<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'>Good morning, the renowned Mettawee River Theatre Company has announced a celebratory summer tour for its retrospective production, "OUT OF THE PAST: Celebrating 40 Years of the Mettawee Journey."
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<div>The press release follows below and is attached as a Word doc (which includes the tour schedule), along with a photo of many of the masks and puppets that will be featured. Additional photos are available upon request.<br>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></div>
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<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Editorial
Contacts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Pat Lamb or Casey Compton, Managing Director<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Public
Relations Mettawee
River Theatre Company<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">(518)
727-4933 (518)
854-9357 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="mailto:patalamb@aol.com">patalamb@aol.com</a> mettawee@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-4.5pt"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif""> </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-4.5pt"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">METTAWEE RIVER
THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES FOR ‘OUT OF THE PAST: CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
OF THE METTAWEE JOURNEY’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-4.5pt"><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">SALEM, NY
(June </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">17</span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, 201</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">5</span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">)<i>--</i></span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Mettawee River Theatre Company has announced summer touring dates for its 2015
production, </span><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">OUT OF THE PAST:
Celebrating 40 Years of the Mettawee Journey. </span></i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Performances
will take place at outdoor venues in upstate New York and nearby Vermont and
Massachusetts, and are scheduled from July </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">9</span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> through July 21 (schedule attached).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The production will include scenes and songs from four
decades of Mettawee productions. There will be appearances by Aristophanes’
gluttonous dung beetle, as well as Brecht’s forlorn lovers in </span><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE</span></i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. The world will be created on the back of a turtle; the
great Irish sea god Mannanon will declaim the tragic tale of Phaedra; and Grandmother
Earth will send Nanabozho off to get the world ready for humans, Archy the
cockroach and his lowly associates will share memorable moments from their
illustrious careers, and two long lost brothers will be reunited in </span><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">VALENTYNE AND ORSON</span></i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.<i> </i>All these
encounters will incorporate an abundance of Mettawee’s signature masks, puppets
and giant figures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Mettawee Artistic
Director Ralph Lee, “These headstrong characters have been clamoring to be let
out of their boxes for another fling in front of their fans, so I finally
decided to let them have their way. Here goes! I take no responsibility for
their behavior.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The production’s score is by Neal
Kirkwood, who has composed scores for Mettawee productions since 2001. The
music will be performed by the multi-talented Ed RosenBerg on alto and bass
saxophone, hammered dulcimer, accordion and any number of rattles, bells and
drums. A company of Mettawee veterans has come together for this summer’s
retrospective production (dates indicate the performer’s first Mettawee year):
founding member Stephanie Gallas (1975), Tom Marion (1987), Jan-Peter Pedross
(2006), Kristine Lee (2008), Greg Manley (2008), Tanya Dougherty (2011) and Rob
McFadyen (2012). The production is directed and designed by Ralph Lee, with
costumes by Casey Compton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri"> </span></b></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About the Mettawee
Theatre Company</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under the Artistic
Direction of mask maker, designer and director Ralph Lee, the Mettawee River
Theatre Company, founded in 1975, creates original theater productions that
incorporate masks, giant figures, puppets and other visual elements with live
music, movement and text, drawing on myths, legends and folklore of the world’s
many cultures for its material. The company is committed to bringing theater to
people who may have little or no access to live professional
performances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In his design and
direction, Lee seeks to create vivid theatrical moments with economy and
elegance. This search for an evocative simplicity of image and Mettawee’s
commitment to making theater accessible to the widest possible audience through
its outdoor performances give this theater company its particular character.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:.5in;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About Ralph Lee</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ralph Lee first
created puppets as a child growing up in Middlebury, Vermont. He graduated from
Amherst College in 1957, and studied dance and theater in Europe for two years
on a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning to the United States, Lee acted on
Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theaters and with the Open Theatre. During
that period he started creating masks, unusual props, puppets and
larger-than-life figures for theater and dance companies, including the New
York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the Living Theatre,
the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Shari Lewis, the Metropolitan Opera and Saturday
Night Live. <br>
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<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In 1974, while
teaching at Bennington College, Lee staged his first outdoor production, which
took place all over the college campus, and featured giant puppets and masked
creatures. That same year he organized the first Greenwich Village Halloween
Parade, which he directed through 1985. For his work on the parade Lee received
a 1975 Village Voice OBIE Award, a 1985 Citation from the Municipal Arts
Society, and in 1993 he was inducted into the City Lore People's Hall of Fame. <br>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Two of Lee's Mettawee
productions have been honored with American Theatre Wing Design Awards: <i>The
Popol Vuh </i>in 1995 and <i>Wichikapache Goes Walking</i> in 1992. Under Lee's
direction, Mettawee also received a 1991 Village Voice OBIE Award and two
Citations for Excellence from UNIMA, the international puppetry organization.
Additional awards to Lee include a 1996 Dance Theatre Workshop Bessie Award for
“sustained achievement as a mask maker and theatre designer without equal,” and
a 1996 New York State Governor's Arts Award in recognition of his many
contributions to the artistic and cultural life of New York State. In
2003, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious
honors. In 2008 Lee served as the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence at the
University of Maryland at College Park. He is currently on the faculty of New
York University.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For more information
about the Mettawee River Theatre Company, including a full schedule of this
summer’s outdoor tour, visit the company’s web site at <a href="http://www.mettaweerivertheatre.org/" target="_blank">www.mettawee.org</a>.
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