LUDLOW, Vt. – At the regular Tuesday luncheon meeting of the Ludlow Rotary Club, Susanna Gellert, executive artistic director of the Weston Theatre Group, outlined the group’s new season. She indicated that, with the addition of the Walker Farm Theatre, the offerings were greatly enhanced in both quality and number. The new season will open with the free Weston Young Company production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” based on the Peanuts’ comic strip by Charles Schulz with music, book, and lyrics by Clark Gesner. This production premieres outdoors at Walker Farm, and then travels to community partner venues across southern Vermont, from June 22 – July 9.
From June 28 – July 16, the group will feature “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” written by Alan Janes. The performance will transport the audience back to the 1950s, telling the story of Holly’s rise to fame, his struggles with the music industry, and his enduring legacy as one of the pioneers of rock and roll.
From July 12-30, the group will be performing the award-winning and critically acclaimed play exploring how the United States Constitution has shaped the country and its people, “What the Constitution Means to Me” by Heidi Schreck, starring Broadway veteran and Weston favorite Susan Haefner.
Aug. 3-20, “Singin’ in the Rain” takes to The Playhouse stage, featuring a screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Based on the “greatest movie musical of all time,” this joyous show recreates the glamour of 1920s Hollywood, when silent films gave way to “talkies,” and the electrifying 20th century was on the move.
Aug. 16 – Sept. 3 will feature “The Porch on Windy Hill,” “a new play with old music,” written by Sherry Stregack Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse, and David M. Lutken. Through gloriously authentic old time and bluegrass music, this new, uplifting musical tells the contemporary story of a family reuniting against great odds.
Oct. 4-22, season 87 closes in the fall at Walker Farm with an acclaimed drama where jazz often speaks louder than words, “Let There Be Love” by Kwame Kwei-Armah. Gruff, grumpy, and tired of growing old, Arthur is an immigrant to Britain who has shut himself off from his family even as he longs for his childhood home in the West Indies. When his headstrong daughter hires an idealistic, young Polish caregiver to look after him, Arthur finds himself reckoning with his past and awakening to a new sense of hope and love.