A PILGRIMAGE OF HOPE To Make World Premiere at the Dalton Congregational Church, Dalton, MA

The world premiere performance of 'A Pilgrimage of Hope, the Rite of Passage', will be presented at the Dalton Congregational Church, FCC, 514 Main St., on Friday and Saturday, November 9 and 10 at 7pm.

A contemporary musical passion play composed and designed by Kate Caton and Ted Kastrinos, the play investigates the impulse to reflect and revisit humanity through the eyes and ears of artistic expression. Historically rooted in prose, essays and quotations from our fore-fathers and mothers on the concepts of life and humanity, the spirit of each gesture is highlighted and enhanced with music, song, movement and media-correlated backdrop meaningful to the communities in which it is presented.

'There's something of a Yin and Yang to the essence of this piece. There's the good and the bad. In some ways, it has a structure that's ancient and in other ways its totally, totally new,' says Kate Caton, director.

Kate received her Bachelors in Music Education from Fredonia State University and her Masters in Arts Education from Stony Brook University.

As conductor, educator, adjudicator and lecturer, she has toured with her choirs to competitions throughout the US and abroad and has been featured as guest conductor at Chautauqua Institute's All County Festival and Westfield Chamber Music Festival. Kate was the founding Choral Director of The Smithtown Arts Council Community Choir and seasonal adjudicator for NYSSMA All State Festivals. She has also served as the pre-Curriculum Performing Arts Advisor for Explorations Summer Academy at Wheaton College, facilitated a music curriculum for the Williams College Children's Center and was founder and director for the Drury Stage Company. Throughout her career, Kate has had the pleasure of studying and working alongside such notables as Harry Chapin, Peter Perret, Sir David Willcocks, Paul Leddington Wright, and Ted Vigil.

Kate presently serves as Director of Music for the First Congregational Church in Dalton and balances these efforts with her work as a music teacher in the North Adams Public Schools and her private voice and piano students.

Theodore G. Kastrinos is credited with creating curricula for beginning and advanced theatre, musical theatre, public speaking and the International Baccalaureate Theatre Arts course. Ted has directed at Hofstra University, Dowling College and the State University of New York at Farmingdale. He was one of the founders and former co-owners of Take-One Theatre on Long Island where he served as artistic director for 12 years. Over the course of his career, he has directed in excess of 175 plays, musicals, one -act festivals and musical revues. For 29 years, he was stage manager for the Seiskaya Ballet Company's performances at the Staller Center of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and more recently has written, produced and directed original musical revues for the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Rochester, NY. He has been awarded the prestigious New York State English Council Theatre Excellence Award, the Long Island Educational Theatre Association Award and a Suffolk County Proclamation for Service to Theatre.

Tickets for 'Pilgramage of Hope' are available from members of the choir, The Green Gargoyle thrift shop or the church office at 413-684-1715 during operating hours. The suggested donation is $5.00 with proceeds going toward the church's mission projects.

The Church will host a meet and greet reception offering light refreshments following each performance.