What the Press Says about Off Center
Laura Roald Takes Leading Role at Off Center
By PAMELA POLSTON @PAMELA7D
At the end of 2017, Off Center for the Dramatic Arts announced that Paul Schnabel was handing over the reins. One of four founders, in 2010, of the 65-seat black-box space in Burlington's Old North End, he had held those reins almost single-handedly for the past five years.
Over the past year or so, however, a collective of theater artists gradually formed itself into a board, taking on some of the work of maintaining the space, booking rentals, and planning shows and special events such as the Burlington Fringe Festival.
With that group in place to carry on the center's mission — providing an affordable rehearsal and performance space to local artists — Schnabel could finally step down as president. (He remains on the board.) The next generation of Off Center management has named Laura Roald to his former position.
A lifelong theater artist from Vancouver, B.C., Roald, 43, earned an MFA in directing from the University of Alberta. She moved to Vermont in 2013 with her husband and two children, now 7 and 9. She's since founded, with Mary Beth McNulty, a theater enterprise called Complications Company. Its mission is to nurture "the creation, development and production of new plays," according to its website.
Toward that end, Complications will present short readings of works by local female dramatists as part of International Women's Voices Day, a January 21 event initiated by the Washington, D.C., Women's Voices Theater Festival. Held at Off Center, the local event will also feature a potluck supper.
Between starting a family and moving to a different country, Roald "fell off the grid a bit," she says, referring to her theatrical aspirations. But she'd only been in Vermont a short time before she was "trolling Facebook," as she puts it, looking for local thespians. "Then I fell in with the bad boys at Green Candle Theatre," she says with a grin.
Before long, Roald was taking on tasks at Off Center, from handling the venue's social media to managing the stage and technical aspects for "a lot of shows." She officially joined the board last year. Along with fellow member and actor Alex Dostie, Roald is "shepherding online stuff and marketing," she says. "But we're a small, volunteer team, so everyone is involved with everything."
The tasks that lie ahead range from maintenance — upgrading the fireproofing on the curtains, keeping the venue clean — to mission-critical. "Our priority is to invite new groups to use the space," Roald says. "We have great renters — Vermont Stage [for rehearsals], Green Candle, Saints and Poets[Production Company] — those are our pillars," she continues. "But we have pockets of space and want to make sure everyone knows we're available."
To encourage new solo artists or theater groups, the Off Center board is developing a space grant "to honor Paul," Roald reveals. "We would offer a 'make cool shit' grant to new people. We don't have money, but we have space.
"We want to continue to support the incubation of [local] artists," Roald adds. "That's what Paul has nurtured. Off Center is a space, but it's also become a community."
(original print edition January 10, 2018)
By PAMELA POLSTON @PAMELA7D
At the end of 2017, Off Center for the Dramatic Arts announced that Paul Schnabel was handing over the reins. One of four founders, in 2010, of the 65-seat black-box space in Burlington's Old North End, he had held those reins almost single-handedly for the past five years.
Over the past year or so, however, a collective of theater artists gradually formed itself into a board, taking on some of the work of maintaining the space, booking rentals, and planning shows and special events such as the Burlington Fringe Festival.
With that group in place to carry on the center's mission — providing an affordable rehearsal and performance space to local artists — Schnabel could finally step down as president. (He remains on the board.) The next generation of Off Center management has named Laura Roald to his former position.
A lifelong theater artist from Vancouver, B.C., Roald, 43, earned an MFA in directing from the University of Alberta. She moved to Vermont in 2013 with her husband and two children, now 7 and 9. She's since founded, with Mary Beth McNulty, a theater enterprise called Complications Company. Its mission is to nurture "the creation, development and production of new plays," according to its website.
Toward that end, Complications will present short readings of works by local female dramatists as part of International Women's Voices Day, a January 21 event initiated by the Washington, D.C., Women's Voices Theater Festival. Held at Off Center, the local event will also feature a potluck supper.
Between starting a family and moving to a different country, Roald "fell off the grid a bit," she says, referring to her theatrical aspirations. But she'd only been in Vermont a short time before she was "trolling Facebook," as she puts it, looking for local thespians. "Then I fell in with the bad boys at Green Candle Theatre," she says with a grin.
Before long, Roald was taking on tasks at Off Center, from handling the venue's social media to managing the stage and technical aspects for "a lot of shows." She officially joined the board last year. Along with fellow member and actor Alex Dostie, Roald is "shepherding online stuff and marketing," she says. "But we're a small, volunteer team, so everyone is involved with everything."
The tasks that lie ahead range from maintenance — upgrading the fireproofing on the curtains, keeping the venue clean — to mission-critical. "Our priority is to invite new groups to use the space," Roald says. "We have great renters — Vermont Stage [for rehearsals], Green Candle, Saints and Poets[Production Company] — those are our pillars," she continues. "But we have pockets of space and want to make sure everyone knows we're available."
To encourage new solo artists or theater groups, the Off Center board is developing a space grant "to honor Paul," Roald reveals. "We would offer a 'make cool shit' grant to new people. We don't have money, but we have space.
"We want to continue to support the incubation of [local] artists," Roald adds. "That's what Paul has nurtured. Off Center is a space, but it's also become a community."
(original print edition January 10, 2018)
Seven Days Liveblog Monday June 12, 2017
Off Center Showcases New Works by Local Theater Artistsby Sadie Williams
This weekend, Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington's Old North End wrapped its newly minted Spring Open Artist Showcase series. The democratic event included four new performances — two each weekend — selected by lottery.
The first weekend, Vermont Playwright's Circle performed five 10-minute plays. Those were followed by Joe O'Brien's "The Birth of Love: The Ballad of Miro Weinberger," performed by the Cosmic Noodle Improv Federation.
This past weekend, audiences were treated to two more theatrical debuts. "The Allegory of Flowing Water," written and directed by Martin Gil, and "Outpost," a one-woman show written and performed by Meredith Gordon.
Showcase organizer Laura Roald introduced the performances on Friday evening. "We work our butts off to make [this theater] as accessible as possible," she said.
Accessible it is — although not all of the performances were. Gil's "Allegory," which featured the theatrical stage debut of Julian Hackney of Rough Francis, is a rambling number that questions the concept of truth. Set in the woods, it features three strangers who met through a newspaper ad and decided to go camping together.
Hackney plays Sam, a Burton call center employee with a stutter. Andy Sebranek made an appearance as Merrill, the slightly dickish man who placed the ad. Kate Magill plays Violet, a mysterious former addict who professes to have been hooked on intravenous drugs for only two years before miraculously setting aside needles forever. She's also prone to staring off into the distance while diving headlong into pseudo-philosophical tangents.
The play opened with about three minutes of darkness set to the sound of running water. This viewer found it very relaxing. Other theatergoers reported that it made them have to pee. While sometimes confusing and disjointed, the conversations that ensued among the three characters ultimately brought to light questions about the way we relate to one another, and the often unconscious ways in which we judge and assess the people we meet.
Gordon's one-woman show, however, stole the evening. It centers on Abigail Cutter, a woman struggling with parenthood in today's world. The lights came up on our protagonist rocking slowly in a chair at center stage. She clutched a baby to her brown overalls and glanced nervously over her shoulder as the sound of baying wolves wafted in from backstage.
Throughout the brief scenes that followed, we saw Abigail flash back to quitting her job in the city in hopes of giving her baby a better life. She said her husband, David, would teach them wilderness survival skills, that they would be fine.
In a tone that felt fitting for current events, Abigail said she didn't want to raise her son in a world where hate crimes and violence are the norms, where children don't truly know their parents, and the pursuit of an "ideal" life comes at the expense of familial and social bonds. She called today's society "a broken machine," and life in the Northwest Territories — where she's headed — "a chance at freedom."
What she finds there is anything but. After the loss of her husband, Abigail is left to fend for herself. Although her monologues are at times comical, the overall tone is one of desperation; Abigail is torn between a society she does not believe in and an environment where she cannot possibly survive.
The climax comes when Abigail, in pitch blackness, fires a gun at a wolf that has entered the cabin. It's the first time she has ever shot a firearm. The audience heard the struggle, the snarls, the bang. Then the lights came up on the new mother as she shoved supplies into a backpack, clutching her baby to her chest and stepping warily over an invisible wolf carcass on the floor. Finally, with her shotgun, baby and backpack, she left the cabin to the tune of "As Long as He Needs Me," sung by the character Nancy from Oliver!
We couldn't feel good about our protagonist heading back to civilization — especially when the return is so blatantly compared to Nancy's refusal to leave an abusive relationship (the subject of the aforementioned song). But we also can't fault her. After all, a wolf has tried to eat her baby. And her. Torn between psychological and physical traumas — even deaths — what would you choose?
Off Center Showcases New Works by Local Theater Artistsby Sadie Williams
This weekend, Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington's Old North End wrapped its newly minted Spring Open Artist Showcase series. The democratic event included four new performances — two each weekend — selected by lottery.
The first weekend, Vermont Playwright's Circle performed five 10-minute plays. Those were followed by Joe O'Brien's "The Birth of Love: The Ballad of Miro Weinberger," performed by the Cosmic Noodle Improv Federation.
This past weekend, audiences were treated to two more theatrical debuts. "The Allegory of Flowing Water," written and directed by Martin Gil, and "Outpost," a one-woman show written and performed by Meredith Gordon.
Showcase organizer Laura Roald introduced the performances on Friday evening. "We work our butts off to make [this theater] as accessible as possible," she said.
Accessible it is — although not all of the performances were. Gil's "Allegory," which featured the theatrical stage debut of Julian Hackney of Rough Francis, is a rambling number that questions the concept of truth. Set in the woods, it features three strangers who met through a newspaper ad and decided to go camping together.
Hackney plays Sam, a Burton call center employee with a stutter. Andy Sebranek made an appearance as Merrill, the slightly dickish man who placed the ad. Kate Magill plays Violet, a mysterious former addict who professes to have been hooked on intravenous drugs for only two years before miraculously setting aside needles forever. She's also prone to staring off into the distance while diving headlong into pseudo-philosophical tangents.
The play opened with about three minutes of darkness set to the sound of running water. This viewer found it very relaxing. Other theatergoers reported that it made them have to pee. While sometimes confusing and disjointed, the conversations that ensued among the three characters ultimately brought to light questions about the way we relate to one another, and the often unconscious ways in which we judge and assess the people we meet.
Gordon's one-woman show, however, stole the evening. It centers on Abigail Cutter, a woman struggling with parenthood in today's world. The lights came up on our protagonist rocking slowly in a chair at center stage. She clutched a baby to her brown overalls and glanced nervously over her shoulder as the sound of baying wolves wafted in from backstage.
Throughout the brief scenes that followed, we saw Abigail flash back to quitting her job in the city in hopes of giving her baby a better life. She said her husband, David, would teach them wilderness survival skills, that they would be fine.
In a tone that felt fitting for current events, Abigail said she didn't want to raise her son in a world where hate crimes and violence are the norms, where children don't truly know their parents, and the pursuit of an "ideal" life comes at the expense of familial and social bonds. She called today's society "a broken machine," and life in the Northwest Territories — where she's headed — "a chance at freedom."
What she finds there is anything but. After the loss of her husband, Abigail is left to fend for herself. Although her monologues are at times comical, the overall tone is one of desperation; Abigail is torn between a society she does not believe in and an environment where she cannot possibly survive.
The climax comes when Abigail, in pitch blackness, fires a gun at a wolf that has entered the cabin. It's the first time she has ever shot a firearm. The audience heard the struggle, the snarls, the bang. Then the lights came up on the new mother as she shoved supplies into a backpack, clutching her baby to her chest and stepping warily over an invisible wolf carcass on the floor. Finally, with her shotgun, baby and backpack, she left the cabin to the tune of "As Long as He Needs Me," sung by the character Nancy from Oliver!
We couldn't feel good about our protagonist heading back to civilization — especially when the return is so blatantly compared to Nancy's refusal to leave an abusive relationship (the subject of the aforementioned song). But we also can't fault her. After all, a wolf has tried to eat her baby. And her. Torn between psychological and physical traumas — even deaths — what would you choose?
(Photo: BRENT HALLENBECK/FREE PRESS)
Burlington Free Press October 13, 2016
Burlington Fringe Festival Returns to Off Center
by Brent Hallenbeck
The Burlington Fringe Festival went beyond the fringe last year – the event based at the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts didn’t happen in 2015.
The founders of the Off Center had largely moved on since the theatrical petri dish in the Old North End began in 2010, with actors John D. Alexander going to New York City and Genevra MacPhail returning to school and having a baby and playwright Stephen Goldberg spending much of his time in Florida. That left president/co-founding actor Paul Schnabel to run the festival himself, and a four-day event with two dozen performances - not to mention overseeing the entire performing-arts venue - became too much for one man to handle.
The Burlington Fringe Festival has been revived by a newly organized board of directors who hope the once-annual event will help carry the Off Center into the next phase of its existence. “We want to brand ourselves and tell the community, ‘We’re here,’” said David Schein, a theater artist who’s on the Off Center board and is producing this week’s Burlington Fringe Festival.
Alexander, who remains a member of the Off Center board, said the revived festival is "part of the renaissance" of the 6-year-old space. "The direction that the Off Center is going is the very direction we hoped it would go," he said, referring to a number of local theater participants taking an active role in overseeing the venue. "One person can't continue to run a space like that in perpetuity."
Branding a 65-seat venue that caters to nascent, often avant-garde productions is complicated. How far above ground can a space that occupies the theatrical underground go?
“We need people to see our shows,” Schein said. He noted that Vermont musician Anais Mitchell launched her folk opera “Hadestown” a decade ago in the tiny Langdon Street Café in Montpelier before her production became a Grammy-nominated album and off-Broadway hit. The Off Center, he said, can inspire similar grassroots success stories. “This is where that kind of art starts,” said Schein, a Burlington native who performed in California for 40 years before returning to Vermont. “This is the incubator. In this kind of town with a big university, this will work.”
The meaning of “fringe” is elusive. “The way we define ‘fringe’ is someone who wants to be in the festival,” Schein joked.
This year’s participants represent a sort of all-star team of local theater performers who approach their crafts from a variety of perspectives. A piece by Schein and poet Geof Hewitt will use music and squirrel puppets to tell a tale of climate change. Burlington resident Allan Nicholls, who appeared in the classic 1975 movie “Nashville,” offers a 15-minute solo piece. The Green Candle Theatre Company will present scenes from an in-the-works pirate-themed production.
The festival kicks off a run of higher-profile events at the Off Center that will include a Dec. 3 celebration at the North Winooski Avenue space featuring music, food and a presentation highlighting the center’s offerings. Schein said the Burlington Fringe Festival is an important step in calling the broader community’s attention to the Off Center, but it’s also important for the creative community to have a place to feed off of each other’s energy.
“It’s sort of like coming home to mama,” Schein said. “We’ve got to do this every year and see what we’re up to.”
Burlington Fringe Festival Returns to Off Center
by Brent Hallenbeck
The Burlington Fringe Festival went beyond the fringe last year – the event based at the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts didn’t happen in 2015.
The founders of the Off Center had largely moved on since the theatrical petri dish in the Old North End began in 2010, with actors John D. Alexander going to New York City and Genevra MacPhail returning to school and having a baby and playwright Stephen Goldberg spending much of his time in Florida. That left president/co-founding actor Paul Schnabel to run the festival himself, and a four-day event with two dozen performances - not to mention overseeing the entire performing-arts venue - became too much for one man to handle.
The Burlington Fringe Festival has been revived by a newly organized board of directors who hope the once-annual event will help carry the Off Center into the next phase of its existence. “We want to brand ourselves and tell the community, ‘We’re here,’” said David Schein, a theater artist who’s on the Off Center board and is producing this week’s Burlington Fringe Festival.
Alexander, who remains a member of the Off Center board, said the revived festival is "part of the renaissance" of the 6-year-old space. "The direction that the Off Center is going is the very direction we hoped it would go," he said, referring to a number of local theater participants taking an active role in overseeing the venue. "One person can't continue to run a space like that in perpetuity."
Branding a 65-seat venue that caters to nascent, often avant-garde productions is complicated. How far above ground can a space that occupies the theatrical underground go?
“We need people to see our shows,” Schein said. He noted that Vermont musician Anais Mitchell launched her folk opera “Hadestown” a decade ago in the tiny Langdon Street Café in Montpelier before her production became a Grammy-nominated album and off-Broadway hit. The Off Center, he said, can inspire similar grassroots success stories. “This is where that kind of art starts,” said Schein, a Burlington native who performed in California for 40 years before returning to Vermont. “This is the incubator. In this kind of town with a big university, this will work.”
The meaning of “fringe” is elusive. “The way we define ‘fringe’ is someone who wants to be in the festival,” Schein joked.
This year’s participants represent a sort of all-star team of local theater performers who approach their crafts from a variety of perspectives. A piece by Schein and poet Geof Hewitt will use music and squirrel puppets to tell a tale of climate change. Burlington resident Allan Nicholls, who appeared in the classic 1975 movie “Nashville,” offers a 15-minute solo piece. The Green Candle Theatre Company will present scenes from an in-the-works pirate-themed production.
The festival kicks off a run of higher-profile events at the Off Center that will include a Dec. 3 celebration at the North Winooski Avenue space featuring music, food and a presentation highlighting the center’s offerings. Schein said the Burlington Fringe Festival is an important step in calling the broader community’s attention to the Off Center, but it’s also important for the creative community to have a place to feed off of each other’s energy.
“It’s sort of like coming home to mama,” Schein said. “We’ve got to do this every year and see what we’re up to.”
Laura Roald presents "Thoughts and Prayers" Friday at the Burlington Fringe Festival. (Photo: COURTESY)
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G. Richard Ames presents his show "Mental Notes" tonight at the Burlington Fringe Festival. (Photo: COURTESY)
|
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or [email protected]. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
Read the article, "Burlington Fringe Festival Returns to Off Center" by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press October 13, 2016] by going to http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/entertainment/2016/10/13/burlington-fringe-festival-returns-off-center/91631516/ or view/download the file immediately below.
| the_burlington_fringe_festival_2016.pdf |
David Schein and Paul Schnabel
Photo: Sadie Williams
SEVEN DAYS October 12, 2016
At Off Center, Burlington's Fringe Fest Is Back
By Sadie Williams
The Burlington Fringe Festival at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, which bills itself as "the fourth annual," began five years ago. No, that's not a trick or a math error. The ostensibly yearly event, which started in 2012, took a hiatus last year. Now it's back in force: Thursday through Sunday, October 13 through 16, the Old North End venue will host 24 original performances by Vermont theater artists.
In theater lingo, the term "fringe" refers to performances that are experimental or nontraditional in style or subject. Fringe fests take place around the world. The best known and largest is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which was born on the streets of that Scottish city in 1947. It was literally on the periphery of the then-new Edinburgh International Festival, intended as a showcase for postwar European culture. Rather than submit to the scrutiny of a panel of judges, eight rogue theater groups simply set up outside the venues of the larger event. True to that legacy, Burlington's Fringe is unjuried: The first 24 applicants were accepted with no questions asked.
This year's event marks a turning point for the venue itself. Over the past few months, Off Center welcomed 11 new members to its board. The goal is to assist cofounding director Paul Schnabel in uplifting the organization and fulfilling its mission to support the production of original theater work in the state.
Schnabel is grateful for the help. "I think the community collectively realized the resource we have here," he said in a recent interview. Off Center opened in 2010 with four founders, but, "in the way this thing evolved," Schnabel continued, "it was kind of left that I was running the whole thing myself."
David Schein is one of the new board members who stepped up to the plate. "We love this place, because there's no other place to do your work," he said. "And there's a lot of theater artists here who work all over. We needed a home."
The board members got together this past summer and began planning a collective management structure, discussing grants and brainstorming annual events — such as the Fringe.
As usual, it will be a diverse affair. Some performers will offer excerpts from past productions, while others will present works-in-progress. In that way, Schein said, "it might show what [will be] going on in theater from Vermont artists in the next few years."
Lyric Theatre executive director Syndi Zook will emcee on Thursday evening, when actor G. Richard Ames is one of the six performers who will appear onstage. The verbose lyricist is dusting off a few songs from his March performance, Out of My Head, for the new piece "Mental Notes." "My central issue is peace and love and happiness," he said, "and hopefully humor to go along with it."
Waterbury-based Moxie Productions will close that evening with "How the West Was Worn," an excerpt from Jeanne Beckwith's original musical Rodeo Gals. The script is a mashup of costume history, rodeo culture and romance — with a car crash for extra drama.
On Friday night, Alex Dostie and Aaron Masi of Green Candle Theatre will host, taking on the personae of various characters from works by Burlington playwright Stephen Goldberg. (The Off Center cofounder will perform that same night.) Later, the MCs will end the evening with an excerpt from Masi's The Pirate Play, which will be staged in full next year.
On Saturday night, actor Schein and Vermont poet Geof Hewitt will perform — with squirrel puppets — an excerpt from a musical they wrote about global warming, titled Hotball. "We've got squirrels who just don't know when to mate anymore," Schein explained, "or have litters, or anything, because the climate is really weird."
Saturday night's lineup also includes the return of the Potato Sack Pants Theater, a sketch comedy troupe that got its start at the first Burlington Fringe. Member Meredith Gordon noted that the group has been on hiatus for three years. They'll perform a trio of new sketches, she said.
Sunday's late-afternoon show, hosted by actor-musician Allan Nicholls, will wrap up this year's Fringe. Kim Bent of Montpelier's Lost Nation Theater will give it a literary edge by reading an excerpt from W.H. Auden's long poem The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Bent has been enchanted by the passage ("Caliban to the Audience") since his days as a "dewy-eyed, poetry-reading actor," he said. "It's a heady, heartfelt, dramatically framed meditation about the intersection between, and the overlapping nature of, the real world and the world of the imagination."
That space between imagination and reality is where organizations like Off Center and events like Fringe thrive. "We have great resources with the Flynn [Center for the Performing Arts], and Main Street Landing [Performing Arts Center] down on the waterfront, but they can't do what we do," Schein said. "[Off Center] is an essential link in the cultural food chain."
At Off Center, Burlington's Fringe Fest Is Back
By Sadie Williams
The Burlington Fringe Festival at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, which bills itself as "the fourth annual," began five years ago. No, that's not a trick or a math error. The ostensibly yearly event, which started in 2012, took a hiatus last year. Now it's back in force: Thursday through Sunday, October 13 through 16, the Old North End venue will host 24 original performances by Vermont theater artists.
In theater lingo, the term "fringe" refers to performances that are experimental or nontraditional in style or subject. Fringe fests take place around the world. The best known and largest is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which was born on the streets of that Scottish city in 1947. It was literally on the periphery of the then-new Edinburgh International Festival, intended as a showcase for postwar European culture. Rather than submit to the scrutiny of a panel of judges, eight rogue theater groups simply set up outside the venues of the larger event. True to that legacy, Burlington's Fringe is unjuried: The first 24 applicants were accepted with no questions asked.
This year's event marks a turning point for the venue itself. Over the past few months, Off Center welcomed 11 new members to its board. The goal is to assist cofounding director Paul Schnabel in uplifting the organization and fulfilling its mission to support the production of original theater work in the state.
Schnabel is grateful for the help. "I think the community collectively realized the resource we have here," he said in a recent interview. Off Center opened in 2010 with four founders, but, "in the way this thing evolved," Schnabel continued, "it was kind of left that I was running the whole thing myself."
David Schein is one of the new board members who stepped up to the plate. "We love this place, because there's no other place to do your work," he said. "And there's a lot of theater artists here who work all over. We needed a home."
The board members got together this past summer and began planning a collective management structure, discussing grants and brainstorming annual events — such as the Fringe.
As usual, it will be a diverse affair. Some performers will offer excerpts from past productions, while others will present works-in-progress. In that way, Schein said, "it might show what [will be] going on in theater from Vermont artists in the next few years."
Lyric Theatre executive director Syndi Zook will emcee on Thursday evening, when actor G. Richard Ames is one of the six performers who will appear onstage. The verbose lyricist is dusting off a few songs from his March performance, Out of My Head, for the new piece "Mental Notes." "My central issue is peace and love and happiness," he said, "and hopefully humor to go along with it."
Waterbury-based Moxie Productions will close that evening with "How the West Was Worn," an excerpt from Jeanne Beckwith's original musical Rodeo Gals. The script is a mashup of costume history, rodeo culture and romance — with a car crash for extra drama.
On Friday night, Alex Dostie and Aaron Masi of Green Candle Theatre will host, taking on the personae of various characters from works by Burlington playwright Stephen Goldberg. (The Off Center cofounder will perform that same night.) Later, the MCs will end the evening with an excerpt from Masi's The Pirate Play, which will be staged in full next year.
On Saturday night, actor Schein and Vermont poet Geof Hewitt will perform — with squirrel puppets — an excerpt from a musical they wrote about global warming, titled Hotball. "We've got squirrels who just don't know when to mate anymore," Schein explained, "or have litters, or anything, because the climate is really weird."
Saturday night's lineup also includes the return of the Potato Sack Pants Theater, a sketch comedy troupe that got its start at the first Burlington Fringe. Member Meredith Gordon noted that the group has been on hiatus for three years. They'll perform a trio of new sketches, she said.
Sunday's late-afternoon show, hosted by actor-musician Allan Nicholls, will wrap up this year's Fringe. Kim Bent of Montpelier's Lost Nation Theater will give it a literary edge by reading an excerpt from W.H. Auden's long poem The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Bent has been enchanted by the passage ("Caliban to the Audience") since his days as a "dewy-eyed, poetry-reading actor," he said. "It's a heady, heartfelt, dramatically framed meditation about the intersection between, and the overlapping nature of, the real world and the world of the imagination."
That space between imagination and reality is where organizations like Off Center and events like Fringe thrive. "We have great resources with the Flynn [Center for the Performing Arts], and Main Street Landing [Performing Arts Center] down on the waterfront, but they can't do what we do," Schein said. "[Off Center] is an essential link in the cultural food chain."
Read the article, "At Off Center, Burlington's Fringe Fest Is Back" by Sadie Williams[SEVEN DAYS 10-12-16] by going to http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/at-off-center-burlingtons-fringe-fest-is-back/Content?oid=3736925 or view/download the file immediately below.
| seven_days_offcenterfringe2016preview.pdf |
"Off Center for the Dramatic Arts took, oh, about 30 seconds Wednesday night before establishing itself as the go-to place for edgy theater in Burlington”
"Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, the Burlington theater incubator"
-Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press
“Burlington’s Off Center provides the perfect venue — intimate and gritty”
-Elisabeth Crean, Seven Days
“Independent theater has a home … finally”
-Jim Lowe, Times-Argus
"Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, the Burlington theater incubator"
-Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press
“Burlington’s Off Center provides the perfect venue — intimate and gritty”
-Elisabeth Crean, Seven Days
“Independent theater has a home … finally”
-Jim Lowe, Times-Argus
video press
what the press has written about off center
The Lowe Down: Can Vermont Theater Ever Embrace the Cutting Edge? By Jim Lowe [Rutland Herald/Times Argus 01-24-16]
| rutland_herald_offcenter_012416.pdf |
Best Plays of 2012: Top plays of 2012 have a strong Vermont flavor by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 12-19-12]
| bfp_bestplays2012.pdf |
Born to Run -- Kimberly Akimbo Theater Review: by Erik Esckilen [SEVEN DAYS 10-3-12]
| seven_days_kimberlyakimbo_100312.pdf |
"Who Made Me?" by Dennis McSorley @ Off Center by Abbie T [The New Burlingtonian 9-10-12]
| whomademe_thenewburlingtonian_091012_.pdf |
Ohio, Revisited by The Roadsters at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts by Abbie T [The New Burlingtonian 8-27-12]
| theroadsters_thenewburlingtonian_082712_.pdf |
Actors and Audiences Alike Are Fringe Beneficiaries in Burlington by Erik Esckilen [SEVEN DAYS 8-1-12]
| seven_daysfringe2012.pdf |
Hands-on theater: Green Candle takes new approach with "The Napoleon 2012" by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 5-3-12]
| burlington_free_press_napoleon050312.pdf |
Setting the Stage: Is Burlington ready to become a theater town? by Pamela Polston [SEVEN DAYS 4-25-12]
| seven_days_042512.pdf |
Theater review: Icon - Star Crossed by Megan James [SEVEN DAYS 3-28-12]
| seven_days_icon.pdf |
'Icon' a thoughtful, quietly intense piece of theater by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 3-25-12]
| the_burlington_free_press_icon032512.pdf |
Tackling an 'Icon' by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 3-25-12]
| the_burlington_free_press_icon031512.pdf |
Controversial 'Aunt Dan' makes viewers think by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 2-19-12]
| the_burlington_free_press_auntdan021912.pdf |
2011: The year in theater by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 12-22-11]
| the_burlington_free_press_yearintheater2011.pdf |
Potato Sack Pants Theater Sketches Out a New Show by Pamela Polston [SEVEN DAYS 11-26-11]
| seven_days_potato_sack112611.pdf |
State of the Arts by Erik Esckilsen [SEVEN DAYS 11-23-11]
| seven_days_phoenixpreview.pdf |
Fall Arts Preview by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 9-15-11]
| the_burlington_free_press_fallarts2011.pdf |
Fringe Elements by Pamela Polston [SEVEN DAYS 7-20-11]
| seven_days_fringe2011_preview.pdf |
When a musician can't hit those notes anymore, what's left? by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 6-5-11]
| bfp_burningbridgesreview.pdf |
Goldberg play offers jazz as well as heart by Jim Lowe [Times Argus 6-4-11]
| timeargus_burningbridgesreview.pdf |
Best Bets by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 5-26-11]
| the_burlington_free_press_best_bets_may_26.pdf |
An Original Play Adds Drama to the Jazz Fest by Erik Esckilsen [SEVEN DAYS 5-25-11]
| seven_days_burningbridgesreview.pdf |
Captive Assurance by Elisabeth Crean [SEVEN DAYS 3-16-11]
| orphans_seven_days_11_17.pdf |
'Orphans' - Gripping drama in dingy setting by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 3-13-11]
| orphans_freepress.pdf |
‘Orphans' a tough, black comedy by Jim Lowe [Times Argus 3-11-11]
| orphans_timesargus.pdf |
Two Tense New One-Acts to Play Burlington's Off Center by Erik Esckilsen [SEVEN DAYS 3-10-11]
| outofcontrolstate_of_thearts.pdf |
Hexed by Dan Bolles [SEVEN DAYS 2-9-11]
| hexdumppress.pdf |
The Riot Group Returns with a Uniquely American Political Play by Elisabeth Crean [SEVEN DAYS 8-11-10]
| seven_days_freedomclub_preview.pdf |
Goldberg blurs art, reality inintoxicating 'Albee' by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 6-24-10]
| burlington_free_press_albee_review_11x17.pdf |
New Goldberg play is dark – and funny by Jim Lowe [Times Argus 6-18-10]
| timesargus_albee_review_061810_11x17.pdf |
Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not Stephen Goldberg by Jim Lowe [Times Argus 6-11-10]
| argus_albee_preview.pdf |
Off Center on the mark in Burlington opening by Brent Hallenbeck [Burlington Free Press 6-4-10]
| burlington_free_press_060410_11x17.pdf |
New Burlington Theater Space Debuts with Play Festival by Erik Esckilsen [SEVEN DAYS 5-26-10]
| seven_days52610large.pdf |
Independent theater has a home…finally by Jim Lowe [Times Argus 6-4-10]
| timesargus_060410_11x17.pdf |
Off Center, On Schedule by Pamela Polston [SEVEN DAYS 3-24-10]
| 7days_03.24.10.pdf |
Local Thespians Waiting in Wings for New Performance Space by Pamela Polston [SEVEN DAYS 1-13-10]
| 7days_011310.pdf |
