Acorn Productions Announces 14th Season

Acorn Productions, a non-profit company based in the Dana Warp Mill in downtown Westbrook, will continue its work nurturing and developing the performing arts in Greater Portland with its 14th season of productions. Acorn is unique in the area in that the company presents a variety of different types of live productions, including festivals, studio theater presentations of classic plays children's theater, and unconventional performances of the work of William Shakespeare. In all of Acorn's work, the emphasis is on education, whether it be training actors of all ages, mentoring playwrights and vaudeville performers, or assisting audiences in accessing work by offering free and low-cost productions. The company's 2011/12 season will include new editions of Phyzgig and the Maine Playwrights Festival, three plays by the Fairy Tale Players, a new approach to monthly Naked Shakespeare performances at the Wine Bar on Wharf Street, and 3 classic plays presented in the Acorn Studio Theater in Westbrook.

Since 2004, Acorn has worked with an ensemble of actors to explore the work of William Shakespeare in a series of live performances entitled Naked Shakespeare, so named because the text of the world's greatest playwright is presented without the dressing of sets, lights and costumes. Over the past 7 years, Naked Shakespeare has presented full plays, scene nights, and collections of speeches at a variety of locations, including the St. Lawrence Arts Center, the Wine Bar on Wharf Street, Riverbank Park in Westbrook, the Portland Museum of Art, One Longfellow Square, SPACE Gallery, and most recently, Battery Steele on Peaks Island. For the 2011/12 season, Naked Shakespeare will focus on creating a series of themed-performances, to debut at the Wine Bar on the first Monday of the month and eventually tour to other locations in the area. The first presentation of the season is "Drunks and Fools," an evening featuring some of Shakespeare's most outrageous and memorable characters, which will be performed first on October 3rd. The next collection of shorts is entitled "Will's Willies," and it showcases some of the bard's most macabre and disturbing imagery. Audiences can experience this show on November 7th. For the holiday season, Naked Shakespeare brings "Lovers and Cross Dressers" to the Wine Bar on December 5th. The titles and content for the late winter and spring shows will be announced in December. All Naked Shakespeare performances are free with an $8 suggested donation.

For the past 2 seasons, Acorn has offered a season of "fractured" fairy tales by the company's Fairy Tale Players, a group of mostly young actors who have studied at the Acorn Acting Academy. These productions feature original adaptations of classic stories with content that is appropriate and accessible to young children, but also entertaining to adults. The first show of the Fairy Tale Players third season is Peter Pumpkin Eater, adapted and directed by Keith Anctil. This piece is based on the Mother Goose rhyme, and dramatizes what happens when Peter's plan to hide his wife away from her disapproving parents in a giant pumpkin shell goes awry when it seems as if the pumpkin patch may be haunted by evil spirits. Peter Pumpkin Eater runs October 15th through the 30th. Next up from the Fairy Tale Players is Puss in Boots, adapted by Michael Levine from the Charles Perrault story and directed by Karen Ball. In this story, a fast-talking cat helps his penniless master overcome the odds and win over the king by pretending to be the Marquis de Carabas. Puss in Boots will be performed January 28th through February 12th. The final show of the season is Little Red Riding Hood, adapted and directed by Stephanie Ross, which plays May 5th though the 20th. All Fairy Tale Players shows take place in the Acorn Studio Theater with tickets costing $7 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under.

Acorn's Studio Theater Series presents a second season of chamber-style productions featuring two stage classics and another holiday production for the Jewish community. The productions are presented in a straightforward style that focuses on character and conflict, allowing the audience to be present in the space in an intimate manner that is not possible in larger performance spaces. The actors in the productions are a mixture of Acorn regulars from Naked Shakespeare and the Maine Playwrights Festival, as well as some of the more seasoned students from the Acorn Acting Academy. The first production of the season is Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee, which is directed by Michael Levine, and dramatizes the battle lines that are drawn when George and Martha invite a young professor and his wife over for drinks after a faculty party. The production features Paul Haley, Kerry Rasor, Nick Schroeder and April Singley, and plays November 11 to 27. Next up is The Wandering Beggar, adapted for the stage by Howard Rosenfield and directed by Harlan Baker. In the spirit of last year's The World of Sholom Aleichem, Acorn presents several stories focused on the exploits of Shmerel, a simpleton who ends up showing more wisdom than the rabbis. This holiday offering plays December 2 to 18. The Studio Series concludes with The Birthday Party, by Harold Pinter, and directed by Michael Howard. In this mysterious and dramatic play, two menacing strangers from Stanley's past come to visit him on his birthday at a seaside retreat. Acorn offers this classic play from February 24 to March 11. All Studio Series plays take place at the Acorn Studio Theater with tickets priced at $15 for adults and for $12 students and seniors.

For the past thirteen years, Acorn Productions has been brightening the cold bleak week between Christmas and New Year's with Phyzgig, a unique festival featuring vaudeville variety shows in downtown Portland from December 26th through New Year's Eve. Phyzgig shows offer a complete package of entertainment for all ages -- juggling, illusion, physical comedy, live music and much more. Acorn annually attracts performers from all over the country to appear in Phyzgig, which is attended by approximately 2,500 audience members each year. There are three different types of shows at Phyzgig. Vaudeville shows feature 4 or 5 performers in evening length shows. Each performer does up to 20 minutes in one or two entrances. All vaudeville shows are at Portland Stage a 290-seat theater in the heart of Portland's Arts District, and feature a live band under the musical direction of Joel Eckhaus. Phyzkidz shows are held at SPACE Gallery and the Acorn Studio Theater, and are geared towards younger audiences, with 3 performers each doing 15 minutes in one or two entrances. Kids sit on the floor in front of the stage or in seats with their parents. A new addition to this year's Phyzgig is the burlesque show, an adults-only show that allows audiences to enjoy a more sophisticated brand of humor. Tickets to Phyzgig range from $8 to $20 and a complete schedule will be available in late October.

The Maine Playwrights Festival is entering its eleventh year of presenting world premiere scripts by some of the area's most talented playwrights. Each year, Acorn Productions selects a dozen short plays from the over sixty submissions sent in by Maine based playwrights. The plays that are chosen receive several professional productions in rotating repertory at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, while a few longer scripts are presented as staged readings in the Acorn Studio Theater. All told, over 50 creative artists take part in this celebration of the talented theater artists in our great state. Guidelines for submission by playwrights will be available on Acorn's website in late September with a December 15th deadline. Selections will be announced in late January, and the festival takes place from April 19th through the 29th at the St. Lawrence Arts Center in Portland.

Acorn Productions' mission is to invigorate the community of performing artists in Southern Maine. Acorn seeks to nurture new performance pieces, develop artist collaborations, train new talent, and make the arts accessible to a wide spectrum of the general public. Acorn accomplishes these goals by mounting annual festivals that are open to a variety of artists as well as professional performances by local actors in both traditional and non-traditional venues. Ticket prices for these performances are maintained at an affordable level in order to lower economic barriers for potential audience members. Acorn also offers educational programs, including acting classes and workshops, and acts as an umbrella 501(c)3 organization for grassroots organizations or individual artists seeking to become more active members of the performing arts community.

 

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