[Capdist-announce] Ancram Center for the Arts Announces 2024 Season

[Lauren Letellier]

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



March 25, 2024

Contact: pr at ancramcenter.org



*Ancram Center for the Arts Announces 2024 Season*



Ancram Center for the Arts today announced its 2024 season, an eclectic mix
of productions and collaborations that will feature three new works
developed during Ancram Center’s Summer Play Lab residencies; “Downtown
Upstate,” a alternative performance festival bringing the best of NYC
downtown theatre artists to the Hudson Valley; Nick Payne’s award-winning
two-hander *Constellations*; and a sure-to-be riotous summer concert with
cabaret superstar Rizo. Additional events include open houses, workshops
and the return of audience favorites Real People Real Stories and Crystal
Radio Sessions. Until May 1, patrons purchasing tickets to three or more
season events will receive a 15% discount.



*SUMMER PLAY LABS*

Now in its fifth year, Ancram Center’s SUMMER PLAY LAB (SPL) offers theater
artists space, production support, and a budget to develop and present new
works during its summer season. This year Ancram Center will support three
SPL Residencies:



*Centuries,* an immersive concert collaboration between Matthew Dean
Marsh (*You
Don’t Know the Lonely One*), Kate Douglas (*The Lucky Few*), and
singer-composer Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez. *Centuries* celebrates humanity and
the willingness to face the unknown in a changing world. With a score
infused with folk, chamber and soul, *Centuries* will have its SPL showing
July 7 @ 4pm.



*Conversations. *Created and performed by Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby,
in collaboration with The Civilians, this music-theater piece weaves
together extensive interviews with multigenerational Native Americans from
communities across the country sharing stories about their lives,
childhoods, their own multicultural families, preserving the traditions of
their homelands, and their perspectives on the world today. August 4 @ 4pm.



*The third SPL project*, to be announced soon, will feature an
artist/artistic team from our region and will be staged June 16 @ 4pm.



*SUMMER CONCERT*

For the fourth year Ancram Center will present an outdoor concert event at
the Circa 1799 Barn in Ancramdale. This year’s performance features cabaret
superstar *Rizo, *last seen in 2018’s sold-out *Red White & Indigo. *In her
new piece, *Home,* Rizo uses her trademark blend of “comedy, burlesque,
rock ’n’ roll, and glamor”*(NY Times)* to reflect on her artsy hippy Oregon
childhood, her life in New York City, and 15 years as an internationally
traveling cabaret artist. Ever the prodigal daughter, Rizo explores the
gravitational pull of home, asking “Does where you hang your hat define who
you are?” July 20 @ 7:30pm.



*SUMMER THEATER PRODUCTION*

British playwright Nick Payne’s award-winning* Constellations *(Best Play,
2012 Evening Standard Theatre Awards) follows the romantic relationship of
Roland, a beekeeper, and Marianne, a physicist. The familiar essentials of
a love story are opened up to encompass multiple possibilities and
alternative outcomes in this non-linear love story that poses questions
about reality, time, chance, free will, and choice. Aug. 16-18, 22-25.



*FALL THEATER PRODUCTION*

*Centuries,* the SPL immersive concert collaboration between Matthew Dean
Marsh (*You Don’t Know the Lonely One*), Kate Douglas (*The Lucky Few*),
and singer-composer Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez will return in the fall for a
world premiere staging Oct. 25-27, 31 - Nov. 3.



*DOWNTOWN UPSTATE FESTIVAL*

The first annual *Downtown Upstate *festival brings the best of NYC
downtown theatre artists to the Hudson Valley from Sept. 7 - 22, 2024,
featuring three different shows at two different venues over three
consecutive weekends. *Downtown Upstate* will also include playwriting,
acting, and solo performance workshops for local residents. Presented
by *Ancram
Center for the Arts* & *Stissing Center for Arts and Culture* (Pine
Plains). Produced by *Soho Think Tank* with funding from the New York State
Council for the Arts. Specific shows to be announced.



*AUDIENCE FAVORITES*

*Real People Real Stories, *Ancram Center’s signature event featuring local
residents recounting captivating stories that celebrate community and
personal connection, will bookend the 2024 season with performances on June
29 @ 7:30pm at the Roe-Jan Park Hilltop Barn and Nov. 17 @ 3pm at the
Ancram Center’s Opera House Stage.



*Crystal Radio Sessions, *where actors bring to life short stories in this
series curated by Hudson Valley writer Ashley Mayne, returns to the Ancram
Opera House Theater on July 13 at 7:30pm.



*COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS & SPECIAL EVENTS*

April 20, 11am-1pm: *Free Community Storytelling Workshop* led by Paul
Ricciardi, vocal coach, Professor of Theatre Arts at Kingsborough Community
College in Brooklyn, and Ancram Center Co-Director.



June 1, 3-5pm: *Spring Open House* Join your friends, neighbors, and the
Ancram Center team to kick-off the 2024 season in this free,
family-friendly get-together.



June 8-9: In partnership with *The Hillsdale Workshop Alliance*, Ancram
Center will sponsor three experiential learning workshops:



            Sat. 11am-1pm *Freeing Your Natural Voice with Paul Ricciardi*,
Designated Linklater Voice teacher, vocal coach, Professor of Theatre Arts
at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, and Co-Director of the
Ancram Center for the Arts.



            Sat. 2-3:30pm *Dance for the Non-Dancer with Aubrey Lynch*, Dean
of Faculty and Student Affairs at American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis School. Lynch was a principal with Alvin Ailey and an
original cast member and associate producer for The Lion King.



            Sun. 11am-1pm *Playwriting for Everybody with Darrah
Cloud*, educator,
playwright, and poet. Her plays include *O Pioneers*, *Joan the Girl of Arc*
 and *What's Bugging Greg*. Cloud is on the faculty at Goddard College and
is the former Pine Plains Supervisor.



Nov. 24, 2-4pm*: Fall* *Community Open House* Join your friends, neighbors,
and the Ancram Center team to kick-off the holiday season in this free,
family-friendly get-together.



Ancram Center for the Arts is an award-winning theater located in New
York's Hudson Valley. Housed in an historic Grange Hall, Ancram Center has
since 2016 presented groundbreaking theater and musical performances by
nationally recognized theater artists. Ancram Center for the Arts 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 tickets and information visit www.ancramcenter.org.



*SEASON-AT-A-GLANCE*

*Unless otherwise noted, all events and performances will take place in the
Ancram Center’s Opera House Stage, 1330 County Route 7, Ancram, NY.*



April 20, 11am-1pm: Community Storytelling Workshop with Paul Ricciardi

June 1, 3-5pm: Spring Open House

June 8-9: The Workshop Experience

            Sat. 11am-1pm Freeing Your Natural Voice with Paul Ricciardi

            Sat. 2-3:30pm Dance for the Non-Dancer with Aubrey Lynch

            Sun. 11am-1pm Playwriting for Everybody with Darrah Cloud

June 16, 4pm: Summer Play Lab Showing: *Show TBD*

June 29, 7:30pm: Real People Real Stories at Roe Jan Park, 9140 NY State
Route 22, Hillsdale

July 7, 4pm: Summer Play Lab Showing: *Centuries*

July 13, 7:30pm: Crystal Radio Sessions

July 20, 7:30pm Summer Concert: Rizo, *Home, *at the Circa 1799 Barn, 105
Simons Road, Ancramdale, New York 12503.

Aug. 4, 4pm: Summer Play Lab Showing: *Conversations*

Aug. 16-18, 22-25: *Constellations* by Nick Payne

Sept. 7- 22: Downtown Upstate Festival

Oct. 25-27, 31-Nov. 3: World Premiere *Centuries*

Nov. 9, 2pm: Real People Real Stories, Taconic Hills Elementary School
Edition

Nov. 17, 3pm: Real People Real Stories

Nov. 24, 2-4pm: Fall Open House
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