The Staff

Here are the CRAFTSBURY FUNNERY collaborating artists:

PETER GOULD is our founder. He has directed more than ninety-five youth theatre productions. He keeps "Get Thee to the Funnery" alive all year long, prepares the script, goes for the funding, and pulls together the concept and the whole crew of campers and directors. Peter is always ready to explain Shakespeare's metaphors, and the most outrageous, even bawdy, jokes. "I'm not making this up; it's right here in the text! "he'll tell you with a grin.

Peter's Young Adult novel, WRITE NAKED, published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, won the 2009 National Green Earth Book Award for its ecological content. He was the Vermont Arts Council 2016 Arts Educator of the Year. Long ago, Peter was the performing partner of Stephen Stearns in "Gould & Stearns," a physical comedy and political theater duet with more than 3000 shows under their belts. Peter's latest book, HORSE- DRAWN YOGURT, published by Green Writers Press, is a collection of true stories about his years on the back-to-the-land commune at Total Loss Farm. You can listen to Peter Gould read his book on Audible or your other favorite spoken book platforms.

JONNY FLOOD studied secondary English education at Boston University. Born and raised in the wetlands of Woodbury, Vermont, Jonny has directed Funneries all over, from Barre to Brattleboro to Craftsbury to St. John in the Virgin Islands. He has never missed a summer with the Funnery since he was twelve. Jonny loves music and theater and maple creemees. Jonny has left his Youth Literacy gig at Vermont Humanities in Montpelier, and is about to put his thinking about education reform into daily practice, as the new theater teacher at Cabot School.,

At the age of 13, CHARLOTTE THORNLEY found her voice at the Center of the Universe (the Funnery). She’s played many parts over the years – among them actor, audience member, intern, and collaborating artist. When not wrangling children or running monologues over her tongue, Charlotte loves the challenge of cooking from an empty fridge. She finished her acting training in France during the pandemic, and has returned to the U.S. to pursue her career.

BROOK GENTRY is a Northeast Kingdom local who started doing Shakespeare with Peter in 2014 on the snow-swept Canadian border. Hamlet in middle school: that was a challenge. She did the Funnery for four years and has been on staff for five more. Brook acted in high school, and stage managed in college. She loved directing "Merchant of Venice" scenes on Zoom in 2020! Brook helps Peter keep the Funnery humming internationally throughout the year with her social media and graphic design skills.

SOPHIE LYON is from Massachusetts, but has made the journey up to the Funnery every summer since 2013. While her roots are in comedy and improvisation, Sophie has played a range of characters at The Funnery and beyond. Her most notable achievements include becoming the poster child for learning to juggle in two Funnery weeks, playing Feste in Twelfth Night. When not in the fresh air of Vermont, Sophie can be found working in a science lab in White River Junction. It was Sophie who led the 2020 camp to confront the glaring contradictions in Portia's immortal "Quality of Mercy" speech.

In the before-times times, DORAN DANGER-HAMM was a mild-mannered children's theater performer and teacher, and part-time massage therapist who dwelled in southern Vermont. In the after-times times DORY has been reborn as a nomadic teacher of Mocumentaries and Radio Dramas via the inter webs. Elderberry farming, yoga, and training of big dogs keep him strong and happy, and a tad more limber than most tree people tend to be. Dory has taught at two Funneries: in Brattleboro and the US Virgin Islands. He is over the moon to continue with the Craftsbury Funnery, "the most joyous band traipsing across this good earth," says he.

Raised on the seacoast of New Hampshire, ELIZA KLEIN spent her summers between Brattleboro and Craftsbury, VT attending Funnery! She was a Funnery camper for three years, acting in six shows between the camps since 2015. Funnery gave her tools and passions that have guided her life ever since. She is delighted to return as a collaborating artist this year, and will arrive just hours after completing a workshop in Commedia dell'arte in Italy ! Eliza studies acting and other arts at Bennington College, and is a performer and company member with theater troupes local to Southern Vermont.

ROSA PALMERI is a multi-hyphenate artist and organizer, living in NYC but very, very often escaping the city and jumping on Amtrak to come to VT. By day, she’s a paralegal at the National Lawyers Guild, and by night, she puts on little plays with her friends and vacuums her living room. She has her Masters in Acting from the American Conservatory Theatre and is a proud union member. Rosa took the two-woman Twelfth Night, which Peter conceived of and directed, all the way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival back in the day.

Hailing from the not-so-far hills of Hardwick, Vermont, MARIANA CONSIDINE performed with the Funnery for five summers before joining the staff in 2021. She is pursuing a double major in music and theater through Mount Holyoke College and the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. Outside of camp, Mariana enjoys making art, cooking, and having too many candles. She has recently worked in costume design and construction for the Hazen Union Drama Club and St. Michael's Playhouse. Mariana can't wait to see you at camp!

DUCKY migrated to us from Castleton, Vermont. He worked for ten years at the Governor's Institute on the Arts. As METAPHOR DUCK, he quacks to alert us to Shakespearean language that needs more than passing notice. In his super-hero avatar, the "DUCK OF DOOM" is the number-one disciplinarian at the Funnery. Ducky missed one entire season after he was accidentally locked in a suitcase at the New England Youth Theatre (after performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Ducky had important supporting roles in Treasure Island and Robin Hood at NEYT, where, after sustaining a potential career-ending archery injury, his health and life expectancy improved with the hiring and training of a stunt-double Ducky.

~We owe a lot to the folks who have supported us over the years, like the Vermont Community Foundation, the Monteverdi Artists Collaborative, Concept 2 , Sterling College, Vermont Humanities, the Vermont Arts Council, The Pleasants Fund, The Craftsbury Community Fund, the Green Mountain Fund, the Northeast Kingdom Fund, Highland Center for the Arts, and lots of faithful anonymous friends who love their Shakespeare.