AUTUMN PORTRAITS, WALDEN, and More Featured in Pontine Theatre's 2012-13 Season

Pontine Theatre announces its 35th performance season at the West End Studio Theatre in Portsmouth NH. Two things unite the wide range of work presented in Pontine Theatre's annual performance series: all use expression through movement as a primary dramatic vehicle and all are original works or adaptations created by the artists who perform them. This season the series features five productions: two by Pontine and three by invited guest artists. Pontine's West End Studio Theatre is located at 959 Islington Street in Portsmouth, NH. Performances are Fridays & Saturdays at 4pm & at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Season subscriptions are $90 ($10 discount for students & seniors). Single tickets are $24 ($3 discount for students & seniors) and may be purchased online at www.pontine.org. For information contact: info@pontine.org or 603-436-6660.

November 2 - 4 • Kristina Wong • GOING GREEN THE WONG WAY
Performance artist Kristina Wong- a solo performer, writer, actor, and educator, born and raised in San Francisco-over-shares (a lot) in her latest one-woman show. We learn things about her personal eco-life choices and hygiene habits that aren't fit for dinner conversation. And we're perfectly fine with it all, because GO- ING GREEN THE WONG WAY is a hysterical romp through green living and political incorrectness. The East Bay Express describes Wong as "brutal but hilarious... a woman who takes life's absurdities very seriously." Accommodations provided by Sheraton Harborside Portsmouth.

December 14 - 16 • Pontine Theatre • IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Pontine Theatre's Co-Artistic Directors, Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers, bring back their unique, table-top, ver- sion of the perennial holiday favorite-an inventive blend of live actors, wooden pup- pets, paper masks and holiday music-sure to get everyone in the spirit of the season. The program also features live holiday music and, of course, cookies and eggnog for all!

February 8 - 10 • Eric Bass / Sandglass Theater • AUTUMN PORTRAITS
Sandglass Theater, of Putney VT, is an internationally known theater company specializing in combining puppets with music, actors and visual imagery. AUTUMN PORTRAITS is a compelling solo puppet-and-mask performance, a series of five interlocking vignettes, each explor- ing one puppet char- acter and its interplay with its manipulator, who might appear as a masked figure, or sim- ply a voice from the sky. Eric Bass' handcrafted rod puppets are char- acters in the "autumn" of their existence who act out their stories in precise and evocative gestures as they meet their pasts, their selves, their deaths. Accommodations provided by Sise Inn.

March 8 - 10 • Bill George / Touchstone Theatre • WALDEN
William George- Founder of Touchstone Theatre in Bethle- hem, PA-performs an exquisite adaptation of Henry David Thoreau's classic, "Walden," featuring Thoreau's text mounted in a frame of ges- tural simplicity and direct address. It is the story of an innocent soul, troubled by his times, who retreats to the woods to understand the full meaning and test the validity of the many as- sumptions about living that society takes for granted. Learning through many adventures and natural encounters, Henry David Thoreau slowly comes to understand the ultimate frustration and joy of his quest. Accommodations provided by Port Inn.

April 26 - 28 • Pontine Theatre • The Common HEART
Pontine's Artistic Directors, Mar- guerite Mathews and Greg Gath- ers, premiere an original work ex- ploring the literature, philosophy and legacy of the American Tran- scendental Movement. Drawing on works by Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, and other denizens of Concord MA during the great spiritual awakening of the 1830's and '40's, The Common HEART evokes an enlightened era when New Englanders sought to throw off their Puritan roots in favor of a closer, more personal communion with the divine essence of the natural world. Additional performances through May 12.

Caption -- Co-Directors, Greg Gathers & Marguerite Mathews, announce Pontine Theatre's 35th Performance Season
Photo: Andrew Edgar

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