Mohonk Mountain Stage Company presents John Mighton's HALF LIFE at Unison Arts
by M.R. Smith
To what extent are we only the sum product of our memories and experiences?
If we lose memory, do we also lose identity? These questions are explored
in an upcoming Mohonk Mountain Stage Company performance of John Mighton’s
play Half Life, at Unison Arts in New Paltz.
Local theatre lovers are no doubt familiar with MMSC, which since
its inception in 1994, has served the community under three formats:
the Theatre for Young Audiences, the Reader’s Theatre Group,
and MMSC Publications. Founder Robert Miller had originally made his
career in Florida, where he was the artistic director of the prestigious
Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. The quality of life in the Florida
theatre business was found wanting, so when wife and collaborator Christine
Crawfis was offered a job in New York with the American Crafts Council,
they packed up their belongings (and teenagers) and made the move to
the Hudson Valley in 1991. Miller started the Theatre for Young Audiences,
a participatory format for kids—grades pre–K through three—which
become modestly successful, touring nationally and appearing at the
Kennedy Center in New York City before winding down in 1998.
Oddly enough, what started out as a side project, however, became
the main thrust of the company. The Readers Theatre Group started as
a venue for people whose love for the written and spoken word needed
an outlet, and found a local and loyal audience.
“We’re a very text–based company,” said Crawfis. “That’s
where our focus is, on the written word. When you present in reader’s
theatre format, which we think is largely misunderstood most of the
time, it allows a wide range of material to be dealt with, including
short stories and poetry—a whole world of things. We try to select
text that lends itself to the format, and is even enhanced by it.” CONTINUE...
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