Oldcastle Theatre Company

About

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 47th 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 in residence and joint productions with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. From 1994 until 2011, Oldcastle was in residence at the Bennington Center for the Arts. In 2012, Oldcastle moved to its new artistic home in downtown Bennington at 331 Main Street.