Sandglass Theater Hosts Two Events in Brattleboro to Benefit Refugees

Sandglass Theater's piece about the struggles and triumphs of refugees living in Vermont has hit the big screen and is coming to a town near you: Brattleboro, to be exact. A showing of the film version of the Putney, VT-based puppet theater company's award-winning production, "Babylon: Journeys of Refugees" is happening this Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Latchis Theater (which has a brand new sound system). The production was created as a response to the worldwide refugee crisis and its impact on communities in the United States. Using puppets and moving panoramic scrolls, five actors/singers/puppeteers tell the stories of refugees in original four-part choral songs. Sandglass conducted research and interviews with new residents who immigrated to the U.S. and live in Vermont in order to gain insight into their plight and the challenges of resettlement. Out of that group of interviews, 10 of them informed the stories featured in the production. "Babylon" looks at the relationship of refugees to their homelands, lost and new, and the conflicts that exist within the countries to which they flee. The title is a reference to the ancient city (now Baghdad, Iraq) that was a center of commerce and culture that fell when it was conquered by the Persian king, Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. The seed of the idea came when Sandglass founders, Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass, met Amila Merdzanovic at a community dinner—Merdzanovic is the director of Vermont's U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, with which Zeller Bass was also involved. "Babylon" was first shown as a work-in-progress event at Putney's Next Stage in April 2017. With the feedback from that event, Sandglass went on to create a much further developed and refined final version of the piece, which toured the Northeastern U.S. until March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused all touring to be cancelled. On the eve of a West Coast tour, with no further prospects to take the show on the road, Sandglass turned Babylon into a one-hour film, working together with Haptic Pictures in Guilford, VT. At 10 a.m. that day (Jan. 20), a board game developed by Laurie Stavrand of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in collaboration with Sandglass Theater's Jana Zeller will be introduced at the Multicultural Community Center. The immersive experience puts players in the shoes of a refugee navigating bureaucratic hurdles, cultural adjustments and personal challenges before they board the plane to arrive in their new country. Both events will raise awareness and funds for The Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), which has a five-county territory in Vermont—including Windham County, where Brattleboro is located. Ian Hefele, ECDC's director, was a student intern with Sandglass Theater while attending Brattleboro's School for International Training (SIT) and also has a theater background in the Monadnock Region (Actors Theater, Branch River Theater). "'Babylon' was percolating in the idea bin then," he said of when he worked with the company in 2015. "Being on the receiving end [of Sandglass's fundraising efforts] is a great full-circle for me." Eric Bass reached out to ECDC with the opportunity to do one more showing of the film and wanting to do so as a fundraiser to highlight the work the organization is doing in Vermont. "We received our first [refugees from Afghanistan] in 2022 and we now have refugees from eight different countries coming into Brattleboro," said Hefele of the organization's resettlement efforts. "We are a permanent refugee settlement site now and are expecting close to 200 new arrivals this year." During the school year, he added, refugees will be hosted at SIT's dormitories for up to 90 days. "We won't have to receive refugees and put them up in motels right away," he said. "[SIT] is more of a family environment." Funds raised from the two events will go toward offering more community-based and public education events throughout the year. The film screening will be followed by a Q&A panel with Sandglass Theater professionals and members of the refugee community living and working in Brattleboro—southern Vermont has a refugee retention rate of nearly 90 percent. Hefele will moderate. "Brattleboro is such a special place," he said. "In this tiny rural town, you'll hear half a dozen languages being spoken as you walk down the street. "There's a lot of different communities coming together here. We want to see that continue." Sandglass Theater will present the film version of its award-winning production, "Babylon: Journeys of Refugees," this Saturday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St., Brattleboro. Admission is on a sliding scale ($10-$25) with a $50 ticket including sponsorship of a bin filled with cleaning products to go to a local refugee family. A suggested donation for the board game workshop (that morning at 10 a.m. at the Multicultural Community Center of Southern Vermont, 122 Birge St., Brattleboro) is $5. This event is open to the public and recommended for audiences aged 14 and older. Reservations are required for the board game workshop. Both events benefit the Ethiopian Community Development Council.