Gossip: ACT ONE, Plains Massacre program, Neoteric Dance class and PMAC programs – Foster’s Daily Democrat

ACT ONE Festival looking for new home

ACT ONE has rented West End Studio Theatre for its summer-fall theater festival for 13 years running, first from Pontine Theatre, the initial primary resident, then from New Hampshire Theatre Project after it took over the entire space after Pontine’s departure. But things are about to change.

“Life changes when you least expect it, and now everything is going to be different,” ACT ONE Executive Director Stephanie Voss Nugent says. “NHTP has decided it doesn’t want to rent (WEST) anymore, so that leaves ACT ONE looking for a new home.”

Voss Nugent doesn’t know NHTP’s specific plans, only that it intends to expand its own performance and programming schedule.

The changes – for both organizations – are just the natural course of things. “I really do want to move forward with the new project. … So, the change is really mutual,” she says. “We want to and need to grow, and NHTP is growing and there’s just not enough room in that space.”

ACT ONE is already on the hunt for new locations, with an eye toward Rochester, Epping and other non-Portsmouth towns, Voss Nugent says. It’s also considering a return to its traveling theater roots, “Have show, will travel,” she says.

“We’ll be flexible, very flexible,” she says. “We’ll look for a place to run the festival and-or travel. Maybe we’ll do both.”

“The next installment of this could be very interesting, because another related theater project has been suggested to me,” she adds. “It would take a couple of years to develop, but it’s the most exciting thing that could have ever happened.”

Rochester would be a strong location were that one to come to fruition, Voss Nugent adds. “I feel that’s a city with a destiny, it wants to be a city. There’s only five or six in New Hampshire, all the others are towns.”

The new project would feature playwrights and be international. For now, those are the only details she’ll share.

“I’m thrilled – and terrified,” Voss Nugent says. “And that’s how we’re supposed to live our lives – awake.”

Pontine to present program on Plains Massacre

Pontine continues to grow since finding new homes, most recently taking over the 1845, Plains School, Portsmouth.

In honor of its new location, it will present “Plains Speaking: Portsmouth’s 1696 Massacre in Fact and Fiction,” a “one-off” series (www.pontine.org), co-founding director Marguerite Mathews says.

“Ever since moving in to the Plains, we’ve felt compelled to do the history on this little area,” Mathews says. “Right off from the schoolhouse is a plaque that commemorates a massacre in 1686.”

There are scant historical records, or proof of accuracy regarding the event. But, about the time Pontine moved into the Plains, the South Berwick, Maine, Counting House Museum mounted an exhibit, and lecture series on a massacre that occurred in South Berwick about the same time, which featured, among others, Lisa Brooks, Abenaki scholar, historian and professor of American Studies at Amherst College.

“We started talking to the curator of that exhibit and she assured me that the massacres that happened there had a connection (with the Plains massacre) … and others throughout the Piscataqua Region,” Mathews says. “… We’ve wanted to look at this one with a different eye.”

“Plains Speaking” will explore motivations and circumstances that fueled the conflict. It will feature Emerson Baker, historical archeologist and professor of history at Salem State University, and Brooks.

“Plains Speaking” is likely the first of a history series at the Plains. The location is also the sight of a meeting ground where enslaved African Americans of the Colonial era held their annual election for representatives who administered justice within their community. “So I think we have another ‘history on the Plain,'” she says. “There’s a lot of history.”

Neoteric Dance to present class at Teatotaller

There’s yet another effort by Neoteric Dance Collaborative Artistic Director Sarah Duclos to grow dance on the Seacoast – and beyond. This time Duclos is taking a virtual effort to real time.

“So, I am doing a collaboration with Teatotaller (restaurant, Somersworth) to start a weekly dance class called the ‘Wednesday Wake-up,’ starting Sept. 18 (running through Oct. 30),” Duclos says. “This is inspired by something I’m doing on Instagram, which in turn was inspired by an instructor I had at UNH, Sarah Marschner.”

Marschner arrived to her Theater 101 each morning with a boombox, and would instruct her students to stand, “and then she’d says ‘follow the Marschner,’ … and go into a crazy interpretive dance routine,” Duclos says. “I still remember the first one; it was to ‘Jump,’ by Van Halen. … I thought ‘Oh my gosh, who is this woman? … She definitely charmed scores of students.”

Over the years, Duclos continued with a warm-up based on “Follow the Marschner,” and recently took it live to Instagram, sharing the routine with people from all over the world.

Duclos approached Teatotaller about presenting at the venue, after local followers suggested she offer the equivalent in real time. (Info at www.neotericdance.org and www.teatotallerteahouse.com.)

“You don’t need any experience. The whole idea of it is to get people moving and give them the opportunity to experience dance in a way that is accessible and really, really fun.”

And, per usual, there’s another project in the works temporarily titled “Duets.”

This idea was sparked by Portsmouth Music and Arts Center’s Artistic Director Russ Grazier’s solo performances at the Players’ Ring. During them, Grazier noted what a rare pleasure it was to have the time and opportunity to perform solo.

“I walked away from that performance thinking about how many people in our arts’ community working full-time jobs, or have very demanding lives and aren’t able to carve out times for solo practices,” Duclos recalls. “I thought wouldn’t it be cool if I could curate a dance project that allowed people do that.”

“Solo” will pair a dancer or choreographer with an artist of another discipline. A Portsmouth location is set, the time TBA.

“This time around, I’ve invited a wealth of different artists,” Duclos says. “As collaborators, we have musicians, a playwright, theater director, some poets and a textile artist.”

PMAC expanding programs for all children

Speaking of PMAC, thanks to a grant from Jane’s Trust, the non-profit has teamed up with the Portsmouth City Library to offer an eight-week cartooning program at the library, with Tom Bonello, a PMAC instructor. The class will runThursdays, Sept. 12 to Oct. 31 (not restricted to Portsmouth students).

“The program is designed to happen right after middle schoolers’ day ends, so it’s ideal,” Grazier says. “Tom’s cartoon classes have always been very popular at PMAC.” (Registration is required at www.cityofportsmouth.com/library or call (603) 766-1740.)

More free off-site programs are planned. “Actually, we’re trying to do a whole bunch of stuff right now,” Grazier says. Thanks to the Jane’s Trust grant, the nonprofit can reach more kids “especially those that might not be able to afford the traditional classes,” he says.

“So, there’s a variety of free programming that’s happening at the Greenleaf Rec Center. We are going to do a uke class there for children living in … Portsmouth subsidized housing,” Grazier says. “It’s about creating access to art education for every child in the community.”

PMAC will present single-day art workshops at Greenleaf as well.

“The grant also funds scholarships for PMAC ensembles including the Sandpipers Children’s Chorus,” Grazier adds. “It’s a wonderful grant, and we’ve really been using it to let the entire community know that our programs are available to everyone, and to reduce the stigma for asking for tuition assistance.”

Jeanné McCartin keeps her eyes and ears open for gossip on the Seacoast and can be reached at [email protected].

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