Category: Art & Theater

The Art Roundup 23/01/12

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• MLK Day: The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; 669-6144, currier.org) will hold a free community celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. New Hampshire artist Richard Haynes will lead a public discussion and mural project (starting at 11 a.m.; the community mural painting will start at noon and go through 4 p.m.), according to a Currier newsletter. Tours will meet in the lobby at 1 and 2 p.m., a reveal of the mural will be at 4 p.m. and there will be a screening of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the auditorium at 4:15 p.m., the newsletter said. The Currier will also be collecting new socks, comfortable clothing and personal hygiene items for Waypoint, according to the website.

• Also at the Currier: The Currier is slated to start a series of conversations over Zoom examining a piece of artwork from the museum’s collection and exhibitions on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 1 p.m. (with “Cityscape with Mill” by Tim Portlock). The free 30-minute program, geared to adults, runs Wednesdays at 1 p.m. The Wednesday, Jan. 18, focus is “Boy Holding Grapes and Hat” by Judith Leyster; on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the focus will be “Yellowave” by Jiha Moon from the exhibit “State of the Art 2020: Locate,” according to a museum newsletter. Registration is required and accepted until noon on the day of the event; see currier.org.

The Sky Within
The Concord Chorale will present “The Sky Within,” a concert celebrating the themes of sky, flight and letting go and showcasing musical styles including works by Brahms, Renaissance madrigals and contemporary works, on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m. The concerts will take place at South Congregational Church (27 Pleasant St. in Concord) and the Sunday show will also be livestreamed. See concordchorale.org for tickets, which cost $20.

• Two actors, 19 roles: Kari Buckley and Maria Jung play 19 roles — including two best friends — in Is Edward Snowden Single?, a “volcanic comedy about pretty lies and ugly truths” at the Players’ Ring Theatre (105 Marcy St. in Portsmouth; playersring.org, 436-8123) Friday, Jan. 13, through Sunday, Jan. 29. The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $27 general admission, $24 for students and 65+.

• Mandy Patinkin: Tickets are still available for “Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Being Alive” at the Capitol Center for the Arts (Chubb Theatre, 44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $40 through $95 (plus fees).

• Hitchcock comedy: The New Hampshire Theatre Project will present The 39 Steps, a comic riff on the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Friday, Jan. 20, through Sunday, Feb. 5, at the company’s 50-seat black box theater at 959 Islington St. in Portsmouth. The show, which is directed by Blair Hundertmark and stars Shawn Crapo and Courtney St. Gelais, will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $30 general admission, $26 for students, seniors and veterans. See nhtheatreproject.org.

Guys and Dolls
The Educational Theater Collaborative (based at Plymouth State University) will present Guys and Dolls at the Flying Monkey Performance Center (39 S. Main St. in Plymouth; flyingmonkeynh.com, 536-2551) Wednesday, Jan. 18, through Sunday, Jan. 22. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start at $25.

• Be a jellicle cat: The Palace Youth Theatre will hold auditions for performers in grades 2 through 12 for Cats: Young Actors Edition on Friday, Jan. 20, with sessions at 5, 6 and 7 p.m., according to a press release. “Expect to stay for your entire one-hour audition slot. You will learn a dance and be asked to sing after,” said the release, which instructed auditioners to come prepared to sing a short section of a song a cappella (musical theater or Disney preferred). The show will run at the Palace Theatre in Manchester Tuesday, March 7, through Wednesday, March 15. To schedule an audition time, email [email protected] with performer’s name, age and preferred time. The auditions will be held at Forever Emma Studios (516 Pine St. in Manchester).

• Looking for Wolves: Cue Zero Theatre Company will hold auditions for its April production of The Wolves, a gritty drama by Sarah DeLappe directed by Erin Downey, on Monday, Jan. 30, and Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire in Salem. All characters in the production are female/female presenting, according to the press release. Sign up for an audition slot at CZTheatre.com and those auditioning should prepare a one-minute dramatic monologue and be prepared to read sides on request; callbacks are Sunday, Feb. 5, the release said. Get information about the character breakdowns on the website.

• Camp Encore: The Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth has announced the dates and productions for its three multi-week summer camp sessions. Session 1, Theatre Creatures, will run three weeks, Monday, June 19, through Sunday, July 9, and feature Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Kids and The Aristicats Kids with public productions Saturday, July 8, and Sunday, July 9 at 11 a.m. Session 2, Stage Folks, runs two weeks, Monday, July 10, through Sunday, July 23, with productions on Saturday, July 22, and Sunday, July 23, at 11 a.m. Sessions 1 and 2 are open to ages 7 to 17. Session 3, Prescott Teens (Teen Musical Theatre Intensive), runs two weeks, Monday, July 24, through Sunday, Aug. 6, with shows Saturday, Aug. 5, and Sunday, Aug. 6, at 11 a.m. See prescottpark.org for pricing, including sibling and multi-camp discounts, and to register.

Toy planes and model aircraft
The “Holiday Festival of Toy Planes and Model Aircraft” exhibit has been extended at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; nhahs.org, 669-4820) through Sunday, Jan. 22, according to the museum’s newsletter. The exhibit features more than 2,000 aviation toys and models. The museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission costs $10 per person ages 13 and up, $5 for ages 6 to 12 and ages 65 and up; ages 5 and under and veterans and active military get in free, the release said.

Building an artistic community

New gallery in Manchester brings together many forms of art

By Katelyn Sahagian

[email protected]

Mosaic Art Collective, a combination of studio space and art gallery, opened in Manchester during the first Manchester Arts Festival in September. The owner, Elizabeth Pieroni, said it was important to her to have a space that celebrated the collaborative spirit studios had in her youth.

“Mosaic is something that I had wanted to do for a long time. Shortly after graduating I missed the idea of being in a studio space and having that community,” Pieroni said. “I realized quickly that this area is really hungry for something like this. A ton of artists needed space and wanted to show work.”

Pieroni, who grew up in Hooksett, left the Granite State to attend Maryland Institute College of Art, before working as an artist in Vermont and ultimately coming back to the Manchester area. During the pandemic, she said, she wished for a spot to do her work and get insight and advice from members of the art community. When restrictions were lifted, she immediately started looking for places to create a studio.

At Mosaic, Pieroni said, studio renters aren’t always working with visual arts. One person who rents a studio space works as a writer and in public relations, another is an art curator, more are artists, and she hopes in the future to have dancers and musicians in the group as well.

“The studio spaces are a hodge-podge. That’s what I intended,” Pieroni said. “I wanted … musicians and artists and performers and writers, looking for all of the arts to come together in a hub situation and be able to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other.”

Nothing highlights the collaborative spirit Pieroni envisioned as much as the ongoing show for January at Mosaic. The show, called “Conversations of home and heART,” combines writing, whether poetry or prose, with visual art. Artists created work to inspire writers, and vice versa, to create the feeling of “hygge,” the Danish term for comfort and coziness.

Pieroni has two of her own pieces on display, one that inspired a writer and a piece of text inspired by an artist. She said that the show will be eclectic and will have pieces from amateur writers and artists as well as professionals , including a poem from the state’s poet laureate, Alexandria Peary.

While the space operates as a studio and gallery primarily, Pieroni hopes Mosaic will become more, with plans to offer art classes and workshops in the future.

“My biggest hope is to make art more accessible for regular people,” Pieroni said. “I want to bring people in who don’t necessarily seek out an art opening on a Friday or Saturday night and have that become a part of the possibility for entertainment.”

Conversations of home and heART
Where: 66 Hanover St., Suite 201, in Manchester
When: Through Jan. 29 by appointment. There is an opening reception on Saturday, Jan. 14, from 4:30 to 8 p.m.
Visit: MosaicArtCollective.com

Featured photo: YOUGOD by Jason Bagatta.

The Art Roundup 23/01/05

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• New exhibit at Art 3: “Multi-Mediums,” an exhibit featuring works on canvas and panel, wall reliefs in ceramic and metal and sculptures in stone and wood, is open now at the Art 3 Gallery (44 W. Brook St. in Manchester; 668-6650), according to a press release. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and a virtual exhibit should be available soon, the release said.

• Photo exhibit: The 23rd annual New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists Member Exhibit and Sale will open Saturday, Jan. 7, with a reception from noon to 4 p.m. at the Exeter Town Hall Gallery (10 Front St. in Exeter), according to a press release. Some of the photographers with works in the exhibit will be on hand to answer questions, the release said. The exhibit will run through Sunday, Jan. 29, and the gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

The Society recently established a permanent studio space at the Kimball Jenkins School of Art in Concord that gives members access to studio lighting, printers and more. See nhspa.org for membership information.

• Sing! The Rockingham Choral Society will hold an open rehearsal on Tuesday, Jan. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Exeter High School for its spring concert, which will feature works by Beethoven and Brahms, according to a press release. The group is open to singers age 16 and up and a brief placement audition for new members will take place at the end of the rehearsal; dues are waived for high school and college students, the release said. See rockinghamchoral.org.

• January at Gibson’s: Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; 224-0562, gibsonsbookstore.com) has several recently announced events on the January schedule. James T. McKim Jr. will be at the bookstore on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss his book The Diversity Factor: Igniting Superior Organizational Performance; the event is free and no registration is required.

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 6:30 p.m, Honorable John T. Broderick Jr. (former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and current senior director of external affairs at Dartmouth Health) will be at Gibson’s to discuss his book Backroads and Highways: My Journey to Discovery on Mental Health.

On Friday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. the bookstore will be part of a virtual event featuring author and director Joyce Chopra discussing her book Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond with journalist Annie Berke. See the store’s website for a link to the event page, where you can purchase a ticket/book bundle.

Save the date for Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. when Farzon A. Nahvi, MD, an ER physician at Concord Hospital, will be at Gibson’s to discuss his book Code Gray, a memoir about his life in medicine.

New Art Show
“Beginnings,” the first group show at the art studio Girl from Mars (135 Route 101A in Amherst), is opening on Friday, Jan. 6, with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Melissa Richard, the owner and chief artist at the studio, said she was excited to have 14 local artists showing 24 pieces of new work.

“Some are artists I knew; some I met through other galleries and shows along the way,” Richard said, adding that she’s “hoping to rotate between group and solo shows in the space.”

All of the artwork on display will be available for purchase either online at the gallery’s website or at the show. The show will run from Jan. 6 through the end of February. The Gallery’s hours are Thursday through Saturday by appointment. Visit marsartstudio.weebly.com.

• Book and film: Eva’s Promise, a documentary about Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss (whose mother married Anne Frank’s father after the war), will have its New England premiere at the Park Theatre (19 Main St. in Jaffrey; theparktheatre.org, 532-8888) on Friday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. The film’s director (Steve McCarthy) and the producer (Susan Kerner) will attend the Sunday, Jan. 15, 4 p.m. screening of the film and hold a discussion after the film that will include a special video message from Eva Schloss, according to a press release. When Eva and her brother Heinz Geiringer were put on a train to Auschwitz in 1944, Heinz, who was 17, told her that he’d hidden paintings and poetry he’d created in the family attic and asked her to retrieve them if he didn’t survive the war, the release said. Eva (who is 93 and lives in London) wrote a book, The Promise, in 2006, and signed copies will be available at the theater (as well as at Toadstool Bookshops), the release said. Tickets for the Sunday event cost $10 to $15; tickets for regular screenings cost $8 to $9. In addition to the Friday and Sunday screenings, the film will also screen Saturday, Jan. 14, at 2 and 7 p.m., and Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m.

• Jazz and classical: The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra will head to Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club in Portsmouth with their “Up Close & Personal” chamber music and dinner series on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 5:30 p.m. The PSO Brass quintet will explore the boundaries between jazz and classical music, according to a press release. The show will feature a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, music from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, selections from Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller and the score to George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, the release said. Tickets cost $90 per person and include the concert, appetizers, dinner and dessert, the release said. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. See portsmouthsymphony.org to purchase tickets.

More than music

A choir made up of refugee girls from across the world will sing at the Mariposa Museum

By Katelyn Sahagian

[email protected]

A girls’ choir from Maine will be giving a free performance at the Mariposa Museum, but what makes this choir special isn’t the music they perform. It’s the girls themselves.

The Pihcintu Multinational Girls Choir is composed completely of refugees fleeing famine, war and other atrocities. The choir promotes peace, understanding and kindness through their music and has performed for the United Nations, alongside classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Con Fullan, the man who created the choir and has directed and written music for it for the last 17 years, said these girls are inspiring to watch.

“These kids have a powerful impact on audiences they perform for,” Fullan said. “It’s not meant to be about the perfection of their voices; it’s meant to be much more. The message is the importance here … how important and necessary the refugees are to this country and how to support them.”

Fullan, who started his music career as a singer-songwriter, said he is thrilled to offer these girls a community and a place to learn and grow. He said most of the current singers are Congolese and Angolese, but the choir has 300 past members and has had girls from more than 40 nations.

Fullan said he loves the confidence the choir gives the girls, remembering the story of one Congolese refugee who begged to join the choir even though she didn’t know a word of English. He said that in three months she knew the lyrics to all of the songs, and by the time she graduated from high school she was a National Scholar and was accepted to the University of South Maine.

“To understand what they’ve gone through and how resilient they are is really jaw-dropping,” Fullan said. “The Congolese girl walked through jungles and God knows what horrors, and is now a wildly successful young woman. That’s a typical success story of my kids.”

According to Karla Hostetler, the executive director at the Mariposa Museum, the Pihcintu Multinational Girls Choir represents everything that the museum stands for.

“The Mariposa is dedicated to fostering peace and celebrating diversity while affirming a shared humanity and planet,” Hostetler said. “The mission of the museum and chorus are perfectly aligned.”

This is the second time the choir is performing at the museum, Hostetler said. The first was before the pandemic shut everything down. Now that the Mariposa is opening up again, Hostetler hopes to build a relationship with the choir so that they can perform at least once a year.

There couldn’t be a better time for their performance than now, Hostetler said. The featured exhibit currently at the museum is “The Luminous Worlds of Omar Victor Diop,” by a Senegalese artist who photographs the African diaspora around the world. The exhibit was extended through Sunday, Jan. 8.

“It’s a beautiful way to start the new year and a great way to celebrate and bring people in,” Hostetler said. “It’s really for everybody and a great chance to see what we at the Mariposa are all about too.”

Pihcintu Multinational Girls Choir
Where: The Mariposa Museum, 26 Main St., Peterborough
When: Saturday, Jan. 7, at 3 p.m.
Price: Free for members, $20 for nonmembers
Visit: mariposamuseum.org

Featured photo: Pihcintu Multinational Girls Choir. Courtesy photos.

The Art Roundup 22/12/29

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Join the Bee: The Palace Youth Theatre is holding auditions for performers in grades 2 through 12 for its upcoming Small Cast production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, according to a press release. Auditions will be held on Monday, Jan. 2, at 5, 6 and 7 p.m. at Forever Emma Studios (516 Pine St. in Manchester) with rehearsals starting the second week of January for performances at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester) on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and Thursday, Feb. 23, the release said. Performers will learn a dance and be expected to sing (come prepared to sing a short section of a song of your choice a cappella), the release said. To schedule an audition time, email [email protected] with the performer’s name, age and preferred audition time; if cast (not all who audition will be cast) there is a $125 production fee, the release said.

• An exhibit of printmaking: New Hampshire Art Association fine printmaker Kate Higley will have her work on display at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center (49 S. Main St., Suite 104, in Concord) Friday, Jan. 6, through Friday, March 3. The gallery hours are general Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Behind the Carol: The play Scene Changes will open at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315) on Friday, Jan. 6. In the show, a traveling production of A Christmas Carol loses its Bob Cratchit when he gets ill in Burlington, Vermont, and the show has to hire a new actor when it comes to Concord, causing “a clash of wills,” according to the website, which also says that the play contains adult language. The show will run Friday, Jan. 6, through Sunday, Jan. 22 with showtimes at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets cost $22 for adults and $19 for students and seniors.

Recycled Percussion
Recycled Percussion was slated to begin its 13-show run at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) on Wednesday, Dec. 28. Tickets start at $37 for what’s billed as an all new show that “brings music, comedy and off the charts energy.” After opening night, the show will hit the stage Thursday, Dec. 29, through Sunday, Jan. 1, at 3 and 7 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 2, at 3 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 7, at 11 a.m.

• Call for actors: The community theater group Nashua Theatre Guild will hold auditions for its spring show, Pandemonium, described as a “modern mythology mystery” according to a post on the Guild’s Facebook page, on Saturday, Jan. 7, and Sunday, Jan. 8, at Broadway Bound (501 Daniel Webster Hwy. in Merrimack) from 1 to 4 p.m. on both days. The audition will be a cold reading, the post said. For more on the group, see nashuatheatreguild.org.

• More voices in theater: Theatre Kapow will continue its “Expanding the Canon” playreading circle focused on highlighting Black, Latinx, indigenous and global playwrights, according to tkapow.com. The event will be Sunday, Jan. 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. over Zoom. Register on Kapow’s website.

• A Neil Simon: The Epping Community Theater (performance space is the Epping Playhouse, 38c Ladd’s Lane in Epping; eppingtheater.org) will present Neil Simon’s Rumors Friday, April 14, through Sunday, April 16, and is holding auditions Thursday, Jan. 19, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 21, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Watson Academy (17 Academy St. in Epping). Go online for signup information and a rundown of the characters.

•Teens on skates? Teen performers ages 14 to 18 can schedule in person (or virtual) auditions for the Peacock Players’ upcoming production of the musical Xanadu. Go to peacockplayers.org to schedule an audition for Sunday, Jan. 22, or Tuesday, Jan. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. on either day at the 14 Court Street Theater in downtown Nashua. The production will run Friday, May 12, through Sunday, May 21, with night performances Fridays and Saturdays and matinees Saturdays and Sundays.

• Next generation of theater: Registration is open now for the Peacock Players (peacockplayers.org) April vacation camp, which will run Monday, April 24, through Friday, April 28, at the Peacock Players space in downtown Nashua, 14 Court St. The camp runs daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for grades 1 through 8; tuition costs $350.

Artistic highs

Performing arts, fine arts and classical music saw amazing gains in 2022

By Katelyn Sahagian

[email protected]

Visual arts

James Chase, the founder of Arts Build Community and a professor at New England College, said 2022 was an amazing year for him as an artist and for his nonprofit.

In 2022, Chase founded the Manchester Mural Festival and brought street artists from around the world to help make Manchester even more beautiful.

“It was really successful,” Chase said. “Since it was so well-received, there’s been lots of community interest to expand the festival with new partners.”

It was imperative to Chase that the artists really work with the community, so his organization partnered with The Boys & Girls Club of Manchester so that the invited artists could hear what the city’s youth wanted to have included in the murals.

Because of the collaborative nature of the project, Chase said the festival was probably also one of his biggest challenges in 2022. He said that it could be hard to get businesses to agree to use their exterior wall space when there wasn’t a final image.

He found businesses and organizations that were excited for the artwork, even if there wasn’t a sketch for them to look at, and there are now three permanent pieces of artwork on Queen City’s walls.

Another first in Manchester’s art scene was the Manchester Citywide Arts Festival, created and organized by the Palace Theatre. One of the featured artists at the festival, Karen Jerzyk said that she was thrilled to showcase her work in her home city.

“I hope for more things like [the Manchester Citywide Arts Festival]” Jerzyk said. “I had a great time at it. It was a really good crowd that went and I hope I can do more stuff locally.”

Jerzyk, a photographer known for her surrealist style and astronaut models, said that the most exciting part of 2022 was attending Art Basel in Miami in early December, as well as being featured in Time magazine’s digital art gallery.

“This year was that glimmer of hope again for me that maybe things will get better,” Jerzyk said. “I’m just grateful that everything got back to that normalcy.”

Classical music

While the 2022-2023 classical music season has only just begun, both the Nashua Chamber Orchestra and the New Hampshire Philharmonic have seen huge differences in their audiences, primarily in their sizes, but also in the excitement.

David Feltner, the artistic director of the Nashua Chamber Orchestra, said 2022 was a huge departure from pandemic concerts, not just because there could be live music, but also because there were full orchestrations. Up until this year, the orchestra had been divided into smaller sections, with the first full orchestra concert happening in spring of 2022.

The first concert of the ’22-’23 season, Beethoven and Friends, was a huge success, Feltner said. Future concerts will have audience participation, with attendees being asked to give a listen to Haydn’s Symphony No. 93 and come up with a name.

While looking ahead to 2023, Feltner said he was easily most excited for playing and writing his own music as well as conducting.

“I wrote a piece for viola, and I will be conducting and performing the part,” said Chase, saying that this will be the first time he conducts and performs his own work. “It’s pretty thrilling when your music comes to life.”

Toni DeGennaro, the executive director at the New Hampshire Philharmonic, said that 2022 has been a step back to normalcy for the orchestra.

DeGennaro said the biggest highlight for her was seeing the holiday pops concert in mid-December sell out Seifert Performing Arts Center, a 733-seat venue. She said that having people come and see Santa playing in the orchestra, or a 9-year-old soloist perform, was a wonderful way to end the holiday season.

“It was just packed,” said DeGennaro. “That to us signified that we’re back. Covid is still going on, but it’s still nice to see people out and enjoying the music.”

2023 brings along more exciting concerts for the orchestra, including an African music concert that will be performed with a resident from Dartmouth, and the Drawn to the Music program. Drawn to the Music takes artistic submissions from New Hampshire elementary school students who drew while listening to classical music. At the concert, selected students’ artwork will be displayed during the performance of the music they listened to while crafting their masterpieces.

“That’s our highlight for the end of the year, seeing the kids come all dressed up and it’s super cute,” said DeGennaro. “It’s really an awesome show.”

Theater companies

Despite the hiccups of the pandemic, and struggling at times for performance space, Mo Demers, one of the directors at Lend Me a Theatre, said 2022 has given the company a lot of firsts.

“We’re starting to take independent plays and original plays,” Demers said, adding that one of the shows they’re looking at was written by an actor in the company. The first independent play to be performed is The World was Yours and will go up in 2023, Demers said.

In addition to independent plays, Lend Me a Theatre is the first company to perform three of its season’s shows at The Hatbox Theatre. Demer said having shows in such an intimate space makes for an exciting experience.

One of the shows was Demers’ highlight of the year. She was able to direct her dream show, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, for Hatbox. She said it’s been 10 years that she’s been dreaming of putting it on, and getting the chance to put it on, even in a smaller setting with a small audience, still made it worthwhile.

At Manchester Community Theatre Players, Steve Short, the executive director, said that the highlight show of the year was the final show, Titanic the musical, it was also one of the most challenging parts of the year.

Short said that presenting a show like Titanic was rewarding, and doing it for an audience that was able to not social distance and with performers completely unmasked made it a fun challenge.

“All our rehearsals were masked,” said Short. “It was hard on the final dress to adjust everything.”

Short said that, in addition to actors having to adjust their acting when seeing castmates’ full faces, technical staff had to adjust microphone settings, and some staging elements had to be changed as well.

2022 was the first season since the pandemic began that the Players performed as a full ensemble on a stage, Short said. Before this, shows were done fully remote on Zoom, or in hybrid settings.

Short said he hopes to continue bringing more unmasked and in-person theater to Manchester. The next big show for the company, will be a celebration of more than two decades of theater it has brought to the Queen City.

“It’s going to be a Manchester Community Theatre Players Become Legal show,” Short said. “We’ll be celebrating our 21st year, as a revue of many musical numbers of shows we’ve done over the past years.”

Performance venues

The Tupelo Music Hall saw many changes in 2022 due primarily to losing out on touring acts that they’re known for inviting, said owner Scott Hayward, which has affected ticket sales. Even so, he said that Tupelo is up much more in ticket sales over the pandemic.

“Right now, I’m so optimistic,” Hayward said. “I’m hoping that by this time next year, we’re back to where we were before when Covid hit us.”

While it was open before the pandemic, the Rex Theatre really hit its stride in 2022, according to Warren O’Reilly, the assistant to the president of Palace and Rex Theatres.

O’Reilly, who organized and ran the first Manchester International Film Festival, said he was excited to be bringing it back next year.

“We’re hoping for at least 50 percent of the films to be made by New Hampshire filmmakers,” O’Reilly said, adding that they would narrow the scope of the festival down but ramp up the animation in it.

O’Reilly added that the Rex was thriving when it came to comedy shows, but he wanted to promote the theater as a place where live music and comedy have a home in the Queen City.

“Looking ahead to next year, we are booking more local and independent acts,” said O’Reilly. “We’re working with Queen City Improv to have them do a show in April. We want to have [The Rex] be a place where Manchester-based artists can perform.”

Featured photo: Arms Park Mural. Photo by Michael Cirelli /@cirelliworks

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