytheatre.org Black Cat Theater - Auditions for HELLO, DOLLY! Thursday, June 18, 6:00-8:00 PM South Hadley High School Auditorium Any interested candidate between ages 13-17 years old must be accompanied by a parent/guardian. All applicants should bring with them a short biographical sketch and be prepared to perform a short musical piece. We will have a CD player and a cappella is also an option. All auditionees will learn a simple choreography movement so please dress prepared to move. Hello, Dolly! is scheduled to be produced at South Hadley High School in early November. Rehearsals are on Monday and Thursday evenings starting at 6pm. If unavailable to be seen in person please call 413-563-6023 or email blackcattheater@gmail.com. See the Facebook event here. WORKSHOPS & LECTURES TheatreTruck presents Fashioning Emily: Translating Historical Fashion for the Modern Eye Saturday, June 27 at 5:00 PM Amherst College Alumni House, 75 Churchill Street, Amherst, MA TheatreTruck Co-Founder and Costume Designer Elizabeth Pangburn offers a talk exploring the fashion and clothing of Emily Dickinson's Amherst through her lens as a designer, answering the question: "How to dress Emily?" Get an inside look into the research and creative work of The Emily Dickinson Project, a site-specific theatrical production taking place at the Homestead this July.  After the talk the audience will have the unique opportunity to help choose a costume design for The Poet, one of the variations of Emily featured in The Emily Dickinson Project. Which version of The Poet will you choose? TheatreTruck will offer three costume renderings of this character and you can vote for your favorite. The rendering with the most votes will be the garment produced for this summer’s production! Proceeds from the event will directly benefit this summer's production of The Emily Dickinson Project, a co-production of TheatreTruck and The Emily Dickinson Museum. Suggested Donation: $10 General/ $5 for EDM Members and students More information available online. Copyright *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences  *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*