Ancram Opera House to Present Virtual Edition of CRYSTAL RADIO SESSIONS UPSTATE

Ancram Opera House will present a virtual edition of CRYSTAL RADIO SESSIONS UPSTATE, the Hudson Valley outpost of the popular downtown NYC reading series, on Saturday, July 11 at 8pm. This virtual event is free, but reservations are required. RSVP at www.ancramoperahouse.org/crystal-radio-2020.

The featured reading is "Too Young for The Blues" by Chatham-based playwright and author Wesley Brown. Brown is the author of three novels, three produced plays, and a collection of short stories entitled Dance of the Infidels from which "Too Young for the Blues" is taken. He is the co-editor of a fiction multicultural anthology Imagining America and a nonfiction multicultural anthology Visions of America, and he is editor of The Teachers & Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass. He is professor emeritus in English at Rutgers University (1979-2005) and is currently on the faculty at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

Reading the story, which is about a chance meeting between Ella Fitzgerald and a fan, will be regional actors MaConnia Chesser and AnnChris Warren.

MaConnia Chesser is a company member at Shakespeare & Co. Her regional theater credits include Actors' Shakespeare Project, WAM Theatre, Chester Theatre, Kennedy Center, NJ Rep (company member), Theater Alliance (INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY, Helen Hayes nomination), Ensemble Studio Theatre, & Folger Theatre. Her film and TV credits include The Shape of Destiny (Official Selection, 2018 Women in Comedy Festival), and HBO's The Wire.

AnnChris Warren is Director of Operations for Boys & Girls Club of Ulster County. Past directing credits include HAIRSPRAY, FOR COLORED GIRLS, WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, ANNIE, BYE BYE BIRDIE, PIPPIN, and CINDERELLA. Performance credits include the title role in AIDA, JoAnne in RENT, Dionne in HAIR, Cassie in A CHORUS LINE, Justice in ROCK OF AGES, and the Witch in INTO THE WOODS.

CRYSTAL RADIO SESSIONS showcases fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and personal essays of established and emerging writers and is curated by the Millerton-based writer Ashley Mayne, whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fence, Post Road, Juked, Peripheries, Blight podcast, Metambesen, and elsewhere. She is one of the founders of Crystal Radio, and a fiction editor at Fence.

The Ancram Opera House, located in southern Columbia County, is an award-winning intimate rural performance hall showcasing contemporary theatre and alternative cabaret by visionary theater and musical artists. For more information visit www.ancramoperahouse.org.

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