Theatre Adventure's Hybrid Programming Fundraiser
We invite you to help us with our fundraising campaign to purchase the technology and equipment needed to launch our new hybrid online and in-person programming model this coming fall.
A community of learners stirs imaginations and incites brave theater. This is just what has happened for us as a result of being online for the past year and a half throughout the pandemic. We have learned that there are benefits to online programming that we would like to integrate with our in-person curriculum.
Watch our 3-minute Fundraising Video!
We will continue to stay true to the values of our seventeen years of high quality student driven work.
We believe all of our students will be enriched with this new hybrid model of programming. We will be able to reach more aspiring artists with disabilities as well as invite guest artists from the larger community. We will have the opportunity to collaborate with new organizations and schools beyond southern Vermont. No longer will transportation, inclement weather, and living far away present barriers to participation.
Please make a donation and help us spread the word by sharing our GiveLively campaign page with your community of friends and colleagues.
An interactive Zoom monitor for integrating on-line and in-person participation.
We envision a large monitor on a cart with wheels in order to integrate our remote students with our in-person students, both during classes and while live streaming our shows.
With your help we will spread our wings digitally and reach new levels of accessibility and inclusion!
Tarish Pipkins leads a puppetry movement warm-up. Students mimic his movements in their Zoom windows.
The Earth Inspired our Summer Seminar 2021
Our summer artists reveling in each other’s creativity.
When a group of teachers and visiting artists gather with a group of students who have a spirit of readiness, magic happens. When our muse is the earth, inspiration bubbles all around us. With poetry, sound, percussion, puppetry, and movement we brought to life three original stories of the hills, mountains, and water.
Rich Nethercott sings "The Invitation of the Hill" while Susan, Darlene, Elijah, and Tarish bring the story to life.
During our three-week Summer Seminar we explored scenic art, theater games, sound, percussion, poetry and songwriting. The depth and breadth of creativity was awe-inspiring.
We laughed, sang, danced and shared our stories with empathy and appreciation. We have all certainly been nourished
Tarish Pipkin’s leads a puppetry workshop with our summer artists.
Shining Stars Cafe was a blast!
Watch a short video of Melody Squires painting
The Invitation of the Hill
The Invitation of the Hill
A poem crafted by Leslie Kinney with words and ideas from the students
How do you know me?
You call me The Hill
With slopes of green
I offer good will
I’m a gentle giant
rising above
Watching with care
those that I love
Majestic, serene
I offer this place
For respite and solace
Peaceful quiet and grace
When you visit my forests
and rest by my brook
Find refreshing waters
if only you look
My path may be rocky
A challenge I know
But you’ll find motivation
just take it slow
Please don’t be nervous
I invite you to climb
Though sides may be steep
My summit’s sublime
The sun will shine on you
The breeze will caress
My spirit will fill you
and help you destress
You’ll be awed by the view
as you look all around
And proud of yourself
as you make your way down.
Listen closely my friends
for the birds and the deer
for the trees that whisper
if you take time to hear
Pay attention, be curious
There’s so much to see
Just come for a visit
I hope you'll agree
Hike with your pack
or run with your kite
stroll and be carefree
your travel’s just right
Or study my roundness
from home or a car
My spirit will touch you
from here or afar
So welcome, please visit
however you might
’Tis my greatest pleasure
to bring joy and delight
The Earth Inspires
The Earth Inspires
A poem crafted by Leslie Kinney with words and ideas from the students
The earth inspires in so many ways
And gives us energy throughout our days
Happiness with the morning sun
Outside beckons for a walk or run
Perhaps I'll get on my trusty bike
Or gather friends to go on a hike
Listening to bird songs and rustling leaves
I hear the singing of the trees
Walks in the yard and through the woods
Along the brook, in awe I stood
Seeing flowers, fox, rabbits and deer
It’s all so gorgeous, of this I’m clear
Exploring the forest and waterfall
Sighting more birds that tweet and call
A river flows, a bridge I stride
To relax on a bench on the other side
The ocean wide and salty air
Sparkling water everywhere
The flow of water moves me so
It fills me with an internal glow
The changing seasons and open sky
Leave me breathless, I feel so high
Clouds at dusk and the setting sun
Time to retire, the day is done
Yes, earth inspires I know it’s true
She offers her gifts to me and you.
Week One Summer Seminar
Theatre Adventure’s Summer Seminar “The Earth Inspires!” had an incredibly fun and vibrant first week.
Our mornings were filled with joyful greetings, group movement, imagining characters for a Friday performance. We did stretching and warm-ups, rhythm with Russ Horton, Sher Levesque led the movement to Leslie Kinney’s poetry, and Rich Nethercott led songwriting workshops. We went into break-out rooms to work on puppets, characters and do zither-making. Visiting interdisciplinary artist Tarish "Jeghetto” Pipkins lead students in drawing and puppetry exercises that culminated in a group performance of the earth-inspired original story, “Of the Hills,” written and presented by Maia Gilmour. After traveling the world and arriving home again, we bid a grateful and heartfelt farewell to Tarish Pipkin’s and set our sites on week two with a new story to tell.
Tarish Pipkin’s leads a puppetry workshop with our summer artists.
Paul holds up the landscape art he created in a scenic art workshop.
Katherine holds up her Curious Child character portrait with pride.
A Sandglass Theater Collaboration
Theatre Adventure is honored to have been asked by Sandglass Theater to collaborate with Tarish Pipkins, more commonly known as Jeghetto, a visiting artist with the Sandglass Theater Voices of Community Program. He will visit the Theatre Adventure Summer Seminar during our first week, June 21-25 to help inspire and guide the creation of puppets for a re-telling of our earth-inspired original story, “Of the Hills,” written by another visiting artist, Maia Gilmour. Several original stories will be explored during the second and third weeks of camp.
Voices of Community presents top-level performance artists from around the country whose work embodies a commitment to the arts as a powerful means for effecting social change to inspire dialogue, understanding and engagement with diverse issues within our own community.
Tarish "Jeghetto” Pipkins
Jeghetto is a self taught artist who creates live paintings, poetry and puppet theater. His work focuses on themes of racial justice, human communication, and the inspiration found in common materials such as paper and cardboard. Jeghetto’s passion is promoting oneness through the magic of Puppetry.
Most recently, Jeghetto had the pleasure to work with national recording artist, Missy Elliott on her music video, WTF (Where They From) controlling the Pharell puppet and doing some puppet building.
To learn more about his art and teaching, visit www.jeghetto.com
On-Line Summer Seminar 2021
“The Earth Inspires!”
Interactive expressive arts and earth-centered explorations
June 21- July 9 (9 am to noon)
We will experience real connections with each other and with the earth. We will learn earth-centered stories and use expressive arts to deepen our relationship with one another, our own artistry, and the natural world.
In a nurturing and creative community, Theatre Adventure summer troupe members will experience story-telling, acting, sound, percussion, singing, song-writing, movement, yoga, stories, poetry, puppetry, painting, costuming, and collage. The earth will be our muse!
The summer team will include Theatre Adventure teachers and visiting artists. We are thrilled to announce our visiting artist and teacher team for this summer’s seminar. Russ Horton returns after many years with us as our multi-instrumentalist Percussion Artist. Rich Nethercott will return as our Singer-Songwriter. Maia Gilmour will join us as our Story-Teller for her first summer with us. Rachel Durante will return as our Theater Artist. Sher returns as our Sound and Movement Artist. Leslie returns as our Poetry Artist. Jenny returns as a Theater Teacher. Darlene will be our Puppetry Teacher and Laura will be a Movement Teacher. We will utilize inventive ways throughout each morning to achieve an interactive and imaginative summer program.
Join us for three weeks of dynamic and multi-disciplinary expressive arts designed for a mixed ages group. Creativity and inspired teamwork will rule in our inclusive and welcoming environment! We will enjoy one another’s artistry and expressions of self, rooted in earth-centered explorations.
Dates: June 21– July 9; Monday- Friday
Times: 9:00 am- noon (10:30- 11, snack-break)
Ages: For youth and adults with disabilities and a burning desire to express self!
Location: ON-LINE sessions (Due to Covid-19)
Tuition: $475
Part-time attendance options are available:
2 days/week (duration of camp): $300;
3 days/week: (duration of camp): $400;
1 week full-time: $300; 2 weeks full-time: $400
Please contact us about partial financial aid assistance.
info@ theatreadventure.org
SPECIAL ON-LINE EVENT: Shining Stars Café
Thursday July 8 from 1- 3 pm. This optional event is a community open-mic hosted by Theatre Adventure and HCRS.
Registration for the three-week summer program is open now!
~For further information and to register, please contact one of the Directors:
Laura Lawson Tucker
(802-387-0765)
Darlene Jenson
(802-579-4606)
“Charlotte’s Web” is Radiant!
After a year and a half of show development, the Wednesday Troupe is about to debut their original online adaptation of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web May 12, 13, and 14 at 10:30 am.
The characters have truly come to life. The story of loneliness, belonging, friendship, and creative problem solving, all set on a New England farm during the cycle of the seasons, has grown to have special meaning for the Troupe. We feel held with tenderness, anticipation, and togetherness. And now, our journey over the past year and a half through the seasons in the story has brought us to the current season of renewal.
The Charlotte’s Web actors are proud and ready to perform.
Our actors have demonstrated great ability to hold a storyline vibrant and expectant over a long period of time. They have also shown that with commitment and teamwork, waiting for change, for Charlotte’s babies to be born, will happen. In E.B.White’s words, “Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or hatch.”
The Troupe brings to our online stage a richness of acting talents and styles of self-expression. Our show integrates silhouettes, imaginative puppets, dancing, original soundscapes and beautiful imagery.
Elijah and Anthony performed in Theatre Adventure’s first production of Charlotte’s Web in 2010!
Elijah playing Templeton in our 2010 Charlotte’s Web Production.
Anthony playing Farmer Zuckerman in our 2010 Charlotte’s Web Production
Anthony and Elijah in Rehearsal for our 2021 Charlotte’s Web Production
Our actors have some great coaches and stage hands!
As we have learned in Theatre Adventure, the creative process often offers unexpected opportunities. We have decided to turn our live show into a filmed production that we livestream during our showtimes. The actors will be gathering in a "watch party" during the livestreams to witness themselves and their fellow actors perform. They will greatly enjoy your comments in the YouTube Chat Box during the show. Thank you for being a dynamic audience enthusiastically supporting our actors.
Brady performing as the character Avery during one of our filming sessions.
In only one week Theatre Adventure actors will be showcased in our filmed production of Charlotte’s Web.
Help us spread the word and purchase your tickets today!
Backstage Stories with Melody
Dear Friends,
I hope this past month was a great one and you are all healthy! I can’t believe that we’re nearing the end of the Winter/Spring semester, which is sad because we enjoyed this semester so much.
Sher leading a movement exercise.
One morning, I sat in on the Wednesday Troupe to see what they’re up to. I really enjoyed watching them. The students moved to the music with Sher. It was fun watching different people take turns leading different warm up exercises.
The actors rehearsing their web dance.
After the movement work, Laura read a passage from Charlotte’s Web and they acted out scenes. It really warmed my heart to watch the students act and see how much they had grown since January. That day, when I sat in, they were just finishing up winter. Everyone just loves loves microphone time and looks forward to it!
I decided to sit in on another Wednesday class to see what they’re up to. I hadn’t seen them for a couple of weeks and I have noticed so much change since I observed them last. They are moving with their puppets with more ease. Atticus was very very happy to be moving to the Photographer Dance as he so enjoys playing his part.
Anthony posing with his dad after one of our rehearsals.
Atticus has become a pro using the camera and clicking pictures with a great big smile on his face.
Brady was swaying back and forth with his body so freely. I could see how much he was enjoying it, I hadn’t ever seen him so enthusiastically dancing to music.
Our Daydreaming production has wrapped. In our rehearsals, we had so much fun getting ready for our show. I have been in Theatre Adventure for five years and I love all of our shows, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something special about this one. Each actor created their own puppet to match their own personality. My fellow actors and I have enjoyed working together and with our puppets. Our puppets have become part of us!!
I certainly hope that you enjoyed our Daydreaming show as much as we enjoyed creating it!!
I would like to invite you to the show that the Wednesday Troupe has been creating. They have been working on Charlotte’s Web since September 2019. Charlotte’s Web takes place online on May 12th, 13th and 14th @ 10:30 each morning. please let your family and friends know as the actors have worked so hard.
Jessica in her Fern costume posing with her matching Fern puppet.
I truly hope that you will see this wonderful show that the students put together with their puppets! You just need to see these awesome acting buddies.
Have a wonderful month! Stay healthy, my dear friends!
Melody Squires
Theatre Adventure Student, Board Member, Summer Painting Teacher
Come Dream with Me
Daydreaming
A Poem by Leslie L. Kinney,
inspired by the creative daydreams of the Thursday Troupe
The balloon has lifted
and floated away
It’s collecting our stories
in a daydreaming way…
So… Let us drift on this dream
and fly through the sky
to watch over the land
with the eagle on high
seeking Prince of the Brook
and faithful jaguar
guardians of all living here and afar.
Dream of the sea and the dolphins that swim with girls full of glitter
and sparkles within.
And the racetracks with horses,
so swift and so fleet
making friends with another
whose kisses are sweet.
Dream of more friendships
Beautiful Peacock, feathers a-blazing
and good-looking Zebra
whose stripes are amazing.
Elephant playful,
striped trunk and pink ears
who likes dance and music,
laughter, and cheers.
Dream of the past, of fathers long gone
and imagine reunion,
a quest and a song
that leads one out of the woods.
The path of love makes us strong.
Dream of rockstars and fans,
famous singers, voices that soar
with directors that hug us
and audience adore.
Good vibrations to dance to
on wings of song as a prayer,
puppets expressing
our hopes and our care.
Dream of flight once again
with a brave fairy king
seeking his queen
and a perfect wedding.
Alleluia is their song
celebrate we must
then join a dancing dog,
so loyal, full of trust.
Dreams make us laugh
there are comics galore,
some give you a pizza
they’re hard to ignore
with smart repartee,
many jokes are in store.
Dreaming, we are who we carry within
A woman of fashion, of courage and style
who strides up the runway
with glamorous smile.
A handsome dude narrator,
it isn’t a dream,
I am who I am, so it would seem.
Dream of the future but don’t get excited
just play it cool
’tis a gift that’s ignited
our imaginations and our deepest dreams
of friendships and kindness
that flow like the streams.
To care and be proud
of ourselves and each other
of our strength and our bravery
fires one cannot smother.
Helping and learning
seeking and yearning,
thoughtful and serious
silly and fun…
Balloons may descend,
our show’s had its run.
But these days of our dreaming
will never be done.
Daydreaming
Who am I?
This timeless question has inspired many a journey as we seek to understand self. The heart of Theatre Adventure is just this---a quest for revealing self with inspiration provided by color, texture, rhythm, words, power animals, nature, and of course imagination. Such rich exploration is grounded in relationships, connecting with others with care, love and respect.
As if in a hot air balloon, the audience will float through the clouds, drifting with warm air currents, and gently rocked with the beauty of story, images, songs, and emotions.
The Prince of the Brook is seen knighting the cougar. Together, with the help of the Eagle flying overhead, they protect the animals of the brook.
Josh and his father puppet have just been reunited.
Take a sneak peak into our Daydreaming rehearsals
With great appreciation, we thank John Sebastian for giving us permission to use his song " Daydream."
Our chorus of puppets are calling: “We can’t wait to see you on our grand debut as we claim the stage in Daydreaming!”
Backstage Stories with Melody
Troupe members happily greeting each other with their puppets.
Dear Friends,
I hope everyone is having a wonderful month and staying healthy!
Alauna shows class the costume details on her Homer Zuckerman puppet.
It has been so much fun visiting the Wednesday Troupe this semester. I have enjoyed seeing how they are creating their May production, Charlotte’s Web. The students are learning how to work with their puppets, concentrating on how to make them move while acting out their scenes. I was also watching Elijah, he is so excited about being in theater! It was fun seeing how he moved his puppet.
Delyla greets her new theater friends.
I was watching Delyla move her puppet. She did it with ease and grace. Delyla is new to the class, however she seems so comfortable. It is fun watching her because she handles her puppet so easily.
The students danced to the slow winter music. It was very calming and then they did the photographer dance which was very lively.
This is so cool! One student wasn’t sure how to move her body in one scene. She didn’t know how to make her puppet move to show emotions. A teacher coached her. Then she tried to do it again and this time, she was amazing. Everyone cheered her!
The Wednesday Troupe warms up with movement and breath
It was time for the students to go to breakout rooms to work on their puppets for Charlotte’s Web. I saw some pretty cool puppets. Brian held up a picture that he drew of Charlotte. He was so proud.
Microphone-time happens at the end of each class. This is when students take turns performing singing and dancing. They look forward to microphone- time. One student has blossomed so much. She just recently sang for microphone-time and while she was singing she was quite expressive with her arms fluidly moving to the music.
The students are starting to rehearse their lines while moving their puppets. It’s a lot of work but they are learning. Elijah was performing with his character puppet. He was full of smiles while he used his iPad to help him deliver his lines.
In the Thursday Troupe we are excited to be bringing our puppets to life for our show, Daydreaming! We’re learning how to move our new friends within our windows, how to breathe with them. It might sound silly to breathe with our puppets, but when I see what Sher means, it makes sense! I had never worked with puppets and I thought that it was easy making them move, but it isn’t at all.
We wrote stories about the relationship between our puppets and ourselves. So many different stories! These stories get right to the heart and are pretty cool. Evan read his story right away as Bob the Director. He was very excited. When we went into breakout rooms, we had to connect with our new puppet-friends by talking and interacting.
Jenny and Cheryl have great fun together
I was literally in tears as I was listening to my wonderful friend, Jenny, talking to Cheryl, her puppet. It really was hysterical when they were arguing back and forth about who talks more. I absolutely think that Jenny is an amazing actor, she’s so funny and really gets into her character. If I had my way, I could listen to them go at it for a long time.
Allie and her puppet character Ashley
Allie, our new student, just joined our class and we found out that she has a wonderful voice.
Allie will be singing a solo in Daydreaming.
I don’t know if you know it or not, but in March and the first week in April, we have rehearsals twice a week, Thursday and Friday mornings. We are already there, hard to believe! It feels like this semester is flying right by. I would like to invite you to come to one of our amazing online performances:
Daydreaming
April 14th and 15th at 10:30 am and April 16th at 7:00 pm.
Please write me anytime if you have any questions about Theatre Adventure, I am always available to you! (squiresmelody90@gmail.com) I really hope to hear from you.
Stay healthy!
Melody Squires
Theatre Adventure Student, Board Member, Summer Painting Teacher
Our Growing Public Support
The Board of Directors of Theatre Adventure, Inc. is pleased to announce that we have been awarded four grants to support our online programming for 2021. These grants have been received from the Puffin Foundation, Windham Foundation, Brattleboro Town Arts Fund, and the Vermont Community Foundation Crosby-Gannett Fund.
The Puffin Foundation has awarded Theatre Adventure a grant to support the Peer Mentor Leadership Project in our online format. Funds will be used for an Assistant Teacher who has developmental challenges, to offer Mentor financial aid, and to support the supervision of the Mentors.
A grant from the Windham Foundation will provide technical support for continued engagement in Theatre Adventure’s online curriculum. Grant funding will be used to increase the hours of the Technical Support staff in order to facilitate virtual instruction and performances for at least forty individuals with disabilities throughout 2021.
Grants from the Brattleboro Town Arts Fund and the Vermont Community Foundation Crosby-Gannett Fund will cover expenses for art supplies for Theatre Adventure participants. These materials allow all troupe members to fully access the curriculum while participating from home in our online programming. The grant from the Vermont Community Foundation Crosby-Gannett Fund additionally provides technical support through the Spring 2022 semester.
Spinning Charlotte’s Web
Wednesday Troupe Members show off their puppets
We delve into a story, visualize new places, ask questions about our characters, and explore new outlets of expression. We enjoy surprises in the discovery process.
The Wednesday Troupe has been busy creating their show puppets. We are currently rehearsing four Charlotte’s Web Winter Scenes that we have written. We are “climbing into” our story through the natural flow of seasons that are set on a New England farm. What fun to be welcoming a new Wednesday Troupe student who is in the same Twin Valley classroom as three of our other students.
Anthony and Farmer Zuckerman share smiles
The Mentors are busy studying and working on the development of their Charlotte’s Web characters. They are modeling bringing to life characters that have fullness and authenticity. The Mentors are writing their own back stories for their characters.
Our May online production will include music, movement, sound, acting, and an interplay between human actors and puppets.
Find out more about the Wednesday Troupe’s spring show Charlotte’s Web.
Beginning with an Idea
It began with an idea. A show with buoyancy, as if in a hot air balloon. A show to lift spirits as we continue onward, and now upward, through the pandemic. The invitation? Create an original character that then is constructed into a puppet. The sky is the limit---if there is one!
We focus on our own breath which then initiates movement. We explore shapes and lines with our bodies and then on paper with crayons, markers, and paint sticks. We experiment with different styles of puppets---paper bag, sock, and stick. We return home to our own breath over and over.
Melody presents one of her stick puppets.
Making a Stick Puppet with Ross
Visiting Artist Ross Smart teaches a stick puppet building workshop made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Watch the video below to learn how to build your own stick puppet.
A Jaguar Collage by Elijah.
We explore Power Animals---is there an animal that speaks to you? What are the qualities of that animal? Powerful, majestic, beautiful, graceful, loud, quiet, and fearless.
Is there a special relationship between the puppet and the human? What is the story that wants to be told? Who are the characters that are revealing themselves? Imagine that…we are sculptors, we are artists, we are dancers, we are storytellers, we are performers.
In class Katharine shares her journal writing about a character she is developing, “The Famous Singer.” What joy!
Our April show, Daydreaming is taking shape. This show will be a culmination of a semester-long exploration of character-creation, puppet-play, story-invention, worlds-discovered, and poetry-crafting. A lightness of spirit will be our guide as we lift off reveling in a hot air balloon escapade.
Back Stage Stories by Melody Squires
Hi Friends,
I certainly hope that you had a great month. I cannot believe that a month has already gone by since I last wrote you! Where does the time go?
I am really having a wonderful time sitting in on the Wednesday Troupe! They all seem so happy to be creating their show, Charlotte’s Web and they are doing really well learning their roles. Each Troupe Member has their own personality and excitement to bring into their roles for the show.
When I watch the Wednesday Troupe, everyone seems so very happy to be doing this play. I noticed how everyone enjoys making their puppets move to the music with Sher and her special movements. You can just see how very excited the students are creating this wonderful show because a few students asked when the show was going to take place. They are ready now with so much enthusiasm!
When the students went to their Breakout Rooms everyone wanted to talk all at once about how they wanted their Charlotte’s Web character puppets to look. I was watching one student. He wanted to talk for a while describing his puppet.He had such happiness in his eyes. I was beyond moved feeling goosebumps---it was very heartwarming.
I sat in on another Wednesday troupe class. It’s great watching the younger students really get into their character roles. They moved in response to some passages in the book to experience the different seasons during the Charlotte’s Web story. Just picture it, my dear friends, Laura reads a passage from the book, and there were so many beautiful movements. Hands up in the air swaying every which way for the wind, fingers moving for the rain and then they made movements for snow.
The Thursday Troupe show, Daydreaming is shaping up to be such an amazing and fun fun show!! Everyone is having a great time, myself included, working with puppets - designing them and making them their own. I personally love love this show so much. There’s something about it that makes my heart happy!
I know that this is turning out to be one of my most favorite shows thus far! I can see how everyone loves coming up with their own puppets and what they want them to look like. Each week, we do a practice puppet before we make our show puppet. There have been paper bag, sock, and stick puppets and wow, friends, this rocks! So, many cool and awesome puppets have been developed---famous singer, rock star, zebra, peacock, hero, Prince of the Brook, Director, and more.
I especially appreciate how we came up with our own puppets, some have one character for a puppet while others have two. It’s going to be very interesting, to me, to see how this is all going to develop into our show.
Our show puppets are becoming very real to us. It is very neat for me to see how many of us can come up with so many different ideas for our show puppets. We just had a class and there were so many engaged faces when we talked about our puppets.
I hope that my writing helps you to feel like you’re there watching our classes as we develop our spring shows. I imagine that all of the students never want theater to end.
Please write me anytime if you have any questions about Theatre Adventure, I am always available to you!!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful month! Stay healthy!
Melody Squires
Theatre Adventure Student, Board Member, Summer Painting Teacher
Announcing The First Round of 2021 Town Arts Fund Grantees
The Arts Council of Windham County (ACWC) has announced the first round of grantees for this year’s Brattleboro Town Arts Fund (TAF) program.
Eight community-focused creative initiatives were selected from a competitive field of proposals received in this second year of the Town Arts Fund program. Theatre Adventure’s Spring production Daydreaming: Windows of Imagination has received a creative project grant. TAF promotes the development and presentation of creative projects that contribute positively to the greater community and to the vibrancy and diversity of Brattleboro’s arts and cultural landscape.
Challenges during the pandemic have given Theatre Adventure students with disabilities an opportunity to expand their creative pursuits. Puppetry has been introduced to Theatre Adventure performance troupes as a new storytelling medium using themes of inspiration, imagination, and connectivity. This project will provide Art Boxes with puppetry materials to support continued engagement in online learning and will culminate with three online performances April 14, 15, and 16.
Teacher Spotlight: Sher Levesque
Sher Levesque joined Theatre Adventure in 2018 as a teacher and movement/sound specialist. We are so fortunate to have Sher as a member of our team of teachers. Sher brings a breadth of artistry to all of her work with our students. Her sound and movement offerings broaden and deepen our expressive arts explorations with our students.
Her grounding in the underlying theory and practice that informs her work is appreciated by her colleagues as well. Gongs, singing bowls, drums, fairy lights of different colors, patterned fabrics and rugs, all create Sher's inviting studio setting for our online classes. Pre-pandemic Sher enriched our summer offerings by bringing some of her gongs and instruments to share with our students. During class when we put our hands to our hearts to feel our breath, Sher reminds us, "Let's return home."
Sher grew up studying music & dance, cultivating a meditation practice in her teens. In college, she was a music education/performance major for her first semester and found herself taking her first yoga class in her last one. Sher graduated from UMASS Amherst with a BA in psychology and has worked in the non-profit public health field since 1998 in direct care, management, quality assurance, and training/staff development.
In 2010 she began offering yoga, sound meditation, and healing arts modalities both in the community and with specialized populations in public health settings.
Sher has taught yoga/sound meditation to children & adults with trauma, chronic mental health issues, traumatic or acquired brain injuries, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy and other atypical neurodevelopmental conditions. She has completed multiple trainings and certifications in yoga, meditation, and other healing arts modalities, including sound therapeutics and trauma-sensitive yoga.
Sher continues to practice different forms of dance and embodied movement and is currently focused on tap dancing. Her focus on these mediums ranges from more therapeutic applications, for self-exploration and as ways to cultivate a connection to others. Sher also has her own movement/sound oriented business, Sri Healing Arts, in which she offers classes, workshops/events, ceremonies, retreats & privates sessions. click on the link below to find out more.
Dr. François Scarborough Clemmons
We celebrate Vermont Artist Dr. François Scarborough Clemmons who’s devotion to love and equality spans his incredible career.
Clemmons is a Grammy Award-winning opera singer, founder of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, actor, composer, arranger, playwright, author, and activist. Clemmons was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts degree by Middlebury College in 1996. A year later, he moved to Vermont to become the director of the Middlebury College Choir. For seventeen years, he enriched the college community and its understanding of music, particularly the American Negro Spiritual. Clemmons retired from Middlebury College in 2013, but continues to share his artistry in music and in words throughout Vermont and beyond.
Read more in the Vermont Arts Council article : “I am a Vermont Artist: Dr. François Scarborough Clemmons”
In 1968, amid the civil-rights movement, Clemmons became one of the first recurring Black characters on a children’s TV series when he was featured on the iconic show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Between 1968 and 1993, Clemmons was a guest in 98 episodes of the show. In 1969, Mr. Rogers famously asked François Clemmons to soak his feet in a foot bath with him on a hot day. At the time, recreational segregation was widely enforced. “It was an invitation for Clemmons—but also for all Americans to stand in solidarity with the Black community.” - Chris Azzopardi.
In 2020, François Clemmons released Officer Clemmons: A Memoir which details his incredible life story, beginning with his early years in Alabama and Ohio, marked by family trauma and loss, through his studies as a music major at Oberlin College, where Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality, to a chance encounter with Fred Rogers that changed the whole course of both men’s lives, leading to a deep, spiritual friendship and mentorship spanning nearly forty years.
To hear more about François Clemmons, you can listen to an interview on NPR’s StoryCorps.
You can also watch an interview with François Clemmons and Paul Larson from Mountain Lake PBS.
Celebrating Laura Lawson Tucker
Theatre Adventure wishes our co-founder Laura Lawson Tucker the happiest of birthdays!
It is hard to find photographs of Laura, as she is always playing the supportive roll, lifting and encouraging her students to reach their fullest potential and claim the stage and spotlight with pride. We are awed by her endless patience and dedication to the vision and work of Theatre Adventure and most of all to her students. She always makes herself available to those who need her council even if it means she must postpone tending her garden until the dark of night, literally. With the sparkling sound of her Narrator’s chimes she opens up a world of magic and endless possibility and for that priceless gift we thank you Laura!