Voice Theatre

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Voice Theatre is a regional theater company located in Woodstock, New York and uses the Byrdcliffe Theater to stage its productions during their season. Director and playwright, Shauna Kanter, has been its artistic director since its inception.

Woodstock (CDP), New York CDP in New York, United States

Woodstock is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 2,088 at the 2010 census. The community of Woodstock is in eastern part of the Town of Woodstock and is northeast of Kingston, New York. It is located along NY 212 near its junction with NY 375. Although the name of the community and the town lent its name to the Woodstock Festival, that event did not take place in Woodstock.

New York (state) State of the United States of America

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original thirteen colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. To distinguish the state from the city with the same name, it is sometimes called New York State.

Contents

History

Originally calling themselves Voiceworks!, Voice Theatre was founded in Paris in 1988 by actress and director Shauna Kanter, who had been a voice teacher and professional actress in New York for 14 years. Voiceworks' inaugural production of Family Cycle took place in Paris and was directed by Kanter and included 30 actors. [1] Later in 1989, Voice Theatre mounted an all-female music theatre production of Pushing Through at La MaMa in New York City and again in 1991 at Columbia Festival of the Arts. [2] Pushing Through broke political ground by including Israeli and Palestinian actors in the same play, and starred Jackie Sawiris as one of the Arab actresses. [3]

Jackie Sawiris is a Jordanian/Egyptian actress, writer and film-maker who is best known for playing the Arabian genie Majida in Knightmare from 1993 to 1994. Other notable performances include playing Roz in Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

In 1995, Kanter and her group moved to the United Kingdom, where she collaborated and eventually married classical stage actor Robert Langdon Lloyd. Kanter wrote and directed a music theatre piece entitled Legacy, which premiered at the Bristol Old Vic theater company and went on to win the European Commission. [4] In 1997 and 1998, Legacy performed across Germany and France.

Bristol Old Vic theatre in Birstol, England

Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a financially independent organisation in the 1990s. Bristol Old Vic runs a Young Company for those aged 7–25.

In 2000, Voice Theatre returned to New York City and worked as an off-off-Broadway company across multiple venues. Legacy appeared at the T. Schreiber Studio in 2003. [5] In 2006, Voice Theatre mounted a production of Retzach by Hanoch Levin at the off-Broadway theater 59E59 Theaters. [6] The production starred Tony Naumovski. Kanter's next play, Birds on a Wire was inspired by Barack Obama and dealt with issues surrounding the Dust Bowl. [7] It premiered at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and later appeared at the Byrdcliffe Theater - the venue that would soon become their home.

The T. Schreiber Studio is an acting studio located in New York City at 151 West 26th Street.

Hanoch Levin, was a prominent Israeli dramatist, theater director, author and poet, best known for his theater plays.

59E59 Theaters is theater complex located in New York City, USA that shows both Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway plays. It consists of three theater spaces or stages. The complex is owned and operated by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that is dedicated to bringing innovative and experimental work to the under-served East Side of Manhattan. Kleinhams is the daughter of the real estate investor Sarah Korein. The theater opened in 2004 with the Primary Stages production of The Stendahl Syndrome.

Byrdcliffe Theater

The Byrdcliffe Theater is a part of the Byrdcliffe Colony, an artist colony in Woodstock founded in 1902 by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and Jane Byrd McCall. The first production Voice Theatre staged at the Byrdcliffe Theater was a production of Brian Friel's play Lovers. [8] In 2014, Voice Theater staged a production there of Birds on a Wire, and in 2015, after agreeing to fund a renovation of the theater, Byrdcliffe Theater was made Voice Theater's permanent home. [9] In 2015, they mounted a critically acclaimed production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's play, Our Country's Good .

Byrdcliffe Colony

The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey White (writer). It is the oldest operating Arts and Crafts Colony in America. The Arts and Crafts Movement arose in the late nineteenth century in reaction to the dehumanizing monotony and standardization of industrial production. Byrdcliffe was created as an experiment in utopian living inspired by the arts and crafts movement.

Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead (1854–1929) was the founder and chief benefactor of the "Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony" located in Woodstock, New York.

Brian Friel Irish dramatist, author and theatre director

Brian Patrick Friel, born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, was a dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.

In the summer of 2016, Voice Theatre produced End Days by Deborah Zoe Laufer, starring Joe Bongiorno. [10]

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