Click here for The Big Read Events in Vermont!
With The Big Read, Northern Stage is dedicated to creating a collaborative program that inspires the community to critically analyze great literature. Community partners include The Center for Cartoon Studies, the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Norwich University (Northfield, VT), Pentangle Arts Council, Vermont Public Television, The Vermont Arts Council, The Vermont Humanities Council, Community Access Television (CATV) the Hartford Library, Brownell Library, Fletcher Free Library, Brown Public Library and Quechee & Wilder Libraries.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a collection of stories about an American combat platoon in Vietnam, is the perfect book for this program. Vermont represents one of the highest National Guard per-capita participation rates of any state in the country. O’Brien’s work creates an ideal backdrop for discussion of issues with which many Vermont families struggle today.
This project, which will cover all of Vermont, will encourage young people and their communities to appreciate great literature at a more analytical level. The program will incorporate a wide range of skills, from reading, writing and listening to creating original works of art and public performance. Northern Stage’s mission as a non-profit theater involves telling stories in a compelling way; our program will take literacy to the next level by enabling students to tell their own stories and supporting the community by providing lectures, discussions and events surrounding this powerful book.
The Things They Carried is a journey of discovery and expression. Through the Big Read, Northern Stage and its community partners will allow hundreds of students, veterans and other Vermonters to undertake a similar journey that will change the way they look at literature, art and their own lives.
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. For more information please go to www.NEABigRead.org.
Other support for Northern Stage's The Big Read comes from The General William Mayer Foundation, The Merchants Bank Foundation, The Kokoro Fund (through the Vermont Community Foundation), Dartmouth Printing, PrioriTees, Yankee Magazine and R.C. Brayshaw & Co.
Northern Stage's The Big Read Videos
Kick-Off Event:
Vermont's Kick-Off Event was at Northern Stage's Historic Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, Vermont. This event introduced The Big Read and related events. Special guest speakers include Michael Heaney, a Vietnam veteran who is a historian, writer and teacher, Pat Barrett a student from The Center for Cartoon Studies and Northern Stage's Producing Director, Catherine Doherty. Kyle Silliman-Smith, the program coordinator and Angela Santillo, the Lead Teacher for the program's in-school residency also speak about upcoming Big Read programming and answer questions at the end of the Mr. Heaney's lecture.
Northern Stage's The Big Read School Series:
Lesson 1:
Playwright Angela Santillo introduces The Big Read School Series and discusses three specific chapters of Tim O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried.” Those chapters are “The Things They Carried,” “How to Tell a True War Story,” and “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.”
Lesson 2:
Playwright Angela Santillo interviews Vietnam veteran Michael Heaney about his combat experience and his thoughts on Tim O'Brien's book, "The Things They Carried."
Lesson 3:
Playwright Angela Santillo talks about storytelling through monologue writing.
Learn about the art of storytelling through comics. With your host, cartoonist Denis St. John, you will learn how to transform your monologue into a one page comic.
