Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Since early last summer, students from the three elementary schools here have been attending New England Youth Theatre (NEYT) for a free afterschool program to learn theatrical skills and rehearse a play.
Now NEYT presents the fruits of their work. Join them Jan. 23-25 for Town Schools Theatre's production of “Jack and the Devil's Three Golden Hairs.”
Directed by Naomi Shafer and Jonny Flood, and starring 30 students in grades 3-6 from Academy, Green Street, and Oak Grove, “Jack and the Devil's Three Golden Hairs” is based on a tale by the Brothers Grimm, as adapted from a musical written by Stephen Stearns and Peter Amidon.
As NEYT explains at its website, “[t]his whimsical story starts long, long ago in a poor village with a birth. A fortune teller predicts that the baby will marry the princess. When the king gets word that a peasant child will someday usurp him, he sets out to stop fate. Alas, his plan goes terribly wrong. With the help of forest robbers, Jack grows up to marry the princess, but not before he completes a set of challenges, including plucking three hairs from the devil's head.”...
Most people may consider an icon to be a flat painting of religious images that is venerated by Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. But British composer John Tavener wrote that he envisioned his musical work “The Protecting Veil” as “an icon in sound for cello and strings based on...
Susan Dedell celebrates her 25th year directing the Brattleboro Concert Choir with a special performance of a monumental choral work. On Saturday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 11, at 3 p.m., the 100-voice Brattleboro Concert Choir and a full symphony orchestra, all under Dedell's direction, will...
A new and acclaimed biography, “Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man,” about the man widely regarded as the forefather of modern hip-hop, was largely written, incongruously, in a remote cabin in the woods of Southern Vermont. But then perhaps it not so odd. The author of this definitive biography, Marcus Baram, grew up in the village of Green River in Guilford, and in Belmont, Mass. He now lives in Green River and Brooklyn, N.Y. “I have spent a lot of...
Vermont Performance Lab (VPL) has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and is excitedly putting out a call for help to meet a required $50,000 in matching funds. According to Sara Coffey, VPL's founder and director, VPL is one of 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant this year. She told The Commons the award will support six artist residencies for the organization's 2015 season. VPL describes itself as...
The San Francisco-based women's vocal ensemble Kitka will perform its critically acclaimed “Wintersongs” program in a free holiday concert on Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre. Marlboro College and Kingdom County Productions is presenting this showcase of seasonal music from a wide variety of Eastern European ethnic and spiritual traditions as a gift to the community. Kitka is an American women's vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe. Dedicated to...
The continual debate of what defines “craft” usually centers on the distinction between fine arts and artisan work. But the concept of “craft” can also be expanded in other ways, too. At least that is what the Putney Craft Tour contends, as this year it will include such disciplines as the making of cheese, the breeding of rare sheep, and the spinning of fiber yarns. During each day during the long Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 28, 29, and 30, from 10...
Hugh Keelan feels wonderful as he returns to Brattleboro from a stay at a dude ranch in Arizona to conduct a world premiere for the first concert of the new season of the Windham Orchestra. Keelan had spent time out West learning how to ride a horse. This adventure was not all fun and games but actually was supposed to be instructive. “The idea is to look at my leadership skills,” explains Keelan. “The thinking goes that if you mishandle...
