While interning at Northern Stage during the fall of her junior year at Dartmouth College, Lebanon native Jaclyn Pageau showed Carol Dunne that she could help make a play work from behind the scenes.
Then Dunne watched Pageau dance in early rehearsals for the Dartmouth Theater Department’s production of Cabaret, which Dunne will direct at Spaulding Auditorium starting Friday night.
“At Northern Stage, she proved herself to be a real go-getter, but I didn’t fully appreciate that that was on top of her being a wonderful performer,” Dunne, Northern Stage’s artistic director and an instructor at Dartmouth, said last week. “She’s fantastic, and she’s a real leader.”
In addition to co-leading the dance team through Dartmouth’s adaptation of the musical set in pre-World War II Germany, Pageau is serving as a company representative, a liaison between the performers and the technical and creative teams. For both roles, she figures she’s been preparing since her formative years with the Lebanon Recreation Department’s summer theater program, with North Country Community Theater (NCCT), with Lebanon High School’s Wet Paint Players and with the Trumbull Hall Troupe.
“I was lucky to have so much theater in the area growing up,” Pageau said between rehearsals and her classes last week. “I was on the teen board at NCCT for three years; we picked the shows, worked with the cast, brought in the creative people. I really learned a lot. I also did a lot of musical theater growing up. It’s my passion.”
For the first couple of years at Dartmouth, Pageau balanced that passion with what seemed at the time like more practical studies in mathematics.
Then during the winter of her sophomore year, she danced in the Theater Department’s production of Chicago.
“I quickly realized,” Pageau said, “that I didn’t want to do math research.”
She did, however, figure that if she wanted to make a living in theater, she should learn more about the backstage side of that world. Last fall, Pageau and fellow senior Virginia Ogden, who plays The Emcee in Cabaret, were among five Dartmouth students who worked the 10-week “Experiential Term” program that Dunne established at Northern Stage. In the build-up to the White River Junction-based company’s production of A Christmas Carol, during which she played a “transition ghost,” Pageau also impressed Dunne with her work ethic away from the spotlight.
“Jackie really went above and beyond my expectations,” Dunne recalled. “She kept seeking more and more involvement in the big picture of what we do here. She was incredibly disciplined and focused. So when we chose to do Cabaret at Dartmouth, I knew she’d be an important part.”
The onstage part is challenging Pageau every day.
“I did some dance-captaining for Trumbull Hall, and dancing in Chicago a bit, but Cabaret is the most dance-heavy show I’ve done,” Pageau said. “We’re dancing just about the whole first half.”
Her director added that she hopes that Pageau and the rest of the cast are learning more than lines and steps.
“It features many roles for women, which was important,” Dunne said. “But Donald Trump is the big reason we decided that now was the time to do this play. The election troubled us in the Theater Department: the faux-populism that’s sweeping the world. Cabaret is about a time in history when the world was asleep and not fully aware about the disappearance of human rights, about how the arts came under suspicion.”
If that’s not lesson enough, Pageau also is looking ahead to the Theater Department’s winter production in February.
“I’m stage managing for 1984,” she said.
The Dartmouth Theater Department stages Cabaret from Friday night through Nov. 12 in the Hopkins Center’s Moore Theatre. For tickets ($10 to $15) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Best Bets
“Alone good — together goodr!” So goes the Vermont-accented tagline with which South Newbury fiddler Patrick Ross and comedian/performance artist Rusty “The Logger” DeWees promote their occasional collaborations, which continue this weekend at Bradford Academy with 7:30 shows on Saturday and Sunday night. Tickets for each show cost $10 for military veterans and for ages 16 and younger and $22 for all others. To learn more, visit thelogger.com.
White River Indie Films screens the documentary The Uncondemned at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction on Friday night at 7:30. The movie follows a group of young prosecutors pursuing a case involving rape as a crime against humanity before the International Criminal Tribunal. Co-director Michele Mitchell will lead a discussion after the film. For tickets ($8 to $10) and more information, visit wrif.org.
The Party Crashers set the rhythm for the second in the series of Shindigs dances at Tunbridge Town Hall on Saturday night at 7:30. Tickets cost $10. To learn more about the series, visit shindigsvt.com.
Bassist Peter Concilio, saxophonist Matt Langley, keyboardist Bruce Sklar and drummer Jeff Salisbury play tribute to Thelonius Monk on Friday night at 8, at the Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
Looking Ahead
The southeastern Vermont-based Hungrytown duo of Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson will perform roots music at Damon Hall in Hartland next Thursday night at 6:30. Admission is free. To learn more about the ensemble, including other area concert dates, visit hungrytown.net.
Classical guitarist William Ghezzi will play works of Bach, John Duarte and Miguel Llobet at Dartmouth College’s Faulkner Recital Hall on Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. Admission is free. To learn more, visit williamghezzi.com.
Theater/Performance Art
The Newport Opera House stages Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and on Sunday afternoon at 2. For tickets ($12) and more information, visit newportoperahouse.com or call 603-863-2412.
The New York City-based Two Beans Productions stages Miss Nelson is Missing!, a musical adaptation of the children’s books by Harry Allard and James Marshall, on Sunday afternoon at 3 at Dartmouth College’s Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover. To reserve tickets ($13 to $23) and learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-727-3304.
Music
Sensible Shoes plays at Lampscapes in White River Junction on Friday night starting at 6.
Trumpeter-composer-arranger Ray Vega leads his Latin Jazz Quinteto into the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph on Friday night at 7:30. Admission costs $22 in advance and $24 the day of the show. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Le Vent du Nord plays Quebecois music at Alumni Hall in Haverhill on Friday night at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($20 for members of Court Street Arts, $22 for others) and learn more, visit courtstreetarts.org or call 603-989-5500.
On the theme of “Blowin’ in the Winds,” oboist Margaret Herlehy and bassoonist Janet Polk join Classicopia pianist/artistic director Daniel Weiser this weekend for three Upper Valley performances of works of Poulenc, Bizet and Marie Grandval. The tour begins Friday night at 7:30 at St. Denis Catholic Church in Hanover, where the suggested admission is by donation of $20 or more.
The trio next plays at the Seven Stars Arts Center in Sharon on Saturday night at 7:30. Admission is $13.50 for members of the center and $18 for others.
Tickets for the final show, at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon on Sunday afternoon at 2, cost $9 for church members and $18 for others.
To reserve seats for the Saturday and Sunday concerts, for which discounts are available for advance purchase, and to learn more, visit classicopia.org.
Dartmouth College’s Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble and guest bassist Wes Brown play works of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Sun Ra and other composers on Friday night at 8, at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover. To reserve tickets ($9 to $10) and learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
The Chad Hollister Band rocks the Pierce’s Inn in Etna on Friday night. Tickets cost $45 for the performance itself, which starts at 8, and $65 for attending the pre-concert dinner buffet that starts at 6:30. To reserve seats and learn more, visit piercesinn.com.
The Dartmouth College Glee Club tackles excerpts from the Felix Mendelssohn oratorio Elijah and two works of Johannes Brahms on Sunday afternoon at 2 at Rollins Chapel in Hanover. For tickets ($9 to $10) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
The Camerata New England quartet of violinist Omar Chen Guey, violist Andrew Eng, cellist Linda Galvan and pianist Evelyn Zuckerman perform works on Bach, Mahler and Dvorak on Sunday afternoon at 2 at Alumni Hall in Haverhill. For tickets ($25) and more information, visit courtstreetarts.org or call 603-989-5500.
Pianist Mark Rossnagel performs works of Beethoven, Brahms, Bach and Chopin on Sunday afternoon at 4, at ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret. Admission is $10. To learn more, visit artistreevt.org.
Dance
The Dartmouth Dance Ensemble previews works in progress by director John Heginbotham and choreographer-in-residence Rebecca Stenn on Sunday at noon, at the Hopkins Center’s Hop Garage in Hanover. Admission is free.
Film
Mountainfilm on Tour screens short movies on outdoor adventure, climate change and other environmental topics tonight at 6, at Vermont Law School’s Chase Center in South Royalton. Admission is $7 at the door. To learn more about the selection of films, visit mountainfilm.org/tour/films.
A diverse trio of films parades through Dartmouth College’s Loew Auditorium in Hanover this weekend, starting Friday night at 7 with the romantic comedy The Incredible Jessica James, about a playwright bouncing back from a failed relationship.
Saturday night’s feature, Wind River, stars Jeremy Renner as a tracker helping an inexperienced FBI agent unwind a murder mystery on an Indian reservation in Wyoming. Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed Hell or High Water last year, directed this picture, which critics have been praising for its exploration of Native American culture as well as its scenery and suspense.
And on Sunday afternoon at 4, go back in time with Spies, Fritz Lang’s 1928 silent thriller that in many ways foreshadows the James Bond series.
For tickets ($5 to $8) to each of these shows, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Bar and Club Circuit
Folk singer-songwriter David Wilcox performs at the Flying Goose Brewpub and Grille in New London tonight at 8. Next Thursday night at 8, singer-songwriter Ari Heist plays the venue. To reserve seats ($25) and learn more, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
Lebanon-raised rocker Chris Powers performs in the tavern at Jesse’s restaurant in Hanover on Friday night at 5.
Lake Sunapee-region singer-songwriter Robin Macy and The CoffeeHouse Crew appear at the weekly Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse on Friday night at 7, in the basement of the Methodist Church in Sunapee Harbor. While admission is free, donations are welcome. To learn more about this season’s series, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org.
Saxophonist Michael Parker leads Soulfix into Crossroads Bar and Grill in South Royalton on Friday night at 9 and into the Salt hill Shanty in Newbury, N.H., on Saturday night at 8.
Bassist Peter Concilio, saxophonist Michael Parker and guitarist Billy Rosen perform jazz at Carpenter and Main in Norwich on Tuesday night at 7.
Bow Thayer performs his weekly set of Americana at The Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Wednesday night at 7:30. Mandolin master Matt Flinner leads his trio into the venue next Thursday night at 8; tickets cost $10 in advance 603-277-9115 and $12 at the door.
Open Mics
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 on Thursday nights. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Jim Yeager hosts the weekly open-mics on Monday night at 8 at Bentley’s in Woodstock, at the Public House in Quechee at 8:30 Wednesday night in Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern and at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center next Thursday night at 7.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit stages an open mic, Tuesday nights at 8.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Notices of upcoming performances in the Upper Valley also can be sent to highlights@vnews.com.