Sustaining Black Theatre in the Upper Valley: A Conversation with Jarvis Antonio Green

Join us for a conversation with Jarvis Antonio Green, Founding Artistic Director of JAG Productions and BarnArts Center for the Arts.This community event will be a meaningful look behind the scenes at the founding of JAG Productions, a chance to hear Jarvis' story and path to its founding, and a glimpse at what the theatre company is working on for the second season!

JAG has just completed an inaugural season, featuring mainstage productions of Choir Boy, and Fences and a number of community events, including JAGFest. In this open conversation, Jarvis is baring his soul and all that it has taken to produce exceptional art and build a sustainable organization. In an event that will be valuable to theatre artists, theatre goers and community members alike, this will be a chance to engage in a conversation about building community through theatre.

The event is being sponsored by Dartmouth College Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity (ID&E) and will run from 4:30 - 5:30PM with a reception to follow on Thursday, July 20th at the Loew Auditorium in the Black Family Visual Arts Center at Dartmouth College (22 Lebanon St, Hanover, NH 03755).

This is a community event and all are welcome. We hope to see you there!

Admission is FREE but reservations are required. Visit www.JAGProductionsVT.com for more information and www.blacktheatreuv.brownpapertickets.com to reserve seats.

About JAG Productions:
JAG Productions is led by Producing Artistic Director, Jarvis Antonio Green. Founded in 2016, JAG Productions' mission is to produce classic and contemporary theatre and serve as an incubator of new work that catalyzes a shift to more compassion, empathy and love while exciting broad intellectual engagement through the lens of the African-American experience. Having successfully brought Broadway and TV actors and world-class designers to Upper Valley stages, JAG Productions has bright future ahead.

The theatre company is celebrating its inaugural season, which has been met with rave reviews for it's three Vermont Premiers! The first production was Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy, a music-filled coming of age story set in an elite prep school for young black men. The show was staged at Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, VT. The second production was Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, a musical inspired by Civil Rights pioneers Ruby Bridges and The Little Rock Nine. The Inaugural season concluded with August Wilson's Fences, the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama exploring the evolving African-American experience on the brink of the Civil Rights Movement. Both shows from the second half of the season were produced at Woodstock Town Hall Theatre.

Beyond the Mainstage productions, JAG was able to offer a number of community outreach programs. One such program was a student matinee program, which provides local middle and high school students with the opportunity to see JAG's productions for free. Over 600 students from all over the region attended our performances. The company also launched JAGFest, an annual festival of new works celebrating the talents of African-American Playwrights. The festival was presented in multiple venues around Woodstock and Pomfret, VT. Finally, JAG has hosted talkbacks after performances with guest speakers from Cornell University and Dartmouth College.

JAG Productions sees itself as playing a role in bringing diverse actors and stories to the stage and to the Upper Valley. The staging of Fences was the initial production of a 10-year commitment to staging The American Century Cycle, August Wilson's series of ten plays charting the African American experience through the twentieth century.

About Jarvis Antonio Green:
Jarvis Antonio Green (Director) moved from New York City to the Upper Valley in 2011 and founded BarnArts Center for the Arts in Barnard, VT. He then became the Director of Theatre Arts for ArtisTree Community Arts Center located outside of beautiful Woodstock, VT. In 2015, Jarvis became the founding Producing Artistic Director of JAG Productions with the mission to produce classic, contemporary and new theatre through the lens of the African-American experience.

Jarvis received his training at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City, Anderson University and South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts. Directing credits include: Choir Boy, Fences (JAG Productions), Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Fiddler on the Roof (ArtisTree Theatre Company), The 39 Steps, Master Class, Porgy and Bess in Concert, Oliver!, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors (BarnArts Center for the Arts), Seussical the Musical (NCCT). As an actor, he has enjoyed an extensive career on the stage in My Heart is the Drum (World Premiere), Once On This Island, The Who's Tommy (Village Theatre), Twelfth Night (RAW Shakespeare Company), Our Town, Clybourne Park, Twelve Angry Men (Northern Stage), The Wizard of Oz, Pirates of Penzance (Pentangle Arts), Ragtime (New London Barn Playhouse), Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles, A New Brain (Capital Playhouse), Smokey Joe's Café (Bellevue Civic Theatre), The Buddy Holly Story (5th Ave Theatre), Stardust (Harlequin Playhouse), The Play's The Thing, Black Nativity, Our Town (Intiman Theatre).

Please consider becoming a member of JAG Productions. More info can be found at https://www.jagproductionsvt.com/becomeamember.

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