What You Could Be Doing This Weekend(ish)
Close enough to be considered a hometown favorite (educated at Middlebury College and Dartmouth’s Tuck School), San Francisco-based performer Abbey Glover brings her one-woman show to the Grange Theatre at Artistree in Pomfret, VT. “Fresh off of a critically acclaimed run at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival! Abbey Glover’s debut solo show centers on a young woman determined to break free from her box, be herself, and find love. Uniquely blending theater, storytelling, comedy, and clown, “Abbey’s Box” is a funny, moving, and thought-provoking quest for self-acceptance that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like a bit of an odd duck.” Friday, May 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Gotta dance! The City Center Ballet 25th Anniversary Celebration is on stage at Lebanon Opera House, with a separate ticketed reception to follow at Lebanon Ballet School. “From the timeless allure of The Sleeping Beauty and the magical elegance of Cinderella to the whimsical journey of Alice in Wonderland!” Saturday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m. And if you haven’t already, here’s a chance to see the brand-new Lebanon Opera House in its renovated glory. (Click here.)
Ever been to or heard of Bhutan, the first country in the world to pursue “happiness” as an official state policy? Get an introduction through the film The Monk and the Gun at the Hopkins Center’s Loew Auditorium. “Bhutan's entry for the Academy Awards is a funny, elegant and bittersweet tale elevated by the magnificent open-air cinematography by Jigme Tenzing.” Trailer, above. Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m.
Revisit F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby at Northern Stage in White River Junction, VT. “In this hour-long one-person adaptation of The Great Gatsby, Literature to Life . . . breathes new insight into one of America’s greatest novels about privilege, identity, and the price of the American Dream.” Through May 5. Tickets available through the box office or online.
Maybe you just want to put your feet up and still feel arty? Start by taking a quick look at the Hopkins Center virtual tour of the still-under-construction new wing. I love watching the lights spill out through the glass walls. (See below.)
Then, give some thoughts to next week, and pieces of the upcoming summer:
The Janes (photo,above) makes its Vermont debut via the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival in Middlebury, VT (film also now available on HBO.) “Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of Jane risked it all to save women’s lives.” It’s a stunner of a documentary, and needless to point out, timely. Trailer here. Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Dust off that resume! The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is searching for a new Executive Director.
Ripcord is the final production of the season for Shaker Bridge Theatre at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, VT. It opens on Thursday, May 9 and runs through May 26. Tickets here.
And some summer theater: Single tickets (as well as subscriptions) are now on sale at Dorset Theater Festival in beautiful Dorset, VT, which will begin its summer season on June 21 with The Beauty Queen of Leenane. (Bonus: Dorset is just down the road from the Southern Vermont Arts Center, where something interesting is always going on.) More info is available here.
——————————————————
Thank you! You’re reading Artful, a blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley, and I hope you’ll subscribe (still free) and then share this post with your friends and on your social media. We are just over 2800 subscribers.
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..