History of Oldcastle..

In an age when the average life of an American theatre company is only five years, the Oldcastle Theatre Company is thrilled to be celebrating our 40th birthday!

Formed by five New York actors in 1972, the troupe began touring in Vermont because one of its founding members, Eric Peterson, was originally from Bennington.

Plays developed at Oldcastle have been produced in more than 25 states and in such foreign countries as South Africa, Canada, Spain and Argentina. OTC presents at least one new play each season and has premiered plays by such well known writers as Elliot Hays, Reginald Rose and Bob Shanks. Tony winning actresses such as Karen Ziemba and Emmy winning actors and directors such as Richard Thomas, James Goldstone, Melissa Leo, Larkin Malloy and others have worked with the company over the years. Academy Award winning composer, John Addison, wrote original music for an OTC premier production.

In the early days the troupe toured in Vermont, New York and New Jersey with many Vermont performances taking place at the historic Park McCullough House in North Bennington. The first performance was of John Barton's THE HOLLOW CROWN and was followed by a production of Dylan Thomas' UNDER MILKWOOD. Oldcastle remained a touring company until 1977 when the company took residence at Southern Vermont College in Bennington. The theatre remained at the college until 1994. Oldcastle also spent two summers in residence at Bennington college and did two winters residence and joint productions with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. In 1994 OTC moved to the new Bennington Center for the Arts, a structure built by then OTC trustee and local philanthropist, Bruce Laumeister.

Oldcastle has always been cognizant of its role as a New England theatre. It has produced several plays with special relationships to the Green Mountain State. It toured Vermont with the statehood bicentennial play, 109 HATS TO BENNINGTON, presented ETHAN, an original play about Green Mountain boy Ethan Allen and his band of merry men: presented both on the Vermont Public television and in a special performance before the Vermont Legislature., THE YANKEE TRADITION, AN EVENING OF NEW ENGLAND. Oldcastle also developed David Budbill's remarkable play, JUDEVINE based on his poetry which presents Vermont as a third world nation. In 2001, Oldcastle premiered CIVIL UNION a play about the social, political and personal costs of Vermont′s same-sex union law.

Oldcastle is a true company of actors, writers, directors and designers working together over time to create a style of working as well as a close long term relationship with its audience.

Now thirty-five years into its experiment, Oldcastle has produced more than 200 productions and continues to grow artistically. It has received awards from the New England Theatre Conference and the Vermont Arts Council.