Alexander Sovronsky
by Mark G. Auerbach
From Berkshires to Broadway
There are lots of connections from Berkshires theatres to Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres this season.
Jane Anderson’s drama, Mother of The Maid, is onstage at The Public Theatre through December 23. Glenn Close plays the mother of Joan of Arc. Matthew Penn, who staged Berkshire Theatre Group’s Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You and a co-Artistic Director of Berkshire Playwright’s Lab, is directing, and the musical score is by Alexander Sovronsky, who composed music for Barrington Stage’s The Cake and The Glass Menagerie. For details: https://www.publictheater.org/Public-Theater-Season/Mother-of-the-Maid/
American Son, the powerhouse drama that had its world premiere at Barrington Stage has moved to Broadway. Kenny Leon, who directed Berkshire Theatre Group’s Children of a Lesser God, stages the work, which stars Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, and Jeremy Jordan. For details: http://americansonplay.com/
Be More Chill, the sold-out Off-Broadway sensation is moving uptown to Broadway, with performances beginning February 13. Joe iconis created the music and lyrics. He’s a regular at Barrington Stage, where his musical, Broadway Bounty Hunter, had its world premiere. Joe Tracz wrote the book. For details: https://www.bemorechillmusical.com/
Of Note
Shakespeare & Company is the recent recipient of two education grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Company was awarded $33,700 through the MCC’s Cultural Investment Portfolio and $16,000 through MCC’s YouthReach for the Company’s nationally recognized Shakespeare in the Courts program. For details: www.shakespeare.org
Goodspeed Musicals is holding local child auditions for its 2019 season, on November 4th from 10AM-5:30PM. in East Haddam, CT. Auditions will be for both roles and understudy positions. The Goodspeed 2019 season will be The Music Man, Because of Winn Dixie and Billy Elliot. All auditions are by appointment only. Appointments may be made starting immediately. For details: call 860-873-8664, ext.721 or https://www.goodspeed.org/about/career-opportunities
Hartford Symphony Orchestra Horn Section
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra announced the return of its acclaimed Young Artists Competition during its 75th anniversary season! To be eligible, students must be Connecticut residents in grades 9-12 during the 2018-19 school year, cannot be a previous first place winner of the HSO’s Young Artists Competition, and must play one of the following instruments: violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, piano, or harp. The preliminary round will consist of an online registration and judging process through December 31, 2018. For details: www.hartfordsymphony.org/education-community/student-opportunities/YAC.
Alexander Sovronsky is composing the score for Paula Vogel’s award-winning play Indecent, a co-production of Arena Stage in Washington, DC, Kansas City Rep, and Baltimore Center Stage. He’ll appear in those productions as well. For details: https://www.arenastage.org/tickets/season-landing/indecent/
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On November 2, John Montanari from Valley Classical Concerts and Debra J’Anthony from Northampton’s Academy of Music Theatre chat with host Mark G. Auerbach. Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org You can download ArtsBeat radio programs you may have missed along with other WSKB community programs on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjzPcoGhNs723gdf2cFc1pQ
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Series presents Brass & Brahms, November 2-4 at The Bushnell. Thomas Wilkins conducts Nielsen’s Little Suite, Schumann’s Concertstück for Four Horns, and Brahms Symphony No.3. Four HSO brass players, Barbara Hill, Principal Horn; John Michael Adair, Assistant Principal Horn, and horn players Hilary Ledebuhr and Nick Rubsenstein are soloists. For details: 860-987-5900 or https://hartfordsymphony.org/
Nature of Forgetting
The Nature of Forgetting, Theatre Re’s powerful and uplifting glimpse into dementia, comes to UMass/Amherst’s Bowker Auditorium on November 2, following a sell-out run at the 2017 London International Mime Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. It caps off a week-long series of events (UMass Week of Memory and Forgetting) in collaboration with The Initiative on Neurosciences, the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies and faculty in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. UMass Memory Week is free and open to the public with the exception of The Nature of Forgetting. There will also be a post-performance talk with the company and UMass neuroscience faculty. For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or www.fineartscenter.com/TheatreRe.
Dylan Brody
Dylan Brody, comic and storyteller, performs The Greatest Show Ever.. Hilarious Stories and Poignant Meditations on the World We Share, as a benefit for Silverthorne Theatre on November 9 at The Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield. He has written for dozens of comedians, including Jay Leno, who has used Brody’s work in his monologues on NBC’s The Tonight Show and recently placed a story in the burgeoning magazine of American humor, The American Bystander. (https://www.dylanbrody.com) Brody is a Northfield Mount Hermon graduate. For details: 413-768-7514 or www.silverthornetheater.org
Dinner Party Guest from Food for the Gods by Nehprii Amenii at Ballard Institute an Museum of Puppetry
Living Objects: African American Puppetry is a new exhibit at The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut in Storrs through April 7, 2019. The exhibit focuses on an often-overlooked aspect of our culture: the work of African American puppeteers. Co-curated by Paulette Richards and John Bell, this exhibition brings together puppets, performing objects, masks, and video by over twenty different puppeteers from the late 19th century to the early 2000s. For details: 860-486-8580 or [email protected]
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert featuring screenings of the complete film with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live to the film on October 27. The concerts will be led by HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan. For details: 860-987-5900, or www.hartfordsymphony.org.
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Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
