This story by Jason Starr was first published by the Williston Observer on Sept. 11.
Imagine, Williston’s own little black box theater. Michael Fidler and Connor Kendall did, and they have found just the spot.
At the start of the Vermont Repertory Theatre’s third season, the nonprofit theater group has found a home, tucked away in a corner suite of a building on Commerce Street. It’s a dead-end road with an eclectic mix of businesses, including an ice cream manufacturing facility and scoop shop, a veterinarian office, and a chimney parts manufacturer.
The theater suite has a performing arts legacy. It was once home to an Irish dance school.
“We had just started looking for a space and this place came up, and we said, ‘Oh wow, it’s perfect,” said Chloe Fidler, the group’s treasurer, administrator and a performer.
The Vermont Repertory Theatre started in summer 2023 with a presentation of Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” at the Isham Barn in Williston. It has returned to the barn each summer since — “Spamelot” in 2024 and “The Miser” in 2025.
Next summer, it plans a two-weekend presentation of “Shakespeare in Love.” The barn has been a reliable summer venue for the group, and in the winter, it has performed at Main Street Landing in Burlington. Rehearsals have taken place at Williston Federated Church.
But the Commerce Street location can be an all-encompassing headquarters: a rehearsal space, performance theater, prop storage and board meeting room.
“To be able to rehearse in a space where you can have your props and your set, and they just stay there, you don’t have to bring things into every rehearsal and take them out again — it’s a total gamechanger for us,” said Chloe Fidler, who is married to Michael Fidler.
The performance space can seat 75, but it’s still in its infancy. It will make its debut in October with the presentation of “The Williston One Acts,” three one-act plays over four nights running Oct. 15-18. The group’s Main Street Landing show this winter is set to be “Uncle Vanya” from Feb. 28 to March 6.
Chloe Fidler described the company’s niche as the presentation of classic texts with high production values: “community theater, but with really high expectations,” she said.
“It’s kind of cool that it is sort of tucked away,” she said of the new space. “It’s like our little Williston secret … We’re excited to see how it all pans out.”
Auditions for the Vermont Repertory Theatre’s third season of shows will be by appointment Sept. 25-27. For more information, visit www.vermontrep.com or email admin@vermontrep.com. For show tickets visit https://theaterengine.com/productions/3018.
