Our Blog

Loft

August 25, 2011
A Conversation with Meredith Vieira & James Braly

Life in a Marital Institution
KS:  Hi this is Kathleen Soldati from the Music Hall in Portsmouth NH.  We’re talking today with Meredith Vieira, the producer of Life in a Marital Institution and James Braly the renowned storyteller that we hear on NPR’s This American Life.  Meredith and James are bringing their hit off-Broadway one-man comic monologue show to the Music Hall Loft September 9-11.  So Meredith and James, welcome.  We can’t wait to see the show!

KS: Meredith, our listeners are most familiar with you from The View and The Today Show and now you’ve moved into producing theater.  Can you tell us a little bit about what brought you to that point in your career?

Read the rest of this entry »

August 11, 2011
The door that led to a novel

by Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian

Not long ago, I was in my basement, which is the scariest place on earth. We’re talking “Silence of the Lambs” scary, “Night of the Living Dead” scary, “lion and tigers and bears, oh my” scary. It’s not merely that a sizable chunk of the floor is dirt, which means that with all the rain we’ve had this summer it’s like quicksand down there. It’s not the fact that there is a Gordian knot of tubes and pipes along the ceiling (which is little more than a crawlspace in some sections), some of which carry water and some of which carry LP gas to heat the house.

It’s the door.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 21, 2011
Explore & Learn at The Music Hall Spring Lineup

Second City master class
No sooner had we opened the Music Hall Loft Center for Performing Arts, Literature and Education then we had a full slate of Explore & Learn programs the space was designed for: We kicked off with a master class with members of the “comedy empire” (New York Times) Second City and 18 students and two teachers from Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy (CATA) on April 15. According to Deb Pickett, House Manager/Coordinator of Volunteers, “the room was alive with creativity.”

Read the rest of this entry »

January 27, 2011
Citizens Bank to Sponsor a New Series @ The Music Hall Loft

Entrance to the Loft

Citizens Bank is the first corporation on board for early, major sponsorship of programming in The Music Hall Loft: The Center for Performing Arts, Literature and Education

The Music Hall, soon to expand from its Victorian landmark theater into a downtown Loft space,  recently announced Citizens Bank has signed on as the presenting sponsor for one of the Loft’s new signature series, Writers in the Loft. The bank’s $10,000 sponsorship is the first major funding for a program in the new Loft space, which will open this spring with performances beginning in April, 2011.

“Citizens Bank’s early commitment is thrilling. They have stepped forward at a very exciting time for The Music Hall and for Portsmouth,” said Patricia Lynch, Executive Director of The Music Hall. “As one of the Loft’s first sponsors, the Bank has signaled powerfully their support of the arts and demonstrated its support of the community.”

Kathleen Reardon,  SVP and Director of Public Affairs & Community Investment at Citizens Bank, got an early look at the Loft space and was impressed with the plan for programming. “The energy around the Loft space and its schedule is compelling.  The Music Hall has debuted many successful programs during the past few years, and we feel confident that the soon-to-be-launched Writers in the Loft series will follow suit,” said Reardon. “This literary program and the Loft space overall will impact the community in very positive ways, giving readers access to authors and the literary arts which they can get nowhere else,” she added.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 5, 2010
The Music Hall Loft Moves a Step Closer

The Music Hall Loft: The Center for Performing Arts, Literature and Education gains final approval from City of Portsmouth’s Historic District Commission for work on building’s exterior Design Team Led by TMS Architects.

Read the rest of this entry »