Shuler Hensley & More Set for Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's Reading Series

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's popular reading series, HVSF2, curated by Christine Scarfuto, will highlight the work of some of America's most celebrated playwrights. Members of the HVSF acting company will be featured in the readings along with several renowned stage and film actors. Readings will take place at The Depot Theatre in Garrison on August 5, 7, 12, and 20. All Readings begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at the Depot Theater website http://www.philipstowndepottheatre.org/.

August 5 at 7:30pm
THE DROL
By Meg Miroshnik (The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls,finalist for the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn prize. Winner of the 2011-2012 Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award).
Directed by Devin Brain

Set in a shadowy version of 17th Century London, The Droll begins a year after the "end of theatre," when all theatrical performances were banned except for "the droll"--a bawdy mash-up of scenes from famous plays. Nim, a young theater "fanatik," seeks out and apprentices himself to an illegal theatre troupe, and together they try desperately to keep the bard's words alive. HVSF company actors Sean McNall, Jason O'Connell and Nance Williamson will be joined by Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley, Lucas Dixon, Rachel Spencer Hewitt and Kieran Mulcare.

August 7 at 7:30pm
GNIT
By Will Eno (The Open House, Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Drama Desk Awards; Thom Pain (based on nothing), Pulitzer Prize finalist)
Directed by HVSF Artistic Director Davis McCallum

Peter Gnit, a funny enough, but so-so specimen of humanity, makes a lifetime of bad decisions on the search for his True Self. This is a rollicking yet cautionary tale about (among other things) how the opposite of love is laziness. Gnit is a faithful, unfaithful and willfully American misreading of Ibsen's Peer Gynt (a nineteenth-century Norwegian play), written by Will Eno, who has never been to Norway. Eric Tucker, who directed this season's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream will be featured in the cast along with Hannah Bos, Lisa Emery, Kris Kling, Annie McNamara, and Pete Simpson.

August 12 at 7:30pm
GENERAL FROM AMERICA
By Richard Nelson (James Joyce's The Dead, Tony Award; Some American's Abroad, Drama Desk Award; Vienna Notes, Obie Award)
Directed by Tony Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Set in the Hudson Valley during the height of the Revolutionary War, The General from America draws an emotionally rich portrait of America's most infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold, as he makes the crucial decision to betray the cause he nearly gave his life for. The cast will feature several actors from the current HVSF season including Thomas Michael Hammond, Francesca Choy-Key, Susannah Millonzi, Kurt Rhoads, Triney Sandoval, and Gabra Zackman. Matthew Amendt, who played Hamlet in the critically acclaimed HVSF production in 2011, also joins the cast.

August 20 at 7:30pm
VANITY FAIR
Adapted by Kate Hamill from William Thackeray's novel
Directed by Emily Lyon

Adapted from novelist William Thackeray's satirical Victorian masterpiece, Vanity Fair tells the story Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp, two very different and wildly flawed heroines, as they navigate life's various missteps and constantly changing fortunes. Featured in the cast are HVSF company actors Mark Bedard, Sean McNall, Jason O'Connell, Joey Parsons, and Nance Williamson. Also featured in the cast are: Kate Hamill, Ted Lewis, John Russell, and Samantha Steinmetz.

Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Photo by Walter McBride