BETWEEN THE LINES: As It is in Heaven

P.S. Don’t forget: Subscribers get $7 off additional regularly priced single tickets to Jewell Mainstage productions!

Masks are highly recommended. This policy is subject to change. Taproot has made structural changes that increase the intake of outside air, upgraded air filters to MERV-13, and added UV air-purifiers to the HVAC system. Click to read essential details.

Faith, Doubt, and Generational Shifts in Regional Premiere of As It is in Heaven

Taproot Theatre is excited to announce the second play in its 2023 Jewell Mainstage Season, As It is in Heaven by Arlene Hutton. Based on true events in the history of the Shakers, the play explores the generational shifts that occur when a new generation comes in and begins to disrupt or change the way that things have been done. Directed by Marianne Savell, the show opens on March 24, 2023 and runs through April 22, 2023.

“’Tis a gift to be simple,” sing the Shakers of Pleasant Hill. But as the young women in the community claim new spiritual gifts, Sister Hannah and the other elders must judge whether these gifts are real or rebellion. Set during America’s surge of Utopian communities, the play wrestles with belief and doubt in a swiftly changing world.

Marianne Savell directs Ashleigh Coe, Jenny Cross, Justine Davis, Marianna de Fazio, Jenny Vaughn Hall, Stevie Kallos, Chloe Michele, Kristen Natalia, and Pam Nolte. Jesica Avellone, Sofia Ayala, and Teri Lee Thomas understudy.

The production team includes Jordan Gerow, scenic design; Janelle Kimbrough, costume design; Chih-Hung Shao, lighting design; Mark Lund, sound design; Ria Lodick, stage manager; Katy Tabb, choreographer; Leah Fishbaugh, dialect coach; and Kelly Flynt, dramaturg.

Tickets are on sale now! Learn more here →

ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Intern to Understudy to Mainstage Debut
A conversation with Chloe Michele

Making her Taproot Mainstage debut in As It is in Heaven is Chloe Michele, an artist who’s become a member of the Taproot Theatre family this past year since she began interning at the theatre last summer and understudied the role of Mrs. Darcy in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley this past winter. In this interview, she shares her story. 

PRODUCTION SPOTLIGHT

Take a deep dive with director Marianne Savell 

About the Play

What to Expect

Visiting Pleasant Hill (Audio)

Where’s the Hope?

Thank you, Marianne!

ART SPOTLIGHT: Beyond the Meadow: Paintings by Laura Lasworth

March 20 – April 29, 2023  

“There is at the back of all our lives an abyss of light,
more blinding and unfathomable than any abyss of darkness.”

– g.k. chesterton

The works included in this exhibition were selected specifically for Taproot Theatre’s production of the play, As It Is in Heaven.

The work on view here represents a personal reflection on the nature of contemplative prayer.  Contemplation may be described as simply resting in Divine presence. Some see it as a way of listening with the heart. Artmaking can be a contemplative practice. One that affects us internally, through our thoughts and emotions, as well as externally, through the creation of objects and images that can serve as sources of inspiration to engage in the creative process with contemplative awareness.

The repeated use of lace imagery metaphorically illustrates the fragility of bonds to our fellows and to faith itself. The negative space representing Absence – the threads and knots Presence – which together create a pattern that weaves experiences of joy and suffering into something hopefully beautiful. The drawings here traverse a journey through a region where faith, or faulty intuition at best, are the only tools of navigation on route to a more luminous region of hope.

– Laura Lasworth

When selecting an artist to exhibit during the run of As It Is in Heaven, there really was no better choice than Laura Lasworth. Her work speaks directly and distinctively to the image we have of quietude, contemplation, and prayerfulness of the Shaker community. Her work is also exquisitely reflective of a light within that seems at once reachable and elusive.

Laura Lasworth received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Since her first solo show in 1981, she’s consistently exhibited her work in numerous solo and group shows. Her work has been featured in such publications as Art in America, Artforum, the LA Times, and IMAGE Journal.  She is Professor Emeritus at Seattle Pacific University.

All works in the exhibition are available unless marked by a red dot. Please contact the artist directly to purchase, llasworth@icloud.com. More work can be seen at www.lauralasworth.com.

– Gina Cavallo, Curator, Director of Development, Taproot Theatre

NEXT ON THE JEWELL MAINSTAGE: Jeeves Takes a Bow

Bertie’s back! And this time his talent for trouble trails him to the Big Apple. When childhood chum Binkey Binkersteth knocks, one knacky notion leads to masterful mayhem and soon the notorious Knuckles McCann is fitting Bertie for a Chicago overcoat. Fortunately, the unflappable Jeeves is close at hand with a stiff cuppa joe and a penchant for putting things right!

May 17 — June 17

SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE March 14!

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