Gotta Have Arts

Ossining’s Westchester Collaborative Theater: Where New Plays Take Flight

May 31, 2019 by Ella Ilan

ABOVE: WCT’s intimate black box theater at 23 Water Street opened in the spring of 2017 with an exuberant ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Ossining Mayor Victoria Gearity (center, holding ribbon), Ossining Town Supervisor Dana Levenberg (far left), WCT Executive Director Alan Lutwin (next to Levenberg, with tie), WCT board members and persons from the community.

One need not travel to the city to see experimental theater that is cutting-edge. Simply a hop skip and a jump away in neighboring Ossining, the aptly named Westchester Collaborative Theater (“WCT”), a new play development company and performing arts center, is an amazing place where new plays are introduced and collaboration reigns supreme. This intimate “black box” theatre in Ossining, previously housing a cabinet-making factory, has been transformed over the last two years into a cool little theatre with an industrial feel.

Lot’s Wife, by WCT member Albi Gorn, featuring WCT member actors Donna James and Kurt Lauer, was the first full-length play to run in WCT’s new space in 2017.
Photo by Gregory Perry

At WCT, member playwrights, actors, and directors participate in a workshop process where new plays are read, critiqued, and improved upon. Actors receive scripts in advance, come to the readings with an interpretation of character, and do an unrehearsed reading. Feedback is provided to the playwrights and they are welcome to rewrite and return with new material.

Once a month, through WCT’s Play in the Box program, playwrights are afforded an opportunity to present their plays to the public, followed by a talkback session where the audience provides feedback to the playwright.

WCT also produces fully staged readings of selected works throughout the season, typically for a full weekend of public performances. Besides providing a crew, set design, and lighting, a director is assigned to help advance the work.

The third tier of development is a mainstage production, usually spanning a four weekend run, which receives their full cadre of production behind it in terms of set, lighting, costumes and sound. A “dramaturg” is assigned to work with the writer and director before rehearsals to fine-tune the play. This entire process is geared towards getting plays in front of the public, giving writers a chance to have their works seen and improved upon. WCT has been very successful in launching plays to be produced all over the world.

Last month, WCT presented The Legend by Rick Apicella, an original play about a young boxer ranked a 2018 ‘commended new play’ by the BBC in a multi-lingual international playwriting competition.

The WCT Jazz Masters series, here featuring Ray Blue and his quartet in a recent 2019 appearance, is a vital part of WCT’s regular offerings.

The Mission

“We are committed to developing new work and being kind of an incubator for new plays, allowing artists to collaborate together to grow the plays,” explains Founder and Executive Director Alan Lutwin. “We try to create a nurturing atmosphere – not to say we don’t criticize; we do, but it’s in a constructive way to try and further the work.”

Audiences are an integral part of the process. “We have a very loyal following of subscribers,” says Lutwin. “We only do new work so our audience really has to trust us and support our mission. We’ve cultivated that carefully, inviting people who enjoy seeing something new and being involved in the talkback sessions.

The audience is actually a collaborator with us in moving the play forward.”

Engaging the Community

Fostering a strong commitment to being grassroots oriented and giving the community a chance to participate, WCT partners with Ossining, taking advantage of its racial and ethnic diversity, to be a diverse multi-ethnic theater company. They have an ongoing relationship with the school district, working with high school students who want to act or provide technical support in their productions. Partnering with the Ossining Arts Council last year, they presented a series of productions called the Living Art Event, a docent led tour of a gallery where actors appeared and performed plays inspired by works of art displayed at the event.

Further engaging with the community, WCT strives to take every production to senior centers and perform for the residents so they can appreciate the theatre despite being limited in their mobility.

Sustaining the Dream

Without a home base for the first seven years, WCT did plays at the village library theatre, art galleries, and wherever else they could find a home. They are thrilled to have their current space, which accommodates about fifty seats.

Besides developing new works, WCT runs a jazz series twice a month where they bring in notable artists to perform. Since seating and staging in the theater is portable, the space is easily converted from a theatre into a jazz club with lighting and tablecloths. They also run acting programs and classes.

Between ArtsWestchester grants, private donations, member dues, ticket sales, and an annual fall fundraiser, WCT works hard to maintain a revenue stream.

Upcoming Performances

Playwrights will present their work in upcoming Play in the Box programs on June 21st and July 26th. A ten-minute play festival called “Brand New Shorts,” featuring a series of short plays that come out of the workshop process, is scheduled for performances July 19th through July 28th. The plays will be followed by talkback sessions. For a calendar of events, tickets to upcoming shows and jazz performances, and directions, please visit www.wctheater.org

The JOY of School Theater

May 31, 2019 by Jennifer Sabin Poux

As the recorded soundtrack kicked in and the curtain opened on the stage at Pocantico Hills School, my eyes welled up. What the hell? I hadn’t had a kid there for four years. Seated in the refurbished auditorium with a friend to watch the middle school production of A Lion King, I surreptitiously dabbed at my eyes. I tended to shed a tear or two whenever my own children took the stage, but I didn’t know 95 percent of the kids in the show. Why was I getting emotional? It took me a few minutes to figure out that I was in the throes of an almost-empty-nester moment, a multi-sensory reminder of where my kids had been, where their love of theater had started, and with one in college and one about to go, it brought up a lot for me.

It was also just weeks since I’d watched my son play Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Briarcliff High School, the final three performances of his high school career. I was filled with pride, but also gratitude. The Briarcliff theater department had given my son, my daughter before him, and my family more than any of us could have predicted over the course of seven years. It was difficult to part.

Having enjoyed performing in the musicals at Pocantico under the direction of the wonderful Sheila DePaola, my children sought out theater in high school. And there they discovered much more than an after-school activity. They found their closest friends, their community. And they found passionate teachers and mentors.

Briarcliff’s program, which involves a fall drama, spring musical and a show of one-acts, is devoted as much to theater education as to the production itself. The outstanding director of the program, Ian Driver, loves the process of creation and development, and as a committed child-centered educator, he takes his students on the ride with him, always a great adventure that culminates in an incredibly enriching and collaborative theater experience.

Whether Shakespeare or musical comedy, theater depends on collaboration. A show is the epitome of team effort, and each member must pull his weight and honor her commitment to the whole for the show to come together successfully. With each production, the students gain a broader understanding of storytelling, the power of music, the tension of drama, the satisfaction of problem solving and the magic of performance. And they gain confidence. There is comfort in numbers. Teenagers who have never taken a dance lesson become tap dancers, in an ensemble. Students who have never swung a hammer become carpenters, part of a crew.

The theater welcomes budding divas and other talented young adults, some with beautiful voices, some with an innate gift for acting, some with excellent comic timing. But it also beckons the shy and the disenfranchised, the student who hasn’t enjoyed social acceptance in other spheres of school but finds belonging in building the set, singing in the chorus or playing in the pit. Theater can also bridge socio-economic and racial divides.

At Pocantico, almost every middle school student, regardless of their background, participates in the show, making those differences less apparent. The theater provides a home for those with artistic impulses but no other place to discover or exercise them. It’s a place to develop skills that may lead to a career or just wonderful memories. Ultimately, school theater programs offer students a unique, close-knit, artistic community that embraces differences, something not always found in the prevailing suburban sports culture.

We raise our kids here because of the excellent schools, the beautiful setting, an escape from the stresses of city living. But for some kids, the suburbs can become stifling and one-dimensional by the time they reach high school. Theater offers kids an escape from the mundane, an outlet that reaches beyond the confines of school. It also instills in them a love and reverence for the performing arts, something they can enjoy the rest of their lives.

The first time I teared up in the theater with one of my children was 14 years ago, when I took my daughter to see Beauty and the Beast; she was just seven or so. It was her first Broadway show, and it moved me to watch her react to the spectacle on stage, to remember the shows I saw as a child.

I have been moved by my own kids over the course of their childhoods as they performed in 25 productions and counting. I was moved by the realization that they worked so hard through the hours of repetition and waiting, the frustrations and obstacles, to reach that sweet moment when the orchestra plays the first notes of the overture, the curtain falls away, and they transform into characters inhabiting another time and place. That’s when I always feel a catch in my throat. The artistry and confidence they and their cast mates will exude over the next two or three hours never fails to blow me away. But mostly, I am grateful that they have known what it is to be part of something big and beautiful.

Spotlight on Joanna Mongiardo: An Incredible Operatic Talent in our Midst

April 18, 2019 by Ella Ilan

People are sometimes caught off guard when they discover that fellow Chappaqua resident and mother of two, Joanna Mongiardo, is a glamorous opera singer.

Describing her career, Mongiardo says, “there’s nothing that makes me happier than hearing the overture, getting ready and going out for my first entrance. Putting on the costume, the makeup, and the wig, I feel transformed. I’ve always felt some sort of visceral energy from the audience, and I try to connect into that to communicate to them. I just feel tremendous joy when I’m singing.”

The Making of an Opera Singer

Mongiardo is an American soprano of Italian, Greek, and Armenian heritage. From a young age, she loved to sing. Growing up in New Jersey and attending a performing arts-focused elementary school, she frequently went to musicals with her parents, who loved musical theatre. Performing in a community theatre production of the “Sound of Music” at age twelve, Mongiardo was approached and offered voice lessons by a classically trained vocalist and opera singer who recognized her potential. This teacher soon had 12-year old Mongiardo vocalizing up to high C’s. Suddenly she was hooked on opera and introduced to a whole new world.

After earning a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Music from Yale University, Mongiardo procured a manager who promptly started getting her work. In between roles, she took temp jobs at various banking firms in Manhattan. Coming home at the end of each long day, she diligently practiced singing and studied roles even if she did not have an upcoming engagement. Eventually, her career began to flourish.

Career Highlights

Mongiardo has done a wide mix of both concert work and opera engagements. Recent concert performances include her NY solo recital debut at Opera America, Handel’s Messiah at David Geffen Hall with National Chorale and multiple concerts with Novus NY and conductor Julian Wachner.

Pressed to declare her favorite opera role, she chooses her performance as Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, which was the last role she sang when she was under a festival contract in Germany at Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

“I spent two years as a house ensemble singer in Düsseldorf and got to sing eight extraordinary roles and this was the culmination of that. Strauss’ music intimidated me at first but I ended up loving it. I loved the character and it was a traditional Viennese production with gilded walls and sets and beautiful ball gowns. It was the pinnacle of my time there and really magical,” reminisces Mongiardo.

Mongiardo has been engaged in over thirty performances of Blonde in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with houses including Grande Théâtre de Genève, Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Her Rosalina in Il Re with Teatro Grattacielo was named “Best Individual Performance of 2011” by Das Opernwelt Jahrbuch.

Embracing Challenges

Mastering pronunciation in her first Russian opera as Brigitta in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Dallas Opera was challenging. Performers are expected to arrive at rehearsals 100% memorized with proper diction. Not knowing the Russian language well, Mongiardo worked with a Russian diction specialist to learn the music and correct pronunciations before arriving on set.

Embarking on taking on new challenges, Mongiardo recently taught classes and voice lessons as guest faculty at the University of Kentucky.

“This was an eye-opening and humbling experience. Tapping into my 20 plus years of experience, I was able to share a lot. I got nervous with each new student that came in, but once they started singing, I always knew what to say, so that was exciting for me. Perhaps teaching could be a future path. We’ll see what the future holds,” ponders Mongiardo.

Balancing Career and Motherhood

Like many working moms, Mongiardo struggles to strike that delicate balance between committing enough time to her children and enough time to her career. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day to day with the kids but being a mom has helped me discipline myself because I’ve got to find 45 minutes a day or more to practice. I’m lucky to have a very supportive husband and extended family…who have traveled with me and helped with childcare while I work.”

Mongiardo’s son and husband love attending her shows and have traveled to her international engagements. Her daughter, whose playpen sits by the piano, will often hum along while she sings.

Mongiardio in costume on her knees
Photo courtesy of Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Pleasurable Pastimes

In between opera engagements, Mongiardo focuses on family life. She loves cooking, exercising, yoga, and spending time with her girlfriends.

On living in Chappaqua, she says, “It is such a beautiful and friendly community, and we’ve made such good friends. With all the travel that we do, we appreciate the chance to return to our home here.”

Always Perfecting her Craft

Mongiardo regularly takes voice lessons. “A classically trained voice never stops developing,” she explains. “A voice teacher once described it to me like a diamond that starts off rough and needs to be honed, cut and polished. The more you polish it and put the right cuts into it, the more brilliant it becomes. That’s the goal with vocal training–that you keep uncovering more color, more depth, and more richness to the voice. I’m able to do things now that I couldn’t do 15 years ago.”

To truly appreciate Mongiardo’s talent, check out clips of her past performances at www.joannamongiardo.com.

The Schoolhouse Theater: An Under the Radar Arts Venue

April 18, 2019 by Ella Ilan

Culture abounds in the northern part of our county, where theater focused on nurturing new plays and presenting live theater and art, unearth hidden talent and have become launching pads for original plays. Emphasizing teamwork, The Schoolhouse Theater successfully catapults new works to the stage due to the vision and resilience of its founders, directors, playwrights, and actors.

A New Life for a Former School

Formerly the Croton Falls elementary school, the beautiful 99-seat Schoolhouse Theater in North Salem is Westchester’s longest continually operating Actor’s Equity professional theater and art gallery. In 1983, founder Lee Pope transformed the building into a visual arts center, turning classrooms into galleries showcasing the artwork of talented local artists. At that time the dining hall, gym, and auditorium space was simply a white walled room with no risers and twelve borrowed lights.

In 1986, kicking off a bright future for this theatre, Brooke Palance, daughter of Hollywood scion Jack Palance, and actor/producer Michael Wilding, son of Elizabeth Taylor, performed “Bedroom Farce” to rave reviews. Modern theatrical amenities were gradually added and the theater came to life. The Schoolhouse has produced more than 120 plays over the past thirty-two years.

Cultivating Theatrical World Premieres

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Bram Lewis, the Schoolhouse presents four original plays each year. “This is a place where things begin,” says Lewis.

The Schoolhouse has successfully launched multiple productions to Off-Broadway: Love Linda about the life of Mrs. Cole Porter, The Enlightenment of Mr. Mole, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Ingmar Bergman’s Nora, S.N. Behrman’s Biography, Elaine Del Valle’s Brownsville Bred, The Dog in the Dressing Room by Deborah Savadge, and L.O.V.E.R. by Lois Robbins.

Additional theatrical pieces birthed here include Axiel Himalo’s Christmas Fish Tale, The Mask of Jaguar King, The Cambodian Lullaby, How to Bury a Saint, and The Gift of the Magi.

Last month, The Schoolhouse presented The Color of Light by renowned journalist, author and screenwriter Jesse Kornbluth. The play explores the love between artist Henri Matisse and a young nursing student and how their relationship inspired his final piece of work, the design and building of the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, France.

Relying on Instinct

Selecting plays to develop, Lewis relies on experience and instinct. Before coming to the Schoolhouse, he ran The Phoenix Theatre at SUNY Purchase for a decade.

“Somewhere along the line I decided if theatre was going to get made, I wanted to be the one taking the responsibility, picking the plays, hiring the actors. It suited me because I’m bossy and opinionated and if someone was going to fail, I wanted it to be me–and I’ve certainly failed many times. But the great love I’ve had with doing this is I get to stand at the back of this beautiful theatre, and I can listen to my audience who teaches me over and over again why they’re interested and care or why they don’t…and it’s been a great journey,” Lewis reflects.

Trusting his gut when choosing plays, sometimes Lewis is right and sometimes he is wrong. “You try to pare away the dross and shine up the gold and see what you can do to make it work. But it’s also very dependent on teamwork because an artistic director can pick a play, a director can direct it and eventually it must be demonstrated in the hands of the actors and supported,” explains Lewis.

Community Support

For many years, Pope, who recently received ArtsWestchester’s 2018 Lifetime Arts Community Award, was the theatre’s sole source of support. As a nonprofit organization, the Schoolhouse has been fortunate to receive grants from ArtsWestchester in White Plains, and generous donations from the community and board members.

Every August, the Schoolhouse holds a fundraising gala called The Scottish Tattoo, modeled after the annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, called the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The celebration features Celtic performers, Scottish dancing, comedy, great food and flights of whiskey.

Happening Soon

Their next play, Gladstone Hollow by Dorothy Lyman opens on June 13th. The play explores the takeovers of small family-run farms by corporations and how these families struggle with the decision between preserving or monetizing their heritage. “It’s a bit like King Lear because it’s about selling out the kingdom and whether or not it’s a good deal,” suggests Lewis.

The Schoolhouse regularly hosts stand-up comedy, live music, slam poetry, and artwork in the galleries. To learn more about upcoming events, buy tickets, or get directions, please visit schoolhousetheater.org

The Laramie Project Comes to Chappaqua April 5 & 6!

March 29, 2019 by Inside Press

Lighthouse Youth Theater Teens to Perform at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center on 4/5 a and 4/6

Come see some of Westchester’s (Including many from New Castle) most talented teenagers tackle one of the best dramatic plays of the of the century! Lighthouse Youth Theatre’s Award Winning Teen Drama has done it again! They are using theatre to raise awareness on rights issues to inspire the next generation.

The Laramie Project is a documentary-styled play that analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was brutally murdered because of his sexual identity. The play was created by playwright/director Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project

“A thought-provoking, highly recommended production that packs a wallop as well as a message of tolerance and rejection of senseless hate.” -Cary Ginell

“A thought-provoking, highly recommended production that packs a wallop as well as a message of tolerance and rejection of senseless hate.” -Cary Ginell
For info and tickets, visit www.LYTshows.org

News of this production provided via E-letter of Town of New Castle E-newsletter.

Gotta Have Arts