We invite you to experience the heart of Theatre Adventure–our actors!

We celebrated Theatre Adventure’s 20th anniversary with the screening of our documentary, A Ballad of Belonging. The documentary honors Theatre Adventure’s past, present, and future. Actors in costume interacted with the audience before the screening and participated in the “Talk Back” session afterward.

Theatre Adventure: A Ballad of Belonging is an intimate “backstage” view of Theatre Adventure. For twenty years in southern Vermont, youth and adults with disabilities have been enjoying, creating, and presenting bold and original theater that challenges and changes attitudes and lives.

Viewers will witness troupe members during powerful moments of building self-confidence, courageously expressing self, and discovering one’s artistry, all in a culture of caring about one another.

ASL Interpretation is embedded in the documentary.

Sign up for an online ticket and you will receive an email with a link to view the documentary at your convenience.

Did you watch Theatre Adventure: A Ballad of Belonging?

We would love to hear your thoughts and impressions.

Submit a review for us to share with our actors and audience.

This documentary features our core beliefs in action:

• Everyone deserves respect.

• A nurturing and welcoming community provides a sense of belonging and is the foundation for building self-confidence, friendships, and leadership.

• Everyone has the ability to grow and learn new skills.

• The arts offer many powerful ways to express oneself  

  
  

• Bringing stories to life in theater has the power to dissolve the edges that separate us.

• Inclusive theater inspires new and positive attitudes about people with disabilities.

Theatre Adventure: A Ballad of Belonging

FILM CREDITS

DIRECTED BY

Darlene Jenson

Maria Pugnetti

Laura Lawson Tucke

PRODUCED BY

Theatre Adventure, Inc.

VIDEOGRAPhER

Maria Pugnetti

EDITOR

Maria Pugnetti

CREATIVE ADVISER

Brian Pugnetti 

SOUND DESIGNER

Maria Pugnetti

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASL) INTERPRETER

Elizabeth Fox

FEATURING

Troupe Members throughout the years

WE TIP OUR HATS

Family Members & Guardians

Support Professionals

Volunteers

Staff

Visiting Artists

Archival Media

2004 Theatre Adventure Summer Camp

Tim Wessel

Vermont Digital Productions

2011 Theatre Adventure Training Guide

Brent Werzner & Elizabeth Wakehouse Werzner

Wayward Productions 

Live Show Footage

Kipton Tewksbury/Maria Pugnetti

Still Photography

Laura Bliss/Laura Howe/Deborah Lazar

Documentary Funders

Shapiro Family Foundation

Vermont Community Foundation 

Vermont Arts Council 

Clear Solutions Fund of Vermont Community Foundation

Special Acknowledgments

Tony Barrand

James Bird

Brad Heck & Willow O'Feral

Lizzy Mandell

Cathy Martin

Rich Nethercott

Brian Pugnetti

Dan Richardson

Diane Shamas

Roger & Cathi Wilken

FOUNDATIONS & SPONSORS

802 Credit Union

Against the Grain 

Agnes Lindsay Trust 

Arts Council of Windham County 

Ben & Jerry’s Community Action Team 

Brattleboro Music Center 

Brattleboro Savings & Loan 

Brattleboro Town Human Services Fund

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

Clear Solutions 

Community Bank, N.A.

Frances Hicks Memorial Fund 

Price Chopper Golub Foundation 

Puffin Foundation

Ramlose Foundation

Shapiro Family Foundation 

SPIN Foundation 

Thomas Thompson Trust

Vermont Arts Council

Vermont Community Foundation

Windham Foundation

Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Foundation

COMMUNITY PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist

at the West Village Meeting House

Families First

Frances Hicks Memorial Fund 

Health Care and Rehabilitation Services

HireAbility

Windham Southeast Supervisory Union

Windham Southwest Supervisory Union

THEATRE ADVENTURE 2024 TEAM 

Lori Angell, Costumer

Alyssa Bauer, Development Assistant

Jed Blume, Grant Writer

Catherine Diduk, Outreach Coordinator

Laura Howe, Teacher

Darlene Jenson, Director/Disability Specialist

Leslie Kinney, Teacher/Projects Specialist

Antoinette “Nettie” Lane, Artist/Educator/Clown Midwife 

Steve Leicach, Percussionist

Sher Levesque, Teacher

Cathy Martin, Pianist

Maria Pugnetti, Technical Director/Videographer

Genevieve Redmond, Summer Teacher Assistant

Julia Riseman, Fund Development Consultant

Laura Lawson Tucker, Executive Director/Artistic Director

Robert Tucker, Bookkeeper

Janice Wightman, ASL Interprete

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Genna Durante, President

Steve Kappel, Treasurer

Janice Wightman, Secretary

Geoff Burgess

Ora Grodsky

Julianne Kaplan

Dyana Lee

Wendy Pauloo

Mary Traver

MUSIC CREDITS 

“Tess’ Song”

Written by Tess Bogart and Rich Nethercott

Performed by Rich Nethercott

“Gone Too Long”

Written and performed by 

Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“Elevator To Eleven”

Written and performed by Brian Pugnetti

“Closer to Me”

Written by Lizzy Mandell

Performed by Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“Brightest Star”

Written by Lizzy Mandell

Performed by Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“Come Alive” 

Written and performed by James Bird

“Autumn Nebula”

Written and performed by Rich Nethercott 

“Everything to Me”

Written and performed by

Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“We’ll be Friends Again”

Written and performed by

Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“Daydream”

Written and performed live by John Sebastian

“Coffee Cup Song”

Written and performed by

Lizzy Mandell and Colin McCaffrey

“Shining Moments Underscore”

Written and performed by Maria Pugnetti

“Harmony in Me”

Written by Lizzy Mandell

Performed by Lizzy Mandell and Cathy Martin

LIVE SHOW MUSIC

“The Ballad of Questery” 

Written by Rich Nethercott

Performed by Rich Nethercott and the Cast

“Travelling Song”

Written by Rich Nethercott

Performed by Rich Nethercott and the Cast

“Here I Am”

Written by Rich Nethercott

Performed by Rich Nethercott, Cathy Martin and the Cast

“Quadrille Jos Bouchard”

Performed by New England Dancing Masters

Piano Music

Performed by Cathy Martin

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