News and Events
Special discount to Powerhouse's new musical The Burnt Part Boys for Hudson Valley residents and students, July 17-26, 2009
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY-In celebration of 25 seasons of bringing great new theater to the Hudson Valley, Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater will offer all residents of Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster counties a special discounted ticket for the new musical The Burnt Part Boys (15% discount / $29.75).
In addition, Powerhouse is offering all full-time students, accompanied by an adult, in Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster counties (aged 25 and under) a $5 student ticket in advance with valid student identification (otherwise this special ticket is usually offered 15 minutes before curtain, as available
This special Powerhouse 25th offer will allow all residents to see this lyrical coming-of-age story-featuring five talented young actors, including Skylar Astin from Spring Awakening and Al Calderon from 13, portraying brothers-at very affordable prices. Valid for all performances as space allows.
THE MAINSTAGE MUSICAL: THE BURNT PART BOYS
Five teenagers set out on a quest to find the Burnt Part coal mine, in the mountains of West Virginia, where their fathers died 10 years earlier, in a tragic mining accident. Three of them hope to close the mine forever - preserving the living tomb to their fathers - while the older teens, employed by the coal mine company, seek to stop them.
During The Burnt Part Boys the teens discover truths about themselves and their relationships with one another - in a deeply moving and powerful odyssey, set to a haunting and distinctive bluegrass and pop-inspired score.
The cast will include Al Calderon (13) as Pete, Skylar Astin (Spring Awakening) as Jake, Noah Galvin as Dusty, Andrew Durand as Chet, Molly Ranson as Frances, Joe Cassidy (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1776, Show Boat, Les Misérables) as Pete's Movie Fantasy Men / Dad, and as the other three miners: Timothy Warmen (The Who's Tommy), John Schiappa (Assassins, Take Me Out), and David Abeles.
Originally conceived as an NYU thesis project by the award-winning team of Chris Miller (music) & Nathan Tysen (lyrics)-both recipients of The Vineyard's Kitty Carlisle Hart Musical Theatre, Jonathan Larson, and Richard Rodgers awards (Fugitive Songs, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick)-they enlisted the help of fellow NYU alum, Mariana Elder, to write the story. The initial outing of the The Burnt Part Boys, in 2006, was a critically-acclaimed workshop at Barrington Stage's music theater lab.
Three years later, the musical has been re-envisioned, and now with direction by Vassar and Powerhouse alumna Erica Schmidt (Humor Abuse), choreography by Peter Pucci (Drama Desk nominee for Queen's Boulevard), and musical direction by Vadim Feichtner (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). A spring 2010 off-Broadway run is planned.
Major funding for The Burnt Part Boys has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative.
There will be 12 performances of The Burnt Part Boys in the Martel Theater, July 17 through July 26.
ABOUT THE SPECIAL DISCOUNTS
The 15% Hudson Valley resident discount is available both online (use code RESIDENT09), in person at the Powerhouse Theater Box Office, or by phone at (845) 437-5599.
The $5 student ticket needs to be purchased in person at the Box Office or over the phone, in combination with an adult "resident" ticket.
Please remember to bring appropriate picture identification showing residency and/or full-time student status (under age 25) for eligibility.
These offers cannot be combined with any other offers and are not applicable to previous sales. All sales are final. Individual tickets are not exchangeable.
Vassar is sited in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, NY. Go to http://www.vassar.edu/directions for directions to the Vassar campus.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.
POWERHOUSE THEATER
Powerhouse Theater, now entering its 25th season, is the result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. The program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 200 professional artists and some 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. Powerhouse steadfastly supports both emerging and established artists.
The annual residency has included such writers as John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, Henry Kreiger, Warren Leight, Christopher Durang, Richard Greenberg, Stephen Belber, Eric Bogosian, Steve Martin, Dael Orlandersmith, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater; directors Mark Brokaw, Joe Mantello, Lisa Peterson, Roger Rees, Liz Swados, David Warren, and Michael Wilson; and actors Chris Cooper, Dana Delany, Olympia Dukakis, Edie Falco, Peter Gallagher, Joel Grey, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Johnston, Lucy Liu, Julianna Margulies, Rob Morrow, Frances McDormand, Josh Radnor, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kyra Sedgwick, Fisher Stevens, David Strathairn, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Westfeldt, among many others.
Since its inception in 1985, Powerhouse has played a significant role in the development of hundreds of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for the Hudson Valley, the New York metropolitan area, and the surrounding region.
ABOUT NEW YORK STAGE AND FILM
Founded in 1985 by Producing Directors Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer and Leslie Urdang, and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer, New York Stage and Film (SAF) is a not-for-profit company dedicated to the development and production of new works for theater and film. SAF has developed and produced premiere works by such writers as John Patrick Shanley, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Theresa Rebeck and Eve Ensler.
ABOUT VASSAR COLLEGE
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861. Consistently ranked as one of the country's best liberal arts colleges, Vassar is renowned for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the natural and architectural beauty of its campus. More than 50 academic departments and degree programs -- from Anthropology to Cognitive Sciences to Urban Studies -- encompass the arts, foreign languages, natural sciences, and social services, and combine to offer a curriculum of more than 1,000 courses.
CALENDAR LISTING The Burnt Part Boys Book by Mariana Elder
Lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Music by Chris Miller
Directed by Erica Schmidt
Choreography by Peter Pucci
Musical direction by Vadim Feichtner
July 17, 18, 21*, 22, 23, 24, 25 at 8pm; July 19, 25, 26 at 2pm; July 19 at 7pm
*Post-show discussion on Tuesday, July 21
Martel Theater, Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film
The special Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster resident (15%) discount is available online (use code: RESIDENT09) or in person at the Box Office or by phone. The $5 student advance ticket is only available, in person, at the box office or by phone.
Posted by College Relations Thursday, July 9, 2009
About the Arts
Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. It is dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. During an intense eight-week summer residency on the Vassar campus, up to twenty different projects are publicly presented, typically engaging more than 200 professional artists and theater students. Plays, musicals, and screenplays are presented in a variety of forms: readings, workshops, and fully staged productions. Since the first Powerhouse Theater season in 1985, New York Stage and Film and Vassar have served more than 2,000 artists and over 175,000 audience members through the development and production of artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances.
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
Located just inside Vassar's Main Gate, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center houses the college's permanent collection, over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares, charting the history of art from antiquity to the present. The Permanent Collection Galleries feature 350 works, ranging from the sculpted Head of Viceroy Merymose from His Outer Sarcophagus (Egyptian, c 1375 BCE) in the Antiquities Gallery to Marsden Hartley's oil on canvas Indian Composition (1914-15) in the Twentieth Century Gallery. For information on current and upcoming special exhibitions, self-guided and curriculum-based tours, and group visits, please visit the website. The art center is open to the public, and admission is free.
James W. Palmer Gallery
Located in the College Center in Main Building, the James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery presents eight shows annually, including exhibitions by renowned artists and photographers, studio art faculty and students, and local arts organizations. Recent highlights included Andrea Baldeck’s black-and-white photo exhibit, Touching the Mekong: A Southeast Asian Sojourn, organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the Vassar Haiti Project’s annual exhibition and auction of imported arts and handcrafts; and Design Inside, showcasing the work of Vassar’s College Relations design team. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information on upcoming exhibitions, visit the website or call (845) 437-5370.
Music Department
Located in the Belle Skinner Hall of Music, the Martel Recital Hall is wonderfully suited, both acoustically and aesthetically, to music performance. With seating for 500, the Martel is home to the Vassar College Orchestra, Choir, Women's Chorus, Madrigal Singers, and numerous chamber groups and ensembles. The Martel concert schedule routinely includes distinguished guest artists, faculty recitals, senior recitals, and special musical events, such as last year's series of organ recitals celebrating the installation and dedication of the college's superb pipe organ, designed by masterbuilder Paul Fritts. For information on upcoming concerts and events (which are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted), please visit the website.
Dance Department
The Department of Dance sponsors several public performances each year. Among those, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) has a series of Works in Progress showings in the fall, a winter Modfest performance in conjunction with the The Department of Music, winter galas at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House, and two All Parents Weekend performances in the spring. The department's Master Class program annually invites at least one ballet and one modern expert to campus in addition to two people in other areas of dance. Public performances and lectures are often associated with these renowned visitors. Guest artists in the past have included: Irina Kolpokova, Arthur Mitchell, Helene Alexopoulos, Gregory Hines, Anna Kisselgoff, Donald Byrd, Edward Villella, Ronald K. Brown, Irene Dowd, Allegra Kent, Gelsey Kirkland, Pilobolus w/Adam Battlestein, Suzanne Farrell, Mummenschantz, Eldar Aliev, Deborah Jowitt, Bill T. Jones, Pascal Rioult, Clinton Luckett of ABT, Bill Irwin, and Donald McKayle. Many of the department's dance performances are in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater, located in Kenyon Hall.