Upcoming Events

Unbreak My Heart
February 5, 2016 7:00-9:00 pm
Free

This time of year finds us pondering such questions as “Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Does absence really make the heart grow fonder? And if I eat this roll of cookie dough, will it plug the holes in my broken heart or just clog my arteries?” Whether you’re preparing for a weekend getaway with your steady, thumbing through Tinder profiles, or guarding the cockles of your cold heart, you will find a story to love at the Athenaeum’s evening of romance themed live stories.

Told without notes, these stories come straight from the hearts and mouths of our performers. Refreshments will be served and there will be a chance to participate in the sharing if the spirit (of Cupid) moves you!

Quick Script: 72-Hour Playwriting Festival
Workshop, April 14-17
$50 Members; $65 non-members
Free Public Performance, Sunday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Ever write a play in 3 days? Come explore the craft of the playwright in a fun, interactive and 3- day intensive workshop. Experience the process of shaping characters, action, and conflict through development of your play in process with other writers, directors, and actors. This three day festival culminates in a public staged-reading of your work before a live audience.

Participants must be free on Thursday and Friday evening (April 14-15) after 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.  This experience is limited to 4 playwrights.  Actors will be recruited separately and the public is invited to experience the new plays on Sunday evening.

Peter Sampieri is a professional stage director, playwright, musician, puppeteer, and university professor. He has served as guest faculty artist at New York University, Brown University, Providence College, New England Conservatory, Huntington Theatre Company, Northwestern University, and The Brown/Trinity Consortium. His professional directing credits include the Off-Broadway world-premiere of On The Line at The Cherry Lane Theatre and The Three Same Guys at The Public Theatre, in NYC. His regional work includes Trinity Repertory Company, Portland Stage, and The Gamm Theatre, where his direction of Radio Free Emerson received an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Play in 2008. His original play Kafka in Tel Aviv was the recipient of three national awards from the Kennedy Center in 2014, and an O’Neill semi-finalist in 2015. He is a 2002 recipient of a Pell Award Scholarship for Artistic Excellence, and an Associate Professor of Theatre at Salem State University, where he loves teaching. 

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