While it has only been open to the public since April of 2014, and fund-raising efforts to complete the conversion of its 72-seat Mainstage space continue, Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre has already proven itself to be a vital part of our region's cultural life. Housed in the old Curtron Factory Building at 44 West Bridge Street, just across Catskill Creek from Main Street, it has been presenting surprising new events almost every weekend - theater, magic acts, cabaret performances, classical, jazz, folk, bluegrass, and jug band concerts, art installations, a Haunted House, even a celebrity appearance by actress
Patty Duke - and bringing new life (and foot traffic) to Catskill's West Bridge Street Corridor.
"Thanks in part to donations from our Founders Circle, further renovations to our building are currently under way and we're in the process of putting together an ambitious schedule of eclectic, cutting-edge performances for 2015," says John Sowle, Bridge Street Theatre's Managing Director. "Our aim is to bring audiences the kind of programming they're not going to find anywhere else in this region. And, looking at our plans for this year, I think it's safe to say you'd have to search far and wide to find any other theater presenting a season with this kind of depth and diversity."
Kaliyuga Arts, Bridge Street Theatre's in-house theater company, will kick off the 2015 season with three performances of Natalie Symons' Lark Eden on March 13, 14, and 15. A play told it letters, it chronicles the enduring friendship of three small-town Southern women from their childhood in the Depression Era through the early years of the 21st Century. Next up, on April 10, 11, and 12 is a wild performance art double-header: Dan Carbone's Up From the Ground, a "Twilight Zone" tinged Southern Gothic tale, and Alexandra Tatarsky's SIGN FELT!, an improvisational bildungsroman inspired by Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. On April 18, Broadway's Eric
Michael Gillett presents a cabaret evening devoted to the wit and wisdom of lyricist
Lorenz Hart, who wrote such memorable songs as "My Funny Valentine", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", and "I Wish I Were in Love Again." The month of May brings Florida-based playwright/performer
Roxanne Fay to Catskill for a two-weekend run of her play Home Fires Burning, in which she portrays a pair of unforgettable characters - one a child, the other ancient and disfigured - in a piece that explores the need and willingness to give all for a place called Home. Performances will be held on May 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, and 24. May also brings a special four-performance return engagement of Christian Cagigal's OBSCURA: A Magic Show. Christian's unique blend of storytelling, sleight of hand, and slightly creepy magic was a huge hit in its BST run during June of last year. OBSCURA will play on May 28, 29, 30, and 31.
Beyond May, plans include productions by Kaliyuga Arts of The Epic of Gilgamesh, a new one-man stage adaptation of the ancient Babylonian epic poem featuring
Steven Patterson, The Killing and The Love Death, a brace of recently re-discovered one-acts by
William Inge, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Picnic, and Grinder's Stand, Oakley Hall III's powerful historical drama about the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Also in the works are productions of
Daniel Talbott's Gray (set in 1854 in the west coast whaling town of Monterey, California) and
Mickle Maher's There Is a Happiness That Morning Is (a word-drunk comedy about a forbidden love affair between two college English professors), scenes from Shakespeare's Othello as performed and reconceived by Advanced Placement students from Catskill High, Rose and the Nightingale, an all-female ensemble of four powerful New York-based multi-instrumentalists and improvisers, and holiday shows in November and December. Collaborations are also in the works with 23Arts Initiative, Catskill Jazz Factory, Flo Hayle, Michael Moss, Justin Morell and Leonard Thompson, Carlo Adonolfi and Concrete Temple Theatre, Catskill Chamber Orchestra, the Ramblin Jug Stompers, and others, including numerous playwrights with new projects in the works.
"It's definitely an adventurous schedule," says
Steven Patterson, Sowle's Bridge Street Theatre partner. "But then John and I have always been, theatrically at least, a little nuts. We believe that by offering unusual, offbeat, risk-taking programming, we'll find a loyal audience, hungry for the type of intellectually and emotionally stimulating work we've always loved. While most events will be presented in our Speakeasy, which seats about fifty, we're hoping to find ways to use the raw, unfinished space where our Mainstage will eventually be located for performances as well. The Haunted House we presented in there last October made it clear to us that, used creatively, it could yield some truly exciting stagings." Sowle adds, "We definitely plan to present our production of Oakley Hall's Grinder's Stand in that space. And we hope that, by making the leap of faith necessary to move ahead with a season this ambitious, we'll wind up attracting, and proving ourselves worthy of, the financial support necessary to complete our conversion of the entire building. Once that's done, the potential for what we'll be able to achieve there is virtually limitless."
Audiences can always find out what's coming up at Bridge Street by visiting the theater's website at BridgeSt.org or by checking out the Bridge Street Theatre page on Facebook. "2015 promises to be a truly wild ride," says Sowle. "Come on over to Catskill and see what all the excitement's about!"
Photo by John Sowle
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