[Capdist-Announce] Regional Premiere of "Where the Mountain Meets the Sea" at Ancram Center for the Arts

[Lauren Letellier]

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



*Ancram Center for the Arts Presents Regional Premiere of *

*“Where the Mountain Meets the Sea” July 11-20*



[Ancram,  June 2] -- The regional premiere of “Where the Mountain Meets the
Sea,” a poignant play about an estranged father and son written by Jeff
Augustin with music by The Bengsons, will be presented by Ancram Center for
the Arts July 11-20. The production will be directed by film and theater
veteran Christopher Windom.

The father, a Haitian schoolteacher who legally gains passage to the United
States, gives up a fulfilling vocation to become a baggage handler in
Miami, and struggles to adjust to American life and to find love. Decades
later his gay son, who has moved across the country to study at UCLA, makes
a road trip back to Miami to retrieve his father's remains and return them
to Haiti. Told through alternating monologues and songs addressed directly
to the audience, the story combines spoken text and live music by onstage
musicians to capture the ache and frustration of the two characters as they
ultimately forge a connection that had eluded them for years.

Jeff Augustin is a Haitian-American playwright whose work has been staged
by Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse
and Berkeley Rep, among others. Abigail and Shaun Bengson (The Bengsons)
are a married composing and performing duo who have received Jonathan
Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and been nominated for Drama Desk, Drama
League, and Lucille Lortel Awards. Christopher Windom’s most recent project
was the feature film RESPECT starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.

Tai Bennett, who plays the father, Jean, is an LA-based actor whose work in
television includes *Power Book 2: Ghost*, *All American*, and the upcoming
Netflix drama *A House of Dynamite*, starring Idris Elba and directed by
Kathryn Bigelow.

Kristofer Wilson, who plays the son, Jonah, is a North Carolina native and
has trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting while pursuing a BFA at
NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His regional stage work includes *The Comedy
of Errors*, *The Winter’s Tale*, and *OAK *at Shakespeare & Company in
Lenox, MA. He is a founding member of the Lucien Theatre Company.

Also performing as onstage musicians/vocalists are
songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Kaia Dedek and songwriter/guitarist Andy
Stack.

This production has been generously supported by Jane Plasman.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, 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 is dedicated to presenting risk-taking
productions and new work by nationally recognized theater artists in an
intimate performance space. The Ancram Center for the Arts 2025 season is
supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. For more
information visit www.ancramcenter.org.



*WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA*

By Jeff Augustin

Music by The Bengsons

Directed by Christopher Windom

Ancram Center for the Arts

1330 County Route 7, Ancram NY 12502

July 11-20

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays @ 7:30pm

Sundays at 3pm

Running time: 80 minutes


[image: A person standing next to another person AI-generated content may
be incorrect.]

Photo credit: B. Docktor

L-R: Kristofer Wilson, Tai Bennett
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://capdisttheater.org/pipermail/capdist-announce/attachments/20250702/85fcb66d/attachment.html>