We started as a group of friends reading plays...
First we read to each other, hosting a series of "Masterpiece Supper" potluck meals with readings of plays by Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Thornton Wilder and others sandwiched between the appetizers and desserts. These informal events brought together a freewheeling band of professional actors and writers with roots in Ulster County.
In the summer of 1991, eight of the Masterpiece Supper irregulars (Elizabeth Benedict, John Finn, Adam LeFevre, Ron Nyswaner, John Seidman, Nina Shengold, Mary Louise Wilson, Shelley Wyant) founded a theatre company to produce staged readings of original scripts for an audience. Actors & Writers' first season at SUNY New Paltz's Parker Theatre included readings of new plays by Nyswaner, Shengold, LeFevre, and Wilson's solo-show-in-progress Full Gallop, which went on to earn Obie & Drama Desk Awards.
Actors & Writers' next venue was a turn-of-the-century Odd Fellows Hall in rural Olivebridge. Last used for live theatrical performances during World War II, "the Odds" was our artistic home base for more than 20 years. During that time, the core company expanded from eight to 26 members, including active actor-members Sarah Chodoff, Davis Hall, Brian Macready, Carol Morley, Joe White, and Lori Wilner and honored alumni Greta Baker, Gigi Buffington, Mark Chmiel, Siri Crane, Jason Downs, Sophia Raab-Downs, Jeff Garrett, Sigrid Heath, Kate Ingram, Tad Ingram, Frank Juliano, Chris Karczmar, Melissa Leo, and Kevin O'Rourke. We produced more than 100 staged readings on its small stage, including premieres of works by active writer-members Katherine Burger, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Mary Gallagher, Mikhail Horowitz, Nicole Quinn, David Smilow and honored alumni Denny Dillon, Bob Berky, Ean Miles Kessler, Casey Kurtti, Sherry Mandel, and Sybil Rosen.
(Many of the names above are both actors and writers; the company encouraged us to try multiple hats.)
First we read to each other, hosting a series of "Masterpiece Supper" potluck meals with readings of plays by Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Thornton Wilder and others sandwiched between the appetizers and desserts. These informal events brought together a freewheeling band of professional actors and writers with roots in Ulster County.
In the summer of 1991, eight of the Masterpiece Supper irregulars (Elizabeth Benedict, John Finn, Adam LeFevre, Ron Nyswaner, John Seidman, Nina Shengold, Mary Louise Wilson, Shelley Wyant) founded a theatre company to produce staged readings of original scripts for an audience. Actors & Writers' first season at SUNY New Paltz's Parker Theatre included readings of new plays by Nyswaner, Shengold, LeFevre, and Wilson's solo-show-in-progress Full Gallop, which went on to earn Obie & Drama Desk Awards.
Actors & Writers' next venue was a turn-of-the-century Odd Fellows Hall in rural Olivebridge. Last used for live theatrical performances during World War II, "the Odds" was our artistic home base for more than 20 years. During that time, the core company expanded from eight to 26 members, including active actor-members Sarah Chodoff, Davis Hall, Brian Macready, Carol Morley, Joe White, and Lori Wilner and honored alumni Greta Baker, Gigi Buffington, Mark Chmiel, Siri Crane, Jason Downs, Sophia Raab-Downs, Jeff Garrett, Sigrid Heath, Kate Ingram, Tad Ingram, Frank Juliano, Chris Karczmar, Melissa Leo, and Kevin O'Rourke. We produced more than 100 staged readings on its small stage, including premieres of works by active writer-members Katherine Burger, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Mary Gallagher, Mikhail Horowitz, Nicole Quinn, David Smilow and honored alumni Denny Dillon, Bob Berky, Ean Miles Kessler, Casey Kurtti, Sherry Mandel, and Sybil Rosen.
(Many of the names above are both actors and writers; the company encouraged us to try multiple hats.)
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"The Odds." |
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Actors & Writers also produced readings of scripts by guest playwrights including Michael Cristofer, John Sayles, Ty Adams, and legendary Casablanca screenwriter Howard Koch, along with classics by Paddy Chayefsky, Clifford Odets, Anton Chekhov, Sam Shepard, and more.
Incorporating as a 501-C3 not-for-profit, the company launched an annual ten-minute play festival, ran playwriting contests for teens and adults, produced two live radio-format variety shows and numerous benefits, and participated in a wide variety of spin-off projects including a vintage Dracula at Rhinebeck's Upstate Films, a traveling production of Shirley Valentine, screenplay readings for the Woodstock Film Festival, Laura Shaine Cunningham's Bang in a Cave at the Widow Jane Mine, site-specific mask-works directed by Shelley Wyant, Denny Dillon's Improv Nation troupe, and locally shot films of scripts first read at the Odds (Nicole Quinn's Racing Daylight, Davis Hall and Adam LeFevre's In the Blind, Michael Gaylin and David Smilow's Intelligence, Suzi Yoonessi and Nina Shengold's No Shoulder). In 2008, Mohonk Mountain Stage Company's Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley imprint published Actors & Writers: Odd Shorts, an anthology of short plays by ten company playwrights.
When the Olivebridge Odd Fellows Hall was sold in 2010, Actors & Writers became a wandering band, performing at ASK, the Maverick Concert Hall, Unison Arts, the Rosendale Theatre, Shadowland Stages, SPAF, Mohonk Mountain House, the Woodstock Library Forum, and other venues throughout Ulster County. New members Dannah Chaifetz, Edwin Sanchez, and Mark St. Germain joined our ranks. We celebrated our 25th -- and the Maverick's 100th -- with an age-blind performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, concocted by Sarah Chodoff and Nina Shengold.
Now in its third decade, Actors & Writers continues to grow in new directions while honoring its founders' mission statement: Nothing by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
We are grateful for the loyal support of our audience members, friends, donors, and volunteers. We couldn't continue to do this without you, and it certainly wouldn't be as much fun.
Incorporating as a 501-C3 not-for-profit, the company launched an annual ten-minute play festival, ran playwriting contests for teens and adults, produced two live radio-format variety shows and numerous benefits, and participated in a wide variety of spin-off projects including a vintage Dracula at Rhinebeck's Upstate Films, a traveling production of Shirley Valentine, screenplay readings for the Woodstock Film Festival, Laura Shaine Cunningham's Bang in a Cave at the Widow Jane Mine, site-specific mask-works directed by Shelley Wyant, Denny Dillon's Improv Nation troupe, and locally shot films of scripts first read at the Odds (Nicole Quinn's Racing Daylight, Davis Hall and Adam LeFevre's In the Blind, Michael Gaylin and David Smilow's Intelligence, Suzi Yoonessi and Nina Shengold's No Shoulder). In 2008, Mohonk Mountain Stage Company's Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley imprint published Actors & Writers: Odd Shorts, an anthology of short plays by ten company playwrights.
When the Olivebridge Odd Fellows Hall was sold in 2010, Actors & Writers became a wandering band, performing at ASK, the Maverick Concert Hall, Unison Arts, the Rosendale Theatre, Shadowland Stages, SPAF, Mohonk Mountain House, the Woodstock Library Forum, and other venues throughout Ulster County. New members Dannah Chaifetz, Edwin Sanchez, and Mark St. Germain joined our ranks. We celebrated our 25th -- and the Maverick's 100th -- with an age-blind performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, concocted by Sarah Chodoff and Nina Shengold.
Now in its third decade, Actors & Writers continues to grow in new directions while honoring its founders' mission statement: Nothing by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
We are grateful for the loyal support of our audience members, friends, donors, and volunteers. We couldn't continue to do this without you, and it certainly wouldn't be as much fun.