|
|
|
|
August 6 - 26, 2020
Live theatre is (sorta) back! And so are the reviews. Here's the latest from StageStruck. More information below if you'd like to see Eggtooth Productions' Under the Stars from the safety of your car. And if you aren't quite ready to leave the comfort of your couch, put this in your calendar: on August 15, Real Live Theatre is bringing back Queen Margaret! Lots of information below.
It certainly feels like it will be awhile before we're back in person to me. With the news from Smith College that we'll be fully remote in the fall and no chance of live performance with an audience at the Academy of Music in the near future, I'm keeping an eye on the experiment in the Berkshires. Send me your thoughts on what's next for theatre. And let me know if you'd be interested in a community conversation about what's next for theatre in the Pioneer Valley.
The next issue will include events through September 2. 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
|
|
YOUR EVENT HERE
$5 per week for your poster and ticket link in top billing!
Email me to reserve your dates.
|
|
|
THIS WEEK IN THEATRE NEWS:
from Howlround
Casting A Wider Net: White Institutions Must Seize the Moment
by David Valdes
From the article:
A literary manager stopped me in the hotel lobby following a reading of my play at an industry showcase. “I’m desperate to do your show,” he told me. “But we just can’t. Not with the resources we have.”
Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com
|
|
|
|
PERFORMANCES and COVID-19 RESOURCES
|
|
|
|
MAJESTIC THEATER OFFERING ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT; INTERVIEW SHOWS AND CHILDREN'S THEATER PRODUCTIONS
West Springfield's Majestic Theater, which closed to the public in March due to COVID-19, is offering weekly online programs that feature popular Majestic entertainers being interviewed, as well as videos of favorite plays from previous seasons of the Majestic Children's Theater program, and an online talkback session about those plays.
Stephen Petit, director of the Majestic Children's Theater program, hosts “Majestic Children's Theater Online.” Each Wednesday, a video of a past performance is uploaded to majestictheater.com, and the following Sunday, Petit and cast members from that play host a live talkback and Q & A session with viewers online. Here is a listing of upcoming shows:
- Sunday, August 9 – “Aesop's (Oh So Slightly Updated) Fables”
All “Behind the Curtain” and “Majestic Children's Theater Online” episodes are archived and available for viewing anytime at majestictheater.com. There is no cost to view these shows, but donations are encouraged.
|
|
|
|
Eggtooth and Jack Golden Productions are proud to present Under the Stars, a Covid-friendly outdoor performance for two shows a night (at 8 pm and 9 pm) on August 13, 14, 15 to take place at top floor of the Greenfield Parking Garage. With one of the most beautiful views in the Valley eight cars per performance will be welcomed to enjoy an original performance by the movement artist, Jack Golden commissioned by Eggtooth Productions. Tickets are available here.
Under the Stars is a tale of three journeys. It captures the struggles and possibilities of our unusual times through a triptych of unlikely stories: epic, improvisational, and comic. Created by Jack Golden and produced by Eggtooth Productions, this performance is set, as the title suggests, in the fresh evening air, reminiscent of drive in theaters of days gone by, except the show is live. Audience members remain in their cars, provide stage lighting with their headlights, and watch this 25 minute one man show from behind the safety of their windshields.
Jack Golden starts with “Just in Case”, the story of an archetypal journey told by a lost traveler and inspired by the prologue from Dante’s Inferno.
From there he drops his script and opens his mind to whatever comes to him in the moment. This improvisation is impossible to describe ahead of time, but it’s sure to be a delightful surprise for all, including Jack. “The Big Sweep” is the final piece, a shadow play filled with hilarious banter and acted out by a troupe of cleaning closet characters.
Where else can you get Shakespearean drama, celestial guidance, and bathroom humor kicking it together on the same stage?
Jack states that his is a “performance that respects all “social distancing” standards while allowing for an intimate theatrical experience in a time when online-virtual artistic expression carries the day. I welcome participants to Under the Stars! This performance takes place in a parking garage on the top floor where the audience drives in their cars and watches the show from inside their vehicles.
The piece utilizes shadow play, improvisation and text, and presents three separate journeys that reflect the uncertainty of our times in an upbeat and uplifting way. Heart leads to humor and returns to the heart.”
Jack Golden began his career as an actor-mime-juggler-movement artist, improvisor and clown in 1983. He has been the featured clown with the Pickle Family Circus of San Francisco and a founding member of The Wright Brothers, a new vaudeville touring company that was voted “Best of Fest” at the 1987 International Clown and Mime Festival.
In 1989 he embarked on a solo career that has led him to create and perform several nationally touring shows for schools and family audiences including the award winning Garbage Is My Bag. He studied physical theater and improvisation extensively with the world-renowned director and performer, Tony Montanaro. Additionally he trained with the San Francisco School of Dramatic Arts. He has taught physical theater and improvisation at Savannah College of Arts and Design, New England Center for Circus Arts, the University of Massachusetts and Boston University.
More recently, he created the one person performance “You Don’t Know Jack”, which debuted at the Shea Theater and Art Center and went on to Baltimore’s Charm City Fringe Festival. In addition he played Atigonus in John Bechtold’s “A Winters Tale”, Night Custodian in “Deus ex Machina” as well as roles in Gem of the Valley and Sam’s Place.
|
|
|
On August 15th, 2020, Real Live Theatre presents a live “Zoom-staged” reading of our original feminist epic The Life & Death of Queen Margaret.
A patchwork of text written mostly by William Shakespeare, as deconstructed and augmented by Toby Vera Bercovici and Dan Morbyrne.
Directed by Toby Vera Bercovici
With Choreography by Annelise Nielsen
Stage Management by Ezekiel Baskin
Sound Design by Catherine McCurry
Featuring an original song by Cynthia Zaitz, Ph.D
Featuring a reunion of our 2017 cast: Myka Plunkett, Linda Tardif, Kate Hare, Annelise Nielsen, Ellen Morbyrne, Emily Tanch, Jeannine Haas (AEA), and Lisa Abend (AEA).
Saturday, August 15th, 7pm.
Mature content.
www.RealLiveTheatre.net for all the info.
Email reallivetheatre@gmail.com with any questions.
|
|
|
SILVERTHORNE THEATER ANNOUNCES
2020 THEATER THURSDAY PLAY READING SERIES
Following up on its highly successful Theater Thursday play reading series last year, Silverthorne Theater Company will take advantage of the use of online streaming to bring three new plays to the Valley and beyond this summer through the 2020 Theater Thursday Play Reading Series. All three plays in this year’s series will be streamed free to Silverthorne’s Facebook page and will feature live discussions with the playwrights following the readings. The series is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the generous support of the Greenfield, Hadley and Buckland Cultural Councils.
The final 2020 Theater Thursday play, which streams on Thursday, August 20, is written by Northampton playwright, James McLindon – Distant Music. Penney Hulten directs this complex piece set in January 2000. On a snowy night in an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Connor, Maeve and Dev meet, each agonizing over an irrevocably life-changing decision. The three fight over religion and beer, whether truth exists at all, the differences between the Irish and Irish-Americans, the many failings (according to Dev) of the latter, and, finally, the capacity of stout to explain, metaphorically and metaphysically, most of life. The play, winner of numerous awards, has been produced across the country and is published by Dramatic Publishing. The playwright will join in for a live post-show talk about the play.
|
|
|
K and E Theater Group Presents Local Spotlight Series this Summer!
K and E Theater Group is excited to present its LOCAL SPOTLIGHT SERIES on Facebook, IGTV and YouTube celebrating Pioneer Valley’s theater artists. KETG Artistic Director Eddie Zitka hosts the summer series streaming online every Tuesday and Friday starting on May 26th and through the rest of the summer!
Stay tuned and check out our lineup by liking us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribing to our YouTube channel! See you in the spotlight!
|
|
From the New England New Play Alliance:
Virtual Performances & Theatre Discussions
The Forge Theatre Lab presents
LifeBlood
an online reading
by Erik Nikander
directed by Jack Crory
August 5-12
A miracle medical device has the country abuzz about an exciting female entrepreneur. But when a young journalist begins to dig deeper, she finds out the shocking truth about the company and its founder. A drama inspired by the true events of the Theranos scandal. Stream here.
Apollinaire Theatre Company presents
Chelsea People
August 8
Apollinaire Theatre has taken on the challenge of creating an original operetta every week. These devised works will be based on the lives of local Chelsea residents who have been nominated by Chelsea's leading community organizations. First-hand interviews with these intriguing individuals on Sundays will provide the basis for creating a multidisciplinary Zoom-play about their life and work, presented the following Saturday night. Tickets: free, registration required.
SpeakEasy Stage presents
Celebrating the Black Narrative
a discussion series moderated by Crystin Gilmore
now-August 20
“Celebrating the Black Narrative” is the theme for the third installment of SpeakEasy’s Play Discussion Group, a series of free virtual events which returns on Thursday, July 30. Actress Crystin Gilmore will moderate the conversations, which focus each week on various plays by contemporary Black female playwrights.
Week Three: Mlima's Tale
by Lynn Nottage
August 6, 5:30 pm
Sign up here
Mlima is a magnificent elephant trapped by the underground international ivory market. As he follows a trail littered by a history of greed, Mlima takes us on a journey through memory, fear, tradition, and the penumbra between want and need.
Purchase Mlima's Tale here
Tales from Camp Strangewood is an anthology, with every episode helmed by a new playwright, director, and team of actors. These chilling tales follow the eclectic inhabitants of Camp Strangewood as they encounter circumstances on the very edge of reality on the same particularly strange night. Over the course of six Sundays, audiences will follow campers and counselors coping with fear and isolation while the rules of the world they once knew fall apart around them.
August 5
Double Trouble (the minisode)
by Alexis Scheer
directed by M Sloth Levine
Follow us @CampStrangewood on Instagram Live to catch an emergency broadcast from camper Frankie, as they realize their Parent Trap fantasy isn't quite what they expected.
August 9
Shipwreck Cabin
by j. sebastián alberdi
directed by Francis Xavier Norton
Cabin Four has a bit of a turbulent reputation. Is it just a flair for the dramatic, or is something more sinister swimming just below the surface? Stream here.
Boston Podcast Players presents
Big Work
by Melissa Bergstrom and Kate Marple
Melissa Bergstrom and Kate Marple interviewed dozens of people across their country about their feelings about their jobs, weaving their words into a fascinating play about how people really feel about their work. Stream the episode.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment