Playfully blending elements of dance, theater, storytelling and original live music, Lida Winfield Dance brings the innovative company work “IMAGINARY” to the Dance Theater in Middlebury College’s Mahaney Arts Center (MAC) on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. The work challenges how we understand ourselves, others and the world by sifting through facts, allegations and possibilities.
“These magnificent moments of absurdity and righteous silliness … left me thinking more cheerfully, more seriously, more wholly about the way we see the world we inhabit and the people we share it with,” says Bates Dance Festival.
The production brings together the creative capacities of five accomplished artists, many with Middlebury connections: dance faculty member Lida Winfield; music professor Matthew Evan Taylor, alumna Ellen Smith Ahern, Joseph Hall, and former Andrew W. Mellon Interdisciplinary Choreographer Maree ReMalia.
At a time when fearmongering about “the other” is at its peak, exploring our perceptions around identity is critical. IMAGINARY investigates our real and imagined perceptions of each other and the impact these impressions have. What do we have in common? How are we different from each other? How does imagination contribute to our fears?
Since IMAGINARY’s premiere in 2018, the original performance team has reconvened for residencies at Vermont Performance Lab and at Jacob’s Pillow, one of the oldest and most prestigious dance centers in the country. With a residency at Bates Dance Festival in July 2019, the team reworked parts of the piece and added composer Matthew Evan Taylor, who not only created original live music for the piece, but also became a fully moving member of the work.
Tickets are $22 for the general public; $16 for Middlebury College faculty, staff, alumni, and emeriti; $10 for youth; and $6 for Middlebury College students, and are on sale at 802-443-6433, or middlebury.edu/arts. The Mahaney Arts Center is located at 72 Porter Field Road in Middlebury, just off Route 30 south/S. Main Street. Free parking is available curbside on Route. 30 or in the MAC parking lot.

“WORKING” AT THT
Middlebury College Musical Theatre presents “Working” at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater on Thursday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. There will be additional performances on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book, “Working” paints a vivid portrait of the people the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason and the housewife, just to name a few. It’s about the hopes, dreams, joys and concerns of the average working American. The key is how people’s relationships to their work ultimately reveal key aspects of their humanity, regardless of the trappings of the job itself.
The show, set in contemporary America, contains timeless truths. “Working” allows the audience to get a rare glimpse of the actors and technicians, working to put on a show. This raw adaptation only enhances the realistic and relatable nature of the subject matter. Nominated for six Tony Awards, “Working” features songs by Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as favorites by Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia and James Taylor.
Middlebury College Musical Theater (MCMT) is a student organization at the college that aims to instill a love for storytelling through song and dance on campus. Students of all experience levels and backgrounds are welcome to participate in these musical events and become integrated in a tight-knit theatrical community. In addition to yearly productions at Town Hall Theater, MCMT hosts themed cabaret nights throughout the academic year.
Tickets are $10 adults, $6 students (plus fees) and may be purchased by calling 802-382-9222, via email at [email protected] or in person at the box office located at 68 South Pleasant Street in Middlebury, Monday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., or online at townhalltheater.org. The box office is also open one hour prior to performances.

“DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER” AT THT
Co-presented by Town Hall Theater and Opera Company of Middlebury, the MET’s Live in HD series continues with Richard Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” on Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m.
François Girard, whose revelatory 2013 take on Parsifal set the recent Met standard for Wagner stagings, now unveils a spellbinding new vision of the composer’s tale of a cursed sea captain doomed to sail the open ocean for eternity. With sweeping sets by John Macfarlane, Girard’s new production turns the Met stage into a rich, layered tableau reminiscent of a vast oil painting.
Valery Gergiev conducts a brilliant cast led by bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin as the Dutchman, with German soprano Anja Kampe making her anticipated Met debut as the devoted Senta, whose selfless love is what the Dutchman seeks. Bass Franz-Josef Selig is her father, Daland, and tenor Sergey Skorokhodov is her deserted former lover, Erik.
Sung in German, the run time is two hours and 29 minutes.
Tickets are $24 adults, $10 students (plus fees) and may be purchased by calling 802-382-9222, via email at [email protected] or in person at the box office located at 68 South Pleasant Street in Middlebury, Monday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., or online at townhalltheater.org.

ANGLER INSPIRATION EXHIBIT IN JACKSON GALLERY
A new exhibit, “Angler Inspiration,” by Courtney Allenson, opens at 5 p.m. with a reception on Friday, March 13, at the Jackson Gallery in Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater.
The Gallery presents paintings and wood-block prints by Allenson, a native Vermonter who has been exploring the worlds of art and nature since childhood. Her dynamic compositions are created as she works from photographs of fish landed by family and friends. She finds her greatest creative inspiration in memorializing great fishing memories. Allenson’s exhibit coincides with “The 2020 Fly Fishing Film Tour” coming to Town Hall Theater on Friday, April 10
The exhibit, which runs through Sunday, April 12, is free. Town Hall Theater is located at 68 South Pleasant Street in Middlebury. For more information, visit townhalltheater.org.

INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES
The 2019-2020 Hirschfield International Film Series continues on Saturday, March 14, at Middlebury College with the 2019 Spain/France/Luxembourg film “Fire Will Come,” directed by Oliver Laxe.
Amador Coro has been condemned for having provoked a fire. When he gets out of prison, nobody is waiting for him. He returns to his home town, a small village hidden in the mountains of rural Galicia, to live with his mother, Benedicta, and their three cows. Life goes by, following the rhythm of nature. Until one night when a fire starts to devastate the region.
The film, in Gallegan and Spanish with English subtitles, will be shown at 3 and again at 8 p.m. in Dana Auditorium on College Street (Route 125). It’s free. Some of the films in this series may be inappropriate for children.

MUSIC SERIES AT OCB
As part of the 2020 Music Series at Otter Creek Brewing, Lonnie Griffiths, hailing from Pennsylvania, will be performing on Friday, March 6, at 5 p.m., in OCB’s pub space. Otter Creek Pub Space is located at 793 Exchange Street in Middlebury. For more information call 802-388-0727.