There are two opportunities to see the musical Violet this year – at the Roundabout Theater Company production on Broadway starring Sutton Foster, or at The Skinner Barn in Waitsfield this summer starring Cotton Wright!
It is a well-known fact that public speaking is a dreaded and stress-inducing experience for most people. And yet, throughout your life, these skills are crucial to successfully advocating for yourself, your organization or your community.
For the 2nd time in three years, the Roundabout Theater Company in NYC is following the lead of The Skinner Barn – home to Waitsfield’s professional summer theater company!
The Skinner Barn is beautifully featured in the latest issue of Vermont Bride Magazine!
Over the past dozen+ years I've given tours of the barn and grounds in all kinds of weather conditions, but I think last night set a record for the coldest tour ever!
After more than a dozen year's faithful service by our 'old' web site, we have given a much-needed face lift to The Skinner Barn's online presence! Check out the new site and tell us what you think!
When my producing colleagues, Nick Corley and Jono Mainelli, and I decided to mount a production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood for the 2012 season, we knew we had quite a challenge ahead of us! Drood has a large cast, a number of set locations, dance numbers and to top it all off - about 35 possible different endings! The audience gets to choose how this unfinished Charles Dickens novel ends and the cast has to learn all the possible combinations of chosen villain and story outcome! And all of this had to happen on our tiny, postage- stamp, Skinner Barn stage!
As is usual for a production with a large cast, we knew we had to anchor several of the key roles with capable professionals who could carry the show. One of these key roles is the character John Jasper and we immediately knew that NYC actor, James Sasser, (our Count the season before in A Little Night Music), was our man. Fortunately, James was available and willing to tackle the role and, of course, he looked forward to escaping the NYC summer heat to spend six weeks in Vermont.
The musical uses the device of a story within a story: a touring theater troupe, the Theater Royale Music Hall Company, have endeavored to put on the first ever musical production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The real-life actors get to play both the actors of this second-rate touring troupe and the characters in the Dickens story. Fun. And confusing! And, challenging!
I got to take on the role of The Chairman, who acts as MC for the evening as well as playing the part of Mayor Sapsea in the Dickens story. This character never stops talking! What a perfect role for me!