Category: arts

Tall tales welcome in Middlebury

Posted on May 31, 2012 |

• Middlebury
• arts
• events
• Featured
• storytelling

By John Flowers

MIDDLEBURY — Len Rowell well remembers the good ol’ days, when families or friends used to sit down and tell stories at the dinner table or around the proverbial potbellied stove at the local general store.

But the weaving of yarns, Rowell lamented, is fast fading from a society increasingly spoon-fed entertainment through televisions, computer monitors and even cell phones. Storytelling, especially for the younger generation, is now done in impersonal staccato through texts and tweets.

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Film documents a boys' rite of passage

Posted on May 10, 2012 |

• Middlebury
• arts
• Featured
• film

By Andrea Suozzo

MIDDLEBURY — Picture this: 12- and 13-year-old boys heading into the Catskill Mountains to tend a fire alone for 24 hours.

It might sound like a rite of passage from an earlier age, a challenge set for boys who might one day live on the animals they trapped or the edible plants they gathered.

This scene, though, takes place in August of 2009 and forms the central narrative of Peter Ferland’s documentary “Tending Fires,” which he will screen at Bridge School in Middlebury this Saturday at 7 p.m.

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Kindergarten class presents local legend

Posted on April 19, 2012 |

• Ferrisburgh
• arts
• education
• Featured
• Ferrisburgh Central School

By Andy Kirkaldy

FERRISBURGH — A part of the nation’s history — or at least a fanciful version of a local legend — will come to life at Ferrisburgh Central School on Friday morning.

At 10:30 a.m., the 17 members of kindergarten teacher Josh Brooks’ class will present their version of how American Commodore Thomas MacDonough outfoxed the British at the mouth of Otter Creek.

In the pupils’ short play, MacDonough receives help from, among others, a fictional farm boy, George Washington, and Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.

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Slideshow: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Posted on April 11, 2012 |

• Feature Article
• Multimedia
• arts
• MUMS
• play
• Town Hall Theater

By Trent Campbell

THE MIDDLEBURY UNION Middle School drama club will present their version of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at the Town Hall Theater on Wednesday, April 11 at 5:15 and 7:30 p.m. The cast is pictured here during a rehearsal at the school last week.

Independent photos/Trent Campbell

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