Pontine Theatre begins its 2010-11 performance season at the West End Studio Theatre in Portsmouth NH.  Two things unite the wide range of work presented in this year’s anual performance series: all use expression through movement as a primary dramatic vehicle; and all are original works or adaptations created by the artists who perform them.   (See season scehdule below)   

This season the series features five productions:  three by Pontine and two by invited guest artists.  Pontine’s West End Studio Theatre is located at 959 Islington Street in Portsmouth, NH.  Performances are Fridays & Saturdays at 4pm, and Sundays at 2pm.  There is an additional  8pm performance on the first Saturday of each production.  Season subscriptions are $90 ($10 discount for students & seniors).  Single tickets are  $24  ($3 discount for students & seniors) and may be purchased online.  For information contact call 603-436-6660.  

November 5 - 7 • Judith Black
RETIRING THE CHAMP
Accommodations provided by Martin Hill Inn.

Nationally known storyteller Judith Black performs her original tale about Trina, an 83 year old teacher and union organizer in the NYC schools — and a life-long fighter.  She’s still throwing punches, but, the trouble is, she’s forgetting where her opponents are coming from.  Michael, who always referred to his mother as “the Little Pit Bull,” must guide her through the maze of Alzheimer’s — dealing with downsizing, medical and elder care, family relationships and the difficult journey from angry boy to soulful adult.  RETIRING THE CHAMP is a story about coaching a feisty prizewinner through her last big bout, through landmarks of laughter and redemption.  

December 10 - 12 • Pontine Theatre & Angelynne Hinson
A POETS’ CHRISTMAS
Pontine’s co-directors, Greg Gathers and Marguerite Mathews,offer original stage adaptations of three holiday classics, A Visit From St. Nicholas  by Clement C. Moore, Ogden Nash’s The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, and  A Child's Christmas in Wales  by Dylan Thomas.  Add some Holiday songs by Portsmouth’s own Angelynne Hinson, plus a dash of cookies & eggnog, and you’ve got a performance sure to please the whole family.   

January 28 - February 6 • Pontine Theatre
OUR TOWN
Pontine Co-Directors, Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers, revive their critically acclaimed, two-person staging of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece, OUR TOWN.  Inspired by Peterborough at the turn of the 20th century, the play’s nostalgic charm underscores the enduring appeal of living in such a long-settled area.  In OUR TOWN, Wilder succinctly captures the sense of layers of generations that pervades all New England towns and forms so much of the character of communities here.  

March 11 - 13 • Concrete Temple Theatre 
THE WHALE
Accommodations provided by Sheraton Harborside Portsmouth

Actor/choreographer Carlo Adinolfi performs his one-man dramatization of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.  Using only his body, voice and an extraordinary collection of hand-crafted and rigged props to create life on a whale ship, and even the great whale himself, Adinolfi puts into service a wide variety of storytelling traditions to tell his tale.  The effect of one man working to embody this enormous literary epic in 70 minutes is simultaneously playful and profound. 

April 22 - May 8 • Pontine Theatre
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
Pontine Co-Directors, Greg Gathers & Marguerite Mathews, bring their unique approach to literary adaptations to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 romance, The House of the Seven Gables.  Set in Salem, Massachusetts, the story follows several generations of the ill-fated Pyncheon family, bowed under a curse dating from the famous witch trials, and trapped in the once magnificent, but now decrepit, “Seven Gables.”  Based on Hawthorne’s own experiences of growing up in Salem, and interwoven with incidents from the history of the Hawthorne family, The House of the Seven Gables was an instant success, and remains a great American classic.  

Pontine’s 2010-11 season is supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts & the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.  Visit the official PONTINE WEB SITE here.