The night is chilly for early May, but the energy is steaming. Dancers, encircled by onlookers who have gathered around a 16-foot effigy of a television, sway rhythmically, even seductively, to the ever-present drumbeat. The steady tempo keeps the contagious zeal of the crowd flowing while fire dancers twirl flaming hoops around their necks and hips. They spin fireballs from chains and spit a combustible concoction into the air to make a fireball rise into the sky.


| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| 11:30 a.m. | |
| 11:30 a.m. | |
| 6:00 p.m. | |
| 7:30 p.m. | |
| 7:30 p.m. |
It’s safe to say the Maplewood Barn Theatre Company isn’t a typical theater group. Among other things, actors have to worry about the rumblings of traffic and helicopters, sounds from neighboring cows and goats and the possibility that a mosquito might fly into their mouths at the end of a soliloquy.
Leonardo DiCaprio made middle-class Americans think twice before making that engagement ring purchase with his 2006 performance in Blood Diamond. Al Gore might have overwhelmed viewers with his innumerable graphs and charts but was one of the first to relay the importance of going green. But celebrities and politicians aren’t the only ones getting into the action.