Enter: Counter/Current
- Courtney Hayes-Jurcheck
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Belfast’s experimental theater collective has big plans this year, starting with its second Annie Baker production.
By Kyle Laurita, Midcoast Villager Staff Writer February 13, 2025
Link to Article: Enter:Counter/Current | Village Life | midcoastvillager.com
The playwright Annie Baker’s script for “Circle Mirror Transformation” begins with a description of place and time: “A windowless dance studio in the town of Shirley, Vermont. There is a wall of mirrors. There is a big blue yoga ball.” The time is simply noted as, “Summertime.”
Place and time are always important bones for a play or novel — in any work of art, really. It gives the audience context; it allows them to participate, rather than merely observe. For the upcoming performance of “Circle Mirror Transformation,” produced by Belfast's Counter/Current:Collective, the context will be the Waldo YMCA’s Wellness Room, where the play will be performed. It’s the latest example of the kind of experimental, immersive theater for which the company has quickly developed a reputation, a reputation that is sure to grow over the coming year thanks to an ambitious roster of productions, classes and other events that Counter/Current has planned.
“If you’ve been to a Zumba class, a yoga class or a dance class, I think you’ll feel familiar when you walk into this space,” said John Jurcheck, co-founder of Counter/Current:Collective and director of the Baker production.
The play features five characters and follows the development of a six-week acting class. In parallel, Counter/Current has coordinated the performance and the space to drop the audience into the story: There will be roughly 20 seats available per performance, stretched out over five weeks between Feb. 15 to March 14, on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
“This is a true ensemble play,” Courtney Hayes said. “There’s no lead. All the characters play off each other and have really important, personal arcs to their own journeys. And their journeys intersect with each other in really interesting ways.” Hayes, who co-founded the collective with Jurchek, will be performing in the production.
The Belfast-based theatre collective, which was founded last May, recently moved into a brightly lit unit in the old opera house building on Church Street they have dubbed “Studio 111.” From there, Counter/Current has been developing a slew of productions, classes, and other events, to such an extent that it could be mistaken for that of a big-city theater company. Jurcheck and Hayes — who moved to Belfast during the pandemic from Colorado, leaving behind a life of theater production — previously described Counter/Current as their “love letter to the Midcoast,” and their productions have indeed unfolded accordingly.
The collective performed Baker’s “The Aliens” in July of last year, in the backlot of Darby’s Restaurant, an intimate stage for an intimate play. The company also taught a six-week acting course involving improvisation and close reading of texts in Studio 111, and has hosted monthly “Rhythm Sanctuaries” — an “ecstatic dance, bringing people together and using movement to release old patterns and habits,” as Hayes-Jurcheck described it — as well as hosted the “Last Night Belfast” open mic on New Year’s Eve.
“We’re always wanting to push ourselves with Counter/Current and do something a little bit bigger, a little bit more challenging, and to get more people involved,” Jurcheck said. “Our goal now is to continue to grow in a manageable way.”
In the coming months, Jurcheck and Hayes hope to stage another immersive experience with the original musical, “If A Tree Falls,” written by Etta Hughes and Carolyn Phelps-Schulz, students of the Ecology Learning Center in Unity. They have also scheduled a showcase reading of the Annie Baker translation of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and a May fundraiser, in which Jurcheck will perform “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. Soleimanpour’s work has become famous for his request detailing that actors perform his one-person play without ever having read it before — with no direction and no set. Jurcheck will receive a sealed envelope containing the script moments before he begins.
While producing traditional shows are important for any theater company, the Collective wants to develop new players as much as garner an audience for finished works. This year, they plan to host monthly open mics, as well as another series of acting classes, at their studio in Belfast.
“We believe that by doing what we’re doing, we can train people that art is not only a viable profession, but a necessity. A necessity in our lives,” Jurcheck said. “It is something that we can all come together over as a community… It’s the thing that strengthens us, the thing that allows us to process through a lot of what’s going on together, in a way where we can create action and move forward as a community.”
And they’re gaining traction. People are approaching the company more and more, asking to participate instead of just observing from afar. “People are slowly coming out of the woodwork,” Hayes said.
“We want to be able to give people the opportunity to participate,” Jurcheck added. “Our ability to come together as a community is crucial.”
Through Counter/Current:Collective, Jurcheck and Hayes hope to continue strengthening a context in which art is a priority, developing a place for community and a time for resilience — a place like Belfast; a time like today.
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