Vermont
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Who Says This Is A One-Woman Show? (Part 4)
One week ahead of deadline, my Indiegogo fundraising campaign has reached its original goal! Some time last night, the donation came through that put us over the top and assures that the DVD production of Piecework: When We Were French will move forward. Fundraising does not come naturally to me. I love to listen to…
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Waking Up French
March is the International Month of Francophonie, celebrating French language and culture throughout the world. I wonder whether the very idea makes some Americans of French descent quake in their boots. Many Franco-Americans have, at best, an ambivalent relationship to the French language. During my research for Piecework: When We Were French, I spoke with…
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DVD Fundraising Update: The Final Countdown
I hope the francophiles among you will forgive that I have fallen a bit behind in my posts on Franco-American topics. The fundraising campaign to support the DVD production of Piecework: When We Were French is now in its final days. I have been busy shoring up the final bits of support to help us…
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“Piecework” Returns to Lost Nation Theater
Tickets are on sale now for upcoming performances of Piecework: When We Were French at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier, Vermont. Thursday, March 28 at 7:30pm* Friday, March 29 at 7:30pm** Saturday, March 30 at 2pm and 7:30pm Lost Nation Theater, City Hall Arts Center, 39 Main Street in Montpelier * The Thursday night performance…
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The Martha Pellerin Collection of Franco-American Song
I’ve already written about the Vermont Folklife Center and their important work documenting the history and folkways of Vermont. But today I wanted to highlight one initiative of theirs that was especially ambitious and especially important to the preservation of Franco-American heritage. Martha Pellerin was a folk musician active in Vermont in the 1980s and…
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DVD Fundraising Update: Just 2 Weeks To Go!
With our fundraising deadline fast approaching, I thought I would pause today to update you on our progress. As you likely know by now, in January I launched a fundraising campaign to support the production of a high-quality DVD of my solo show, Piecework: When We Were French. The response has been humbling. In just…
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Who Is Franco-American?
When I began research for my solo show, Piecework: When We Were French, I wouldn’t have described myself as Franco-American. When I was growing up in Vermont, my family tended to describe ourselves as French-Canadian or simply French. Before long I realized that this was a description of our past rather than our present. I…
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Franco-Americans, Nativism, and the KKK
All this month I’m posting on topics related to Piecework: When We Were French, my solo show. The play was originally commissioned to honor the legacy of French-Canadian immigration to Vermont and New England. Of course, in the process, it does much more: it explores the immigrant experience more generally; it reveals how the family…
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Who Says This Is A One-Woman Show? (Part 3)
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I’ve borrowed this image from Facebook, where it was being used to honor today’s global day of action, One Billion Rising. Check their site to see live footage of events happening all over the planet, calling for an end…
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DVD Fundraising Update: A Week 4 Enticement!
On January 22nd, I launched a fundraising campaign to support the production of a DVD of my solo show, Piecework: When We Were French. Yesterday marked the beginning of the campaign’s fourth week, and I’m excited to report that, with 22 days down, we’ve been able to raise 60% of our overall goal. This is…
ABBY PAIGE 