UMF to celebrate 150-year story with “Farmington Voices: Our Stories through Letters, Song and Performance,” May 1-2
FARMINGTON — In celebration of the rich heritage of individuals whose contributions over 150 years have made UMF the singular place it is today, the University of Maine at Farmington will present “Farmington Voices: Our Stories through Letters, Song and Performance.”
Performances take place at 7:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday, May 1 and 2, in the Performance Space in the Emery Community Arts Center on the UMF campus. A reception is held each night at 7 p.m., just prior to the performance. The event is free and open to the public.
“Farmington Voices” is written and directed by Jayne Decker, playwright, director and UMF faculty member; with musical composition by Philip Carlsen, composer, musician and UMF professor of music. This performative work brings to life the voices of students, faculty, staff and community families over the ages through their original letters and archived memories. Their true-life accounts, combined with Carlsen’s original musical score, weave together the story of UMF and capture its communal spirit.
“When the University was just beginning the planning stages for a festive 150-year celebration, I was asked to tell its unique story and bring their stories to life in a collaborative work with Phil Carlsen,” said Decker. “This has been a two-year process of research and conversations that involved reading archived letters and handling old memory books with white-gloved hands in Mantor Library. There is something so precious about being able to connect with people from UMF’s past by interacting with items from their daily lives.”
An award-winning playwright, Decker has directed numerous productions at UMF Alumni Theater. Her 2012 production of “Coyote on a Fence,” was awarded a Moss Hart Memorial Award by the New England Theatre Conference—New England’s oldest and largest regional theatre association. Her other directorial work includes George Brant’s “Elephant’s Graveyard,” “Oliver!” and other musicals, productions of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest” and more.
She has also presented workshop productions of many of her original plays including “Cracked Shells,” an original play by Decker about domestic violence that was commissioned by Franklin County Network’s Peace in Our Families and was featured again at the 2009 Maine Women’s Studies Conference.
Carlsen’s music has been performed by a variety of ensembles in Maine and around the country. Highlights include “Evening’s Sabres” for the Manhattan Marimba Quartet; “Maine Traveler’s Advisory” for the Kennedy Center; “A Dark Pine’s Hand” and “Rowing in Eden” for the Portland Symphony Orchestra; “The Garden” and “Night Thoughts” for the UMF chorus and “Holly and Ivy,” a full-length Christmas ballet written for the Bossov Ballet Theater.
At UMF, Carlsen has written works for the chorus and orchestra, incidental music and songs for Theatre UMF, “Proximity” for brass quintet for the inauguration of UMF president Foster in October and his annual automobile orchestra pieces.
“Farmington Voices” cast:
Ahnna-Balai Beane, UMF senior from Anson
Austin Hayes, UMF senior from Gorham
Richard Russell, UMF senior from Rumford
Cassidy Small, UMF senior from North Monmouth
Shelby Thibodeau, UMF junior from Sidney
Zachary Fowler, graduate of UMF class of 2013
Kelly Ellerbrook, Emery Community Arts Center assistant technical director, designed lights and sound for the production.
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