CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Set To Kickoff Of Second Annual Phoenix Festival: Live Arts In Hudson Valley, September 28

Award-winning 90-minute Adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment kicks off Second Annual Phoenix Festival in Nyack NY on September 28. 

The murder mystery play will only be performed four times in Nyack from September 28-October 1st at the historic Nyack Center at the corner of South Broadway and Depew.  

 

Dostoyevsky's novel is considered by many to be one of the greatest novels of all time.  The Phoenix Festival adaptation by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus is described by the Chicago Sun Times as "Stunningly lean, taut and emotionally searing."  NYIT nominated director Karen Case Cook is providing an innovative staging at The Nyack Center. The cast includes three veterans of Phoenix Theatre Ensemble with Josh Tyson as Raskolnikov, John Lenartz as Detective Profiry and ensemble roles and Elise Stone as Sonia and ensemble roles.  

 

"Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment fits perfectly within Phoenix Theatre Ensemble's mission of presenting classics and adaptations of classic texts," states Craig Smith Phoenix Festival Executive Director.  "We have been aware of this critically acclaimed adaptation for some time, and now we have the right actors and the right director to move ahead with it and that time is now."

 

This kicks off the Second Annual Phoenix Festival Live Arts in Nyack.    

 

Building on last year's critically acclaimed program, the 2023 Festival will  offer an exciting mix of live theatre, dance and music for audiences of all interests and ages – a celebration of arts, history and local culture.

 

The Festival roster includes 25 performances featuring more than 40 New York City actors, directors, dancers, musicians, set designers and costumers – presented on multiple indoor and outdoor stages in Nyack. 

 

Smith notes that “We're excited about the 2023 program, and proud to present world class live performances at affordable prices rarely available in 'big city' locations.   The experience is further enhanced by the beautiful Hudson Valley itself -- a perfect setting for the joy of live arts.”

 

Festival venues include the tented outdoor meadow stage at Marydell Faith and Life Center, the garden at Hopper House, the Nyack Center, the 'little theater' at Nyack's RCC Culinary Arts Center, Maureen's Jazz Cellar and Hudson House – Nyack's classic restaurant/bar which a century ago served as the village courthouse and jail. 

  

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:

 

• Crime and Punishment: A taut 90-minute, edge-of-your-seat staging of Dostoyevsky's iconic murder mystery

 

• The Wind in the Willows:  World Premiere of an interactive adaptation by Associate Artistic Director Leo Lion of the beloved novel for all ages, confirming the power of friendship and courage 

 

• Pan and the Lost Boys World Premiere of a theatrical dance fable about a boy resisting the call to grow up too soon.  A production of Emotions Physical Theatre and choreographed by Shawn Rawls (Alvin Ailey, Roxy Ballet) 

 

• Drinks With Dead Poets: World premiere by UK award-winning poet, playwright Glyn Maxwell. Maxwell playing himself is in a bar in a community where books are being banned and burned, but the words of dead poets refuse to participate.

 

• Honduras: A deeply moving solo piece based on real life personal stories gathered from mothers and children at the US southern border in the summer of 2018 

 

• Children's Shakespeare Theatre: Jean Anouilh's adaptation of Antigone an intergenerational battle of wills between the daughter of Oedipus and her Uncle Creon.  

 

• Reflections from the Shallow End of the Dating Pool: Debbi Hobson's play shines a light on the fraught and often farcical experience of mid-life dating

 

• Concert presented by ArtsRock:   A 75-minute Jazz set by Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra

 

• Scandalton - Court-side seats to courtships and other fascinating social doings.  All-star storytellers improvise an original regency-period piece on the spot.  The audience supplies the rumors the drive the drama. You bring the tea. We spill it

• AR Dreaming - an augmented reality audio walking tour of the village, created and directed by ensemble member Clara Francesca

 

Nyack will have the welcome mat out, with its one-of-a-kind retail shops, top-flight restaurants, friendly pubs, live music venues and vibrant night spots offering special Festival deals. Festival itineraries can also include plenty of fresh air -- biking, hiking along the river front, boat excursions and more. 

 

Founded in 2004, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble is an award-winning New York City Theatre Company that makes its second home in Rockland county, where the Ensemble has created and performed both classics and original works since 2018. The Ensemble's mission is to present the great stories of the classical canon, as well as new adaptations and innovative stagings that speak to, and serve, contemporary audiences. 

 

While continuing to perform in New York City, the Ensemble has clearly made a successful transition from the footlights of NYC to the foot of Rockland's Hook Mountain. Theater critics agree. New York City's TheatreScene traveled to Nyack for last year's Festival, and rated the production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Being Earnest as one of the top ten productions of 2022.   

 

“We're grateful for the support we receive from the State of New York, Rockland County and our local businesses and individual patrons,” added Smith. We're proud to be part of the Hudson Valley community and we look forward to many years of performance arts in Nyack.”

 

The Festival is supported by Humanities New York (affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities), The National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Rockland County Office of Economic Development and Tourism, Market New York, I Love New York,  Village of Nyack, Nyack Tourism Grants.  Further support provided by locals businesses and organizations including Hotel Nyack, Howard Hanna Rand Realty, Orange and Rockland Utilities,  Palisades Center Mall, Windsor Hills Wine & Spirits, The Zisson Foundation,  the Paul and Mary Charitable Fund for Good,  Audi Nyack, DPNB Pasta & Provisions,  Metal and Stone Jewelers, Montefiore Nyack Hospital, Munn and Associates, Ameriprise Financial Services, Cane & Boniface, P.C. Ellis Sotheby's International Realty, Emerald Medicare, Gena Lisa Lingerie, Landau Pools, Maria Luisa Boutique, Quantious, Allstate Insurance | Don Dietrich, Arts Council of Rockland, Broadway Bistro, Dolce Vita Restaurant, Harrington Press, Lydecker Realty, Patisserie Didier Dumas, Pickwick Bookshop,  Somos Designer Jewelry Gallery 

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