Linda McInerneylmciner@gmail.com
www.olddeerfieldproductions.org
Deerfield
Director, Producer, Creator
Old Deerfield Productions was created in 1986 to offer theatrical productions in the village of Old Deerfield, Massachusetts. Through a series of collaborations with museums, Deerfield Academy, The University of Massachusetts and the Shea Theatre in Turners Falls, MA a small theatre company gradually formed. Old Deerfield Productions is now a regional and international theatre company that offers six or more productions a year throughout the Pioneer Valley and beyond with a mailing list of 4600 and growing.
Old Deerfield Productions is a community based, community engaged performing arts organization. By deepening community through offering work that is chosen and created to engage and connect those who participate and attend, Old Deerfield Productions hopes to be an engine of the burgeoning creative economy and a connector for the creative human capital of our region, while working intergenerationally on all levels. The nature of the organization is connective in that it brings together artists of many disciplines and audiences of many demographics who become part of the wider creative community. Artistic Director, Linda McInerney, has lived and worked in the Pioneer Valley for 25 years, was educated at Middlebury College, The University of Paris, National Shakespeare Company Conservatory and the UMASS Graduate Department of Theatre. The company includes actors, singers, musicians, composers, designers and technicians of all ages who are part of our community.
ODP creates concentric circles of community involvement. At the center of that involvement are the creators who are brought together to invent or bring to life a theatrical piece that resonates for our place and time. Many of these collaborators are young artists at the beginning of their careers, thus mentoring their work is part of the process. With each work, new collaborators are brought to the fold so the creative family expands. The creative economy is enhanced, as these creators add to their income through the work. The next layer of involvement is through our audiences. An increasing number of theatre goers have become faithful followers of our work and express fulfillment and connection to us and to one another, as well as to a wider experience through attending our productions. And further, when we take our original work to international venues, that same experience is offered to a new audience while stories are told that express our interconnected nature and we all learn about the richness of our differences and the resonance of our sameness.
