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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Contact: Carl Ritchie 518-325-1234<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Includes calendar listings <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font size="3"><a name="OLE_LINK1" style=""><b style=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font color="#000000">TSC Announces August 2018 Show</font></span></b></a><b style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> about Lillian Hellman<o:p></o:p></span></b></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Copake Falls, NY – <a name="OLE_LINK2"><font color="#000000">Local summer theater
company Taconic Stage Co. (TSC) presents <i>Lillian,</i>
a play about Lillian Hellman by William Luce, starring Diedre Bollinger and directed
by TSC founder and Artistic Director Carl Ritchie.</font><o:p></o:p></a></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Based on the
autobiographical writing of the hard-living playwright whose works
include <i>The Little Foxes</i>, <i>The Children’s Hour</i>, and her
memoir, <i>Pentimento</i>, dramatist Luce creates an intense, intriguing,
and intimate portrait of a woman who was often caustic and controversial but
never dull.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Set in the waiting
room of a New York hospital, as she maintains a vigil for her longtime love, novelist
Dashiell Hammett, Hellman remembers the people and incidents that shaped her
life. From her headstrong girlhood in New Orleans and New York, through her
exciting and tempestuous years with Hammett, to her achievements on Broadway
and in Hollywood, she recalls those who helped her gain her burning social
consciousness – something that brought her into conflict with the
powers-that-be, most notably, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American
Activities Committee. During that hearing – and in the play – we hear her
famous line, “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's
fashion.”<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Since its 2009 founding, TSC has delighted audiences each
summer with shows such as the hilarious, original send-up of growing older <i>I Know I Came in Here for Something…</i> and
a spoof of the local vs. weekender mentality <i>The Real (Desperate) Housewives of Columbia County</i>, both written
and directed by Ritchie. For several recent summers, reprises of his musical
revues had them leaping to their feet at both Mac-Haydn Theatre and the Theater
Barn (as well as theatres in NYC and Las Vegas). <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Another TSC tradition has been presenting one-woman shows
in the beautiful gothic revival church in Copake Falls. They have featured
English actress Leda Hodgson; Canadian actresses Susan Fullerton and Elizabeth
Richardson; NYC actress Margot Avery and – starting last season – acclaimed local
actress Diedre Bollinger.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Bollinger and Ritchie have worked together many times beginning
with a production of <i>Grace and Glorie</i>
while he was Artistic Director at the Copake Theatre Company over ten years
ago. Bollinger has appeared every single year since TSC came into being. She
brought down the house again and again in Ritchie’s musical revues and excelled
in dramatic roles such as playing Zelda Fitzgerald in last season’s TSC
production <i>The Last Flapper, </i>also written by William Luce. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Playwright Luce<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">wrote his Broadway and London success <i>The Belle of Amherst</i> for
Julie Harris, who won her fifth Tony Award for Best Actress for her portrayal
of Emily Dickinson. Luce's Broadway hit <i>Barrymore</i> starred
Christopher Plummer as legendary actor John Barrymore. Plummer won a Tony Award
for Best Actor. Other plays include <i>Lucifer's Child</i>, <i>Brontë</i>,
<i>My Business Is To Love</i>, <i>Chanel</i> and <i>Nijinsky</i>.<i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">There will be a free sneak preview of <i>Lillian</i> on Copake Falls Day – August 18 at
2 PM - courtesy of TSC’s season sponsors, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Herringtons,
Inc and Brad Peck Insurance. Taconic Stage Company is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Performances will be held at St. John in the
Wilderness Church, 261 Route 344, Copake Falls, NY, on Aug. 24 and 25 at 7
p.m., and Aug. 18, 19 and 26 at 2 p.m. <a name="OLE_LINK7">Tickets are $20 (or
pay what you can at the door) and can be purchased online at </a><a href="https://lillian.brownpapertickets.com/">https://lillian.brownpapertickets.com</a>
or through our website <a href="http://www.taconicstage.com/">www.taconicstage.com</a>
or by calling 800-838-3006. Or always available at the door.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><font size="3">Calendar
listing:<o:p></o:p></font></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Copake Falls, NY: Taconic Stage Company presents <i>Lillian,</i> a play about Lillian Hellman by
William Luce, starring Diedre Bollinger and directed by TSC founder and
Artistic Director Carl Ritchie. <font color="#000000"><a name="OLE_LINK8">St. John in the Wilderness
Church, 261 Route 344, Copake Falls, NY</a>:</font> on Aug. 24 and 25 at 7 p.m., and
Aug. 18, 19 and 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets $20
(or pay what you can at the door), available at <a href="https://lillian.brownpapertickets.com/">https://lillian.brownpapertickets.com/</a> or </span><a href="http://www.taconicstage.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">www.taconicstage.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> or by calling 800-838-3006. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Or always
</span></font><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><font size="3">available
at the door.</font><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="clear:both">
<div><font size="3" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif"><strong>Carl Ritchie<br>
</strong></font><a href="mailto:taconicstage@aol.com">taconicstage@aol.com</a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.TaconicStage.com">www.TaconicStage.com</a> <br>
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