By Paula Benson, Standard Correspondent
By contrast, on June 16, Barnarts will debut its delightfully ambitious production of the play at Feast & Field, an outdoor venue in Barnard, across from Fable Farm Orchard on Royalton Turnpike. It’s an appropriately unconventional approach for a ground-breaking play with performances staged outside in raw, unpredictable Vermont summer. Bring bug spray.
The play’s director, Christopher Pierce, called the open-air venue “an opportunity to be free from the technical necessities and devote more energy to unraveling relationships, building characterization, and playing with movement.”
Actor Nate Beyer (portraying characters Chater and Valentine) said, “Now that we are in the field, literally, surrounded by nature’s opulence, the show has begun to come alive.”
“Arcadia” explores the interweaving of physics, history, literature, psychology, lust, perspective, and Lord Byron. It is the tale of two interconnected stories, which take place two centuries apart, in the same room of a large country estate in Sidley Park, Derbyshire, England. In 1809, precocious 13-year-old Lady Thomasina Coverly presses her tutor Septimus Hodgein to explain “carnal embrace.” In the present day, writer Hannah Jarvis and literature professor Bernard Nightingale investigate the history of the estate and a possible scandal involving Lord Byron.
The quick-witted dialogue and switching back and forth between time periods make the play compelling and challenging. When asked about producing such a complicated production, BarnArts Executive Director Linda Treash said, “I have found over the years that there is a big advantage to picking plays that are ambitious. We may all have to work very hard, but the actors who show up are motivated and bring a quality of experience that often shocks me.”
Many in the cast are veterans of previous BarnArts productions. Dory Psomas, who portrays Lady Thomasina Coverly, appeared in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2021. Tapley Trudell (Jarvis), performed in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as well as “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” in 2022.
This is the second BarnArts production for Killian White (Lady Croom), after acting in “The Good Doctor” earlier this year. White noted, “‘Arcadia’ was every hip English or Theater major’s favorite play.”
Pierce remarked that he’d predicted the choice of “Arcadia” would “attract a passionate cast and crew. And so far, that has been true.” Pierce’s collaboration with BarnArts started in 2020, as set designer for the production of Checkov’s “The Seagull.”
Actor Kevin Donohue (Septimus) is making his debut with BarnArts. He feels the play is “beautiful and whirling, [and weaves] so deftly between fractal geometry, romantic poetry, landscape gardening, Latin literature, and marital infidelity.”
Nate Clifford (Captain Brice) and Beyer are also marking their first appearance on stage with BarnArts.
Additional cast members Laurie Marshall (Jellaby), Aaron Hodge (Nightingale), Larry Fuller (Richard Noakes), Erin Bennett (Chloe), and Nat Holland (Gus/Augustus) are returning BarnArts performers. Holland is a young actor who started with the troupe last summer, acting in “Seussical,” and can be seen as part of the cast of “Newsies,” coming in August.
Despite its name, BarnArts Center for the Arts, founded in 2012, does not operate out of a brick-and-mortar establishment, but rather utilizes a variety of community spaces, including the Barnard Town Hall, a community church, and the more remote Feast & Field location near Fable Farm.
BarnArts’ goal is to “stay open to creative ways to reach an ever-expanding audience.” Their slogan, “Building Community through Art,” is about “interacting with live music, theater, and art [to create] a special and rare form of community participation and an outlet for civic dialogue.”
Weather permitting, performances of “Arcadia” are scheduled on June 16, 17, 23, 24 at 7 p.m. and June 18, 25 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $15 for students. This run is part of a robust schedule of events and programs offered by BarnArts, including the Feast & Field Music Series, the Jazz & Funk Winter Music Carnival, and a summer youth theater program.
Visit barnarts.org for more information.
IF YOU GO
Arcadia
Feast & Field, Barnard
June 16-25
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students
Visit barnarts.org for more information