If you’ve yet to experience Playgroup, now is your chance!
Peterborough Players is bringing back the popular online workshop series this February, March, and April. The new series, which begins with popular company member Bridget Beirne presenting on musical theater on Feb. 12 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., gives patrons and artists alike the opportunity to learn and discuss the elements that comprise the theater they love.
Beirne will bring her infectious, near-obsessive passion for the musical stage to the first Playgroup of 2021. The two-session workshop begins on Feb. 12 with a careening, 30,000-foot overview of musical theater history, where Beirne will discuss the ins and outs of what makes a musical a musical, the various “types” of shows that have been seen over the past 150 years (give or take a few…), essential musical theater “slang,” and more. In the second session on Feb. 19, she’ll be joined by two guest artists including Pedro Ka’awaloa, an admired company member who lists the title role in the National Tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” among his credits. They will share performances, discuss song interpretation, and more.
In addition to years of musical performance experience in New York and around the country on everything from new musicals to jukebox tuners to enduring classics, Beirne studied the form at one of the premiere institutions for musical theater, The Boston Conservatory. In 2000, she became the first person to be awarded the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance.
All Playgroup workshops include two sessions. They take place online and are moderated by Associate Artistic Director Tom Frey. Session 1 of each workshop will be an overview and discussion of a theatrical topic. Session 2 of each workshop will be a deeper dive which may include actors performing scenes and interacting with expert and audience questions. Participants will be able to submit questions to the artists via chat during each session, and will have the opportunity to be on screen with the participants during a Q&A potion, if they’d like.
The second Playgroup of 2021 will feature two members of the Players’ design team discussing the magic behind certain elements of Theatrical Design on March 5 and 12, and a soon-to-be announced topic for the third Playgroup on March 26 and April 2.
Sessions are free, but registration is required, and space is limited. Those who would like to participate in these special events can email info@peterboroughplayers.org and indicate in the subject line which workshops they’d like to see. A reservation confirmation email will be received shortly after, and a second email with log-on instructions for the online sessions will follow a few days prior to the event in question.
For more of the Players’ digital offerings, visit their website, peterboroughplayers.org and look for Players Online, follow their social media channels, and be sure to sign up for eblasts.