[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: Regional premier of MEN ON BOATS presented bu Acting Class with Patrick White, UPDATED with costumed photo shoot

[Patrick White]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Contact: Patrick White, Director and Teacher

white.patrick1963 at gmail.com; 518-779-2803

Press Photos by Adam Wilson-Hwang with costumed photo shoot  can be found
at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/160240685@N03/

*Acting Class with Patrick White Presents Its First Production, MEN ON
BOATS at Sand Lake Center for the Arts September 14-23*

*UPDATED with new costumed photo shoot!*


ALBANY, NY (September 4, 2018)-For six performances beginning Friday night,
September 14, 2018 at 8 pm running through Sunday afternoon, September 23,
2018 at 2:30 pm, Sand Lake Center for the Arts will host the inaugural
production of Acting Class with Patrick White's students in the Regional
Premiere of *MEN ON BOATS *by Jaclyn Backhaus. The production will be
directed by Patrick White and feature twelve of his students. Tickets are
$15 and are available thru SLCA's website www.slca-ctp.org or by calling
518-674-2007.

*MEN ON BOATS *is the critically acclaimed (New York Times Critic's Pick,
2017 Outer Critic's Circle Award nominee) adventure about the 1869
exploration and charting of the Colorado River by the one-armed Civil War
major, John Wesley Powell, and his insane but loyal crew written to be
played by a cast of women. "The characters of *MEN ON BOATS* were
historically cisgender white males. The cast should be made up entirely of
people who are not" reads the playwright's instructions on casting in the
acting edition of the script. The Powell expedition faced unknown waters,
dangers and deprivations and struggled together to traverse the Big Canyon
and make it safely down the river and through the Canyon in the face of
rapids, capsizing, near-mutinies, rattlesnakes and rapidly depleting
supplies. As Major Powell wrote in his journal *The Exploration of the
Colorado River and Its Canyons* from which the play is based on "We have an
unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there
are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls
ride over the river, we know not. Ah well! We may conjecture many things."
The play is an epic adventure of courage in taking on a momentous journey
that had never been attempted before against great odds to benefit unseen
generations to come.


*MEN ON BOATS* is the first fully staged production by Acting Class with
Patrick White. The class frequently stages scene and song showcase nights
at the Albany Barn to present students work free to the public but Patrick
White felt that there needed to be more theater opportunities for women in
the Capital Region and he's always wanted to produce plays of his
choosing. *MEN
ON BOATS* fits his criteria, looking for plays that hit their audiences on
a civic, spiritual and emotional level.

Although the area is dominated by women in positions of power running
theaters and they far outnumber the number of men participating in the
theater as auditioners, students, backstage and even as audience members
the number of roles offered to women is always lagging far behind the men.
Patrick says "I was directing a production of a popular play at a local
theater recently and the play called for 5 men and 2 women and I got a
pretty good turnout of 30 actors showing up to audition. 10 men and 20
women. So, if you were a man your chances of getting cast were 50/50 and if
you were a woman, it was 1 in 10. I know all my students knew this and I'm
late to the game but I had never seen an example presented so starkly
before of the need to offer more opportunities for women in the Capital
Region. I saw the Clubbed Thumb production of *MEN ON BOATS *at
Playwright's Horizons and thought it was hysterical while offering a
galvanizing piece of physical theater of a story I had never heard before."

*MEN ON BOATS*: Cori Irwin as John Wesley Powell, Debra Bercier as William
Dunn, Iris Singer as John Colton Sumner, Susan Katz as Old Shady, Maghen
Ryan as Bradley, Sara Paupini As O.G. Howland, Victioria Vine as Seneca
Howland, Susan Dantz as Frank Goodman, Jeanette Horowitz as Hall, Laura
Darling as Hawkins, Myrna Bernstein as Tsauwiat and Mary Williams as The
Bishop.
Directed by Patrick White. Assistant Directed by Dennis Skiba, Stage
Managed by Lisa Bryk, Lighting design by Barry Streifert, Sound design and
execution by Chad Reid and Costumes by Laura Darling


The play will be held at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts (2880 NY Route
43 Averill Park, NY 12018) on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at
2:30 pm from Friday, September 14- Sunday, September 23. Tickets are $15.
and can be purchased on Sand Lake Center for the Arts website
www.slca-ctp.org or by calling the Center at 518-674-2007.

*AT A GLANCE*

September 14-23, 2018

*MEN ON BOATS *

*by Jaclyn Backhaus*

*directed by Patrick White*

*At the Sand Lake Center for the Arts, 2880 NY Route 43, Averill Park, NY
12018*

*Admission $15.*

http://www.slca-ctp.org


*About the Playwright:*
*Jaclyn Backhaus* is a playwright of Punjabi, German, and desert botanical
descent. Select plays: *MEN ON BOATS* (NYT Critics' Pick, Clubbed
Thumb/Playwrights Horizons, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwrighting
Award Finalist, published by Dramatists Play Service); *India Pale Ale*
(Manhattan Theatre Club, Fall 2018); *Folk Wandering* (Pipeline Theatre
Company); *You Across From Me* (Humana Festival of New Plays);* People
Doing Math Live!* (Under the Radar Festival); and *You on the Moors Now*
(Theatre Reconstruction Ensemble, The Hypocrites in Chicago). She is under
commission with Playwrights Horizons, MTC, EST and Ars Nova, and was the
2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb. She is
currently a playwright-in-residence at Lincoln Center. BFA: NYU, where she
now teaches. She is co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper, a New York-based
arts incubator. She lives in Queens with her husband, theater director
Andrew Scoville, and their son Ernie.

*About the Director:*
*Patrick White* is an actor/director/teacher in New York's Capital Region
with over 35 years professional experience in theater. Select plays as
director:Albany Civic Theater-*The Pope and the Witch*, *Suddenly, Last
Summer*, *Grand Concourse* (10 Bestof 2017-The Daily Gazette), *Appropriate*,
Curtain Call Theatre-*Clever Little Lies*, *Living on Love*, *The
Importance of Being Earnest*, Home Made Theatre-*The Foreigner*, Local
Actors Guild of Saratoga-*Welcome Home Jimmy*, Our Own Productions-*The
Glass Menagerie *(TANYS Award-Excellence in Direction, Outstanding in
Ensemble Acting),  Schenectady Civic Players-*Rapture, Blister, Burn *(10
Best of 2016-The Daily Gazette, *An Inspector Calls*, Sand Lake Center for
the Arts/Circle Theatre Players-*John Ball's In the Heat of the Night (*
TANYS Award-Excellence in Direction; 10 Best of 2017-Berkshire On Stage).
and TGP-*True West*. He recently returned from Cortland Repertory Theatre
playing Editor Webb in* Our Town* and is directing* Gloria* at ACT running
11/2-11/18.


*About Acting Class with Patrick White:*
*Acting Class with Patrick White* is entering it's 5th year of offering an
adult acting class to all levels on Saturday mornings 10:30 am-1:30 pm in
the Albany Masonic Lodge (67 Corning Place) from October through May. This
year's session starts October 13th, 8 classes for $240. and reservations
can be e-mailed to white.patrick1963 at gmail.com. The goal of class is to
introduce and nourish those interested in the dramatic arts with the
greatest playwriting going on today and develop every student's skills
individually, preparing them to confidently contribute and shape the
burgeoning Capital Region theater community. Class consists of warm-ups,
exercises, improv games, audition prep and scene study. Dozens of students
have taken Patrick's class and showcased their work in one of his six Scene
Nights offered free and open to the public at the Albany Barn biannually.
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