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Sounds Around And in the darkest time of year ...
Night Fires
. I called it a celebration, but that's only somewhat accurate. If you've never caught a performance of Night Fires {and you should}, it's a wonder-filled blend of music & song, story & poetry, costume & dance, meant both to tell the tale of this darkness, but more, to nourish the soul with a light and warmth that can sustain us through the long winter that lies ahead. In this sense, Night Fires is as much a deeply-rooted ritual, steeped in ancient custom and belief, a marker in time to help us orient ourselves in the passage of the seasons.
Night Fires is in its eighteenth year now. And if this year's performance is like those of years past {and there's no reason to imagine it would not be; such continuity is one of the values of ritual}, then you are in for some magic. Night Fires draws, like Robert Resnick's show title, on 'all the traditions'. As their press release promises, there will be "African rhythms, ancient music from Scandinavia and Russia, traditional chants from native America and Australia, Appalachian tunes and Gospel hymns." And this year's performance also offers us not only the enchanting solo and choral voices of years past, but a symphony of instruments which, this year, includes "bells, chimes, harmonium, violin, didjeridu, African and middle-Eastern and Native American drums, bird song, guitar, cello, rainsticks, wood blocks and more." What more to say? ...
Beyond, or should I say 'behind' the performance lies an individual of both hard-nosed sensitivity and passionate commitment who understands the need for theatre like this. Her name is Marianne Lust, the director of Theatre Group, Ltd. And, having worked under her over the course of several years, I can tell you that what Night Fires is, it is in large measure because of her. Marianne brings to the production a vision of something which she manages to arc across to her performers, and not in heavy-handed ways. Rather, she has a deft touch and rough grace that allow a performer to find the character and the meaning in what one is doing, and to bring home both the audacity and responsibility required by performance. If I have not yet managed to impress upon you at least several compelling reasons for catching this year's performance of Night Fires, let me try one more time, and let me try to keep it simple ... You owe it to your soul. ... Lou
Colasanti
Night Fires Schedule
of Performances ...
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