<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'>Good afternoon,
<div>This month, the renowned Mettawee River Theatre Company will present four performances, July 21-24, of a work-in-progress version of its new production, <i>Before the Sun and Moon</i>.The entire press release follows as text, and is attached as a Word doc with production photo.</div>
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<div>Please let me know if you have any follow-up requests including additional photos.</div>
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<div>Regards, Pat Lamb<br>
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<div><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">METTAWEE RIVER
THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> FOUR PERFORMANCES DATES FOR ‘WORK-IN-PROGRESS,’
‘BEFORE THE SUN AND MOON’</span></div>
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<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
(J</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">uly 13</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">6</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 </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">that its 41<sup>st</sup> upstate season will feature four performances
of a “work in progress” version of a new production, </span><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Before the Sun and Moon</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. These performances will take place at venues in New
York and nearby Vermont:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thursday, July 21 Sandgate, VT Methodist Church Lawn, 8 p.m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Friday, July 22 Queensbury, NY Gurney Lane Park, 8 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Saturday, July 23 Shrewsbury, VT Mountain School Lawn, 7:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sunday, July 24 Shushan, NY Georgi Museum Lawn, 8 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="margin-right: -4.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The company will </span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">continue developing the show next fall and
winter in New York City</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,</span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and return with a complete production for a
full tour in upstate New York and New England next summer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="background: white;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Before the Sun and Moon</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> is drawn from an ancient Korean folktale,
a magical story in which a young husband and wife discover the power of love
and devotion through unexpected challenges and wild adventures. As always in a
Mettawee production, the show will incorporate masks, puppets and other visual
elements. <o:p></o:p></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 saxophone, hammered
dulcimer and any number of rattles, bells and drums. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The company
of actors includes Mettawee veterans Andrew Butler, Tanya Dougherty, Kristine
Haruna Lee, Rob McFadyen and Jan-Peter Pedross. Kristine Haruna Lee doubles as playwright for
the show. </span><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The production is directed and
designed by Ralph Lee, with costumes by Casey Compton. Actor and puppeteer </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Jon Riddleberger has joined the company as
assistant director. </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><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 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>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><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>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></div>
<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, visit the company’s web site at <a href="http://www.mettaweerivertheatre.org/" target="_blank">www.mettawee.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></div>
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