Author: Saratoga TODAY

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association’s 19th annual Fall Fest will take on a whole new look this year! Although you won’t see the traditional pumpkin rolling or annual costume parade, the “reimagined” event will feature new activities that extend all weekend long from Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25. The event is free and open to the public. The Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association is presenting this year’s Fall Festivities with support from the Saratoga Springs Special Assessment District, the Adirondack Trust Company and Cantina. Media Sponsors include Saratoga Today and Saratoga’s Star Radio. The Fall Festivities Weekend would not be possible without the support and participation of many downtown businesses including Lifestyles of Saratoga, Violet’s of Saratoga, Menges and Curtis, Playbill Travel, Julie & Co. Realty LLC, Spoken Boutique, Roohan Realty, Saratoga Saddlery, Bonacio Construction Inc., O’Connell and Aronowitz, The Adelphi Hotel, and Toga Heritage. In-kind sponsors include The Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs, Sunnyside Gardens and Haunted Saratoga.

The Fall Festivities weekend is a celebration of autumn and Halloween. Downtown store windows will be decorated with festive themes and a variety of businesses will be offering “devilish deals” all weekend long. In addition, families can take part in a self-guided Great Saratoga Pumpkin Hunt and search downtown shops and restaurants for pumpkins decorated with scenes of historic Saratoga Landmarks, painted by local artist Cathi Anne Cameron. If you find all 20 pumpkins (which will be visible from the outdoors) and identify the store or restaurant where you find it, you could win a prize! Participation forms are available in downtown shops and businesses as well as online at saratogaspringsdowntown.com. Forms must be dropped off by 5 p.m. Sunday, October 25 at either Impressions of Saratoga, Caroline + Main or Northshire Bookstore to be entered to win one of three Downtown Saratoga Springs Gift Baskets valued at $200 each. Winners will be notified on Halloween.

Three nights of ghost tales will be told by author of Haunted Saratoga, Joe Haedrich. Haedrich will be LIVE on Facebook on Friday, October 23 at 6:30 p.m., with “A Haunted Adelphi Hotel.” On Saturday, October 24 Haedrich will tell “Ghostly Tales of the Arcade Building” and on Sunday, October 25, Haedrich will spotlight a “Spooky Olde Bryan Inn.” Each night a viewer will be randomly selected to receive a signed copy of Joe Haedrich’s book, Haunted Saratoga! In addition, Upset, the Dark Horse, will be making an appearance downtown sometime throughout the weekend! To top it off, there will be food and drink specials at participating restaurants. For a list of participating restaurants and their offerings, visit saratogaspringsdowntown.com.

This unique Halloween celebration encourages families to share leisurely weekend fun together, enjoying the hospitality of the Saratoga Springs businesses and the great spirit of the community. A full list of events will be available on the Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association website at saratogaspringsdowntown.com as well as on Facebook. The Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association reminds you to bring a face covering and “Mask Up!”

The Saratoga Downtown Business Association’s Fall Festivities Weekend is supported by the generosity of Saratoga’s business community. For additional information visit saratogaspringsdowntown.com.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — iTheatre Saratoga will be releasing two radio dramas with full casts as an alternate route of presenting theatrical creativity in the midst of a pandemic. The two offerings are “A Legend Of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Kunstler.” 

The celebrated historical play, “A Legend Of Sleepy Hollow,” features a consortium of Capital District theatre arts organizations. Broadway and film veteran Jeff McCarthy leads the cast as the legendary Aaron Burr and will be supported by iTheatre Saratoga’s acting company of professionals and Broadway veterans including Tony Award winner Ron Holgate. The ensemble also includes players from a handful of regional companies. It’s an original work written by iTheatre’s artistic director, Mary Jane Hansen, which delves into the back story of how Washington Irving came to write the famous story, with a fair share of regional history, mystery, and the supernatural— a great fit for the Halloween season.

The cast of 25 includes players from Lake George Dinner Theatre, Theatre Voices, The Ghent Playhouse, Sand Lake Arts Center, Contemporary Circus and Immersive Arts Center, The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, as well as iTheatre’s core company of local and Broadway veterans. All actors were recorded individually due to pandemic-related safety concerns. 

“Kunstler” is a two-person drama focused on the career of controversial civil rights attorney William Kunstler. iTheatre Saratoga originally produced the play Off-Broadway in NYC and subsequently at Barrington Stage in the Berkshires to enthusiastic audiences a few years ago. The radio drama features Broadway’s Jeff McCarthy as Kunstler and Keona Welch as Kerry.  “Kunstler” deals with many of the social justice issues that are all too current and is a perfect story for election season, according to producers. 

iTheatre Saratoga fully produced the projects with sound design and original music for a true “theatre of the mind” adventure. 

The radio dramas are scheduled to begin releasing before the end of the October via online download and talks are currently being held with stations for a late fall radio broadcast. 

For more information, go to: www.itheatresaratoga.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Jewish Community Arts and Temple Sinai presents a Zoom discussion of the classic film “Do the Right Thing,” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25.

Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” was first released 31 years ago – a prophetic and controversial film that merits attention today, not just for its historic significance, but because it is still fresh and relevant and so clearly foretold the future of interracial relationships in America, said Phyllis Wang, coordinator of SJCA. 

The film’s story unfolds over one scorching summer day in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The filmmaker shows the ugly prejudice that infects everyone and explores how racial inequality drives conflict. 

Preregistration is required by calling 518-584-8730 option 2, or sjca.sjcf@gmail.com to receive the Zoom website information.

CAMBRIDGE — Hubbard Hall presents “The Susan B. Anthony Project,” a new play with original music by Bob Warren about Susan B. Anthony, Mary Hubbard, Sojourner Truth, and the legacy of the Suffrage Movement today. The play will feature three professional actors, a band and a small chorus of local public school students. 

The new play was created with over 250 students in Cambridge, Greenwich, and Hoosick Falls, who attended in-school workshops with Hubbard Hall teaching artists to learn and write about Susan B. Anthony, the Suffrage Movement, Sojourner Truth and Women’s Rights today. 

The Susan B. Anthony Project runs Oct. 16-18, with regular shows at 6 and 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and 4 and 6 p.m. Sunday. Special fundraiser performance at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $25 for the regular run and $200 for the fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, and can be purchased on hubbardhall.org or by calling 518-677-2495, ext. 314. Space is limited to only 50 participants.

Additionally, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the venue will celebrate the local legacies of Susan B. Anthony, Mary Hubbard, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement. NY Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner is expected to unveil a new history marker in front of the Hall celebrating the opening of Hubbard Hall in 1878 and the Women’s Suffrage Convention held at Hubbard Hall with Susan B. Anthony in 1894.

LAKE GEORGE — “Re-Encounter,” acrylic on canvas work by D. Jack Solomon, along with his other work is on display at in The Courthouse Gallery through October 30.  The Lake George Arts Project fall fundraiser raised nearly $15,000. The organizations, which has an annual operating budget of $212,000, anticipates financial losses during this pandemic-afflicted calendar will total over $100,000. The Lake George Arts Project presents programs such as Jazz Weekend, the summer concert series, and Courthouse Gallery exhibitions. The gallery exhibition is open Wednesdays through Saturdays. For more information, go to: www.lakegeorgearts.org.   

SARATOGA SPRINGS — American Modern Ensemble (AME) emerges from the pandemic silence with a performance about a modern ritual that has confounded millennials and boomers alike: online dating. 

Caffè Lena presents the World Premiere live stream at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29. 

Composer Robert Paterson and librettist David Cote present two song cycles that explore the narratives of those looking to find true love in digital space – a chamber musical for the “Tinderella” in all of us.

The program features the world premiere of In Real Life II, the counterpart to In Real Life. This song cycle explores the humor and heartbreak of online dating through the lens of five different men. In Real Life II was written for Baritone Jorell Williams who portrays each of our eligible bachelors from the prototypical player who exaggerates his attributes to the secret passions of an “everyday guy.” 

To stream this live performance, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRNEpyIlmsc with a suggested donation – tip jar to Caffè Lena.