Singer and composer Moira Smiley and choreographer Laurel Jenkins will already have broken into song and dance by the time doors open to the inaugural edition of the “The Loop,” a new series debuting this week at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater.
After mingling over drinks in Jean’s Place lounge in the theater’s new wing, attendees will make their way into the Anderson Studio. There, they’ll settle into a semicircle seating arrangement around Smiley and Jenkins to witness the artists’ work in progress come to life. Afterward, they’ll return to the lounge to debrief about what they saw, sharing their observations with the artists and each other.
“I love the metaphor of infinity,” Jenkins said, describing the sort of constructive feedback loop she hopes the show will create. “It’s always happening. You just have to tap in.”
Launching this Thursday, November 20, with Smiley and Jenkins’ collaboration, “The Loop” is a series of four performances at Town Hall Theater throughout the winter and spring that invite audiences into the artists’ creative processes.
“The point of ‘The Loop’ is to open that secret door to the audience and let them in on this language that we know deeply but maybe isn’t apparent,” Jenkins said.
Each of those open doors will reveal aspects of art making in varied performance disciplines. In January, Middlebury College visiting assistant acting professor Craig Maravich will set up interactive stations for audience members around the studio related to the school’s winter-term musical, Urinetown. For semiprofessional jazz pianist Bill Viteck’s jazz and poetry performance in March, visitors will witness the live composition of a poem. Smiley and Jenkins will share their back-and-forth, improvisational practice.
Smiley, a 49-year-old Grammy-nominated artist, will sing short original songs, to which Jenkins, 46, will perform a fixed dance routine. When a song ends, Jenkins will continue to dance, and Smiley will improvise tunes to match her movement. The idea, the duo said, is to allow the audience to witness their creative process in real time and eliminate the dynamic of a consistent “leader” and “follower” in performance.
The series “is shifting the model away from product and entertainment,” Jenkins said, noting the pressure on performing artists to “commodify, package and sell” their work. But commercialization often comes at a cost, she continued, “because if you’re doing that, you’re not doing the other things. You’re not playing. You’re maybe not evolving.”
Jenkins and Smiley will incorporate costumes and props into their performance. They’re still working out the details, but sparkly suits, large pieces of paper, and real tree branches to move and create sound are all possibilities, Smiley said.
“Objects can have a lot of meaning and storytelling potential,” Jenkins said. “So, this is like a DIY opera.”
“A DIY abstract opera,” Smiley chimed in, “with no subtitles.”
After each performance in the series, audiences will reconvene for a moment of reflection, thus closing “the loop.” According to Lindsay Pontius, director of the Center for Learning and Engagement at Town Hall Theater, this debrief won’t necessarily take the form of a regular Q&A session; for her performance with Smiley, Jenkins suggested they might provide audience members with materials to write a letter about what they saw.
“We really want to make that the key part of it — not just ‘Let’s see what you think,’ or ‘Let’s see what you’re getting from us,’ Pontius said. “It’s like, ‘What’s happening in the room?’”
“The Loop” with Moira Smiley and Laurel Jenkins, Thursday, November 20, 6 p.m., at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. $10-20 suggested donation. Reservations recommended. townhalltheater.org.
This article appears in Nov 19-25 2025.
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