Franklin Stage Company Awarded New Play Commission Grant

The Franklin Stage Company, Delaware County's renowned professional summer theater, has been awarded a Support for Artists Grant for the commission of a new play with a Working Title of Wakeman and Toliver, written by Kyle Bass. Mr. Bass is the author of Possessing Harriet, which FSC produced during their 2019 summer season.

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Kyle Bass again," said Co-Artistic Director Leslie Noble, "Possessing Harriet was one of our audience's favorite shows, and we're very excited about this new piece, which is such a wonderful exploration of local and historical facts and imaginings." The commission is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Because NYSCA's Support for Artists grant requires a NY State non-profit arts organization to sponsor an individual artist, the Franklin Stage Company will act as a sponsor for the play. The final component of the grant is a public offering such as a reading, presentation, or performance of the work in progress.

Set at the start of the American Civil War, Wakeman and Toliver will theatricalize and poetically dramatize the Civil War experiences of two actual historical characters from two very different (and not so different) backgrounds. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, a young white woman born in Bainbridge, New York, disguised herself as a man and mustered into the Union Army-the 153rd New York State Volunteers-using the alias Lyons Wakeman. Toliver Holmes was a young black man born into slavery in Virginia who escaped to New York, changed his name to avoid capture, and mustered into the Union Army's 26th Regiment of Colored Troops (NY), later settliing in Delhi, NY.

"In reality their life paths did not intersect. But in my play, poetic license in service to a poetical dramaturgy will bring them into each other's lives-the imagined jazz of shared experience," said Bass. "Theirs will be a shared narrative drama and a drama of identity." The play is an exploration of what two very different characters have in common, as each has escaped something they find untenable and each has cloaked their true identity. Each lives in Delaware County, New York, before joining the Union Army; and each is looking to define freedom on their own terms.

"We'll be sharing more news this spring about a staged reading at FSC once the first draft is complete," said Co-Artistic Director, Patricia Buckley. "Info will be available via our website and social media accounts."

NYSCA's guidelines state that the Support for Artists grant seeks to, "Enhance the vibrant and diverse artistic voices of New York State-based art makers, invest in projects that represent significant growth in the artistic development of individual artists, and strengthen the relationships between individual artists and the artistic goals and mission of the sponsoring or commissioning organization."

For more information on Franklin Stage Company, visit www.franklinstagecompany.org or call 607-829-3700. Programming at the Franklin Stage Company is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.