NORTH EAST â As COVID restrictions fade away, and the world returns to normalcy, the Milburn Stone Theatreâs musical âSongs for a New World,â by Jason Robert Brown, offers a chance to reflect on the past year, with hope in mind.
âI think that after a year of so much turmoil, seeing that thereâs a light at the end of the tunnel is really hopeful,â said director William Bryant. âI hope that (Songs for a New World) can show some people that we can come out of it better than before.â
The piece, available for 48 hour rental until May 31, is a series of loosely connected vignettes about characters facing moments where their decisions could change their entire life. Some songs are about the moments before making a great choice, while others feature characters reflecting on their life after it has already been changed by their actions.
NORTH EAST â The Milburn Stone Theatre in North East, is producing a podcast, âthe Tsar and the Tsaritsa,â about the relationship between the last members of the Romanov dynasty before the Russian Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra.
Producer and editor William Bryant said the podcast format was the perfect way for the theatre to continue making creative work while remaining safe during COVID.
The podcast, which will release new episodes until Aug. 30, focuses on primary source texts, with actors reading the original letters between the couple instead of relying on narration or a modernized dramatization.
âI think itâs an enjoyable way to figure out the story because rather than have narration and things that kind of often give information to an audience too easily,â said Bryant, the technical director at Milburn Stone. âThis motivates you to keep listening to figure out what they were saying about themselves or what they were say