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February 25 - March 17, 2021
The Spring New Play Reading Series at Smith kicks off tonight with Emily Wiest's Virtually Neurotic. The series is free and open to all - including a casting call for the next event in the series. Auditions begin tonight and the reading of Kathleen Tolan's Acting School will be March 11. More details below!
The next issue will include events through March 24. 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
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YOUR EVENT HERE
$5 per week for your poster and ticket link in top billing!
Email me to reserve your dates.
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THIS WEEK IN THEATRE NEWS:
from Howlround
Industry or Community
by Masha Tsimring
From the article:
“There was an intricate failure in the educational institutions we designers were brought up in, which told us when we started out we were going to work for free, and that was okay. I refuse to pass that on. If that means I have to stay in education institutions forever to hammer that home, I’m doing it.” — Lawrence E. Moten III
Prior to the pandemic, designers, like many theatremakers, existed in a fiscally precarious environment. There seemed to be an unspoken assumption among artistic leadership that we had other sources of income. There must have been, because if theatre institutions actually calculated how much designers are paid, and then how many projects designers would need to take on in a year to survive without outside funding, then the current pay scale would appear to be unconscionable.
Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com
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Smith College Department of Theatre New Play Reading Series presents
Virtually Neurotic by Emily Wiest
Thursday, February 25 at 7:30 PM
A young woman and her therapist meet on zoom. While she faces the conundrum of needing assistance and the natural aversion to personal revelations he tries to maintain an intimate professional connection by technological means he has yet to fully understand. This new play by Emily Wiest is about mental health during a viral outbreak and the underlying issues that are exasperated by forced isolation
Register at: http://bit.ly/VirtuallyNeurotic
Free
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Eggtooth Productions, The Academy of Music Theatre of Northampton, and The Shea Theatre of Turners Falls present a Live Theatrical Video Game called Stagehand, sponsored by Teddy Bear Pools. The show takes place on Zoom on February 25, 26 and 27 at 7 pm and 9 pm each night. Tickets are available at https://sheatheater.org/
Staged as a live performance, audience members join the show from home via Zoom to experience this intimate adventure from home.
Participants will join the show through the eyes of Charlie, a stagehand helping to run a late-night rehearsal of several ghost scenes from the play Hamlet. As they’ll quickly learn, audience comments and choices can be “heard” by Charlie - and influence what Charlie opts to do next, making this immersive show similar to a first-person video game in style. As director John Bechtold offered, “We are exploring how to create interactive theater through the pandemic medium of Zoom. What stories are possible when you leverage the immediacy of interactive theater and real theater venues with the powers of a virtual connection? We hope that theater lovers, gamers, and brave adventurers will come on this adventure with us. We've created this work at a time where two jewels of the Valley - The Shea Theater and the Academy of Music - sit mostly dormant. Even in this time, however, these spaces retain the power to inspire their visitors. Stagehand makes these spaces primary characters amidst an ensemble cast of wonderful Valley performers. We look forward to inviting you in."
This is the second iteration of the show, back by popular demand. Said Linda McInerney, producer, “In our first experiment, John and the crew figured out the technology to deliver this immersive experience. That was a herculean task and we feel like we’ve got that part down. Now we get to dig into the story, the characters, and the deepening magic of the whole thing. We are also selling tickets differently. We are selling tickets by ‘pods’ that will be purchased for anywhere from one to six participants per pod. We encourage friends to purchase a pod ticket so they can attend together and share the magic. In addition, we also will offer a limited number of $10 individual tickets for the “wildcard pod”, where patrons with individual tickets will be placed together, making this show a delightful way to meet new people while social distancing. But do get your pod tickets early as there are only six pods available per show.”
Working in a new and exciting form, Stagehand offers live engagement with characters, explorable spaces, and a building full of questions waiting for answers. As a Valley-based company, Eggtooth Productions is excited to produce a show that is also a love-letter to our local theaters that we love and miss.
Tickets are $40 per pod that may be shared with up to six attendees. Invite your friends, enjoy a cocktail/mocktail and immerse yourself in a magical, mystical, intimate otherworldly experience.
Access to a computer with microphone, camera and speakers, a basic understanding of Zoom, and a good internet connection are required. Audience members should be 14 years and older.
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From the New England New Play Alliance:
Virtual Theatre and Podcast
Theatre Rhinoceros presents
a virtual reading of
Emergency Contact
by Nick Malakhow
March 2
directed by Kimberly Ridgeway
Shawn is pretty sure his one-night-stand with the troubled Derrick can't get any worse after Derrick passes out and then pukes on his own bedroom floor. Things get even more interesting, however, when the concerned Shawn reaches out to Derrick's so-called "Emergency Contact" in his cell phone and finds out that it is Derrick's ex-boyfriend, Manny, who still has a key, a nearby apartment, and is all too eager to come over and save the day. Note that the reading is happening on the West Coast; check times carefully. Streaming will be available after the date. Tickets: Free, registration required.
Eggtooth Productions, The Academy of Music Theatre, and The Shea Theatre present
Stagehand, A Live Theatrical Video Game
February 18-27
directed by
John Bechtold
Participants will join the show through the eyes of Charlie, a stagehand helping to run a late-night rehearsal of several ghost scenes from the play Hamlet. As they’ll quickly learn, audience comments and choices can be “heard” by Charlie - and influence what Charlie opts to do next, making this immersive show similar to a first-person video game in style. Tickets: $40 for up to 6 people.
Hub Theatre Company of Boston presents
Solitaire Suite
by Trent England
February 20-27
directed by
Daniel Bourque
Driving through the suburban countryside in the middle of the night, Celeste, Pete, and their son Tiger encounter an object on the side of the road that will transform their lives forever. Told from the point of view of Celeste, the events of the evening take on an otherworldly implication as the night grows increasingly eerie and unsettling — until it is too late. Tickets: Pay what you can.
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UMass Theater presents Women in Theatrical Design:
Anita Yavich, Jane Shaw, Jane Cox and Mimi Lien on Theater Design Today |
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March 2, 1-2 p.m.: Costume Designer Anita Yavich
March 8, 10:10-11:10: Sound Designer Jane Shaw
March 16, 1-2 p.m.: Lighting Designer Jane Cox
March 30, 1-2 p.m.: Scenic Designer Mimi Lien
Free and open to the community; registration is encouraged but not required through the Fine Arts Center Box Office.
In a series of Zoom conversations that will be free and open to a national audience, UMass Theater presents four brilliant practitioners of theatrical design who will share their thoughts on their work and how they experience their field as women.
Costume Designer Anita Yavich (March 2), Sound Designer Jane Shaw (March 8), Lighting Designer Jane Cox (March 16), and Scenic Designer Mimi Lien (March 30) will talk about their art and practice, how they have found ways to assert their voice in a male-dominated sphere, and how they view the economics of making a career in their field. The conversations will be moderated by the designers' counterpart faculty members in theater, Yao Chen, Amy Altadonna, Penny Remsen, and Anya Klepikov. Registration for the conversations is encouraged but not required through the Fine Arts Center Box Office: https://fac.umass.edu/Online/article/TheaterDepartment
In private meetings, each designer will also conduct portfolio reviews and offer career advice to the department's MFA design students.
With the exception of costume design, theater design and technical fields are dominated by men — one recent study shows that in Off-Broadway theaters, more than two-thirds of set, lighting, projection, and sound design hires from 2010-2015 were men. This series is made possible with support from Women for UMass Amherst (WFUM), a network of alumni that promotes the advancement of campus programs that provide access, support, and opportunity for UMass Amherst students, with preference to those projects that positively impact UMass Amherst women and their respective communities.
“Our guests will help give our students additional tools and impetus for challenging the sexism and bias out there,” said Theater Chair Harley Erdman. “The message is important for students of all genders who will be working in these male-heavy fields. We are thankful to WFUM for jumpstarting this idea and generously supporting it.”
More about our guests:
Anita Yavich, Costume Designer
Anita Yavich designed costumes for Broadway: Fool for Love, Venus in Fur, Chinglish, and Anna in the Tropics. Her New York design credits include Soft Power, Oedipus El Rey at the Public; The Mother at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Apologia at the Roundabout theatre, The View Upstairs at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, Nathan the Wise, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Orlando, Venus in Fur, New Jerusalem and Texts for Nothing at Classic Stage; Thom Pain, Big Love, Kung Fu, Golden Child and Iphigenia 2.0 at Signature Theater; The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center Theater; The Explorer’s Club at Manhattan Theatre Club; The Legend of Georgia McBride, The Submission, Coraline the Musical, The Wooden Breeks at Manhattan Class Company. Her opera credits include Aida at San Francisco Opera; Cyrano De Bergerac at La Scala, Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House (Covent Garden); Les Troyens at Metropolitan Opera. Current projects: Der Ring des Nibelungen at Opera Australia, Brisbane; Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse. She has received Obie, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Ovation Awards.
Jane Shaw, Sound Designer and Composer
For over twenty years, Ms. Shaw has designed and composed for theater, dance, and audio drama. Theatrical work in New York includes designs at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Mint Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, National Black Theatre, Repertorio Español, New York Theatre Workshop, Cherry Lane, and the COOP. Regional work includes projects with Hartford Stage, A.R.T., Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Two River Theater, Asolo, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ACT, and Northern Stage. Awards: Drama Desk, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry Award, Bessie Award, Meet the Composer Grant, NEA-TCG Career Development Grant recipient, nominations for Lortel and Elliot Norton awards. Proud Member of USA 829 and TSDCA (Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, co-Secretary). Training: Harvard University, Yale School of Drama.
Jane Cox, Lighting Designer
Jane Cox is a lighting designer for theater, opera, dance and music. Designs in 2019 included The Marriage of Figaro at San Francisco Opera; Fefu and her Friends at Theater for a New Audience in NYC, directed by Princeton alumna Lileana Blain-Cruz; King Lear with Glenda Jackson on Broadway, directed by Sam Gold; a new musical adaptation of Secret Life of Bees (the design was nominated for a Drama Desk Award 2020); The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by fellow faculty member John Doyle; a theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates book Between The World and Me, directed by Kamilah Forbes and a revival of True West on Broadway, directed by British director James McDonald. Jane has been nominated for two Tony awards, for her work on Jitney (2017) and on Machinal (2014), four Drama Desk awards, and three Lortel awards, and in 2013, was awarded the Henry Hewes Design Award for her work on The Flick. Jane has been a company member of the Monica Bill Barnes Dance Company for twenty years is Director of the Princeton University Program in Theater.
Mimi Lien, Scenic Design
Mimi Lien is a designer of sets/environments for theater, dance, and opera. In 2015, she was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first set designer ever to achieve this distinction. Selected work includes Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, TONY Award, Lortel Award, 2013 Hewes Design Award), John (Signature Theatre, 2016 Hewes Design Award), Appropriate (Mark Taper Forum, LA Drama Critics Circle Award), Preludes, The Oldest Boy (Lincoln Center), An Octoroon (Soho Rep/TFANA, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Black Mountain Songs (BAM Next Wave). Her stage designs have been exhibited in the Prague Quadrennial in 2011 and 2015, and her sculptures were featured in the exhibition, LANDSCAPES OF QUARANTINE, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Mimi Lien received a B.A. in Architecture from Yale University (1997) and an M.F.A. in Stage Design from New York University (2003). She is a company member of Pig Iron Theatre Company and co-founder of the performance space JACK. |
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HE (LITTLE) BIG BROADCAST! STREAMS FROM MOUNT HOLYOKE MARCH 6.
South Hadley, MA: The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College present the 16th edition of The Big Broadcast! on Saturday, March 6 at 2PM & 7:30PM, in a free streaming version of what would have appeared on the stage of Chapin Auditorium on the Mount Holyoke College campus in South Hadley, MA. Now titled The (Little) Big Broadcast, it’s a one-hour tribute to the 1940's radio show, created by and directed by Mark Gionfriddo, featuring the Mount Holyoke College Big Band, Vocal Jazz, and Chamber Jazz Ensembles performing well-known tunes from the swing era and the American songbook. WWLP-TV meteorologist Brian Lapis is emcee “Fred Kelley” for his 14th consecutive season.
Mount Holyoke College music faculty member Mark Gionfriddo originally created The Big Broadcast! for a small cabaret group he directed, and incorporated it into the concert season at Mount Holyoke College. It has since been designated as a Signature Event at the college.
The (Little) Big Broadcast!, according to Gionfriddo, is reconfigured for challenging times. “We’ve got a series of songs from the golden age of radio, along with some radio commercials of the day. We’re featuring the Glenn Miller version of “Little Brown Jug”, two Cole Porter hits--”You Do Something To Me” and “Night and Day”; Bobby Troup’s “Route 66” as performed by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters; “My Funny Valentine” from Rodgers and Hart’s Babes in Arms, and "Star Eyes", a tune made famous by Helen O’Connell and Jimmy Dorsey.
Mark Gionfriddo, creator and director (and “Matt Morgan”) of The (Little) Big Broadcast! is well-known to area concertgoers as a piano soloist, coach/accompanist, composer/arranger, conductor and music director. A versatile musician, Mark’s knowledge of diverse repertoire includes classical, jazz, rock, and popular music. Mark has been based at Mount Holyoke College since 1986 where he is Coordinator of Piano Studies for the Department of Music as well as Director and Founder of the Jazz Ensembles. In addition, Mark is Catholic Music Director and conducts the Abbey Chapel Singers for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
In 2000, Mark accompanied Garrison Keillor on the Chapin Auditorium stage in a New England Public Radio benefit show, and he conducted the MHC Big Band in 2006 during two episodes of the popular NPR public radio quiz show "Says You!" During the summer, Mark was resident music director for Berkshire Theatre Group for their productions of Peter Pan, Seussical the Musical, Mary Poppins, Beauty and The Beast, A Christmas Carol, The Music Man, Tarzan, Shrek the Musical, and the Neil Ellenoff Musical Mondays series. Mark's production of A Class Act also appeared off-Broadway at the Robert Moss Theatre.
Mark has recently reunited with the internationally renowned Young@Heart Chorus as pianist and arranger, a post he originally held from 1992-1998. He is also co-author of Good Night, Dear Hart, Good Night, a book about Holyoke's Hart-Lester H. Allen and the Ponzi scandal, on the Epigraph imprint.
Brian Lapis ("Fred Kelley") joined the 22News Storm Team in 1996. He got his start in broadcasting at the age of 15 at radio station WILI, in his hometown of Willimantic, CT. He's worked as a radio on-air talent for stations in Hartford, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Syracuse, NY; and Providence, RI. Brian has a Bachelor's degree in Television Radio Film Management from Syracuse University. In addition, he holds a certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University. This is his 14th season as WJAZ announcer and emcee “Fred Kelley”. In 2013, the National Weather Association named Brian “Broadcaster of the Year".
Brian loves performing as “Fred Kelley”. “The combination of the opportunity for me to perform, the creative energy of the students and Mark Gionfriddo, and the great music makes this far and away my favorite event of the year," he said. "As a 'student of broadcasting’, I am one who appreciates the Golden Age of Radio and just how hugely popular these variety shows were in their day. I’d like to believe that if I were around back in the 1940s, I would have a gig like Fred Kelley’s."
Performance sponsors confirmed to date of The (Little) Big Broadcast! are: Mount Holyoke College, and WWLP-22News & The CW Springfield.
Tickets are free for both streamings of The (Little) Big Broadcast!. Advance reservations are required.
For tickets to the 2PM performance:
For tickets to the 7:30PM performance:
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CitySpace presents
The Writer's Imagination
MARCH 7
6 - 7 P.M.
Some of us look at a piece of paper and it is blank; others of us look at the landscape of a blank page and are inspired to create. For close to a year, our individual and collective imaginations have been fed by solitude, by injustice, and by the recognition that our communities of neighbors and friends are both vulnerable and resilient. How do we make sense of it? How do those who are inspired become inspired and use the power of imagination to connect us with ideas, with each other, and with the community to effect change?
“The Writer’s Imagination” features current Poet Laureate of Easthampton, poet/translator MarÃa José Giménez, former Poet Laureate of Northampton, poet/author Lesléa Newman, and award-winning author and co-owner of Book Moon, Kelly Link, in conversation with poet/translator Michael Favala Goldman. Join this conversation about identifying sources of personal inspiration, and how these authors have found ways to transform that inspiration into works that don’t just move us but resonate.
Tickets are $25 per household / $60 for three events (through March 7)
CitySpace offers reparations pricing with reduced or free tickets available for BIPOC.
TICKETS
Facebook event.
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Save the date
Smith College Department of Theatre New Play Reading Series presents
Acting School by Kathleen Tolan
directed by Cate Boram
Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 PM
“Why act? The world is falling apart.” Based on Olympia Dukakis’ acting classes at NYU in the 60s, Acting School follows Olympia and her six students in the East Village against the backdrop of the Black Power Movement and the Vietnam War. Her intense training methods push the students to face the fears of being human and confront masked truths; working through scenes from powerful plays, including Arthur Miller’s View from the Bridge, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman, Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, and more.
Free and open to the public. Registration coming soon.
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CitySpace presents
Art and Life in the Making: In Conversation with artists Silas Kopf and Nora Valdez
MARCH 21
6 -7 P.M.
Take a (virtual) studio tour with two virtuoso artists. From storytelling to an exploration of finely crafted artistry, these award-winning artists reconnect and discuss their artistic journeys and how their paths coincided in Western Massachusetts. Join this live, online discussion with Nora Valdez, an international award-winning sculptor from Argentina, and Silas Kopf, a masterful and award-winning furniture maker specializing in the art of marquetry, to learn how their perspectives on transforming materials like stone and wood into masterful creations inform insights into nature, change and community engagement.
Tickets are $25 per household / $60 for three events (through March 7)
CitySpace offers reparations pricing with reduced or free tickets available for BIPOC.
TICKETS
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You’re invited to Scarlet Sock Foundation’s Virtual Third Annual Gala!
Sunday March 21 2021; 7:00-8:00 PM EST
We missed being together last year and want to update you on all the great work your support made possible during the last two years. Scarlet Sock Foundation had a banner first year funding social justice theater programming that made a difference across the Pioneer Valley. Then, despite a year that made live, in-person theater impossible, we were still able to foster curiosity, self-confidence and inclusion for students in the performing arts. That's what social justice theater is all about!
Come join us to celebrate our inaugural grant recipients and see excerpts from some of them including The Performance Project, WAM Theatre and Enchanted Circle Theater. We will also be highlighting 2020’s recipients including Serious Play! and The Drama Studio in Springfield.
Scarlet Sock Foundation was founded in memory of Laura DiPillo who passionately believed that all people deserve to be included and heard. That is why we support social justice theater, which aims to raise awareness about social issues through the performing arts.
During the program, which is free to attend, you’ll be invited to make a donation to Scarlet Sock Foundation.
Visit our website at www.scarletsock.org to learn more!
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