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Pay it Forward

DISCOVER The Phoenix Festival: Live Arts in Nyack

June 1, 2022 by Megan Klein

Outstanding Ensemble Emphasizes Creative Freedom & Pay it Forward in its ‘Artistic Homeplace’

The Importance of Being Earnest     PHOTO BY STEPHANIE BERGER

To be, or not to be: that is the question.

Or, to be at the Phoenix Festival: Live Arts in Nyack or not to be: that is the real question. And the answer? Yes.

After being postponed for two years because of the pandemic, the first annual Phoenix Festival: Live Arts in Nyack, NyackArtsFestival.com will take place on weekends from September 16 through October 16, showcasing carefully selected productions meant to resonate with people and lift their spirits. All performances will be held outdoors at the Marydell Faith and Life Center in Upper Nyack and the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center in the heart of the village. 

“When we moved to Nyack, and particularly over the pandemic, we were watching as everyone was struggling to keep going,” Phoenix Ensemble Artistic Director Elise Stone said. “Hopefully the art uplifts everyone, and we all need psychological and emotional uplifting after the past couple of years..”

Elise and her husband Craig Smith, the managing director of the ensemble, are both long time actors and theater enthusiasts who actually met, got married and worked together at their old repertory. After years of wanting to be involved in something more artist-driven, they founded the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble in 2004, a multi award-winning, not-for-profit organization.

The ensemble prides itself in not only the work they do, which is primarily classical theater (which means more than just Shakespeare), but also in the creative freedom they give to their actors, directors, designers, writers and others on the team. If one of their costume designers has an idea for a show, they’re all ears. At Phoenix, everyone has a voice.

Skin of Our Teeth Photo by Stephanie Berger

Their goal with forming the ensemble was to create an artistic homeplace. And after moving to Nyack in 2018, they both saw the potential it had and became convinced that there was no better place to not only get the local and extended community involved with the arts, but to get involved with the community itself, which is one of their core values.

They started producing benefits and shows for organizations such as the Rockland Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education and the Nyack Library. The idea of a festival soon came to mind, and this fall it will finally come to fruition.

For the past few years, Smith and Stone began building an infrastructure to support the Festival by reaching out to political representatives and collaborating with local organizations such as VisitNyack.org and listening to merchants and businesses on how this Festival can work for  everyone.

They even specifically scheduled the shows to be in the daytime to allow attendees time to explore Nyack and all the mom-and-pop shops, restaurants, and activities that the village has to offer later in the evening. 

According to the results from a commissioned study by Brockport Research Institute of 2,000 tri-state arts enthusiasts and Rockland residents, $184,000 will be spent at local shops per 500 attendees. Smith projects that number to actually triple, which means that the festival would bring in half a million dollars to the community.

“Even though we’ve been in Nyack for four years, we were concerned that we would be thought of as the newcomers in a way,” Stone said. “Being part of a community is a key tenet of the ensemble, and we feel that we are part of [it] now and we want to give back to this community.”

Come One, Come All

But, just because the event is in Rockland County doesn’t mean that the event is only for those in the area. It’s for everyone and anyone!

“We’re hoping that people will come and see how close a world class performance is to them,” Stone said. “Whether you’re coming from Westchester or Jersey or from Rockland, a first-class professional theater experience is available right here.”

And as she wants to remind those in Westchester, “we’re right across the bridge!”

Headlining the program are three classic plays: The Skin of Our Teeth, an “epic” humorous tale of the “triumph of the human spirit,” The Importance of Being Earnest, the “funniest play ever written in the English language” (according to Stone) and Chekhov’s rarely performed gem The Harmfulness of Tobacco. 

The Children’s Shakespeare Theater and the Rockland Symphony Orchestra will also be performing, so there will truly be something for everyone. The Festival’s audio walking tour incorporating augmented reality, AR Adventures, Digital Dreaming, is available free of charge and will be a special experience. 

Both Stone and Smith believe that art should always be available and there should never be an obstacle in the way of that, be it financially or geographically. Because of that, they have a “pay it forward” program in place to give tickets to families who can’t afford the full-price and are working on a program for public school students. Additionally, they will have a shuttle bus available from downtown Nyack to Marydell in Upper Nyack. Like they said, it takes a village to be able to put together a festival like this. Corporate sponsors and individual donations are still being accepted.

Visit nyackartsfestival.com/become-a-sponsor to learn more about becoming a sponsor for the event. For further information regarding family discounts and student programs, contact Craig Smith at Craig@PhoenixTheatreEnsemble.org or 917-717-1617.

For more details and ticket purchases, visit NyackArtsFestival.com. Early bird ticket purchasers get special discounts. Ticket buyers should use the code WEST when ordering. As Stone put it, this experience allows you to witness the artists and the audience breathing together into a story.

So, to be at the festival or not to be at the festival…is that even a question?

Judas    PHOTO BY GERRY GOODSTEIN
Agamemnon Home    PHOTO BY GERRY GOODSTEIN

Filed Under: Gotta Have Arts Tagged With: Ensemble, festival, Live Arts in Nyack, Live Performances, Nyack, Nyack Library, Pay it Forward, Phoenix Festival, Rockland Holocaust Museum, theater

Rotary Club of Chappaqua Honors Eileen Gallagher, Tuan Anh Dang at Annual Awards Luncheon

July 2, 2021 by Grace Bennett

Don Roane presenting Eileen Gallagher with the Rotary’s Paul Harris Service Award   Photos by Grace Bennett/Inside Press

June 30, 2021, Chappaqua, NY–Members of the Rotary Club of Chappaqua, gathered at Crabtree’s Kittle House for their annual awards presentations, honored outgoing president Eileen Gallagher with the Paul Harris Service Award and Horace Greeley High School Senior Tuan Anh Dang who received the Rotary’s Student Community Service Award. The in-person celebration brought Rotary members to the Kittle House, where the group has resumed meeting every Monday to honor community members and to plan their signature events, including Community Day, this year on September 18.

Long-time Rotarian Don Roane presented the prestigious Paul Harris service award to Gallagher, a two-term President of the Chappaqua Rotary, citing “her tremendous dedication and service to the community.” Gallagher is hardly leaving her Rotary efforts behind, however. She has been asked to work with a number of towns in northern Westchester, including Chappaqua, to create an ‘e-club’ which will meet via Zoom or in person, when desired.  “It’s an exciting chance to create a virtual club, which will fill a tremendous void in the area for those who wish to serve the community at large but whose schedule does not allow for in-person weekly meetings,” said Gallagher. “Covid has brought valuable insight into how we are able to connect over the internet, with the flexibility to meet in person when desired, and with the aim to “grow Rotary”, this will be a step in that direction.”

“There is a Wall Street e-club with members from other parts of the world, which had intrigued me,” explained Gallagher, “because of its innovative, inclusive and accessible meetings. This club will be able to fill that void in Northern Westchester.” For more information and to join, write to Gallagher, newestchesterrotary@gmail.com

Horace Greeley graduating senior (on the right) Tuan Anh Dang, here with his mom Huong Giang Nguyen, received the Rotary’s Student Community Service Award and Scholarship. Inside Press photo.

On behalf of Westchester County Executive George Latimer (a long time Rotarian), New Castle Town Council member Lori Gowen Morton presented Horace Greeley graduating senior Tuan Anh Dang with the Rotary Student Community Service Award; in addition, Gallagher presented Dang with a $1000 scholarship from the Rotary for his outstanding achievement and dedication to ‘service above self.’ 

In the opening to his “Service to the Community” essay to the Rotary, Dang relayed how vital the support of a young college student mentor/instructor had been to him when he was a child enrolled in an English as a Second Language course. It was taught, he recalled, by ‘a lanky 19-year-old’ named Eric volunteering from the University of California in Santa Barbara. Dang wrote of the friendships formed, and comradery that took shape between himself and his classmates during that time.

“Despite not having a single language in common (Spanish, Chinese, German, Vietnamese), Eric still managed to teach us all English,” Dang stated. “While trying to help us integrate into the broader community, he created one right within that class. Even after the course ended, we all became proficient; the people in that class became some of my closest friends after elementary school… I’m not sure Eric knew that he had just fostered a dozen children and made them all feel at home in this country for the first time.”

“I strive to pay the favor forward to other immigrant children by teaching ESL classes at Neighbors Link. In their confused eyes, I see my younger self who was equally perplexed by this odd world.”

In his sophomore year of high school, Dang was chosen as the Westchester county representative to the Youth to Youth International Conference, a youth leadership drug prevention program. That experience was instrumental to embarking on summer internship with the New Castle United for Youth, a local coalition for whom Dang helped organize events “with the goal of creating a support network that extends to all those who seek help in our town.”

With a new incoming president Marlene Canapi on board beginning July 1, Rotary members are planning the comeback date of Saturday, September 18, for Chappaqua’s annual Community Day, canceled last year due to Covid. To keep up with Community Day plans and all Rotary activities in Chappaqua, visit Chappaqua Rotary Club | Facebook

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Eileen Gallagher, George Latimer, Neighbors Link, New Castle, Paul Harris Award, Pay it Forward, Rotary Club of Chappaqua, Service Above Self, Student Community Service, Tuan Anh Dang, Westchester County

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