Coming Up Next

Auditions For Wyrd Sisters, written by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, are coming up in early January. Email us for more info.

MEET UPSTART ARTS

An all volunteer non profit organization, Upstart Arts is dedicated to bringing the performing arts to public spaces, including the world wide web. All performances are free to the public, with donations accepted.

Casting is come as you are, the only requirements a willingness to take comedy seriously.

Something Fresh, a P.G. Wodehouse heist adventure, adapted by Michelle Denise Norton, will be released as a radio play in early January.

Pygmalion

WE BELIEVE

Upstart Arts recognizes that diversity creates better art. We are dedicated to providing opportunities to and inviting people of all ages, races, gender expressions, sexualities, or ethnicities. We acknowledge the Indigenous peoples, the Sioux, Algonquin, and Susquehannock tribes,who are the original stewards of the lands on which we now live and perform. We encourage our participants, patrons, and viewers to engage with current leadership to learn more about land and climate issues. The theatre is a better place when we are all working together to tell rich and diverse stories focusing on all walks of life.

PROJECTS

A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

Oscar Wilde's rarest gem and best play, Upstart Arts livestreams this masterpiece on Saturday, February 26th, 2022, 7 p.m. EST. See it on our YouTube channel.

TWILIGHT THRILLER RADIO: SHERLOCK HOLMES

For Fall 2021, Twilight Thriller Radio is presenting three new radio plays based on Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. First up, join us for a live staged reading of The Adventure of the Devil's Foot! The play introduces John Watson and his friend Sherlock Holmes to the Twilight Thriller Radio podcast, hosted by AC Doyle, and tells the tale of mysterious deaths and madness in Cornwall while Holmes and Watson are on vacation. Reserve your ticket at Eventbrite. Coming soon: The Case of the Speckled Band and The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.

2021 Comedy of Errors COLOR_edited_edited.jpg

A COMEDY OF ERRORS

The Comedy of Errors was our Summer 2021 show, and the video of this livestream production of Shakespeare's first play is available on our YouTube channel.

COME NIGHT

An experimental video project based on a non linear telling of William Shakespeare's fiercest love story.

QUARANTINE THEATER

Daily posts from Michelle and Gayle, with some guest videos, sharing our favorite scenes, poems, songs, and having an ongoing conversation about life in this time of pandemic.

We welcome your video, if you'd care to join our efforts. Contact us for more info.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

This lively new version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, done as a radio play, was adapted and directed by Michelle Denise Norton, with sound editing and musical directing by Gayle Eubank. Listen to it here.

TWILIGHT THRILLER RADIO

For Twilight Thriller Radio in Fall 2020, we adapted the Edgar Allen Poe stories The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart into radio format, as well as a completely original contemporay adaptation of Morella by Rissa Miller. Listen to them here.

Sherlock Holmes is the theme for 2021.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

For Summer 2020, the height of quarantine, we performed Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing over Zoom to an audience across the country. Watch it here.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

2020 brought our first modern comedy: Arsenic and Old Lace. This was a family reunion of sorts with the eccentric Brewsters, where everyone has a secret. Mortimer, his aunts, and his brothers find themselves in a battle to see who can carry the Brewster name to its most infamous extreme while Elaine Harper just wants to marry into the madness. You will laugh, but you might want to skip the refreshments.

Performances were held February 21-23, 2020.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Upstart Arts flagship project, The Upstart Twilight Theatre, had our second successful summer of touring, an 80's music, genderqueer influenced production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

March 2019 saw an amazing run of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

in 2018, our inaugural touring show, The Merry Wives continued a two decade tradition of bringing Shakespeare's comedies to York County's beautiful parks.

Join us for Molière's clever anatomy of Alceste, unafraid to affront all of Paris. And helpless against the charms of the lively Célimène. As Paris bustles around him, Alceste picks at its flaws, revealing his own. A modern staging of a classic farce, with a bonus Shakespearean flair that suits the Upstart Arts aesthetic.

Watch the performance here.