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Shelburne Museum presents exhibit on Civil War era textiles

Shelburne Museum presents exhibit on Civil War era textiles

Vermont’s Shelburne Museum will contribute to the sesquicentennial commemoration of the American Civil War (1861-1865) with the special exhibition Homefront and Battlefield: Quilts and Context in the Civil War,  an intriguing and absorbing look at the most divisive period in American history. The American Textile History Museum  produced this traveling exhibition, which will be on display […]

Weston Playhouse names Bonanno development director

Weston Playhouse names Bonanno development director

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company announces that Weston resident and theater company alumna Charma Bonanno has joined its year-round staff as director of development. Bonanno will be responsible for planning and overseeing the theater company’s fundraising efforts for its annual productions, education and New Works programs and the current capital campaign for the new Walker Farm […]

Weston’s updated ‘Uncle Vanya’ is fresh though uneven

Weston’s updated ‘Uncle Vanya’ is fresh though uneven

By David Lampe-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Weston Playhouse’s current production of Uncle Vanya is a decidedly mixed bag, and it takes a dedicated theatergoer to patiently separate the gold from the dross and find the rich nuggets that lie within. Americans’ exposure to classic theater is often limited, and Chekhov has not fared […]

Whiting issues open call for artwork

W hiting Library, located on Main Street in Chester, is seeking artwork created by locals for an open show from the beginning of September through end of October. Pieces will be collected until Saturday, Aug. 23. There is room to display many hanging creations as well as a few three-dimensional works. Whiting’s latest show featured […]

'A Chorus Line' steps, kicks, then touches our hearts, again

‘A Chorus Line’ steps, kicks, then touches our hearts, again

By David Lampe-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Nearly four decades after it opened on Broadway, A Chorus Line remains a “singular sensation,” at least as seen onstage at the Weston Playhouse Theater. A show primarily about dance and the dancers, the current production in Weston is cast with triple threats: they can sing, they […]

Orlandersmith takes us on her rich journey in 'Stoop Stories'

Orlandersmith takes us on her rich journey in ‘Stoop Stories’

By David Lampe­-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 While musicals and comedies are the expected bounty of the summer theater season, a brief evening of pointed drama can stimulate the mind, so many summer theatergoers will welcome Stoop Stories, now at Weston Playhouse’s Second Stage. Theater, poetry and performance art meet in Dael Orlandersmith’s one­woman show, […]

Gales of laughter blow through Weston Playhouse in V&S&M&S

Gales of laughter blow through Weston Playhouse in V&S&M&S

By David Lampe-Wilson You would be hard-pressed to find a more stellar evening of summer theater than Weston Playhouse’s hilarious production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the Tony Award-winning comedy by Christopher Durang. The play revolves around a trio of eccentric siblings who, having reached middle age, find that they have little […]

Powerful performances elevate 'Analog and Vinyl'

Powerful performances elevate ‘Analog and Vinyl’

By David Lampe-Wilson Weston Playhouse kicks off its 78th season with the world premiere of  the musical Analog and Vinyl, a meet-cute love story with a dash of demonic doings. And while there is much to recommend it, this new musical plays less like a finished work and more like an upscale workshop. The show’s […]

'Help Wanted:' Middle schoolers answer the call of the stage

‘Help Wanted:’ Middle schoolers answer the call of the stage

By Josh Bodin On Thursday and Friday, May 15 and 16,  the Green Mountain Middle School presented the play Help Wanted in the auditorium of the Chester high school, giving middle schoolers the opportunity to have a part in a theatrical production without having to compete with high school students. “The play was about a […]

Windsor artists highlighted at Open Studio weekend

Windsor artists highlighted at Open Studio weekend

Vermont Crafts Council Spring Open Studio offers the Chester Art Loop in Southern Windsor County again this Memorial Day Weekend. Working together to present its varied and talented group of painters and artisans, the 20-mile gang create a beacon to visit Chester and its surrounding towns of Andover, Weston and Ludlow. The studios will be […]

Getting into the act: Area students learn from a Weston star

Getting into the act: Area students learn from a Weston star

  Students from Killington, Ludlow, Cavendish and Chester descended on the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium Monday afternoon to begin the first in a series of seven acting classes taught by Weston Playhouse favorite and Broadway actress Susan Haefner, who also lives in Andover. About a dozen children in grades 4 through 6, meeting for the […]

Friends, family rally to keep artist's memory alive with GMUHS scholarship

Friends, family rally to keep artist’s memory alive with GMUHS scholarship

  By Cynthia Prairie Friends and family of the late Heath Gordon are establishing a memorial scholarship fund for Green Mountain Union High School seniors who are pursuing higher education in either art or music. Gordon, who grew up in Chester with his older sister Wendy and younger brother Sam, was a musician and artist […]

Weston Playhouse expansion site plan gets OK with conditions

Weston Playhouse expansion site plan gets OK with conditions

  By Cynthia Prairie Site plans for the new cultural arts facility of the Weston Playhouse Theatre Co. have been given the go-ahead by the Weston Planning Commission with seven minor conditions for use and one conclusion of law that could force the playhouse to speed up its capital fund-raising campaign. The decision was sent […]

Preparing for Overture; Children’s book raises funds for farmer relief effort

Preparing for Overture; Children’s book raises funds for farmer relief effort

Decking the halls Children’s book raises funds for farmer relief effort Vermont children’s book publishing company, Radiant Hen in Coventry, has published a children’s picture book to benefit the Vermont Farmer Emergency Relief Fund, organized by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. The book, titled Higher Ground is about Tropical Storm Irene and its […]

Comedic 'Shakespeare on the Green' at GMUHS this weekend

Comedic ‘Shakespeare on the Green’ at GMUHS this weekend

    The Green Mountain Union High School Drama Department will present Shakespeare on the Green at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16 in the GMUHS auditorium, 716 VT Rt. 103 S. in Chester. Shakespeare on the Green,  written by Amanda Petefish-Schrag and Ben Schrag, includes portions of five of Shakespeare’s most […]

Weston Playhouse hires interim managing director, capital campaign chief

Weston Playhouse hires interim managing director, capital campaign chief

    Two new staff members have joined the  Weston Playhouse Theatre Company.  The playhouse had hired Arts Consulting Group Inc. of New York City to provide transition management services while it undertakes a national search for a new managing director. That position was left vacant with the departure of Stuart Duke after 17 years […]

3rd annual Rotary Cabaret a singular sensation

3rd annual Rotary Cabaret a singular sensation

  A s dinner winds down, the spotlight comes up and the third annual Chester Rotary Cabaret is under way. Students from Green Mountain Union High School’s drama and music departments entertained an enthusiastic crowd of diners on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Newsbank Conference Center. The performances were proceeded by a dinner prepared by […]

With an artist's eye: A close look at the Biker Tattoo and tattoos

With an artist’s eye: A close look at the Biker Tattoo and tattoos

Iron Adventure Run Tattoo In the military, a tattoo can be any display or show, a parade. In everyday life, a tattoo is a design inked on skin. On Saturday, Aug. 24, Chester played host to the Iron Adventure Run Tattoo, which saw hundreds of motorcyclists and their rides roll into town. At the same […]

Playhouse gets zoning board OK; Duke leaves WPTC

Playhouse gets zoning board OK; Duke leaves WPTC

By Cynthia Prairie The Weston Zoning Board of Adjustment has granted the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company a conditional use permit to build a new theater complete with parking spaces, driveway and landscaping on the 5-acre Walker Farm property at the corner of Route 100 and Chester Mountain Road in Weston. ON THE COVER: Architect Jim […]

Playhouse plans for year-round performances with Walker Farm expansion

Playhouse plans for year-round performances with Walker Farm expansion

By Cynthia Prairie The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company is planning to expand its theatrical offerings to year-round with a new cultural center at the 4.9 acre Walker Farm, just north of its Weston Green main stage. The company, which attracts audiences from throughout the northeast, currently stages shows from late spring to early fall, offering […]