NEYT explores The Quality of Mercy

New England Youth Theater partners with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center to present "The Quality of Mercy" , directed by Rebecca Waxman, November 12-21.  A powerful theatrical collage of work inspired by class work during our Season of Restorative Justice, this production will focus on sharing awareness of Restorative Justice with the wider community.  
 

The Cast of The Quality of MErcy stands in unity singing the song that ties the entire production together: "Out on the outside, that's where I've been.  Out on the outside... Let me come in!"

What is Restorative Justice?  One student sums it up pretty well:  “I don’t really know a lot about Restorative Justice.  I know that its about how instead of saying ‘Okay you did this bad thing so you get this sentence and get thrown in jail,’ people talk about how to work things through.  It’s like, someone does something that hurts people, and they have to sit down and hear how they’ve hurt people so they really understand.  Then they have to make it right.”

The performance will be a multigenerational collaboration of youth and adult students, faculty, as well as alternating surprise groups from within the Brattleboro community.  Scenes, monologues, songs and theatrical events explore relevant themes of justice, retribution and healing.  Material is being pulled from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and many other great works, classic and contemporary.

Even the Brattleboro Police Department got involved in the production, with a lighthearted bit of self-mockery.  Several of Brattleboros most courageous officers perform in Officer Krupke from West Side Story.

Teacher James Gelter admits to a sense of caution at the start of the class session. “I was wondering at the beginning of class where the line would be – the line that I could push them to the precipice of. They showed me very clearly, ‘Here it is - we’re ready to deal with this stuff full on!’ The material that the teens are tackling is dangerous and edgy – dealing with substance abuse, power struggles, and relationships.

“This fall is full of serious, serious stuff. And, even though we didn’t exactly plan it this way, everything seems to be tied into these big themes of justice, oppression, and overcoming it,” says faculty member Peter Gould, who directed Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in October.

Teachers leading classes this semester have trained with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center (BCJC) in elements of restorative justice, including role plays of what actually happens at a restorative justice conference. Instead of taking first-time offenders to court, the police department may refer a case to the Community Justice Center. In a conference style all affected parties sit together in a circle and the crime and impact on the community are discussed. A facilitator leads the discussion, allowing every person at the conference to give voice to the hurt that was done as a consequence of the crime. By the end of the conference, all parties come to an agreement on a contract that the offenders must fulfill to repair damage done as a consequence of their actions. If the contract is not fulfilled, the offenders must go through the courts. This, of course, is just one of the processes employed by the BCJC.

This production is a part of International Restorative Justice Week, organized locally by the Brattleboro Community Justice Center.  Last year, they held an open mic night at New England Youth Theatre to raise awareness, but this year they have received funding to do a partnership with the theatre to create a performance. The Quality of Mercy will run for two weekends from November 12^th to the 21^st, on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 PM, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM, with matinees specially tailored for younger audiences.  Evening shows will include interactive panel discussions after the performances to further the connection to community and the understanding of Restorative Justice. Tickets will be $6 for students, $8 for seniors, and $10 for adults You may purchase advance tickets online at www.neyt.org, or at the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from 12-5pm.  For more information about our programs, please see our website or give us a call at 802-246-6398.

“As faculty members, we were all invited to sit on a Restorative Justice Panel – these are the groups that hear the stories of the people that commit the crimes and help them figure out what they can do to repair the damage that their crimes caused. It is so inspiring to be in the room as they tell their stories and work through it because they can be doing this instead of or at least in conjunction with community service, maybe instead of parole. All three folks that were there that night were really invested in this process, in what they could do to make things right.”

--Rick Barron

Catching up!

We have been remiss in updating our blog, and apologize.
Here is what we missed!

 TAP presents: Aesop's Fables - PHOTOS & PRESS

NEYT Alumni present: Original Works Festival - PHOTOS & PRESS

Fall Arts Classes Fair - PHOTOS & PRESS

NEYT Mentors present: A Community Cabaret - PHOTOS & PRESS

Arthur Miller's The Crucible - PHOTOS & PRESS & POSTER

TAP presents selections from The Phantom Tollbooth - PHOTOS & PRESS & REVIEW

The Pajama Game!

New England Youth Theatre presents “THE PAJAMA GAME” August 6-14^th.  The Pajama Game is a musical written by George Abbott and based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell featuring a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.
The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where workers’ demands for a seven-and-a-half cent raise are going unheeded. In the midst of this ordeal, love blossoms between Babe, who is the grievance committee head, and Sid, the new factory superintendent.

A perennial audience favorite, the original production won a Tony for Best Musical, and the 2006 Broadway revival won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
NEYT founder Stephen Stearns directs, with a stellar line-up of alumni, including musical directors Nick Bombicino & Louisa Sullivan and choreographer Shoshanna Bass.

Evening performances are Friday and Saturday August 6 and 7, and Tuesday through Saturday August 10-14 at 7pm.  Mattinees will be held at 2 PM on Saturday August 7, Sunday August 8, and Saturday August 14^th.
Tickets prices for students are $7.50, seniors $9.50, and adults $11.50.
You may purchase advance tickets on the NEYT website at www.neyt.org and at the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from 12-5 PM.  Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
Thanks to our sponsors: Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country Realtors and The Richards Group

Pajama Raffle!

New England Youth Theatre will be holding a raffle during each performance of its upcoming musical The Pajama Game.  Prizes will be all sorts of pajama-related items - from men’s plaid flannel pajamas from Sam’s to toddlers pajamas from Carters, Llama, Llama Red Pajama from Everyone’s Books and Polly’s Pink Pajamas from The Book Cellar, to a lovely ladies’ bathrobe and pajamas from Peebles, pajama bottoms from Adivasi paired with NEYT t-shirts, pajamas from Dragonfly Dry Goods, home-made cookies with tea provided by the Twilight Tea Lounge, and a copy of The Pajama Game original movie starring actress Doris Day -choreographed by Bob Fosse.

The funds from selling raffle tickets, which cost $2 for one ticket or $5 for 3, will be put into NEYT’s financial aid fund.  The Youth Theatre is committed to never turning away a student in financial need.  We believe that it is important for all youth to be engaged in the arts and in collaborative ventures that help students build teamwork and leadership skills, confidence, and, most importantly, friendships.

During the summer, New England Youth Theatre distributed a total of over $7,000 in financial aid to all 40 students who applied for assistance. This money came from paid tuitions; concession sales at intermissions; donations in the lobby box; generous donations to our "Angels in the Wings" fund, set up specifically for this purpose; and from fundraisers geared towards boosting the financial aid funds.

Purchase your tickets at performances of The Pajama Game at New England Youth Theatre, August 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 at 7 PM or August 7, 8, and 14 at 2 PM.  Get your advance tickets to this production online at www.neyt.org.  Raffle tickets will be sold during performances.  A winner will be drawn at each performance.  Winners will be able to choose their prizes!  Come take in a great show with some superbly talented actors and actresses, and help support NEYT’s scholarship fund!

Teens Connect with Shakespeare's Cymbeline

There is a moment that you reach when you’re a parent when you say, No you can’t, and your son or daughter replies, Yes I can – and I will. Director, and mother, Keely Eastley says, “You realize that they are actually breaking away.  There is this moment that you know that you will never be a parent in the same way as you used to.”

All of the actors putting together this show are apt at connecting to this seemingly complex language and plot.  They are just on the cusp of that change, and all the parents, who help these kids learn lines at home – and who will be sitting in the audience - they are going to know exactly what this feeling is, having lived through it themselves as kids, and now coming upon it as parents.  It helps that most of the roles in Cymbeline, excepting the parents and political figures, are young people.

Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, a modern and dark fairytale, is about young adults learning how to love, deal with the trials of love, and live with the choices they make in spite of their parents guidance.  Mothers push daughters, fathers push sons, but the young people all have the drive to prove themselves by acting independently and following their own ambitions.  “So, the main characters go on these journeys that bring them through enormous hardships of life.  They start from a place of idealized love.  Then they go through the hardships of life, which make them grow and come to a place of forgiveness.  Finally, they come to a deeper and more real love at the end of the play, and it’s just beautiful,” says Eastley.

I peer into the large red rehearsal room in the back halls of New England Youth Theatre.  Students stand in a circle making strange noises, shaking their bodies, and laughing with each other.  Their warm-up seems to bring a sense of not only focus towards a common purpose, but a great camaraderie.  Soon rehearsal begins, and each student is busy doing something – working with one of the three directors, learning lines, practicing scenes, and talking about the meaning of what they are saying.

Keely Eastley - who has taught actors at Yale, MIT, Boston Conservatory, and Shakespeare & Co. - is embarking on her first sojourn into directing.  With experience as an actor and voice teacher, having worked intimately with Shakespeare’s text, and served as vocal and text coach for two previous summer Shakespeare Programs with NEYT, Ms. Eastley is ready to jump in with directing and take on one of Shakespeare’s more complicated Romance plays.

“I took what I knew, and we just started with the material, the text, and the relationships.”  At rehearsal students stand in a big circle in the room diving into the text, really investing in the meaning of the words.  “It is really allowing the actors to have the permission to do whatever kind of movement or physical relationship building that they feel is right in the moment, without constraints of the stage or a set.  The kids have really found some things on their own, and I think its because they don’t have to focus on remembering their blocking.”

As a “green” director, Eastley was nervous about one thing – the epic Shakespearean war smack dab in the middle of this beautiful, raw, emotional, modern fairytale.  She said she was looking for an outlet that was different – some way that the actors could express the true ferocity of a brutal war.  Then with a stroke of brilliance, she found her answer – a dvd of STOMP. “I rented three different versions of it, and was looking at the ferocity of the rhythms and how they were using their bodies – that could be war.” 

The tech department at NEYT created quarterstaffs and Todd Roach is guiding the actors in creating a rhythmic and dynamic battle scene.  “Most of them are not musicians or drummers, but Todd - it is amazing what he can get them to do. The fight is just gonna be thrilling, its gonna rock,” Eastley says.

As we wind up our interview, the director confides, “I’m tired, but I’m a good kind of tired. I’ve never in all my years seen a group of more focused actors - they actually go away and work and hang out some but they work hard.”  Hard work pays off.  Cymbeline will be a “can’t miss” performance.

Catch the shows July 9^th and 10^th at 7 pm or 10^th and 11^th at 2pm in the air-conditioned New England Youth Theatre on 100 Flat St. in downtown Brattleboro.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.neyt.org or in the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from 12-5 pm.  Prices are $7.50 for students and seniors and $9.50 for adults.  This show is sponsored by The Bear Bookshop.