Bridge Street Theatre, one of the most exciting and adventurous small theater companies in the Hudson Valley region, is thrilled to announce that they have completed casting for their 2023 Fall Mainstage Season – sixteen magnificently talented actors in three funny, moving, provocative, and innovative productions, including an East Coast premiere, a neglected masterwork from one of the American theatre’s most cherished playwrights, and a beloved American classic. Currently slated for presentation at BST this autumn are:
*I AM BARBIE
by Walton Beacham (East Coast Premiere)
August 31 – September 10.
Directed by Rob Maitner*
It’s Barbie’s 60th Birthday (she’s still looking absolutely FABULOUS, by the way), and she celebrates by looking back on her innumerable careers, her on-again-off-again relationship with Ken, and with other characters from her life including GI Joe, She-Ra, Skipper, and her creators, Ruth Handler and Jack Ryan. A hilarious and surprisingly touching look at what it’s like to be a Barbie Girl in a not-so-Barbie world. Come for the laughs, leave with a lump in your throat. Featured in the cast are Olivia Sargent (Barbie), Max Kantor (Ken/GI Joe/Cowboy/Jack Ryan), Amanda Ferguson (Ruth Handler/Annette Funicello), and Natalie Arneson (She-Ra/Skipper/Britney Spears/Danica Patrick/Waitress).
*THE GLASS MENAGERIE
by Tennessee Williams
October 5 – 15.
Directed by Steven Patterson *
One of a handful of undisputed American classics. Tennessee Williams’ poetically autobiographical memory play premiered in 1944 and catapulted its young author from obscurity into fame (and notoriety). We’re presenting Williams’ moving remembrance of family ties, lost dreams, and shattered illusions in its original version with incidental music composed for the initial production by Paul Bowles.
Featured in the cast are Leigh Strimbeck (Amanda Wingfield), Brett Mack (Tom Wingfield), Taylor Congdon (Laura Wingfield), and Russell Sperberg (Jim O’Connor).
*SYMPATHETIC MAGIC
by Lanford Wilson
November 9 – 19.
Directed by John Sowle*
This late and little-known work by one of America?s most revered playwrights ponders the cosmic implications of everyday actions in the story of a young astrophysicist who makes a potentially world-changing discovery just at the moment his long-time companion, a sculptor on the verge of a brilliant career, finds she is pregnant with his child. Featured in the brilliant ensemble cast are Brian Sheppard (Ian “Andy” Anderson), Molly Parker Myers (Barbara De Biers), Seth McNeill (Don Walker), Timothy Dunn (Pauly Scott), Abby Burris (Sue Olmstead), Nico Ager (Mickey Picco), Terry Sidell (Liz Barnard), and Steven Patterson (Carl Conklin White).
Advance tickets for all three plays are now available for purchase. Just visit bridgest.org and click on the appropriate links. All three productions will be presented in the theatre’s intimate 84-seat “Priscilla”
Mainstage, located at 44 West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill.
If you love plays that genuinely make you think and feel, performances that lodge in your mind and heart, and productions that you?ll be discussing for weeks, months, even years after the curtain falls, you won’t want to miss any of the extraordinary experiences in store for you this Fall at this five-time winner of “Best Theatre/Performance Space” at the annual Best of Greene County Awards. We can?t wait to share these stories with you!
*Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor of New York and the New York State Legislature and by Public Funds from the Greene County Legislature. Bridge Street Theatre’s entire 2023 Season is sponsored by generous donations from Mary E. Barrett and Ted and Mary Neumann in memory of Helmut and Emily Neumann.*