TheaterSounds

Over the past 18 seasons, it seems like TheaterSounds has read just about everything; from comedies to dramas to somewhere in between; plays that take on serious issues to lighthearted romps; best-loved classics and world premieres—all featuring talent ranging from broadway and film actors to luminaries of downtown theater. But in all those years, there's one thing we have never done: a single work by the Bard himself. So, to open our 19th Season, we're going to rectify that oversight by doing them all.

At once.

Season 18 kicks off September 15 at 7:30pm with a classic comedy of manners and mischief, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. TheaterSounds producer Jonathan Van Gieson has longed to play the role of Algernon ever since he first read the play (he was younger at the time than TheaterSounds is now), and has recruited some of his favorite co-conspirators from his years in alternative NYC theater to help him bring this dream to life at TheaterSounds.

Save the dates for our other 2018 readings: Oct 20, Nov 17, and Dec 15.

TheaterSounds returns for our 17th Season this September, featuring as always readings of both classic and new plays, performed by professional actors, in the Hudson Valley. The readings will be performed at 7:30pm on the 3rd Saturday of each month at the UUCC, 320 Sawkill Road, Kingston NY.

TheaterSounds presents
KALAMAZOO
by Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger

Encouraged by their kids and grandkids, Peg and Irv both plunge headfirst into the dating pool for the first time in decades, only to find... each other. Can an outgoing East Coast Jewish man and a straight-laced Irish Catholic woman make love work the second time around? Riva Shiner Comedy Award-Winner KALAMAZOO is “a romantic comedy about life’s second act and learning you’re never too old to be young.”

“Both hilarious and startlingly honest. It just rings true in ways that can be surprising and shocking, but always satisfying.” (Examiner.com)

Saturday, June 24 at 7:30pm
at the UUCC, 320 Sawkill Road, Kingston
Admission by Donation

TheaterSounds 16th season, curated by our beloved founding artistic director Nicola Sheara, continues on May 13 with BAUER by Lauren Gunderson and KALAMAZOO by Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger on June 24.

BAUER is based on the true story of a forgotten modern artist who gave up painting after signing an exclusive contract with the Guggenheim. When his ex-wife (and ex-agent) signs up to attempt to convince Bauer to paint again, this “beautifully written play… goes deep in [an] exploration of greed’s effect on love and art.” (The New York Times) “Brittle, witty repartee… terse, poetic statements of Bauer’s evocative aesthetics.” (San Francisco Chronicle). The reading is directed by Jonathan Van Gieson, and stars David Smilow, Lora Lee Ecobelli, and more.

TheaterSounds 16th season, curated by our beloved founding artistic director Nicola Sheara, continues on Saturday, March 25 at 7:30pm with AN ACT OF GOD, a hilarious, irreverent comedy in which the Big Man himself presents a new set of commandments, updated for modern times.

Written by God and transcribed by 13-time Emmy Award winner David Javerbaum, An Act of God is an irreverent yet refreshingly positive look at Judaism, Christianityi and Islam, this play is sure to offend audience members of all faiths even as it makes them laugh.

After many millennia, and in just 90 minutes, God answers some of the questions that have plagued mankind since Creation. “Presented as ‘A Memoir by God,’ the work comes divided into chapters and numbered verses like the Bible, if the Bible were narrated by Mel Brooks on crack-laced manna,” said critic Ron Charles in The Washington Post. “It’s a bawdy circus of theological vaudeville—Shadrach, Meshach and To-bed-we-go!—determined to sacrifice every sacred cow on the altar of farce.”

Lora Lee Ecobelli directs Mark Chmiel*, Kimberly Kay, and Ken Thompson*.

The reading is at The Universalist Unitarian Congregation of the Catskills, located at 320 Sawkill Road in Kingston. Show time is 7:30 pm. Admission is by donation.

For more information, go to www.theatersounds.com or Facebook /theatersounds.

We are devastated to announce that Nicola Sheara—our beloved founder, director, star, and guiding light—passed away in January. She was ill for several months, but in the time leading up to her death, she made sure that TheaterSounds would continue in her absence, and very much under her guidance. She curated and cast a fantastic 16th season that will roll out over the coming months, featuring many favorite TheaterSounds performers and directors, and indeed much of the 17th season as well. Her son, Jonathan, is proud to continue to produce the series in her name, keeping her vision for a professional, entertaining (sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, often both) playreading series thriving in the Hudson Valley.

16th Season Continues
Saturday, February 25 at 2:00pm - Matinee!
BAD DATES by Theresa Rebeck
starring Molly Katz, stage directions read by Ken Thompson, directed by Jonathan Van Gieson
A single mother’s idiosyncratic journey toward self-discovery. Molly Katz* plays the role of the mother as she ruminates over past experiences and memories, which include a Romanian mob, a Buddhist rainstorm, and a few very bad dates, as well as the challenge of raising a 13-year old daughter.

Saturday, March 25 at 7:30pm
ACT OF GOD by God, transcribed by David Javerbaum
Starring Mark Chmiel, Kimberly Kay and Ken Thompson.

Saturday, April 22 at 7:30
AN ACCIDENT by Lydia Stryk
Starring Rebecca Hart & Jonathan Van Gieson

Saturday, May 13 at 7:30
BAUER by Lauren Gunderson

Saturday, June 24 at 7:30 - 16th Season Finale!
KALAMAZOO by Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger

Dearest Friends and Audients,

We are happy to inform you that reports of TheaterSounds' early demise have been greatly exaggerated. TheaterSounds will charge ahead into its 16th Season, with our next reading this month!

We hope you'll be back in fine fettle with your usual aplomb and vociferous appreciation to join us for our second reading of the season.

TheaterSounds
Saturday, November 26th at 7:30pm
Uncanny Valley
by Thomas Gibbons
The reading will feature Dana Patton, Nicola Sheara, Jonathan Van Gieson.

Story:
Drawing on current research in artificial intelligence and robotics, Uncanny Valley charts the developing relationship between a neuroscientist and the non-biological human she helped create.
The play "explores the painful divide between creator and creation, the inherent unpredictability of consciousness, and how we are redefining what it means to be human in the 21st century."

Reviews:
"Gibbons creates a fascinating scenario... Until the very last blackout when you remain tantalized by the mystery of what courses through [the AI's] circuitry." -The Washington Post

"A techno take on the Pinocchio story. [He] is only a simulated human and there may be a void where his ethical compass ought to be." -The New York Times

"A riveting exploration of robotics and the relationship between the creator and creation. The reversals and inversions explored in Uncanny Vally play tricks with your head." -DCTheaterScene.com

We hope to see you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Saturday November 26 at 7:30pm at The Universalist Unitarian Congregation of the Catskills, 320 Sawkill Road, Kingston New York. (Detour may still be in effect, take 209 to Sawkill exit and head South on Sawkill Road.)

Dear Friends and Audients,

Welcome back to the friendly world of TheaterSounds.

Our September reading will be OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR, a play of razor-sharp wit and extraordinary insight, written by TONY Award winner Richard Greenberg, known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class life.

NICOLA SHEARA will be featured as "our Mother" along with an exceptional cast directed by MARNIE ANDREWS.

STORY:
On the verge of death for the umpteenth time, Anna makes a shocking confession to her grown children: an affair from her past that just might have resonance beyond the family. But how much of what she says is true? While her children try to separate fact from fiction, Anna fights for a legacy she can be proud of. With lively wit and piercing insight, OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR considers the sweeping, surprising impact of indiscretions both large and small.

REVIEW:
OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR is the sort of everyday detective story in which the prolific Mr. Greenberg has long specialized...he juxtaposes a generational then-and-now to consider how little we know about the lies that impinge upon and shape our own...This brooding comedy of memory unfolds as a retrospectively played game of truth and consequences, though just what the truth is will remain ambiguous. THE NEW YORK TIMES

You are enthusiastically invited to join us on Saturday, September 24 AT 7:30 PM
at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road
Kingston, NY 12401

ADMISSION BY DONATION

Our next reading will be a MATINEE
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 at 3pm.

INFORMATION; 845 657-6303

Dear Friends and Audients:

We hope your summer has been sun-filled, tick-free, poison ivy-absent and resplendent with joy, if tempered by political angst.
We will launch our new season in September with readings on the fourth Saturday of each month through June, which will include the following new features:

* One matinee

* One audience favorite to be remounted by us and selected by you from a list of our most popular readings

* Several bravura solo performances

* Explorations into Artificial Intelligence

* Recently published Broadway plays

* The usual selection of irreverent, irksome, irascible, exciting, entertaining, and engrossing** fare you have come to expect.

We look forward to having you join us on Saturday, September 24 at 7:30 pm for our reading of................it's a surprise

**enchanting, edgy, enriching, edifying, elating, ennobling exercises in theatricality

Until our return, take advantage of these theater offerings:

COMEDY OF ERRORS
presented by Bird/on/a/Cliff Shakespeare Company at the Comeau property, Woodstock, NY
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5pm through August 7

3 SHORT PLAYS BY HORTON FOOTE
presented by Horton By The Stream at Elka Park in Tannersville, NY
Sunday August 7, Saturday and Sunday August 13 and 14 at 2pm
www.hortonbythestream.org

SEVERELY FRACTURED FAIRY TALES
presented by BOAC at the Comeau property, Woodstock, NY
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5pm August 12 - September 14

HAPPY DAYS by Samuel Beckett
presented by the Woodstock Fringe at the Byrdcliffe Theatre, Woodstock, NY
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm Sunday at 2 pm August 11 - 21
www.woodstockfringe.org

Go well,

Nicola

Mark St. Germain is this season's featured playwright (BECOMING DR. RUTH, DANCING LESSONS)

Dear Friends and Fellow Thespos:

We will present a sizzling evening for our last reading before our summer hiatus:

SCOTT AND HEM, by Mark St. Germain
Directed by Norman Thomas Marshall with John D. Alexander*, Johnny Morelli* and Nicola Sheara*

PRECIS:

In 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, famous authors and frenemies, meet in Hollywood - the City of Dreams - to confront their own. SCOTT AND HEM is a drama about the cost of love, friendship, and the price of being a writer. Some rough language is bandied about by thes two wordsmiths, so you might like to place a bet on who wins the stand-off...

REVIEWS:

"The obvious comparison is to St. Germain's biggest hit, FREUD'S LAST SESSION, a philosophical encounter between two academics.....this new play finds its central characters locking horns.....with the sense that their lives depend on it. This time there are (metaphorical) blood and guts on the floor." -RuralIntelligence.com

"With SCOTT AND HEM we can add another play of St. Germain's to those which bring us new perspectives about familiar characters. Once again the playwright turbo-charges our imaginations." -BroadwayWorld.com

"Probably no one can mine the drama found in encounters between historical figures better than playwright Mark St.Germain." -Examiner.com

You are warmly invited to join us at:

At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road, Kingston

*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

ADMISSION BY DONATION

Information: 845/657-6303
Find us on Facebook and at www.theatersounds.com

ALERT:
Sawkill Road is closed for bridge repairs between Washington Avenue and the UUCC.
Take Route 209 to the Sawkill Road exit and go South one and a half miles, and left at the UUCC entrance.

As we are tossed about by the vicissitudes of life, weather, politics and the machinations of everyday relationships, come settle into the arms of "this play that will have you laughing one moment and crying unabashedlythe next"* - THE GOOD FATHER by Christian O'Reilly, brought to searing life by Leigh Adel-Arnold and Jed Peterson** under the direction of Nicola Sheara.
*The Poughkeepsie Journal
**Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association\

First performed by The Druid Theatre Company at the 25th Galway ArtsFestival in Galway, Ireland.

PRECIS:

"It's New Year's Eve and most of the party guests are in the kitchen admiring photos of their babies. But two lonely strangers find themselves cut off from the rest. Jane was invited because she knows the people in the kitchen. Tim was invited because he painted the kitchen. Jane drunkenly asks Tim, "What are you doing for sex tonight?" And a few weekslater she calls him with some unexpected news: she's pregnant...

REVIEWS:

"....Peppered with sharp dialog and witty one-liners, the script hovers between tragedy and comedy as O'Reilly emphasizes the chasm that divides the pair while tracing the ongoing development of their unlikelyrelationship...the drama looks likely for future productions this side of the Atlantic." --Variety

"O'Reilly's play is a voyage of discovery...His handling of dramatic action is so obviously skillful...a piece of theatre whose power lies in its refusal to pretend. It is what it is: the bones of a play exposed tothe light that shines through it, but identifiably, unmistakeably human. O'Reilly's brilliant THE GOOD FATHER...taps the emotions as few plays do,probing the minds and confusions of two people in trouble with life and with each other." --The Irish Times

"THE GOOD FATHER'S hilarious banter has the audience in stitches for the better part of two hours, and still doesn't interfere with the character's emotional development...This is inescapable, electric dialog...which is crisp, incisive and intelligent, and hangs like a garland around the depths of daily misery and pain...It's the substance of every romantic tale that's ever been told and yet it shines through as if new, thanks to writing that skims along at breakneck pace." --Irish Independent

You are cordially, and enthusiastically invited to join us at THEATERSOUNDS
Saturday, May 21 at 7:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road, Kingston

ADMISSION IS BY DONATION

ALERT
Sawkill Road is closed for bridge repairs between Washington Avenue and the UUCC.
Take Route 209 to the Sawkill Road exit and go South one and a half miles, and left at the UUCC entrance.

INFORMATION: 845/657-6303

Dear Friends and Audients
As things heat up......** Theater Sounds is pleased to bring you a sizzlling confrontation between two worthy, if unequal, adversaries:
A PICASSO by Jeffrey Hatcher
with Parker Cross and Nicola Sheara* directed by David Aston-Reese
STORY: Paris, 1941. Pablo Picasso has been summoned from his favorite cafe by German occupaton forces to a storage vault across the city for an interrogation. His questioner: Fischer, a "cultural attache" from Berlin. Her assignment: discover which of three Picasso paintings rec- ently "confiscated" by the Nazis from their Jewish owners are real. The ministry of propaganda has planned an exhibit, and only the great artist himself can attest to their authenticity. When Picasso discovers the true nature of the exibition, he engages in a pressurized negotiation with the equally determined and wily Miss Fischer to hold onto his artworks . The result: a witty, clever and engaging cat-and-mouse drama about art, politics, sex and truth,** with a twist at its climax.
REVIEWS:
"Artful, remarkable and genuinely dramatic, with impressive sensitivity and wit." -The New York Daily News
"Sex, art, Nazis and a classy twentieth century icon, all wrapped up like a tasty cultural burrito. Expertly done" -The Star-Ledger
"A polished production with carefully sprung surprises." -The New York Times
"If I were a betting man (and who isn't in the theater), I'd wager that we'll be seeing a lot of Jeffrey Hatcher's new play over the next few years...brace for a Picasso bonanza. An exceptionally sharp piece of writing coming soon, no doubt, to a theater near you." -The New York Sun
You are invited, nay encouraged, to join us on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 pm
For Jeffrey Hatcher's exciting play A PICASSO
at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Rd. Kingston 12401
ADMISSION BY DONATION
Information: 845/657-6303 917/570-8782
*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association **see above

7:30 PM

Dear Audience Members - and Re-members

As the daylight lengthens we are pleased to welcome back our featured
playwright for this season, Mark St. Germain. His play, BECOMING DR.
RUTH was a hit (a palpable hit) in November, and the playwright will
again join us onstage to participate in the reading.

DANCING LESSONS
by Mark St. Germain
Featuring Dannah Chaifetz, David Smilow and Mr. St. Germain
With some direction by Nicola Sheara

STORY:

"DANCING LESSONS centers on Ever, a young man with Asperger's
syndrome, who seeks the instruction of a Broadway dancer to learn
enough dancing to survive an awards dinner in his honor. The dancer,
Senga, however, is recovering from an injury that may end her dancing
career. As their relationship unfolds, they're both caught off-guard
by the discoveries - both hilarious and heartwarming -that they make
about each other and themselves."

REVIEWS:

"You don't want it to end...."
- The
Boston Globe"

"Laughs abound in this play and so do those plucked heartstrings....A
perfect evening of theatre."
-
BerkshireBrightFocus.com

"DANCING LESSONS goes beyond the conventions of a romantic comedy to
an enthralling evening....totally absorbing....brilliantly
conceived...."
-
BroadwayWorld.com

"A terrific new romantic comedy....frequently and deeply funny....the
best play of Mark St. Germain's I've yet seen."
- Albany
Times Union

You are cordially and enthusiastically invited to join us at

THEATERSOUNDS
on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 7:30 pm
at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road, Kingston

ADMISSION BY DONATION

Dear Treasured Colleagues of, in and at Theater:

In this weird weather climate and in this even weirder political
climate, TheaterSounds will take the Texas bull by the horns and
present for its next sizzling reading

RED HOT PATRIOT
the kick-ass wit of MOLLY IVINS
by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel
directed by Nicola Sheara
featuring Nancy Rothman* ably abetted by Ken Thompson

(We will refrain from declaring that we will out-trump the current
circus happening around us with this witty and intelligent piece.)

PRECIS:

"The story of the unsinkable Molly Ivins, the famously brassy
newspaper columnist and best-selling author. A true Texas original,
Ivins was a sharp-tongued wit who skewered the political
establishment and the 'good ol' boys' with her unforgettable humor
and wisdom. Written by twin sisters, themselves longtime journalists,
the play celebrates Ivins' courage and tenacity - even when a
complacent America wasn't listening."

REVIEWS:

"A memorable portrait of a crusading journalist who broke gender
barriers to establish herself as one of the nation's most influential
and compassionate political columnists."

- TheaterMania.com
"RED HOT PATRIOT is an inspiring piece of theater."

- Broad Street Review

You are cordially and enthusiastically invited to join us at
THEATERSOUNDS
on Saturday, February 27 at 7:30pm at
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road, Kingston

ADMISSION BY DONATION

*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

Information: 845/657-6303

14th Season

From ANNAPURNA Sharr White 1/24/15 to present

NEXT FALL Geoffrey Nauffts 2/22/15

THE HOW AND THE WHY Sarah Treem 3/21/15

ANY GIVEN MONDAY Bruce Graham 4/18/15

2 ACROSS Jerry Mayer 5/24/15

SIDE EFFECTS Michael Weller 6/21/15

BAKERSFIELD MIST Stephen Sachs 9/ /15

BUYER & CELLAR Jonathan Tolins 10/ /15

BECOMING DR. RUTH Mark St. Germain 11/21/15

THE SECRET MASK Richard Chafe 12/19/15

THEATERSOUNDS presents the final reading before our summer hiatus - another EXTRA SPECIAL MATINEE on SUNDAY JUNE 21 AT 4PM.

SIDE EFFECTS - a surprising drama by Michael Weller. Directed by Nicola Sheara with Olivia Horton*

Those of you who were mesmerized by last year's reading of WHAT THE NIGHT IS FOR by Michael Weller, will welcome back the character, LINDY, so
wonderfully portrayed by (the then pregnant) Olivia Horton*. We will visit the marriage of Lindy and Hugh which exists on the other end of the telephone that kept interrupting the affair she was conducting with Adam.

This unsettling and outrageously humorous and gratifying companion piece will keep you fascinated as the little plot points explode into big bombshells.

Reading at:
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills
320 Sawkill Road, Kingston
Information: 845/657-6303

*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

(Listings subject to change due to availability of actors and licenses.)

Suggested donation is $5.00 or more.