History
In 1994, Vermont Stage Company became the first professional Equity theatre company in Burlington in nearly a decade. Since its modest beginnings as an itinerant company performing in whatever space was available, Vermont Stage has become an integral part of Northern Vermont’s cultural scene, presenting a full season of professional productions to over 7,000 residents of Chittenden County Annually.
A few highlights
1994
Vermont Stage’s Inaugural Production - Founding Artistic Director Blake Robison produces The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Performed at Champlain College's Hauke Auditorium.
1995
Dana Yeaton and VT Stage initiates Vermont Stage Young Playwrights Project.
1996
VT Stage becomes Resident Theatre Company at UVM.
Brought Shakespeare back to the Royall Tyler Theatre with Much Ado About Nothing (Bessie Award Winner for Best Play*) and Othello.
Mark Nash joins company as actor and teacher.
1997
VT Stage produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream at UVM and Amadeus on Flynn Main Stage with Vermont Mozart Festival.
1998
Mad River Rising was staged at UVM (winner of Bessie Award for Best Play* and Moss Hart Award for Best Professional Production in New England).
Produced The Tempest with Burlington’s Taiko Drummers and The Last Station.
1999
Mad River Rising performs statewide as part of VSC’s Barnstorming Tour.
2000-2001
Vermont Stage opens FlynnSpace with the world premiere of Midwives (winner of Bessie Award for Best Play*).
Mark Nash was hired as Producing Artistic Director
VT Stage becomes the resident professional theatre at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.
Season included:
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, adapted by Dana Yeaton
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Piano Stories by Ethan Bowen and Larry Hamberlin
Shakespeare’s R&J by Joe Calarco
2001-2002
Season included:
Vermont Fiction Live
Art by Yasmina Resa
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (starring Willem Lange)
The Big Random by Dana Yeaton
2002-2003
Season included:
Sylvia by A.R. Gurney
Betrayal by Harold Pinter
O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music by Patrick Ball and Peter Glazer
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, adapted fo by Christopher Sergel
2003-2004
Season included:
Vermont Fiction Live 2
Proof by David Auburn
Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Burgess Clark
Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
2004-2005
Season included:
The Complete History of America (abridged) by Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor
The Accidental Activist by Kathryn Blume
The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey
Vanya/ Vermont by Kathryn Blume and Jason Jacobs
Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek
2005-2006
1st ever Winter Tales was conceived by Mark Nash, a Vermont tradition was born
Season included:
The Foreigner by Larry Shue
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
Copenhagen by Michael Frayn
The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris by Eric Blau, Mort Shuman, and Jacques Brel
2006-2007
Season included:
True West by Sam Shepard
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
Woody Guthrie’s American Song by Peter Glazer
The Boycott by Kathryn Blume
I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
2007-2008
Season included:
Inspecting Carol by Daniel Sullivan
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley
Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg
King Lear by William Shakespeare
2008-2009
Season included:
Well by Lisa Kron
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda by Sonja Linden
Looking Over the President's Shoulder by James Still
Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas
2009-2010
Season included:
Woody Guthrie's American Song by Peter Glazer, remounted at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury
The Complete History of Vermont Stage (abridged) by Mark Nash
Opus by Michael Hollinger
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
Souvenir by Stephen Temperley
Shipwrecked! by Donald Margulies
My Ohio by Dana Yeaton and Andy Mitton
2010-2011
Season included:
The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist by Neil Bartlett
Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger
Sylvia by A.R. Gurney
Mark Nash retires after 11 years as Producing Artistic Director
2011-12
Cristina Alicea was hired as Producing Artistic Director
Season includes:
Photograph 51 by Anna Zeigler
Winter Tales conceived by Mark Nash
The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl
Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
* The Bessie Awards were presented every other year by Burlington City Arts in recognition of Excellence in Theatre and Film. Vermont Stage Company is the only theatre company in Vermont to have won three Bessie Awards for Best Play.