Bridge Street Theatre Launches Its New Mainstage with THE TAVERN

Bridge Street Theatre, the newest addition to the Hudson VAlley Theatre scene, presents the first full production on its new Mainstage -- George M. Cohan's classic, "The Tavern". Performances run September 15 - 25 at 44 West Bridge Street in Catskill.

On a dark and stormy night, a rural inn shelters an unlikely assortment of oddball characters, including a mysterious vagabond who's almost certainly not what he appears to be. Kane Prestenback* stars as The Vagabond with a cast that features some of the finest local talent in the Hudson Valley region - Gabriel James, Lindsay Cahill, Robert Ragaini, Art Skopinsky Louise Pillai, David Smilow, Elisabeth Henry, Alexandra Doggette, Brett Owen, Keith Mueller, and Parker Cross.

When "The Tavern" originally premiered in 1920, it utterly baffled a majority of the critics. But the play was championed by Robert Benchley who called it "the biggest night in my theatergoing career, for it marked the birth of something new on the stage, a gorgeous insanity from which it is to be hoped the drama as an institution will never recover" and Dorothy Parker, who proclaimed it "an entertainment sent from Heaven, via Mr. Cohan". The play went on to become one of Cohan's greatest theatrical successes, one in which he toured the provinces for years once the original production had closed. Steven Patterson, who helms the current production, previously directed the play to great acclaim to open the 1977 Summer Season of the Lexington Conservatory Theatre in Lexington, NY. Now, in 2016, Bridge Street Theatre is delighted to share this unique celebration of the joy of theatre devised by a titan of 20th century American entertainment with a whole new audience in a gorgeous new performance venue.

Bridge Street Theatre was founded in 2013 by Catskill residents John Sowle and Steven Patterson, long?time partners in theatre and in life. John and Steven have been "rendering oddities with grace and insight" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and the Hudson Valley since 1986.

"The Tavern" will be presented for eight performances only - September 15-25, Thursdays through Saturdays at7:30pm and Sundays at 2:00pm, with special "Pay-What-You-Can" days on Thursday September 15 and Sunday, September 18. Regular tickets are $20, $10 for students age 21 and under, and can be pre-purchased atBrownPaperTickets.com or by calling 800-838-3006. Tickets will also be on sale at the door one half hour prior to each performance on a space available basis. The theatre is located at 44 West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill, NY.

And finishing out the 2016 Season at Bridge Street Theatre will be productions of FRANKENSTEIN: THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, in Jim Helsinger's virtuoso one-man adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic tale of terror (October 13-23), and HOLIDAY MEMORIES adapted by Russell Vandenbroucke from Truman Capote's tales of his childhood in the Deep South during the Great Depression (December 8-18). Tickets for both of these productions are available now at BrownPaperTickets.com.

For more information, visit the theatre online at BridgeSt.org or call 518-943-3818.

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