Penguin Rep Theatre Will Return With Outdoor Summer Music Festival

Penguin Rep Theatre presents 'Barnside Live @ 5!', an outdoor summer music festival taking place on the lawn adjacent to its historic Stony Point theatre located at 7 Crickettown Road.

With major support from Orange and Rockland Utilities, Penguin Rep welcomes audiences back to "the barn" for five socially-distanced evenings of leisure, celebration, and first-rate entertainment provided by musical luminaries from the Hudson Valley and beyond. As the festival's title indicates - the music kicks off on Saturdays at 5 p.m.!

The festival, which is programmed in association with consummate musician, festival organizer and artist manager Joe D'Urso, begins on June 19th with a celebration of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the U.S.

"What better way to return the community to live, in-person entertainment than with barnside concerts at Penguin Rep," says Joe Brancato, artistic director of the nonprofit professional theatre. "It's been too long since we've all been together."

"This summer, we're offering music in the best ventilated space we could find - the great outdoors," says Andrew M. Horn, Penguin's executive director. "Join a wonderful collective of artists who will celebrate our return to theatre on Juneteenth and also celebrate Penguin's birthday, which is coincidentally the same day."

The evening boasts a line-up of Grammy-nominated bluesman Guy Davis, and jazz vocalist and theatrical performer Miche Braden, well-known for her portrayal of Bessie Smith in 'The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith' (as debuted at Penguin Rep Theatre). The evening will commence with a performance by talented young singer/songwriter Lula Pilar.

On June 26th, the music continues with 'Walking After Midnight: A Tribute To Patsy Cline'. This homage to the country great stars Broadway's Carter Calvert, known for originating a role in the Tony Award-winning musical 'It Ain't Nothing But The Blues'.

On July 10th, Joe D'Urso (operator of the Rockland-Bergen Music Festival) has assembled a grouping of local musical talent to celebrate the life and music of the late great singer-songwriter John Prine, including David Frye, Seamus Keane, Loren Korevec, Gary Soloman, and Jake Thistle.

On July 17th, actor and musician Jefferson McDonald (acclaimed for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis) will begin the evening, followed by Cocomama, an all-female Latin jazz band featuring renowned percussionist and vocalist Mayra Casales.

The festival will continue on July 24th with a performance of Neil Berg's Pianomen: An Intimate Tribute to Elton John & Billy Joel. The timeless songs of these two icons are performed by award-winning composer, lyricist and producer Neil Berg (on piano), alongside a cast of eminent musicians.

Future events are to be announced.

Tickets are $25 each. Early bird tickets, priced at $20 each, are available until June 12th.

Tickets must be purchased in advance online @ www.penguinrep.org. TICKETS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE BY TELEPHONE OR AT THE DOOR. All seating is reserved.

In accordance with CDC and New York State guidelines for outdoor events, seated parties of 2 or 4 will be separated at a distance of six feet and masks must be worn by all attendees throughout the duration of the events.

"With very limited seating, these concerts will feel like your very own semiprivate events," says Mr. Horn. "And in anticipation of the audience's return, we've been busy painting the exterior of the theatre, patching the driveway, replanting the gardens and other measures to make the trip to Stony Point more inviting than ever, including upgrading our HVAC system as we take steps to re-open with indoor theatrical productions this fall."

Barnside Live @ 5! is sponsored by Orange & Rockland Utilities, Wright Bros. Real Estate, Beckerle Lumber, Cannataro Family Capital Partners, Halmar International, and Rockland Boulders.

Under the dynamic leadership of Brancato and Horn, Penguin Rep Theatre has grown in just over four decades from a summer theatre in a repurposed 1880s hay barn to one of the Hudson Valley's most influential nonprofit cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1977 by Brancato and Fran Newman-McCarthy, Vice-President of the Board of Trustees, Penguin Rep has entertained more than 400,000 people with outstanding productions of more than 150 plays, specializing in new works by established and emerging writers. Many plays developed and staged by Penguin, dubbed "the gutsiest little theatre' by the NY Times, have moved on to successful runs Off-Broadway and to showplaces around the country and abroad.

Penguin Rep Theatre's 2021 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature, the County of Rockland, the Town of Stony Point, The Shubert Foundation, Cory and Bob Donnalley Charitable Foundation, the Jacques and Margot Kohn Foundation, and Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust.