Pioneer Valley Theatre News April 13, 2017

Pioneer Valley Theatre Newsletter View this email in your browser April 13-May 3, 2017 Howlround is currently looking for World Theatre Map Ambassadors: Are you interested in contributing your talents to help enhance engagement in a tool that seeks to connect our global theatre community? Consider applying to be a World Theatre Map Ambassador. Paid, part-time positions available / applications due May 1. The next issue will include events through May 10. Submit upcoming events via the link below or by emailing me before Tuesday at midnight. Any questions, comments or feedback? Email me at pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com Submit Your Theatre Event Tickets available here. THIS WEEK IN THEATRE NEWS: from Howlround Igniting a Transgender Revolution in Chicago by Delia Kopp From the article:  In the course of a couple months in the fall of 2016, a handful of plays with transgender leads and pivotal characters were staged in Chicago, Illinois. This came as a big surprise to myself, and most of my fellow trans actors, because we hadn't heard about most of them. None of the shows were cast with gender-variant actors, written by trans authors, nor created with any input from trans persons, much less those within the profession. Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com PERFORMANCES THE HAPPIEST SONG PLAYS LAST Written by Quiara Alegría Hudes Directed by Jennifer Onopa The Rand Theater, Fine Arts Center April 13, 14, 15 at 7:30 pm April 15 at 2 pm  Pulitzer-winner Quiara Alegía Hudes’ The Happiest Song Plays Last follows Puerto Rican cousins Elliot and Yaz as they navigate their haunted pasts and uncertain futures in the shifting political climate of a post-9/11 world. Elliot, a former marine, is now a military consultant for a war film in Jordan; while Yaz, a music professor, opens her house to feed and assist the local community in North Philadelphia. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, Elliot and an international cast of characters explore and negotiate their identities in a world that often ignores and silences their stories. Elliot and Yaz must not only find ways of protest and language to end the cycle of violence that haunts their family, but also find music to feed and heal their souls. UMass Theater is producing a new version featuring 2016 revisions by Hudes.   Tickets: 1-800-999-UMAS or visit umass.edu/theater SILVERTHORNE THEATER KICKS OFF 2017 SEASON WITH CLASSIC MUSICAL Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a cabaret musical built around the great Belgian/French singer/songwriter’s most memorable songs. They range through love ballads, comic novelties, social satire, political commentary and poignant memory pieces, all of them bursting with Brel’s abundant gift for melody and his heartfelt power and passion. Performances of Jacques Brel are April 13-15 & 20-22 at 7:30 and April 23 at 2pm, in the Arts Block 4th Floor, 289 Main St., Greenfield.  Tickets are $25 for premium “ringside” seating, $20 general & $18 students/seniors.  Reservations at 413-768-7514 or www.silverthornetheater.org Silverthorne’s production is set in a Parisian café where the performers are the staff and regulars, and the audience are tonight’s patrons. Valley favorite Chris Rohmann directs; Northampton musician Josh Sitron is Music Director. The songs form a chain of musical and personal interactions between the performers and with the audience, tracking moods and relationships as the numbers arise out of the lives and fantasies of the four characters: the bartender Jacques, Brel’s namesake (Frank Aronson of West Whately); Frieda, the chanteuse (Stephanie Carlson of Easthampton); Simone, the hostess (Kyle Boatwright of Amherst); and Jean-Luc, the poet (Jayson Paul of Amherst) whose “office” is the café. The Majestic Theater presents LA CAGE AUX FOLLES APRIL 13 – MAY 28 The Majestic Theater in West Springfield will conclude its 20th Anniversary Season with the Tony Award-winning musical “La Cage aux Folles, written by Jerry Herman and Havey Fierstein, April 13 through May 28. The play, which won Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book for its original 1983 Broadway production, tells the story of Georges, his longtime romantic partner Albin, and the complications that arise when Georges' son Jean-Michel comes home to announce that he is engaged to Anne, a young woman whose father is head of the “Tradition, Family and Morality Party.” Georges is the manager and master of ceremonies of the Saint-Tropez drag nightclub La Cage aux Folles, where Albin is the star attraction. Anne's conservative parents are led to believe that Georges is a retired diplomat, and their plan to visit their daughter's future in-laws creates havoc. “La Cage aux Folles,” which inspired the hit movie “The Birdcage,” is in turns heartwarming and riotously funny, ultimately spotlighting the power and love behind family values. Cast members include Majestic veterans Ben Ashley (Georges), Luis Manzi (Albin), Josiah Durham (Jean-Michel), Christine St. Amant-Greene (Marie Dindon), Walter Mantani (Dindon), Lori Efford (Jacqueline) and Freddie Marion (Renaud). Also appearing will be Doug Lebelle (Jacob), Jackie Mishol (Anne), Luke Smith (Francis), Rich Vaden (Chantel), Tomm Knightlee (Hanna), Ian Weber (Phaedra), Steven Sands (Babette), Michael Garcia (Bitelle) and Gregorio Malonte (Angelique). Danny Eaton, producing director at the Majestic, will direct the show. Mitch Chakour will serve as musical director. Greg Trochlil is the set designer and Dan Rist is lighting designer. Costume designer is Dawn McKay and Tony Isham is costume consultant. The choreography is by Stacy Ashley and sound design is by Justin LeTellier. Stephen Pettit is production stage manager. Ticket for the play range from $26-$33 and are available by calling or visiting the box office during its hours of operation, which are Monday through Friday 10am – 5pm and Saturday10am – 1pm. The phone number is (413) 747-7797. Greenfield Community College presents Arthur Miller's INCIDENT AT VICHY April 14, 15, 21, 22 at 7:30pm, April 15 2pm Matinee, and April 20 ArtsNight Performance at 5pm GCC's Sloan Theatre  INCIDENT AT VICHY is a 1964 play by American dramatist Arthur Miller about a group of men and women detained in Vichy France; and held to wait unknowingly, for what turns out to be their "racial" inspection by German military officers and Vichy French police during World War II. It focuses on the subjects of human nature, guilt, fear, and complicity and examines how the Nazis were able to perpetrate the Holocaust with so little resistance. More information online. Happier Valley Comedy presents Happier FAMILY Comedy Show Saturday, April 15th at 4-5pm Community Room (Suite 160,) Eastworks (116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton) Monthly family-friendly improv comedy show, best for 5-12 year olds and their adults.  This month's show is a benefit show for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and will kick off our quarterly benefit show series. Tickets: $10/Adults, $5/Kids, Free/3 yrs and under. For more info: www.happiervalley.com. Tickets here. Smith College Department of Theatre presents  BAKKHAI  by Euripides, a new version by Anne Carson April 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 PM Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College Northampton, MA A powerful new translation of the Greek classic by award-winning classics scholar, poet, and writer Anne Carson. Pentheus has banned the wild, ritualistic worship of the god Dionysos. A stranger arrives to persuade him to change his mind. Euripides’ electrifying tragedy is a struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, human and god. $10 General, $5 Students/Seniors, Free for Smith students. Tickets available online or by calling 413-585-3220. Arena Civic Theatre opens their 2017 season with “Six Degrees of Separation” by John Guare The play runs April 21-30 at the White Church Community Center in Historic Deerfield, MA. Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, claiming he knows their son at college. Paul tells them he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier, and that he has just been mugged and all his money is gone. Captivated by Paul's intelligence and his fascinating conversation (and the possibility of appearing in a new Sidney Poitier movie), the Kittredges invite him to stay overnight. But in the morning the picture begins to change. Ouisa and Flan discover that friends of theirs have had a similar run-in with the brash con artist, and the play unfolds, layer upon layer. Winner of the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Play and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The play features the direction of Tony Jones. The cast includes Phiilipe Janvier as Paul, Kip Fonsh as Flan, Louise Krieger as Ouisa, Paul Rothenberg as Geoffrey, Dawn Mayo as Kitty, Jim Merlin as Larkin, James Reilly as Dr. Fine, Hilary Dennis as Tess, Ethan Blake as Woody, Trent & Policeman, Emme Geryk as Jen, Dominic Baird Rick, the Detective and the Hustler, Austina Towle as Dee & Doorman and Carolyn Como as Elizabeth. Tickets are $16 for general admission or $13 for students or seniors, and can be purchased on our Eventbrite page or at the door. For reservations please call 413.233.4368. *This show is not appropriate for young audiences* Six Degrees of Separation is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Facebook Event here. Ping Chong + Talvin Wilks in conversation with Priscilla Page:  Return of the Mothership The Rand Theater,  Fine Arts Center, UMass April 22 at 4 p.m. FREE and OPEN to all. Theater artists Ping Chong and Talvin Wilks return to UMass Theater on April 22 for a conversation about theater and social transformation that is free and open to all. They'll be joined by UMass Theater Professor Priscilla Page. The conversation will link their ground-breaking piece, Collidescope 2.0 and the topics of race relations, history, and politics to their latest endeavor, Collidescope 3.0, at the Wake Forest University this spring where graduate MFA director Jen Onopa served as assistant director and graduate MFA dramaturg Gaven D. Trinidad provided dramaturgy support. Chong is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and a ground-breaking theater artist. He and Wilks, a frequent collaborator of Chong's as well as a theater artist/activist in his own right, spent much of last spring as guest artists of the department.  Together with a talented team of guest and student artists, they mounted the powerful Collidescope 2.0: Adventures in Post-Racial America, which looked at the history of race relations and activism in this country and on the UMass Amherst campus — as seen through the eyes of a alien species traveling by on a mothership. They also participated in a conversation with Professor Priscilla Page about their work, their thoughts on theater and social transformation, and more; the conversation on April 22 serves as a sort of sequel to that one. One year on, the work these artists did on Collidescope continues to reverberate through the department and inspire students and faculty alike.  Please join us for this important conversation in the Rand Theater. Serious Play presents BLANK The second experimental work by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour after “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” presented by Serious Play in Fall 2016. 8PM – Sat., April 22, Sun., April 23 and Mon., April 24 A.P.E. Gallery, 126 Main Street, Northampton, MA About the Playwright: Nassim Soleimanpour is a young independent multidisciplinary theatre maker from Tehran, Iran. His plays have been translated into more than 20 languages. Best known for his play White Rabbit Red Rabbit, written to travel the world when he couldn’t, his work has been received many international awards. About the play: In a joint effort between audience and performer, the gaps in BLANK are filled in to reveal a story that celebrates the human imagination. As formally inventive as it is engaging, BLANK reverses the typical theatre experience: A script riddled with blanks leaves the audience in charge of how the story will unfold. The concept might be simple, the result is nothing short of empowering as a random audience member sees his or her future determined by the imagination of others. Known for plays without directors, sets and rehearsals, the acclaimed Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour takes it to new extremes. Each night Nassim’s play full of blanks is to be completed by a new performer. The play becomes a story machine to share the life-story of the playwright, the performer and a random audience member. Soleimanpour’s BLANK invites critical reflection about how our human identity is constructed around the stories we tell.  Simultaneously, it celebrates the communal and elusive nature of theatre, as audience members shout, laugh, gasp and collaborate to write the evening’s story, a story that is irrevocably theirs and will never be told in the same way ever again. BLANK   --  About the Performers: Saturday, April 22nd  Tod Randolph… started acting at the age of 12 and decided she was interested in very little else from then on, much to the detriment of her grades in high school. After a couple of half-hearted attempts to fit herself into traditional university environments, she suddenly found that against all odds she'd been accepted into the Drama Division of the Juilliard School, and felt a profound relief at the thought that she need never go back to Academe. Juilliard put her through 4 years' worth of rigorous grounding in classical technique, gave her a diploma and sent her on her way, woefully unprepared for the brutal realities of the entertainment industry. 12 years' pounding the pavement being quite enough, she then fled to the Berkshires in Western Mass., where she's been happily rooting ever since. She has worked primarily at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox (whose release-based training philosophy rocked her world when she first encountered it, just a few months after graduation), with periodic forays out to other theatres: Mixed Company in Great Barrington, The Nora in Cambridge, Portland Stage in Maine, Palm Beach Drama Works in Florida... In 2015 she appeared in the film Infinitely Polar Bear by Maya Forbes, having great fun in two scenes with Mark Ruffalo. She feels both trepidation and glee at stepping out of her comfort zone with Serious Play's production of Blank, by Nassim Soleimanpour. Sunday, April 23rd   Will McAdams… is a playwright, performer, and director who has worked in theater in the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa.  Past projects include: a series of four plays about immigration, farming, and land, created with residents of Warwick, NY and the CA Central Valley; Peter Handke's "Kaspar," which he directed in Johannesburg at the brink of the post-Apartheid era; and "White Mourning", a new play about whiteness, parenting, and memory.  He is a Visiting Professor of Theatre at Hampshire College, where he teaches a range of classes in acting, devising, and theater for social change. Monday, April 24th   Kali Quinn … is an actor creator originally from Buffalo, NY who has performed at the Hangar Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Telluride Rep, Dell’Arte Company, Padua Playwrights of LA, PushPush Theater, Bowery Poetry Club, GUTWorks, Celebration Barn, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYC Int’l Clown Festival, New England Center for Circus Arts, Putney Vaudeville, and Clowns Without Borders throughout Guatemala and El Salvador. Her solo shows Vamping (about aging, Alzheimer’s and nursing homes) and Overture to A Thursday Morning (about mother daughter relationships and infant homes in the 1950s) have played Off-Off Broadway at United Solo, The Tank, 3-Legged Dog, and soloNOVA at PS122 as well as touring to the Ko Festival, Duke University, Dialogue One at Williams College, Roadless Travelled Theatre in Buffalo, Mississippi University for Women, Coastal Carolina University, Los Angeles Women’s Solo Festival, Full Circle Festival, and Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble’s Women’s Solo Fest. In 2015, Kali combined the shows and performed the full two-act solo feat at the Providence Fringe Festival and New England Youth Theater. Along with serving as Stateside Faculty for Accademia dell’Arte (Arezzo, Italy) and on the Board for the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Kali has been a movement instructor at Brown University and Trinity Rep and taught master classes throughout the US. She received training at the University of Rochester, with an MFA from the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre in Northern California. Kali recently returned to live and create a Center for Compassionate Creativity in Guilford, Vermont after a national performance tour of her new book, I Am Compassionate Creativity. All tickets $20 / Limited Seating / performances for 14 yrs.& up      Available starting April 1 at  brownpapertickets.com      Reservations encouraged for more information contact   seriousplaytheatre@gmail.com Eggtooth Productions promises to shake off your mud season blues with a local twist on a classic game show. They present Match Game 413 on Monday, April 24, 2017 at the Shea Theatre in Turners Falls. Show starts at 7:00 PM; doors and bar featuring craft beer from Berkshire Brew will open at 6:00 PM. Tickets are $10 and are available at eggtooth.org and at the door. Said Associate Producer Lindel Hart, “Remember how much you loved the Match Game in the 70s? It's even more fun now! And you can see it live on stage at the Shea Theater! Contestants match wits with six local panelists to supply the missing word in a phrase or sentence presented by the host. Winners advance to the Super Match round, going head-to-head with panelists to "fill in the blank" and try to win their game -- and a prize from a local business! Match Game tends to get bawdy, with double entendres, innuendo and risqué humor. Leave the kids at home because it's guaranteed to get outlandish! We have an outstanding panel including local favorites Marina Goldman, Joe Dulude, and Charles Holt with some surprise guests to be named. Rod Hart is emcee of the whole shebang. Our tagline is, ‘What happens at the Shea, stays at the Shea!’ I loved game shows when I was a kid and watched all of them! I remember when Match Game 72 started and I loved it. I eagerly awaited to see what celebrities would be on the panel, and I was always enamored of their witty banter and the double entendres I'm their answers to the questions. When I had the idea of doing a live version of Match Game, I thought it would be a great way of providing light-hearted entertainment in stressful times. And it fulfills my childhood dream of actually being on a game show! Yes, I will be on the panel. And if all goes well I want to make this a monthly event. I wanted to bring together panels of witty, creative, irreverent people in the Valley and let them play with each other. The Match Game format is really a kind of structured improvisational theatre, and I know so many people who would be hilarious onstage. Many of these people would not necessarily be on the same stage at the same time-- or even onstage at all -- and I love the opportunity to bring them together and turn them loose with each other. The Shea immediately came to mind as the perfect venue for Match Game 413. It's a great size, people are familiar with it, and so many local businesses have expressed interest in being more involved with events at the Shea so it's also a great community builder.” Josie's Magical Flute Home Grown Local Comedy April 26 at 7:00 PM Gateway City Arts, 92-114 Race Street, Holyoke, MA 01040 Josie’s Magical Flute (Mandy Anderson, Courtney Dunham, Sally Ekus, Julie Waggoner) is based in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. We love fierce female comedy, and making audiences laugh so hard that their faces hurt. We've been playing together for several years, and performing together since 2016. Show is 18+, sliding scale $5 - $10. Our show at Gateway City Arts will be from 7 – 9, with a 20 minute intermission. We’ll perform short form improv comedy using audience suggestions, our original long form improv called "The Ride", and original sketch comedy. Come on down to Gateway City Arts!  Bring all your friends, and get ready to "ride."  We can’t wait to share an evening of comedy and laughter with you! Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter About the Members: Mandy, in addition to her shenanigans with Josie’s Magical Flute, is also a member of the Happier Family Show cast, a once a month improv show for kids and their families hosted by Happier Valley Comedy. She is also a member and founder of the long form troupe HATS. Julie performed standup comedy for 10 years, and then was a member of the former Villa Jidiots troupe for another 10 years. She regularly performs as a guest of the HaHa’s, is a member of the Majesters musical improv troupe, a member of the HATS long form troupe, and brings many characters to life in theater shows around the Pioneer Valley. Sally Ekus is both producer and a cast member of the Happier FAMILY Comedy Show, and a former member of the HATS long form troupe. Courtney is an alumna of UMass Amherst's premier improv troupes "Mission: IMPROVable" and "Toast!" She currently performs with Sea Tea Improv Theater's Touring Company, a Sea Tea house team called "Part Time Lifeguards" and a two lady extravaganza called "Boners Never Lie." Tickets available here. Smith College Department of Theatre presents A Conversation with Erin Cressida Wilson  Thursday, April 27 at 1:00 PM Green Room, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College The screenwriter for THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, CHLOE, and SECRETARY will discuss the related crafts of writing for stage and for film. An Open Meeting of Len Berkman's playwriting class, Theatre 261/262. Free and open to the public. Wilbraham United Players spring 2017 production PETER AND THE STARCATCHER a play with music by Rick Elice based on the novels by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson April 28, 29 and May 4, 5, & 6 at 7:30PM and April 30 & May 7 at 2:30PM Wilbraham United Church Fellowship Hall, 500 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA Directed by Deb Trimble Musical Direction by Ben Mabrey Choregraphy by Dina Del Buono Producers Stacy Gilmour and Patricia Colkos Stage Managed by Sharon MacAbee Cast Includes: Tyler Nowakowski, Stephani Bauduccio, Joe Van Allen, Jim Martin, Kevin Bechard, Jon Hebert, Dylan Pereira, Casey Dion, Kevin Kary, Paul Nesbit, Don Clements, and Joe Lessard Both youth and adults will find something to laugh about in the play that gives us the back story of how a poor orphan boy becomes the infamous boy who won't grow up - Peter Pan! Tickets and more information. Facebook event.  New Century Theatre presents LIFE IN THE (413) Saturday, April 29 at 7:00 PM Academy of Music Theatre New Century Theatre and WHMP are teaming up once again on April 29 to present LIFE IN THE (413), a rollicking, celebratory night of original radio plays that lampoon life in the Pioneer Valley. Five short radio plays - each focusing on a different locale - will feature a range of Valley performers. The event helps to kick off New Century Theatre's 27th summer season at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School in South Hadley and the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton.  Playwrights include: Meryl Cohn, Harley Erdman, HIlary Price & Kelsey Flynn, Jack Neary, and Phil O'Donoghue. LIFE IN THE (413) will be hosted by WHMP's Monte Belmonte. The fifth annual event will include special guest musical acts: Philip Price and Flora Reed of The Winterpills, Kalliope Jones, The Wise Guys (with musical direction by Jeff Olmstead), Expandable Brass Band, and Josh Sitron. Live foley by Sam Rush and Frank Aronson. Facebook event here. Tickets available here or by calling 413-584-9032 x105. Smith College Department of Theatre presents a Studio Production  ICARUS'S MOTHER by Sam Shepard Directed by Isabelle Brown '19 May 3, 4 at 7:30 PM in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre The lazy picnic taking place slowly becomes an electric vision of apocalyptic menace. Free and open to the public.  AUDITIONS & OPPORTUNITIES Six Flags New England  Seeking Actors and Singer/Dancers April 14 at 3:00 PM Six Flags New England Human Resource Center   Open Call Audition seeking to fill a few openings in our summer season. 1) Actors and Actresses to portray JLA Superheroes (IE: Batman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl) 2) Male Singer/Dancers with comic acting ability to perform in new 80's musical revue. Opens mid-June and runs Sunday-Tuesdaythrough end of August. Apply ahead at sixflagsjobs.com. Call 413-786-9300 ext.3320 for more info. Other select positions may be available for characters, ushers, drummer, variety acts, and more. Opportunity for additional work including fall Fright Fest (October) and new Holiday in the Park (December) Real Live Theatre presents Auditions for She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen  directed by Dan Morbyrne She Kills Monsters is a funny, irreverent, gory, sexy, and surprisingly touching journey into the world of Dungeons & Dragons and the fraught relationship between two sisters. When Agnes finds her dead sister's Dungeon Master notebook, she must play the adventure to discover who her sister really was, and kill a shit-ton of monsters along the way. Dark Elves, Demon Queens, giant gelatinous cubes, Quantum Leap-obsessed devils, and cheerleading succubi, She Kills Monsters has something for everyone. Roles available for actors ages 18-35 (all races, genders, orientations, ethnicities)! Rehearsals begin June 6th, and take place in both Sunderland and Springfield. Performs July 7th, 8th, 9th in the West End, Eastworks Building, Easthampton Auditions inside the North Star building (45 Amherst Road, Sunderland) Friday, April 14: 6-9pm Saturday, April 15: 5-8pm Sunday, April 16 (Easter): 3:30-6:30pm Sign up for a 45 minute slot by emailing reallivetheatre@gmail.com! Call-backs will be Thursday, 4/20, 6-9pm. Auditions for the Northampton 24-Hour Theater Project Sunday April 30 1-3pm The Upstairs Studio, 25 Main St. Northampton, Ma, on the 4th floor of the Fitzwilly’s building. Seeking diverse actors of all ages, genders, ethnicities for the Northampton 24-Hour Play Project, performing June 17, 2017 at Smith College. *Unfortunately, the audition space is not wheelchair accessible, please contact us Northampton24hour@gmail.com to arrange for an alternative audition. Actors must be available 8am-11pm on Saturday June 17, 2017. The auditions will be cold readings (no prepared monologues required). About the Project: We perform six 10-minute plays, written, directed, and produced within 24 hours. WORKSHOPS & CLASSES Phantom Sheep with J-ART LaughCrafers: Improv Jam featuring class performance April 24 at 7:00 PM Springfield Jewish Community Center In partnership with J-ART, Phantom Sheep presents an evening of improv with a jam workshop and performance! The night will kick off with a performance by Phantom Sheep's recent adult improv class as they present a few of the short-form scenes and games they've been learning! And then you're invited to stay and get a chance yourself to join in the fun first hand as the Phantom Sheep comedy team teaches a few quick and easy theater games to everyone! All levels welcome! Brush up on skills and learn a couple new ones! Get a taste of our upcoming classes! Meet new people! Check out and support students of the recent class as they perform for real people! Laugh and have fun! Admission is only $5 for the whole night! Free Admission to students in the current J-ART improv class or registered for the next session starting May 15th. Facebook event here. From July 23 to August 5, the UMass Department of Theater will offer its first-ever Summer Theater and Performance Intensive, a 2-week theater-making course open to all high school students with a passion for performance, theater-making, and changing the world through theater. The intensive is designed for students with all levels of theater experience, since the nature of devised theater allows seasoned actors as well as novices to work at the level that challenges them creatively.  Participants in the intensive will devise (co-create) and mount a new theater piece that reflects their concerns, hopes and ideas about their communities and the world. All students will perform in the piece, which will be presented publicly at the close of the session. The students will become an ensemble through rehearsal, impassioned discussions, theater games, acting exercises, and the unifying process of creating a new work of theater.  The course will be taught by UMass Department of Theater faculty member Lena Cuomo and director Jen Onopa. Both Lena and Jen are committed to nurturing a new generation of theater practitioners and are incredibly excited to launch this new program. (More information about the instructors and the program can be found on the Department of Theater website.) Two week session of summer theater for children ages 8-13 at Eaglebrook School in Deerfield July 31-August 11, 2017 The program is a two-week theater intensive where we build an original version of a well-known play through improvisational games. All actors will have the opportunity to use text if they choose, and all students will learn plots and characters of classic plays, but the actors will have a great deal of choice in the characters they play and the words they say. In the past six years we have done several original mysteries, Moliere's The Physician in Spite of Himself, and  Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and last year's critically acclaimed tragicomedy, Hamlet. Come play! After all, the play's the thing...  Running time of camp, 9 am to 3 pm with mornings devoted to theater games and then on to rehearsal. Lunch will be provided in the beautiful Gibbs Dining Hall. Recess will take place in the afternoon with activities including walking to the Rock, swimming in Schwab pool, playing on the fields, and enjoying the gym. Performance last Friday afternoon to showcase week's work with parents and friends invited to each performance.    More information at: www.eggtooth.org The cost is $560 with a limit of 15 children. A check may be made payable to Eggtooth, 102 Highland Ave. Greenfield, MA 01301. For more information call Linda at 413-522-1445. Founded in 1922, Eaglebrook School is a located on 750 acres along Pocumtuck Ridge in Deerfield, MA just off of Routes 5 and 10 in the village of Old Deerfield. The Percival Theatre is a 260 seat theatre featuring beautiful acoustics and flexible seating. For directions: www.eaglebrook.org 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|*