This is the last week you can order Jessie's 2025 moth on merch!
Next week, we'll be unveiling our new 2026 moth, by Ros O'Brien, of Friendly City Clay and Art Center. We can hardly wait to share this beautiful art with you!
Four circles. The first one has a white graphic moth design and a label: 2022-2023,by Kate Fristo. The second one has a colored pencil drawing of a tulip tree silkmoth and is labeled 2024 by Anna Maria Johnson. The third one has a blue moth with the night sky in its wings and is labeled 2025 by Jessie Trainum. The last cirlce just says "coming soon" and is labeled 2026 by Ros O'Brien
In what has been described as "the worst and most mission-aligned marketing decision of all time," we commission a new moth from a local artist every year.
(except 2022/23 because we were just getting started...).
Check out our prior designs, by Kate Fristo, Anna Maria Johnson, and Jessie Trainum.
We leave our community to do our work, and a lot of people here drive to DC or Richmond or New York to see high-quality theater. Silk Moth Stage is committed to creating accessible opportunities for professional artists to work where we live and for local audiences to see outstanding work onstage.
Do you live here? Then you deserve excellent art, here.
And professional artists should be able to live in one of the most gorgeous places on earth.
it's all at silkmothstage.com/about/out-of... )
before heading home.
What should people see while they are in the area?
Send us info on events happening during our spring show weekend (May 22-24 and 29-31), or other favorite Valley experiences, and we'll put them on our info page for out-of-town guests.
(curious what we already have?
The Shenandoah Valley has so much to offer, if people come here for one of our shows, we want them to stick around—come to our Friday night show, get Saturday breakfast downtown, go for a hike, check out some galleries, see a show at a different theater, grab late-night drinks, and repeat on Sunday
Local friends and fans (especially ones who work with nonprofits!)
Help us #makeItAWeekend !
We know that a Silk Moth show, while very much worth the drive from anywhere, is only a few hours of entertainment.
Which truths are "the highest"? Is a "universal" telling even possible?
We're not sure. But we do believe in theater's healing powers.
The story goes that the founders of @shakespeare.and.company , back in 1978, spent a summer making plays at Edith Wharton's old house and debating what constitutes "the classics." This is the definition that they arrived at, and when we decided we were going to produce "new classics," we borrowed it
If you want to support our mission during Great Community Give, you can give at the link in our bio or www.greatcommunitygive.org/organization...
We're less than a week into early giving for Great Community Give, and six supporters have already helped us raise $135!
Huge thanks to Patricia, Nancy, Joanne, David, Maureen, and another Nancy for helping make professional, accessible theater in rural Virginia.
...reposting an audition announcement for ShenanArts or representing our region at national theater conferences alongside leaders from American Shakespeare Center , Silk Moth leadership and artists are always collaborating with other theater companies. We wouldn't have it any other way.
Whether we're meeting up with leaders from Eunoia Theater to strategize about new play development, coaching student actors at Harrisonburg City Public Schools Visual and Performing Arts for monologue competitions, bringing workshops to local college theaters, ...
This is hanging up in the office at Wayne Theatre , and we love how they live into that promise. In some communities, the theater scene is a mess of warring fiefdoms. In the Shenandoah Valley, we work with each other to raise everyone up.
We bring you picnic dinners from Sugar & Bean Cafe and Baking Company. Even our liability insurance is with local company (and season sponsor!) LD&B Insurance and Financial Services .
We're lucky to have a thriving local economy, and we vote with our dollars to support it.
Artistic Associate and thrifting goddess Heidi Jablonski works her magic hunting in the racks at Gift & Thrift and Valley Creative Reuse . Our road signs came from Garrison Printing Co.
Did you know that when you spend money at a small, local business, more of it stays here than if you shop at a big box store?
We believe that investing in our community is vital. We're regulars with weird requests with the patient and bemused folks at Randy's Hardware in Bridgewater.
This one comes from Curt Tofteland, of Shakespeare Behind Bars. Sometimes, an audience is on the small side, or someone has to miss rehearsal unexpectedly. "The circle is complete" just means, "Whoever we needed to be here, is here. Let's create together."
Image of an actor singing on the Silk Moth Stage. Overlayed text says #greatCommunityGive EARLY GIVING STARTS TODAY @silkMothStage
It's almost time for @greatcommunitygive and we can't wait!
We're hoping to win Most Donors during the 3-4 pm hour on April 22, but every gift helps us create great theater.
Starting today, you can help us reach our goals by supporting us at the link in our bio.
DISCOUNTS:
Discounted ticket package for classes of 2025 and 2026 to see the show with a parent
GROUP10 to get a 10% discount on 10 or more tickets
Arrive in a car with 4 or more passengers or on a bike to get a coupon for discounted tickets to our May show (TBA).
The matinee performance on September 27 will have ASL interpretation by Kris Long and Emily Stemper, and audio description by @kimberlynewtonva.
We will also have performances with virtual captioning on September 21 and 27 (matinee).
#accessibility #asl #audioDescription #captions
It's a play for everyone who has ever left home or ever will. THE WANTING FOREST follows Aspen, a young woman with a curse, as she tries to find her way in the world, and her mother, Mira, who is learning to live on the other side of the longest shortest time.
The world premiere of THE WANTING FOREST by @moflunty opens September 19. Get your tickets now!
We're heading into the weekend humming, "Each day is a little life / Each night wipes the slate clean."
Make your plans to journey into the forest, where curses and blessings are hard to tell apart, we all make mistakes, and sometimes we need more than one night to wipe the slate clean.
Tree silhouetted against the night sky. White text overlay reads, "Each day is a little life. Each night wipes the slate clean. The Wanting Forest Silk Moth Stage"
We're only a few days into rehearsals for THE WANTING FOREST, but we can already tell that this is a special one.
We started the week with movement, exploring how our bodies could tell stories together. We ended with reading the full text and singing through it.
Icons (thumbs up, heart, speech bubble, sharing arrow, hand under a heart). Text reads: "How can I help? like, comment, share, and GIVE!!
It's okay if you don't have $10 to spare, times being what they are ("hard and getting harder all the time").
It's really helpful to us if you feed the algorithm by liking, commenting, or sharing with your wealthiest relative.
A blonde toddler and a teenage boy draw in chalk on the stage. The text reads "early giving starts TODAY!" Great Community Give is April 16!
Early giving starts TODAY. The big event is April 16. You can help us get a head start, and support professional theater in rural Virginia, right now.
To learn more about other wonderful orgs in our area, check out our insta or fb, where we'll be shouting them out all day (most aren't on bsky yet)
Six actors standing on the Silk Moth Stage prepare to take their bows. Text reads: This year, Silk Moth wants to win the prize for Most Donors! (and we're not up against big nonprofits this year, so we have a real fighting chance!). Every donation of at least $10 counts! The organization with the most donors wins $5500!
#greatCommunityGive has prizes for most donors and most money raised, in each of three size categories.
This year, we're in the "small" category, and we want to win "most donors." Every donation of $10 or more counts!
www.greatcommunitygive.org/organization...
