Award-Winning Composer and Lyricist Shaina Taub to Lead Masterclass at Northern Stage in August

On Sunday, August 6 at 1pm, Vermont native Shaina Taub will return to the Green Mountain State to lead a masterclass and songwriting workshop with students in Northern Stage's Summer Musical Theater Intensive production of TWELFTH NIGHT, for which she wrote music and lyrics. This masterclass will take place in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts and is open to all; reservations are required at northernstage.org/taub.

"I'm so excited to meet and work with the students at Northern Stage," said Taub. "I'm proud to be a Vermonter, and community theater and youth dance programs there were so formative to finding my passion and voice. Theater education is a crucial tool for building empathy and community among young people, and it's great that Northern Stage has invested in providing that for their students."

Northern Stage's Producing Artistic Director Carol Dunne said, "So often when students work on newer musicals, the composers are inaccessible. It is a truly unique opportunity for our students to be able to interact with Shaina Taub, whose own experience growing up in Vermont is not dissimilar to so many in our community. Not only will they be able to speak to the composer directly about her songs - something that so many professional performers never have the opportunity to do, but also about her exciting and inspiring career trajectory. Shaina's visit is another way we are committed to ensuring our students have a world-class theater education."

Northern Stage's Summer Musical Theater Intensive (SMTI) participants are featured this summer in Shaina Taub and Kwame Kwei-Armah's jazz-funk hit Twelfth Night, a 90-minute musical adaptation of the beloved Shakespeare romantic comedy. Seven performances of this fun and funky rendition of the classic coming-of-age story, appropriate for all ages, take place on Tuesday, August 1 to Friday, August 4 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, August 5 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, August 6 at 5:00 p.m. at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, VT.

Northern Stage's Summer Musical Theater Intensive (SMTI) is a celebrated professional-level theater training program for students ages 12 to 18. Local young actors go through several rounds of auditions to be selected for the program itself and cast in the production. Over the course of five weeks, students rehearse and perform a musical at the Barrette Center for the Arts, fully supported by a professional creative and design team from around the country. This program is designed to extend the professionalism of Northern Stage's main stage to local young actors, giving them the opportunity to collaborate with industry veterans on an adventurous, joyful and exceptional theatrical experience.

This summer, SMTI will expand the local youth theater canon by bringing Vermont native Shaina Taub's musical genius to the Upper Valley. Originally a part of The Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park series in 2018, Kwei-Armah and Taub's Twelfth Night was called "irresistibly tuneful" and an "ideal summer getaway" (The New York Times).

This cast of 25 area youth includes Paul Ashton (Hanover, NH), Ava Bucci (Norwich, VT), Elizabeth Chambers (Etna, NH), Reese Cullen (Lyme, NH), Anna Flaherty (Quechee, VT), Anna Gnodde (South Royalton, Vermont), Reeve Green (Plainfield, NH), Lia Hammond (Hanover, NH), Sam Harrison (Hanover, NH), Alex Hoyt (Tunbridge, VT), Alexis Husband (Hartland, VT), Liam Kelly-Thompson (Hanover, NH), Bebhinn Knudsen (White River Junction, VT), Gillian Lenihan (Enfield, NH), Max Loveland (Enfield, NH), Daniel Mello (Hartland, VT), Tate Mosenthal (White River Junction, VT), Grace Munroe (Lyme, NH), Maria Munteanu (West Lebanon, NH), Beatrice Raiken (Sharon, VT), Madeline Reed (Norwich, VT), Emmett Smyth (Orford, NH), Skylar Spiro (Norwich, VT), Mohini Walters (Hanover, NH), and Emily Wilson (Enfield, NH).

The professional creative team, led by Grant, includes Kevin David Thomas (Music Director), Alexis Sims (Choreographer), Mia Irwin (Scenic Designer), Oriana Lineweaver (Costume Designer), Germán Martínez (Sound Designer), Xotchil Musser (Lighting Designer), Anthony Feola (Production Stage Manager), Peyton Otis (1st Assistant Stage Manager), Julia Egizio (2nd Assistant Stage Manager), Kevin Charles Curran (Assistant Choreographer), and Theodore TOJ Marceau (Youth Performer Coordinator).

Northern Stage's 2023/24 Season will open in October with the gripping political thriller Selling Kabul (October 11 - 29) by Sylvia Khoury in Northern Stage's Byrne Theater. More information on Northern Stage's 2023/24 Season and subscriptions can be found at https://northernstage.org/2023-24-season/.

The Northern Stage 2023-24 season is sponsored by Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, our season underwriter since 2018.

Event Information

Twelfth Night
Conceived by Shaina Taub and Kwame Kwei-Armah

Sunday, July 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 1 at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 2 at 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, August 4 at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 5 at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 6 at 5:00 p.m.

Barrette Center for the Arts
Northern Stage
74 Gates St
White River Junction, VT 05001

Robert David Grant, Director
Kevin David Thomas, Music Director
Alexis Sims, Choreographer
Corrie Nova, Associate Choreographer
Mia Irwin, Scenic Designer
Oriana Sophia, Costume Designer
Germán Martínez, Sound Designer
Xotchil Musser, Lighting Designer
Anthony Feola, Production Stage Manager

Tickets are priced $19 for students and $29 for adults. To purchase, call (802) 296-7000 or visit www.northernstage.org.

Northern Stage (northernstage.org) is a regional non-profit LORT-D professional theater company located in White River Junction, VT. Northern Stage actively engages its audiences with world-class productions and extensive educational and community outreach programs in its new home, the Barrette Center for the Arts. Founded in 1997, the company has offered more than 150 professional productions of new works, classics, and musicals. Now in its 25th Season, Northern Stage serves over 50,000 people. In 2014, the company launched a new play festival that has cultivated seven world premiere productions and three Off-Broadway transfers, including The New York Times Critic's Pick Only Yesterday. Northern Stage's breadth of programming supports the company's mission of "changing lives, one story at a time."

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