Some of the most exciting theater we can see this year will be available to us in the Hudson Valley. So much to see, hear and enjoy! You are bound to see a show on its way to Broadway soon. Among last year’s offerings, The Wolves and A 24– Decade History of Popular Music have been nominated for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize; The Babylon Line and the Light Years had NY productions, with Junk and The Last Match scheduled for production later this year.

This season, Powerhouse will welcome Tony winners Sam Gold and Michael Mayer, Tony nominees Scott Ellis and Sheryl Kaller and OBIE winner, Trip Cullman, plus Josh Radnor, composer Stephen Trask, actor and playwright Hamish Linklater, and two-time Pulitzer winner, Lynn Nottage.

“ The Powerhouse season brings our audience in contact with some of the country’s most exciting theater makers. It’s a special thrill to welcome Powerhouse newcomer Lisa Kron and to have Lynn Nottage come to Vassar College and the Hudson Valley,” says Vassar’s Powerhouse Producing Director Ed Cheetham. Ed has been involved in various capacities with Powerhouse since 1988 and oversees all productions—a full-time job.

“We are thrilled to partner with Vassar to produce our 33rd Powerhouse summer season of new works-in-progress,” said Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film. “The last several years at Powerhouse have been especially fertile ground for the development of some of the most exciting new works for the American theater. We look forward to providing this summer’s lineup of artists—an incredible collection of Powerhouse alums and first-timers—a rigorous and protected artistic community in which their work can flourish and prepare for the next step in its journey.”

Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse collaboration continues to be the launching pad for some of the most groundbreaking new works for the American theater, with countless productions in New York City, regionally and internationally. Notably, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and Stephen Karam’s The Humans, the reigning Tony® winners for Best Musical and Best Play, respectively—received early development in the Reading Series during the 2013 season at Powerhouse.

Most recently, during its 32nd Season last summer, Powerhouse presented first-look productions of two daring new works that were just named finalists for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, which moved directly from its Powerhouse premiere to a recent celebrated run at The Playwrights Realm in NYC; and Taylor Mac’s  A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Among 30 other projects developed recently at Powerhouse with new or upcoming major productions: Richard Greenberg’s The Babylon Line at Lincoln Center Theater; The Light Years at Playwrights Horizons; Ayad Akhtar’s Junk at Lincoln Center Theater; and Anna Ziegler’s The Last Match at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Josh Radnor

The upcoming 33rd Powerhouse Season will feature two main stage productions in the Powerhouse Theater:

Sacred Valley (June 29 – July 9) by Josh Radnor directed by Sheryl Kaller

Three people are forced to ask themselves the deepest questions about love, friendship, and growing up in this bittersweet comedy from Josh Radnor (Liberal Arts, How I Met your Mother, and Powerhouse’s The Babylon Line).

Good Men Wanted (July 20 – July 30) by Kevin Armento directed by Jaki Bradley and choreographed by Ani Taj

Good Men Wanted brings to life the incredible true stories of renegade women who disguised themselves as men to fight in the Civil War. In a searing drama punctuated by explosive dance sequences set to contemporary pop music, five women of vastly different backgrounds become warriors and spies.

The musical workshop presentations, presented in the Vogelstein Center for Drama & Film, will include three exciting new projects:

Lisa Kron

Stilyagi (June 23–25) lyrics by Lisa Kron with music by Peter Lerman.

Based on the motion picture The Hipsters, produced by Red Arrow Films directed by Michael Mayer

“This is musical about me, Mels Yefimovich Vasnetsov, when I was pulled from promising future by beautiful, corrupt and dissipated Stilyaga girl by name of Polly, who ruined my life in best and worst possible manner. Obviously, this is complicated Soviet story, not fit subject for frivolous American musical. But if you are interested, please, I invite you, come.”

This Ain’t No Disco (June 30 – July 2) music and lyrics by Stephen Trask & Peter Yanowitz, book by Rick Elice and directed by Trip Cullman

Set against the garbage strikes, the grit, the graffiti of NYC 1979, This Ain’t No Disco tells the story of drifters and dreamers who search for their place in the night world of Studio 54 and the Mudd Club. From the co-creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the director of Six Degrees of Separation.

Lynn Nottage

The Secret Life of Bees (July 27–29) book by Lynn Nottage, music by Duncan Sheik with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead is based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd and directed by Sam Gold.

When Rosaleen, her Black caretaker, is beaten and jailed for attempting to vote, white teenager Lily’s rebellious spirit is awakened and she and Rosaleen escape their circumstances to find the truth about her mother’s death. Three eccentric and spiritual Black sisters who run a colorful bee farm help both Lily and Rosaleen grow and heal with their wisdom, warmth and motherly love. Written by two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage, lyrics by Tony and Drama Desk nominee Susan Birkenhead, composed by Tony Winner Duncan Sheik, and directed by Tony winner Sam Gold.

This summer’s ‘Inside Look’ Workshops to be presented in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater are:

The Great Leap (July 7–9) by Lauren Yee

San Francisco, spring 1989. Manford Lum, talks his way onto a college team, just before they travel to Beijing for a “friendship” game. He can sink 100 free throws in a row, so who cares about his background? When they arrive in China, Manford must juggle international politics and his own personal history. Inspired by events from the life (and short-lived basketball career) of playwright Lauren Yee’s father.

Hang Man (July 28–30) by Stacy Osei-Kuffour directed by Leah C. Gardiner

In the present day, in the backwoods of Mississippi, a Black man is found hanging from a tree. Nothing is quite what it seems in this surreal, funny, raw portrait of a town wrestling to seek meaning in life and death.

Dan Finnerty — “Little Orphan Danny”

The annual Readings Festival, split between two weekends (June 23–25 and July 21–23), will include: Amy and the Orphans by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Scott Ellis; Little Orphan Danny, with book, music, and lyrics by Dan Finnerty, directed by Sean Daniels; Ironweed by William Kennedy and Jodie Markell, based on the novel by William Kennedy, directed by Jodie Markell; Paris, Actors by Hamish Linklater; Serious Moonlight by Adrienne Shelly, co-adapted by Liz Tuccillo and Andy Ostroy; Jane Says by Diana Son;Kid Prince and Pablo by Brian Quijada; and additional projects to be announced.

Members of the noted Powerhouse Theater Training Program will present re-imaginings of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (July 14–16) adapted and directed by Emily Mendelsohn and Cymbeline (July 21–23) adapted and directed by Andrew Willis-Woodward. Members of the Training Company will present Soundpainting (July 6, 13, 20, 27), a series of improvisational performances featuring music, dance, and acting in a dynamic and unique type of ensemble performance; as well as Workshop Performances of 12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs) (July 23–24) by Caridad Svich, directed by Heidi Handelsman; One Act Plays Festival (July 26); and Not, Not, Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (July 28) by Caryl Churchill. Young actors, playwrights, and directors from around the country and internationally, along with an exceptional faculty of artists, comprise this important component of the Powerhouse artistic community.

ABOUT POWERHOUSE THEATER

Now in its 33rd year, Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. The Powerhouse program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 300 professional artists and 40 participants in the Powerhouse Training Program live and work together to create new theater works. In 2016, three productions that trace their developmental roots to Powerhouse ran simultaneously on Broadway – Hamilton, Bright Star, and The Humans – and in the 2016/17 theater season, ten projects premiered in New York City that had been developed and presented at Powerhouse: The Wolves (Playwrights Realm); The Babylon Line (Lincoln Center Theater); Rancho Viejo, The Light Years, and The Profane (Playwrights Horizons); Marry Harry (The York Theater); Nollywood Dreams (Cherry Lane Theater);The View Upstairs (Lynn Redgrave Theater); The Mother of Invention (Abingdon Theatre Company); and Taylor Mac’s epic A 24– Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann’s Warehouse).  Later this year, they will be joined by Ayad Akhtar’s Junk (Lincoln Center Theater on Broadway) and Anna Ziegler’s The Last Match (Roundabout Theatre).

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Thomas Pearson, Executive Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) is a not-for-profit company dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development of new works for theater and film. Since 1985 New York Stage and Film has played a significant role in the development of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan area.

Vassar College strives to make its events, performances, and facilities accessible to all. Individuals with disabilities requiring special accommodations must contact the Office of Campus Activities at least 48 hours in advance of an event, Mondays-Fridays, at (845) 437‑5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space/and or assistance may not be available.

For tickets and additional information visit the website.
For information about accessibility to campus facilities click here.
Click here for directions to the Vassar campus, located at 124 Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Continuing its exciting trajectory, the two mainstage productions this summer, Transfers, by Lucy Thurber, (June 30-July 10) and The Wolves, by Sarah Delappe, (July 21–31) are written and directed by women.

Lucy Thurber

Lucy Thurber, Obie-award winning playwright (The Hill Town Plays, Scarcity) hopes to stimulate and participate in a discussion through Transfers about education in America and the transformative opportunities it can create. The play, in the context of interviews with two young men from the Bronx competing for admission to an elite liberal arts college, calls into question class, ambition and expectations as their shared past threatens to overshadow their bright futures. Jackson Gay (These Paper Bullets!) guides the production.

Sarah DeLappe

The Wolves, written by the winner of the inaugural Relentless award in honor of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, is a searing black comedy about the privilege and pain of nine American girls whose lives are consumed by the desire to win. Physically demanding, Delappe’s play is directed by Lila Neugebauer (Wayside Motor Inn, 4000 Miles, Kill Floor).

Taylor Mac

How to describe the spectacular A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, conceived, written, performed and co-directed by international award winner, Taylor Mac? This wildly ambitious, multi-year project charts the history of popular music from our nation’s founding to the present, focusing on one decade per hour. The culmination of this performance cycle is scheduled from noon to midnight on July 30, with emphasis on the decades from 1836 to 1956. Additional performances of works in progress on July 22 and 23 each feature three decades: 1836–46, 1856–66,and 1876–86. Audacious, fabulous Taylor Mac is assisted by music director Matt Ray, Co-director Neigel Smith and Costume Designer, Machine Dazzle.

The beloved 1965 musical, The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, has been adapted by Santino Fontana (Cinderella, 1776) and will be directed by 
Scott Ellis (She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century). It plays for only three performances, July 7,8, 9, as a workshop at the Vogelstein Center. Still timely, it depicts the struggles of rich and poor in a British music hall setting with such classic songs as Who Can I Turn To?

Another Word for Beauty, with book by Academy Award® nominee José Rivera, music and lyrics by Grammy winner Héctor Buitrago, and direction by Steven Cosson, will receive its East Coast premiere following an acclaimed world premiere engagement at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Set during a beauty pageant at Colombia’s notorious Buen Pastor prison, this new musical inspired by true stories is a soulful portrait of women who fight to transcend their dire circumstances.

John Patrick Shanley

Academy Award®, Tony®, and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley will return to Powerhouse with a reading of his latest comedy, The Portuguese Kid. The Readings Series will now also feature Stephen Belber’s We Are Among Us, Jocelyn Bioh’s Nollywood Dreams, Dan LeFranc’s Rancho Viejo, Stephen Nathan’s The Ways of Necessity, and Tim Blake Nelson’s Socrates,

Two “Inside Look” workshops will include the new play Fingersmith by Alexa Junge (“Friends” and “The West Wing”), an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel (short-listed for the Man Booker Prize) about a female pickpocket set in squalid Victorian England, with direction by Bill Rauch; and the return of Joanna Murray-Smith to Powerhouse, with her newest play Fury, with direction by Mark Brokaw.

All these and so much more!
For full performance schedules and tickets, go here
Or call (845) 437– 5599.

Featured Image: Taylor Mac in A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
This and all images courtesy of Vassar and NY Stage and Film

Powerhouse is and has been an essential part of the Hudson Valley’s extraordinary cultural landscape, introducing us to plays, actors and directors who have changed the face of American theater. Again this season, we have our chance to see theatrical experiments before they go to Broadway and/or Paris.

The Unbuilt City-Rehearsal-Carter Hudson and Beth Dixon– Photo by Buck Lewis

On the Mainstage, Keith Bunin’s (The Busy World Is Hushed, The Credeaux Canvas) The Unbuilt City, directed by Sean Mathias (Waiting for Godot/No Man’s Land), receives its world premiere on July 1 and plays through July 12. The play, staring Beth Dixon and Carter Hudson, is ostensibly about a business meeting but reveals a series of mysteries about the the nature of love, legacy and the untold history of New York City.

The Light Years, by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, developed and directed by Oliver Butler and made by The Debate Society (Jacuzzi, Blood Play), runs from July 23 to August 2. It crafts a love story spanning 40 years at the Chicago World’s Fairs of 1873 and 1933 and offers the audacious vision of Steele McKaye, a now obscure mogul. The play paints a spectacularly vivid world of forgotten futures and the indomitable spirit of invention.

Three musical workshops will be offered this summer, all with fascinating stories. Rain, based on the famous Somerset Maugham short story, with book by Sybille Pearson (Baby, Giant), music and lyrics by Michael John La Chiusa (Giant, The Wild Party) and directed by Barry Edelstein (Steve Martin’s The Underpants, Nathan Englander’s The Twenty-Seventh Man) retells the tale of two couples confined on a South Sea island whose lives are exploded by Sadie Thompson, a woman with a dark past and a bottle of good whiskey. From July 10–12.

Loving V. Virginia, with book and lyrics by Marcus Gardley (The House That Will Not Stand), music by Justin Ellingon (Stagger Lee) and conceived by Patricia McGregor, runs from July 17–19 and is a soulful period musical set in 1958 when a black woman and a white man dared to defy Virginia’s miscegenation laws and married. Their story sparked not only a fire-storm in their community, but a Supreme Court landmark decision.

From July 31-to August 2, Noir, with music by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), book by Kyle Jarrow (Whisper House) and lyrics by both, and directed by Rachel Chavkin (Natasha), pulls in its audience with the secret thrill of overhearing others’ private converstions. Alone in his apartment, he becomes obsessed with the lust, lies, deceit and danger he hears in his neighbor’s apartment.

In Workshops, Desire, six new one-act plays by six of our best contemporary playwrights inspired by the short stories of Tennessee Williams, will be performed between July 2 and July 5. They will be directed by Michael Wilson (The Trip to Bountiful ). The playwrights are: Elizabeth Egloff, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, David Grimm, John Guare, and Beth Henley.

The Last Match, by Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51) and directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Bethany), on July 17–19, takes us inside the minds of two extraordinary tennis players who contemplate athleticism, masculinity, and marriage as they do battle under the lights of center court. By match point, much more has been won and lost than a game of tennis.

Two reading festivals of five plays and a musical are scheduled for June 26–28 and July 31-August 2.

The Powerhouse Apprentice Company has a full season as well, with Twelfth Night (July 10–12) and Much Ado About Nothing (July 23–25 and Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom (July 17–19) plus workshop performances of new plays. All of Apprentice shows are free.

For more about the shows, writers, directors and actors, as well as a full performance schedule with calendar, subscription rates and ticket prices, visit the Powerhouse Theater website here:
For tickets call the Box Office @ 845–437-5599.

See you there!

Featured image: L to R: Sean Mathias (Director); Keith Bunin (Playwright); Beth Dixon (Actress); Carter Hudson (Actor) - Photo courtesy of Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater

The Babylon Line is the first of three nearly finished works in progress. It’s 1967. A writer from bohemian Greenwich Village commutes to Levittown to teach a creative writing class. His students discover the power of storytelling to alter their lives, and one special student reawakens his own artistic impulses.

The Babylon Line will be followed by The Danish Widow by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar), July 16– July 27, and In Your Arms, ten dance vignettes of lovers’ stories by preeminent playwrights including Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Christopher Durang, and Alfred Uhry. It will be brought to life by Broadway heavyweights Christopher Gattelli (Newsies), Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime), and Lynn Ahrens. The all-star cast includes the wonderful Robert Morse, late of AMC TV’s Mad Men. Showing July 5–13.

Josh Radnor, Leslie Bibb. —THE BABYLON LINE

The Babylon Line — L to R — Bibb, Oberholtzer, Wood, Corman, Graff, Halston, Radnor

Famous for giving the theater-going public its first glimpse of many works that make it to the Broadway stage and many other venues, Powerhouse Theater offers its participants, both on and offstage, a unique experience to experiment and enjoy the development of new works for the theater.

Adesola Osakulumi and Oneika Phillips – IN YOUR ARMS

Besides the Mainstage shows, the eight week program offers musical workshops, two readings festivals, and the Apprentice Company’s performances of Chekhov’s The Seagull and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Readings and Apprentice performances are free.

Theatergoers will have a hard time choosing which play, workshop or reading to attend, but are guaranteed many exciting afternoons and evenings.

For full performance schedule, calendar and tickets see:
powerhouse.vassar.edu.

All photos by Buck Lewis, Courtesy Powerhouse Theater.

Featured image, Samantha Sturm and Brendon Stimson – IN YOUR ARMS

It is directed by Sande Shurin, director and acting coach in New York City and Woodstock. Clybourne Park, inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, has won a Pulitzer Prize (2010) and a Tony (2011) and several British theater prizes. Its two acts are set in the fictional Chicago neighborhood of Clybourne Park, where the African-American Younger family expects to move in 1959, and 2009, where a Caucasian couple hopes to “improve” the neighborhood by tearing down the original house, now abandoned, and build a McMansion.

The same set of actors plays the parts of the characters in both acts. Although one character is deaf, all of the characters are deaf to each others’ desires and needs, speaking in states of suppressed tension from the beginning. The metaphor of war hovers in the background as the characters misunderstand each other. As Ben Brantley notes in The New York Times, “tact is the first casualty of conversation.”

Performing in Clybourne Park are Chris Grady, Elizabeth Henry-Macari, Kevin Higgins, Stephen Jones, Phillip X Levine, Terri Mateer, Jody Satriani, and Justin Waldo.

For complete show dates visit the PAW website
For reservations call (845) 679‑7900. Tickets are $20, $15 for seniors and students.
Not recommended for children.

photos by Andrea Cabane

There have been a few Broadway revivals of “Moon” in recent years, notably with Cherry Jones as Josie, but the iconic production in 1973 starred Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards.

PAW’s production stars Kimberly Kay as Josie, Richard Scofield as her father, Phil Hogan, Justin Lazard as Jamie Tyrone and features Bob Sheridan as the rich next door neighbor, T. Steadman Harder. It is directed by Nicola Sheara, well-known as both director and actor, and founder of the Reader’s Theater, Theater Sounds.

Pictured are Kimberly Kay as Josie, Justin Lazard as Jamie (in her arms), Richard Scofield as Phil (red suspenders) and Bob Sheridan as T. Steadman Harder (in jodphurs). Photography by Cabane Studios

The performances began on February 7 and run through February 23.  Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at St. Gregory’s Episcopal A frame Church Hall, Route 212, Woodstock.

Reservations can be made by calling (845) 679‑7900, and are recommended since seating is limited. Ticket prices are $20, $15 for seniors and students.

For more information about Performing Arts of Woodstock go to PAW’s website

Harold Pinter, a prolific writer, director and actor, was born in a poor section of London in 1930. He began his theatrical life as an actor, all the while writing poetry. His plays have been produced all over the world, and have become known for their power to capture everyday speech and for his “commanding silences.” The famous Pinter pause is bursting with meaning. Harold Pinter also directed and wrote for films, notably “The Quiller Memorandum,” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” and “The Servant.”

Pinter, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, is always concerned with humanity’s failure to communicate, but this concern is often hilariously played out. Discussions and misunderstandings escalate, highlighting the isolation that all individuals experience sometimes. In “A Slight Ache,” originally a BBC radio play, fantasy grips the characters, startlingly revealing their inner yearnings and frustrations. In “The Dumb Waiter,” two assassins passively await their next assignment. In both plays, questioning can lead to destruction. Acceptance appears to maintain the power balance in their world.

L; Robert Burke Warren, R; Clay Tyson

Sometimes referred to by critics as “comedies of menace,” these plays are both set in confined spaces where apparently nothing particular is happening. Yet there is an unseen threat, “a weasel under the cocktail cabinet,” as Pinter put it. An intruder, by his very existence—or not— is a threat which will change the lives of the people in the room.

L; Adele Calcavecchio, R; George Allen

“A Slight Ache” features George Allen and Adele Calcavecchio with Brandon Hargrove; The Dumb Waiter stars Clay Tyson and Robert Burke Warren. The production is designed and directed by Robert McBroom.

The performances are scheduled for November 29, 30, December1; December 6,7,8; and December 14, 15, and 16. Evening performances on Thursdays-Saturdays are at 8 P.M.; the special Sunday matinee on December 16 is at 2:30 P.M. Ticket prices are $17, $14 for seniors and students. Reservations are strongly suggested as space is limited. Please call at (845) 679‑7900 .

For more than 48 years, Performing Arts of Woodstock has been mounting quality productions of both new and classic plays—artistically challenging plays such as True West, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Dresser, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Twelfth Night, Breaking the Code, Endgame, to name just a few from the last several years. —taken from PAW’s website

You can find us online at www.PerformingArtsOfWoodstock.org.

The evening, titled RUSSIAN CARAVAN, also including works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky, is part of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic’s (HVP) current subscription series. This concert celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Vanaver Caravan, a professional touring company and Hudson Valley cultural treasure. Preceding the concert is a gala dinner at 5:30 p.m. at Frank Guido’s and a pre-concert talk at UPAC at 7 p.m.

Both “The Earth Will Have its Own” and “The Ballad of Polly Vaughn” were commissioned by the HVP. “The Earth Will Have its Own” is an expanded orchestration of a former work by Bill Vanaver. It is based on a Georgian legend with music from the Caucasus region of south-eastern Russia. “The Ballad of Polly Vaughn” is a symphonic work inspired by the music of Appalachian Mountains. The choreography by Livia Vanaver features a circle of dancers around the 60-member orchestra, an artistic feat rarely-seen on any stage.

In addition to The Vanaver Caravan, the HVP will be joined on-stage by Bill Vanaver on banjo and vocalist Molly Andrews, as well as members of the Vassar Choir. Featured dancers include Ryoko Kudo (of the Jose Limon Dance company) and Gwyneth Larsen (of AiRealistic and currently in the cast of the off-Broadway production Fuerzabruta).

Sinhalese Devil Dance (Photo © Lois Greenfield)

Founded by Bill and Livia Vanaver, The Vanaver Caravan synthesizes world cultural traditions with modern dance and music to foster peace and community. In celebration of the Caravan’s 40th year, a gala benefit dinner will take place at Frank Guido’s Little Italy at 5:30 p.m., prior to the HVP concert. The dinner will be chaired by world-renowned singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant. The Gala will honor the life work of Nora Guthrie, daughter of legendary American folk musician Woody Guthrie and the overseer of the Woody Guthrie Foundation in New York City.

Isabel Cottingham (Photos © Lois Greenfield)

Ms. Guthrie’s association with The Vanaver Caravan goes back exactly 40 years when, in 1972, Ms. Guthrie danced in the Caravan’s first public performance. Since then, Ms. Guthrie has not only been a staunch supporter of the Caravan but also an inspiration, making possible the production of one of the Caravan’s most successful works: Pastures of Plenty, a choreographic and musical tribute to Woody Guthrie.

CONCERT PROGRAM
Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32

Bill Vanaver, The Earth Will Have its Own with The Vanaver Caravan Dancers and members of the Vassar Choir

Bill Vanaver, Ballad of Poly Vaughn with The Vanaver Caravan Dancers and members of the Vassar Choir

Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78 with the Vassar Choir, Cappella Festiva, Kairos and members of Ulster Choral Society and Camerata Chorale

CONCERT TICKETS, $26 to $48, based upon seating location.
In person at the Bardavon Box Office, 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, 845.473.2072 or at the UPAC Box Office, 601 Broadway Kingston, 845.339.6088.

GALA TICKETS, $125 including dinner and concert (RSVP by March 24, 2012)
By phone available directly from Mark Sommers at 845–633-103, or online at www.vanavercaravan.org.

LOCATIONS
Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) is located at 601 Broadway in Kingston, NY

Frank Guido’s Little Italy is located at 14 Thomas St, Kingston, NY 12402 (2 blocks from UPAC)

Vigalante Man (Photo © Lois Greenfield)

BIOGRAPHIES

BILL VANAVER, Well known musician and symphonic composer has been playing to audiences throughout the world for the past 50 years. He is known for his stellar instrumental work on 5 string banjo as well a myriad of other folk instruments. With his vast knowledge of traditional song and musical styles, he has enlivened audiences for over 50 years at such venues as the Newport and the Philadelphia Folk Festivals. Bill Vanaver has taught “World Dance and Music” at Bard and Skidmore Colleges.

Senegalese “Mama” Spirit Dance (Photo © Lois Greenfield)

LIVIA DRAPKIN VANAVER, For the past 40 years Livia has been traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad with her musician/composer husband Bill Vanaver and Company of dancers and musicians, collecting and performing traditional dance and music from many cultures utilizing traditional sources in the creation of original works and presenting them for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Ms. Vanaver holds a BFA in Dance from NYU School of the Arts (Tisch). From 1966–72 Livia was a member of Hebraica at the 92nd Street Y directed by her mentor, Fred Berk. She worked closely for many years with the late Jane Sherman, former Denishawn Dancer, recreating 10 of the dances of Ruth St Denis and Ted Shawn for The Vanaver Caravan. Livia currently performs 3 of Ruth St. Denis’ solos on a touring program, Mystic Immortals. She is also on the faculty of the Academy for the Love of Learning and teaches dance at Columbia University in the Graduate Theater Program.

Recently, Livia and Bill have been honored with several prestigious awards including: the Association of Teaching Artist Distinguished Service to the Arts in Education, 2008; The Eisteddfod Award, 2007, for years of dedication and service to the practice and dissemination of traditional folk song, music and dance; and the Art Times Cultural Achievement Award for enriching the quality of life through the arts. Livia and Bill are committed to creating community through the vehicle of dance and music.

Fode Sissoka with Kora (Photo © Lois Greenfield)

THE VANAVER CARAVAN was established in 1972 by musician/composer Bill Vanaver and dancer/choreographer Livia Drapkin Vanaver. Their love for the world’s diverse cultures and commitment to their art as well as to peace among nations, continue to inspire artists, students, teachers and audiences daily. Their down-home, high-spirited performances have moved audiences throughout the U.S., Europe and North Africa. Over the years, The Vanaver Caravan has toured abroad extensively, performing at festivals, in theaters and arts centers in France, England, Scotland, Belgium and Germany and for the U.S. State Department in Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Cyprus.

Appearances at major festivals include: Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Smithsonian American Folklife Festival, the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, France; the Rudolfstadt Festival in Germany, Harbourfront in Toronto, and the Sidmouth International Festival in England.

From the percussive Appalachian clog dancing featured in their “Pastures of Plenty” tribute to songwriter Woody Guthrie, to the Caravan’s new world dance & music show, “EarthBeat!” to reconstructions of works by modern dance pioneers Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, to original choreography by Livia, with full orchestral accompaniment composed by Bill, The Vanaver Caravan weaves tapestries of dance and music with effortless skill and precision.

The Caravan has worked on many socially oriented projects since their inception. Some of the more recent include a collaboration with Friendship Ambassador’s Foundation (FAF), which brought the Company to work at the Balkan Peace and Reconciliation Conference in Romania and Bulgaria. In 2002 the Caravan collaborated with FAF to create an arts and healing program for families of victims of 9/11.

The Vanaver Caravan has also pioneered in-depth arts education programs throughout the U.S. for both public and private schools, often creating a curriculum in conjunction with teachers and administrators. They offer imaginative workshops, a Dance Institute and SummerDance! intensive program. Equally at home in a symphony hall, an outdoor festival, in the classroom, school assembly, or at a conference, The Vanaver Caravan has captivated audiences worldwide with its celebration of American and International dance and music.