Your Dance Closet will be the setting for mid-August event
The gaggle of actors sitting around Cornwall’s Your Dance Closet last Friday morning at about 11:30 a.m. was a cheerful group. Many sipped Dunkin’ drinks, and they chatted happily amongst themselves.
Give it about 15 minutes, though, and the whole mood in the room changed — suddenly it was filled with the passionate (and a little bit angry in some scenes!) cast of Orpheus Descending, a three-act play, written by Tennessee Williams, that will be performed in the store in August. It is the retelling of the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus.
The performance is the first hosted by Theatre on Main Street Inc., the non-profit brainchild of Cornwall’s Jessica Jaber and Somers’ Michael Boyle. The two actors — who are both in the play in addition to directing it — are proud that their first production is about to come to life, with the help of the 14 actors in the show.
Friday was one of their five-day-a-week rehearsals, held in the dance studio/retail dance and fitness gear store. It’s a good place for Orpheus Descending to take place, since the play is set in a dry goods store in a small southern town.
(And note, these professional actors — some who are from this area and others from New York City — have all perfected their southern accents for the show!)
Rehearsals have been taking place for several weeks now.
The audience at the six-performance August 19-28 run, will sit in what is the dance studio part of the retail suite. The actors will be back and forth through and around them, but mostly performing in the store area of the suite. It’s undergoing some temporary construction right now to create aspects of the set.
“It’s immersive theater,” Jaber said this week. “The audience is going to feel like they are in the store with the characters.
Jaber and Boyle first met at a master acting class in Westchester County. By day, she runs her store in Cornwall — which she opened at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — and Boyle is a southern Westchester social studies teacher.
The two created their non-profit with the hope of bringing quality performances to small town Main Streets; Cornwall is lucky enough to be the first. They’re in pre-production of a performance of Godspell this coming holiday season.
“In the modern post-COVID world, we want to bring people an option,” Boyle said. “And this play is the quintessential small town play … some of the qualities of the characters are qualities people in modern small towns see every day.”
In the cast are area residents Nafisah Graham-Brown, Ryan Danahy, Dan McTamany and Montana Nogrady. Rounding out the cast are Kubbi (AEA), Steven Schroko (AEA), Sietzka Rose, Taaj Bowers, Jacqueline Daalman, Jeffrey Roth, Harry Kaufman and Nikki Scamuffo. Angela Pepe is the COVID safety officer & a Cornwall local.
Orpheus Descending was first presented on Broadway in 1957 with just a brief run. It was revived in 1989, starring Vanessa Redgrave and ran for a longer period.
In Cornwall, the show will be performed on Fridays and Saturdays August 19, 20, 26 and 27 and Sundays, August 21 and 28. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday shows are at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 for seniors and $25 for adults and can be purchased in the store or online at www.yourdancecloset.com/theatreonmainstreet.
For more information, contact Theatre on Main Street Inc. at 929-483-4776.
