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GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival
August 10 - August 17
Free
Get ready for the 2025 GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival and prepare to experience the magic of live performance, hands-on workshops, and interactive events for people of all ages! This year, we’re raising the bar with more than two dozen events on and around the historic Guilford Green and at Branford’s Legacy Theatre.
We’re moving into the heart of the summer festival season this year with weeknight shows starting August 10, and nonstop excitement from Friday afternoon, August 15 through evening on Sunday, August 17.
Whether you’re marveling at a parade of drummers and giant puppets, sharing your voice in a community song circle, enjoying the lively rhythms of a New England fiddle band, or trying a new form of dance, there’s truly something for everyone! This year’s festival features a dynamic mix of live music, drama, poetry, comedy, and much more, with engaging workshops in Brazilian capoeira and Argentine tango, plus surprise experiences throughout the week.
Attending the Festival
The 2025 GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival will present some two dozen shows in four venues. A big top/main stage tent on the historic Guilford Green will serve as the center of gravity, with a Stage 2 on the Green primarily for interactive events. Shows will also take at the Arthur Murray Dance Center at 11 Water Street and First Congregational Church at 122 Broad Street in Guilford, and at The Legacy Theatre, 128 Thimble Island Road in Branford.
Nearly all events will be free, and all will take place, rain or shine. The Arthur Murray Dance Center will serve as rain venue for all Stage 2 events on Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday. Most shows will run 45 minutes to an hour in length (see your program booklet or view our online schedule).
Tickets and Admission
There will be no tickets or admission charges for any event except for the Nebulous Quartet show at The Legacy Theatre on August 13, but we strongly encourage you to make generous free-will donations at every performance. Your support is what make it possible for us to offer so many events for free.
When you arrive, stop in at the welcome table in the main tent on the Guilford Green, where you can pick up a festival program, say hello to our fantastic volunteers, learn about any last-minute changes as well as the lay of the land. You can, of course, go directly to one of the venues, but we’d love to see your smiling face!
Parking
Parking is in short supply in Guilford, especially around the Green. We suggest you arrive well before the event you wish to attend, find a place to park and stroll around town, grab a bite to eat and visit some of our locally owned shops and boutiques. On-street parking is available in marked spaces on all four sides of the Green, and public parking lots are located at Town Hall (31 Park Street), at the Nathanael B. Greene Community Center (32 Church Street) and behind the shops on Whitfield Street (entrance is between 15 and 23 Water Street).
Restrooms
A limited number of portable toilets will be set up on the Green. The Arthur Murray Dance Center, First Congregational Church and Legacy Theatre all have restrooms, and there are public facilities at the Nathanael B. Greene Community Center (32 Church Street), Town Hall (31 Park Street) and the Guilford Free Library (67 Park Street).
Exploring Guilford
Guilford is a picturesque small town with a deep agricultural, maritime and commercial history. It’s a great place to visit for walking, hiking and boating, and downtown offers lively cafes and markets, locally owned clothing and gift shops, an independent bookstore and excellent restaurants. It’s a town with a warm and genuine community spirit drawing from a farm-to-table ethos, waterfront adventurism, down-to-earth sensibility, urbane sophistication and intellectual curiosity—all set against a Colonial-era historical backdrop
