News and Events
Full casting announced for Powerhouse Musicals and Anika Noni Rose confirmed for Powerhouse gala, June 27, 2009
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY-Casting has just been announced for Vassar & New York Stage and Film Powerhouse Theater's three musicals of the 25th anniversary season:
- The fully-staged Mainstage musical The Burnt Part Boys, a lyrical coming-of-age story of five teenagers on a quest to honor their dead fathers, will feature Skylar Astin (Spring Awakening) and Joe Cassidy (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1776, Show Boat, Les Misérables), 7/17-26.
- Matthew Lobenhofer (Gypsy), Deirdre O'Connell (The Front Page), and Ted Koch (The Pillowman) will be among the cast of Whisper House, the newest project from Tony Award-winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). Only three concert readings of Whisper House will be presented as the first of two Martel Musicals this summer, 7/10-11.
- Leslie Kritzer (A Catered Affair, Legally Blond, Hairspray) and Eric William Morris (Coram Boy) will be featured in the second Martel Musical, Tina Girlstar (two concert readings only, 7/31-8/1.
This just in-Tony Award-winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change), from the film Dreamgirls and HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, will join the star-filled line-up of the 25th anniversary Powerhouse Theater gala-featuring Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize-winners on Saturday, June 27. Join the artists after the performance at a party that will feature the best of the Hudson Valley. Seating is limited. Orchestra and parterre tickets are $100; balcony seating is $50. For tickets, go online to http://vassar.tix.com.
ABOUT THE MAINSTAGE MUSICAL
THE BURNT PART BOYS, 7/17 - 26
Martel Theater in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, $35
Five teenagers set out on a quest to find the Burnt Part coal mine, in the mountains of West Virginia, where their father's 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 a 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.
Four 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, $35.
THE MARTEL MUSICALS
Martel Theater in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, $25
WHISPER HOUSE, 7/10-11
The concept for Whisper House came about when actor and Whisper House director Keith Powell (30 Rock) approached Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) about developing a musical theater piece with him. Following a trip Powell took to New England, a story began to emerge that centered around a lighthouse. Playwright Kyle Jarrow (The Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pagaent) was enlisted to write the script.
Sheik wrote most of the music during a writing retreat on an island off of Charleston. A native Southerner, he explained, "Charleston has this history of ghost stories, a southern tradition that I kind of grew up with. I reconnected with it in some way and used that to write the lyrics to these songs . . . (it) was so much more fun to write from the persona of these ghosts, these dead people, and the whimsical malevolence I could articulate through their voices. That felt really good and was very inspiring."
The story of Whisper House begins with the arrival of young Christopher (Matthew Lobenhofer / Gypsy) at his Aunt Lilly's (Deirdre O'Connell / The Front Page) home - a lighthouse set on an island off the coast of New England. Christopher's father was shot down in World War II and during Whisper House the New England is on alert for U-Boats and enemy aliens. However young Christopher, who senses and hears the lighthouse's ghostly residents, also weighs in on other possible aliens. The cast also Arthur Acuña as Yasujiro, Ted Koch (The Pillowman) as Charles, and Gideon Banner as Lieutenant Rando. The ghostly chorus will be David Poe (Lead Singer) and Holly Brook (Female Singer)-who is currently touring with Sheik.
The story of Whisper House was initially introduced last January by Sheik in a CD of the same name. This collection of songs, written specifically for the theatrical production, marked Sheik's first solo album since 2006's critically-acclaimed White Limousine and came on the heels of the success of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening for which Sheik collaborated with lyricist Steven Sater and composed an original score. Described by Variety as "the most startling and exciting rock tuner to hit the boards since Rent," Spring Awakening won eight Tony Awards, with Sheik earning two Tony Awards for "Best Orchestration" and "Best Original Score" as well as a Grammy Award for "Best Musical Show Album."
There will be three performances of Whisper House, July 10 and 11, $25. Whisper House is slated to premiere at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre next January.
TINA GIRLSTAR, 7/31- 8/1
Tina Girlstar is a pop music fairy tale about the corruptive lure of fame and the redemptive power of true talent! An aging record producer Daniella (Sandy Binion / Jane Eyre) decides her swan song will be to create the ultimate pop princess Tina (Mariand Torres), literally piece by piece. The cast will include Vanessa (Leslie Kritzer / A Catered Affair, Legally Blond, Hairspray), Jeff (Eric William Morris / Coram Boy), Tracey (Natalie Weiss), Ivy (Deone Zanotto / A Chorus Line), Nina (Ronica Reddick / Jonestown), and Amy (Shelley Thomas).
Anton Dudley (Getting Home, Slag Heap; Honor and the River), a Vassar alumnus, wrote the book; lyrics are by Charlie Sohne (ReelPolitik: The Musical); music by Brian Feinstein (Anna Sosenko Trust Award for Mimi Le Duck); with direction by Jeremy Dobrish (Inner Voices: Solo Songs); and musical direction by Chris Fenwick (Grease, The Pajama Game).
Composer Feinstein described Tina Girlstar as "a musical journey of unexpected dreams and the power we all possess to rebuild and reshape our lives."
There will be two performances of Tina Girlstar (7/31 - 8/1), which was originally developed at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City and during a Lark residency at Powerhouse Theater. The musical has been optioned by Olympus Theatricals.
THE 2009 POWERHOUSE THEATER SEASON
Join the Powerhouse Theater community and become among the first to see a new play or musical performed, often before it goes on to a larger venue, on or off-Broadway, or in theaters across the country.
The season will open this year on June 26 and continue through August 2. In addition to The Burnt Part Boys (7/17-26), the Powerhouse Mainstage productions this season will feature Joanna Murray-Smith's Ninety, directed by Maria Mileaf and featuring Sarita Choudhury and Kevin Kilner (June 30 - July 12) and Hudson Valley native and HBO's In Treatment writer Keith Bunin's Vera Laughed, directed by Carolyn Cantor (July 22 - August 2) - all tickets $35.
All tickets to the Martel Musicals are $25. Performances and seating is limited for the concert readings of Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow's Whisper House, directed by Keith Powell (July 10, 11) and Anton Dudley, Charlie Sohne, and Brian Feinstein's Tina Girlstar, directed by Jeremy Dobrish (7/31 - 8/1).
All performances for comedian Lewis Black's comedy One Slight Hitch, directed by Joe Grifasi, have already sold-out, however limited tickets for Ben Snyder's urban fairy tale Shoe Story, directed by Tony Award-winner Thomas Kail, are still available (July 23 - July 25) - all tickets for the Inside Look series are $20.
The free Readings Festivals will open close the season and will include new plays by Bryan Delaney, Andrew Dolan, Yussef El Guindi, Beth Henley, Dan Moran, Theresa Rebeck, John Patrick Shanley, Julian Sheppard, and Regina Taylor. Seating is extremely limited and reservations are strongly recommended for this free series.
On Friday and Saturday evenings catch great fresh food on the way to the theater with Powerhouse Summer Suppers prepared by a rotating selection of Arlington's restaurants at Café on the Quad from 5:30pm to 8pm [The Dubliner - July 3; Zorona Restaurant - July 10, 11; Beech Tree Grill & Bittersweet - July 17, 18; Twisted Soul - July 24, 25; Babycakes Cafe - July 31, Aug 1]. Wine and beer will be offered (no reservations necessary). "Hudson Valley Mediterranean" flavors will be presented by Gigi Hudson Valley at the Alumnae House starting at 6pm on 7/3, 7/10-11, 7/17-18, 7/24-25, 7/31-8/1 (reservation requests: (914) 388-7175). Seventeen Arlington restaurants will offer Powerhouse ticket holders who present their ticket stubs a discount for pre- or post- theater meal or dessert.
Season after season Powerhouse audiences have had the chance to be a witness to the creative process and development of award-winning works through artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances, including John Patrick Shanley's Doubt (four Tony Awards including Best Play and Pulitzer for Drama), Warren Leight's Side Man (two Tony Awards including Best Play and Pulitzer nominee), and Jay Presson Allen's Tru (Tony Award for Best Actor).
Last summer Opera News described Powerhouse as "a safe haven for plays to be nurtured before they make their way into the world, an incubator where writers can work on the development of a show without commercial and critical pressures, far from the ka-ching of Broadway."
THE BOX OFFICE
Tickets to the gala are $50 for limited balcony seating (enter code: GALABALC) and $100 for orchestra and parterre seating. A special Mainstage subscription and gala package is $174.25 and will include admission for one to the gala (orchestra or parterre seating), to all nine readings, and to any performance of all three Mainstage shows.
Individual tickets to Mainstage shows are $35; Martel Musicals $25; and the Inside Look series $20. Mainstage subscriptions ($89.25) offer admission to any performance of the three Mainstage shows (Ninety, The Burnt Part Boys, and Ninety) and all nine readings at 15% off single ticket prices.
This year, continuing its mission of presenting artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances, Powerhouse Theater will offer a $5 student rush ticket for students 25 years and under [as available 15 minutes before curtain].
To purchase tickets, go online to http://powerhouse.vassar.edu, call (845) 437-7235 or (845) 437-5599, or visit the Box Office on the Vassar campus.
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.
Please note that all programs and artists are subject to change.
Posted by College Relations Thursday, June 25, 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.
Drama Department Experimental Theater
Presenting several public performances each semester in the Martel Theater of the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film and the Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater, the Experimental Theater is a place to explore theories learned in the classroom and to experiment with theatrical forms. In the tradition of pioneering stage director Hallie Flanagan, students are encouraged to experience and experiment with all aspects of the theater. Flanagan, who accepted a position to teach drama at Vassar in 1925, founded the Experimental Theater following her visit to the theaters of Europe in 1926 on a Guggenheim Fellowship. (http://drama.vassar.edu).