MIDDLEBURY — Theatre Group, Ltd’s annual winter solstice pageant or mystery play will this year, as in many performances past, be a song of celebration for the earth and all who live upon it. The performance will take place at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
With a winding tale held together by a spider who once was a woman and a man who is also a bear and then is a man once more, music and songs from all around the globe create a web of magic and wild mystery, of humor and pathos, within which the spoken words unfold.
Hymns to bees and sparrows, maple trees and women are danced as well as sung to music as diverse as traditional gospel, Latin American bachata, Bulgarian choral and contemporary waltzes from Finland.
Poems from the Inuit who live high in the Pacific Northwest and by the great Spanish poet Antonio Machado jump up in between the written text created by Marianne Lust and Deborah Lubar.
Love for this long tradition brings together a core group of dedicated and talented local performers with those who travel from California, Louisiana, Maine and New Mexico just to be a part of the joy of performing together in order to offer a gift to all who come to be a part of the audience. Pre-show singing begins approximately 20 minutes before the show.
Performances are Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 22, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Dec. 23, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 general admission, $21 seniors, $20 students — plus fees.
Tickets may be purchased at townhalltheater.org, by calling (802) 382-9222, at the THT box office Monday-Saturday, 12-5 p.m., or at the door an hour before show time.
A note about bringing young children: Everyone is welcome at Night Fires, and young ones frequently love it. Night Fires, however, is not a “kids’ show” and occasionally includes material considered to be somewhat “mature” in nature.