2023

In keeping with KoFest’s new focus on uplifting and amplifying, we are delighted to be partnering with PAULINE PRODUCTIONS to help present a weekend of first-person stories. If you’re a fan of KoFest Story Slams, or have taken Jerry Stropnicky’s “First Person: Crafting Your Story for Performance” workshops at Ko, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to see an event that gives the storytellers a longer time slots for their compelling stories! You might even spot a few of your favorite Story Slam faces!
Woman storyteller in jeans and plaid shirt points to herself as she leans in to the attentive audience

FIRST PERSON FRESH – Women’s Solo Performance Festival

presented by PAULINE PRODUCTIONS, in association with KoFest

April 28, 29 & 30, 2023 Program A: Fri. at 7:30 p.m. & Sat, at 3 p.m.  Program B: Sat. at 7:30 p.m. & Sun. 3 p.m.

CITYSPACE - The Blue Room Old Town Hall, 43 Main St. Easthampton, MA

A weekend festival featuring seven women debuting new "first person" solo theatre pieces that run the gamut from comic to serious, and poetic to music-filled, with themes that include mental health, love, loss, family and showbiz. Program A features: Sue Tracy with "An ADHD Girl's Guide to...WHOA!," Alice Barrett with "Stories Gone Missing," Jarice Hanson with "Alp Me Make it thru the Night, and Beth Filson with "Telling the Story - Untelling the Diagnosis" Program B features: Vanessa Adel's "Holding Space,"Jo-Anne Hart's "Friendship: A Love Story," and Laura Wetzler's "Love, Death & Warthogs"

Directed by JEANNINE HAAS (Artistic Director/Pauline Productions) and SABRINA HAMILTON (Artistic Director/KoFest), with Liesel de Boor


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2022 FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES

In the summer of 2022, we held our 31st and final summer season.  We offered 2 productions (one indoor and one outdoor), a 6-day intensive workshop, plus a story slam & celebration of over 3 decades of compelling theater.

FLUSHING (Make Room for Someone Else)

FLUSHING (Make Room for Someone Else)

SANDGLASS THEATER & PARRIS-BAILEY ARTS

July 22 & 23, 2022, Fri. & Sat at 8 p.m. | Sun. July 24 at 4 p.m. in the Mainstage Theater in Emily Dickinson Hall on the Hampshire College campus.
Conceived and Written by Linda Parris-Bailey and Eric Bass, with original songs by Linda Parris-Bailey and Eric Bass. Performed by Linda Parris-Bailey, Eric Bass and Kirk Murphy. Directed by Kathie deNobriga. Puppets by Ines Zeller Bass.
It begins at the Brink, where two theater directors are passing the leadership of their ensembles to the next generation. This moment sparks a reflection on what it means to retire and what it might mean to inherit. For those stepping down, what do we leave and who do we become? And for those stepping up, how do we take what is given and make it our own? A story told with puppets, with songs, and with a . . .
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KoFest Story Slam & Celebration 2022

KoFest Story Slam & Celebration 2022

KoFest STORY SLAM & CELEBRATION

Sun., July 24 at 8 pm. ONE NIGHT ONLY You’ve heard of poetry slams – competitive poetry events. This is one is for first person, true stories – told live and without notes, 5 minutes or less — and on the theme of “STEPPING UP/STEPPING BACK” A benefit to keep Ko going strong, this event typically sells out, so reservations are highly recommended, and if you've got a story to tell . . .
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Actor Bob Martin as Ezell

EZELL: Ballad of a Land Man

CLEAR CREEK CREATIVE

July 29 & 30 at 6:15 pm arrival; July 31 at 10:15 am arrival. Rain Cancellation Date: Sunday at 6:15 pm
Join us outdoors at Hampshire College Farm Center for this environmental, cultural and spiritual parable of domination & resilience that explores the complexities of climate change, indigenous erasure, and environmental extraction (fracking) — and is based on the artists’ lived experience in their rural Appalachian community. This immersive experience features a contemplative walk through the woods to the performance site with live music, the play, a return walk and a post-show dialogue with the artists and a panel of local experts . . .
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EARLIER IN 2022

Piti Theater's Jonathan Mirin in a still from Canary in a Gold Mine

CANARY IN A GOLD MINE

Now available directly from Piti Theatre. Visit ptco.org/canary .

PITI THEATRE COMPANY

Written and performed by Jonathan Mirin
First seen ONLINE in 2022: Feb 11 & 12 at 7:30pm; Feb 13 at 3:00pm, and then on-demand through May 1, 2022
Captions Available in English and French.
With a partner sickened by electro-hypersensitivity (a.k.a. “microwave sickness”) Mirin has become part of a landmark suit against the FCC. During the pandemic he’s felt compelled to transform what could be an earnest public health lecture into a fun and compelling dive into the opposing forces of corporate profit vs. public safety. Created for the web, Mirin's eco-justice adventure is like theatre…but flatter!
...
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2023 WORKSHOPS

Stay tuned for a 1-day workshop on the basics of stage lighting to be offered at Springfield College in the fall of 2023.

2022 WORKSHOP 
for adults

FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance

FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance

with GERARD STROPNICKY,
Co-Founder, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble
July 18-23, 2022 - SOLD OUT
Why do some stories – some performances – spark your imagination, set fire to your soul, and leave you transformed, while others just sit there? Is it the content, or the telling? The framing, or the style? Can story be employed to bring laughter, or tears, or understanding, or lasting social change, or ...
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TICKETING AT KO

Ko’s workshops and performances are offered at three different pricing levels: PATRON, STANDARD and DISCOUNT.

We are a proud participant of the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector.

Though the program does not subsidize arts presenters, its goal is to broaden accessibility to cultural programming by advocating for lower ticket prices for people with EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cards.

Most arts organizations require that you show your card at the door, but but we do not. Ko recognizes that not all people needing a discounted price are enrolled in these programs, and that one’s financial situation can change in a heartbeat. Therefore, we invite those in need to avail themselves of our DISCOUNT level tickets. And if you are able to help us provide this access to those in need, please consider purchasing your ticket at the PATRON level.

See the full list of participating organizations offering EBTWIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.

JOIN OUR LIST

KEEP KO STRONG

LAND ACKNOLWEDGEMENT

We wish to acknowledge that Ko Festival headquarters and most of our live offerings come to you from the homeland of the Nipmuc and Pocumtuc tribal peoples. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory, and we honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land.

FUNDERS

The Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

NEFA logo - white lowercase letters on black

Ko Theater Works, Inc. is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act from the National Endowment for the Arts.

net-logoKO Theater Works is proud to be a member of THE NETWORK OF ENSEMBLE THEATRES: Artists Creating Theatre. Artists Creating a Community. Artists Creating a Movement.

2022 INTERNSHIPS

We are not currently offering any internships.