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February 11 - March 3, 2021
CitySpace present Life is a Groove this Sunday at 6pm - it's all a fundraiser to help renovate the second floor of Easthampton's Old Town Hall into a flexible, accessible performance venue. It's been a rough year - watching all kinds of local venues close. Your support of CitySpace, and other venues, means more now than ever. And hopefully there will be events to support coming soon.
If you want (your kids!) to get more involved on the stage, Starlight's Youth Theatre performance of Annie is starting soon - see below for links and more info.
The next issue will include events through March 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
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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
Knowing It's Time to Go
by David Dower and Martin Faucher
From the article:
David Dower: We’re both leaving our leadership positions—you as the artistic director and co-executive director at Montreal’s Festival TransAmériques, me as artistic director at Boston’s ArtsEmerson—in the period of pandemic, remote work, and lockdowns. How are you doing with that?
Martin Faucher: It’s not the way I planned to leave the festival. I planned to travel last summer, to say farewell to everyone. But it didn’t go like that, not at all. I announced to the Festival TransAmériques board that I was leaving in December 2019. I told them 2021 would be my last one. It was before the pandemic. And I made my decision two summers ago, so for me it was a twenty-four month timeline.
Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com
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From the New England New Play Alliance:
Virtual Theatre and Podcast
History at Play presents
Cato & Dolly
by Patrick Gabridge
February 12
directed by Courtney O'Connor
Cato & Dolly looks at life in the Governor's mansion from 1764 to 1816 through the experiences of two who live there: Dolly Quincy Hancock, Boston Brahmin and First Lady of Massachusetts, and Cato, an enslaved person of color. Cato & Dolly brings their legacies, and the those of other Revolutionary-era figures, to life. Tickets: $10-$25, pay what you can.
Silverthorne Theater Company presents
Short & Sweet (tiny) New Theater Festival
February 12-14
directed by
Julian Findlay and Ben Ware
Originally scheduled to go up in March 2020 but postponed by the pandemic, these plays were reworked as screenplays and filmed outdoors. Viewers will vote for their favorites, and the top four from each evening will be shown again on February 14.
Group A, February 12:
Choices
by James McLindon
Canvas
by Andrew Heinrich
Interventions
by Greg Lam
Webster’s Bitch
by Jacqueline Bircher
Cell Phone in the Yoga Class
by Michele Markarian
A Gift
by Jonathan Prouser
Second Look
by Nick Malakhow
People Will Talk
by Scott Mullen
Group B, February 13:
Jump
by Gina Femia
Indelible
by John Bavoso
Four Daughters
by Ellen Wittlinger
Raghead
by Tom Coash
Family Game Night
by Peter Kennedy
Mishpocha
by Emily Bloch
A Wake
by Brian Petti
Tickets: $15 per night; $35 festival pass.
Experience the diversity of ten-minute Zoom plays that five writers, three directors and 15 actors create in just 24 hours. A virtual audience talkback will follow both shows. Tickets: suggested donation of $20.
The Lab at Eventide Theater Company presents
Playwrights, ETC Showcase
February 13-15
Playwrights, ETC Showcase will feature virtual readings of original short works by the nine writers who participated in the inaugural Lab session. Tickets: free.
Fresh Ink Theatre presents
a reading of
Truth or Consequences
by Andrew Siañez-De La O
February 14
directed by Jasmine Brooks
Agent Chavez is on her way back to headquarters after losing her partner during a mission gone wrong. Agent Hogan is days away from retiring after twenty-five years of service. Thanks to budget cuts, these two agents from The Bureau must share a dusty motel room in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. But this is no ordinary stopover. As they come to realize that The Bureau may have put them directly in harm's way, these two Agents must grapple with their darkest memories and deepest regrets if they hope to survive the demands of the El Dorado Motel. Tickets: free, donation suggested.
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In Residence at A.P.E. on Main Street
February 6 -16
Mary Beth Brooker
Title: The Set-Up
(The Set-Up is a theater setting; a workshop; a campsite; a story book; a song)
Public viewing from the window: Evenings TBA
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Café Subterrain returns to UMass Theater to inspire and instigate |
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Performances (live on Zoom):
Feb. 11, & 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Free
Visit the Fine Arts Center Box Office to register.
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Imagine the ideal cafe.
What do you envision? A cozy nook surrounded by books? Musicians playing softly in the corner while you drink your favorite hot beverage? A place where the owner lets their cats roam about?
That welcoming ambience, however you personally picture it, is where the denizens of Café Subterrain want to meet and connect with you, both new and returning visitors. They'll offer conversation and entertainment — and perhaps spur you to commit a small good deed to improve our world.
This second iteration of Café Subterrain will run Feb. 10-12. New guests are welcome as well as returning ones. If you are a returning visitor, we're excited to catch up.
"This is a very warm, inviting Café where you don't pay in money, you pay in actions," said director Rudy Ramirez, a first-year MFA directing student. And lest that sound intimidating, Ramirez said they're not looking for "heroic" deeds, but instead hoping to encourage moments of connection — reaching out to someone at the bus stop for a chat, or finding out about a local community garden you can support — to create community
Ramirez came up with the idea of the Café as a socially-conscious, community-building take on the immersive nightclub, Eschaton, created by a group of New York City-based artists at the beginning of lockdown.
In the Café, audience members experience performances and interactive moments. The cast includes Ramirez's UMass Theater acting students, faculty, and community members, united in being "passionate about social justice and taking a risk," Ramirez said, and rich in ideas of what resistance can look like.
This February, the actors hope to not just to welcome new audience members, but reunite with those who attended the first run to hear about how they went about accomplishing the good deeds they were encouraged to perform during the first run.
Join us in our cozy café, online over Zoom, Feb. 10, 11 & 12 at 7:30 p.m.
This event is free. Visit the Fine Arts Center Box Office to claim your spot in the virtual audience now. |
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SILVERTHORNE THEATER LAUNCHES ITS “SHORT & SWEET (tiny) NEW PLAY FESTIVAL”
On February 12, 13 and 14, the Short & Sweet Festival will finally be launched! Here’s how it will work:
On Friday, February 12, the following plays will be screened, beginning at 7:30 pm. The Group A line-up, all directed by Julian Findlay consists of Choices, by James McLindon (Northampton MA); Canvas, by Andrew Heinrich (San Antonio TX); Interventions, by Greg Lam (Milton MA); Webster’s Bitch, by Jacqueline Bircher (Brooklyn NY); Cell Phone in the Yoga Class, by Michele Markarian (Cambridge MA); A Gift, by Jonathan Prouser (Western MA); Second Look, by Nick Malakhow (Brighton MA); and People Will Talk, by Scott Mullen (Burbank CA).
On Saturday, February 13, the Group B plays, under the direction of Ben Ware, will screen, again beginning at 7:30 pm. The line-up is Jump, by Gina Femia (Brooklyn NY); Indelible, by John Bavoso (Washington DC); Four Daughters, by Ellen Wittlinger (Haydenville MA); Raghead, by Tom Coash (New Haven CT); Family Game Night, by Peter Kennedy (Williamsberg MA); Mishpocha, by Emily Bloch (Easthampton); and A Wake, by Brian Petti (Slate Hill, NY).
Following each night of plays, viewers will be asked to select their Top Four Favorite Plays! Then on Sunday, February 14, the chosen Eight Favorite Plays will be screened again, beginning at 7:30 pm.
Viewers will be able to buy individual tickets for any of the three nights of plays for $15 each, or get a Festival Pass for all three nights for $35! The links to the online screening site are provided once tickets are purchased. Details and links to the ticketing site may be found on the Special Events page at Silverthorne’s web site: https://silverthornetheater.org/
The Short & Sweet (tiny) New Play Festival is sponsored in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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CitySpace presents
Life is a Groove: Music and conversation with Karrin Allyson and James Argiro
Two professional musicians from different backgrounds and generations, chat about the music industry and about their remarkable experiences in the business. Their talent and travels have taken them around the world, and into the concert halls, clubs, and homes of hundreds of musicians, actors, and raconteurs. 5-time Grammy nominee, vocalist, and pianist Karrin Allyson and pianist, conductor, and accompanist to music legends, James Argiro invite us into a world alive with stories and song. Join this special excursion with Karrin and James at Luthier’s Co-op.
Start off this event with Jazz Trivia by Bex Taylor of New England Public Media, get in the mood with carefully crafted playlists in your inbox, and receive delightful diversions in your mailbox.
With all the variety and entertainment, you’ll feel like you had an evening out on the town! Finally, ticket holders will reap savory specials to Easthampton restaurants to make their event experience complete.
FEBRUARY 14 6 -7 P.M.
TICKETS
Tickets are $25 per household / $80 for four events.
CitySpace offers reparations pricing with reduced or free tickets available for BIPOC.
Facebook event
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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 18, 19, 20 and 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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Streaming for Free
Sunday, February 21 at 6pm
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The Wilbury Theatre Group has proudly been commissioned by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities to participate in Culture is Key, an initiative to “understand, test, and evaluate the role of cultural participation on our state’s civic health.” Working in collaboration with journalist Ana González of The Public's Radio and with support from ONE Neighborhood Builders, The Wilbury Theatre Group has solicited stories from neighbors willing to share their experiences of loss and resiliency in the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will culminate in Capture the Block: Stories from Ward 15, which will be livestreamed for free, on The Wilbury Group’s Facebook and YouTube channels on Sunday, February 21 at 6pm.
"When we started this project almost six months ago, the world was in a different place,” says Ana González. “We were hopeful that the pandemic would be over and done with by 2021 and we would be able to have an awesome in-person event with popcorn and hot chocolate, celebrating the streets of Olneyville in the streets of Olneyville. Obviously, we were wrong. This pandemic has taken so much from us. So, Josh and I decided to change the direction of our event to help our communities begin to heal by remembering all that we've lost and celebrating all that we've gained."
Josh Short, Artistic Director of The Wilbury Group, adds “The very real and human impact that COVID-19 has had on our neighborhood this year is heartbreaking. As one of the neighborhoods hit hardest our friends and neighbors have seen their lives change drastically over the last 12 months. It’s our hope that Capture the Block provides a forum for remembrance and mourning through storytelling that both helps our community in its healing, while amplifying the Humanities’ Council call for the urgent need for increased civic engagement from all of us.”
For more information
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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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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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CitySpace presents
The Writer's Imagination
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 María 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.
MARCH 7
6 - 7 P.M.
Tickets are $25 per household / $80 for four events (through February 14)
CitySpace offers reparations pricing with reduced or free tickets available for BIPOC.
TICKETS
Facebook event.
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