GUILFORD — In the late 1960s, urban members of the counterculture came to Vermont to build communes, grow their own food, and pursue alternative work lives. Guilford was a center of this back-to-the-land activity and a source of creative energy. Packer Corners Road and the surrounding community were home to young actors, musicians, singers, writers, artists, sculptors, carpenters, and costume makers.
Members of Total Loss Farm, the commune on Packer Corners Road, formed the Monteverdi Players and, with creative director John Carroll, mounted a series of outdoor theater productions.
In 1976, filmmakers Alan Dater and John Scagliotti documented these young people as they created a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest at Guilford's Sweet Pond on an island fabricated by sculptor Mark Fenwick.
As part of its commitment to preserving local history, the Guilford Historical Society will present Dater and Scagliotti's The Stuff of Dreams, their documentary that captures and celebrates creative spirit of those times and the beauty of southern Vermont.
The film will be shown on Sunday, April 19, at 2 p.m. at the Broad Brook Grange on Guilford Center Road in Guilford Center. Admission is free. Members of the original production are especially invited. Refreshments will be served. Information: 802-257-7306