The Orchard Project Arts Festival Comes to Saratoga Springs This Month

Over the course of the last 15 years, The Orchard Project has supported over 300 new productions at various stages of development, including pieces that have moved to Broadway such as ALL THE WAY, AMELIE: THE MUSICAL, and 33 VARIATIONS, award-winning work such as AN OCTOROON and THE ALIENS, and work by artists including Taylor Mac, Young Jean Lee, Rachel Chavkin, Annie Baker, Jeremy O. Harris, Savion Glover, Esperanza Spalding, and many more.

Now, in 2023, the festival is inviting artists like Sarah Gancher, Ethan Lipton, and Zack Zadek, who are at the forefront of storytelling to share their work, process, and sources of inspiration. The Orchard Project Festival weekend will include work-in-progress showings of new work as well as free workshops, concerts, and conversations that share a joy of storytelling, creativity, and process that The Orchard Project is known for.

All events are free, with supporters of The Orchard Project receiving assured access and extra add-ons to events.

Details and the ability to RSVP are at the following link:

https://orchardproject.com/the-2023-orchard-project-summer-arts-festival/ 

The schedule for the 2023 Orchard Project Arts Festival is as follows: 

FRIDAY, JULY 7

• 7pm @ Saratoga Arts - The Future Of Broadway - A Musical Showcase Of Composers in Residence
• 9pm @ Saratoga Arts - Eugene Onegin: A New Bluegrass Musical (Pre-Showing)

SATURDAY, JULY 8

• 11am @ Saratoga Arts - Workshop: '518 Monologues' Writing Workshop
• 1pm @ Saratoga Arts - Work in Progress Showing: Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria
• 2pm @ Saratoga Arts - Work in Progress Showing: Uncommon Measure
• 3pm @ Saratoga Arts - Work in Progress Showing: We Are Your Robots by Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra
• 6pm @ Pitney Meadows Community Farm - Eugene Onegin: A New Bluegrass Musical (and BBQ)

About the events: 

EUGENE ONEGIN - A WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL

By Sarah Gancher, directed by Jade King Carroll

Saturday, 7/8 at 6:00pm @ PITNEY MEADOWS COMMUNITY FARM (add'l showing Friday, 7/7 at 9:00pm @ SARATOGA ARTS)

FREE//BBQ AND BEER PACKAGE FOR OP MEMBERS

EUGENE ONEGIN is a modern bluegrass musical that is half pickin' party and half barbeque.

Pushkin's novel-in-verse and Tchaikovsky's opera have been reset and given new life in 1940s rural Arkansas. In Sarah Gancher's updating of the classic novella and opera, a girl who dreams of writing songs falls for a magnetic but jaded touring musician. Join The Orchard Project for an amazing evening full of bluegrass music, food, and drink.

THE FUTURE OF BROADWAY

A cocktail and musical evening showcasing new work by The Orchard Project's 2023 composers' in residence.

Friday, 7/7 at 7:00pm @ SARATOGA ARTS

The Orchard Project is where many shows start, including a number of Broadway musicals (AMELIE, and the upcoming FEMALE TROUBLES and BHANGIN; IT). In 2023, we've invited some of the brightest voices in the industry to write their next big show in Saratoga Springs. Join us for an intimate evening of amazing new musical theatre with the greatest talents in the biz.

YOKO'S HUSBAND'S KILLER'S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA

Book by Brandy Hoang Collier, lyrics by Clare Fuyuko Bierman, music by Erika Ji

Saturday, 7/8 at 1:00pm @ SARATOGA ARTS

Did Yoko Ono really break up The Beatles? Was Gloria Abe Chapman somehow responsible for John Lennon's murder? Why do all these egotistical white guys marry Asian women? That's weird, right? These are the questions that keep Ruby Okamoto up at night. She needs answers, and she's gonna find them—even if it means summoning Yoko, Gloria, and the rest of Asian America into her insomniatic fever dream. In YOKO'S HUSBAND'S KILLER'S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA, five Asian American women are pulled into Ruby's fantastical dreamscape, where subconscious thoughts manifest as real-life rockstars and movie monsters. They journey, dream, and address the hard-to-define-but-definitely-there connection between Asians in America.

UNCOMMON MEASURE

Based on the book by Natalie Hodges, adapted by Ari Edelson

Saturday, 7/8 at 2:00pm @ SARATOGA ARTS

How does time shape consciousness and consciousness, time? Do we live in time, or does time live in us? A stage adaptation of Hodges' critically acclaimed 2022 book about the overlap between musical tempo and the physics of time, adapted by Hodges and Orchard Project Artistic Director Ari Edelson.

WE ARE YOUR ROBOTS

Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra

Saturday, 7/8 at 3:00pm @ SARATOGA ARTS

WE ARE YOUR ROBOTS is a harrowing new musical yarn in which Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra explore intelligence, consciousness, brain mapping, violence, memory, and robotics in hopes of discovering what human beings want from their machines.

THE 518 MONOLOGUES - MONOLOGUE WRITING WORKSHOP

Led by D. Colin

Saturday, 7/8 at 11:00am @ SARATOGA ARTS
320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
60 minutes

Troy-based poet and teaching artist, D. Colin, leads a FREE monologue writing workshop. This writing session is designed for folks of all theatrical backgrounds, from those who have never seen a play before to those who regularly attend or create theater, to express themselves through the medium of the dramatic monologue. 

How to attend The Orchard Project's 2023 Summer Festival:

There are two ways to attend events during The Orchard Project Festival:

Become a supporting "Member" of The Orchard Project with a tax-deductible donation of anything above $100 and you can be assured you can see everything at the festival weekend. Donors at the Member level receive the ability to reserve priority seating for all events, and donors at higher levels receive the ability to bring guests to events and gain access to the best available seating.

Want to come and don't want to donate? No worries—all of our events are free based on availability. Reserve Individual Seats for various events through our form, and we will confirm availability with you by July 1, 2023. To reserve: https://orchardproject.com/the-2023-orchard-project-summer-arts-festival/