The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Cover Stories

Gifted Communications Pro, Humorist & Playwright Larry Eckerle Sets his Sights on Broadway with The Sake of Appearances

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Photo by Mona-Marie Kuceluk

Larry Eckerle is many things: a father, a husband, a communications whiz, and a playwright to boot. “I’ve always had a dream of writing for the stage,” said Eckerle. He mostly writes comedies. “I think humor is a great way to disarm people and maybe engage them. Right now, that matters.”

He began his career in advertising and marketing, but his comedic sensibilities always shined through. “Humor would creep into my corporate work, and depending on the client, it was either a great fit or an uncomfortable one,” said Eckerle. “It wasn’t that they were terrible places to work; I just often felt terribly out of place working there.”

So Larry started Zero Gravity Group in 2002. His focus was helping employees connect to their company mission and find more value in what they do day to day. “I used many tactics I learned in corporate advertising, marketing, as guiding principles for the employee engagement work I do,” said Eckerle.

Eckerle and his wife have three sons, one of whom recently produced a film that won top honors at the 2022 South by Southwest film festival. “I draw a lot of strength and inspiration from my family,” said Eckerle. His wife Andrea is a renowned speech-language pathologist. “Communication runs through the entire family,” said Eckerle.

He took a chance a few years back and reached out to his hero and fellow Bronx native, playwright Neil Simon. To Eckerle’s shock, Simon responded, and they corresponded for a while, with Simon giving Eckerle the encouragement he needed to chase his playwriting dream. Then came a chance encounter with Broadway and film producer Julian Schlossberg. Julian helped Larry develop his play, The Sake of Appearances (about two ghosts trapped in an old, historic tavern in New York City, and a brand new employee who can see them). Julian even arranged a table read with several well known Broadway actors.

“It was one of the most unnerving, yet surprisingly comfortable experiences of my life,” said Eckerle. He was mesmerized and humbled as the veteran actors performed his dialogue and laughed at the lines he had written. The play was gaining steady momentum until March of 2020, when Broadway, like everything else, closed its doors.

But Eckerle persevered. He submitted other plays he’d written to national playwriting festivals, winning Semi-Finalist recognition in the Ashland Play Festival and Garry Marshall New Works Festival; and his one-act comedy, Gary Goodman’s Goodbye, was produced by the Brewster Theater Company last September. All in all, not a bad year.

 As COVID hopefully wanes, Eckerle is optimistic about his play, The Sake of Appearances, getting produced. Through his rollercoaster ride of trying to get his work on stage, Eckerle has crossed paths with many wonderfully generous people including Neil Simon, Elaine May and Woody Allen. Eckerle remembered asking May her suggestions for overcoming writer’s block.  She gave great advice for every writer: “You just keep going. It’s the process.  The ideas will come. Just keep writing.”  

That’s exactly what Eckerle plans to do.

Behind the Launch of MyConnect

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Caroline Balil and her son

Living in such a digitally advanced world, you would think you can google the answers to just about anything. But when Caroline Bilal’s son was diagnosed with Syngap1, a rare genetic disease, and she was looking for answers and resources, the internet was not as helpful as she expected. She found herself spending hours on end navigating the difficulties of accessing information that she thought would have been readily available.

With the advanced state of today’s technology, it is both shocking and disappointing that this information is not easily accessible. Bilal was surprised that a platform that aided people in identifying resources for children with special needs didn’t already exist.

“I found it odd from the get-go that there isn’t a technology platform… that helps to connect parents and families to information, and also more systematically to other parents who have kids with similar profiles,” said Caroline Bilal. While Facebook groups can be helpful, there is no emphasis on the quality of information. And while word of mouth is another effective strategy, what works for one family often does not work for another. And so, with no existing efficient solution, Bilal set out to create one herself.

With the help of countless dedicated volunteers, Bilal and her co-founder, Faradjine Laurore, launched MyConnect on March 2, 2022. The website contains both a private social network, or a community feature, and a directory that provides well-researched special needs programs, providers, and resources in Westchester County. 

The directory provides an efficient approach to finding resources and shares the quality thereof. If you were to google “special needs schools and educational programs in Westchester,” you would obtain approximately five results.

MyConnect co-founder Faradjine Laurore

However, in reality, there are over 50 private schools and out of district schools for special needs students in Westchester. MyConnect provides an easy and free way for parents to access the information needed to best care for their children and to connect with other parents going through the same situation. “We want all parents to have access to this information and access to one another always,” shared Bilal. The platform provides a “one-stop” method with various helpful resources that would otherwise take a tremendous amount of time and effort to collect from countless different sites.

The ultimate goal is to make the research process as easy for parents of children with special needs as possible, so that they can focus on supporting their child and optimizing their potential. Parents and families should be able to focus on doing what is best for their child without being burdened by a time-consuming, inefficient, and sometimes expensive process.

“It is my deep belief that parents, regardless of their socio-economic status, have free access to the information that enables more successful advocacy for their special children. While I was fortunate enough to have the skillset, the time, the financial resources, and the endurance to pursue the research that ultimately helped my son… all parents should be given the tools that affords them this chance,” said Caroline Bilal.

Bilal expects to continue to grow MyConnect and reach the families and parents that need assistance. With roughly 28,000 families in Westchester having kids with special needs or disabilities, it is clear that there are an abundance of families who would benefit from resources and assistance. Fortunately, MyConnect is now here to provide that assistance to any families in need.

For more info, please visit MyConnectUSA.com

Catch the Camp Bug at Kenmont Kenwood with Armonk Owners Brad & Dani Lerman

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Brad and Dani Lerman

By ‘Camp kids,’ we all know the type. Those who bleed their camp colors and ride out the year so they can live in the summer. Those who year after year return as a camper, then as a color war captain, then as a counselor until their friends say, maybe it’s time to do something else. 

Brad Lerman’s friends thought that he would get over his love for camp and put his childhood dream of owning one to bed. And maybe Lerman thought so too, at one point spending his summer working at camp while studying for his LSATs. But as much as he enjoyed working as a lawyer for 12 years in Manhattan, it wasn’t his passion or his purpose. 

He had always been thinking of ways to reignite the “camp bug” he had inside of him and the perfect opportunity presented itself to do just that. 

Goodbye litigation, hello new camper orientation! Lerman and his wife Dani, who grew up in Armonk and also had a great camp experience growing up, are the two new co-owners of Camp KenMont KenWood, the sleepaway camp for boys and girls ages 8-15 just an hour away from Armonk. 

“It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a decade, and luckily, I have the world’s most amazing wife and the most supportive family,” Lerman said. “It’s a lot of good change for our family, [as we’re] starting to grow ours this year not only with my wife being pregnant but also growing our KenMont KenWood family.” 

They, along with their dog Dudley and soon-to-be newborn baby girl will all be familiar faces at camp. Lerman is Co-Director with Hylton Wener, who will also be at camp with his wife/Program Director Amanda, their sons Dylan and James and their pup Gilley. 

Lerman went from working 70-hour weeks as a lawyer to designating a few hours in his day to solely researching the best Wet Willie Water Slides. Let the record show that while having amazing facilities is something he prides the camp in having, it isn’t everything. 

“Our facilities are phenomenal. We’re in Kent, CT (in close proximity to Armonk). We’re on the beautiful North Spectacle Lake,” Lerman said. To him, if anything, the amenities (and awesome water slides) are a bonus to the incredible camp culture and community. 

For starters, the retention rate speaks for itself. The staff is filled with former campers who came back to watch their own kids grow up at camp as well, like Girls Head Counselor Marisa Rahn who is returning for her 25th summer. Administrative Director Michele Troche is also returning to camp after 20 plus years. So, what is it that keeps bringing them back? 

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a brother-sister camp, so siblings can get that individual camp experience while being able to see each other a few times a week. Or that the food options are never-ending from Chef Chad who is returning for his fifth summer, along with a new pastry chef and dietary needs chef. Or, that the counselors come from all over the world, providing campers with diversity. 

Younger campers are given a more structured day-to-day schedule so that they are exposed to all the different activities and can try as many new things as possible. And if they are missing home, the office prints out emails sent from parents every morning and hands them out to the campers and phone calls are permitted as well. With that being said, Lerman wants to normalize missing home. 

“Home missing is completely natural. I miss home sometimes, so we want to make sure that kids don’t feel stigmatized by it,” Lerman explained, “but also make sure that we address it and keep parents informed and make them realize that it’s just a temporary passing phase.” 

If that doesn’t speak to the comfortable culture and community that the camp has built, what does? 

Next year, KenMont KenWood will be celebrating their 100th summer. Whether you are looking to become a counselor or looking for a camp for your kid, this is the opportunity to be a part of a century of amazing experiences, memories, and traditions. 

Like Lerman said, one day at camp is like one month anywhere else. That’s a whole lot of time to catch the camp bug…

Visit kenmontkenwood.com to learn more about the camp experience, testimonials, dates and more. 

David Fisher’s Farm Puts the Horse in Horsepower

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From Pleasantville to western Massachusetts doesn’t seem like a huge journey. But David Fisher has traveled a longer road than most of us would be willing to take by running a farm using methods that are far more environmentally sound than the vast majority of other agricultural businesses today. His unique solution? Horse-driven farming.

Fisher, who grew up on Munson Pond in Pleasantville, the son of John Fisher, business development manager for Inside Press, uses five work horses to plow the fields and bring in the harvest, using no fossil fuels for his farming. Fisher’s Natural Roots farm, in Conway, Massachusetts, grows salad greens, spinach, onions, carrots, beets, watermelon, and other produce, which are purchased by the local population. The farm also has a store selling locally made foods produced in an environmentally responsible way, from bread and cheese to chocolate and ice cream.

Tractors using diesel oil for power and emitting carbon dioxide are not present on the farm. The horses eat grass and hay grown in Natural Roots’ fields and pastures 

“Our energy comes from the Earth,” Fisher explains. “We’re trying to create a healthy soil system.” All Natural Roots fertilizer is organic, as well as the pesticides Fisher uses. Most industrial fertilizers and pesticides are oil-based and are therefore big contributors to heating up the climate, as well as major pollutants of water and soil. “I want to live my life to be close to the land,” he says. Also, using his horses, is “a way for me to address climate change.”

Visitors are welcome on the farm. “Families with kids love to see the horses,” Fisher explains. “We’re open to the public, for people to visit and enjoy the farm. It’s a gift for me to be here and I want to share it.” 

The horses all have different personalities, Fisher says. Their names are George, Pat, Gus, Tim, and Land. Pat is old, mellow, and patient. Gus wants to “just go and hustle and get it done.”

“They’re all willing to work,” he explains. Sometimes, they get anxious when they’re not working. “If a horse stands all day long, we have to get the wiggles out.” Also, in rare circumstances they may get agitated by noise, so they need to be calmed down. 

The farm works on a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. People buy a share of the harvest for one year. They contribute a share of the cost of running the farm. “The customers give us money for seed, labor, and other costs on the farm. They get fresh produce, often picked on the day they come to the farm. The CSA model gives us the money as we need it. That helps us avoid loans (to operate). Some of our members have been coming here for 20 years. We supply produce for more than 200 families.”

Customers can buy a regular share of produce, a large share, or a part-time share. Families with lesser income can buy a discounted share of each category of share offered. Each week they can come to the farm and fill up their bag according to the share of the produce they’ve purchased. The farm offers gift cards too. 

CSA subscribers also enjoy the natural beauty of the farm. They can swim in the South River, which runs through the property, or pick blueberries, raspberries, beans, or flowers in one of the farm’s fields. 

Leora, David, and Gabriel Fisher

Fisher generally works an eleven and a half-hour day. The farm employs an assistant manager and two apprentices who work full time from March through December. A friend and some other people help in the summer. Including Fisher, the core crew consists of four people. On busy harvest days, the farm may have up to eight or nine people assisting with the work. Fisher’s two children also help. 

The farm has suffered intense storms at times. Hurricane Irene flooded the fields. Floods have at times deposited huge amounts of sand on crop land. Natural Roots’ CSA subscribers have helped Fisher get all his equipment out of the field and harvested “everything we could” before anticipated storms.

Fisher was inspired to live so close to nature when he attended a wilderness camp for eight years in the Adirondack Mountains as a camper, then a staffer. The camp, Tanager Lodge, had no electricity. “It gave me a deeply infused reverence for the natural world,” Fisher said. 

“Growing up I had a very strong environmental ethic, an awareness of the environmental crisis. The land called me.”

Four Premier Regional Arts Organizations Join Together to Offer the HUDSON VALLEY SUMMER ARTS PASS

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The Jacob Burns Film Center, Historic Hudson Valley, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival have joined together to announce an exciting new initiative: the Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass.

The Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass is a discounted bundle of tickets to the season’s top events. With an abundance of offerings across the four partner organizations, the Pass helps consumers plan a vibrant and diversified season of arts and culture – all within a short drive! The Pass costs $148, but is valued at over $320, and a link to buy the Pass can be found on each of the participating organizations’ websites through June 20, 2022.

You can check it out HERE!.

Le Jardin du Roi 202205
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Offers include:

Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville

You’ll receive four tickets (plus two coupons for free popcorn and soda) to any regular* screening. With a diverse slate of films carefully curated by our talented programming team, you’re sure to have an outstanding experience at our state-of-the-art theater. Stop by to get a taste of all we offer – from buzzworthy new releases and award-winning foreign films to eye-opening documentaries!

Your tickets and coupons will be mailed within 10 days of purchase. *Special events are not included in the offer. Promotion expires 8/31/22. Questions? Contact us at support@burnsfilmcenter.org or 914.773.7663, ext. 6.

Historic Hudson Valley, Sleepy Hollow Country

This summer, enjoy spectacular treasures of the Hudson Valley with two tickets for tours of three National Historic Landmarks. See Washington Irving’s Sunnyside, the charming riverside home of the Father of American Literature; gaze in wonder at stained glass windows by master artists Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall at Union Church of Pocantico Hills; and be transported to the 1750s during a tour of Philipsburg Manor.

Two tickets for each historic site tour can be reserved on hudsonvalley.org within 48 hours after purchase of the Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass. Promotion expires 9/11/22. Not valid for tours of Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate, or any special events. Learn more at hudsonvalley.org. Questions? Contact us at info@hudsonvalley.org or by calling 914.366.6900.

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Katonah

Caramoor’s 2022 Summer Season is one of our most dynamic to date! Featuring top artists and ensembles spanning genres of classical, American roots, jazz, global, Broadway, and opera, Caramoor has something for everyone! Select two tickets to a concert of your choice (an $80+ value) and join us for world-class music in one of our open-air venues.

Your tickets will be emailed to you within one week of your performance. Some exclusions apply. Promotion expires 8/19/22, and is only valid for events in Caramoor’s summer season. Learn more at caramoor.org/upcoming-events/summer-caramoor-ticket-packages. Questions? Contact us at boxoffice@caramoor.org or by calling 914.232.1252.

Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Garrison

HVSF is bringing you a summer of storytelling, the first in our first-ever permanent home. The 2022 season includes a reimagined Shakespearean classic, a thrilling and timely contemporary American play, and an intimate and thought-provoking solo piece. Select two tickets to a weekday performance of your choice and come revel in the joy and magic of live theater.

Your tickets will be emailed to you within one week of your performance. Some exclusions apply. Promotion expires 9/18/22. Learn more at https://hvshakespeare.org/tickets-events/discounts-offers/. Questions? Contact us at boxoffice@hvshakespeare.org or 845-265-9575.

In addition to helping audiences navigate the vast summer offerings, the four organizations joined together to play an active role in rebuilding the profile of the arts in the region.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, arts presenters experienced some of the steepest economic declines, and while the world retreated into social distancing, NEA data reported that the arts shrank at nearly twice the rate of the economy as a whole. Yet throughout this downturn, the power of the arts – including both its economic and humanitarian value – burned even brighter as audiences and presenters yearned to return to live events.

Caramoor President and CEO, Edward Lewis, III, comments: “Music has the unique ability of uniting people across geography, through history, and from all lived experiences. During tumultuous times, the arts have long been a mode of healing, coping, and overcoming adversity. At Caramoor, we recognize and embrace the unique responsibility we have as arts presenters, and with our fellow participants, we create a welcoming and safe cultural community.”

“Our audiences need the arts more than ever, and the Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass provides the opportunity for visitors to experience the richness of the region’s offerings,” said Historic Hudson Valley’s Vice President of Communications & Commerce, Rob Schweitzer. “We’re thrilled to offer this pass and to partner with the region’s top cultural organizations to provide even more ways for people to get out and explore the area this season.”

“We’re all excited to collaborate with other arts and culture nonprofits to highlight the diverse, vibrant cultural offerings within the Hudson Valley,” said JBFC Executive Director Mary Jo Ziesel. “We hope to encourage people to get out and try something new this summer. This discounted pass is the perfect entrée to enjoy the arts nearby.”

Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Managing Director, Kate Liberman, comments: “HVSF is honored to be participating in this amazing program, which shows the impact of real collaboration among our regional arts institutions. Bringing our audiences together will be essential as the arts and culture sector recovers from the pandemic. As HVSF transitions to our new home this season, we cannot wait to celebrate our shared humanity by welcoming new friends under our theater tent.”

 

Hudson Valley Arts Pass News Courtesy of Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts