Independent Voices Return to The Centre Theater for Third Year

The Centre Theater hosts its annual Independent Voices Festival, Montgomery County's only performing arts festival, January 3-22 at its newly renovated 208 DeKalb Street location. 

The Independent Voices Festival spotlights performers who deserve an encore performance or who want to bring new work to the stage. The Centre Theater also offers opportunities for new performers to explore professional productions. The month long festival highlights more than three premieres and performances from many genres’ including theater, movement, music, and puppetry.

The 2012 Independent Voices Festival includes 15 performances of ten different productions to begin the new year. This year the festival spotlights works about American history, a bilingual play, dramatized Irish stories and contemporary theater.

“Our core identity at the Centre Theater is to enhance the cultural life of Norristown beyond our own work. This festival helps us to collaborate with many artists and bring support to emerging artists from our entire region,” stated Fran Doyle, Executive Director of The Centre Theater.

The variety of productions are exciting. Josh Hitchen's will open the festival with his one man interpretation of “Stoker's Dracula”. Exciting, entertaining and haunting, this adaption of the classic vampire tale plays January 6 and 8.

Sue Gidding's production of “Brilliant Traces”, featuring Victoria Rose Bonito and Michael Parducci will be performed Thursday, January 12 and Friday, January 13. “Brilliant Traces," by Cindy Lou Johnson, is a one-act play with two actors--a woman who plays a bride running away from her wedding, who somehow finds her way to the home of Alaskan recluse Henry Harry. Their story evolves over a few days in which they learn more about each other and reveal more about themselves that they would ever have dreamed imaginable. At its heart, the play deals with self-identity, isolation, and ultimately the search to find someone out there to connect to, and the play is both raw and poetic--intriguing to see how these people unfold.

The second weekend of the festival also spotlights a one person production, “She Moved Through the Fair”, a magical critically acclaimed dramatization of the stories of Edna O’Brien illuminates the romantic life of a contemporary Irishwoman with bittersweet, often comic tales of coming of age, illicit love affairs gone wrong, an unforgettable plan for revenge, and its surprising aftermath. It was first performed at the West End Theatre (NYC) in the Artists of Tomorrow Festival and subsequently had productions at the Way Off Broadway Theater in Houston and the Capital Fringe Festival in DC. 

Continuing the solo performances will be “FESTUS the three legged wonder dog”, a fascinating piece about disability and diversity told triumphantly with puppetry by Dominic Skudera. Also closing the festival is “Sojourner” featuring Zuhairah McGill. McGill's performance, seen all around the region, about Sojourner Truth details her long-suffering life and parallels the history of slavery in America. It answers the questions why she felt she had to become Sojourner Truth and what she hoped to accomplish. Iron Age Theatre will reprise, “Citizen Paine” as well on January 16. 

The festival also includes two special events. The opening Saturday is WALLA FEST, the new music event housed at the Centre Theater. This evening of rock music features two headliners, Satellite Hearts and the Jawnettes . Also The festival will bring Walking Fish Theater’s Un Viaje-a, a new holiday themed bilingual play perfect for the growing Latino community in Norristown. The festival also includes “From the Heavens” on January 21.

“We are working with each of the participating companies to continue our collaborative spirit” stated Fran Doyle. “our continued effort to revitalize Norristown is at the core of the festival.”

Each weekend there will be performances in the Centre Theater’s 4^th floor space Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday matinees at 2pm. All seats are $15.00. Most performance dates are 60-75 minutes long. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Centre Theater website and checking the posted calendar for performances and times or at thecentretheater.ticketleap.com. Patrons can also call the Centre at 610-279-101 3.

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