The Post Star (Glen Falls, New York)
July 12, 2007

SUMMER SCENE

Local Stages Are Busy For The Season

By Lisa Bramen

If theater is losing ground to other forms of entertainment, no one around here seems to have gotten the memo.

Lindsey Gates, who has family roots in Bolton Landing, started her theater company three summers ago with one production of a new play. Last year, she added a second production- a free Shakespeare play in the park. This year, the season has grown to three productions.

The first is the premiere of "Gin/Jazz/Love/Drama," by Heather Whaley, which takes place in Jazz Age New York and is described as "a screwball adventure, complete with pygmies, baboons, devious family secrets and even a little Shakespeare."

"It is just so sharp and witty ad quick and fun," Gates said, "and I think people will have a laugh-out-loud good time."

Like last year, the second production will be a series of free performances of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" in Rogers Park.

The season will be capped off with a collaboration with the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, the American premiere of "Performances," a drama by tony-award winning playwright Brian Friel. The play is performed as part of the museum's festival celebrating the music of Czech composer Janacek, and tells the story of his life long obsession with a young female muse. A string quartet from Prague will perform in this production, which will take place at the museum.

Gates didn't know what to expect when she started a company focused on new theater in an area as recreation-focused as Lake George.

"I feel like the town seems so receptive," Gates said. "And my actors from New York keep saying this over and over to me:" It's a gift. It's like a gift to be able to come up here and work in this fashion. To have both sides gung-ho is so exciting!"