Michael Bielawski
Vermonters are discovering the new Haybarn Summer Theater Ensemble (HaSTE) at the Goddard Institute of Dramatic Arts in Plainfield this summer. The next performance is going to be “Hopscotch and Other Prayers,” which is performed solo by activist Patrisse Cullors.
Cullors is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and an activist against the U.S. prison system. The one person show will be on June 27 and 28.
The show’s official description reads “No stranger to the need for resilience, Artist & Abolitionist Patrisse Cullors knows that the way out of unsettling times is not only through, but WITH GATHER (for stories). IMAGINE (your prayers). PLAY (more Hopscotch).”
Kristina Lea and David Warshofsky, co-founders and co-directors of the Goddard Institute of Dramatic Arts, bring a combined six decades of professional experience to the project. In all they are bringing in over 20 artists from across the country this summer.
Warshofsky is a seasoned actor for both theater and cinema, as well as director of the MFA Acting Program at the USC School of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles.
The theater group just wrapped up performances of “Driver, Lender” (or “A Fictionalized Biographical Prelude to Adam Driver’s Brief Stint as Shylock on Broadway”), which was performed June 18 to 21.
The final performance of “Driver, Lender” on June 21 was met with an enthusiastic reception. The roughly two-hour performance showcased Warshofsky’s use of simple stage props, dramatic spot lighting, and thought-provoking dialogue heavy in wit and philosophical debate.
Lear described “Driver, Lender” as a mix of comedy, drama, and commentary. Warshofsky is the director.
“It’s comedic, it’s satirical, it is a fictional biography of the actor Adam Driver. It’s based on some facts that are known about his life, but the premise of this play is fictional,” she said. “It explores all sides of the debate of whether an actor can truthfully and tastefully with integrity perform in an identity that isn’t their own.”
Lear talked about what makes theater at the Goddard Institute of Dramatic Arts different. “We are specifically prioritizing developing new work. We are an incubation space for new work,” she said.
She emphasized that by focusing on new material, the viewers are ultimately going into the experience not knowing what to expect.
“There are no preconceived notions about what new works are supposed to be,” she said.
Goddard College was founded in 1938. It closed down in 2024, however, after about three decades of declining enrollment. Execusuite, a real estate company based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, bought the campus in 2024. Driver Lender was the first major theater production on the campus in over 13 years, as well as the first on the newly formed Creative Campus @ Goddard.
“Hopscotch and Other Prayers” by Patrisse Cullors will be performed June 27 and 28. Later this summer a third production will be “Deep Blue Sound,” running from July 30 to Aug. 8.
