Touring Shows Announced at Chenango River Theatre

In addition to the four shows in the main stage season at Chenango River Theatre, three eclectically different solo touring shows have been added to the schedule. Each will play one night only as part of the One Night Stand Series.

Home Fires Burning (Monday, June 12, 7:30pm) Up first is Home Fires Burning, which played to rave reviews at Bridge Street Theatre in the Catskills last year. Roxanne Fay, who played the mother in Other Desert Cities for CRT in 2015, serves up two original one act plays, Everlasting Moon and Paradise Whiskey. Each features one character - the first, a feral young girl; the second, an ancient and disfigured woman. Both tell compelling stories of the fierce need for - and willingness to fight for - a place called home.?

The first piece, Everlasting Moon, is about a young girl who has been taken from her home in the backwoods after being discovered living alone after the death of her grandmother. We meet her on her journey to try and find her home after escaping a government institution. She speaks to the audience from the safety of a tree, because, as she says "It ain't safe on the ground no more, no sir."

The second piece, Paradise Whiskey, features an ancient, scarred woman sitting on her porch, sipping whiskey and snapping beans, addressing the young man who has come to coax her to an assisted living government establishment. She has met these folks before and each year when they appear, she has told them her story and just why she isn't ready to get off that porch just yet. She has fought a fierce battle for this place that is hers alone and she tells her history with great humor and grit.

Seeger (Monday, July 17, 7:30pm) Pete Seeger may have been taken from us in 2014, but Randy Noojin brings him so much to life in his solo show it seems as if the great singer and activist never died. This performance should not be missed by anyone who loved Seeger OR good music OR our right and duty as Americans to stand up for justice. Seeger believed that the right show at the right time could change history.

Set in 1982, at a fundraiser for U.S.-Cuba normalization held in Washington, D.C. Noojin delivers a series of banjo jokes that perfectly illustrate Seeger's self-deprecating nature as he uses music, slides and his own marvelous storytelling ability to explore the major stages of Seeger's life, including his marriage, his political awakening, and his struggles with the House Un-American Activities Committee and the resulting blacklisting.

Noojin is a master at capturing the essence of Seeger, and he plays a mean banjo. Most of all, he captures that mix of pragmatism and optimism that made Seeger so irresistible to his many fans and followers.

Go, Granny D (Monday, Aug. 21, 7:30pm) At the age of 88, Doris "Granny D" Haddock left from the Tournament of Roses Parade on a legendary walk across the U.S. to raise awareness of, and attract support for, campaign finance reform. Walking roughly 10 miles every day for 14 months, she arrived in Washington, DC at the age of 90, having celebrated two birthdays during the hike. She was greeted at the capital by a crowd of 2,200, including several dozen members of Congress who walked the final miles with her on the last day.

Her journey precipitated passage of the landmark congressional campaign finance law, the McCain-Feingold Act. Granny D continued her non-partisan efforts by promoting voter registration until her death at 100 years old.

Granny D's story is vividly brought to life by Barbara Bates Smith playing Granny D, with live music contributed by musician Jeff Sebens. It's a show that's toured across the country, and a performance you'll want to witness.

Tickets for each One Night Stand are on sale at www.chenangorivertheatre.org. Season tickets for the four main stage shows are also still on sale, as low as $70 to see all four shows.

Chenango River Theatre's intimate, air-conditioned 99 seat theatre is just 15 minutes north of Binghamton at 991 State Highway 12, Greene, NY.

Chenango River Theatre's 2017 season is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature

Chenango River Theatre Physical Address: 991 State Highway 12, Greene NY (3 miles south of Greene) Mailing Address: PO Box 584, Greene, NY 13778
The greater Binghamton area's premiere Equity, professional non-profit theatre company. Admin Office: 607 656-8778 Box Office: 607 656-8499 (TIXX) www.chenangorivertheatre.org.

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