Company actress, Bonnie Pritchard directed by Peter Marsh in a one-woman play by William Luce,  based on the life of Emily Dickinson from 1845-1886, and set in her Amherst, Massachusetts home, the play makes use of her work, diaries, and letters to recollect her encounters with the significant people in her life - family, close friends, and acquaintances. It balances the agony of her seclusion with the brief bright moments when she was able to experience some joy. After one preview, the original Broadway production, directed by Charles Nelson Reilly and starring Julie Harris, opened on April 28, 1976 at the Longacre Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. Harris, who portrayed fifteen different characters in the play, won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience. She appeared in a televised PBS production and extensively toured the country with the play for a number of years.  It is available for touring:  $750 per performance (Plus $.55 per mile outside Rutland County)

In the prologue to John Cariani’s new romantic comedy, Almost, Maine, directed by Peter Marsh, two bundled-up sweethearts healingly confess their feelings. These two are the only characters who recur in the show. The four-member cast consisting of Shawn Dayton, Christopher Larson, Michelle Ross and Laura Steere, populates an entire town of people with distinct and various emotional states. Almost Maine is a crowd pleaser. Playwright John Cariani, from Presque Isle, Maine (pop. 9, 511) understands people and feelings in remote areas. He’s created a bevy of working-class people who occasionally finish the day by going to the “Moose Patty” and drinking the night away. In the cold, dark winter of rural America, people struggle to make and keep romantic connections through the course of eight different stories. Join us for a joyful evening with the new play that is capturing the heart of the nation’s theatre audiences.

An Evening of Tennessee Williams, directed by Susan Baker, featured three works by one of America’s premier playwrights, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 & 1955. A an overbearing mother and her sickly grown son struggle with their  relationship and try to understand the outside world.  Martha Perkins and Gary Boyle starred. 

• In Adam & Eve on a Ferry, Williams creates a comic portrait of D.H. Lawrence as an analyst for repressed women. The play featured Judi and Bob Tompkins with Sandra Gartner.
• This Property Is Condemned is a poignant one-act in which a 13 year old prostitute named Willie brazenly recounts her experiences to a neighborhood lad.  This play featured featured Jessica Krol & Shawn Dayton.

Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre returns to the Paramount for a fourth year with its annual favorite, Peter Marsh’s original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, December 5 and 6 at 8:00 pm. This timeless tale of Scrooge and his voyage into Christmas past, present, and future is critically acclaimed and audiences love its blend of story-telling and traditional theatre.  Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the other familiar characters are brought to life as ART creates the world of Dickens through acting, music, dance and narration. This year Tom Smith, “Scrooge” for the past two seasons, directs the show and Martin Bones takes over the lead.       Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre returns to the Paramount for a fourth year with its annual favorite, an original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, December 4 and 5 at 8:00 pm. This timeless tale of Scrooge and his voyage into Christmas past, present, and future is a blend of story-telling and traditional theatre.  Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim are brought to life as ART creates the world of Dickens through acting, music, dance and narration. 

In this recent Broadway revival a 19-year-old man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. “He doesn’t stand a chance,” mutters the guard, as the 12 jurors are taken into the jury room. It looks like an open-and-shut case-until one of the jurors begins opening the others’ eyes to the facts.   It becomes personal, with each juror revealing his or her own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes! Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and they become 12 angry jurors. The final verdict and how they reach it-in tense scenes will electrify add up to an exciting night of theatre. The play features Christopher Larson and Michael Mundell.

Two one-acts written by award winning playwright, Peter Shaffer. White Liars depicts a fateful encounter between a down and out fortune teller, a rock musician and his agent. Trickery entangles each of them in a dense web.  Hilarity reigns in the farce, Black Comedy; action supposedly in the dark is illuminated, but when the lights are supposed to be on the stage is the dark. An unscrupulous sculptor has embellished his apartment with objects d’arte “borrowed” from the absent antique dealer next door. He hopes to impress his fiancée’s pompous father and a wealthy art buyer. The campy neighbor returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and all is on the verge of very ripe farce.  “An orgy of blind slapstick brilliantly sustained.” Sunday Express. Featured actors are Dan Loree, Laura Steere, Ilene Blackman, Adam Desautels, and Judi Tompkins.

Come celebrate a tradition of the holiday season at the Paramount Theatre when Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre presents their original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol.  Rutland’s professional theater troupe in their third season again creates magic with acting, music, dance and narration.  Let the company of actors guide you through the world of Scrooge’s remarkable transformation as he embraces the true spirit of giving during this special time of the year.  Tom Smith is Scrooge.

The Company presents their third production of the season, the Pulitzer Prize winning American play, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. It is a deeply moving, warming compassionate play filled with the love for the human experience. In the play, Grovers Corners,New Hampshire is immortalized, and two families, the Webbs and the Gibbs, are at the heart of this emotional theatre experience. The play’s setting was modeled on the town ofPeterborough , NH and is set in the years from 1896 to 1913. It is narrated by the character of a stage manager who is speaking from the play’s published date of 1938.Actors’ Rep presents this classic of American theatre with the spare setting that Wilder intended. The set for this production includes a large painting by local watercolor artist, Peter Huntoon.

The cast of nearly thirty is both local and from as far away as Boston. Chris Larson, a core member of Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre, plays the Stage Manager. Dan Loree and Katie Richards-Peele are George Gibbs and Emily Webb. The remainder of the cast includes: Bonnie Pritchard, Sandy Gartner, Jim Carvey, Steve Macklin, Jody Fabian, Cliff Billings, Lillian Pritchard, Simeon Crossman, Tom Smith, Bette Fredette, Tirzha Osmen-Palmer, Eileen Koch, Paul Burroughs, Cynthia Caruso, Roy Thomas, Ari Larson, Ben Aleshire, Liam Martin, Jesse Larson, William Anderson, Jerry Kreitzer, Bridget Scott, Judi Tompkins and Martha Wemple. It is directed by Peter Marsh and stage managed by Chris Billings.

The second production of the season is the award-winning comedy, Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple (the female version). Two women form opposite ends of the spectrum try to make their way through theworld following divorces. They have always been best friends but living together is something else.The two-act show will be at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland on February 9 & 10 as well as February 15 through 17 at 8:00 pm with a matinee at 2:00 pm on the 10th and 17th. The Odd Couple is directed by John Papais. It features Ilene Blackman as Flo and Sandra Gartner as Olive, in the title roles. The remainder of the cast includes Bridget Scott as Mickey, Tirzha Osmun-Palmer as Vera, Laura Steere as Renee, Martha Jo Perkins as Sylvie, Ben Aleshire as Manolo and Matthew Donnelly as Jesus. Jake Kenney is the technical director, Nancy Winters the set designer, David Lane the lighting designer, Nancy Ellery the costume designer, Sara Allen the properties designer, Elizabeth Manning the assistant stage manager and Korrie Strodel the stage manager.

Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre returns for a second year with its original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. The production will appear at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland on December 15 and 16 at 7:30 pm with a matinee at 2:00 pm on the 16th. This timeless tale of Scrooge and his voyage into Christmas past, present, and future was critically acclaimed and audiences loved its blend of story-telling and traditional theatre. Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the other familiar characters are brought to life as ART creates the world of Dickens through acting, music, dance and narration. This year’s production is expanded to include four narrators and more music and dance. Musical director Rita Lane and choreographer Ilene Blackman return to this year’s production, as well as scenic and lighting designer, David Lane. The cast is a mix of new and old. Rutland actor, Tom Smith, takes on the role of Scrooge and Sandra Gartner returns as a narrator. Others who return to the production are Liz Manning, Paul Burroughs, Ilene Blackman, Bonnie Pritchard and Matthew Donnelly. Making their first appearances in the production are actors, Smith, Bridget Scott, Dan Loree, Adam Desautels, Taylor Ampatiellos, Chris Larson, Roy Thomas, Ari Larson, Korrie Strodel, Lillian Pritchard, Dylan Hamel, Jesse Larson and Katie Richards-Peele, as well as musicians, Mary Barron, Bob Smith and Val Gravelle.

Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre of Rutland welcomes spring with their third theatre event of the season when they present the fantasy, farce, adult comedy, Cinderella Waltz, by Don Nigro. The play will be presented at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland on April 20 - 22, and 27 - 29 at 8 p.m. The play’s main character, Rosey Snow, is trapped in a fairy tale world that is both funny and frightening at the same time. She is there with her stepsisters, her demented stepmother, her lecherous father, a bewildered prince, a fairy tale godmother, a troll and a possibly homicidal village idiot. The play explores the origins of the world’s most popular fairy tale, contrasting the modern version with the darker original Grimm tale.Cinderella Waltz is brought to life by Rutland’s new theater troupe featuring a seasoned cast of locals and professionals under the direction of Peter Marsh. It features an Equity and non Equity cast. The cast consists of Elizabeth Manning or West Rutland as Rosey Snow, Tom Smith of North Clarendon as Mr. Snow, Judi Tompkins or Pittsford as Mrs. Snow, Bridget Shaw of Cuttingsville as Goneril, Korrie Strodel of Rutland and Syracuse, NY as Regan, Christopher Larson of Middletown Springs at Prince Alf, Matthew Donnelly of Rutland and Castleton State College as Troll, Ilene Blackman of Ira as Mother Magee and Dan Loree of Wallingford as Zed.

The bittersweet comedy, The Sisters Rosensweig, by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Wendy Wasserstein.is presented at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland on Feb. 3 &4, and 9 - 11 at 8 p.m.It is winner of the 1993 Outer Critics Circle award for Best Broadway Play. This semi-autobiographical comedy is about an enormously successful American woman working as the British representative to a Hong Kong bank and celebrating her fifty-fourth birthday. Under the direction of Eric Peterson of Bennington’s Oldcastle Theatre, it features an Equity and non Equity cast. The three sisters of the Rosensweig family are Sarah, played by Sandra Gartner of Rutland, Pfenni played by Karen Lefkoe of Middlebury and Gorgeous played by Jocelyn Parrish of Woodstock. The rest of the roles and cast are: John Papais of Rutland as Mervyn Kant, Allan McCullough of Brooklyn, NY as Geoffrey Duncan, William Anderson of Rutland as Nicholas Pym, Chris Larson of Middletown Springs at Tom Valiunus and Korrie Strodel of Rutland as Tess Goode.

Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre presents an original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Rutland on December 2nd and 3rd at 7 p.m. The combination of ghost and heartwarming story featuring Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the other familiar characters is brought to life as Rutland’s new professional quality theater troupe creates the world of Dickens through acting, music, dance and narration. Featuring Sanda Gartner and Martha Izzi as Narrators, and Dave Pryce as Scrooge, A Christmas Carol, adapted by director Peter Marsh, is destined to become a Rutland holiday tradition.