Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Seeks to Raise $200,000 to Prevent Shutting Down Permanently

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Watertown-based New Repertory Theater needs an injection of money soon or will have to shut down permanently. The company, based at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, announced this week that it was suspending operations indefinitely, and unless the theater company can raise $200,000 over the next few months it will close permanently, Jo Trompet, chairman of New Rep’s board of directors, told the Boston Globe. Even before the pandemic, New Rep faced a budget deficit, which former-Artistic Director Michael Bobbitt said would take a number of years to make up. The COVID-19 restrictions meant the New Rep had to cancel about a season and a half of performances. The company also faces uncertainty about its primary performance space, the theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, which is undergoing upgrades.

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Suspending Operations Citing Pandemic, Uncertainty About Performance Space

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Watertown-based New Repertory Theatre announced it will be suspending operations beginning July 21. The company based at the Mosesian Center for the Arts had to cancel the end of its 2019-2020 season and its entire 2020-21 season. It has put on a pair of moving plays in outdoor locations around Watertown. 

“As with many cultural institutions, the COVID-19 pandemic led to fiscal challenges for the New Repertory Theatre,” said the statement from New Rep, which was published by the Newton Needham Regional Chamber. Along with the pandemic, New Rep faces uncertainty about its stage space. 

“Additionally, our performance venue, the Mosesian Center for the Arts, is undergoing renovations, which adds to the COVID-related uncertainty we are already experiencing regarding mounting in-person performances in the near future. With these challenges in mind, the Board of Directors of the New Repertory Theatre has made the decision to suspend operations until we determine next steps for the organization,” the announcement said. 

New Rep will be making more announcements in the near future, the announcement said. “We have informed the staff of this decision and the reasons for the suspension.

Entertainment

New Rep’s Newest Play Takes Audiences on Tour of the History of Local Indigenous People

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Jennifer KavanaughSipu, played by Maria Hendricks, addresses the audience during a performance of New Rep Theatre’s “Listen to Sipu.” Looking on is Emma the tour guide, played by Grace Wagner. New Repertory Theater has brought live theater back to Watertown with its second Historical Moving Play, Listen to Sipu. The production focuses on the Indigenous people who lived on land that is now Watertown, looking at both their past and present. Listen to Sipu features what New Rep calls Indigenous culture-keepers: actors Maria Hendricks (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Grace Wagner (Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah), script writer Morgan (Mwalim) J. Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag), and directed by Jaime Carrillo (Aymara).

Around Town

Watertown’s New Rep Receives Grant from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation

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The following announcement was provided by the Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation:

Rockland Trust’s affiliated charitable foundations have announced the recipients of their Racial Equity Grant Program, providing 45 local nonprofits with over $200,000 in grants to support activities that advance racial equity within their organizations and communities, including Watertown-based New Repertory Theatre. Over 80 percent of the funded projects were for internal/organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, such as Board, staff or volunteer training, policy reviews and audits. The remaining funds supported community-based DEI activities, or hybrid proposals that focused on both organizational and community-focused DEI work. “We were extremely impressed by the thoughtful nature of the applications we received,” said Edward H. Seksay, President and Chair of the Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and Rockland Trust-Blue Hills Charitable Foundation. “These grants exemplify our steadfast DEI commitment and our ongoing support of local nonprofits.

Around Town

New Rep’s Second Moving Play, Listen to Sipu, Focuses on Local Indigenous Woman

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The following piece was provided by New Rep Theatre:

New Repertory Theatre has partnered with the Pigsgusset Initiative, the Historical Society of Watertown and the Watertown Free Public Library to present Listen to Sipu, an outdoor immersive theatrical experience that leads audiences through a too often overlooked history of Watertown. The second play in the Watertown Historical Moving Play series, Listen to Sipu will kick off June 5th , and will focus on local Indigenous culture-keepers. This moving play will be led by actors Maria Hendricks (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Grace Wagner (Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah), featuring a script written by Morgan (Mwalim) J. Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag), and Director, Jaime Carrillo (Aymara). Tickets are $25/each, and will be on sale May 10th. More information about Listen to Sipu can be found at https://www.newrep.org/productions/listen-to-sipu/

About Listen to SIPU

Following the success of New Rep’s first Historical Moving Play, the Charles W. Lenox Experience, audiences were clamoring for more. Listen to Sipu answers the call with a captivating and powerful story that illuminates Watertown’s Indigenous history.

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Hosting Virtual Gala, Complimentary and Experience Tickets Available

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The following information came from New Repertory Theatre:

New Rep is thrilled to announce our 2021 gala:

“Technical Difficulties: A New Rep Gala ”

Our virtual gala will present electrifying performances, entertainment, and honorees with a digital twist, embracing the technological hiccups of the digital world with humor and joy. We’ll celebrate the resilience of our organization in an event that might not be free from glitches, but is guaranteed to be an evening of unforgettable fun. Virtual galas never feel quite the same as the real thing. We know this, you know this—there’s no use beating around the bush! Virtual galas never encompass the Gala experience….

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Names Award-Winning Director as Interim Leader

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The following information was provided by New Rep Theatre:

New Repertory Theatre is delighted to announce the appointment of the Boston-based and award-winning theatre producer and director M. Bevin O’Gara as its Interim Executive Artistic Director effective April 5, 2021. O’Gara succeeds Michael J. Bobbitt, who began his new role as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council on February 1, 2021. O’Gara will serve in this position for approximately 9-12 months, until the search for a permanent Artistic Director has been completed and a new leader is appointed. During her almost two-decade career in Boston, O’Gara has overseen numerous productions, workshops and readings. She has received numerous Elliot Norton Awards, both as a director for Tribes and Small Mouth Sounds, and as a producer for Our Town and Come Back Little Sheba, which were directed by MacArthur Genius Award recipient David Cromer.

Entertainment

New Rep Theatre Putting on Video Production of One-Woman Play, “Unveiled”

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The following announcement was provided by New Rep Theatre:

New Repertory Theatre presents a professional recording of Unveiled, a provocative one-woman show written, preformed, and recorded by Rohina Malik, to be shared digitally with New Rep audiences for a limited time only. Previously produced in cooperation with the Greater Boston Stage Company in New Rep’s Blackbox Theater in 2018, this beloved and important production can be viewed from the comfort and safety of your home between April 2-18, 2021. Tickets for this digital production will be on sale in mid-March. More information about Unveiled can be foundat https://www.newrep.org/productions/unveiled-digital/. “We are so thrilled to bring back the critically acclaimed New Rep favorite, Unveiled in arevived digital platform,” shares New Rep’s Communications Director, Jaclyn Dentino.