Ten Yards of Lace Never Hurt a Man
(November Chronogram) by Jay Blotcher, October 28, 2011
Geoffrey Tarson, as the painter Jean-François Millet (in disguise as his widowed twin sister) with Darrell James as the villain, Andre, in the Half Moon Theatre production of “Is He Dead?”
A starving artist fakes his own death and then pretends to be the deceased’s own sister. The latest cinematic yukfest by Judd Apatow or an episode of TV’s “Happy Endings”? Even better. Despite the modern plotline, the theater piece “Is He Dead?” was written more than a century ago and found among the papers of Mark Twain. The farce was staged on Broadway in 2007, adapted by David Ives, a playwright with a flair for the mordantly absurd. A local production, performed by the Half Moon Theatre company, arrives this month in Poughkeepsie.
Continue reading Ten Yards of Lace Never Hurt a Man
Is He Dead?
Poughkeepsie’s resident professional theatre troupe, Half Moon Theatre, opened their fifth season with the up-until-recently mostly forgotten Mark Twain comedy, “Is He Dead?” A good indicator of the success our friends at Half Moon have created in their first four years is easily noted in the fact that “Is He Dead?” opened to an SRO crowd. The management actually had to resort to bringing in more folding chairs. That’s impressive and a success well deserved.
Click here to read the whole review by Jim Donick from Northern Dutchess News & Creative Living.
Half Moon Theatre brings an off-Broadway winner to Poughkeepsie
by Jim Donick, Northern Dutchess News & Creative Living, March 16–22, 2011
Half Moon Theatre Company is giving the Hudson Valley theatergoer a rare treat this month with their presentation of last season’s hot Off-Broadway hit, “Circle Mirror Transformation” by Annie Baker. We are told the script was named one of the Top 10 plays of 2009-10 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out New York. That’s a reasonable recommendation, one might think, and good reason to see it. Beyond the script, the troupe also brings a marvelous and well credentialed cast to the production.
To read the entire review in PDF format:
Part 1
Part 2
Circle Mirror Transformation – Press Release
Half Moon Theatre presents Award-winning play
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker
Starring Obie-Award winner Kathryn Grody*
March 10-20, 2011 at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center
Half Moon Theatre, Hudson Valley’s resident professional theatre company, is thrilled to present last season’s hot off-Broadway hit, Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker as its spring production. This hilarious and quirky comedy was named one of the top ten plays of 2009-10 by The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time Out New York.
Extended twice and brought back for a return engagement at Playwrights Horizons, Circle Mirror Transformation garnered great critical acclaim and audience response. Circle Mirror Transformation was honored at last year’s Obie Awards (off-Broadway’s equivalent of the Tony Awards) with awards for Best New American Play, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Direction.
Charles Isherwood raved in The New York Times, calling the play, “Rich, unforgettable theater. The kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word. For lovers of real acting, Ms. Baker’s play is an absolute feast.”
Circle Mirror Transformation traces a summer community center acting class in Shirley, Vermont where five lost souls find themselves relating through a series of wacky acting exercises. The unexpected intimacy of the class creates an unlikely Petri dish where funny, surprising and poignant secrets are revealed.
Half Moon Theatre is delighted that two-time Obie Award-winning actress and playwright Kathryn Grody* will star as Marty, the teacher of Shirley’s community acting class. Last spring, Kathryn read her play, Falling Apart…Together in Millbrook as part of Half Moon Theatre’s New Play Reading Series. In December 2010 Ms. Grody* starred in the World Premiere of My Inner Sole, by Zuzka Kurtz and choreographed by Wendy Osserman.
Brendan Burke, Artistic Director of Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville, will portray Marty’s husband James. Off-Broadway actress Alexandra Napier, who starred in Half Moon’s production of 7 Stories, Michael Rhodes, Artistic Director of tangent theatre company in Tivoli, and nineteen year-old Annabel Barrett complete the cast.
Geoff Tarson, Artistic Director of Half Moon Theatre, says “Circle Mirror Transformation achieves what great theatrical pieces aim to do…it captures the human experience and is moving, inspiring and funny all at the same time. Much like our last production, Almost, Maine, this piece is actor-driven and filled with real, flawed, recognizable characters that you root for. It’s a play filled with contradictions: contemporary yet timeless, deep yet very funny, a simple premise with great complexity of emotions. And we have once again assembled a superbly talented group of actors from the Hudson Valley who, I know, will bring this amazing play to life.”
Circle Mirror Transformation is directed by Josh Hecht, an accomplished Off-Broadway director and theatre artist. He teaches the 3rd year MFA candidates at the New School for Drama and has taught playwriting at New Dramatists, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Field, and the Play Development Collective, which he helped found. Mr. Hecht is formerly the Director of Playwright Development at MCC Theater and the Director of New Play Development at WET.
This is Half Moon’s fourth season producing contemporary theatre, September through June, in Poughkeepsie and other Hudson Valley communities. Half Moon Theatre was founded by Molly Renfroe Katz and four other Hudson Valley residents; all highly skilled actors, directors, singers, and educators with impressive professional and national credits. Half Moon is committed to access, affordability, adventurousness, inclusion, and artistic excellence.
What: Circle Mirror Transformation, By Annie Baker
Where: The Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center Theatre, 12 Vassar Street in Poughkeepsie
When: Thursday, March 10, 8PM Pay What You Can preview (tickets only at the door)
Friday, March 11, 8PM Talk-back with director and cast
Saturday, March 12, 8PM Press Opening Night
Sunday, March 13, 2PM
Thursday, March 17, 8PM Talk-back with the cast
Friday, March 18, 8PM
Saturday, March 19, 8PM
Sunday, March 20, 2PM
Tickets: $25 general admission, $20 for students and seniors for 8 PM performances; $20 general admission, $18 for students and seniors for 2 PM matinees. A Pay What You Can preview performance will be offered Thursday, March 10 at 8:00pm.
To purchase tickets online, visit http://www.halfmoontheatre.org/ or call 888-71TICKETS (888-718-4253). For Group Sales, call 845-235-9885. Join us for a post-performance talk-back with the cast and director on March 11th and March 17th.
Contact Kristy Grimes, Managing Director of Half Moon Theatre, at 845-625-3047 for more information. See you at the theatre!
Molly Katz, Honored
The Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County honors Molly Katz, founding member of Half Moon Theatre, for service to the community
Half Moon Theatre, Hudson Valley’s resident professional theatre company, is thrilled to announce that the Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County (JCCDC) will honor Molly Katz at their annual gala on March 5, 2011. “March Mystique” is the Center’s seventh annual gala.
Patti Zakow, chairperson for the event, spoke about the JCCDC’s decision to honor Molly. “In founding Half Moon Theatre, Molly has created a wonderful asset for our community. People of all ages can now see exciting, affordable theater without leaving the Hudson Valley. Beyond her work with the theatre company, Molly has been a very active member of the community through the Junior League of Poughkeepsie, Planned Parenthood, The Powerhouse Theatre, and the JCCDC. She shares her talents wherever she goes and we are delighted to honor her this year.”
Carol Gordon, Chief Operating Officer at Rhinebeck Savings Bank and President of Half Moon’s Board, credits Molly with filling an important void in the cultural landscape of Dutchess County. “Having a professional theatre company is so vital to our area. It contributes to raising the overall quality of life in this region, and helps attract people who are thinking of re-locating to the area.”
Under Molly Katz’s leadership, Half Moon Theatre has enjoyed tremendous success and continues to thrive. In December 2010, Jim Donick wrote in Northern Dutchess News & Creative Living, “Half Moon brings the off-Broadway experience to the Valley as completely as we can imagine. Half Moon’s productions could be said to represent the leading edge of theatrical sophistication available in the Valley.”
Molly Katz is a talented singer/actor in her own right. She’s appeared on Broadway in Alan Ayckbourn’s By Jeeves, was an active member of Adobe Theatre Company and has performed regionally across the country. As a child, she regularly sang with the Metropolitan Opera. Recently, she starred in Half Moon Theatre’s productions Emerson High by Jim Knable and Little Red, a children’s opera.
Says Molly, “We saw the need for a small, Actors’ Equity-based, professional theatre, operating September through June. Together with founding artistic director Margo Whitcomb, we applied for 501 c-3 status. Given our proximity to NYC, we have so many talented artists who want to share their gifts with their own community; I thought, why not take advantage of that? I am so proud that we “Think Local First” and are putting Hudson Valley theatre professionals to work.”
This is Half Moon Theatre’s fourth season producing contemporary theatre, September through June, in Poughkeepsie and other Hudson Valley communities. Half Moon’s season includes two full theatrical productions, several play readings, and an annual benefit (Dutchess Divas!).
In March, Half Moon presents the off-Broadway hit Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker from March 10-20 at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in Poughkeepsie. The production stars two-time Obie Award winner Kathryn Grody, Brendan Burke, Alexandra Napier, Michael Rhodes, and Annabel Barrett. Circle Mirror Transformation premiered at Playwrights Horizons in October 2009 for a scheduled month-long run. Due to its enormous popularity and critical acclaim (The New York Times called it “absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny”), it was extended several times and ran through January 2010. To purchase tickets online, visit http://www.halfmoontheatre.org or call 888-71TICKETS (888-718-4253).