performances and community engagement
programs throughout Vermont. For about
3 years now, Premo has been working on a
song cycle using the words of 13th-century
Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi, which speaks
of the importance of open-hearted human
connection and the beauty of life, love, and
nature.
The Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award
is going into its 14th year in 2020. It has
helped to nurture a number of exciting proj-
ects including, most recently, Alice Bliss, a
new musical by Jenny Giering, Adam Gwon,
and Karen Hartmann and based on the book
by Laura Harrington. Weston’s upcoming
New Play Festival will feature a new play by
Erik Brogger, called Native Authors.
Northern Stage in White River Junction
develops over a dozen new works each year,
through their New Works Now series and
their Youth Ensemble Studio. This season,
for the first time, they are producing 2 world
premieres: Jordan by Brenda Withers, an
examination of how a cyberhacking inci-
dent unravels a woman’s life, as well as Cit-
rus by Celeste Jennings, a choreopoem that
charts the struggles and resilience of black
women in America. In addition, the North-
ern Stage-nurtured play Only Yesterday by
Bob Stevens will premiere Off-Broadway.
“In July of 2018, I had the
privilege of directing &
choreographing
the
new
musical, ROCKWELL. It was
exciting to be rehearsing a
show about Norman Rockwell
in the heart of Rockwell terri-
tory and performing the show
before
knowledgeable
and
enthusiastic audiences. The
beauty and calmness of the sur-
roundings made it the ideal
place to work on new material
where we could truly focus and
bring forth our creative tal-
ents. I look forward to the next
time I have the great pleasure of
working in Vermont.”
- Randy Skinner,
4-time Tony® Award Nominee
Sara Esty and Danny Gardner in the new musical,
ROCKWELL, by The Bluestone Sisters.
Photo by Hubert Schriebl
Kingdom County Productions is develop-
ing an original musical based on the lives of
Vermont teens. Produced by Bess O’Brien,
the show is set to tour Vermont in Fall 2020.
Douglas Anderson, Artistic Director of
Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, is cur-
rently developing a new musical by two
young women from Addison County (Va-
nessa Dunleavy and Miranda Jones). It’s
a funny, touching, semi-autobiographical
two-hander that follows the 2 girls from high
school through the tough choices and bitter
realities that exist in the world of profession-
al theater. The world premiere is scheduled
for November 2019.
An irony: one of their best friends in
high school was... Anais Mitchell of
Hadestown fame.
For More: VTMAG.com
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