<div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-indent:14pt"><b><span style="font-size:11pt">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:right;text-indent:14pt"><b><span style="font-size:11pt">Contact: </span></b><span style="font-size:11pt">Lauren Letellier</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:right;text-indent:14pt"><a href="mailto:pr@ancramoperahouse.org" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)"><span style="font-size:11pt">pr@ancramoperahouse.org</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:right;text-indent:14pt"><span style="font-size:11pt">917-747-5250</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center;text-indent:14pt"><b><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center;text-indent:14pt"><b><span style="font-size:11pt">Ancram Opera House Kicks Off Fall Season Sept. 23 with Crystal Radio Sessions </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center;text-indent:14pt"><i><span style="font-size:11pt">Contemporary Short Fiction Brought to Life in Readings by Professional Actors</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">Returning for its fifth year, audience favorite <b>Crystal Radio Sessions</b> will kick off fall programming at the Ancram Opera House on Saturday, September 23 at 7pm. This popular event, modeled after Symphony Space’s “Selected Shorts” series, features the best of short fiction from writers in the Hudson Valley and Berkshires, read aloud by professional actors. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">The live performance will feature J. Arthur Boyle’s “Angela Lives,” where a woman’s apartment takes on a life of its own; and Pamela Ryder’s “The Tintype of Billy the Kid,” where an itinerant tintypist makes his living taking portraits of the dead (</span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">content warning: this story contains themes and depictions of death, childbirth complications, and mortality which may be upsetting to some viewers).</span><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">The stories will be read by Frank Boyd, whose <i>The Holler Sessions</i> was presented by Ancram Opera House in 2017, and Leigh Strimbeck, a busy regional actor who will be seen as Amanda in <i>The Glass Menagerie</i> in an upcoming Bridge St. Theatre production.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">Crystal Radio Sessions is curated by Ashley Mayne, author of the novels Mankiller (2014), and Tiger (2015).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">Tickets are $25 general admission ($15 with student ID) and are available at </span><a href="http://www.ancramoperahouse.org/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">www.ancramoperahouse.org</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt">. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">Audiences are welcome to join the authors and actors for a glass of wine around the outdoor fire pit after the event.</span><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b><span style="font-size:11pt">About the Authors </span></b><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">J. Arthur Boyle’s fiction has appeared in Fence, RECLINER, Forever, and elsewhere, and critical work has appeared in Verso, Publisher's Weekly, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. He received an MFA from Columbia University, where he was a teaching fellow and teaches writing at CUNY. He is currently an artist-in-residency at the Wassaic Project. More of his work can be found at </span><a href="http://jarthurboyle.com/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204)">jarthurboyle.com</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">.</span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 12pt;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Pamela Ryder is the author of a short story collection, <i>A Tendency to Be Gone</i>, and two novels in stories, <i>Correction of Drift</i> and <i>Paradise Field</i>. <i>The Tintype of Billy the Kid</i> is from a new novel about that young desperado on the run at the end of his short and violent life. </span><a href="http://pamelaryder.com/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">pamelaryder.com</span></a><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">About the Performers</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">Frank Boyd</span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> is an actor-writer based in the Hudson Valley. Selected theater credits include </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Gatz</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(Public Theatre); </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Is This a Room (</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">Vineyard Theatre); </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Straight White Men</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(Center Theatre Group); </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The Select</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(NYTW); and </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The Holler Sessions</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">(P.S. 122, Ancram Opera House, Guthrie Theater). Film/TV: </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">FBI, Blue Bloods, Z Nation, Thin Skin. </span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Frank</span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:auto;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:border-box">is a new dad, and the owner/operator of a vintage clothing store, Clubhouse Vintage, in Rosendale, NY. Photo credit: John Ulman </span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2p2NiCT">https://flic.kr/p/2p2NiCT</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Leigh Strimbeck is an actor, writer and educator. Recent credits include Eleanor in <i>Lion in Winter; </i>Alice in <i>Lewiston (</i>Bridge Street Theatre); Leonata in <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> (Saratoga Shakespeare); Virginia Butley in <i>Native Gardens</i> (Gloucester Stage Company); Madame Arcati in <i>Blithe Spirit</i> and Kate Keller in <i>All My Sons</i> (Voice Theatre of Woodstock); Tippy in <i>Breakwater</i> (Great Barrington Public Theater). More regional theater: The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble; WAM; The Rep; Shakespeare and Co<i>.</i> Films: <i>UnCivil Liberties,</i> <i>Fighting for Freedom</i>, <i>Little BiPeep</i> and Lifetime Movie Network’s <i>Off the Rails </i>and <i>Sleeping with My Student; </i>short films<i> Key Transition, Life Quest </i>and in production:<i> Blind Man's Buff.  </i>Leigh heads the Acting Program for NY State Defenders Association Basic Trial Skills program and is the author of the one-woman play<i> The Queen of Fenway Court: Isabella Stewart Gardner, </i>as well as several other plays. Photo credit: Jeffrey Hornstein </span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2p2NiCT">https://flic.kr/p/2p2NiCT</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt">Ancram Opera House is an award-winning theater located in New York's Hudson Valley. Housed in an historic Grange Hall, AOH has since 2016 presented groundbreaking theater and musical performances by nationally recognized theater artists. AOH receives significant annual support from the New York State Council on the Arts and in 2023 was awarded a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information visit </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://www.ancramoperahouse.org/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)"><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black">www.ancramoperahouse.org</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt">.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:medium;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:11pt"><br><br></span></p><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom:0in;color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-top:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Crystal Radio Sessions</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Saturday, Sept. 23, 7pm</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Ancram Opera House, </span><strong><span style="font-size:11pt">1330 County Route 7, Ancram, NY, 12502</span></strong><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">$25 general admission ($15 with student ID)</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Tickets:<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.ancramoperahouse.org" target="_blank">www.ancramoperahouse.or</a>g</span></li></ul></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br></div>