New Hampshire Theatre Project Announces 2020-2021 Season

New Hampshire Theatre Project announces their 2020 - 2021 Season filled with inquiries into the creative power of theatre-making. Programming will include virtual and in-person performances, workshops and conversations that delve into what is feared, hoped for, and ultimately done when the world turns upside down. Based on the theme of "What Are You Waiting For?," the season includes a new show for families, re-imagined Shakespeare, a performance series for experimental theatre, and the premiere of the devised performance, We Don't Know What This Is Yet.

"The world is changing, more rapidly than we ever could have imagined," says Artistic Director Catherine Stewart. "But it's still our job to produce theatre that both entertains and inspires." NHTP will welcome artists and audiences back into their blackbox theatre at 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth NH, when it's safe to do so, while expanding virtual offerings with a view to inclusivity and accessibility. "Theatres across the country and around the globe are reeling from the pandemic, as well as social and political upheaval," explains Stewart. "This is not the time to shy away from the theatre, but rather to trust artists, and fully invest in theatre's potential to support individuals, communities and society as a whole through the best, and the worst of times."

NHTP will begin its season with a partnership with Strawbery Banke Museum in honor of the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. A virtual staged-reading of NHTP Youth Repertory Company Alum Jes Marbacher's play Well-Behaved Women will be livestreamed via Strawbery Banke's website on Tuesday, October 27. The performance will present NHTP Company Artists in the role of 19th century suffragettes as they battled for equality. Details about the reading, and how to RSVP for the free event can be found at www.strawberybanke.org.

"With restrictions to the number of performers we can have on our stage, crew they work with, and audience in the building we had to get inventive about how to bring both contemporary and classic works to the stage," says Stewart. SoloStage is a six month commissioning program where three artists will develop solo shows through a series of workshops, open rehearsals and work-in-progress performances. The program includes Company Artists Peter Josephson and Stephanie Lazenby, as well as a performer new to New Hampshire Theatre Project, Gemma Soldati. All three artists, and three guest artists, will be offering workshops on skills and techniques related to the solo works. These will be open to the public, and will include opportunities for all ages, as well as community and professional theatremakers alike. The program begins October 1 and runs through March 2021. Details on how to watch these shows develop will be available at www.nhtheatreproject.org.

During the previous season, 20 Company Artists and 4 Resident Artists were welcomed formally into the NHTP family through a commitment to support both personal and professional growth. Tiny Mayhem, a series of events scheduled throughout the 2020 - 2021 Season will offer performance opportunities for artists involved in that cohort, as well as those looking to engage with NHTP. Tiny Mayhem is a contemporary performance laboratory produced in partnership with NHTP Company Artist Emily Karel. Originally conceived at the Red Door in Portsmouth NH in the summer of 2015, the events are an eclectic assortment of theatre, art, dance, and drinks curated to create a one-of-a-kind night. The first event will take place on Friday, December 11. The showcase of new performance work by emerging and established makers will be selected from an Open Call for Work which opens on October 15.

New Hampshire Theatre Project has been making theatre with communities for over thirty years, and now in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic they are returning to their applied theatre roots to create a new work, We Don't Know What This Is Yet. Applied Theatre, as defined by Phillip Taylor in his book of the same name, "springs from the desire to change or transform human behavior through the medium of theatre." NHTP uses the process of theatre to raise awareness, build connections, and inspire community change. For We Don't Know What This Is Yet, NHTP artists, under the direction of Resident Artist CJ Lewis, are gathering accounts from individuals, holding space for community dialogue, and reflecting on the new normal that has suddenly become our world. A work-in-progress showcase of interviews and ideas will launch Friday, January 1 as part of the company's development process for the anticipated premiere of the work during the 2020 - 2021 Season.

For more information about the artists and work in New Hampshire Theatre Project's 2020-2021 season, visit nhtheatreproject.org.

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