GreenStage Guilford Live Arts’ Summer of Fun: More than Two Dozen Events in July and August

GreenStage Guilford Live Arts’ 2025 “Summer of Fun” kicks off soon, with some two dozen performances and other events in music, dance, drama, spoken word and visual art between early July and mid-August. GreenStage’s fifth biennial season will feature 15 events in music, four in drama, three in dance, two in spoken word and one in visual art. Two performances are premieres of new work; eight events are educational workshops and/or invite audience participation.

The fun begins on Friday, July 11, with a performance by Brooklyn-based theater artist

Martin Dockery, who’ll be in Guilford on a tour of North American Fringe festivals. It continues on July 26 with Wings ‘n Strings, Guilford’s inaugural Country & Bluegrass Festival, produced in collaboration with Guilford Parks & Recreation and the Community Dining Room. Festival week runs August 10-17, with 23 events including first-time collaborations with Branford’s Legacy Theatre and Clinton’s Shoreline Theater Academy/Kidz Konnection. Nearly all events are free.

Central to the festival is the premiere of three new works in music and drama, including a

play created and performed by teens. With a commitment to diversity in artistic genre and race, culture, age, ability, gender and gender identity, GreenStage will present programs in Afro-Brazilian, Arabic, big band, brass band, blues, Celtic, classical, indie folk, jazz and West African music; musical theatre; Brazilian Capoeira, Ghanaian drumming and dance, Argentine Tango, mask theater and community singing; plus poetry and a children’s author reading.

Events will take place on two stages on the Guilford Green, at the Arthur Murray Dance Center, First Congregational Church and The Legacy Theatre.

Three New Works

Two recipients of GreenStage Artists’ Awards—which commission new works by Connecticut

artists for premiere at the festival—will present new pieces in music and drama. Pianist and composer Jen Allen of Bloomfield will perform “One,” a multi-movement composition for jazz sextet and projected imagery; and playwright Laura Thoma of Guilford will present “Letter to My Soul,” a new play about two queer women and their relationship across time and space. We'll also be giving "Escape the Noise," a play written and performed by teens, its North American premiere. Created by the advanced playwriting class at Shoreline Theater Academy, the play explores critical issues facing today’s young adults. It will have its world premiere the previous week at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

15 Music Events

Other musical artists include pianist, trumpet player and five-time-Grammy-winning

composer Jeff Beal ("House of Cards" and others), performing duets with his bassist son Henry; Nebulous Quartet, a groundbreaking string ensemble with members from Brazil, Haiti, Guyana and Taiwan; Jordan TW Trio, a Celtic fiddle band from Northern New England; Batalá New York, an all-woman Afro-Brazilian drumming group from Brooklyn that will parade in downtown Guilford with giant puppets; Karim Nagi & Huzam, performing music of the Arab diaspora; Kotoko Brass, an eight-piece party band that mixes the joyous horns of New Orleans with music of the Caribbean and Ghanaian drumming; fingerpicking guitarist/singer Luke Molina; a trio led by songwriter Tom Mank and cellist Sera Smolen; indie folk duo Goodnight Moonshine; Legacy Theatre, presenting a special fifth-anniversary show; and Sean Nelson’s New London Big Band.

Drama Programs

In addition to the premiere of Thoma’s play, events in drama will include a mask theatre

performance by Sova Dance & Puppet Theatre with audience participation; readings and/or performances by Connecticut poets Mark McGuire-Schwartz, Pat Mottola and Kashawn Taylor; and children’s author Victoria Kann, who will read from her best-selling “Pinkalicious” books and facilitate craft-making for kids.

Workshops and Interactive Programs

All-ages workshops include capoeira movement, led by Capoeira Esperança; Ghanaian

drumming and dance, led by Kotoko Brass’ drummers; “Dancing with Life” (Tango Todo Terreno) a playful movement program led by tango instructor and clinical social worker Gerardo Sorkin; and community singing with singer-songwriter, actor and educator Anitra Brooks.

Thank You to Our Supporters

Support for GreenStage comes from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven,

Connecticut Humanities, the Connecticut Department of Economic Community Development’s Office of the Arts, Crest Automotive Group, The Guilford Foundation, Guilford Fund for Education, the Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, The Madison Foundation, NewAlliance Foundation, Palumbo’s Automotive, Performance Environmental Services, The Puffin Foundation, Riverside Financial Group, the Town of Guilford and generous individual donors. The festival is funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

For more information, email office@greenstageguilford.org or call (203) 654-9482.