The Community Connector program was created in 2019 to encourage community dialogue around issues and themes explored in NHTP’s MainStage productions. The 2021-22 MainStage Season Community Connector sessions are available for viewing on the NHTP YouTube Channel with links below. 

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
COMMUNITY CONNECTOR: Picking Up the Pieces

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Panelists: Courtney Perkins, Executive Director, Prescott Park Arts Festival, Angel Simone, Life Coach & Pastor, Training Manager at Fed Point

In The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Edward's journey, his heart is broken and he feels as if he’ll “never be whole again.” When unexpected loss or trauma happens to individuals and communities, it sometimes feels as though we will never be able to heal and put ourselves back together. How do we find the resiliency to hope and love again? After 18-months of pandemic lockdown, how does a community begin to come together again? 

Picking Up the Pieces guest speakers include Courtney Perkins and Angel Simone. Courtney became the new Executive Director of Prescott Park Arts Festival just before COVID-19 began. She has had to rebuild the organization’s connection to the Portsmouth community while contending with pandemic restrictions and enormous financial losses. Angel Simone is a life coach, pastor and trainer, who has worked extensively with victims of human trafficking, helping them rebuild their lives after deep traumatic experiences.

Women Playing Hamlet

COMMUNITY CONNECTOR: Equity in the Workplace: Are We There Yet?

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Panelists: Stephanie Bramlett, Director of Equity & Inclusion, Phillips Exeter Academy, Joan Gile, President, Piscataqua Savings Bank, Crystal Paradis, Director of Strategic Communications & Community Engagement, NH Women’s Foundation

Women Playing Hamlet, ran at NHTP through in January-February 2022. The play is a sophisticated new comedy with four women playing multiple roles. The titular character Jessica faces a personal existential crisis when cast as the Prince of Denmark. Can a woman play one of the greatest male roles in Shakespeare? What other women have played the role and why don’t we remember their names? Under all the fun, this play asks the serious question of whether or not true equity is realizable in theatre - and in any contemporary workplace. As NHTP’s season theme asked: Are We There Yet?

The community discussion around Equity in the Workplace included three remarkable panelists who will shared their expertise, experience, ideas, hopes and dreams. Stephanie Bramlett, Ph.D, is the Director of Equity and Inclusion at Phillips Exeter Academy. Joan Gile is the President of Piscataqua Savings Bank. Crystal Paradis is Director of Strategic Communications and Community Engagement, NH Women’s Foundation.

Small Mouth Sounds

COMMUNITY CONNECTOR: Spirituality in a Secular World

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Panelists: Liz Korabek-Emerson, Mindfulness Trainer and member of Natural Dharma Fellowship, Bill Redfield, Wisdom Teacher and former parish minister, Robert Sapiro, Director of Community Outreach at Green Acre Baha'i Center of Learning.

What is Spirituality? How do different people think about, access, and use spirituality? were concepts discussed at this Community Connector event inspired by the unique new dramedy Small Mouth Sounds about six runaways from city life who embark on a silent retreat in the woods. Filled with insightful humor, this strange and compassionate new script asks how we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us. While satirizing the contemporary fad of seeking instant enlightenment from a hip retreat, the play also poignantly explores our desperate need to communicate with each other and human connection in a challenging, fragmented world.

An Inspector Calls

COMMUNITY CONNECTORS

Social Responsibility: Government, Businesses, Individuals
What Do We Owe Each Other?

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PANELISTS: Liz Torrance - Community Relations & Social Responsibility Manager, Kennebunk Savings Bank, Michelle Veasey - Executive Director, NH Businesses for Social Responsibility    FACILITATOR:Zachary Little - NHTP Board of Directors & Corporate Communications Administrator, Kennebunk Savings Bank

The 2021-22 MainStage season will concluded in May with An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley. A young girl commits suicide and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the death. An inspector calls to interrogate the family about their possible roles in her undoing. First performed in 1945, this play forces us to look at our individual and societal responsibilities to our fellow human beings. “We don’t live alone,” says the mysterious Inspector, “We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” In an era of instant global communication and connection, these issues seem even more important than they were 75 years ago.