MIDDLEBURY — The Night Fires are being lit once more. Performance dates are Friday-Sunday, Dec. 18-20, at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. Shows are at 8 p.m. on Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 4 p.m. on Sunday. Pre-show singing begins approximately 20 minutes before the show.
This year Theatre Group, Ltd., which has been performing pageant-like celebrations with music and dance at the time of the winter solstice for over 35 years, tells its version of an ancient and familiar tale.
With an original script by Night Fires creator, Marianne Lust, the production features traditional music from southern Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Norway, Sicily and rural France and Spain, as well as from such contemporary American composers as Isaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Suzanne Vega, Eric Clapton, Glen Campbell and Rachel Platten. Poems by Mary Oliver, William Blake, Jane Hirshfield and Rainer Maria Rilke are woven into the moving, magical and humorous text.
“Night Fires is one of the shows we always look forward to,” said Town Hall Theater Executive Director Douglas Anderson. “They bring an enormous amount of imagination and magic to Town Hall Theater. Night Fires is always unique and it’s always beautifully done.”
The deep dark nights of winter have always been a time for humans, animals and plants to sink deep, to surrender, to be renewed, “re-born.” Night Fires, always, is a celebration of such journeys.
“To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.” — Wendell Berry
Tickets are $25, $21 for seniors and $20 for students.
For further details and to buy tickets, visit www.townhalltheater.org.Tickets are also available at the THT Box Office: 802-382-9222, or in person Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m.