Announcing our 2022-2023 Season

 

Circle Mirror Transformation
By Annie Baker
Directed by Rob Gorman
September 16 – October 8, 2022

An eclectic group of people come together for an Adult Creative Drama class at a local community center in small-town Vermont. Through the artificial intimacy of their theater exercises, they form increasingly intense connections in ways that are both heartbreaking and humorous. We watch as they try to figure out their lives together in unvarnished ways that lead to small and sometimes disarming moments of discovery. At the end of the play, audiences are left with the desire to compare notes about what happened and what the future has in store for them all.

“Circle Mirror Transformation” includes occasional use of moderate coarse language, mentions of violence or abuse and mentions of sex or sexual references, several kissing scenes, and brief discussion of an ethnic stereotype.

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An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf
By Michael Hollinger
Directed by Karen Fleming
October 28 – November 19, 2022

What to do when the owner and sole patron of the greatest restaurant in Paris returns from the bullfights in Madrid having decided to die of starvation while sitting at one of his own tables? This “comic tragedy in seven courses” is the story of the frantic staff and their attempts to keep “Monsieur” – and the restaurant on which their livelihoods depend – alive. With a pinch of the absurd and a dash of the existential, audiences will delight in this story that celebrates the joys of cooking, the search for life’s meaning, and the collected works of Ernest Hemingway.

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Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
By Jamie Gorski
Directed by Seth Ghitelman
December 9 – 18, 2022

This play is a thoughtful retelling of the story of a young girl who wrote a letter to The New York Sun more than 100 years ago asking if Santa Claus exists and the newspaper’s response to her. Virginia’s desire to get answers to her question is what moves this story along as it joyfully reminds the grown-ups in the audience that we might learn a thing or two if we listen to the young voices questioning the world around us more. Keeping the spirit of giving connected to this holiday at its center, this play will touch us all through its focus on our shared humanity.

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Men on Boats
By Jaclyn Backhaus
Directed by Erin Bone Steele
January 27 – February 18, 2023

This account of a geological expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 is based on the journals of John Wesley Powell and his crew of pioneers. These historical figures were all cisgender white males; the cast portraying them will be made up entirely of people who are not. In this bold and refreshing approach, the play bridges the gap between then and now in ways that highlight the ludicrous arrogance of the Western colonizers while recognizing their bravery and fearlessness. The theatrical dissonance between the performer and the role allows for comedy, commentary, and satire, offering the audience a chance to reconsider a moment in history without being beholden to the men whose voices have traditionally dominated our understanding of it.

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Blue Stockings
By Jessica Swale
Directed by Eleanore Tapscott
March 10 – April 1, 2023

Set in Girton College, Cambridge in 1896, this story follows the efforts of four exceptional female undergraduates as they petition for the right to obtain a formal degree from the university following the completion of their studies. You know, the kind their male counterparts all get. With a title that underscores the context in which these women found themselves – “blue stockings” is a derogatory term used to denote female intellectuals – this play explores issues that were central tenets of feminism in the late nineteenth century, including sexual autonomy, equal rights to education, political enfranchisement, and female bicycle-riding. Issues that are almost all still relevant today.

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Pride & Prejudice
by Jane Austen, adapted by Christina Calvit

Directed by Madeline Smith
April 28 – May 20, 2023

A delightful adaptation of the story surrounding the Bennet sisters and their attempts to make their way in a society that deems them unsuitable. Our heroine, Lizzy, takes us along with her as she narrates the story while a chorus of townspeople help to create the atmosphere of gossip in which Lizzy and her family are attempting to hold their own. With a large cast and some intentional doubling of roles, this production promises to enchant Jane Austen lovers both on stage and off.

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To Be Determined
June 9 – July 1, 2023