Author: Saratoga TODAY

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Performing Arts Center announced this week that “The Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists” will return for its third annual celebration spotlighting the collaborative creativity of more than 400 of the Capital Region’s brightest young dancers, musicians, singers, poets, and visual artists. 

The festival will be hosted as a virtual gallery space with the mission to showcase the work of the students involved in the 2020 festival, which was originally scheduled for May 31 on the SPAC grounds and was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The first virtual exhibit entitled “Self-Portrait,” explores the ways in which artists choose to express themselves and how they are influenced by their own identities, and will kick-off the new experiential website spacfoya.org on July 8, 2020. 

“We have completely re-imagined our signature education festival by creating an engaging, experiential online gallery that is dedicated to the region’s aspiring artists, poets, dancers, and musicians. Not only will the site feature the incredible artistry of our area youth this summer, but it will continue to serve as a virtual artistic home all year long,” said Elizabeth Sobol, president & CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center in a statement. 

The Online Gallery will feature a curated collection of student creations in visual art, literary art, and the performing arts from middle school and high school students hailing from Albany, Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Rensselaer, Warren, and Washington Counties.

The Adirondack Trust Festival of Young Artists Online Gallery is free to experience; visit spacfoya.org or spac.org for details. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —  Now that the Capital Region has entered Phase 4 of New York Forward, musicians will once again be able to perform to a live audience at the Saratoga Springs concert venue Caffe Lena.

“We’re taking it in baby steps, starting with 25% capacity,” said Caffe Lena Executive Director Sarah Craig in a statement. “Live performance venues were the first to shut down, and they’re the last to reopen. It’s essential for the future of music that we work out a way to open stages safely. Our goal is to meet and surpass the NYS Health Department guidelines.”

The venue’s first regular concert will take place on what would have been the opening night of the New York City Ballet at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. An ensemble from the NYC Ballet Orchestra will perform Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet. Instead of playing for thousands of people in SPAC’s amphitheater, the five musicians will play for twelve parties at the legendary folk venue, as well as hundreds more online.

“Recognizing that many of our patrons are not in a position to return to public gatherings, we’re becoming a kind of hybrid live-stream and live-audience venue,” explained Craig. “From now on, our headline concerts will be available in real time via Vimeo for a small fee, and our community programs and shows featuring local amateur talent will be streamed on YouTube for free.”

The venue has redesigned their seating for comfort and safety, offering couches for groups of 2, 3 and 4, and tables for two. “Single tickets will not be offered at this time but patrons are welcome to buy any seating unit for themselves or to share with a friend,” explained House Manager Carolyn Shapiro. “It’s not great for the bottomline to have just a quarter of our capacity, but the intimacy and comfort is going to be amazing. It’s really going to be like sitting in Lena’s living room.”

Opening week spans the breadth of the venue’s eclectic programming. Tuesday’s ballet opening will be followed by the monthly Bluegrass Night on July 15, with patrons playing along from their couches as High Peaks Bluegrass Band leads from the stage. The venerable Aztec Two-Step will play on Friday and Saturday, followed by Boston blues sensation Erin Harpe Country Blues Duo on July 19.

“Throughout the shutdown we were able to generate paychecks for musicians and keep the venue afloat by streaming our shows live online. We use three cameras and a professional audio-visual crew. Many have asked if we’ll keep doing it, and the answer is yes. We even launched an online School of Music that is fully enrolled and growing fast. In a way, we’ve outgrown our little listening room and our customers are now spread out across the country,” said Craig. “I guess you’d call it a silver lining.”

Tickets and Information about Caffe Lena’s upcoming schedule are available at: www.caffelena.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Congregation Shaara Tfille and The Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs will live stream the documentary “They Ain’t Ready for Me,” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 12. 

Directed by independent filmmaker Brad Rothschild, “They Ain’t Ready for Me” follows 41-year-old, African American rabbinical student and Mothers Against Senseless Killing (MASK) founder Tamar Manasseh, over a 2-year period of her anti-violence activism and fight against senseless killings on the south side of Chicago.

Manasseh’s daily efforts focus on reducing the relentless gun violence, racial tensions, poverty, homelessness, joblessness, addiction and inequality. Her faith is a catalyst for change as she emphasizes that Judaism’s concept of Tikkun Olam clearly recognizes we must repair the world. 

“They Ain’t Ready For Me” explores the challenges and motivations of a fearless community leader as she works to prevent more people from being killed. 

Open to the entire community, email likebertrand518@gmail.com to obtain the live streaming link. Congregation Shaara Tfille is an egalitarian Conservative congregation that welcomes all Jews, inter-faith families and the LGBTQ community. 

ALBANY — The real-life library-opera house cut in half by the Canadian/American border, zombies and kangaroo ninjas, tales of immigrants and coming-of-age angst, a play in contemporary verse and a chance to make or break the fate of four new plays marks the festivities of theREP’s annual showcase of new works and the first virtual presentation of NEXT ACT! New Play Summit 9, streaming July 13-16. 

The NEXT ACT! New Play Summit seeks to highlight new works that use theatre to address injustices, inequities, and cultural collisions, providing a voice for the unheard and unrepresented. To date, the summit has brought more than 300 theatre professionals (including playwrights, actors and directors) and 4,000+ audience members together for a series of workshops, readings and discussion. 

Headlining this year’s lineup is the winning play, A DISTINCT SOCIETY, by celebrated director & playwright Kareem Fahmy. The play, selected from more than 350 submissions from across the country, is inspired by true stories of Iranian families reunited at the Haskell Free Library & Opera House. The reading of A DISTINCT SOCIETY will air 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 15. 

NEW VOICES: YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT CONTEST will open the Summit 7 p.m. on Monday, July 13 with readings of the top 6 short plays by Capital Region young writers ages 13-18, named winners of theREP’s YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS CONTEST. 

Tuesday, July 14 at 7 p.m., features the winning entry of NEXTGEN: SLAM! a collaborative venture with UAlbany’s FRESH ACTS writing program, featuring works of writers 19-25. 

Thursday, July 16 at 7 p.m., THE FIRST 15 – YOU BE THE JUDGE! features excerpts, read by professional actors, from 4 of the plays that were submitted to Next Act. After the first 15 pages are read, the audience is asked to take the role of the literary manager and vote yes or no to the question “would you like to read the full script?”  An interactive discussion will follow the readings. 

In cooperation with Actor’s Equity Association, all readings in the 2020 Next Act! New Play Summit are part of a fundraiser for theREP’s new work development. No fee is required for viewing, but a donation is recommended to help the theatre continue to develop scripts and produce the world premiere works that have appeared on theREP’s stage over the past 10 years. 

All Next Act! events will air on theREP’s Facebook page, Proctors Collaborative YouTube and Open Stage Media’s On-Demand Channel. More information can be found www.capitalrep.org/next-act/ 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Arts Commission in partnership with Skidmore College invites the community to the second in a series of talks with Saratoga Arts leaders on the state of cultural institutions. 

These leaders will share their upcoming programs for summer and fall both online and in-person, offer resources of support for local artists, and answer questions from those viewing live. These timely conversations will provide you with important insights and information about the city’s vital cultural landscape.

These online conversations will be conducted on Zoom and are free and open to all. Registration is required. Event takes place 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 14. Introduction: Meg Kelly (Mayor, Saratoga Springs), Sue Kessler (Chair, Saratoga Springs Arts Commission). Panelists: Sarah Craig (Executive Director, Caffe Lena), Marcus Kwame Anderson (Gallery Manager, 70 Beekman Street Gallery), Belinda Colon (Director, Spring Street Gallery), Meaghan Golden (Interim Executive Director, Saratoga Arts). 

Register here: skidmore.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3UWTZAbJT4q2A-lki-TQ1Q. A Zoom invitation will follow for all registrants. Moderator: David Howson (Arthur Zankel Executive Director of Arts Administration at Skidmore College).