Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman at Bridge Street Theatre

In February of 1916, Ralph Albert Blakelock's haunting landscape, “Brook by Moonlight”, was sold at auction for $20,000, a record price at that time for a painting by a living American artist. The sale made him famous, newspapers called him America's greatest artist, and thousands flocked to exhibits of his work. Yet at the time of his triumph, Blakelock had spent 15 years confined in a psychiatric hospital in Middletown, New York and his wife and children were living in poverty in a ramshackle cabin in Leeds. While Blakelock’s early works were heavily influenced by Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School painters, the onset of schizophrenia pushed his paintings into ever more controversial and radical areas. This remarkable solo show, created and performed by Blakelock’s own great-great granddaughter, explores the life, times, and madness of one of America’s most celebrated and exploited painters whose brooding, hallucinogenic landscapes anticipated Abstract Expressionism by more than half a century. Created and performed by Erica Knight and directed by John Ahlin, the world premiere of “Ghost Dance” comes to Bridge Street Theatre, located at 44 West Bridge Street in Catskill, March 28-30 as Show #4 in BST’s SoloFest 2025. For more details and ticketing information, visit bridgest.org/solofest-2025-four/