Entertainment

Special Presentation of New Rep’s Historical Play During Indigenous Peoples Day Event

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The following information was provided by New Repertory Theatre:

A presentation of New Repertory Theatre’s play Listen to Sipu will be featured as part of Watertown’s first celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, October 10, 2022 at First Parish Watertown, 35 Church Street, Watertown, MA.  The free event, which runs from 2:00 to 5:00 PM, will also feature Indigenous speakers, Indigenous musicians, artists and vendors.   

Listen to Sipu isa Watertown historical moving play by Mwalim*7, (Morgan J. Peters, Mashpee Wampanoag), directed by Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Mvskoke), and featuring Maria Hendricks (Assonet & Mashpee Wampanoag), who is also one of New Rep’s Resident Artists. The presentation will be followed by a facilitated discussion about the interactions between the Indigenous people of the area and the colonial settlers who arrived in the 1630s. The play was first presented in Watertown in the summer of 2021 as a socially-distanced walking tour, in partnership with The Watertown Free Public Library, The Historical Society of Watertown and The Pigsgusset Initiative.   

This event is funded by a generous grant from the Watertown Community Foundation and donations from individuals. Members of the community-based Pigsgusset Initiative, a working group of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, are organizing the event in partnership with the New Repertory Theatre.  Supporters and sponsors include: First Parish Watertown, Watertown Boys and Girls Club, Watertown Community for Black Lives, WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT.  

Also, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day, acclaimed Wampanoag chef, Sherry Pocknett, has consulted with Chef Ivan Conill at Branch Line restaurant to offer some Indigenous food as part of Indigenous Food Week in Watertown from 9/30 to 10/10/22. 

The Pigsgusset Initiative seeks to increase communication and promote collaboration among Watertown residents to undo the erasure of Indigenous Peoples and to promote inclusive historical narratives. “Pigsgusset” represents the colonial settlers’ interpretation of the native name for the area that we now call Watertown.

Around Town

Watertown to Hold First Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration

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Jennifer KavanaughA performance of New Rep Theatre’s “Listen to Sipu” will be part of Watertown’s first Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration. Here Maria Hendricks portrays Sipu during a performance in 2021 at the Arsenal on the Charles. The following announcement was provided by the organizers of Watertown’s Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration:

Watertown’s first celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day will be held on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at First Parish Watertown, 35 Church St., Watertown. The free event will feature Indigenous speakers, a presentation of the New Repertory Theatre play Listen to Sipu, and Indigenous musicians, artists and vendors.  

Geri Barney, member of Navajo nation, will welcome participants with flute music followed by keynote speaker Elizabeth Solomon, representative of the Massachusett tribe.

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Presents New Dance/Theater Work & Funk Band

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RootsUprisingRootsUprising will perform “Reconsidering” at the New Rep Theatre. New Repertory Theatre (New Rep) is proud to present Reconsidering, a new dance/theater work, on Friday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday October 1 at 3:00 p.m., in the Black Box Theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown. Reconsidering, presented in partnership with RootsUprising and Theater for the People, is an embodied discussion of the intersectional experience of women of color through both their spatial and temporal circumstances. The evening of sharing includes six dancing texts from RootsUprising’s repertoire, including the premier of three new works, Entangled Gaze, So Noted and Rooted We Are. 

RootsUprising’s Artistic Director Nailah Randall-Bellinger describes her work as “text in motion.” She says: “Reconsidering is the process of dismantling fed beliefs, truths and distorted images of who we really are as women of color in an oppressive social construct.”

Founded in 1998, RootsUprising is an intergenerational motion art collective, composed of = dancers and wordsmiths, with its core ensemble comprised of six women of color.

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Taking Part in 2nd Annual Watertown Arts Market

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The following announcement was provided by New Rep Theatre:

New Repertory Theatre (New Rep) is proud to be a part of the Watertown Arts Market on Saturday, Aug. 13 from noon to 5 p.m. at Arsenal Park. This annual outdoor event features nearly 100 area artists and cultural organizations, with a variety of activities and food options. It is free and open to the public.  

New Rep’s booth will feature videos and photos of New Rep productions, information about upcoming shows, and will present short live performances at the bottom of every hour throughout the day. These will feature Fulani Haynes and Geraldine Barney, sharing a slice of the life-affirming, joyous performances for which New Rep is known, and a preview of coming attractions at New Rep this fall.  

Throughout the day, members of the New Rep board and artistic team will be on hand to answer questions and share information about the company’s relaunch and exciting upcoming programming at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. New Rep will be located at booth #45.  

For more information about New Repertory Theatre, please contact: mariabasescu@newrep.org or 802-380-7028. 

See What’s Happening at the 2022 Watertown Arts Market

New Repertory Theatre (New Rep) has been an award-winning professional theatre company for 38 years, staging productions and events that speak to the vital ideas of our time. New Rep is emerging from the pandemic with a renewed commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and accountability (IDEAA) infusing every aspect of the company’s work as it seeks to build community collaborations and give voice to the diverse stories and interests of those communities. 

More information on New Repertory Theatre at www.newrep.org. 

Entertainment

New Rep’s New Voices Theatre Festival Features 3 Original Plays

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The following information was provided by New Rep Theatre:

The first New Rep, New Voices Theatre Festival features three 20-minute plays that were selected out of over 150 plays during our March call for submissions. New Repertory Theatre presents the first New Rep, New Voices Theatre Festival, from May 21 through May 28 in the Black Box Theatre at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown. Tickets are $25 for Adults, $10 for Students and can be purchased at: https://secure.newrep.org/events

The Plays

AURORA by Ramón Esquivel

Featuring: Aliyah Harris & Lonnie Miller

The play takes place on an Autumn Night on the The Aurora Bridge in Seattle in 2010. Kai has come here to end their life, and Halen tries to stop the attempt. We learn that Halen committed suicide in the same spot two years earlier, and has reappeared to support Kai in this time of crisis. This play employs magical realism in an ultimately uplifting story about depression, grief, metaphysics, and the transcendent nature of love.

Around Town

New Rep Theatre Reemerges from Break, Returns to the Stage With a New Focus

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Nine months after going on hiatus, New Repertory Theatre will return to the stage with a show that is part of the new focus of the Watertown-based theater company. New Rep’s We Are Storytellers series begins at the Mosesian Center for the Arts on Saturday, April 23. The two-show festival features the stories of people who have not always had a chance to be seen and heard on stage. This is part of the strategy that New Rep has adopted as it makes its return after the break. The Hiatus

When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit in March 2020, New Rep could not put on performances inside the Mosesian Center, but continued with a pair of virtual plays in 2020, and an outdoor, historical walking play on the grounds of the Arsenal on the Charles in 2021.

Entertainment

New Rep is Back With Storytelling Festival in April

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The following information was provided by New Repertory Theatre:

New Rep announces a festival celebrating storytelling, in its various forms, that will take place in both the Black Box and Main Stage Theaters at the Mosesian Center for the Arts on the afternoon of Saturday, April 23rd. Featured musical artists for We Celebrate: Storytelling through Song, Music, and Sound include Geraldine Barney, a singer, songwriter and visual artist from the eastern part of the Navajo Nation, Northwest New Mexico, whose music was a central part of Listen to Sipu in 2021. She will be joined by jazz, gospel, and R&B local favorite Athene Wilson. They plan to unleash a performance indicative of their rich personal narratives that is not to be missed. Purchase your ticket for the 4:30 p.m. performance of We Celebrate: Storytelling through Song, Music, and Sound for $20, or pair it with a ticket to either the 2 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. performance of Solo Moments and save $5 OFF each ticket giving you two different shows for only $30. More artists to be announced soon!

Arts

Transformed Mosesian Center for the Arts to Reopen in November with Several Performances Scheduled in 2021

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Mosesian Center for the ArtsA rendering of the what the new lobby at the Mosesian Center for the Arts will look like after renovations are complete. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the Mosesian Center for the Arts will reopen after closing for the Pandemic with a brand new look which will transform the lobby space into a place where patrons can spread their wings. The arts center located in the Arsenal on the Charles is scheduled to reopen at the beginning of November, and more than a dozen events have been scheduled through the end of 2021, said MCA Executive Director Darren Farrington. Visitors will notice that the twin stairway with a platform in between has been removed. “The (old) lobby had a limited amount of space,” Farrington said.