Shaker Bridge Theatre: Curtain Up at Briggs Opera House
Shaker Bridge Theatre has moved from its former Enfield location to Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, Vermont. And it’s almost showtime.
The new season is Shaker Bridge’s sixteenth but the first in its new home. It will open on September 21/22 with The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective. Written by Patricia Milton,
This comedy/mystery is a “cheeky thriller” that centers on women detectives and victims instead of the killer. In 1893, a serial killer not unlike Jack the Ripper terrorizes actresses in the Battersea district of London. As the police have been unable to stop this murderer, three women who live in Mrs. Hunter’s Lodging House for Ladies take up the task. But without modern forensics, access to crime scenes, or cooperation from the authorities, how can they succeed? It’s “Sherlock Holmes” meets “Arsenic & Old Lace” in this entertaining murder mystery with a modern female sensibility.
Shaker Bridge plans to continue its tradition of “small intimate space, great big stories,” according to Board President Joan Ecker. The theater was known and loved for its theater-in-the-round setting with audience members never more than a few feet from the actors onstage.
To that end, work has been ongoing at the Briggs to capture that same sense of intimacy. Renovations appear to be wrapping up on and off stage. The lobby has also gotten a reboot and will play more of a role in welcoming and accommodating theatergoers.
SBT’s new Producing Artistic Director Grant Neale is bullish on the new venue and hopes it will further the multi-pronged mission of Shaker Bridge, including expanding its audience. In addition:
Regional theater is having a rough time right now and it’s important to keep some analog air coming in the door of an increasingly digital world. We are also happy to keep providing royalties to living playwrights, and work to many hard working stage actors. We look forward to sharing stories with you in our wonderful new home.
The official opening night with full ticket prices for The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective will be September 22 (play runs through October 8), followed by An Opening Night Reception in the lobby (all ticket holders welcome free of charge but are asked to RSVP to grant.shakerbridge@gmail.com). “Don your favorite Victorian outfit or accessory (if you want to) and enjoy Victorian era treats, beverages (Pimms Cup anyone?) and music hall tunes after the show.” The previous night, on September 21, Shaker Bridge is offering an opportunity to see the show on a “pay what you will” basis.
Four more productions will follow throughout the season which ends in late spring, 2024: It’s a Wonderful Life—A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry; The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter; The Minutes by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts; and Ripcord by David Lindsey-Abaire. For more information and tickets, please click here.
(Photos by permission of Shaker Bridge Theatre.)
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.