BENNINGTON — The Monument Arts & Cultural Center (the MACCenter) is preparing to present a weekend steeped in Bennington’s rich literary tradition, taking place over Valentine’s Day weekend.
The interdisciplinary events will bridge poetry and theater with readings of a play as well as juried poems by seasoned, and emerging poets.
At the center of the celebration is the staged reading of a new play, “Timor Mortis,” taking place on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m., based on the works of former Poet Laureate Donald Hall and starring the Emmy winning, Tony nominated actor, Gordon Clapp.
Once a poet in residence at Bennington College, Hall became the U.S. Poet Laureate in 2006. He is often called every man’s poet for his down to earth observations and absence of pretension, often associated with poetry. “Timor Mortis,” despite its title (meaning “fear of death”), is an often humorous, witty and poignant unveiling of Hall’s love of baseball and his devotion to his wife, Jane Kenyon, a wraith who haunted him long after she had gone. Kenyon, a poet in her own right, will be portrayed by actress Caroline Kinsolving.
Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Det. Medavoy on the ABC series “NYPD Blue,” for which he won an Emmy, Clapp has been a familiar fixture on film and television for over 50 years. His Broadway credits include “Glenngary Glen Ross,” for which he earned a Tony nomination as well as a theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Great Society.” His off-Broadway and regional theatre credits are numerous, and include his one-man show “Robert Frost: This Verse Business.”
Kinsolving works in theatre, television and film in New York and Los Angeles. She studied at Milton Academy, The Mountain School, Vassar, Harbin and Beijing University, Stella Adler, Yale Drama Intensive and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Intensive in London. Off-Broadway credits include “Word Play,” “King of Hollywood Hills,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “All in the Timing” as well as several performances with Shakespeare & Co, Hartford Stage, Boston Symphony, and North Coast Rep. She has been seen on television in “Law and Order,” “Three Women,” “Medium,” “Criminal Minds”, and “Cold Case.” Kinsolving is also the Founder of Theatre for Good, and through performances and classes she has raised over $160,000 for charities.
On Thursday, February 12 at 7 p.m., the MACCenter will also host an intimate, literary companion event to “Timor Mortis” that explores the endurance of love, loss and memory. Through poetry and reflection, the event traces how devotion, longing, humor and remembrance allows audiences to keep the dead present among the living. Poets James Crews, Michael Dumanis and Jess Bouchard will participate in reading their own poems inspired by the themes explored in “Timor Mortis.” A guided conversation and reflection along with a juried selection of poetry readings by three jury-selected local/regional poets will follow.
Crews is the author of “Turning Toward Grief: Reflections on Life, Loss & Appreciation,” “Breathing Room: Poems of Rest & Retreat, and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including “Love Is for All of Us,” a collection of LGBTQ+ love poems co-edited with his husband, Brad Peacock. He has also edited “The Wonder of Small Things” (winner of the New England Book Award), “The Path to Kindness” (winner of the Nautilus Award), and “How to Love the World,” which has sold over 100,000 copies to date. He has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, and in People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and The Washington Post. Crews lives with his husband on forty rocky acres in Vermont that they are restoring to a habitat for pollinators and native species.
Dumanis is a member of the Literature faculty and the Director of Poetry and Editor of Bennington Review at Bennington College. He is the author of the poetry collections “Creature” (Four Way Books, 2023, selected as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award) and “My Soviet Union” (University of Massachusetts Press), winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. He is also coeditor (with poet Cate Marvin) of the younger poets’ anthology “Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century,” (Sarabande) and (with poet Kevin Prufer) of “Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master” (Pleiades). Born in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union, Dumanis emigrated with his family at the age of five and grew up in Western New York. He currently resides with his family in North Bennington.
Bouchard is a local English teacher and educator as well as the Executive Director of Queer Connect. She has published poetry in Crews’ best selling anthology “Love is For All of Us,” which explores love in all its forms – romantic, self-love, family love and love of our natural world. She lives in Southern Vermont with her spouse and children.
Additionally, the MACCenter will host a poetry contest, open to writers 12-years-old and older. Selected works will be read live at the MACCenter. Themes the explore include love in all its forms, loss and absence, memory and remembrance, change, growing up, aging, people who have shaped your life, moments you wish you could return to, and nature, according to MACCenter. Poems should be submitted by Jan. 30, and selected writers will be notified on Feb. 5. The public reading will take place during the event on Feb. 12.
Interested writers should submit one original poem (at a maximum of two pages) using a Google form found at https://forms.gle/5BQ9SwGwSfWoJbDt8
While the poetry reading on Feb. 12 is free to attend, RSVPs are requested at www.monumentcentervt.org. There will be a cash bar.
Tickets for the readings of “Timor Mortis” on Feb. 13 and 14 can also be purchased on the MACCenter’s website, at $30 for the show or $40 for the addition of a tea event and an accompanying question and answer session immediately after the performance.
All events take place at the Monument Arts and Cultural Center, located at 44 Gypsey Lane in Bennington.
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