Based in Cambridge Vermont, Firefly Productions has been in operation since the Spring of 1996, and became a not-for-profit corporation in May of 1998. In the beginning the focus was the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where they perform every year. The first 1996 company offering, Breathing at 1000 Degrees Celsius by Keefe Healy, was called “A taut hour of drama..” and the company praised with “(they) make the real drama lie in the power of their passionate exploration of ideas.” by The Stage (London). Firefly returned to the Fringe each consecutive year to reviews such as, “energetic...raw...quite moving.” The Scotsman 97, “..the quintessential Fringe experience” The Scotsman 98 “..outstanding performances all around.”**** The List 99, “genuinely thought provoking about those that fall through society‘s net.” The Scotsman 2000, “..an accomplished piece…one of the most intriguing examples of American drama at the Fringe.” The Stage 2001, and finally Fish Dancing in 2002 which received two **** star reviews “a dreamy powerful piece of theater that will move you as sure as the tides move the ocean.” **** The Scotsman “..the simple staging is brilliantly effective. Atmospheric and symbolic.” **** Three Weeks

Expanding our goals as a company past the Fringe festival became a top priority. As a company we strive to provide affordable theater to diverse audiences, to develop cultural and historical educational curriculum and internships in order to teach throughout the state, and to reach out for brand new works of theater in order to find, learn, teach and preserve our current theatrical and cultural trends.

In 1997 Firefly began to develop a tour of Vermont that would reach outside of the major metropolitan areas. Common stops include Barre, Burlington, Castleton, Cambridge, Fletcher, Jeffersonville, Montpelier, Rutland, Waitsfield, Waterville, and Woodstock. In conjunction with these tours the company has supported various other educational and artistic non-profits. In 1997 Firefly began donating a performance of each Summer production to the Governor’s Institute on the Arts in Castleton VT. Similarly in 1999 an original dinner theater was developed to help benefit the Cambridge Arts Council and was later partly donated for a benefit to the Putnam Children’s Discovery Center in Stormville NY. Finally in 2001 Firefly formed a partnership with the Cambridge Arts Council to tour each play of the season to Waterville, and to provide discounts for Arts Council members at the theater classes.

In 1998 a workshop on “Playing Shakespeare” was developed for an English class at Mount Mansfield Union High School. This was followed in 1999 with a workshop on “The Masks of the Greek Theater” for Middlebury High School, in 2000 with “The Proper Audition” for the participants of the Regional High School One Acts Festival at West Rutland High School, and in 2002 with an “Introduction to Improvisational Theater “ class for the Upward Bound program at Johnson State College. Adding these workshops to our already existing internship program allowed us to reach out to students who might not ordinarily have the opportunity to participate in theater. It allows these students to tie together what they have learned in English and History classes to the performances of the plays of those times. To give a further connection between history and theater our existing Summer internships take students to Edinburgh Scotland for the largest theater festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There, the students can watch theater as it was in the past, as it is now, and as it will be in the future. Since companies come from all over the world to perform, not only are different time periods represented but every culture imaginable. These interns are chosen from all over Vermont and the country.

In 1998 we initiated an international search for brand new plays that had never been produced. Our hope is to expose a variety of people to a new playwright. So far all seven winners have been able to travel to the premieres of their plays and listen to audience feedback and questions. This has proved a strong tool for both the audience and the writers. For the writers, the chance to see their work performed gives them valuable information to help them improve their writing, and the audience has the chance to exercise their critical thinking abilities and to be part of the shaping of new theatre.

Our 2003-2004 season expanded  our efforts in all of these areas. Last year four of the six productions were  original plays, three of which will featured Vermont playwrights. Also expanded last season was our class schedule. Two six-week sessions in theatre classes for ages ranging from first grade to adult were offered in both the Fall and Spring providing opportunities for students of all ages to become involved in our regular season.

 2004-2005 promises to point our efforts even more sharply to new writing as all of the six plays are premiere pieces or the return of past premiere productions such as "Fish Dancing" to the Brighton Fringe Festival in May 2005 and "From the Desk of Allister P MacMillan" to benefit the Cambridge Children's School in February 2005.

We are proud to utilize Vermont actors, technicians, directors, and playwrights!

Genevra MacPhail ( PR / Actor) is a resident of Williston VT and has a BA in English from UVM. She joined Firefly in the Summer of 2002 on a PR internship for the Vermont and Scotland tours of Fish Dancing. She remained with the company and began acting with them in the Fall of 2002. Since then she has played Angela and Susan in Baby with the Bathwater, Cindy and Spruce in The Holidays (Some Assembly Required), and as Janice in the world premier production of The Modern Approach.