Dancing at Lughnasa at SUNY Ulster
by M.R. Smith
But the stardom myth is still hard to punch past. During a recent business fair, with professionals and students from all over the area in attendance, there was a spirited discussion about the necessity of having the degree to have a good stage and screen career. Jerry laughs, “They (the kids) didn’t want to hear our advice! Everyone on the panel advised them to stay in school, and at least get a bachelor’s degree, if not go further. I could tell they were expecting us to say: follow your dream and throw caution to the wind! Fly to LA, or get on a bus and go to NYC.” Even with a lucky break in the biz, “they have to know: the odds are that it will be only for a short time. Most people I meet aren’t ready for that kind of pressure.”
Most of Jerry’s students, as talented as they are, are freshmen and sophomores. “At this age, in a year they grow so much, mostly in maturity and discipline. I really have some that I’m impressed with, especially with how much they’ve grown in working on one production [The Foreigner], and having one semester of classes.”
Most successful theatre seasons start with a comedy, and follow with a classic drama. Jerry’s upcoming show, Dancing at Lughnasa, by Irish playwright Brain Friel, had lengthy runs in Dublin and London, went on to score a Tony Award on Broadway (1992), and was made into a 1998 movie starring Meryl Streep. This story of five unmarried sisters who live in a small Irish town, as reminisced by the grown child of one of them, takes place in a particular three-week period in August of 1936, during the pagan festival of Lughnasa, when there was much Celtic music and dancing around fires...CONTINUE...
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