BETHEL — The Mahoosuc Arts Council received a $2,700 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts to present a multimedia production from a Boston-based theater company, Executive Director Aranka Matolcsy said Monday afternoon.
Matolcsy said that the Mahoosuc Arts Council has been “extremely fortunate” to receive NEFA funding over the past six years.
“I’d say that this is our 19th or 20th grant that we’ve received from them,” Matolcsy said. “We keep hitting all of their mission objectives, especially in bringing high-quality arts programming to the K-12 community, and also providing access to adults.”
For the most recent grant, Matolcsy said that she applied with the New England Foundation for the Arts in an attempt to bring Boston-based theater company Liars and Believers to perform their multimedia production, “Icarus.”
“Every year, I go to this program with NEFA in Worcester called Idea Swap,” Matolcsy explained. “It’s an annual forum, where organizations related to performance art all meet and have an opportunity to network and see some live performances. ‘Icarus’ was a piece that I saw at Idea Swap, and after I saw them, I applied for the grant with them in mind.”
“Icarus” will be performed for the general public at 7 p.m. Monday, April 6, at Hebron Academy and at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at Gould Academy.
“The group agreed to do abbreviated, in-school performances for the students of Telstar High School and Gould Academy on April 8,” Matolcsy said. “Area homeschoolers are welcome to attend those performances.”
Matolcsy said in a news release that Liars and Believers’ “Icarus” production relies upon live musical theater, dance, masks and puppetry to tell its story, and features an original Americana score.
“I mean, this production has shadow puppetry, instruments, monologuing and so much more,” Matolcsy said. “I think this is going to excite the student base and give them plenty of things to latch onto.”
The last multimedia presentation that the Mahoosuc Arts Council held was at the beginning of January, with the screening of a film directed by Wiscasset composer and filmmaker Sumner McKane as part of the council’s Performing Arts Series.
“I think multimedia presentations really represent our current age, and give audiences all kinds of different ways to be interested,” Matolcsy said. “It’s sensory-rich and engages their minds in the process.”
Tickets to the show are $15 for adults, and free for students 18 and under.
For more information, call the Mahoosuc Arts Council at 824-3575.
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