A staged reading of The Sound and the Ferry, a new play by Says You! regular and Island seasonal resident Arnie Reisman, is the Monday Night Special for this week, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 26, at the Vineyard Playhouse on Church street in downtown Vineyard Haven.
It takes place, of course, on the Vineyard, where the ferry arrives in May, 1974 and leaves in October 2001. Some of the same folks are still on it. There is terror in the air. Sharks are still in the water. This is a comedy!
Dudley Brooks sits cross-legged on the floor of room 405 at the regional high school, staring intently at two students in the center of the room. His eyes flicker back and forth between the performers, analyzing their movements with an expert, subtle gaze.
The following journal chronicles Vineyard author Kate Feiffer’s experience on the making of the new play My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life, which is having a workshop production at the Vineyard Playhouse on June 11, 12, 18 and 19. M.J. Bruder Munafo, who is also directing, adapted the book to stage.
July 1, 1998: Motherhood began two weeks later than expected. Now that my daughter has been born, I can say with confidence that I will be a cool mom.
While Disney saturates the media with ads for its Tim Burton extravaganza Alice in Wonderland, young Island thespians are sending Alice tumbling through a television screen instead of a looking glass, in a play about the absurdity of media-saturated consumer culture, called Alice in Americaland.
Ever wonder what Pleiades are? Nymphs of course, daughters of God’s strong man, Atlas, and mama nymph, Pleione. Beginning this weekend, and running until July 17, they’ll be helping everyone get in touch with their inner rock goddess at the new musical, Runaway Beauty Queen or The Lost Pleiad, at the Vineyard Playhouse on 24 Church street in Vineyard Haven.
Alex the Jester will perform at the Vineyard Playhouse on Saturday, May 1, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 a person.
The first show will be appropriate for audiences as young as four and the second show, at 2 p.m., will be geared more for teens, adults and kids nine and up. All shows feature mind-bending sight gags, amazing stunts and are inspired by the rich tradition of the medieval fool.
The Vineyard Playhouse continues its Shakespeare-out-of-doors tradition this summer by presenting an all time audience favorite, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This production opened on July 15 and runs through August 15 at the Tisbury Amphitheatre at the Tashmoo Overlook on State Road in Vineyard Haven. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 5 p.m. plus Sunday August 15 at 5 p.m.
Three Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School musicians participated in the Music Educators’ Southeast District Festival at Oliver Ames High School last weekend. Sidra Dumont and Emily Lowe sang with the choir of over 200 voices, and Madison Ibsen, second chair viola out of 14, performed with the 96-piece orchestra.
Later this month, Emily and Madison will be auditioning for the Massachusetts All State Festival, which will be held at Symphony Hall in March.
BravEncore, a nonprofit organization that supports Island high school performing arts, presents Closets, an original play written by Kate Murray and her Theatre 2 class, on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the high school performing arts center. The play was recently performed at the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild competition.
Admission is free, but donations are welcome; all proceeds benefit the BravEncore troupe trip to perform at the 2010 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
