Intelligent Theatre Festival Returns This Year

The third annual Intelligent Theatre Festival brings new and exciting changes to this community playreading program. In past years, the Festival has been held over one or two weekends; in 2015 the Festival will run from April to June and will showcase new voices from around the community.

Coming up first on Sunday, April 19 is Contra Dance, the first public reading of a delightful new script about north country New Hampshire by Tamworth writer Caroline Nesbitt. Just like the dance for which it is named, Contra Dance illuminates how our lives change, time bends us, loved ones leave us, our towns and all the things we hold dear evolve beyond recognition, sometimes even beyond hope. But there is a pattern to it, and if we're lucky, the dance always brings us home.

Contra Dance is directed by Paul Kerry, and will feature actors from the Tamworth area along with local readers Rob Becker and Colleen Madden. The playreading and discussion will be held on Sunday, April 19, 2 pm, at Portsmouth's historic Langdon House. Suggested donation is $10.

Playwright Caroline Nesbitt is a writer and theatre professional who has lived on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest for over forty years. She is the founder of the educational Shakespeare Company Advice To The Players, whose productions she still often acts in or directs. She has been a fulltime Stage Manager at The Barnstormers Theatre, appeared in productions from Mt. Washington Valley Theatre Company to New Art Theatre to Seacoast Rep, and a variety of film work. Caroline has written essays, fiction and theatre reviews for American Theatre, The Boston Globe, and numerous other national and regional publications. Her novel, Ride On The Curl'd Clouds, is available on Amazon.com. Contra Dance is her first full length play.

Future Intelligent Theatre Festival Playreadings:

Saturday, May 23 at NHTP/WEST - The Oz Story, an original musical based on Frank Baum's books about the mysterious land of Oz. Book, music and lyrics by NHTP Youth Repertory Company members Josh Goldberg, Corrie Owens-Beauchesne, and Ella McGrail; all three are students at Portsmouth High School. New Hampshire Theatre Project will be presenting a full production of The Oz Story in July.

Friday, June 12 at Portsmouth Museum of Art - The Square, a new script by Boston playwright Amy Merrill, about the difficulties of veterans adjusting to civilian life after serving time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Saturday, June 13 at Portsmouth Museum of Art - Dinner at Eight, the 1932 classic spoof of life "on the fast track" by George Kaufman & Edna Ferber.