The mountains, nature and waterways are just part of what makes our time in the Adirondacks so unique. The other part is the artists, musicians and performers that make the Adirondacks their home while sharing their creativity with the rest of us. Though the numerous Adirondack professional and regional theaters are offering a variety of entertainment, it’s the unique opportunities that these theaters have on the docket that I’d like to highlight.
The Lake George Theater Lab (LGTL) has announced its 2012 season, bridging classical material with new works, including the annual free outdoor Shakes on the Lake, Two Gentleman of Verona; Stupid F*ing Bird, a groundbreaking new Adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic The Seagull for the New Play Laboratory in a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theater Company; Tales for Tots Players; and an evening of original Ghost Stories. » Continue Reading.
The Lake George Theater Lab has announced its 2011 season, “A love letter to the Adirondacks”, including their annual free outdoor Shakes on the Lake “Twelfth Night, or What You Will” (the very first Shakespeare play they performed in Rogers Memorial Park); Tales for Tots Players (a children’s show); “The Cottage”(an eerie and mysterious new play representing the New Play Laboratory); an evening of original Ghost Stories; and “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney, starring Lake George Theater Lab Artistic Director Lindsey Gates and Adirondack Theater Festival Artistic Director Mark Fleischer. The season opens with the annual free outdoor production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night, or, What You Will”, Shakespeare’s comedy about love, mistaken identity and the power of will. The Theater Lab has again teamed up with the Classical Acting Studio at New York University’s Associate Director Daniel Spector, who cuts all of Shakespeare’s scripts to 90 minutes, casts the play with graduates of the Classical Studio, rehearses at a breakneck pace and brings a naturalistic Shakespeare to Rogers Memorial Park. Through a grant from New York’s Roundtable Ensemble the production will be performing in New York City’s Riverside Park June 24th and 25th before travelling upstate. July 14th, 15th and 16th, Rogers Memorial Park, Route 9A; 7:30 PM. Rain location is at Bolton Rec Center. Free and outdoors.
Next up is Daisy Foote’s “The Cottage”, an eerie mystery set on an unnamed body of water in upstate New York. Every summer Lake George Theater Lab selects artists to come upstate for a week on the lake and lab a brand new play. The playwright, director and actors all live in one house and workshop the play’s structure, theme, dialogue, etc., and then present a reading to the public with a guided talk-back afterward for the playwright to gather as much feedback as possible. Daisy Foote and the director Evan Yionoulis are frequent collaborators, including Ms. Foote’s play “Bhutan” off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theater and Daisy’s upcoming play “Him” this Fall at Primary Stages in New York City. Ms. Foote is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Horton Foote. July 30; The Sagamore Hotel, 110 Sagamore Road, Bolton Landing; 8:00 PM; $15. Reservations: (518)203-2600.
The full Lake George Theater Lab 2011 season includes:
“Twelfth Night, or, What You Will”
Shakes on the Lake By William Shakespeare Directed by Daniel Spector July 14-16, 7:30 PM Rogers Memorial Park Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing Rain location- Bolton Rec Center Free. Outdoors.
Tales for Tots
Children’s Fairytale performance July 20, Free Bolton Free Library (518)644-2233
“The Cottage”
New Play Lab By Daisy Foote Directed by Evan Yionoulis July 30th, 8 PM Sagamore Hotel 110 Sagamore Road, Bolton Landing $15, (518)203-2600
Original Ghost Stories
August 6, 8 PM Sembrich Opera Museum Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing $12, (518)203-2600
“Love Letters”
By A.R. Gurney Directed by Michael Barakiva Starring Lindsey Gates and Mark Fleischer August 12-14, 8 PM/2PM Sagamore Hotel 110 Sagamore Road, Bolton Landing $25, (518)203-2600
Long ago there were whales at the edge of the Adirondacks, but it wasn’t till last year that I saw one myself—the same day our trail was blocked by a bull moose, another creature I’ve yet to see here. This wild kingdom was on Gaspe peninsula, Quebec. The whale left a huge impression, as did Moby Dick. I can’t pretend to have read this engrossing however longass 1851 book, but I listened to it on tape during that trip, and it took another week to finish it. So it was as unexpected as a water spout to spy a poster announcing that Pendragon Theatre, in Saranac Lake, is staging the story this weekend. Pendragon’s Web site has an explanation. “Moby Dick Rehearsed is a play that attempts to turn the 800-page novel into a two-hour play,” says director Karen Kirkham of Dickinson College. “That in itself is a feat to admire. Orson Welles’s 1955 play is little known. Even less known is Welles’s repeated opinion in interviews later in life that the play ‘is my finest work—in any form.’”
The show is at 7:30 Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21, at and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 22. Tentative performances in December are Dec. 4 at 7:30 and Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. The production will tour schools and arts centers around the region until March. Tickets are $20 for adults and $16 for seniors and students; $10 for age 17 and under. Pendragon is at 15 Brandy Brook Avenue. For information and reservations, contact Pendragon Theatre (518) 891-1854 or pdragon@northnet.org.
A 1930 edition of Moby Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent, who lived in Ausable Forks, is credited as a factor in the novel’s rediscovery. You can see Kent’s powerful pen and ink drawings at this link to the Plattsburgh College Foundation and Art Museum, to whom many of Kent’s works were bequeathed by his widow, Sally Kent Gorton. The 1930 printing was first offered as a limited edition of 1,000 copies in three volumes held in metal slipcases. AntiQbook is offering a set for $9,500—something for the Christmas list.
Cover of the 1930 Chicago, Lakeside Press edition of Moby Dick, illustrated by Rockwell Kent
The 2009 season of the Lake George Theater Lab (LGTL) in Bolton Landing has been announced. The LGTL, now in its fifth season, does new American productions in bare-bones style that feature Broadway and off-Broadway talent (and according to them, “way off-off-Broadway pay”). Two of the shows are free, and their main stage is only $15 (plus discounts for students and seniors). The season kicks off on July 9 with LGTL’s annual free outdoor Shakespeare: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Daniel Spector, with a cast drawn from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Classical Studio. “Midsummer,” one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays, will take over Rogers Park, on Route 9N in central Bolton Landing, on July 9-11, at 7:30 PM. Bring a blanket and picnic.
Next in the schedule is a world premiere by Jesse McKinley, a national correspondent (and former Broadway reporter) for The New York Times: “The Theory of Everything,” a paean to true love, the Thea-tah, and the beauty of the Adirondacks. A comedy with heart – and a mystery or two — “The Theory of Everything,” directed by Mark Schneider, runs July 16-18, 8:00 PM, Bolton Central School, 26 Horicon Avenue, Bolton Landing. Reservations: 518-207-0143. $15.
Then “Belle of Amherst”, William Luce’s celebrated 1976 solo piece about Emily Dickinson, will be performed as a co-production with LGTL’s frequent artistic partner, the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum. “Belle” will star LGTL artistic director Lindsey Gates in the role that won Julie Harris a Tony Award as the reclusive poet. A one night only event directed by Michael Barakiva, “Belle” will be on July 25, at 7:30 PM, the Opera Museum, 4800 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing. Reservations: 518-644-2431. $25. Ms. Gates will also join her mother, Toni Gates, to present a family-friendly performance of “Stone Soup,” at Bolton Free Library, Route 9N, Central Bolton Landing, July 29th, at 7 P.M. A classic about making something from nothing, “Soup” is ideal for kids of all ages (and adults, too), and is free.
Finally, the premiere of “Rest, In Pieces” by Steve Bluestein, in association with Ted Seifman, Silverwood Films, Susi Adamski, and the Charles Wood Theater. A comedy about a family finding themselves through death, “RIP” stars Marcia Wallace (“The Bob Newhart Show”) and Richard Kline (“Three’s Company”) and is directed by John Bowab. At the Wood Theater, 207 Glen Street, Glens Falls, NY, “RIP” runs from August 27-September 6, 8 PM. (Sundays at 2 PM.) Reservations: 518-874-0800. $30.
Photo: Drew Cortese, Jose Febus, Jenny Maguire, Mary Lou Wittmer performing “Leo” by Daniel Heath in 2008.
The Lake George Theater Lab has announced its 2008 season, its most ambitious ever, including “Four by Four,” an evening of world premiere short plays by a quartet of rising young American playwrights; three free “sneak-peek” readings of full-length plays; a free, outdoor production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” part of our annual “Shakes by the Lake” series in Rogers Memorial Park; and a benefit performance of “Chopin and the Nightingale,” the American premiere of a drama with music at the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum. All told, the LGTL will present seven new plays – and one classic – from July 10-19:
“Four by Four,” a collection of four new short plays, including “Leo,” an exploration of a hamster’s homecoming by Daniel Heath; “Panopticon,” a comedy by Aaron Loeb about a husband and wife with a few little weapons around; “The Grave,” Gabriel McKinley’s gritty tale of one horseplayer’s blues; and “Three Divided into One,” a drama about letting go by Molly Rhodes. All seven are directed by Rosemary Andress. JULY 10-12; Bolton Central School, 26 Horicon Avenue, Bolton Landing; 8 PM; $15. Reservations: (518) 207-0143.
“Fresh Work At Frederick’s,” readings of three new American plays, presented at Frederick’s Restaurant, in downtown Bolton Landing. With drinks on tap and dinner at the ready, the readings are designed to be a casual way to hear brand-spanking new work – for free! Among the inaugural offerings are “The Swearing Jar,” a contemporary drama by Kate Hewlett; “The Boy From Newfoundland,” a quirky Canadian comedy by Graeme Gillis; and “Away in a Manger,” not your average Christmas play by Jesse McKinley. JULY 14-16; Frederick’s Restaurant, 4970 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing; 7 PM; FREE and no reservations required.
Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” the comic fairy tale pitting friendship against love and featuring feisty young gentlemen, intelligent young ladies, servants, outlaws, a duke, a knight, and a dog fight. (Needed: one dog.) Directed by Daniel Spector. JULY 17-19, Rogers Memorial Park, Route 9A; 7:30 PM. FREE and outdoors.
“Chopin and the Nightingale,” a drama about the long-secret romance between the famed composer and Jenny Lind, a beautiful Swedish soprano. Performed with a pair of world class sopranos in the gorgeous environs of the Sembrich Museum, the performance will benefit the Icons of Europe TB Fund, which benefits tuberculosis research. JULY 25, Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, 4800 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing; 7:30 PM; $20; Reservations: 518-644-2431. (Extra performance: JULY 27, 2 PM).
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The mountains, nature and waterways are just part of what makes our time in the Adirondacks so unique. The other part is the artists, musicians and performers that make the Adirondacks their home while sharing their creativity with the rest of us. Though the numerous Adirondack professional and regional theaters are offering a variety of entertainment, it’s the unique opportunities that these theaters have on the docket that I’d like to highlight.
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