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This winter, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union After-School Programs (ASP) is excited to announce its continued partnership with Main Street Arts (MSA.) After successfully piloting an MSA after-school drama program during the 2022-2023 school year at Saxtons River Elementary School and Westminster Center School, WNESU and Trish Roberts from MSA will continue the collaboration this year by offering an after-school drama program for students at Central Elementary School and Saxtons River Elementary School from November to January.
Since the beginning of November, Trish Roberts, with the support of the After-School Program staff and a few local teens, has been working with over 20 after-school program students on Mondays at SRES and on Wednesdays at CES. During these sessions, the students have learned about theatre warm-ups for their voices and bodies and have engaged in ensemble-building theatre games, character-building techniques, and acting exercises. Additionally, all students have been participating in rehearsals for the final performance scheduled for the end of the session in January. Both WNESU After-School Programs will be staging an original adaptation of the classical Norwegian folktale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. On the first day of each program, Trish, using the art of oral storytelling, told the students the story, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Throughout the rehearsal process, Trish asks the students for their input about staging, character development, and plot. The students play an active role in choosing and developing their characters and verbally creating their lines. In essence, the ASP students are rewriting their own original adaptation of this folktale. Therefore, the final product at each school will be unique to that particular group. In addition to rehearsing once a week with Trish, the ASP students also work with Mr. Palmisano (CES and SRES Art teacher), one afternoon a week, to design and create the set for this play. Being involved in every aspect of the production, the students are developing their social awareness and relationship skills through creative collaboration. This process-oriented program and student-generated performance allow the students an opportunity to improve communication skills, build self-confidence, and work on cooperation. Both schools will have two final performances: one for their peers and teachers and one for their families. The final performances for the Saxtons River Elementary School After-School Program will take place on Monday, January 22nd and the final performances for Central Elementary School will take place on Wednesday, January 24th. Later this winter, Trish Roberts will offer this after-school drama program again to WNESU ASP students at Bellows Fall Middle School and Westminster Center School in February and March. The final performance dates for Westminster Center School will be Tuesday, March 26th, and the final performance for Bellows Falls Middle School on Thursday, March 28th. Trish Roberts has been engaging children and teens in theatrical endeavors for over twenty years. She has directed preschoolers and elementary-aged children both for after-school and homeschool programs, including literature-based drama programs, and has staged several full-length productions at the high-school level. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and a CT teaching certificate in both French and Theatre, has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Trinity College, and is the founder and director of Wildbrook Forest Theatre, a nature-based theatre project in Westminster, VT. She is thrilled to be offering the imagination-building work of theatre through the Main Street Arts After-School Drama program. MSA's 35th Anniversary Party was a smash! Thanks to all who planned, prepped, and attended this event - most especially Judy Halberg, Susan Still, Valerie Kosenar, Mary Hepburn, our performers and the the members of the food committee. . Here's to another 35 years!
It was Fiesta time at MSA at the Hispanic Heritage Month Potluck on Friday, Sept. 22. The Potluck was the brainchild of Vermont Academy junior Ana Hernandez. Ana decided to organize the event to bring more awareness to the Latinx community in the area. "I wanted to organize a gathering for Hispanic Heritage Month for two reasons,'" Ana said. "The first is that it is not a month that is celebrated much in our area, and the second is I wanted to get to know my community, the Latinx community, better. By hosting a potluck, it gave everyone the opportunity to showcase their own country and get everyone to try new things." Ana is of Venezuelan heritage and got help with the dinner from fellow VA students and VA employee, Kashanie Butler, who is of Panamanian descent. MSA was honored to provide the space for such an exciting event.
Over the past few weeks, Susan Rosano, Master Teaching Artist and a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator, has been leading area seniors in the "Drawing Out the Wisdom of the Past" project. They have created collages of events from their lives or of someone important in their past: a mother who played basketball; another who was a creative seamstress; a great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War; and the building of a couple's Vermont dream home. Their work will be presented at an opening celebration followed by an interactive exhibit in the MSA gallery. The public will be invited to respond with their own insights into how to bring wisdom of the past into today. The project is a collaboration of three of Saxtons River’s institutions: 24 Main (formerly Christ’s Church), MSA, and the Saxtons River Historical Society. The program is free thanks to the generous support of the VT Arts Council's Creative Aging program.
An unforgettable night of captivating storytelling and entertainment! Our Night of True Stories featured seven southern Vermont storytellers sharing their humorous, sorrowful, or illuminating personal stories on the Main Street Arts stage. Anessa Hartman - "Lessons I Learned With My Walk With Cooper" Judy Yogman - "How I Battled the Cold War" Roise Gardner - "A Case of Confused Identity As I Found My Own Identity" Geoff Michael - "Grand Feats" Pia Rabin - "What Has God Got To Do With It?" Dawn Kersula - "Joyous Coincidences" Mary McCallum - "Wooly Bear" Many thanks to BF Fact TV for the recording of this event. Do you know anyone in the area who is over 55? MSA received a Creative Aging grant from the VT Arts Council to offer free workshops and events this spring for older area residents. The project is a collaboration of three of Saxtons River’s institutions: 24 Main (formerly Christ’s Church), MSA, and the Saxtons River Historical Society. The theme of our project is “Drawing Out the Wisdom of the Past.” Despite some negative stereotypes of aging, elders have experiences and insights that are of value to our community. A group of up to fifteen can participate in workshops to turn memories into collage, watercolor painting, poetry, and story. Their work will be presented at an opening celebration followed by an interactive exhibit in the MSA gallery. The public will be invited to respond with their own insights into how to bring wisdom of the past into today. Our project leader will be creative aging expert Susan Rosano. Susan has been a Master Teaching Artist and a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator for over twenty years, bringing visual and expressive arts projects to senior citizens, hospice patients and their families, schools, libraries, hospitals, museums. In 2021 she trained to be a Vermont Lifetime Arts Teaching Artist and in the same year was awarded a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellowship. One goal of our project is to increase awareness of creative and positive aging among both participants and the public who see and hear the products of their work. Other goals include creating a space for creativity and forming a social group. Creativity will be nurtured through accessible techniques such as using story prompts and collage. Fellowship will be encouraged through free refreshments and social time. The opening event will be a free lunch on Friday, March 10 at noon for anyone over 55 at 24 Main Street, the former Christ’s Church building. In addition to a healthy meal, attendees will hear Susan Rosano introduce the project. Schedule: 1. Friday March 10, noon-1:30 Kickoff luncheon at 24 Main Street. Includes intro to the program and participatory exercise. This is to help recruit participants. 2. Friday March 17, 10-12 am workshop at Main Street Arts 3. Friday March 24, 10-12 workshop 4. Friday March 31, 10-12 workshop 5.Friday April 7, 10-12 workshop 6. Friday April 14, 10-12 workshop 7. Friday April 21, 10-12 workshop 8. Friday, April 28, 5-7 pm Opening reception for exhibit with readings of some poems, stories Exhibit will remain up through May 27. |
AuthorMain Street Arts Archives
December 2023
Archived Newsletters
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