Artists communicate in different forms. But whether the message is through visual or performing art, it always comes back to the essence of the human experience.
Two groups have been in residence for the past two weeks at the Vineyard Arts Project, working to highlight both the dark and exhilarating sides of the human experience. This weekend they go public with their work.
Since August 16 six newly graduated acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London along with playwrights David Simpatico and Saviana Stanescu, and director, Nona Sheppard, have been in residence at the Vineyard Arts Project, located at 215 Upper Main street in Edgartown. The company has been working on a selection of new plays and on Friday, August 26, and Sunday, August 28, both shows at 6 p.m., the results of their residency will be on display.
James Lapine (pictured) has won the Tony Award three times for the best book of a musical, for Into the Woods, Passion and Falsettos
From the streetfront, the Vineyard Arts Project appears to be another large house on Main street. There is no hint that past its picket fence is unfolding, in turn: life on the Texas-Mexico border; family drama at a racially-charged estate; and people singing and dancing about the financial crisis.
B allerinas dance with their feet, balancing on pointe shoes with their limbs elongated to expose the intricate workings of muscles, or leaping across stage, leaving only a slight noise on the floor. But this week at the Vineyard Arts Project, they were dancing with their hands. Wrists became entangled, thumbs circled other digits, and knuckles discovered unexplored crevices.
The folks responsible for the musical Witness Uganda were seated in a circle of folding chairs in a large mirrored Vineyard Arts Project studio Tuesday afternoon, taking a needed break from their rehearsal schedule to talk about the origins of their project. Writer and director team Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews offered tales of their travels to Africa, shared stories of the Ugandan university students around whom the script is based, and introduced two of their star actors, Leslie Odom Jr. and Nicolette Robinson.