Touchstone Theatre Brings the Classics to Easton with Walden, 6/24-26

This June, Touchstone Theatre returns to Easton's Abbey Hill Theater, in partnership with Green Leaf Productions, for a production of Walden, a one-man performance adapted from Henry David Thoreau's famous reflections on living in the woods, directed by Augustine Ripa of Lehigh University. The show runs June 24-26.

This performance marks the second year of Touchstone's "Ice Cream and the Classics" performances. Last year, a collaboration with Green Leaf Productions, ProJect Easton, and the City of Easton brought Touchstone's acclaimed production of The Tempest to the newly renovated Abbey Hill Theater, accompanied by ice cream available for purchase before the show.

Walden, a more lyrical, contemplative presentation, dwells on the simplicity and pleasure of a life without the confines of social constructs and financial restraints. It tells the story of a young Henry David Thoreau who, troubled by his times and dissatisfied with many of the assumptions about living that society takes for granted, retreats to the woods, to live in a house of his own construction and earn his living by the sweat of his brow. In his retreat to Walden Pond, he discovers the sublime beauty of nature and the transcendent power of the individual.

The narrator Thoreau is portrayed by Touchstone co-founder Bill George, who has been performing and adapting this text for seventeen years. "I first performed this piece in 1994," he recalls, "and only recently have I felt that I'm getting to the bottom of it. It's something to truly savor, the search to get to the bottom of things."

George, one of Pennsylvania's finest theatre artists, recipient of the coveted Fringe First Award for outstanding new works at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the 1995 Pennsylvania Solo Theatre Artist Fellowship, notes also that it is truly Thoreau's text at the heart of things. "The key thing for me is the language, the sincerity, the uplifting transcendent and youthful honesty-such a great luxury to bask in it, soak in the truth of it."

"How many of us today would be eager to reproduce Thoreau's experiment, if only we dared?" adds director Augustine Ripa. "To shed the burdens of social custom and pressure in order to seek out the essential meaning of life? To discover self-reliance and peace through a harmony with one's natural surroundings? Thoreau did what many of us dream about, and we take vicarious pleasure in his journey of discovery."

In addition to the performance, Touchstone will be selling ice cream provided by the Bethlehem Dairy Store, a.k.a. "The Cup." Audiences can come early to enjoy a refreshing treat before and during the performance in the Abbey Hill Theater, a theatrical venue converted from a 120-year-old Easton church. The building features all original architecture, staiNed Glass windows, and stadium style seating in the half round.

Walden, produced by Touchstone Theatre in partnership with Green Leaf Productions, plays June 24 through 26 at the Abbey Hill Theater; 225 Porter Street, Easton, PA. Friday and Saturday shows start at 8:00 pm, with a Sunday matinee at 2:00 pm. Regular admission is $20, with $15 tickets available to students and seniors; group rates available. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 610-867-1689, or online at www.lvartsboxoffice.org.

 

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