Threadbare Theatre Workshop Announces Outdoor Summer Season at Carding Brook Farm

Threadbare Theatre Workshop announced its outdoor season at Carding Brook Farm on the Blue Hill Peninsula. Threadbare's community-based productions will feature local citizens of all ages in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (August 5-8), and the premiere of Mackerel Sky (September 2-5), a new play by longtime Brooklin resident Jon Ellsworth.

Threadbare Theatre Workshop illuminates epics in a simple way through the magic of resourceful storytelling, engaging community members as crucial collaborators in the process. This season's plays will be directed by Threadbare's Artistic Director Kate Russell and feature choreography, music direction, and costume design by Threadbare Associate Artists Joshua McCarey, Esther Adams, and Jennifer Paar respectively. In support of Threadbare's mission to make theatre by, for, and with community, the casts, crews, and creative teams will be peopled by residents from across the Blue Hill Peninsula and neighboring islands. Threadbare will continue to follow CDC guidelines to ensure all workshops, rehearsals, and performances are Covid-19 compliant.

"We are so grateful to Jen and Jon of Carding Brook to partner in this way. It's been an especially dark winter for all of us- we hope that bringing neighbors out into the open air together to safely put on a play will be life-affirming. I do think we call them 'plays' for a reason; making them can be a profoundly joyful act, and perhaps, in this time of grief, a radical one, too," said Kate Russell.

All folks who wish to attend performances will be able to purchase tickets at a Pay What You May price. In concert with the season's plays, free community engagement events will be co-hosted with local organizations throughout the summer. In support of Threadbare's mission to celebrate and elevate the heritage of rural places, Threadbare will donate a percentage of ticket sales to Maine Wabanaki REACH.

Threadbare invites local community members who would like to participate as makers, musicians, performers, singers, technicians, or volunteers, to connect via Threadbare's website: threadbaretheatreworkshop.org/contact-us Threadbare Theatre Workshop accepts donations to support this season through its fiscal sponsor, Blue Hill Community Development, a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charitable organization.

ABOUT THE PLAYS

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare | August 5, 6, 7, 8

An epic fight in Fairyland has thrown nature into chaos. Unwitting lovers flee the rigid Acadian court for the woods where magic and upheaval abound. All the while, a band of earnest artisans are hell-bent on crafting their play- from a dream.

Mackerel Sky

by Jon Ellsworth | September 2, 3, 4, 5

A grieving family wrestles with the changing times that seem to have finally reached rural Maine. The '60s are over, and the Vietnam War is still on, but a movement downeast brings young folks back to the land, and a breath of fresh air.