VIRGIL
THOMSON FOUNDATION has honored the Fringe with a two-year
matching grant
for $22,000 to support the creation of a new play with music based on the
life of the great composer and music critic, Virgil Thomson. A workshop
production of this play will be seen in the 2007 Woodstock Fringe
Festival of Theatre & Song! Larry Alan Smith, Artistic Director of
American SongFest, and Wallace Norman will collaborate on the writing of
this new work, tentatively titled, “Oh Virgil!”
DUTCHESS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL PROJECT GRANTS - 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007!
“A great theatre experience. . . a new frontier with
talented people and in a beautiful venue, wonderful and creative use of the
historic Byrdcliffe site.” American SongFest - “the work is fantastic.
. . exciting. . . a great benefit to Ulster County. Panelists are funding
this project with one of the largest grants awarded in this cycle in
order to nurture the further development of this project, which is perceived
to be one of Ulster County's finest cultural offerings. It is the
best thing in Woodstock.”
THE DRAMATIST GUILD FUND - The
FRINGE has received a second grant from The Dramatist Guild Fund increasing
its support of the production of new works, fees to playwrights and expenses
associated with having playwrights in residence. This year we have two
playwrights in residence, David Nugent and Charles Traeger.
MEET THE COMPOSER has supported
Woodstock Fringe generously in each of our seasons by awarding grants to
composers whose work has been presented in our Festival of Theatre & Song.
Space doesn’t permit us to
include all the exciting work that Fringe company members are doing. Here
are a few highlights.
Larry Alan Smith is busy
preparing for his first season as Artistic Director of the Wintergreen
Summer Music Festival and Academy in Wintergreen, Virginia. He is currently
writing a new work for narrator and piano with poet Roberta Hill, writing a
new orchestra piece for the North Arkansas Symphony and collaborating with
Wallace Norman on “Oh, Virgil!”
Carol Hall (Fringe 2004)
won the 2006 Grammy for Best Children’s Album (her songs were performed by
Kermit the Frog).
Vivian Matalon is
directing Mornings At Seven at The Berkshire Theater Festival this summer.
Stephen Temperley’s play,
Souvenir is playing in theatres all over the world following a
run on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre starring Judy Kaye and Donald Curran.
Nicola Sheara is
directing the world premiere of Backwards in this year’s
Fringe and July marks the 6th anniversary of TheaterSounds, her very
successful play-reading series.
Mindy Pfeffer's (WF
Playwrights Unit) one-person show Out of the Box (men I never dated and
other stories) was included in the Six Figure Theatre Company's Artists of
Tomorrow Festival earlier this year. Mindy will also be teaching theatre and
improvisation classes at the Omega Institute this summer.
Dov Weinstein and the
Tiny Ninja Theater made their Far East debut at the 2007 Busan
International Performing Arts Festival in South Korea, and have recently
played at the Kennedy Center in DC.
Jerry McGee just returned
from Los Angeles where his play, Do You Smoke After Sex? played to
sold-out houses.
Memrie Innerarity (Fringe
2004) was musical director for "Brundibar,” with a score by composer Krasa,
who was killed in the Holocaust. She is beginning the script and score for
an opera/performance piece about the murder of 3 civil rights workers in
Mississippi in 1964.
Flames of Discontent
performed music for a wide variety of social justice causes and in many
Hudson Valley nightspots as well.
Brent Erdy appeared last
summer in Berkshire Theatre Festival’s production of Stephen Temperley's
The Pilgrim Papers and soon will be performing in the Samuel French
festival of short plays.
David and Old Ironsides,
a work for narrator and orchestra by Woodstock Fringe composer Larry
Thomas Bell will receive its premiere performance on July 31 in Boston
at the Charlestown Naval Yard performed by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra
conducted by Charles Ansbacher.
From July 13-July 29, Melissa
Hurst will be playing Chelsea (the daughter) in ON GOLDEN POND at
Oldcastle Theatre Company in Bennington, Vermont.
