WILDE ABOUT WHITMAN Gets Reading at Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre

Go behind closed doors as a young Oscar Wilde gets more than he bargained for when he meets his idol, the legendary Walt Whitman, in a new play by David Simpatico, being given a reading by A Howl of Playwrights at Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre on Saturday evening August 19th.

Based on a little-known, historic meeting between these two literary giants, "Wilde About Whitman" finds Wilde at the beginning of his career and Whitman nearing the end of his life. Smart, funny, passionate - and surprisingly sexy - the play was developed at A Howl of Playwrights after Mr. Simpatico completed it as his Master's thesis at Southern New Hampshire University, where he received his MFA this past June. Participating in the reading are actors Kevin Archimbault, Darrah Cloud, and James Occhino.

"Wilde About Whitman" will be presented for one night only on Bridge Street Theatre's MainstageSaturday evening August 19th at 7:30pm. The theatre is located at 44 West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill, NY, just one block west of Catskill Creek. Admission is $10 at the door, doors open to the public one half hour prior to the performance, and ample free parking is available on West Bridge Street and in the Catskill High School parking lot immediately adjacent to the theatre. For more details, visit BridgeSt.org.

Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and The New York State Legislature and by Public Funds from the Greene County Legislature through the Cultural Fund administered in Greene County by the Greene County Council on the Arts.

Performance Calendar
A Howl of Playwrights presents
WILDE ABOUT WHITMAN
A reading of a new play by David Simpatico
with Kevin Archimbault, Darah Cloud, and James Occhino
Saturday August 19, 2017 at 7:30pm
Bridge Street Theatre Mainstage
44 West Bridge Street, Catskill, NY

Tickets:
Admission is $10 at the door.
Doors open to the public at 7:00pm.

David Simpatico(Playwright) is a playwright, librettist and performance artist. Career highlights include: the stage adaptation of "High School Musical" (Disney Theatricals); the full length opera "The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing" (American Lyric Theatre); the sung-thru music drama "The Screams of Kitty Genovese" (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); and the libretto for Pulitzer Prize-winner Aaron J. Kernis' "Garden Of Light" (NY Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, conducted by Kurt Masur). David has been presented at major theatres around the globe, including London's Hammersmith Apollo, Williamstown Theatre Festival and The New York Shakespeare Festival. An alumnus of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, the Writers' Bootcamp, a graduate of Northwestern University, and the recent recipient of an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University, David lives in Rhinebeck, NY with his husband, Robert Strickstein, and wonder-dog, Elmo.
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A HOWL OF PLAYWRIGHTS is a theatre group dedicated to nurturing, inspiring, and empowering the development and sharing of new and challenging works by established and emerging playwrights. From book-in-hand readings to simple full productions, their aim is to support new plays that tackle serious subjects with humor and insight, which take risks and go to the edge when called for; which teach via entertainment and challenge paradigms via love. They believe in diversity as essential to art and sustainability.

Having incubated during a three-year residency at the Half Moon Theatre in Poughkeepsie, A Howl of Playwrights is now venturing out on its own in Rhinebeck, NY. The Liberty Public House has given them a home in its downstairs lounge. They are a group of professional writers with national credits and experience, mixed with a few who are just starting out. They meet every Thursday night to work on developing plays by bringing in ten pages each to be read aloud and critiqued by the group. They also hold "diagnostics", which are evenings devoted to reading an entire play at the table. In addition, they host readings of plays they feel are ready for the next step in their development: to be seen and heard in front of a live audience. This gives the author exposure and question/answer time with audiences; it also serves to build a steady following of patrons who are interested in the craft of playwriting and the development of new work. http://howlplaywrights.wixsite.com/howlplaywrights.

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