Hudson Stage Retires – Bids Armonk Adieu with Off Peak

admin Posted OnMarch 21, 2022

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Hudson Stage Retires – Bids Armonk Adieu with Off Peak

Armonk’s Hudson Stage Company’s World Premiere of Brenda Withers’ Off Peak that will open on on April 22 and run through May 7 will be their final production after a 23 year run In Westchester County. They began staging equity productions of original and classic theatre at the Croton Library 23 years ago and their journey took them through their years as theatre in residence at Pace University before becoming the resident theatre company at Armonk’s Whippoorwill Hall almost ten years ago. Highlights of their Armonk run include productions of Other Desert Cities, Outside Mullingar, and A Doll’s House, Part 2.

Off Peak, a humorous new play about forgiving, forgetting, and the healing power of a good delay, tells the story of two old flames who run into each other on the evening commute. And have very different memories of their past. The production will star Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson – two mainstays of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.

We asked Olivia Sklar, Hudson Stage’s founding producer, along with Denise Bessette and Dan Foster, to jot us some notes on their 23 years together for this article. We felt we couldn’t improve on her sentiments so we decided to publish them here.

Olivia Sklar on Hudson Stage Company’s Announcement

After 23 glorious years first presenting staged readings of new plays at the Croton Library before we had the funds to do full productions, then producing at our first home at The Julie Harris Theatre at the Clearview School in Briarcliff, followed by several years in residence at the Briarcliff campus of Pace University’s Woodward Hall and then many more years at our lovely venue at Whippoorwill Theatre at the North Castle Library , Hudson Stage Company has decided to cease operations.

Hudson Stage Returns with October Storm HSC was the brainchild of its three founding producers Denise Bessette, Dan Foster and Olivia Sklar. And it was very much a an integral part of our families over the years. Running and growing a small professional non-profit theatre is a labor of love and takes enormous commitment and energy. Life priorities change and for myself and the remaining founding producer Denise Bessette, it was time to move on. We were very proud to have been able to produce the World Premiere of The October Storm by Joshua Allen after having to abandon it during the lockdown. Working under the strains and added expenses under the specter of Covid was difficult but the show met with audience and critical acclaim even though there was, understandably, diminished box office.

Highlights over the years include being able to produce Marie Jones’ Stones in his Pockets at Pace amidst Hurricane Sandy as we flagged down out of state Utility trucks to help us restore the power to the theatre so the show could go on! Another Pace highlight was the superb production of Jeffrey Sweet’s Kunstler, the controversial attorney, with a tour de force performance by Jeff McCarthy. One particular night attending in the audience was Ron Kubie (an associate of Kunstler), Kunstler’s two daughters, the White family that Kunstler represented in a housing discrimination case and Yusef Salaam who was one of the Central Park Five that Kunstler championed. It was LIFE imitating THEATRE imitating LIFE. A very emotional Yusef Salaam joined Jeff McCarthy on stage for a final bow.

Favorite Armonk memories such as our production of John Shanley’s fanciful Outside Mullingar (with its outstanding cast and turntable set) proved to be our first sold out production with some Irish audience members coming for a second time bringing their friends and families. Another terrific highlight was being able to move Joanna Murray-Smith’s new play Switzerland, centered on the mystery writer Patricia Highsmith, for a successful run at an Off Broadway theatre in NYC!

The village of Armonk has been a fantastic home for us! We had a couple of members on our Board that were Armonk residents, joined the Chamber of Commerce, frequented the variety of shops and shared the many dining options with our audience and company members . Many of the actors looked forward to walking the aisles of De Ciccio’s to bring goodies back home with them! We also held three different fundraising galas at gorgeous Armonk private homes. The staff at the North Castle Library were very gracious hosts and accommodated us at every turn.

There were so many more highlights and it is hard to chose because it is like asking someone to pick their favorite child! When I gaze at the posters in our lobby I am awestruck by the immensely talented actors, writers, directors, designers and crews that have graced our boards. Although we could never offer the salaries we wish we could have to these folks, we know we created an environment where they felt safe, free and supported to explore and create theatre.

In choosing the last production we went out on a bit of a limb by commissioning a new play from the wonderful writer Brenda Withers. Brenda has acted for HSC in John Cariani’s Almost, Maine at Pace and in Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities in Armonk. She also penned one of the five digitally produced readings, The Parrot Trap, that we presented during the pandemic. The cast of two are Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson, real life married couple, that are the standouts of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Kurt also appeared in HSC’s Love Song by John Kolvenbach at Pace and in Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 in Armonk in 2019. It is wonderful that our final show will have so many people that are part of the HSC family as theatre really is all about community and the magic of sharing our stories in that dark room.