The Belfast Maskers are thrilled to announce open auditions for the
children’s holiday musical, Bah Humbug!
Bill Francoeur’s musical is a wonderful adaptation of everyone’s favorite Christmas classic!
Auditions will be held at the
Basil Burwell Community Theater,
17 Court St in Belfast
Sunday, September 8th from 4 to 6pm &
Tuesday, September 10th from 6 to 8pm
Anyone interested in auditioning will be asked to sing a favorite show tune or Christmas Carol (performed without accompaniment) and will be given a brief reading. There are many roles for children of all ages including choral parts. The role of Ebenezer Scrooge should preferably be a teen or adult.
FMI, contact the director, Sasha Kutsy at info@belfastmaskers.com
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Stage Management Training
WHO: Anyone with stage manager experience or new and interested in learning how to stage manage is welcome to attend.
WHAT: Stage Management Group Meeting – co-hosted by Midcoast Actors’ Studio and Belfast Maskers
WHERE: Basil Burwell Community Theater, 17 Court St. Belfast
WHEN: THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
WHY: The goal is to discuss the basics of stage management, develop a list of duties/manual, and set up mentors as we fill stage manager roles in local community theater productions.
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Sponsor a Seat at the Bazz!
Play a vital role in the Basil Burwell Community Theater renovation. Please consider making a donation to the new Sponsor a Seat fundraiser. Follow the link for more information.
Follow this link to:
Sponsor a Seat at the Bazz!
Or email the information for your sponsorship plaque(s) to info@belfastmaskers.com
and enter your payment info HERE
https://belfastmaskers.com/sponsor-a-seat-at-the-bazz/
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THE RIDDLE OF YES BOOK LAUNCH
Author Carolyn Locke and flutist/dancer Maho Hisakawa will present a
collaborative reading and dance performance at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 6 at
the Basil Burwell Community Theater, 17 Court Street, Belfast, ME, to celebrate
the publication of Locke’s most recent poetry collection, The Riddle of Yes. A
donation of $10.00 is suggested, and books will be available for signing and
purchase.
ABOUT THE RIDDLE OF YES
In this book Carolyn Locke has taken a leap of faith, following startling images
and mysterious voices into the territory of beauty and loss, where all is not as it
seems. Sometimes quiet and meditative, sometimes unsettling and surreal, these
poems offer an unflinching look at the cycle of life and more than enough reasons
to celebrate it.
The poems in The Riddle of Yes by Carolyn Locke are not observations, thoughts or
reflections, they’re direct experience. Locke’s poetry has long been bringing
together the concrete and the imagined, the physical world and the world of spirit.
In this collection her poems achieve mastery, a seamless shape-shifting of
consciousness, another dimension of place where the fox, the great maple and the
woman who “wakes with a bird in her belly” all exist in the same tangible realm
with equal impact. This is magnificent work. —Barbaria Maria
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND PERFORMER
Carolyn Locke has previously published two poetry collections—Always This
Falling and The Place We Become—and the haibun Not One Thing: Following
Matsuo Basho’s Narrow Road to the Interior, which combines haiku, prose, and
original photographs in a meditative journal about her travels in Japan. Her poems
have appeared in numerous publications and the anthologies Take Heart: Poems
From Maine edited by Maine Poet Laureate Wes McNair and Poetry of Presence:
An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai and Ruby Wilson.
In addition, her poems have twice been cited in Maine Writers and Publishers
Alliance competitions and selected for the Poems from Here radio series with
Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum. She was a presenter at the Belfast Poetry
Festival in 2011 and 2014, and she was the featured poet in 2015 at the 9th Annual
Hugh Ogden Memorial Poetry Evening in Rangeley, Maine.
(See www.carolynlocke.com for more information)
Maho Hisakawa is a classical flutist and a lifelong student of dance. She has been
a student of Jimena Lasansky. Her current focus is on music as she pursues a B.M.
in flute performance. She founded Windfern Ensemble in 2016 and performs at
concerts, weddings, and receptions throughout the state. She loves learning from
watching people out in the world and observing the spaces in between. Having
developed a passion for dance later in her life, her learning is slow and gradual. “I
love this work that combines music and movement and demands focus, strength,
discipline, inspiration, and spirit. It’s a way for me to learn to move honestly and
from my heart, yet at the same time embody technique and what is beautiful to the
eye. It is also a way for me to accept and love the way I move and the way my
body is.” She lives in Camden with her husband and two daughters, age 14 and 9.
(See www.windfernensemble.com for more information)
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Exciting news!
June 13, 2019 — Meg Nickerson Named New Artistic Director for The Belfast Maskers
The Belfast Maskers are pleased to announce the appointment of Meg Nickerson as their new Artistic Director.
Meg studied and graduated from The University of Maine at Portland/Gorham in 1978. Shortly after moving to Belfast in 1982, Meg began looking for theater companies to work with. At that time, Belfast had no organized theater. Since Musical Theater was her first love, she began working with The Camden Civic Theater as an actor, director and member of the board of directors. In 1991, hearing of her education and experience, Meg was contacted by Diane Coller-Wilson and Basil Burwell to see if she might be willing to fill a last-minute role opening in “Antigone of the Andes” with the newly formed Belfast Maskers. Since that time, Meg has been actively involved in the theater community of Belfast. She has directed, acted, and held various tech roles for The Belfast Maskers (including serving on the board of directors), Northport Music Theater, Midcoast Actors’ Studio, and served as the stage director of Belfast Area High School for fourteen years.
“I am thrilled to be part of the revitalized Belfast Maskers,” Nickerson says. “In the early days of the Maskers company, I was fortunate enough to work with and learn from four amazing, talented Artistic Directors. It is my goal to connect the history of The Belfast Maskers with the development of new and exciting ideas and productions for 2020 and beyond.”
Anyone interested in working with The Belfast Maskers, or for questions/ideas for upcoming productions or workshops, please email Meg at: maskermeg@gmail.com
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Belfast Maskers 2019 Season
March– Profile – an original musical directed by Carlton Smith
May- One Acts and an Evening of Wine & Cheese
featuring The Vandal by Hamish Linklater- directed by Robin Jones
Seven Menus by David Ives – directed by Greg Marsanskis &
Present Slaughter by Jane Dewey & Don Starkey – directed by Chip Curry & Angela Domenichelli
July– The Secret Garden Musical original novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, script & lyrics by Marsha Norman, music by Lucy Simon – directed by Erik Perkins
July– Belfast Maskers New Vaudeville Revue Summer Camp
October– Dearly Departed – by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones directed by Meg Nickerson
December– Bah, Humbug book by Rebecca Ryland, Music by Bill Francoeur – children’s musical theater production directed by Sasha Kutsy
Belfast Maskers Community Theater Company
P.O. Box 541 – Belfast, Maine 04915
Phone: 207-619-3256
E-mail: info@belfastmaskers.com
