Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre Celebrates Survival In 2022

In its first full season since the onset of the pandemic, one of the region's most adventurous and innovative small theatre companies came roaring back! Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre got through all of 2022 without having to cancel a single performance or send on a single replacement cast member!

BST's five-play Mainstage Season, "Celebrate Survival", transported audiences to some truly unexpected places this past year: to the stockroom of a Costco in rural Washington state (Samuel D. Hunter's CLARKSTON), to a small-town mortuary in Indiana (the surprisingly funny FOURTEEN FUNERALS by Eric Pfeffinger), into the minds of an elderly woman with encroaching dementia and her equally elderly canine companion (Brad Fraser's SHELLEY'S SHADOW), into the troubling relationship between a college professor and his 19-year-old student (Hannah Moscovitch's SEXUAL MISCONDUCT OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES), and to a backstabbing royal Christmas in medieval France (James Goldman's THE LION IN WINTER). Two regional premieres, a U.S. premiere, an American classic, and our first-ever commissioned world premiere, acclaimed and enjoyed by audiences and critics alike.

In addition, the collaborations BST initiated in 2021 with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in NYC and Catskill's Catwalk Institute continued with a series of artists' residencies. A new partnership was initiated with Saugerties' Round the Bend Theatre resulting in a series of new play readings from local playwrights, presented to the public for an affordable free-will donation. The theatre hosted its second annual Summer Musical with an all-student cast - THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE - and a two-performance run of A BINTEL BRIEF from Catskill's Temple Israel. Bridge Street Belly Dance returned with perhaps its most exciting program ever. And Bridge Street also hosted a number of spectacular musical evenings featuring such artists as Tom Judson, The Lost Radio Rounders, Ustad Shafaat Khan, Michael Moss, and the Zelos Saxophone Quartet.

Topping the year off, Bridge Street Theatre was nominated for six 2022 Berkshire Theatre Critics Association Awards (for productions staged from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022) and took top honors for two of them - for "Outstanding Production of a Play" (for our November 2021 production of Eugene O'Neill's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT) and "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play" (Roxanne Fay for her shattering performance as Mary Tyrone in LONG DAY'S JOURNEY). This scrappy "little theatre that can" has become increasingly recognized for both the quality of the work it presents and as an incubator for magnificent new plays.

A truly adventurous 2023 is currently in the works. A Season announcement is imminent and Subscription Tickets will go on sale soon. To stay informed on everything coming up at this four-time consecutive winner of "Best Theatre/Performance Space" in the annual "Best of Greene County" Awards, be sure to visit their website at bridgest.org.

CLARKSTON by Samuel D. Hunter (Regional Premiere) "Under the direction of Daniel Elihu Kramer, the three perfectly cast actors traverse tricky emotional terrain with such accomplishment that it's often a marvel to witness ... Bridge Street Theatre is a gem." Steve Barnes, Times Union

FOURTEEN FUNERALS by Eric Pfeffinger (East Coast Premiere) "An East Coast premiere at Bridge Street Theatre that more than takes the measure of Pfeffinger's savvy material ... A gentle (albeit at times, sublimely antic), enormously insightful comedy about coming home, even if it's a home you never knew you had." Jeffrey Borak, Berkshire Eagle

SHELLEY'S SHADOW by Brad Fraser (World Premiere Commission) "Not only is this is the best play I've seen at Bridge Street Theatre: I dare say it's one of the best new plays I've seen anywhere, ever! ... 'Shelley's Shadow' is simply wonderful storytelling, and I wish every world premiere play could be as good as this!" Andrew Andrews, Opplaud

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES by Hannah Moscovitch (US Premiere) "A triumph for all involved, compelling you to empathize with flawed characters behaving badly and blessing you with the grace of superb artistry ... 'Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes' is a small miracle of a play that will leave you amazed." Patrick White, Nippertown

THE LION IN WINTER by James Goldman "Director John Sowle and his cast have found the small wonders in James Goldman's script and shifted them from the back burners to the front of the stove ... Get your tickets while you can and see this great, quizzical history, worthy of Shakespeare but written by an American." J. Peter Bergman, Berkshire Edge

Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor of New York and the New York State Legislature and by Public Funds from the Greene County Legislature.

To post a comment, you must register and login.