In 2007, David Lindsay-Abaire won the Pulitzer Prize for his drama Rabbit Hole, presented last season at the Actors Theatre Playhouse as a staged reading. This season, the playhouse presents his first play Fuddy Meers as a main stage production with performances Thursdays thru Saturdays for four weeks beginning July 22.
Fuddy Meers debuted in 1999 at New York's Manhattan Theatre Club to rave reviews. After its run in New York, the play went on to become a favorite at regional and community theaters around the nation and professional productions around the globe.
It is a comic and often head-spinning play peopled with bizarre but likeable characters. There is Claire, the woman at the center of the play who suffers from psychogenic amnesia, which means she wakes up every morning not knowing who she is or what has happened in the past. Her husband Richard appears to be patient and loving but is he? Their son Kenny, angry and sullen, smokes pot and talks trash to his parents. Then there is the strange man with a limp, a lisp and a facial deformity, a mother whose speech is garbled from a stroke, a faux policewoman, and an escaped convict with an alter-ego hand puppet. No wonder Claire is confused!
Fuddy Meers gets its title from Gertie's attempt to say “funny mirrors,” the kind you find in a funhouse that distort reality and are oddly disturbing, much like the unlikely assortment of quirky, but likeable, people in this play. They get confused, they use bad language (parents are strongly cautioned), they lose their way, they don't always understand each other, they strive to love and be loved; in other words, for all their enigma and drama, they are a lot like the rest of us. For that reason alone,...
The Brattleboro 9-10-year-old Little League All-Star baseball team clinched the District 2 Tournament on Sunday with a 4-2 win over Connecticut Valley South. Brattleboro now advances to the state tournament, which starts on Thursday in St. Albans. Dan Petrie went five innings for the victory to get the win,
Although they have never collaborated on a published work, Laura Stevenson and her husband F.D. Reeve are longtime writers who “read each others' manuscripts” and work separately on their respective projects. After writing several novels and short stories for children - she began writing stories for her own children...
Because it takes more than food to nourish kids' minds, the Children's Literacy Foundation has donated several cartons of books to Our Place Drop-in Center to be given to children when they visit the food shelf with their parents. CLiF's donation of 250 books to Our Place is part of a new project this year to provide brand new children's books free to food shelves in Vermont and New Hampshire, according to Joanne Heidkamp, special projects coordinator for CLiF. “We've...
As the bumper sticker ruefully says, “Moonlight in Vermont - or starve.” It's hard to put a price tag on a quality of life, but it's easy to put one on rent, food, heat and gas. As Brattleboro struggles to redefine itself as an “arts economy,” the many artists living here are working hard to keep their personal art economies afloat. Their strategies for survival are as unique as the artists themselves. Moonlighting is one tried-and-true method, and in Windham...
“There's a misperception that lower-income people don't care about local food,” said Jesse Kayan, farmer and community service coordinator at the Westgate Housing Community. “But they just can't access it. I've learned everybody in this community understands [local food's] importance and value.” At the Elliot Street Market Basket, which started on June 22, lower-income consumers often bypassed by the local and organic food movement connect with local farmers and produce. Until Sept. 28, farmers from Hearts Bend Farm in Newfane,
Representatives from seven organizations voiced concerns about the safety and future of Vermont Yankee to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko in a public forum July 14. Speakers representing the Citizens Awareness Network, Safe & Green Campaign, the New England Coalition, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, Nuclear Free Vermont by 2012, and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group had five minutes each to voice their concerns. Their comments overlapped on issues of Entergy's poor track record...
It's not a done deal yet, but WOOL-FM is poised to move to a new spot on the radio dial. Gary Smith, WOOL-FM board member, confirmed that the low-power, nonprofit radio station is a selectee - pending final approval from the Federal Communications Commission - for a NEC (new construction) permit for the station's new digs at 91.5 FM. The new license will give WOOL-FM a broader reach up and down the Connecticut River Valley, but exactly how broad is...
The United States, with just 5 percent of the world's population, has about 25 percent of the world's prisoners. With about 2.3 million people behind bars, our nation incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. About 1 out of every 31 American adults is either in prison, jail or on supervised release - the flip side to “zero tolerance,” mandatory sentencing laws and “get tough” policies on crime. And all this costs us, as a nation, about...
PAX, the Program of Academic Exchange, is seeking families interested who can host two exchange students who will be attending Brattleboro Union High School starting next month. This experience offers a great opportunity to learn firsthand about another culture and to share one's life with a student who is eager to discover life in America. Hinrike, a 17-year old girl from Germany, has been studying martial arts since she was 5. She loves to ride horses and also plays trumpet...
Monday was the deadline for all interested parties to submit petitions to Town Hall for the open three-year seat of former Selectboard member Robert Thomson, who resigned last month. Stefan Golec got his name in early, and is currently serving as a Bellows Falls Trustee. He said he's managed the two simultaneous seats in the past and felt he could again, when asked about holding a seat on both boards. “It's all about serving the public for me,” Golec said.
Given the overwhelming vote by the Vermont Senate to reject Vermont Yankee's continued operation after its license expires in 2012, it's confounding that you, Chairman, chose this moment to visit VY and offer this meeting. Why not last January when the ongoing leaks as well as Entergy's misrepresentations became apparent? I assume, Chairman, that you are not here to undermine this vote that expressed the will of the people of Vermont to pursue a state energy policy that does not...
French and American ties span several centuries, dating back to military and economic support the French gave American colonies as they struggled for independence from the British during the Revolutionary War. As the first American Ambassador to France, Ben Franklin brought an exchange of ideas in a time of a cultural renaissance fostered by the royal court in the years before the French Revolution. The twin growth of republican forms of governments in both countries in the late 18th century...
Even though the 93-year-old Green Mountain Camp for Girls has a Facebook page, kids say goodbye to such digital distractions when they enroll for summer camp - day or overnight, one week or several, up to six - at the sanctuary-like, 13-acre site in Dummerston. There's electricity, and there are showers (and an elegant pool), but you won't see any hand-held electronic devices - at least among the campers - or even old-fashioned devices you have to plug into the...
Work has barely begun, but there have been few complaints so far as the Main Street/Route 5 reconstruction project moves forward. One indication of this came on Monday morning, as only six people showed up at the River Garden for an informal information meeting on the project. Debra Spaulding, the public relations manager of Lane Construction Corp., said that with the bulk of the work being done at night, there have been few disruptions. “We've done the pavement milling on...
It's amazing how four words can change everything. Fourth of July was hot, and the parade organizers had planned for it with cool towels and reminders to wear hats. Clouds hovered at first, but then the sun beat down, and we all shared the heat and the sweat. The temperature reminded me a lot of the week in June 2008 when the town was living with another heat wave and school was about to let out. It was Friday night,
Vandals spray-painted racially charged graffiti on one of the piers of the West Dummerston Covered Bridge last week. According to the Vermont State Police, the graffiti - which was discovered on July 13 - included swastikas and racial epithets. A popular West River swimming hole lies not far from the bridge, offering easy access to its structure. “It's a pretty public place,” said Selectboard Chair Andrew McFarland, who reported the vandalism to the State Police after a citizen alerted staff...
The Public Oversight Panel, a group of nuclear experts that reports to the Vermont Legislature, has determined that Entergy Corporation's misstatements about underground pipes carrying radioactive waste at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant came out of a culture of communication failures that perpetuated inaccuracies. The panel issued a supplemental report on the reliability of the Vernon plant Tuesday and listed three main “concerns,” including “misleading information,” Entergy officials' unquestioning attitude about the maintenance and conditions at the plant and the...