Deathtrap! - The · PDF fileDeathtrap twists and turns, ... places as diverse as Somalia, Bosnia, Burundi, Rwanda, Vietnam, ... Please spread the word and support our LOCAL artistic

W E E K L Y G U I D E T O A R T S , I D E A S , A N D E V E N T S I N C E N T R A L V E R M O N T

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Deathtrap!

by Tim Tavcar

Adesperate playwright who hasn’t had a hit in years.A rich wife with a heart condition. An ambitious yetidolizing student. A dead-on Dutch psychic seeking

fame and fortune on the talk-show circuit. A trustedfriend with mysterious motives. An old house full of me-dieval weaponry. A dark and stormy night. These eerie el-ements add up to Broadway’s longest running comedy-thriller: Ira Levin’s Deathtrap. Deathtrap plays at LostNation Theater—named “one of the best regional the-aters in America” by the NYC Drama League—June 25 toJuly 12.

Sidney Bruhl, a successful veteran writer with writer’sblock (reduced to living off his wife Myra’s money foryears now), uses naïve protégé Clifford Anderson to

jump-start his stalled career. Or does he? The plot is moretwisted than the characters it portrays. Fueled by macabrecomic touches and unmatched suspense, this classic willtake you on an unforgettable ride. Is anyone what he orshe appears? Will anyone be left standing at the end of theplay?

Deathtrap twists and turns, confounds all expectations,shocks, and provides several spine-tingling momentswhen audiences levitate from their seats and come downscreaming. Edgar Award–winning Ira Levin, acclaimedauthor of classic suspense novels Rosemary’s Baby, TheStepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil, has shotDeathtrap’s dark doings through with rapier sharp witand the blackest of humors. He skillfully reinvents everysuspenseful trick of the thriller writer’s trade to create an

unforgettable evening of deliciously devilish theatricalmayhem.

Megan Callahan, seen at LNT in last season’s The Im-portance of Being Earnest, directs Deathtrap with an eyetoward its haunting theatricality. The superb productionteam brings together LNT’s most effective designers:scenic wizard Donna Stafford (Miracle Worker, HenryV); leading light John Forbes (Belle of Amherst); and cos-tume and sound maven Shawn Sturdevant (MiracleWorker, To Kill a Mockingbird), who, with the assistanceof technical director Robyn Osiecki and stage managerTara Lee Downs, put the thrill in this thriller!

Deathtrap features favorite Lost Nation Theater actors.

Killer Comedy and Spine-Tingling SuspensePermeate the Lost Nation Theater Stage, June 25–July 12

continued on page H.3

Phot

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Kim

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contributed by Sarah Blair

Amarvelously melodious evening ofIrish and American traditional music,featuring fiddle, flute, banjo, and gui-

tar, performed by members of the criticallyacclaimed ensemble, The Sevens, appear atMontpelier’s newest fine and performingarts space—the Lamb Abbey—in a rare cen-tral Vermont appearance!

Sarah Blair began playing Irish fiddle inthe thriving traditional Irish music scene inProvidence and Boston. With The Sevensand with other ensembles, Blair has playedat festivals, concerts, and dance weeks fromAlaska to Quebec to Florida. Fiddler maga-zine called her “simply a great fiddler.”

Mark Roberts (flute, five-string banjo) isknown for his playing with Touchstone,The Red Clay Ramblers, and The ClayfootStrutters, in addition to playing with Blair,Cohen, Stuart Kenney, and Mark Hellen-berg in The Sevens. Many have heard hismusic on the soundtrack of the film The Se-cret of Roan Inish.

Flynn Cohen (guitar) has recorded andperformed with many notable acts in tradi-tional and contemporary acoustic music, in-cluding Halali, Cathie Ryan, Aoife Clancy,John Whelan, Skip Healy, John McGann,Mark Simos, and Adrienne Young, and has

recorded two solo albums. Dirty Linenmagazine called him “a versatile string vir-tuoso.”

The concert will take place at the LambAbbey on Sunday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. Ad-mission is $15 and includes an interactivepostperformance Irish session, where any or

all in the audience are invited to bring theirown traditional instruments and participatein the lively music making.

Lamb Abbey is a new performance andarts space in Montpelier at 65 PioneerCourt. There is no bar or concessions, butfolks may bring their own. The Lamb

Abbey is located off Pioneer Street, directlybehind the VFW Hall. Visit www.thelambabbey.com/location for a map to theirlocation.

For more information, contact SarahBlair at 223-0141 or [email protected].

Page H.2 • June 18, 2009 H O R I Z O N S The Bridge

Three of The Sevens Highlight Traditional Music A Concert with Sarah Blair, Mark Roberts, and Flynn Cohen

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From left, Sarah Blair, Mark Roberts, and Flynn Cohen. Photos courtesy of The Sevens.

contributed by Tracy Martin,Assistant State Curator

In Their Own Words, an exhibition of images andstories created by photographer Ned Castle incollaboration with members of Vermont’s

refugee community, will be on display at the gover-nor’s office on the fifth floor of the Pavilion officebuilding in Montpelier through July 31.

A touring exhibit of the Vermont Folklife Center,In Their Own Words pairs photographs and inter-view excerpts to profile the experience of familiesand individuals whose lives have been disrupted bywarfare, political violence, or discrimination andhave come to Vermont as refugees. They hail fromplaces as diverse as Somalia, Bosnia, Burundi,Rwanda, Vietnam, Sudan, and Uzbekistan andshare the common challenge of starting new lives ina very different cultural setting.

The exhibit consists of sets of images, each fea-turing a different family or individual. The focalpoint of each set is a photographic portrait, whichis accompanied by interview text presenting an im-

portant aspect of this person’s experience. Two ad-ditional photographs are the joint creation of pho-tographer and subject, adding another layer of vi-sual information to the story.

The photographs in this exhibit were all createdin 2007 and began when photographer Ned Castlemet two brothers from Rwanda. As Castle’s friend-ship with these young men deepened, he was drawninto their stories and created a pairing of image andtext to honor them. Working with the assistance ofthe Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program andthe Association of Africans Living in Vermont,Castle’s network of connections expanded, and thephotographic project grew from there. Ned Castleis a 2006 graduate of Williams College and a resi-dent of Charlotte.

In Their Own Words was the opening exhibitionfor the Vision and Voice Workspace at the Ver-mont Folklife Center in Middlebury, Vermont. Apublic reception in celebration of the show will beheld at the governor’s office on Thursday, June 18,at 3 p.m.

In Their Own WordsStories from Refugees Living in Vermont

Title image from the exhibit. Photo by Ned Castle.

The Bridge H O R I Z O N S June 18, 2009 • Page H.3

Editor’s note: This very accomplished group blends the tal-ents of some of the best artists in central Vermont withsome of the many valued colleagues from around the coun-try with whom they have had the pleasure of collaborating.It is a true gift to the community to have them here and of-fering this free concert. Chamber music, whether local ofnational or international, does not get any better than this!Please spread the word and support our LOCAL artisticinitiatives!

—Tim Tavcar

Sky Meadow Chamber Players is pleased to announceits fifth season, with a concert in Montpelier at theUnitarian Church at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 26.

This year, the program will include works by Beethoven,Mozart, and Arvo Pärt and will feature Schubert’s “Deathand the Maiden” string quartet. New to the ensemble thisyear is Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton, as wellas Montpelier’s own J.D. Williams, pianist.

Returning members include David Felberg (2004), con-cert master of the Santa Fe Symphony; Sangeun Han(2005), violinist of the Sarasota Orchestra; and foundingmembers, Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds, piano (2003, 2005,2006), and Paul Reynolds, viola (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006),who are both active musicians and teachers in the centralVermont area.

The group derives its name from the Sky Meadow Re-treat Center, which is located in Stannard, Vermont, and isa beautiful, century-old, renovated dairy barn situated on120 acres in the Northeast Kingdom. The musicians willcongregate there for an intense three days of rehearsing be-fore presenting the concert on Friday. Longtime friends andcolleagues, they have all agreed to donate their talent forthis special event, which for many of them is a welcome op-portunity to get out of the city and a chance to reconnectwith each other and play great music.

New this year, there will be a master class offered to areacello students given by Mr. Thornton. It will take place on

Friday, June 26, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., also at the UnitarianChurch of Montpelier.

The master class and recital will be offered to the publicfree of charge, as a gift to the central Vermont community.

Donations will be most gratefully accepted at either eventand will help to defray the costs of lodging, meals, andtransportation for the musicians.

Sky Meadow Chamber Players Make a Welcome Return to Central Vermont

Members of the 2004 players rehearse at Sky Meadow. Photo courtesy of Sky Meadow Chamber Players.

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Actors Equity members John D. Alexander and MauraO’Brien play writer Sidney Bruhl and psychic Helga TenDorp, respectively. Seen in LNT’s Miracle Worker, Bully,and The Tempest, Alexander embodies the panicked, nearpenniless playwright Bruhl. O’Brien’s turns in Macbeth,Lost in Yonkers, and Laughing Wild laid the foundation forprescient eccentric Helga. Elizabeth Wilcox (Stone and INever Sang for My Father) is Sidney’s fragile wife, Myra,and Larry Lambeth (Mockingbird, Importance of BeingEarnest) is the Bruhls’ loyal legal-eagle, Porter Milgrim.Chris Corporandy (Primary Stages, Irish Classical Theatre,and The Public) joins Lost Nation Theater for the first timeas Clifford Anderson, the eager protégé.

Comedic and creepy, Deathtrap takes you on an eerie ex-

cursion into the depths of the devilishly devious mind of IraLevin, a true master of the macabre.

Deathtrap plays Thursdays through Sundays, June 25 toJuly 12. Curtain times are: 7 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fri-days—except Friday, July 3, which is at 2 p.m. (to makeroom for Montpelier’s Independence Day parade); 8 p.m.Saturdays; and 7 p.m. Sundays—except Sunday, July 12,which is at 2 p.m. There is also an additional matinee onSaturday, June 27, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $25 Friday to Sundays and $20 Thursdays.Special $15 tickets are available for the preview on Thurs-day, June 25, and the Saturday matinee, June 27. Studentsand seniors receive a $5 discount. For ages 6 to 11, ticketsare always $10. (Children under 6, including infants andtoddlers, are not admitted to the theater.) Lost Nation The-ater, at Montpelier city hall, is wheelchair accessible and of-fers assisted listening devices and large-print programs.Please inform the box office of access needs when purchas-ing tickets.

For tickets and information call the box office at 229-0492, or purchase tickets online at www.lostnationtheater.org. Tickets are also available at the Montpelier cityclerk’s office on the first floor of city hall. For more infor-mation, e-mail [email protected].

Deathtrap!continued from page 1

Helga (Maura O’Brien) and Porter (Larry Lambeth) fightover the play. Photo by Kim Bent.

Page H.4 • June 18, 2009 H O R I Z O N S The Bridge

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contributed by Moxie Productions

Vermont’s Moxie Productions, directed by Vermont and NYC mistress of all thingstheatrical, Monica Callan, presents four new plays by Vermont writers at the 2009Vermont Contemporary Playwrights’ Forum, held next Wednesday through Friday at

Harwood Union High School, Route 100 in Duxbury/Moretown. The plays will be pre-sented onstage, with the audience seated on the stage as well.

The second season of this mini new-play festival will feature the comedic “diamonds inthe rough” highlighted in the sidebar at right.

Moxie Productions and the Vermont Contemporary Playwrights Forum, dedicated tothe support and development of new works from Vermont-based writers, present plays invarious stages of development to the public. Through highly interactive postperformace Q-&-A sessions, the playwrights experience immmediate audience reactions to their work,which provides valuable insight while the works are still in progress.

Wednesday, June 24, to Friday, June 26, curtain time at 7 p.m. Suggested donation, $15at the door. For information or reservations, call 244-4168.

Four Vermont Playwrights Prove Their MoxieAn Evening of Light Contemporary Theater

A Lion in the Streetsby Jeanne BeckwithWhat’s a librarian to do when a manbreaks in yelling “There’s a lion in thestreet!”?

Applicantby Jordan GullicksonOne applicant’s nightmare is another ap-plicant’s dream.

Lightby Kim WardWhere is the lamplighter’s cry, the darksky full of stars? What makes us strive toimprove upon nature herself?

Lies an Angel of Death May Tell Youby Luc ReidTwo grim reapers meet some newly deadsouls, but what is truth and what is a lie?

2009 Vermont Contemporary Playwrights’ Forum