On Nov. 1st and 2nd, the Antrim-based Silentwoods Collective will present “Tavern Night: Come Party Like it’s 1769” at the Hancock Vestry.
Andrew Koutroubas, an Antrim resident and founder of Silentwoods Collective, said tickets are going fast.
“We think it is going to be amazing — we have incredible actors, we will have fantastic food, wonderful music, and we’ll have beer on tap from a New Hampshire brewery, ” Koutroubas said last week. “It’s music and acting and storytelling. We’ve never done anything like this before, and we’re really excited to see how it goes.”
Koutroubas, a graduate of Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School and the Juilliard School, formed Silentwoods Collective with a group of fellow Juilliard graduates who share a passion for historic instruments and early American music. The goal of the group is to bring Baroque and other early music to a wider audience, including in rural areas such as Antrim, Washington and Hillsborough.
“We’re antique instrument geeks, and we just love performing early music,” Kotroubas said.
The Silentwoods Collective made its local debut at the weekend-long, annual “History Alive” celebration in Hillsborough and Antrim in June, with well-attended performances –despite pouring rain — in the Antrim Town Hall and in Old Hillsborough Center.
Koutroubas has gathered local talent for Tavern Night. His aunt, Gail Koutroubas, an award-winning New Hampshire chef, will be cooking the meal in the kitchen at the historic Vestry. Beer on tap will be provided by Back Hill Brewery, a Rochester brewery with family connections in Antrim.
Nancy Knowles of Antrim, an actress, playwright and internationally known mezzo-soprano who performs with her husband, Frank Wallace, wrote the script for Tavern Night. Knowles also creates handmade masks and is hard at work making the masks for the performance.
“Nancy is an expert in commedia della’arte, a form of Renaissance comedy theater which was popular from the 16th century through the 18th century, so it fits with the type of music we perform and the era we are depicting,” Koutroubas said. “We’re adapting some of the stock scenes that were used in commedia della’arte for our show for a more Early American feeling.”
Jackie Davis, a theater artist, director and founder of Wilton’s Flying Gravity Circus, is the director of stagecraft for Tavern Night.
“We’re thrilled to have Jackie be a part of it — she is an incredible performer. It all kind of fits together,” Koutroubas said.
Koutroubas says the Silentwoods Collective has had success performing in venues where you might not expect to find classical music.
“We’ve been playing Baroque music in a pub in Washington Heights, and we play on their quietest night, Sunday night, and now it’s packed, and the owners love it,” Kotroubas said. “It’s sort of like a jazz show where people really get quiet and listen, and they applaud at different parts. There is a lot more interest in this type of music than people realize.”
Tavern Night will be performed twice, on Saturday night from 7 to 9 p.m., and on Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets are available at silentwoodscollective.org/events/list/.
Meetinghouse entry taking shape
There was great excitement in Greenfield last week when workers from Milestone Construction, contracted for the first phase of the Community Meetinghouse renovation project, began laying new granite steps in front of the building.
Previously, the Meetinghouse had a concrete slab with an accessible ramp on one side and steps on the other side. In recent years, the slab had cracked and was separating from the foundation.
The FGCM is hoping the first phase of construction will be complete before Fire and Ice on Dec. 6.
For information about the Friends of the Greenfield Community Meetinghouse, visit greenfieldmeetinghouse.org.