[Capdist-announce] A Painter’s Tragic Life Re-Claimed in the World Premiere of GHOST DANCE

[Steven Patterson]

*“Papa said it was a curse.  That Blakelock was cursed.  Papa said because
Blakelock was his dad he carried it too, and that I have it. He said I had
him in my blood. That I was just like him.”  *

The tragic and nearly forgotten life of painter Ralph Albert Blakelock is
reclaimed by his own great-great-grandaughter when the world premiere of
Erica Knight’s “Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman” comes to Catskill’s
Bridge Street Theatre for three performances only – March 28-30, 2025 – as
the fourth and final installment in BST’s SoloFest 2025.

In February of 1916, Ralph Albert Blakelock's haunting landscape, “Brook by
Moonlight”, was sold at auction for $20,000, a record price at that time
for a painting by a living American artist. The sale made him famous,
newspapers called him America's greatest artist, and thousands flocked to
see exhibits of his work. Yet at the time of this triumph, Blakelock
himself had been confined to the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital for
Mental Disorders for sixteen years, and his destitute wife and eight
surviving children were living in poverty in an abandoned cottage on
Catskill Creek in Leeds. While the self-taught Blakelock’s early works were
heavily influenced by Thomas Cole and other Hudson River School painters,
the onset of schizophrenia pushed his paintings into ever more
controversial and radical areas. This secret history is slowly unearthed by
his great-great granddaughter, initially kept in the dark by her family who
feared that Blakelock’s ‘madness’ was actually a family curse. In the
course of the play, Erica travels back and forth in time, playing eleven
different characters over the course of 111 years, and making one
remarkable discovery after another, until at last Ralph Albert Blakelock’s
unique voice is finally heard and his singular vision seen once again.

“Ghost Dance” will be presented for three performances only – Friday March
28 and Saturday March 29 at 7:30pm, and Sunday March 30 at 2:00pm – on
Bridge Street Theatre’s intimate “Priscilla” Mainstage, located at 44 West
Bridge Street in Catskill, NY. For more details and ticketing information,
visit bridgest.org/solofest-2025-four/. While visiting the website, you’ll
also find information on the availability of a Season Pass good for
admission to all five plays in Bridge Street Theatre’s upcoming Mainstage
Season for 2025 – Brian Dykstra’s “Polishing Shakespeare”, Amy Herzog’s
“Mary Jane”, Carmen Borgia’s “South: A Nautical Musical”, Hannah
Moscovitch’s “Red Like Fruit”, and Ernest Thompson’s “On Golden Pond”

Don’t miss this remarkable world premiere that explores the life, times,
and madness of a painter with deep ties to the Catskill area, and whose
brooding, hallucinogenic landscapes anticipated Abstract Expressionism by
more than half a century.


*Performance Calendar: *Bridge Street Theatre presents
SoloFest 2025 Show Four
The World Premiere of

*GHOST DANCE: PICTURE OF A MADMAN *Written and Performed by Erica Knight
Directed by John Ahlin
Three Performances Only!
Friday March 28 and Saturday March 29 at 7:30pm
Sunday March 30 at 2:00pm
Bridge Street Theatre’s “Priscilla” Mainstage
44 West Bridge Street, Catskill, NY


* Tickets: *Online in advance: $27
At the door: $29
Ages 18 and under: $15
https://bridgest.org/solofest-2025-four/

2025 Regular Season Pass: $125
https://bridgest.org/2025-season-pass/


*Bios: ERICA KNIGHT*, both playwright and performer in “Ghost Dance”, is an
actress, teaching artist, and writer based in New York City. She has
performed for the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, The Shakespeare Theatre of
New Jersey, Centenary Stage Company, and the Metropolitan Playhouse, as
well as having produced and appeared in “The Summoning” by Charlotte Ahlin,
and Lee Blessing’s Independence. On Television, Erica has appeared on
“Gossip Girl”, and “One Life to Live”. As a teacher, she has joyfully
worked with students of all ages in theatre and creative writing programs
such as Written Out Loud, Broadway Bound Kids, and the Atlantic Theater
Company. Erica was a semi-finalist for Primary Stages Echo’s Writers Group
and has been nominated for an Innovative Theatre Award for her work.

*JOHN AHLIN **(Director)*. John is filled with gratitude to be working with
Bridge Street Theatre once again. Last seen as a playwright/actor in
“ChipandGus”, John is delighted to be back. Having directed, performed,
produced and written plays all over the country, he has a unique
perspective: “The quality of work here is a good as anywhere in the
country,” he says. “Bridge Street is a gem, and nowhere in the panoply of
theaters does anyplace shine brighter. This community is lucky indeed.” To
bring “Ghost Dance” here for its world premiere is an honor, especially
since Catskill could be called the home office of the Hudson River School
of Art. That the subject of the play was both a great and original American
artist, painted these hills, forests and bridges, had his immediate family
living along the banks of Catskill Creek, all make this the perfect
location to breathe this play to life. John is grateful to Erica Knight for
her passion and moxie in seeing this play come into being. John is also
Artistic Director of the New York City based Fat Knight Theatre Company,
which is dedicated to creating, discovering and rediscovering great
characters in drama, history, literature and modern mythology.
www.FatKnighttheatre.org   www.JohnAhlin.com   johnaahlin at gmail.com


*Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by the New York
State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor of New York and
the New York State Legislature and by Public Funds from the Greene County
Legislature administered by CREATE Council on the Arts. Bridge Street
Theatre’s entire 2025 Season is dedicated to the memory of Mary E. Barrett.
*
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