JAG Productions to close, citing 'crisis facing the arts'

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https://vtdigger.org/2024/04/26/jag-productions-to-close-citing-crisis-facing-the-arts/

JAG Productions to close, citing ‘crisis facing the arts’

The White River Junction theater company has championed the work of Black and LGBTQ+ artists.

By Valley News
April 26, 2024, 8:42 pm



Jarvis Green, founder and artistic director of JAG Productions, in his dressing room at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, in April 2023. File photo by Alex Driehaus/Valley News/Report For America


This story by Nicola Smith was first published by the Valley News on April 24.

JAG Productions, the White River Junction theater company that has championed the work of Black and LGBTQ+ artists, has announced that it is closing in June after eight years of bringing groundbreaking work to the Upper Valley.

Jarvis Antonio Green, JAG Productions’ founder and artistic director, wrote in a public statement April 22 that “the broader crisis facing the arts has not spared us. Last year alone, hundreds of not-for-profit theaters across the country were forced to close their doors, victims of a model that increasingly proves unsustainable amid shifting societal support and financial pressures.”

The company will end its run on June 14 and 15 at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction with the solo, 75-minute show Sondheimia, starring Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award-winner Larry Owens, who performs the songs of Stephen Sondheim.

Until 2023, JAG Productions had rented the Briggs Opera House for its productions, and during 2021 and 2022 had shifted its performances to Theatre on the Hill, an outdoor venue provided by King Arthur Flour in Norwich.

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[jimfields33]

1. I think theater and even movie theaters haven't gotten back to pre Covid levels yet.

I used to go to the movie theater almost weekly. Since Covid, I’ve been twice. Barbie and maverick. Quite a change.

Theater. We used to have annual passes to Philips center in Orlando but haven’t renewed since 2021. Maybe in a few years we’ll begin again. I’d bet a lot of people are in the same boat.