Greensboro Arts Alliance Announces Mainstage Summer Season

Greensboro Arts Alliance and Residency (GAAR) in Greensboro, Vermont announces its 2019 Mainstage Summer Season, kicking off July 25-28 with the world-premiere MIRANDA, by Bernard Pomerance (The Elephant Man), starring Tony Award-nominee Marla Schaffel (Jane Eyre) with ALEX MERAZ (Twillight) and the internationally-renowned musician, artist and cosmologist TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE. GAAR's season will continue in August with the 4th Annual Sowles Award Gala in Greensboro, and William Luce's THE BELLE OF AMHERST at the Unadilla Theater Festival in Marshfield, Vermont.

MIRANDA (July 25, 27, 28) a new play by Bernard Pomerance, is a sequel to Shakespare's THE TEMPEST. The cast of 12 features GAAR/Mirror Rep's Artist in Residence and Tony-nominee Marla Schaffel as Miranda, joined by Native American actors Alex Meraz as Caliban, Jamie Loy as Ariel, Kalani Queypo as Opacancanough, and Tiokasin Ghosthorse as The World Spirit, and is directed by GAAR/Mirror Rep's Artistic Director Sabra Jones at Highland Center for the Arts (2875 Hardwick Street) in Greensboro. Prospero will be portrayed by Aidan Redmond, a company member, who most recently directed The Mountains Look Different by The Gate theater Founder Michael mac Liammoir. Mountains opens June 20 at the Mint Theater.

MIRANDA, written by Bernard Pomerance (who died in 2017), depicts THE TEMPEST's Prospero after he returns to Milan and is once again the Duke of Milan. Miranda, his daughter, is now a grown woman. Prospero has forgiven his brother, the evil Ferdinand, who is now the powerful Cardinal of Milan. As Prospero writes his memoirs, he recalls his passage through the Americas and his love for the Powhatan princess Ariel and their child, Caliban. During the play a shocking mystery is revealed and resolved.

This world-premiere production will bring to life the early history of America, and will feature the music and dance of Native Americans, including that of the Abenaki of Vermont - and the magic of both the Powhatan and that of Prospero. Native American Raoul Trujillo - one of the stars of the acclaimed BBC series JAMESTOWN - serves as Consulting Producer for MIRANDA.

Vermont Public Radio is the Official Sponsor of Miranda.

GAAR's summer season will also include the 4th Annual Sowles Gala (August 4), featuring the music of Oklahoma!, and celebrating the voices of Vermont, with the talents of Heidi Lauren Duke, Marla Schaffel, Music Director Mary Jane Austin, Opera singer Erik Kronke, and violinist Roy MacNeil. This joyous musical event will also serve as a dedication of GAAR's future work to its beloved Chair of the last decade, Dr. James Sowles, a visionary who led with his heart. The Gala will also recognize John Treat, for his twenty years of service as the NY Chair on GAAR's board, and all the other truly magnificent artists who have passed and been part of GAAR: Bruce Buckley (The Fantastics), Henry King, (Peter Pan and The Seagull), Marion Stegner (The Three Sisters), Porter Perham (Golden Boy), Anne Harbison (Peter Pan, You Can't Take It With You), and GAAR/The Mirror supporters and friends, the late Francey Hays and Ambassador Alan Lukens.

THE BELLE OF AMHERST (August 8 - 11) performing at the Unadilla Festival Theatre (501 Blachly Road in Marshfield, VT) is a humorous and lyrical play by William Luce, crafted from diary entries, letters, and poems by Emily Dickinson. It is a spellbinding and personal look at the life of one of America's greatest poets, a vision that is ultimately touching and uplifting.The production stars GAAR/The Mirror's Artist in Residence and Tony-nominee Marla Schaffel, and is directed by GAAR/The Mirror's Artistic Director Sabra Jones.

Greensboro Arts Alliance and Residency (GAAR) summer season 2019, will conclude with a reading of the new playCREATION, about Albert Einstein, by S.E. Endicott at Hardwick Townhouse (29 Church Street) in Hardwick, VT on August 13. This thrilling encounter in January 1941 between Einstein and the controversial natural scientist Wilhelm Reich, will be followed afterwards by a panel discussion led by physicist Dr. Paul Carr. During their first meeting in Princeton, after hearing Dr. Reich's presentation, Einstein is quoted as saying "If what you say is true, this is a bombshell!" Their involvement lasted several years, ending immediately before Dr. Einstein announced in the New York Times that he was "close" to finding the "unified field theory." The play covers why Einstein never found it, and why Wilhelm Reich had it all along.

Sabra Jones (Producing Artistic Director & Founder) Under her artistic direction, Mirror's work has been nominated for a Tony, as well as numerous other awards, including Best Overall Excellence and Best Acting Ensemble (Outer Critics), as well as being recognized for an award-winning Arts & Education program (Brown and Williamson Award). As a the daughter-in-law of the late Lee Strasberg of Actors Studio fame, she taught at the Strasberg Institute at his request, co-wrote the Tisch School of the Arts Curricula for the Institute, and is on the roster at Pace University and Manhattanville College as well as teaching privately. As a producer, Sabra's credits include: Broadway, television (Artistic Consultant for WNET13 Master Works), and 172 other productions in New York, London, and regionally. As an actress, credits include: numerous Broadway ("Butterflies Are Free," "Six Degrees of Separation") and regional performances, as well as work at The Metropolitan Opera ("La Fille du Regiment," "Les Troyens"). A professional director, credits at G.A.A.R. include: "The Seagull," "The Three Sisters," "You Can't Take It With You," "Peter Pan," "The Fantasticks," The Miracle Worker, The Music Man," "The Sound of Music, "Hamlet," and "To Kill A Mockingbird." She is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and directed "The Children's Hour" in New York in 2012. Her work has garnered both a nomination for the prestigious Fichander Award and the Tony Award for her 1982 production of Alice in Wonderand, which gave Kate Burton her debut and became a 1982 WNET Great Perfornances Film, starring Kate, and her father Richard Burton, along with a bevy of other stars.

TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE (Assistant Director/MIRANDA) was a 2016 Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize from the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He is a master musician and a teacher of magical, ancient and modern sounds. Tiokasin performs worldwide and has been featured at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Apollo Theatre, and the United Nations, as well as at many universities and concert venues. Tiokasin is dedicated to bringing non-western education to Native and non-Native children and a Sundancer in the cosmology of the Lakota Nation.

Marla Schaffel was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the title role in the musical JANE EYRE on Broadway; she won the Best Actress award for her performance in 2001 from the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award. Also on Broadway she starred as Fantine in the original cast of LES MISERABLES, and appeared in TITANIC. As well, she played the title role in EVITA on national tour. She has been an artist-in-residence with GAAR/Mirror Rep since 2012.

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