Pioneer Valley Theatre News December 30, 2021

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Pioneer Valley Theatre Newsletter View this email in your browser December 30 - January 19, 2021 In light of the Omicron variant, it looks like this New Year might be a quieter one than originally imagined. First Night Northampton has cancelled all indoor in-person events (there will still be fireworks, the ball drop, and streamed performances available from a few venues), and several other things have been cancelled or postponed as well. I would strongly encourage you to check with a theatre ahead of time if you are planning to attend something in the next few weeks - and don't forget to bring your mask and your vaccination card with you! I'm bringing back the Virtual Performance section as a few more virtual options pop back up - including an exciting new audio play from Real Live Theatre. Happy New Year!  The next issue will include events from January 6 - 26. 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 Real Live Theatre presents FAR REACHES Streaming now, free of charge, on our website, BandCamp, and YouTube. YOUR EVENT HERE $5 per week for your poster and ticket link in top billing! Email me to reserve your dates. Click to Access: Pioneer Valley Theatre Google Calendar Click to Access: Pioneer Valley Theatre Personnel Spreadsheet THIS WEEK IN THEATRE NEWS: from Howlround Where We Go From Here: Reflections on 2021 by HowlRound Theatre Commons From the article:  2021 was a strange year overall and an even stranger year to celebrate a milestone birthday. 26 January 2021 marked the ten year anniversary of a convening called From Scarcity to Abundance that the HowlRound co-founders (Dr. P. Carl, David Dower, Jamie Gahlon, and Vijay Mathew) produced, which was hosted at Arena Stage under the auspices of the American Voices New Play Institute. This convening served as a launch of both the HowlRound Journal and the New Play Map (2011-2016), and as we see it, was the launch of HowlRound—a now global community of theatremakers who believe in sharing knowledge and access through a commons-based framework. Once upon a time, we dreamed of hosting a giant convening in 2021 to mark this birthday. We had hoped to bring people together in Boston both to celebrate the work of the last ten years and to plan for the next twenty. And then 2020 happened. Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com LIVE PERFORMANCES No Theater, A.P.E., Ltd. LET GO January 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 @ 8:00pm A.P.E., 126 Main Street, Northampton, MA. 01060 January 6 Throughout January 2022   No Theater performs live         LET GO a short adult comedy about love, death and piles of papers… with Roy Faudree and Jane Karakula A.P.E. 126 Main Street, Northampton http://www.apearts.org Tickets are now on sale:  https://notheater.bpt.me   Limited Seating A.P.E. requires full COVID-19 vaccination and the wearing of masks to enter the gallery. Be ready to present proof of vaccination or a negative PCR COVID test. No Theater celebrates 50 years of original works for the stage in the Valley and around the world. VIRTUAL PERFORMANCES RLT presents our first original audioplay, Far Reaches. One Raft Person. One Witness. One world covered in endless ocean. What do we remember? What does it mean to survive, and what is survival worth? Two people from radically different backgrounds reach towards friendship and understanding, following memories and stories as they seek some kind of truth. Written & Directed by Ellen Morbyrne Production Managed by Syl Simmons Sound Design/Recording/Editing by Rachel Hall Theme Song by Cynthia Zaitz, PhD Performed by Trenda Loftin as the Witness and Linda Tardif as the Raft Person. Streaming now, free of charge, on our website, BandCamp, and YouTube. This program is supported by grants from the Amherst, Burlington, Greenfield, Hadley, Holyoke, South Hadley, and Springfield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. https://reallivetheatre.net/now-playing From New England New Play Alliance: Gather by the Ghost Light presents North Pole Noir by Patrick Gabridge streaming now directed by Jonathan Cook A dark look at the underside of the North Pole, as detective Harvey the Elf tries to solve the murder of Frosty the Snowman. Professor Hinkle claims he was framed, but what sorts of tundra games are these folks playing? A noir tale from the land of perpetual midnight. Tickets: free.   Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents The Rise and Fall of Holly Fudge by Trista Baldwin now-January 4 directed by Courtney Sale It is Christmas 2020, and Carol is a hard-working single mother who makes award-winning "Holly" fudge, named after her daughter. She serves it every holiday. She gifts it to her friends and co-workers. She's determined that this year won't be any different, even if she has to wear a mask while whipping up her famous dessert. But with her daughter's girlfriend crashing Christmas, her neighbor's new-found love of confectionery, and the protests erupting on her front lawn, Carol is finding it tough to make this the most wonderful time of year. Tickets: contact box office. The Wilbury Theatre Group presents Fire Flowers and a Time Machine by multiple artists now-December 31 directed by Shey Rivera Ríos A virtual reimagining of the original production, with artists embodying Ancestors or Descendants who share their stories of ancestral inheritance, connection to land, migration, healing, and more. Fire Flowers and a Time Machine (Flores de Fuego y una Máquina del Tiempo) puts audiences in touch with ancestors from the past and our future descendants. Together these guides bring forth knowledge and magic through a story that weaves monologues, poetry, dance and ritual. Tickets: pay what you can.   Arlekin Players present Witness by Nana Grinstein, Blair Cadden, and Igor Golyak now-January 23 directed by Igor Golyak Witness, the latest project from Arlekin’s Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab, is a new documentary theater piece about Jewish immigration in the face of antisemitism. The piece is inspired by the journey of the MS St. Louis, which left Hamburg in 1939 with over 900 Jewish people on board and headed to Cuba only to be turned away, leaving the passengers stranded with nowhere to go and no escape. Witness shares stories of Jewish immigrants from around the globe through an interactive virtual theater experience at the nexus of film, theater, and video games. Tickets: $12-$45. AUDITIONS & OPPORTUNITIES Academy of Music Theatre Announces Open Casting Call “The Flick” by Annie Baker Show dates: April 7-10, 2022 Location: Academy of Music Theatre, 274 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060 Audition dates: January 3rd from 6:30pm - 8:30pm January 5th (call backs) from 6:30- 8:30pm Characters: Sam, 35 - shaved head. Caucasian. He often wears a beat-up Red Sox cap. He used to be very into Heavy Metal. Avery, 20 - African American, bespectacled. He wears red, slightly European-looking sneakers. In love with the movies. Rose, 24 - Caucasian. sexually magnetic, despite the fact that (or partly because?) her clothes are baggy, she never wears make-up and her hair is dyed forest-green. Skylar, 26 - THE DREAMING MAN We will have sides from the script to read from. A two minute monologue is also welcome but not required. Please bring your vaccination card (or a photo of it) to the audition. For further information, please contact Executive Director Debra J’Anthony at djanthony@aomtheatre.com. THE SWEATER Seeking talent for readings - This is a true story Klaus.  UCLA Professor and Psychiatrist in Beverly Hills. 40 years old.  Born and raised in Berlin with a Berlin accent. Full head of hair, with twinkling eyes from time to time, a kindness that shows through.  And a hidden part he can’t digest, what he calls ‘soldier Klaus’ from his time in Hitler’s army. Ruth.  A Polish upper class woman of 48, once married to a Polish Government Official who escaped to England with their two sons when Hitler invaded, and left her behind, where she was sent to Auschwitz.  She stands tall and defiantly straight; lets her gray hair show.  Educated Polish accent.  Very bitter, cynical, trusts nothing.  Has no relations with her ex-husband or sons.   email to voicecoop@gmail.com  David Cooper LAVA Arts Center/Real Theater Bridges Director Sought January 2022 A director is sought for a series of staged readings of a play about Israel/Palestine to be held over one-two weekends in March or early April at the LAVA Art Center in Greenfield. Stipend available. Please email if interested by early January. christinebenvenuto@hotmail.com STAGE MANAGER WANTED: Silverthorne Theater Company, Greenfield, MA, is seeking a stage manager for their Spring 2022 production, Josh Harmon’s Admissions, directed by Mark Dean – at a New England prep school, Sherri Rosen-Mason and her husband fight to diversify the student body - but when their only son sets his sights on an Ivy League university, personal ambition collides with progressive values, in a no-holds-barred look at privilege, power, and the perils of hypocrisy. Rehearsals begin February 1st, performing from March 11 through 26 for three weekends at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield. Responsibilities include facilitating rehearsals and production meetings; keeping book; maintaining schedules, contact lists & other materials; maintaining communications among cast and crew; and overseeing tech rehearsals and performances. There is a stipend of $750 for the position. Contact Mark with interest and/or questions: markdean6@gmail.com, or 413-923-4992. CASTING UNTITLED ANNIE BAKER FILM Written and directed by Annie Baker, originally from Amherst, Massachusetts, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright of The Flick. Produced by Dan Janvey - Academy-Award-winning producer of Nomadland and Beasts of the Southern Wild - and BBC Films. The film follows 11 year old Lacy, her mother Janet, and the three people who come into their lives over one summer in 1991. CASTING LACY - 8-12 years old, any ethnicity. She is herself. Curious, observant, straightforward. Solid in her uniqueness, lives in her imagination. Odd birds welcome. PIANO TEACHER - female piano teacher, 50-75 years old, any ethnicity. She teaches the Suzuki method to the main character, Lacy (8-12 years old). ALSO SEEKING EXTRAS of all ages! Acting experience is not necessary. FILMING BEGINS SUMMER 2022 in Western Massachusetts. Casting directors Eléonore Hendricks and Abby Harri are teaming up for their third film together in search of the young lead for Untitled Annie Baker Film. They specialize in street casting, finding non-professional actors, and discovering new talent. TO APPLY / CONTACT For more information and/or if you’re interested in you or your child being considered for the film, please apply at: untitledanniebakerfilm.com password: Lacy For any questions, contact Eléonore and Abby at: anniebakerfilmcasting@gmail.com WHAT: Play Incubation Collective (PIC) 2022 Developmental Residency WHEN: March-December 2022 (Applications now due Feb 15 2021) WHERE: Rehearsals will take place in Hampshire County (playwrights should expect to regularly attend local in-person rehearsals) PIC is actively seeking submissions of scripts-in-progress by local BIPOC and/or queer playwrights. We are defining local as roughly within a 1 hour drive from Northampton, MA. PIC’s process of play development is unique. We invite incoming playwrights to spearhead their vision with the support of our collective of theater makers. We bring a talented team of local actors, dramaturgs, designers and more to collaborate with each writer on the development of their piece. The specifics of what that development looks like are open to the writer. All collaborating artists  help contribute to PIC’s monthly administrative duties. The 2022 PIC writer-in-residence will receive a stipend to go along with this 9-month residency, access to monthly rehearsal space, and a culminating public presentation of their play in the fall of 2022.   Submission Form Due by FEB 15, 2021 Submitted scripts do not need to be complete. Playwrights must submit a minimum of 20 pages, and the play’s cast should not exceed 10 characters. Plays only please. We cannot accept musicals at this time. Finalists will be notified by March 1st and PIC will be in touch to schedule an interview. Estimated Time Commitment: 10 hrs/month rehearsal time, 2-4 hrs/month admin time Learn more and apply here. The Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), which specializes in the art of performing, teaching, and directing staged combat/theatrical violence has announced a new initiative, “Expand, Educate, Empower” (EEE), providing free stage combat training to underserved communities. It is an effort by the SAFD to make stage combat training accessible to underserved artists and theatre professionals. This program is a nationwide search for educational organizations and institutions, performing arts groups, and community or professional theatres that are interested in participating.  The program offers 30 hours of training in one weapon discipline by a teacher and assistant certified by the SAFD. There is also an opportunity to certify in the said weapon discipline at the end of the course, also free of charge. If you would like to request a specific individual that is a member of the SAFD that you already have a relationship with, you are welcome to do so on the application.  I thought this may be a program fitting your organization/theatre, and would highly encourage you to apply. For more information and the application portal, please visit https://safd.org/train/development/eee/. You may also contact development@safd.org for any questions. Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School PVPA Accepting Applications for 2022/2023 School Year Application period closes Feb 1, 2022 PVPA 15 Mulligan Drive, South Hadley, MA 01075 The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts (PVPA) Charter Public School is pleased to announce the availability of applications for the 2022-2023 school year as of November 1, 2021. Applications are available in English and Spanish and can be found at www.pvpa.org/admissions. To request a paper application or to get more information, email admissions@pvpa.org or call 413-552-1580 ext. 134.   Eligibility is limited to those students currently in grades six through ten who are applying for the 2022-2023 school year.  Online applications must be submitted by February 1, 2022 and paper applications must be postmarked no later than February 1st. Late applications will not be accepted. The lottery will be held on Monday, February 14, 2022 . PVPA is a publicly funded charter school authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  PVPA offers a college preparatory core curriculum and performing arts programs. Admission is open to all residents of Massachusetts who have an interest in the performing arts, with priority given to students from Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin Counties. WORKSHOPS & CLASSES Academy of Music Theatre "Getting to Know Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!" Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:00-7:00pm beginning January 4 Academy of Music Theatre Register Now! Come hoot and holler with us for our Youth Musical, Oklahoma!, part of the "Getting to Know Rodgers & Hammerstein" series. Ages 9-16 are welcome, no experience necessary! Rehearsals start January 4, 2022 and run Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:00-7:00pm. Shows on March 10th and 11th. Email Susan at education@aomtheatre.com for more info. Website  This opportunity is a 10 week process that culminates in a fully staged performance in March. The cost of the program is $350 plus a $10 registration fee. Students must show proof of full vaccination by the time of the first rehearsal. Apply Now to the Completely Ridiculous Conservatory! Winter Session January 10th - March 5th, 2022 Spring Session April 4th - May 28th, 2022 Starting in January, and then again in April, a dynamic ensemble of Completely Ridiculous students will have the opportunity to engage in globally minded professional actor training, all from the comfort of home! The CRC is a one of a kind program, in that it was built entirely for Zoom, AND each faculty member not only has extensive training in their individual discipline of actor training, but also a strong foundation in the world of clown, games, play, and physical acting - having all trained with Master Clown and Commedia Teacher Christopher Bayes at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and/or The Pandemonium Studio. At the end of the 8 weeks, Completely Ridiculous students will walk away with: •A greater sense of direction, as well as concrete and actionable next steps for each individuals career. •A more enthusiastic and curious body. •A larger capacity to dream and dream big. •A greater comfort with spontaneity, freedom and play. Students will also gain a deeper understanding of who they are as unique, individual artists and what they bring to an ensemble, as well as a whole new set of skills and professional contacts to apply to their career and/or ongoing education. Don’t miss your chance to work with our ever expanding community of international artists and apply today! Click the link below for all of the info and COME PLAY! Apply Now! The ArtsHub 2022 Virtual Summit: How to Recover and Thrive is being held January 10 - 14, 2022. The ArtsHub 2022 Virtual Summit: How to Recover and Thrive welcomes emerging and established artists, performers, arts managers, and those in creative fields to join in a week-long series of virtual interactive workshops, training, and networking sessions. The ArtsHub Virtual Summit, designed to provide tools to help those working in creative fields recover from the disruption created by the pandemic and learn how to position their business to thrive as the economy recovers, will have daily sessions January 10 - 14, 2022, most days at 10AM, 12 Noon, and 6PM ET. More information and registration here.  the Drama Studio January and December Workshops at Drama Studio! 01/15, 01/22 41 OAKLAND STREET, SPRINGFIELD, MA, 01108 This winter, we are offering ON-SITE workshops for students of all ages! Join one or more of the Drama Studio winter workshops and learn about our theater conservatory for ages 6-18. We will offer the following workshops: Stage Combat Ages 13-18 January, 15th Ages 9-12 January, 22nd For more information, visit www.dramastudio.org/workshops Happier Valley Comedy presents Improv for Scaredy Cats January 15 at 10:00 AM Happier Valley Comedy Theater (1 Mill Valley Rd, Hadley, MA) Does the idea of performing in front of people scare the dickens out of you? Have you ever watched improv and thought, "I could never do that!"? Have you ever watched improv and thought, "Hell, I could definitely do that!"? Do you not give a flying fig about improv comedy but want to learn some tricks to become more confident speaking in public and more mindful in the moment? Interested in checking out what's going on at Happier Valley Comedy? Are you curious about improv but you don't consider yourself a scaredy cat? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, "Improv for Scaredy Cats (And Non-Scaredy Cats Too!)" is the workshop for you. It's designed especially for the improv newbies, improv-curious, and anyone who wants to step outside their comfort zone. Once you get started, you'll soon see it's not that scary after all. Head of Happiness Pam Victor leads you through a very gentle, easy approach to improv comedy in a positive and accepting atmosphere where failure is disempowered. (At HVC, we believe it's only a mistake if you don't learn from it.) Our main focus is to have as much joy and ease as humanly possible in two hours! No experience necessary. Being funny is NOT required. The only requirement is a willingness to learn something new and have as much fun as possible. https://www.happiervalley.com/scaredy-cats.html Submit your workshop, class, audition, performance, or any other theatre opportunity here! Pioneer Valley Theatre Companies Academy of Music Theatre Amherst Community Theater Arena Civic Theatre A.C.T. Youth Theatre Black Cat Theater Chester Theatre Company CitySpace Cold Spring Community Theatre Completely Ridiculous Productions Drama Studio Double Edge Theatre Eggtooth Productions Exit 7 Players Ghost Light Theater Greenfield Community College's Theater Department Hampshire Shakespeare Company Happier Valley Comedy Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center Ja'Duke Center for the Performing Arts K and E Theater Group Ko Theater Works/Ko Festival of Performance Majestic Theater Mount Holyoke College Rooke Theatre No Theater Northampton Community Arts Trust Northampton Playwrights Lab PaintBox Theatre Panopera Pauline Productions Performance Project Phantom Sheep Players Play Incubation Collective Real Live Theatre Red Thread Theater Royal Frog Ballet Serious Play Theatre Ensemble Shakespeare Stage Shea Theater Arts Center Silverthorne Theater Smith College Department of Theatre St. Michael's Players Starlight's Youth Theatre, Inc. Strident Theatre TheatreTruck Turbulent Times Theater UMass Department of Theater UMass Theatre Guild Unity House Players Valley Light Opera Ware Community Theatre Westfield Theatre Group Wilbraham United Players World and Eye Want to know even more about events in the Pioneer Valley and beyond, including reviews, interviews, and previews? Pioneer Valley Theatre Google Calendar In the Spotlight, Inc. Berkshire on Stage Stagestruck ArtsBeat TV/Radio and News Column 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|*