The 2021 Virtual Living Art Event – An Innovative Merger of Art and Theater
The Ossining Arts Council (OAC) and Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) Present
The 2021 Virtual Living Art Event – An Innovative Merger of Art and Theater
The fifth Living Art Event will be live-streamed March 6-27
Ossining, NY – The Ossining Arts Council (OAC) and Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will present the 2021 Virtual Living Art Event (LAE), showcasing seven original WCT one-act plays inspired by selected OAC artworks, live streamed to ticket holders every Saturday through March on YouTube: March 6, 13, 20 and 27 at 8 pm. The production is co-produced by WCT Executive Director Alan Lutwin and WCT member and actor/director Melissa Nocera. Christopher Arena, WCT member and director/actor/playwright, is the director. A selection of 19 artworks by OAC members originally on exhibit at the Ossining Public Library in June of 2019 will be featured in the production. OAC docents Bonnie Coe and Jill Kiefer will introduce the paintings and sculptures by Keith Gordon, OAC treasurer; Phyllis Kirigin, WCT actor; April Freeman Locke; Ted Berkowitz; Peg Tarnosky; Louise Belevich; and Jill Kiefer that inspired the Living Art plays. Actors were chosen from WCT members and the community.
This is the third virtual WCT production.
The plays are:
Being Fifteen by Elaine Hartel – Two teenage girls exchange dark secrets in a park as they grapple with life in a difficult world.
Glad Rags by Peter Andrews – Propriety faces off against exuberance as two arts professionals clash before meeting a wealthy donor.
Hey, Dad by Carol Mark- With too many things left unsaid, an artist uses his talent in hopes of creating a connection to his father.
A Pair of Pears by Schuyler Bishop – Tantalizing, though familiar objects, bring a long-married couple to the brink.
The Bronze Lining by Tara Meddaugh – When two estranged sisters in mourning try to reconnect during a treacherous hike, they must confront whether there is too much damage between them to repair.
The View from My Room by Pat O’Neill – The flames of love have a tendency to burn the threads of the heart – It’s a good thing this room is fireproof.
To Have Normal by Evelyn Mertens – A young father and his daughter seek an oasis of calm following a cataclysmic event that has upended their lives forever.
Christopher Arena (New Rochelle) includes among his directing credits: The Elephant Man and Master Class (Center Stage Playhouse), As Bees in Honey Drown and Quills (The Moonlight Theatre), and The Secret Garden (Bedford Community Theatre).
The Living Art actors are: Amy Lowenthal (Bedford Hills); Torian Brackett; Michael Meth; Dante De Leo; Enid Breis (Croton); Lorraine Federico; Roberta Robinson (Somers); Rob Ansbro; Sasha Murray; Ava Purcel and Joanna Fernandez
General admission tickets to LAE are $25; $20 for seniors/students. Discounted tickets are also available for OAC/WCT members and groups of 5+. Advance online purchase is strongly recommended: www.wctheater.org or www.ossiningartscouncil.org and EventBrite Tickets,
https://2021livingartevent.eventbrite.com
The 2021 Living Art Event is dedicated to the memory of Joe Albert Lima, longtime WCT playwright/director/actor member who passed away last year. Lima was scheduled to direct the LAE in 2020.
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Caption: Torian Brackett in Pat O’Neill’s The View from My Room, a monologue in Westchester Collaborative Theater’s (WCT) Virtual Living Art Event live-streamed March 6 -27.
Photo credit: Melissa Nocera.
About Westchester Collaborative Theater
The Westchester Collaborative Theater is a multicultural, cooperative theater company located in Ossining, NY, dedicated to developing new work for the stage and bringing live theater to our community. We are local playwrights, actors, and directors who employ a Lab approach in which new stage works are nurtured through an iterative process of readings, critiques, and rewrites. When work is deemed ready for production, we perform it for the public at various local venues.