June 17, 18 at 7 p.m. — BARNARD — BarnArts, having gained a reputation for staging edgy, controversial drama, presents the northern New England premier of a one-act play that was a 2014 Broadway success, “The Realistic Joneses.”
The play takes place in settings familiar to the Upper Valley – in a backyard and on a front porch in a semi-rural town near the mountains.
Audiences will get up close and personal quickly with just four characters fumbling with change, in this case aging. And to punctuate the familiar, Tom Beck, a well-known director in this area, is staging all five performances at Fable Farm in Barnard. This is the site of the Feast & Field Farmers’ Market held Thursdays in Barnard.
Performances are at 7 p.m. June 17, 18, 22, 24 and 25; and at 4 p.m. on June 26. Audiences are invited to arrive early and picnic at the farm on this solstice-side of summer.
Performance tickets are $15 adults and $10 students. Tickets will be available at the gate or may be purchased in advance at barnarts.org or call 802-234-1645.
In “The Realistic Joneses” the audience will meet Bob and Jennifer Jones and their new neighbors John and Pony Jones, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their adjacent houses and shared last names.
As their relationships begin to intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities.
These four wonderfully quirky, real characters connect and disconnect through Will Eno’s clever dialogue, always snappy with a subtle and surprising wit.
“Directing The Realistic Joneses passes both tests of what type of play to produce. It had a successful Broadway run so it passes the “Hit” test. As a play, that has never been performed in Vermont previously, it is about as new a play as one can direct. We are creating a sort of the best of all possible worlds,” said director Tom Beck. “Also, we are treading on new ground, literally, by producing this play outside at Fable Farm at twilight. My hope with our suggested set pieces and the beautiful hills of Barnard in the background is to fully capture the feel of the rural location on the edge of mountains that is called for by author Will Eno.”
Fable Farm is at 1544 Royalton Turnpike Road in Barnard, four miles east of the Barnard General Store.
For more information, contact info@barnarts.org or 802-234-1645.
