Theater Utopia
by Carla Reuben-Carbone

In 1933, the famous Group Theater was in its fledgling stages when it began a summer residency at Green Mansions, a self-described "utopia for theater professionals." Set at the entrance to the Adirondacks in Chesterton, New York, the resort provided a bucolic environment, far from the pressures of Broadway, for theater artists to create and hone their productions.

Now, over 70 years later, the spirit of Green Mansions remains alive and thriving in Poughkeepsie, New York. It all started up again in 1984 when Max Mayer, his mother a seminal member of the Group Theater, set off with two friends — producer Leslie Urdary and actor Mark Linn-Baker — to create their own modern day "theater utopia": a protected environment for theater artists to develop new work. They began New York Stage and Film and landed 90 miles north of Times Square on the beautiful 1000 acre campus of Vassar College, which had its own tradition of experimental theater dating from the 30s. For 23 years this joint project — the Powerhouse Theater — has offered bold off beat productions in various larval stages to adventurous theater goers.

"For us, the process rules," says Ed Cheetham, producing director of Powerhouse. This season marks Ed's eleventh with Powerhouse and his first as Vassar's Producing Director. He grew up in Wappingers Falls, and first came to the program in 1988. From 1999 to 2000 he ran the Outdoor Theater for the Apprentice Program, and directed Leah Ryan's adaptations of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull. "I love theater in the outdoors; it is so pure, with a minimal of technical interference. The birds, the wind, become part of the play."

For the next five years, Ed served as the director of training for the Apprentice Program. More than 45 apprentices from across the country participate in each season. These students, often young theater professionals, learn from top pros and educators and are provided the unique opportunity to work on the development of productions headed for Broadway and top-ranked theaters nationwide.

There are four performing spaces at Powerhouse. The Powerhouse Mainstage Productions and Workshops are held in the 145-seat Powerhouse Theater. The black box theater was once the college's actual power house, built in 1912 to accommodate Vassar's changeover from gas. It has since been renamed the Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater, after the legendary dramatist who developed experimental theater at Vassar in the early 20th century. The musicals and concert readings are held in the 325-seat Martel Theater, which features a traditional proscenium style stage. Readings and workshops are held in the 125-seat Susan Stein Shiva Theater and the Apprentice Company performs abbreviated versions of classic plays and new works at the Outdoor Amphitheater.

While Ed and his staff ready the Vassar campus for the playwrights, actors, writers, directors and tech people to stay, rehearse and ultimately perform, New York Stage and Film, in Manhattan, is casting and preparing the chosen plays and all those involved to make their way up to the Hudson Valley.

"It starts in October, when we receive between 200 and 250 submissions," said Elizabeth Timperman, executive director of New York Stage and Film. "We read it all. We split the material up, pass around what we like, widdle it down … it's very fluid. We let the material speak to us and we remain flexible. We might end up doing two plays on the Mainstage or three or four. Mixed Company by Stephen Sondheim and Billy Porter, began as a very passionate, moving letter that developed into a musical. It's all about staying loose and fluid."

Liz is producing her fifth Powerhouse season For New York Stage & Film, where she has developed more than 50 new plays and musicals by writers such as Keith Bunin, Jessica Goldberg, Beth Henley and Paul Weitz. She will be leaving this June to be replaced by Johanna Pfaelzer, who Johanna will be the first Producing Director to become Artistic Director of the company. Liz plans to continue in theater as well as spend time with her new baby. "Last year I did my part at the Powerhouse nine months pregnant. I ended up delivering her at Vassar Brothers Hospital just three days after the last performance."

By March, the Manhattan team has selected the bulk of the season. To anyone who has produced theater, this seems like a miniscule amount of time to mount an original play never performed before an audience. To cast, rehearse, build sets, costume, and open by June 15, just three months, is a herculean task by anyone's reckoning. "Remember," Liz said, "these are plays in progress. They are just beginning. It can be very exciting for audiences to experience the development process. We do 10-12 readings every season and these are free to the public. The audience is part of the procedure and very important to the playwright. Their reaction or non reaction will influence a playwright's creative decisions. It is really like a partnership between the two."

To maintain Powerhouse as a haven for testing out new theatrical works, the company limits coverage of the season to reviews for local publications only, and only about Mainstage plays held in the Powerhouse Theater. (The Mainstage plays are the most fully developed productions of every Powerhouse season, as opposed to "workshop" plays and musicals, and readings.).

Over the years, Powerhouse productions have drawn the most accomplished playwrights and actors. Among these are award-winning writers and composers such as John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley Christopher Durang, Peter Melnick and such talented actors as Peter Gallagher, Meryl Streep, David Strathairn, Stanley Tucci, Edie Falco and Olympia Dukakis, to name a few.

This year, John Patrick Shanley returns to Powerhouse with a new musical play entitled, Romantic Poetry, which he will also direct. It will feature Wicked's Tony Award-winning actress and singer Idina Menzel as well as one of the founders of New York Stage and Film, Mark Linn-Baker. The music is by Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger. Mr. Shanley is a world famous playwright who has brought many new plays to the Powerhouse. His play, Doubt, debuted at the readings festival in 2004, and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2005. "There's a good reason for me to come here," John Shanley said, "I love the place, the theater is great, the acoustics are fabulous and the trees are the most beautiful on the Eastern Seaboard."

Also on the Mainstage, will be Stephen Belber's Geometry of Fire, featuring Logan Marshall-Green, former star of the hit Fox television show, The O.C... Stephen Belber is the author of the Emmy nominated The Laramie Project, a play that was later made into an HBO movie.

The two Martel Musicals — concert readings that will be held in the Martel Theater — are Peter Townshend's new rock opera, The Boy Who Heard Music and R-E-S-P-E-C-T by Stephen Fischer, with lyrics by artists from East Memphis Music such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.

Dramaturgically, New York Stage and Film‘s policy is to offer as little or as much input and feedback as necessary. The Insider's Look series in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater features plays that are in that ill-defined space known as "workshop." The series allows each production and playwright to "feel" the audience, in some instances for the first time. This audience-playwright exchange informs the writer on how to rework textural kinks from show to show. Warren Leight's Tony award winning play, Side Man, was developed in this way. "I probably rewrote half of the first act and a quarter of the second act, if not more, in three and a half weeks while rehearsing twelve hours a day," said Leight. "It was the first time in 20 years of writing that I felt like the only goal was to get the play to be as good as it could be." The Reading Festival will feature nine plays and is free to the public. Here you get a chance to brush shoulders with the playwright and can even offer your own two cents.

The Powerhouse theater experience is both welcoming and egalitarian. It opens its arms to the audience and allows us to be part of that sacred mystery … the creative process. It is our incredible good fortune that it takes place right here in the Hudson River Valley. Over 200 professional writers, directors, performers, and designers live and work together with some 45 apprentices to create this unique program. If you like theater, this is absolutely the best deal in town. A $135.00 ticket allows you to see everything. Sixteen different theatrical events, Mainstage productions, concert readings, spanning more than a month, from June 22 to July 29, 2007. On line tickets are available starting May 15, 2007, and also at the Powerhouse box office at 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY which opens June 6. For further information visit : powerhouse.vassar.edu or call 845-437-7235 or 845-437-5599.