BRATTLEBORO-Tiny Theater announces the launch of its newest community theatrical event, "The Play's the Thing: An Improvisation Playground."
Designed for adults of all experience levels, organizers said in a news release that this program "offers a fun, supportive, and dynamic environment to explore the core principles of improvisation, to unlock creativity, and to build confidence both on and off the stage."
"The Play's the Thing" is a theater game time, focusing entirely on comical and playful creativity. Participants will engage in collaborative games and exercises inspired by classic theatrical techniques, learning essential skills like:
• Acceptance and Agreement: The foundation of all great improv, fostering a "yes, and" mindset using acting techniques that spur imagination and zaniness.
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) presents a special concert honoring longtime BMC faculty member Alex Ogle, "Sky, Air, and Wind: A Celebration of Alex Ogle," Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2:30 p.m. "A professional flutist and flute teacher, Alex was most interested in making music and understanding how music touches...
BRATTLEBORO-The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) presents the inaugural Vermont Circus Festival, which is set for the week of Nov. 2–9. The Vermont Circus Festival is a regional event with an international draw framed around circus performances, workshops, seminars, and pop-up activities. The seed of the festival...
WARDSBORO-Wardsboro Curtain Call presents a Founders Day celebration Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. at Wardsboro Town Hall. The town received its charter from the Republic of Vermont Nov. 7, 1780, 245 years ago. This inaugural Founders Day celebration offers an opportunity to discover the fascinating stories behind these and many more moments from Wardsboro's past. "Did you know that the American Revolution and the Russian Revolution came together on Sheldon Hill Road right here in Wardsboro? Or that there...
Burn ban lifted in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO - The state of Vermont lifted the statewide burn ban Oct. 24, and the town of Brattleboro has followed suit due to recent improvements in weather conditions. This decision follows a period of heightened fire risk due to dry conditions. With recent rainfall and a reduction in fire danger levels, residents may now resume open burning activities in accordance with local regulations. The town reminds all residents to continue exercising caution and follow these...
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont premiere of a new documentary, Heightened Scrutiny, will be held Saturday, Nov. 1, at 6:45 p.m., at New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St. Directed by Peabody Award–nominee Sam Federer, Heightened Scrutiny "exposes how biased mainstream media coverage has fueled anti-trans legislation across the country - and how those narratives endanger lives and erode democracy itself," wrote event promoters in a news release. Heightened Scrutiny follows Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney and the first out trans person to argue...
MARLBORO-The journal of the nonprofit Tasha Tudor Society won first place in the Newsletters & Magazines (with budgets under $500,000) category for their fall/winter 2024 issue as part of the New England Museum Association Publication Award Competition. All winning entries will be displayed at the New England Museum Association's conference in Manchester, New Hampshire, in November. Nearly 700 annual members across the country receive the Society's 24-page printed Journal of the Tasha Tudor Society twice a year. The journal features...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Winter Farmers Market opens on Saturday, Nov. 1, for its 20th season, once again in Croker Hall gymnasium at 60 Austine Drive on the Winston Prouty Campus. Their season follows directly on the heels of the last outdoor market in October. Fans of the summer market in West Brattleboro can simply follow many of their favorite vendors indoors to the only weekly indoor farmers market in the region open every Saturday, November through March. Remember, however, that the...
Obituaries • Stephen Bayard "Step" Chambers, 64, died Oct. 20, 2025, while receiving excellent nursing and medical care at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital after being ill since Jan. 9, 2024 when he had been severely burned on one third of his body including throat, lungs and heart. The cause of death was pneumonia and lung cancer. He was born Dec. 16, 1960, in Philadelphia. His childhood and teenage years were spent in Summit, New Jersey. There, he became an entertainer both...
PUTNEY-November is "Dinovember" at the Putney Public Library, a month when children and adults celebrate all things dinosaur! The library is offering drop-in activities and scheduled programs throughout the month. • Make your very own salt dough dinosaur fossil to take home Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the library. All ages welcome. No registration is necessary. • A "T-Rex Tea Party" will be held Saturday, Nov. 15, at 10 a.m., hosted at Next Stage Arts, 15...
BRATTLEBORO-The town of Brattleboro announced it will not be offering curbside leaf collection during the fall 2025 season. The program was discontinued during the fiscal year 2026 budget development process. While curbside collection will no longer be available, the town encourages the community "to explore alternative, environmentally friendly methods for managing their fall leaves." Based on guidance from the University of Vermont Extension's Community Horticulture programs, the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD), and Brattleboro's Sustainability Coordinator, here are some...
-There are few things more stressful, mentally and physically, as settling the outcome of a postseason soccer match with penalty kicks. After 80 minutes of regulation time and two 15-minute overtime periods, the fourth-seeded Brattleboro Bears and the No. 13 Burlington Seahorses were locked in a 1-1 tie in their Division I girls' soccer first-round playoff at Natowich Field on Oct. 22. Darkness was descending as the field lights gradually took over for the last bit of autumn twilight. Now...
NEWFANE-Mankind is a narrative species, argues Newfane author Deborah Lee Luskin, and hunting has been one of its chief topics for thousands of years. Now she is adding to the conversation. Luskin's new book, a piece of narrative nonfiction called Reviving Artemis: The Making of a Huntress, is the story of how she, a New York–born Ph.D., a writer, and an educator, turned herself into a Vermont deer hunter. The book will be published Nov. 4 by Sibylline Press. The...
Michael Pelton, a farm owner and operator and engaged community member, serves on the Windham Selectboard. WINDHAM-As our town begins discussions about budgets and property taxes, it's easy to focus on numbers and line items. These conversations also remind me of the dedication and effort required to sustain our community. Windham didn't build itself; it was shaped by generations of residents who invested not just money, but time, labor, and creativity to lay the foundations of our town. Thinking about...
-On Oct. 22, the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) said it was directed by the federal government earlier this month to pause food stamp distribution for November due to the continued shutdown in Washington, D.C. The following day, state officials said that they're rushing to deliver stopgaps for food and heating assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture informed Vermont and other states in recent weeks that it did not have sufficient funds during the shutdown to operate its...
TRENTON, MAINE-Jo Schneiderman's piece on self-censorship is one of the most important and precise framings of the present moment in history related to the First Amendment and the sad capitulation from honest discourse to passively conspiring with a growing authoritarian government by institutions of higher learning and now a local librarian afraid of truth. Where is the courage of those we expect to lead us or lead with us with justice lighting our way? Laurie Goldman Trenton, Maine This letter...
Anne Henshaw is an independent educational consultant and advocate for disability rights. CHESTER-On Oct. 18, at the GOP counter-rally to Chester's No Kings protest, Hank Poitras stood in front of about 60 people and did what he always does: sold himself. If you don't know him, Mr. Poitras runs a brand called "Planet Hank" out of Brattleboro - part podcast, part "news" channel, part traveling self-promotion tour. He's the new chair of the Brattleboro Town Republican Committee and has spent...
BRATTLEBORO-The Emerging Artist Festival (EAF) is one of the cornerstones of the Vermont Jazz Center's programming. Now in its eighth year, the EAF takes place during the first weekend of November. Headlining this year's festival will be three-time Grammy Award-winning drummer, Ulysses Owens, who will be joined by a group of rising stars he calls the Generation Y Band, featuring Anthony Hervey (trumpet), Langston Hughes II (saxophones and flute), Liya Grigoryan (piano), and Guillermo Lopez on bass. Fundamental to EAF's...
WARDSBORO-I would like to wholeheartedly agree with letter writer Stephen Stearns that we must defend our precious First Amendment right to speak freely without government censure. His letter reminds me of the time former Windsor High School Principal Tiffany Riley was improperly fired by the Mount Ascutney School Board in 2020 for a comment she posted on her personal Facebook page. Shamefully, the ACLU of Vermont did not take up the case, but thankfully other First Amendment groups stepped in.
BRATTLEBORO-I recently worked with local comrades on organizing a protest at the Vermont ICE Headquarters in St. Albans. It seems odd for a band of Windham County folks to organize something in the opposite corner of Vermont, but we have felt a strong pull in that direction. The actions and tactics of ICE under this Trump administration have been so offensive to our sense of decency. Many of us come from a Judeo-Christian tradition, where the concepts of "do unto...
The writer represents District 9 as a member of Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting. BRATTLEBORO-Recently, a 19-year old-friend gave the best and most memorable speech that my wife and I have heard in years. The seasoned politicians who bookended those 12 minutes, I am sure had important things to say, but they didn't quite meet the moment with the clarity, compassion, and passion that young man did. He challenged us to look past the cultivated divisions in our society as the...
BRATTLEBORO-She started her own restaurant at the age of 20. Today, Linda Alvarez teaches young people how to become entrepreneurs and community leaders themselves. And now, she has been named 2026 Vermont Teacher of the Year, the first career and technical education (CTE) educator in the state to receive this award from the state Agency of Education. "Being recognized as Vermont's Teacher of the Year is such an honor," says the business and entrepreneurship teacher at the Windham Regional Career...
BRATTLEBORO-Our senators, Peter Welch and Bernie Sanders, and our Representative, Becca Balint, have been in the forefront of the awakening of Democratic senators and congresspeople to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. In July, Bernie and Peter cosponsored Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) to block the sales of weapons to Israel. We applaud their leadership, but recently, a United Nations commission of inquiry found that Israel has, indeed, committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Clearly, more needs to be done to...
WILLIAMSVILLE-The Rock River Players (RRP) seem to be making a name as producers of new works at their Williamsville Hall home. Following May's evening of original one-acts was the August premiere of Patrick Keppel's The Freeing of Mollie Steimer. And starting Friday, Nov. 7, the RRP premieres Michael Nethercott's Midnight in Vermont, a classic whodunnit à la murder-mystery greats such as Agatha Christie. The first full-length drama by the Guilford-based mystery writer, Midnight in Vermont centers on the untimely death...
