New Play @ Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center, 289 Main Street, Greenfield on Saturday, June 17 at 1 pm
Valley Playwright Mentoring (VPM) is a Piti Theatre program for teenagers where participants develop performances and podcasts based on stories from their lives with the goal of helping them and their community transform challenging experiences into art and resilience.
On Saturday June 17 at 1 pm a group of teens who have been rehearsing since November in Greenfield will present the culmination of their 2022 – 2023 season with a series of connected scenes that give a sense of what their lives at home and school are like from a typical 24 hour period in March, 2023. The performance will be followed by Q&A and a reception. There will also be a reading of new scenes from the online VPM group that will later become podcasts with full sound design. Scenes address topics like family conflict, The Willow Project (global warming), school shootings, bullying and the comedy of everyday life at home and school. Admission is free. Reservations recommended at ptco.org/vpm. The performance is geared for ages 13+ given some mature themes. A Day in Our Lives is co-directed by Piti Theatre Artistic Director Jonathan Mirin, Teaching Artist Laura Josephs and the ensemble. Mirin says “One day the majority of the group came to rehearsal after there had been a lock down at their high school following a fake school shooting threat. Talking about what had happened and the level of stress created by gun violence in American schools lead to their wanting to incorporate that experience into the show and eventually to the whole idea of 24 hours in their lives.”
VPM is also accepting registrations from new participants for October, 2023 for VPM troupes in Greenfield, Holyoke and Shelburne Falls. The program, which offers stipends to actor-playwrights who complete the six month mentorship, is made possible through the generous support of Mass Cultural Council’s YouthReach program, Community Foundation of Western MA, the Markham-Nathan Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and Swiss Harmony. VPM was inspired by Barrington Stage Company’s Playwright Mentoring Project.
About Piti Theatre Co.
Based in Shelburne Falls, MA and Les Ponts-de-Martel, Switzerland, Piti Theatre Company was founded in 2004 by American playwright/actor Jonathan Mirin and Swiss choreographer, dancer and visual artist Godeliève Richard. Piti (pronounced “pea-tea”) is an ancient Indian (Pali) word translatable as “joy” or “rapture.” Piti programming plants seeds joy, sustainability and justice and the troupe has launched their first capital campaign for the purchase and renovation of a barn and 17 acres in Charlemont with the goal of creating a center for arts and ecology.
