Portmanteau tours New England
In our travels we will be workshopping our next show, Overseers.
Our Schedule:
June 2: depart Philly and roll into NELP (near Portland, Maine)
June 3: teach class and performances at NELP
June 4: drive to Burlington, Vermont
June 5 and 6: performances at North End Studios
June 7: travel to the Dragon’s Egg (Ledyard, Connecticut near Stonington)
June 8: performance at the Egg
June 9: return to Philly
The trip north included eating at the AMAZING restaurant called the Friendly Toast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The art in the place was fantastically spattered throughout and the city smells of sea air. Maine is beautiful. Our first stop is NELP (New England Literature Program)
NELP lives at Camp Wohelo on Sebago Lake in Maine. About a half an hour from Portland. The mechanicians are going to be performing and teaching while here, however there is one major catch… NELP does not allow cell phones, laptops, electronic devices of any kind, etc. What does this mean for us??? We will be disappearing into the wilderness for 2 days and Portmanteau goes unplugged.We use an ipod and speaker to play music throughout the performance. A NELP student is learning a classical song on piano to play for us during the show. It will be different, but an exciting change as well.
Two gorgeous days on Lake Sebago. The food was delicious made by the friendly NELP staff and students. The mechanicians taught a class to about 20 students, which, in the end, they created their own experimental performance. Performed, shared stories, and explored. Jumped in the lake (for some of us several times). It was freezing water!
The we drove to Burlington, Vermont. Ate an amazing dinner at Becky’s aunt’s house. Stuffed ourselves. Then peformed at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts. We were originally scheduled to perform in this really nice, but small dance classroom, at the last minute before our first performance we asked if we could actually perform in the lobby of the venue. It worked great and the cool architecture of the lobby were awesome to work off of during the performances. What a delight to meet so many Vermont friends.
Last stop was at the Dragon’s Egg near Stonington, CT. It was an amazing octagonal space with three levels, and a giant swing! There we were able to sleep, continue workshopping Overseers, and perform Portmanteau.