Theater group puts on ‘absolute feast’

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.

“Circle Mirror Transformation,” the latest offering of The Shelburne Players, is a petri dish in which to see, with hilarious detail and clarity, the antic sadness of a motley quintet.

The New York Times calls Annie Baker’s play “an absolute feast,” an “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.”

This production is directed by Kimberly Rockwood and produced by Karlie Kauffeld, both of whom acted in previous Shelburne Players productions “Almost, Maine” and “The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood.”

Actors Elizabeth Bates of Shelburne, Chris Acosta of Burlington and Kym Taylor of St. Albans return, joined by Shelburne Players’ newcomers Ben Ash of Shelburne and Maya Grace Redington of Burlington.

The play runs Nov. 10 to 18 on the stage at historic Shelburne Town Hall, with a total of six shows, four evening performances and two matinees. For information visit shelburneplayers.com.