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Brattleboro, Vermont
BOLD organizer Dawn Kersula had a packed house for both BOLD nights, September 1 and 2. And they got great press in The Brattleboro Reformer and Vermont Public Radio. Dawn reports: We sold out both nights and had to turn people away on Saturday. We had tremendous local support from the press: The Brattleboro Reformer gave us the front page of Arts & Entertainment (including quotes from interviews with author, producer and director!) and ran another teaser on Saturday. Our "Show Tonight!" board outside the theatre drew people. www.Brattleboro.com ran information, and Susan Keese of Vermont Public Radio, a homebirth mom herself, was able to distill two hours of interview into a three minute feature on WVPR that brought us phone calls and emails from around the region. New England Youth Theatre let us use their theatre for a reduced price, and lent us moral support along with their wonderfully complete small theatre. Sprout, a natural baby store, took care of advance ticket sales with nary a hitch. Our director, Amy Majer, worked for six weeks with the cast. The play grew in power and depth, and the wonderful women in the cast (Cathy Tretler, Kathy Urffer, Laura Ridgeway, Aimee Creelman, Elizabeth Niewusma-Dell, Beth Lloyd, Renee Woliver) grew to love and respect their characters. That love and respect made the performance shine right into the hearts of the audience as the women onstage came alive. People sobbed as Jillian birthed herself and her baby at the climax. Brattleboro Community Television came and filmed digitally....We'll be playing at 10 pm or after, but hey! Not bad! (There are swear words, that's why the late berth.) Our talkbacks lasted nearly an hour each night, and Friday night 50 people stayed, Saturday night 75 people stayed (out of a house of 100). The response was overwhelming -- they were all laughing Saturday at the curtain call that they had rendered me speechless! (I was sobbing instead.) We are blessed to have a community of women in southern Vermont who believe that their bodies are made to give birth and to breastfeed their children. At our talkbacks, we re-committed ourselves to supporting BIRTH in our community! The BMH Volunteer Doula Network received proceeds from the event.
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