The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Axial Theater

Axial Theater Benefit: March 30th

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Pleasantville-based Axial Theatre will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on March 30 at its annual benefit by paying tribute to its founder, Howard Meyer. Meyer, the original artistic director of Axial and an award-winning playwright, is also the founder of the Howard Meyer Acting program, the County’s first major multi-tiered acting program for children through adults. Last year, Meyer turned the keys of the ensemble company over to Catherine “Cat” Banks and Linda Giuliano, now Axial’s co-artistic directors, who form a trio working closely with managing director/general counsel Elizabeth “Betsy” Klampert. Giuliano remains the company’s literary manager.

The benefit will offer a cornucopia of gourmet bites, savory and sweet, plus libations and a silent auction featuring a one-week getaway in Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean coastline of the Italian Riviera, Broadway tickets, and other exciting items. Past and present members of Axial Theatre will pay tribute to Howard Meyer through a variety of entertainment formats.

For more info, visit axialtheater.org

Axial Theatre to Present World Premiere of Howard Meyer’s Senescence

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Compelling play tackles layers of toxicity engulfing a blue-collar town

Axial Theatre Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary Season

Pleasantville, NY – This November, Axial Theatre will launch its 20th anniversary season with the world premiere of Senescence, a compelling new play by Axial’s founder Howard Meyer that takes an unflinching look at the devastating and deadly effects of chemical toxicity and the ire of Mother Nature when an alleged prophet comes to a blue-collar town. Award-winning filmmaker/director James Fauvell will direct.

Senescence will preview Friday evening and Saturday matinee November 2 and 3; open Saturday night, November 3; and run weekends (Friday – Sunday) through November 18.

Says Meyer, “The play is named Senescence because it’s about the lethal power of substances and people to overtake the body and the mind, edging us towards untimely aging and, ultimately, death.”

Senescence tells its tale through the words and actions of three childhood friends who grew up and still live in the oil refinery town of Linden, NJ, and their encounter with an enigmatic stranger who, via a dangerous combination of wisdom and persuasion, upends each of their lives forever.

Axial Theatre founder Howard Meyer, author of Senescence

Meyer’s most recent original work, Paint Made Flesh, just completed a run at The Cell in Manhattan; it was a semi-finalist at the 2015 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and PlayPenn and selected by The Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Other works by Meyer include Maybe Never Fell, produced at Axial and presented as a staged reading at Cherry Lane Theatre; Radiance, a two-time semi-finalist (2011, 2012) at the ONPC & P and produced at Axial featuring Obie award winner Chris McCann; WELCOME, This is a Neighborhood Watch Community which was invited for readings at The Barrow Group, Naked Angels, and LA’s Pacific Resident Theatre followed by an Axial run directed by Drama Desk award winner, Josh Hecht; and Lost In Paradise which is under an option for a motion picture.

New York City-based filmmaker and frequent downtown theater director James Fauvell had his debut film Other People’s People screened at the Austin Film Festival, at HollyShorts (where it won Best LGBT Film), and at the Florida Film Festival. He regularly works with Tony and Emmy-nominated director Scott Ellis and is a member of the 2017 Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Fauvell produced The Rise and Fall of A Teenage Cyberqueen by Lindsay Joy, (2013 NYIT winner for Outstanding Premiere Production Of a Play) and his upcoming short film, Understudy, and acted in Sleepwalk with Me by Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass (winner, 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Next Category). Fauvell will reunite with actor Stephen Palgon (see below); both were formerly with Labrats.

The actors in Senescence include Stephen Palgon as the stranger, known simply as ‘J.’ Palgon is an Axial veteran who starred in the company’s production of The Contract (co-created by playwright/producer Linda Giuliano, now Axial’s co-artistic director together with actor/director/producer Catherine Banks) in 2005. He has acted on stage and in film and both won and was nominated for Emmy awards as a producer. As executive producer of Star Crossed Pictures, Palgon has directed and produced for Madison Square Garden, NFL Network and NHL Productions.

Rudy, a man whose attempt to flee a fatal error only engulfs and entraps him, will be played by actor/director/playwright Ryan Mallon, also an Axial legacy actor.  Mallon, a co-founder of Independent Theatre Arts and Producers, has performed in numerous stage productions ranging from such new works as Megan Mostyn-Brown’s The Rest of Your Life, Mackenzie Lansing’s Lost Boys and Clifford Odets’ classic, Awake and Sing!

Senescence will run Friday, November 2, 9 and 16 at 8 p.m.; Saturday matinees at 3 p.m. and evenings at 8 p.m., November 3, 10, and 17; and Sunday matinees at 4 p.m., November 4, 11 and 18. Tickets are $27.50 general audiences; $22.50 for seniors and students. Axial Theatre is located on the campus of St. John’s Episcopal Church, 8 Sunnyside Ave., Pleasantville, NY. Visit axialtheatre.org for tickets and information.

Axial Theatre’s April 6 Benefit: A Dual Celebration!

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Welcoming New Leaders and Ushering in 20th Anniversary

Event to be held in the Gallery of ArtsWestchester

 

 

Westchester, NY – Axial Theatre’s annual spring benefit will be a special dual celebration this year as it welcomes the company’s new co-artistic directors, Catherine (Cat) Banks and Linda Giuliano, and ushers in a milestone year –the 20th anniversary of the professional theatre company based in Pleasantville.

The event will take place on Friday, April 6, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Gallery of ArtsWestchester and will feature cabaret performances by Axial singers; gourmet bites and libations from Jean-Jacques Culinary Creations in Pleasantville; and a live auction featuring a luxury getaway to the Italian Riviera and a South African safari. ArtsWestchester is located at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains.

The Banks-Giuliano duo will officially take over on September 1, 2018, the beginning of Axial’s 20th production year, joining Betsy Klampert, managing director and general counsel, as Axial’s leadership team. Howard Meyer, Axial’s founder and current artistic director, will remain the head of Howard Meyer’s Acting Program, and a member of the board.

Catherine Banks

Catherine Banks, who has performed leading roles and co-directed several Axial productions since coming to Axial three years ago, says, “Creating a theater company the caliber of Axial, nurturing it and sustaining it for 20 years takes a leader of diverse skills and irrepressible passion. It is an honor to carry on the legacy Howard Meyer has created. The original mission statement, creating collaborative, relevant and provocative theatre, is one that deeply resonates with me, and I believe that Axial will find its future by upholding these core values and beliefs in the next phase of its journey. I truly look forward to working with Linda to best interpret that mission in today’s dynamic world.”

Linda Giuliano

Linda Giuliano, a playwright who is currently Axial’s literary manager and associate artistic director says, “Theatre is community. Great leaders serve. Howard has sustained 20 years of vision, theatre craft and leadership as artistic director. It is a responsibility and privilege for this role to be passed on to Catherine and me. We hope to serve the evolution of Axial’s present and future. We hope to bring stories to the stage that inspire, move and change artist, audience and our community.”

Banks began acting with her local award-winning children’s theater at the tender age of 11. Following college at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, she continued to study acting and founded her own production company, Bombshell Productions in New York City. She comes to Axial with over 20 years of high-level experience in business, having worked as senior vice president of operations for a financial services company prior to starting her own business in 2014. She is currently a member of Howard Meyer’s master class, a faculty member of the acting program where she teaches children and teens, and an Ensemble member of Axial Theatre. Banks will perform the role of Lenny in the upcoming Axial production of Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart this May. She appeared last fall as Audrey (one of the two leads) in Axial’s world premiere of Katie Baldwin Eng’s Nectar.

Giuliano, an Axial Ensemble member for 14 years, has had plays produced through Axial, such NYC groups as Playwrights Horizon and Midtown Festival and with companies in the U.S. and Canada.  A founding member of WritersGroup, a 25-plus-year-old group of six playwrights who write, direct, produce and teach in New York and Maine, Giuliano currently runs the Sunday Writers series at Axial, as well as Axial’s staged reading series wherein new works and classics are presented at various local sites. She has worked in mental health for 34 years as a licensed clinical social worker.

Meyer notes, “After 20 years of guiding the organization, it is time to pass the baton to the capable and gifted hands of Cat and Linda. As we enter this milestone season, it is time for fresh ideas and new leadership.”  

Managing Director Betsy Klampert echoes these sentiments, adding “I am thrilled to be part of this thriving theater community.  Howard’s leadership has taken Axial to its 20th year and Cat and Linda will raise the curtain on another 20 years of theater magic.  Stay tuned.”

The benefit’s cabaret singers will be accompanied by concert pianist Dan Forman; Axial Ensemble member Patrick McGuinness will serve as auctioneer. A silent auction also will be held.

General admission tickets for the benefit are $60, including all food, wine and other beverages.

For more information, visit https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3361706,  Axial’s Facebook page or its Website; or contact Axial at AxialTheatre@gmail.com; (914) 286-7680.

 

 

Musical Duo: The Kennedys Set to Grace the Stage at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center

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For more than two decades, husband and wife team Pete and Maura Kennedy have performed on stages in the U.S. and the U.K., as a folk/pop duo and as members of Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra. Now for the first time ever the show will be one of the inaugural events in a special benefit concert at the new Chappaqua Performing Arts Center (ChappPAC), formerly known as the Wallace Auditorium on the Reader’s Digest campus. The benefit concert titled “Life is Large” at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 22 will raise funds for the Axial Theater, a professional theater company founded in 1999 that is a member of the Westchester Arts Organization. Axial Theater presents contemporary theatrical hits, timeless stage classics and original works in addition to hosting a bi-monthly Sunday Writers Series for play development.

The Kennedys have released over a dozen CDs, are longtime core artists on metropolitan New York’s jazz radio station WFUV and were named Artists-in-Residence at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Their original music has been described as uplifting, encouraging and empowering, and their choice of covers is emblematic of their love for the classic songwriting of Buddy Holly, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Long time New York City residents, they are regulars at the Clearwater Festival in Croton-on Hudson and have played legendary venues including Carnegie Hall, the Beacon Theater and the now defunct Bottom Line.

Tickets for The Kennedys’ Axial Theater benefit are $45 and can be purchased online by searching for “Axial Theater” at brownpapertickets.com. ChappPAC will play host to a variety of cultural events in its inaugural season through December including children’s concerts, jazz performances and family movies.

The Chappaqua Performing Arts Center is located at 480 North Bedford Road. Ample free parking is available.

“Maybe Never Fell” Delves into Relationship Struggles

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A Provocative New Play by Axial Theater Director Howard Meyer

By Matt Smith

Photos by Lynda Shenkman Curtis

“Goethe. There are passages in his books where he refers to ‘The Jew.’ An entire race of people summed up in two words. Can you imagine that today? The Black. The Muslim.”

I’m sure when playwright Howard Meyer initially wrote Maybe Never Fell, the brilliant new play now showing at the Axial Theatre in Pleasantville through Sunday, November 20th, he never intended it to premiere during such a tumultuous election season, let alone four days before the explosive reveal itself. Furthermore, if he’s like anyone in the rest of the world, it’s likely Meyer probably didn’t expect the outcome to be what it was. But given the result–and what’s transpired over the past week and a half (during which, mind you, this show has continued to play through)–this line, spoken by main character, the German-born Mattie, to American Jew Max, and the subject matter as a whole, are frighteningly more relevant today perhaps than ever before. maybe1

The storyline follows the 26-year-old German-born Mattie Schiller (the brilliant Sara Hogrefe), who’s been impregnated by American Jew Max Weber (a charming David Lanson), himself a lovelorn bachelor torn between his attraction to Mattie and ex-wife Rebecca, and plagued by the past actions of his ancestors, which makes it all the harder to align with his true cultural identity.

Deep stuff, indeed–and as director Jenn Haltman writes in the Director’s Note outlined on the first page of the program, “Digging into the ugliness that still lies beneath the surface is a hard thing to face up to.” That’s certainly true, and Meyer is completely unapologetic–indeed the subject matter is grim, straightforward, right in front of your face from the get-go–and there’s no escaping it, either, as it’s integral to the climax of the story.

What saves the piece, however, from being “just another rote history textbook lesson” (an expert move on Meyers’ part) is the interweaving of Mattie’s personal struggle (and on some level, Max’s, as well) alongside the historically true elements and events: she had had an abortion when she got pregnant at 15, by childhood best friend Gunther Holt (the hysterical Dominic Russo, who cleverly provides relevant comic relief, that comforts rather than distracts from the main action), and now struggles to come to terms with her new pregnancy by a man whom she fears will leave him eventually due to their religious differences and his newly proclaimed love for his ex-wife.

It’s a genius way of storytelling: it doesn’t hit us over the head with the historical elements, but still reminds us that it’s relevant, ever-present and lurking in the background ’til it’s used with passion and power in the final climatic scene. And at the same time the true revelation of Mattie’s and Max’s family history is revealed, Mattie simultaneously peaks within the story of her own struggle.

maybe2A tough task to pull off, no doubt, but, coupled with Meyer’s exquisite script, this cast does it effortlessly, with their top-notch performances blending perfectly with the others in each individual scene. As mentioned, Hogrefe’s Mattie is captivating from the moment the lights go up, channeling every emotion imaginable as she’s hit with multiple revelations throughout the course of the evening; Lanson offers a charming Max, who compels you to empathize and understand his struggle, especially in the show’s final moments; Russo–whose performance takes quite the unexpected turn in its own right–simply couldn’t be more delightful as Mattie’s bestie, Gunther–and Spencer Aste’s Manfred is just so darn powerful–his affective delivery conveys his genuine care for his daughter and his family’s legacy through his actions. Major props, too, to set designer Tim McMath, who does a lot with just a single set in a small space, and sound designer John McKenna, who cleverly infuses the show with an authentic German feel during the occasional scene breaks.

And then, of course–to return to the subject of the writing, the crux around which this masterpiece revolves–there’s the meaning of the title. Now, obviously, one could take the literal meaning–Max, the “maybe” in question, never really “fell” for Mattie or Rebecca, and spends the majority of the play waffling between staying with either one amidst the multiple discoveries that are revealed.

But, in my opinion, it takes two to make or break a relationship… and with her unwillingness to commit to either Max or Gunther, Mattie’s just as much of a “maybe” as is her other half. With her past history of abortion and attempted suicide, it’s easy to understand why she takes multiple trips to that window ledge throughout the course of the play, on the verge of jumping before she’s talked out of it.

But again, while she certainly has enough reason to feel like falling–and true, her life is not necessarily stable and hangs in the balance, especially at play’s end–she doesn’t, in fact, fall at all (as the title suggests). She’s damaged, for sure… but in not falling, she shows us she’s not fully destroyed. And with enough inner strength to know the fight is worth fighting. For her baby. For her friendship/relationship/whatever she’s got going on with Gunther. And for herself.

No doubt it’ll be hard–she does spend the play’s final moments alone onstage and in tears–but she’s giving the audience a sense of hope that, despite major hardships, everything’s going to be okay. And believe me, it’s a message we could all use right about now. I mean, if Mattie can do it, why can’t we?

Maybe Never Fell, written by Howard Meyer, plays at Pleasantville’s Axial Theatre (8 Sunnyside Avenue) through Sunday, November 20th. For tickets and more information, please visit axialtheatre.org.

 Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to The Inside Press. For further information or inquiry, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com