GOD OF CARNAGE, D-GENERATION & More Set for Town Hall Theatre's Summer Season

A warm summer night, dinner by the rushing Otter Creek, and a wonderful play at Middlebury's landmark Town Hall Theater. It doesn't get any better than this.

The MiddSummer Nights Theater Festival is back for its second year. "The festival is unique because it showcases theater companies from across the region," says THT executive director Douglas Anderson. "Not only do we get to see a series of marvelous productions, but we get to know companies that have been doing great work, some of them for decades."

Opening the festival is the Middlebury Actor's Workshop production of GOD OF CARNAGE, the Tony Award-winning Broadway play. "This company is sort of the festival's home team," says Anderson, as this group of professional actors has been in residence at Town Hall Theater since its inception twelve years ago. GOD OF CARNAGE is an exceptional funny, exceptionally powerful drama about two couples trying to sort out a bullying incident. It won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2009. June 27-30.

The internationally known cutting edge puppet theater, Putney's Sandglass Theater, comes in the next week with D-GENERATION, a stunning recreation of the lives and stories of Alzheimer patients. "These are the most realistic and beautiful and touching puppets I've ever seen," says Anderson. "The issues of old age are dealt with in a supremely sensitive way. Everyone should see this production. It's unlike any theatrical event you've ever seen." July 5-6

Saranac Lake's Pendragon Theatre is next with DIRTY BLONDE, a hilarious tale about people who are obsessed with Mae West. The show includes many of her most famous songs, all suggestive and funny in that signature Mae West way. "The play had a long run on Broadway," says Anderson, "and is a delight from start to finish." July 18-20

The festival ends with one of the most popular musicals of all time, THE FANTASTICKS, in a production by Waitsfield's Skinner Barn theater. "The Skinner is doing some of the most fantastic musical theater in the state," says Anderson. "It's a real coup for us to get them here." The musical tale of the trials and tribulations of young lovers includes the hit song, "Try to Remember" July 25-28

Tickets for the MiddSummer Nights Theater Festival are available by calling 802 382-9222, or on-line at www.townhalltheater.org. The THT Box Office is open daily (exceptSunday) from Noon - 5 pm.

PHOTO CAPTION: Putney's Sandglass Theatre is one of four regional theaters showcased in the MiddSummer Nights Theater Festival at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater. Pictured is a character from D-Generation: an Exaltation of Larks, a touching study of old age and dementia told through the use of the extraordinary puppets that have made this company famous.

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