Shelburne Players perform ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’

Join The Shelburne Players for its fall 2023 production, “Circle Mirror Transformation,” set in the fictional Shirley, Vt.

When four lost New Englanders who enroll in Marty’s six-week-long community-center drama class begin to experiment with harmless games, hearts are quietly torn apart, and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won.

The play offers finely crafted diorama, a petri dish in which we see, with hilarious detail and clarity, the antic sadness of a motley quintet.

“Annie Baker’s play is an absolute feast. ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’ is the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word. The play traces the lives of a handful of small-town Vermont residents who gather each week for an acting class taught at the local community center. By the play’s end we seem to see to the very bottom of these souls and feel how the artificial intimacy of the acting class has shaped their lives in substantial ways,” wrote the New York Times.

The production is directed by Kimberly Rockwood and produced by Karlie Kauffeld. It stars Elizabeth Bates as Marty, Ben Ash as James, Chris Acosta as Schultz, Kym Taylor as Theresa and Maya Grace Redington as Lauren.

Show dates are Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10-11, 7 p.m., with a matinee Sunday, Nov. 12, matinee at 2 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-18, 7 p.m., with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee.

The show takes place at the Historic Shelburne Town Hall, 5372 Shelburne Road. Tickets and more information are available at shelburneplayers.com, or call 802-343-2602 or email theshelburneplayers@gmail.com.