MARRIAGE & OTHER ODD OCCURANCS And HIGH TOR Among Events Taking Place At Riverspace

The following is a list of events happening at Riverspace.

The Deep End Productions and Riverspace present Marriage & Other Odd Occurrences on Sun., May 17, 5:00 p.m. with Short Stories by Alethea Black?, Directed by Elliott Forrest.

The short stories to be read are: The Thing Itself (2008 Arts & Letters Prize winner) to be read by award-winning actor Dennis Boutsikaris, and That Of Which We Cannot Speak (Honorable Mention as one of the 100 Finalists for The 2008 Best American Short Stories collection, edited by Salman Rushdie) to be read by John Shea. The readings will be followed by a discussion and reception with the writer, director, and actors about the process of writing, directing, and performing the works.

The two stories are tied together by the theme of marriage - one from the point of view of a married man facing the disappointment of a childless marriage and an unfulfilling career, and the other a regretfully divorced man. Both stories are emotionally incisive, as well as charmingly humorous. As the title, Marriage & Other Odd Occurrences, might suggest, each story contains the presence of unexplainable events and impulses, some of which are life-changing. (Cast subject to change) Tickets: $15/$12 students, seniors and members.

Grammy Award-winning violinist and composer Mark O'Connor and friends return to Riverspace on Saturday, June 20 at 8:00 p.m. with a glorious evening of works for strings, including his String Quartet No. 3, called Old Time, composed especially for the Quadricentennial of the Hudson River. Tickets: $50/$25/$18 students, seniors and members.

Elmwood  Playhouse and Riverspace present a staged reading of High Tor on Sunday, June 7 at 4:00 p.m.

As part of the Hudson River Quadricentennial, Riverspace and Elmwood Playhouse join together to present the 1937, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and New City resident Maxwell Anderson’s play, "High Tor". The play, which opened on Broadway that year and won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, centers on the character Van Doren's fight with the company that wanted to "chew the back right off this mountain."  Because of the play, Anderson, who lived on South Mountain Road, which runs along the base of High Tor, is largely credited with galvanizing the successful movement to save the mountain from excavation.

Tickets: $15/$12 Riverspace and Elmwood Playhouse members.

To order tickets visit www.riverspace.org or call the box office at 845-348-1880.

Riverspace is a non-profit cultural center, to be supported by a green economic development, bringing outstanding arts, entertainment, and education to the Lower Hudson Valley.  It presents a singular opportunity for civic participation in a sustainable downtown revitalization that embraces the history and future of our region.