Being There At The Birth

By Judith Jerome

Being there at the birth . . . witness to the birth, the wedding vows, you become responsible. You own that baby, that marriage; you see them in a different way. Invested. Engaged. These words come to mind in regard to the February 29^th launch of the new harbor Residency Program, but feel too weak.

I’ve come in late to the birth of this baby, named “Women in Combat,” working title. The actors have already been working for 6 days, and Julia Sears, the director, and Maggie Moore, dramaturg and co-creator, have been researching and collecting stories for several months, but they are thick now into the over and over questions, brainstorms, and decisions that follow and form the original impulses that led them into this room, and to what they are making.

Movement – the audible/visible heartbeat, flat hands against the chest. They are working with movement and sound, trying things. Again. Again.

No language. Or it’s a different kind of language, they are discovering. Expletives, names. What is sound? What kind of sound? What visual? What takes us there? How do you tell this story? Make it mean? Make us know something we haven’t known before.

I have always loved the simple cyc, the white curtain at the back of the stage, with its many possibilities for absorbing, reflecting light, for carrying projections—watching it ripple like water, like breath--but soft, white, sensual, I have never seen it used like this—in this moment it explodes!

Brainstorming character arcs. Jay is the scribe; they are working on his character, the throughline of Lampido, a combat medic. He says the day wiped them out. I just watch, but coming in to rehearsal I am immediately taken in, engaged in their thinking together, as they throw out ideas. Gooood listening.

Absent language. When does movement show pain, the impact of a bullet, when does a sound do it better? We think of storytelling as a verbal art, but when does an image or a lie tell it better? A gesture? Music tell it better?

Flip charts, dense with notes, hang on a ladder. Jay is making notes on another as they talk.

Everyone is so smart.

You, too, can be there at the birth. Working rehearsals are open to your considerate witnessing. You may have missed being witness to the beginning in this first Harbor Residency, but there are four more to come. Check in with the OH, and come in!

Celebrate National Read Across America Day with the Opera House!

First of all, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Every year, in honor of his birthday, the country celebrates National Read Across America Day. Do you want to take part in these festivities AND pump yourself up for this summer in Stonington? Spend your evening reading one of the 2016 season plays!

To help you choose, here are descriptions of the pieces, along with a corresponding Dr. Seuss book. Just for fun.

Did you wake up today feeling just a bit out of sorts? Virginia Woolf's ORLANDO, adapted by Sarah Ruhl, might be just the ticket.

What do you do when you've changed, but the world around you hasn't yet caught up?
We've all woken up feeling a bit off, maybe a little unlike our normal selves, but none so much as Virginia Woolf's Orlando. He went to bed your typical Elizabethan Man: a favorite of the Queen, madly in love with a Russian Princess, fleeing an Archduchess, but on this fine day in Constantinople he's risen to find he has become, of all things, a woman… 

Adapted for the stage by MacArthur "genius" playwright Sarah Ruhl, Orlando takes audiences on a time-traveling erotic journey.

And as a good follow up to this story, give this one a whirl:

A reminder that every new day is the
start of a new adventure.

Do you feel like you have to keep warning people about the same things over and over again and They. Just. Won't. Listen? Grab Lisa Peterson's and Denis O'Hare's AN ILIAD and have a good commiseration with the Poet.

"Every time I sing this song, I hope it's the last time."
So says The Poet as she digs deep to tell and retell Homer's epic story of war, honor, violence and the Greek siege of the city of Troy. Maybe if she tells the story one more time, the violence will end. Laced with dark humor, biting pathos and epic storytelling, An Iliad is a stunning and moving examination of the cost of war and the true meaning of honor.

When you've put that story to bed, grab this one:

Public Service Announcement to Kings:
Sometimes it pays to listen to the little guy.

Have you had a strange feeling lately, like perhaps people are out to get you? Or maybe you're struggling with a friend's leadership decisions. Take JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare for a spin.

Idealism, envy, and power politics collide as the Roman Republic reaches a crisis. 

Returning general Julius Caesar is a hero, and his political genius and military prowess make him the most powerful leader the Republic has ever known. Some say too powerful. His popularity breeds suspicion and concern among both the jealous and the honorable. Will his power corrode the freedom of the State? And to protect that freedom, must he then die--for what he might do, what he might become? Questioning leads to conspiracy, and the fate of the Republic hangs in the balance.

If you're wondering what type of leader the Senate was worried Caesar would turn into, look no father than Yertle, King of the Pond.

It only takes one wobbly turtle to bring down
an empire. And if that isn't already a saying,
it should be.

Maybe you're in an end-of-the-world sort of mood and, understandably, need a good laugh. MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY, by Anne Washburn, should be right up your alley.

What is left after the end of the world?

In the deep darkness after the collapse of society’s electrical grids, a mismatched group of survivors huddle close around a campfire fighting off fear with the heroic story of youth and innocence triumphing over evil -- the story, of course, of Bart Simpson’s epic battle against Sideshow Bob.  From this meeting, memories of America’s favorite prime-time family achieves Homeric proportions and become the basis for shaping a new society - one where the pop culture of today becomes the mythology of tomorrow as the play travels decades into the future.

The story of how one underachieving fourth-grader convinced humanity not to have a cow and inspired resilience through the ages. 

As you ponder this maybe-not-so crazy future, also keep in mind this classic...

If the fate of the the world was left in your hands,
would you build a trash can fire
or a three ring production?

Are you feeling particularly ambitious? Keep this reading going through the rest of the week and tackle the whole season! Then make your way on over to our new Membership page and ensure that you can see each of these shows as many times as you'd like for the best price.

For you, dear friends, your Dr. Seuss counterpart is clear:

And, oh, the people you'll meet...leaders...
betrayers...warriors...poets...survivors...
spiky headed little boys...

Happy reading everyone! We can't wait to see you this summer.

Happy New Year - and thank you!!!

Dear friend,

THANK YOU.

What a year for the Opera House! A whirlwind of art and music and community and learning!

For the Opera House, 2015 was a year of transition, with the completion of the new scene shop and lobby (and all those beautiful bathrooms, of course!) and my own arrival as the new director for this wonderful organization. And throughout this year of change and growth, it has been your support that has made it possible.

Did you attend a film this year? Join us each Wednesday in the summer for Live for $5? Have you performed at one of our Open Mic nights in the newly-minted Live in the Lobby series? Did you marvel at Chekhov by the seashore or Shakespeare in Stonington? Dance in your seat at the Jazz Festival? Did you give us a gift towards either our annual fund or our capital campaign? Act in one of our Community Staged Readings? Join us for a conversation in the lobby? Get your picture taken with Santa?

Whatever your points of interaction with us have been, it is your engagement with the Opera House that makes our work possible. Thank you.

MORE IS COMING SOON.

In 2016, we’re continuing our growth, with increased winter programming through our newly launched Harbor Residency Program, our continuing community partnerships with the Island Nursing Home, the Town of Stonington and the Island Community Center, more Community Staged Readings, and of course, our expanded exciting summer season!

If you can support us with a year-end gift, that will help all those programs. Make you gift online today.

Opera House Arts has always and continues to use the performing arts to foster and promote excellence in all the ways we perform our lives: Incite Art. Create Community. Thank YOU for being a pivotal part of that community.

Meg Taintor

Producing Artistic Director

Incite Art. Create Community. (And Conversations. And Joy.)

When I moved to the island at the beginning of the summer to begin my work at the Opera House, everyone kept telling me how much calmer things got in the fall - and while that probably is true, you wouldn't know it our last week here!

How much did you join us for?

Were you with us on Wednesday for our day-long symposium with the students of Deer Isle-Stonington High School? How about Thursday for our free community matinee screening of Singin' In the Rain? Did you catch Bridge of Spies over the weekend?

The intrepid staff at OHA show off their Halloween onesies.
(Or, as we have started calling them, our #Hallowonesies.)

Were you one of the dozens of costumed merry-makers who celebrated with us all day on Saturday as we hosted a free family Halloween Extravaganza with trick-or-treating, cookie decoration, costumes and screening of Caspar?

As I sat in the back of the theatre on Saturday night unwinding after a long day of wearing a bear onesie (don't ask) while handing out candy and toys to the dozens of families who joined us during the day, I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to be a part of this community.

I've also been thinking that as I work in the rehearsal room in preparation for this week's Community Staged Reading presentations of Nick Payne's beautiful, heart-breaking, heart-healing, universe-jumping love story: Constellations.

Making its regional premiere on our stage this week, Constellations is a classic love story. She is a physicist and he's a bee-keeper and though they are an unlikely match, as they meet and re-meet across the multiverse, they tell a boy-meets-girl story as old as time. It’s a play about small talk and big ideas. It’s about saying goodbye and about never having to say goodbye. It’s about the boundless potential of a connection between two people. It’s a heart-breaking love story of endless invention. It's also very very funny.

I've loved this play since I first read it. It is a beautiful exploration of what it means to be human - how do we chose the paths that we chose? What parts of our life can we have control over? In what parts of our lives do we have no control, no choice in the outcome? It's a play that asks more questions than it answers, and that leaves its audience wanting to talk - so we are, of course, providing that space for conversation.

The readings are this Wednesday and Thursday evening at 7pm. Wednesday, stay after the show to join in a conversation about the issues raised by the play. Thursday, come early and enjoy Pam's delicious flatbread pizzas in our beautiful new lobby.

See you in the theatre!

Meg

Specter Showcase: A Whole Mess of Folks

Happy All Hallows' Eve Eve, friends! Does this put you in the same festive mood as it does us? Speaking of feeling festive...if you ever find yourself looking for a place to party with a whole passel of ghosts, you might want to head toward the Big Apple. 

Known as: A Whole Mess of Folks 

Haunts: the Palace Theatre in NewYork, New York

Sad you never got to see Judy Garland in the theatre? Well, you may still have a chance. Many have claimed to see Ms. Garland hanging out near the Palace’s orchestra pit – perhaps warming up for her next show. And she’s not the only one with a fondness for this theatre. Acrobat Louis Bossalina likes to use the space to try to recreate his infamous high-wire act of 1935 – always hoping for a less fatal ending. A cellist clad all in white roams the theatre. Maybe she plays for the children’s specters who have also found their way to this stage – a little boy who brought his trucks with him to the afterlife and a young girl who likes to observe the goings on from the balcony.

That’s it for this year’s week of Halloween hauntings! We hope you enjoyed the chills and thrills. And remember, these are just a small selection of theatre ghost stories – so the next time that you’re taking in a show, maybe say a quiet “Thanks for having me.” It’s only polite. You are, after all, in their home.

Specter Showcase: Yuri and The Wailing Woman

Sometimes with ghosts, as with life, you have to take the good with the bad. If that doesn't work for you, you should probably avoid this theatre. 

Known as: Yuri and The Wailing Woman 

Haunts: St. James Theatre inWellington, New Zealand

This sounds like the name of a new band, but these two aren’t actually pals. They just apparently shared a post-life realtor. Yuri is from the Casper-school of apparitions. He’s a friendly fellow, who unfortunately fell to his death onstage while dancing. Nowadays he’s known for causing strange electrical occurrences. Some also credit Yuri with saving the life of one of the projectionists – on two different occasions. The Wailing Woman, on the other hand, is not quite as exuberant. After being booed off the stage, she decided to explore…less corporeal options. Now she goes after some of the other actresses who grace the St. James stage. Her weapons of choice? Falls, sprains and brutal head colds.