performance

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.

Chappaqua Performing Arts Center Presents Sō PERCUSSION October 14

October 10, 2017 by The Inside Press

Chappaqua Performing Arts Center Presents
Modern Percussion Ensemble “Sō Percussion” October 14
Opening Reception for NWAG’s “Method & Melody Art Exhibit

CHAPPAQUA– Nothing stirs the senses like extraordinary art or the magic of a musical performance. On Saturday, October 14, the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, the newest artistic jewel in the tri-state region, will provide its guests with a vibrant night of audio and visual simulation.

The evening will feature a special concert by the internationally acclaimed quartet, Sō Percussion at 8 p.m. The groundbreaking ensemble will perform five special selections from their extensive repetroire — “3^rdConstruction” by John Cage, “Springs” by Paul Lansky, “Taxidermy” from Caroline Shaw, Jason Treuting’s “Amid the Noise,” and “Music for Wood and Strings,” a composition by Bryce Dessner of the acclaimed indie rock band The National.

Tickets for Sō Percussion are $30 – $60 and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com, by calling 1-800-745-3000 or in person on day of the show at the lobby box office.

Patrons are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy a special a special art exhibition entitled “Method & Melody” displayed in the Center’s lobby. The installation features artwork created by the Northern Westchester Artists Guild. The exhibit’s opening reception, co-sponsored by Sari Shaw of Platinum Realty in Chappaqua, will take place from 5 – 8 p.m. All of the work from “Method & Melody” is for sale and will be on display through November 17^th.

Sō Percussion specializes in innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern classics, and an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” (The New Yorker). In the process, the company has redefined the scope and vital role of the modern percussion ensemble. Their repertoire includes works of 20th century classical composers such as John Cage and Steve Reich , as well as creative collaborations with artists who often work outside the classical concert field. In addition, the quartet composes and performs their own works, ranging from standard concert pieces to immersive multi-genre programs.

According to the group’s website, Sō Percussion’s goal is “to create a new model of egalitarian artistic collaboration that respects history, champions innovation and curiosity, and creates an essential social bond through service to our audiences and our communities.”

The quartet — which includes Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam, Sliwinski and Jason Treuting – has performed with such luminaries as the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Caroline Shaw, American soprano Dawn Upshaw and on stages ranging from the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall to such popular festival events as Bonnaroo, MassMoCA, and TED 2016. In addition, Sō Percussion has been named the Edward T. Cone Ensemble-in-Residence at Princeton University, Co-Directors of the percussion department at the Bard College-Conservatory of Music, and directors of the annual Sō Percussion Summer Institute, which provides college-age composers and percussionists an immersive exposure to collaboration and project development.

Visit Sō Percussion online:
sopercussion.com
Facebook.com/sopercussion/
Instagram.com/sopercussion/
Twitter.com/sopercussion

Located on the former campus of Reader’s Digest in a building once known as the Wallace Auditorium, the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center — or ChappPAC for short — was recently saved from demolition by the Town of New Castle and established to provide a rich blend of local and national arts presentations and cultural programming for people throughout Westchester County and the surrounding region. The 425-seat venue celebrated its grand opening on September 23, 2017 with the first of 12 concerts, plays and performances scheduled for its inaugural Fall Season.

The Chappaqua Performing Arts Center is located at 480 Bedford Road, Chappaqua, NY 10514 just inside the gate on the former Reader’s Digest campus.

Tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000

For additional information, visit www.ChappaquaPAC.org or call 914-458-5143

Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChappaquaPerformingArtsCenter/

A Hearty Bravo to Chappaqua Orchestra’s First “Children’s Story Concert”

December 23, 2015 by Inside Press

Article and Photos by Matt Smith

As you make your way toward the red velvet seat in the newly refurbished Wallace Auditorium, clutching your program to the Children’s Story Concert, which boasts the titular characters of the evening’s respective pieces, you hear the faint murmurs of the Chappaqua Orchestra tuning up, and almost immediately feel a rush of excitement. You pause to breathe, look around, and take it all in; you’re preparing yourself for the journey on which you are about to embark.

Upon exiting the building, you’ll snap back to reality and remember you’re indeed in Westchester, but inside the auditorium, that detail is sure to be easily forgotten. With your eyes closed, the sound of the orchestra makes you feel like you’re at Lincoln Center… and you are, in fact, after all, witnessing “the Jewel of New Castle” perform one of the most popular and well-known pieces in the history of classical music. In short, it’s an incredibly moving experience you’re sure to remember.

The November afternoon began with The Runaway Bunny, a musical adaptation of the classic children’s story by Margaret Wise Brown, as composed by Glen Roven–who, it should be noted, was in attendance at the event. Narrated by WQXR’s Elliott Forrest, the composition was accompanied by a series of illustrative projections, which guided the audience visually through the titular bunny’s journey–from the trout stream to the mountains to the circus. The arrangement itself provided a beautiful instrumental background to the story, that served to set the tone of the piece, establish a musical theme for each location, and punctuate significant moments in Forrest’s narration, with either a blast of a trumpet, a flourish of a flute, or the pluck of a violin string–by famed violinist Kinga Augustyn, no less, who served as a soloist on that selection.

The second orchestration kicked off with an introduction of the characters and their representative instruments–Peter (strings), the Bird (flute), the Cat (clarinet), the Duck (oboe), the Hunters (timpani & large drums), Grandfather (Bassoon), and of course, the Wolf (french horns)–before the orchestra launched into the string refrain so familiar and reminiscent of our childhood.

To end the program, conductor Michael Shapiro gave each section of the orchestra their own individual recognition, a gesture met with a rousing, well-deserved standing ovation from the audience.

Overall, “the concert was a success,” comments David Restivo, Executive Director of The Chappaqua Orchestra. “We know the people who came really enjoyed themselves.” He adds that TCO is planning to arrange another Children’s Story Concert in 2016, and hopes to make the program a bi-annual event in the years following.

It certainly seems like a great idea, as the first concert was very well received. Reiterates Restivo: “Anyone who missed this show really missed a great performance!” So, keep an eye out next year: it’s a truly one-of-a-kind experience… and it’s right here in Chappaqua! How could you lose?!

Restivo also wishes to thank sponsors Kiwi Country Day Camp and the Westchester Conservatory of Music who provided guests with activities such as face painting, bead-making and tic-tac-toe, and the instrumental “petting zoo,” respectively — and the Town of New Castle for supporting such a significant event.

“It is so vital for children to see these types of concerts [live and in person],” he continues, “and to realize these things don’t just happen on TV or on their iPads.”

Shapiro reiterates the importance of “bringing professional level music of all kinds to our local community,” especially for the kids, because “it’s essential” to instill the youngsters with a deepened appreciation and “enthusiasm for music.”

And with a program like this winter’s Children’s Story Concert and an orchestra as lively as TCO, it doesn’t seem like too hard a goal to achieve!

The Wallace Auditorium is located within Chappaqua Crossing, at 480 Bedford Road, just off of 117. For more information on The Chappaqua Orchestra, visit www.chappaquaorchestra.org.

(L-R): Narrator Elliott Forrest (WQXR), Conductor Michael Shapiro, Soloist Kinga Augustyn

Inside the Theatrical World of Pia Haas

December 2, 2015 by The Inside Press

By Heather Skolnick

Finding ways to express oneself is an individual journey. No surprise, I found my personal outlet in writing. For others, there are a myriad of creative outlets that exist. For Pia Haas, Director of The Armonk Players, her outlet was always the theatre–acting and directing.

Pia began developing her love for the theatre at a young age, starting her acting career in elementary school. By high school, her interest in acting had grown significantly, but her love for Biology reigned supreme. Pia intended on majoring in Biology. Before matriculating though, she met someone who would become her mentor who changed all that.

Pia met Mort Clark who gave her a taste of the life in the theatre. He was the chairman of the Arts Department at SUNY Westchester Community College and he exposed her to the many exciting aspects of theatre as her teacher and mentor. Based on those experiences, Pia chose to pursue theatre as her major in college. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she started teaching part time at the college, while also performing. She succeeded in landing a variety of roles from commercials, to soap opera appearances (The Guiding Light and One Life to Live!) to plays. She sought a steadier form of income so Pia next went back to school to get a Masters in Educational Theatre at NYU. With Masters in hand, she began to teach both Acting and Directing at Westchester Community College as an Associate Professor. At the same time, Pia directed the theatre group called The Theatre Connection and was also freelancing as a Director on the side. Pia was one busy lady!

After 10 years of teaching at Westchester Community College, it became too much to manage along with raising her three children. Pia gave up teaching and focused on freelancing. In 2000, Pia was approached to work for the newly formed Armonk Players.

The Armonk Players was an idea conceived by Barbara & Hal Simonetti and Susan Geffen. The Armonk Players is a not-for-profit organization supported by Friends of the North Castle Public Library and is made up of mostly North Castle residents. This symbiotic relationship benefits both organizations–the library raises money for the Players and allows the Armonk Players to utilize Whipporwill Hall as a stage. Any money earned by the Players goes right back to the library–all the while enriching the Armonk community. In fact, Pia said that the people involved in The Armonk Players “think of the Players as a gift to the community.”

The Armonk Players annually does two main stage productions and three to four staged readings where the actors carry scripts. The Players just wrapped Mothers and Sons, and will be doing a one day staged reading on 12/16 called Looking at Christmas, a light hearted fun comedy. Next up is Love, Loss and What I Wore in February, also a staged reading.

Their next main stage production has not yet been determined. Now 15 years as the Director, Pia speaks fondly of The Armonk Players. She said that her fellow actors and peers “became like a family.” She continued to say that “working with such a great group of people made it fun, made it my outlet.” While Pia predominately directs the productions, she occasionally acts as well–something she called “the ultimate creative outlet.”

Pia’s three children have “all dabbled in acting and directing”–as middle schoolers, campers and then as counselors. Pia’s eldest daughter leverages some of those skills and techniques learned when she was younger with her students at a New York City Montessori charter school where she teaches.

Want to express yourself but acting isn’t your forte? There are many ways to be involved with The Armonk Players without being an actor. Pia suggests that creative involvement can include set building, costume design, building /designing props, make up, gathering music, social media/publicity, poster design and execution, programs. If interested go to the website: www.armonkplayers.org

As if she weren’t busy enough serving as the Director of the Armonk Players, Pia also does all Public Relations for the Westchester Broadway Theatre, and most recently helped promote a stellar production of Showboat. For those of us who may not be theatrically inclined but still enjoy watching productions, there are two great options to see the fruits of Pia’s labor!

Heather Skolnick, husband and three children reside in New Castle. She works for a major retailer on their Omnichannel Strategy. While Heather is not theatrically inclined, she enjoys writing for Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk as a vehicle for self-expression.

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