Saturday, we’ll be opening up the Historic Theater for our annual Community Open House and Fill The Hall food drive. We’ve received a number of questions about this event so today I thought I’d share some helpful hints with you.Read More
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As I sit down to write this week’s blog, I realized that today marks my two year anniversary here at The Music Hall. As I think about my time here at the theater, I’m reminded of so many great shows that I’ve seen, amazing books that I’ve read and then heard their authors discuss, and most importantly getting to be a part of an organization that doesn’t just strive to entertain but actively works to make the world a better place. Incidentally enough, I’m also coming up on the year anniversary of my weekly Wednesday blog. As I took my trip down memory lane, I realized that I began this series talking about the First Fill The Hall event and I felt that today, it was fitting to do the same.Read More
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At the Shadows Fall North premiere, from left: Burt Feintuch, UNH English professor & Director, Center for the Humanities, UNH; Valerie Cunningham, historian & founder, Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail; JerriAnne Boggis, Director, Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail; Brian Vawter, Director & Editor of Shadows Fall North; Nancy Vawter, Producer, Atlantic Media Productions; Jason Sokol, Associate Professor of History, UNH & panel moderator; Chris Curtis, Music Hall Programming Coordinator
No one expected a Tuesday night documentary exposing hard truths about African American history in New Hampshire to be a sellout event.
Yet, nearly 700 people came to see the world premiere of Shadows Fall North in The Music Hall’s Historic Theater on May 26. Produced by UNH’s Center for the Humanities and Atlantic Media Productions, the film features the key players responsible for Portsmouth’s African Burying Ground memorial park, honoring the centuries-old souls discovered beneath city sidewalks more than a decade ago. And it delves deep into the overlooked history of racism in Northern New England. A rallying cry to acknowledge untold stories and set history straight, it brought the house to a standing ovation.Read More
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In our second installment of Life Backstage we sat down with Mokoomba, who hail from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Their sound is vibrant and distinct, combining traditional Tonga and pan-African music cultures with dashes of Rap, Ska, Soukous, and Afro-Cuban music. They appeared as part of our Live @ the Loft series. Our Deputy Director of Programming, Thérèse LaGamma caught up with them just before their show.
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The other day, a group of staff members here at The Music Hall took a field trip to the Discover Portsmouth Center for a guided tour of their Illuminating Tarbell exhibit. For those of you who are not familiar with the exhibit, it’s the largest local gathering of Edmund Tarbell’s work. The unique part of this show is that it doesn’t just feature his paintings, it also has engravings, drawings, and oil studies. Many of the 60 pieces have never been exhibited before. Read More
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When we first came up with the idea for the #MeowsicHall challenge I thought we would get a few submissions of fun, cute pictures and over the last two weeks, I’ve been pleasantly surprised but the almost adorable 200 submissions I’ve gotten. I’ve been obsessively checking The Music Hall’s Instagram account to see what new photos we had been tagged in and I’ll admit I’ve gotten a little attached to these cats (I’ve included some of them in this post).Read More
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I write a lot about Music Hall Membership on this blog, everything to why I love my membership to all of the discounts you can get around town. Today, I get to write about our annual member party. Saturday night, following the Moth, we are inviting members to join us for a post show party, mix and mingle with other members, Music Hall staff and board, and the Moth Storytellers at the Loft. Read More
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When I first came to The Music Hall I thought that I was going to spend my days marketing upcoming shows and expanding my music taste. For me, The Music Hall was a concert venue that brought in a lot of shows and filled the town with tourists. I quickly learned that the theater is so much more than that. While we bring in so many amazing concerts, authors, and comedians, we also work to start and facilitate conversations on issues that impact our community.Read More
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