Wardsboro Curtain Call

Wardsboro Curtain Call (WCC) continues to look for musicians and entertainers of various genres (blues, rock, country, dance music to name a few) to perform in our town hall. If you are interested contact us for more details. Check out the photos of the hall we have included in the Photo Gallery and the list of performers from previous seasons.

Here is some useful information:

1. The town hall has maximum capacity of 100 people.

2. The size of the stage is 15 feet front to back, and the front "opening" is around 19 -20 feet, with perhaps 8-10 feet beyond that on both sides. There is no backstage area.

3. The performance hall is located on the second floor of the building. There is a small working elevator from the 1st to 2nd floor.

4. There is no sound system, therefore, artists need to bring their own monitor, speakers, microphones, etc.

5. The building is fully insured for liability during the event.

6. The stage has dimmable overhead lighting and two spotlights.

7. Details of the engagement are documented in a mutually signed agreement prior to the performance. WCC can provide our standard contract or we can work with artists’ contract.

7.5 Artists are provided a merchandise table; artists retain 100% of those sales.

7.6 WCC promotes all events, including but not limited to social media, online calendars, newspapers, radio, flyers, and personal email lists.

8. Patrons are generally charged $10 per person for a ticket, which may include refreshments. For most shows, the hall is set up in café fashion; many of these shows are BYOB (wine, beer.)

9. We have limited the number of performances to 6 or 7 per season and try to offer one event per month from April to October.

10. WCC’s 2017 performance schedule is complete; however, if you are interested in performing in 2018, please contact us. You can send us a message by clicking on the Contact Us button in the menu.

We look forward to hearing from you for a potential gig or for providing us helpful feedback.

from THE Deerfield Valley News, June 3, 2016

Lovingly-restored curtain will be backdrop for Wardsboro concert series

by Rolf Parker

WARDSBORO- Wards¬boro Curtain Call is bringing music and other entertaining and educational acts to the town hall stage this summer. The MILES Band will be performing at the kickoff concert and picnic supper on Saturday, June 4.

Wardsboro Curtain Call is Karen Davis, Carol Fay, Lise Fortin, Cherie Moran, Russ Pacino, and Darlene Rutnik. According to Davis, the group came together early in 2014 with the goal of improving the town hall’s stage area. A major part of that improvement was the restoration and installation of a set of antique backdrop curtains. The group was awarded a Vermont Arts Council cultural facilities grant to help with the restoration. The mission to restore the stage’s curtain gave the group its name.

“Many community halls in the late 1800s and early 1900s had these hand-painted, scenic backdrops,” said Fortin, “and Wardsboro’s stage had one of these curtains at one point, but it was lost somewhere over the years.”

Fortin said important allies made the restoration possible. “We learned about this group of people, a handful of artists from upstate Vermont (Curtains Without Borders), dedicated to restoring and preserving these kinds of curtains. They located a stage curtain that had been stored under a stage in Maine that we could have. We had to use little brushes and a special vacuum cleaner with very gentle suction to clean off the dirt and cobwebs.”

Fortin said she was glad to do the work. “One of the things on my bucket list is to restore art.”

According to Davis, other important improvements to the stage took place after 2014 including some changes to the stage lighting. In January 2016, pleased with the group’s progress, the Wardsboro Selectboard acquired new chairs for the hall and had the floor sanded and refinished.

While the group was gaining a sense of completion with the physical restoration of the stage, they turned their sights to bringing the stage to life with music and other entertainment.

“During this whole improvement process, WCC had talked about- once our improvements were completed - bringing cultural events to the hall, beyond the existing annual variety show, tap dance recital, Gilfeather Turnip Festival, and holiday concert,” said Davis. “It’s so beautiful now, and we’ve been told the acoustics are really good, how could we not use it?” asked Fortin.

“The real programming process got started after two requests were actually made by musicians to us to host their respective concerts. The West Townshend-based husband and wife group Hungrytown played a ‘concert for curtains’ fundraiser in 2014. Then they contacted us in the spring of 2015, asking if we would host their CD release concert in August, which we did. Late in December 2015, upon Hungrytown’s recommendation, singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid approached us about hosting a concert while she’d be touring in New England. It was Sarah’s concert request that acted as the catalyst for WCC phase II - the programming phase - to officially kick into gear.”

Fortin said that the group had conducted surveys of what townspeople would like to see. “At first the response was ‘Anything!’ People were enthusiastic just to have anything at the town hall.” The group learned that, besides music, people were interested in other entertainment, such as puppet shows or magic acts. “We want to be open to a wide diversity of music and other forms of entertainment. Folk, rock, jazz. But besides CD release parties, which we are open to, we are only aiming for three or four concerts a year. We all have jobs.”

The first show is set for Saturday, June 4, when the The MILES Band will play their concert dance party.

“Since this is our kickoff event, the $10 admission includes a picnic supper before the show and desserts during intermission,” said Davis.

The WCC is seeking other performers to perform at the town hall, as well as local musicians who can have their CD release parties interspersed between those shows. One band that will have a CD release party at the town hall is Luminous Crush, which describes its music as “dream pop.”

“We are just beginning to line up a fall 2016 CD release show by Luminous Crush (a second project for Laura Molinelli and Ben Campbell of The Bondville Boys). We hope to have a date for that set in a couple of weeks,” said Davis.

Sarah McQuaid, who is also scheduled for the fall, is a singer-songwriter with dual Irish and American citizenship, residing in England. According to McQuaid, her music doesn’t fit into any one genre, ranging from a 1930s Cuban jazz number to a 16th-century lute piece or an unexpected contemporary cover. She is scheduled to play at the town hall on October 20.

The group has enough confidence in what they are doing that they have booked a show with blues musician and historian Scott Ainslie for October 13, 2017.

“We hope to have a successful first concert and a successful series,” said Fay. Fay said Ainslie’s concerts are the type of event that combines education with entertainment which the group hopes to include in their diverse programming. “And Scott is amazing,” said Fay. “We have scheduled a two-part program, one for kids with more of an educational component where they will learn about the blues and making music and how it is written, and then an evening concert as well.”

The June 4 dinner is at 6 pm and the MILES Band concert is at 7 pm. People seeking more information about upcoming shows or how they can assist WCC can contact Davis at kwkmdavis@yahoo.com.

Read more: Deerfield Valley News - Lovingly restored curtain will be backdrop for Wardsboro concert series

In early April 2014, members of Wardsboro Curtain Call traveled to West Paris, Maine to transport a set of historic hand painted scenic curtains to Wardsboro: this curtain set was a gift to Wardsboro from the Grange in West Paris. These curtains were painted by Troy, NY, artist Charles Huiest around 1890 and include a country scene, a street scene, a "grand drape" landscape scene, two "ears" (side panels), and a "teaser" (valance).

In preparation for the curtain installation, the stage was cleaned and cleared of debris. The back wall has been painted a dark green to help better show off the curtains. Kevin Sabin generously donated the sanding and refinishing of the stage floor.

During the week of September 22, 2014, Chris Hadsel, director of Curtains Without Borders, and her associates MJ Davis and Michele Pagan, led volunteers in cleaning, repairing and installing the scenic painted curtains. The conservation work began Monday, September 22, at 9 a.m. upstairs in the Town Hall. By end of day Thursday, September 25, the installation was completed for the country scene, the street scene, the grand drape landscape scene and the teaser. Each curtain has been carefully cleaned with brushes and dry sponges; all split seams are mended; all holes and tears are patched. All patched areas have been expertly painted to perfectly match the curtain section. Header boards contain installation hooks securing the curtain to the ceiling; new bottom rollers have been made for each curtain from aluminum downspout, batting and cotton stockinette. Twenty-four different volunteers worked over the span of the week on all the necessary tasks.

On November 25, 2014, Robert Brier of Upper Valley Audio Visual installed all the necessary hardware and a set of new velvet front stage drapery - see pictures of these beautiful new curtains in the Photo Gallery.

The Town of Wardsboro has been awarded a Vermont Arts Council Cultural Facilities matching grant toward the project of improving the town hall stage area. In addition to helping enable the conservation of the historic painted scenic backdrop curtains, this grant enabled the purchase and installation of new velvet front stage drapery. Wardsboro Curtain Call is very grateful to the State of Vermont and the Vermont Cultural Facilities Coalition for this grant.

The curtains are here and safely stored in the Town Hall. Karen and Ken Davis and Lee and Joe Miller journeyed to West Paris, ME to transport them back to Wardsboro.  Our team- guided by Chris Hadsel, director of Curtains Without Borders, removed tacks that held the curtains to wooden top frames and bottom rollers. The curtains were then rolled sideways onto empty carpet tubes and carefully wrapped in Tyvek for their trip to Wardsboro.  Since two of the curtains are 16'6" wide and the third one is 19'8" wide, rolling them sideway ended up with a bundle that is only 10'6" - much more manageable.  We also brought back to Wardsboro two interior scene curtains - all part of the same original set.  These two interior scene curtains have a serious amount of water damage;  they will be cleaned and more carefully wrapped for longer term storage.

West Paris's official website describes West Paris as “a friendly community located on Route 26 in the foothills of western Maine.” It is a small community of about 1800 people that was once home to many mills, including factories making wooden clothespins and wooden folding chairs. (See one of the folding chairs in the photo gallery.)

Right after our visit, our curtain project was profiled in the West Paris local paper, the Oxford Hills Sun Journal. The article gave some general background information about the stage curtains in northern New England. In Maine alone, Curtains Without Borders has documented more than 150 pieces. Ms. Hadsel recalled that in her more than 15 years working with historic theater curtains, she could remember only two or three times that they were moved from their original site. 

 The three curtain set that will be installed in Wardsboro's Town Hall consists of a country scene, a street scene, and a "grand drape" landscape scene.  The grand drape is the largest, and is called a grand drape because the artist painted drapery on the curtains framing the landscape scene. Our grand drape is titled "November Twilight".  Our set also includes two ‘ears’ matching the country scene. Ears are 3' wide side pieces, fixed to frames, that hang at a slight angle on each side of the main curtain.   Also included is a ‘teaser’ - what many would call a valance. It is about eighteen inches tall and will be installed in front of the curtains’ ceiling framing.

See the photo gallery for some photos of the West Paris Grange and the team working on the curtains.