Greenfield, MA – Silverthorne Theater presents a special production of Bright Half Life, by Tanya Barfield, with performances December 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11, 2021, at Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield, MA.
Tickets for Bright Half Life are on sale through Eventbrite and can be accessed through the theater website: silverthornetheater.org. Attendees should check the theater website for the latest information about Covid safety procedures for theater patrons. There will be audience discussions with the director and actors following selected performances, focusing on race and intersecting identities, and Time, Space and Memory in Bright Half Life. Check the Silverthorne website for dates.
Moving seamlessly from head-over-heels romance to marriage to children to skydiving and so many little intimacies in between, the two characters, Vicky and Erica, span decades in an instant and slowly, delightfully, allow us to know and love them. Bright Half Life is a joyful and complicated chronicle of a deeply committed lesbian relationship. “If these women, these maybe soul mates, could somehow suddenly see what the years will bring, would they still go out on that first date?” The New York Times.
This intimate and celebratory production is under the direction of Gina Kaufmann, who directed Silverthorne’s The Revolutionists in 2019. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a Professor of Theater (Acting and Directing) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a feminist who prioritizes social justice in her directing work and in her season planning. Throughout her thirty-year career as a director, almost every project Gina chose to work on was selected at least in part by her desire to wrestle with gender, gender hierarchies and revising form and expectations to open up our minds to new models of relating to one another.
Featured in this production are Kyle Boatwright in the role of Vicky, and Katie Mack, a member of the Actors Equity Association, as Erica. Boatwright is a Pioneer Valley-based musician, actor, coach, and creative collaborator. She was last seen on the Silverthorne stage in The Revolutionists (2019) and recently directed Smith College’s production of Stoop Pigeons. This will be Katie Mack’s first time working with Silverthorne, but Valley theater-goers will remember her performances at The Majestic in West Springfield. Ezekiel Baskin is stage manager and John Iverson will provide technical direction.
Playwright Tanya Barfield’s Bright Half Life ran Off-Broadway at the Women’s Project Theater in February 2015. The TheatreMania reviewer wrote: “The red-hot moments that shape the decades of their relationship burst like solar flares throughout the play.” It was a “Time Out” Critics’ Pick. Barfield is a recipient of the Lilly Award, the Helen Merrill Award, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her play Blue Door.
During the run of Bright Half Life, Silverthorne will host a photographic exhibit, Love Makes a Family, provided by Family Diversity Projects. They are a non-profit organization devoted to helping eliminate prejudice, stereotyping, bullying and harassment of people who are discriminated against due to sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, race, national origin, religion, and disabilities of all kinds. (https://www.familydiversityprojects.org/)
Bright Half Life is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Bright Half Life was developed during residency at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference in 2014; Preston Whiteway, Executive Director; Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director.
About Silverthorne Theater
Silverthorne Theater Company, resident professional theater at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) arts organization founded in 2014. Our mission is to present adventurous, thought-provoking theatrical experiences, including productions of classic, contemporary and new works for diverse audiences. Contact us at silverthornetheater@gmail.com or 413-768-7514.
