ALBANY — The Theatre Program of the University at Albany’s Department of Music and Theatre presents Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, a hit sensation in 2016 with its New York premiere and a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Six public performances will take place at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus from Oct. 19 to 23. The schedule includes performances on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 19 & 20 at 8 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.

The play is DeLappe’s first professionally produced work and was written while she was still a graduate student getting her MFA in Playwriting at Brooklyn College. Its acclaimed Off-Broadway premiere production won an Obie Ensemble Award and a special Drama Desk Award for its acting ensemble. It was also nominated for Lucille Lortel and Drama League awards for Best Play. Currently in cinemas, DeLappe’s most recent work is as the screenwriter for the indie film Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.

Advance tickets are $17 for the general public and $12 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. Tickets purchased on the day of the show (pending availability) are $22 for the general public and $17 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. All tickets must be purchased on-line from the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s site at www.albany.edu/pac. Information and assistance can be obtained by contacting the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s main office at 518-442-3995 or PAC@albany.edu.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Oct. 23, Saratoga Springs music venue Caffe Lena will offer Musicians’ Health and Wellness Outreach, a free pop-up clinic for uninsured and under-insured musicians from the Capital District and Lower Adirondack region. Volunteer medical professionals will be on site in the venue’s historic performance space to provide testing, evaluation, health and wellness education, as well as assistance obtaining access to ongoing care.

According to recent surveys, 43% of professional musicians in the United States have no health insurance. Among full-time musicians with no other employment, the percentage without insurance is even higher. “I don’t know if these numbers hold true locally, but I know that lack of healthcare is a very big issue for regional artists,” said Jill Burnham, a full-time registered nurse at Malta Medical Emergency Care Center and a blues vocalist with duo Mark & Jill Sing the Blues.

“I knew nurses who would be happy to volunteer their time to do some basic health screenings for musicians. When I started talking about this with Caffe Lena, and connecting with other medical professionals, the idea just grew and grew,” Burnham said.

The pop-up event is receiving funding and staffing from Saratoga Hospital Community Health Center, Hudson Headwaters Health Network, and Caffe Lena. “Taking care of this community is what we do—and we are proud of it,” said Renee Rodriguez-Goodemote, MD, medical director of Saratoga Community Health Center. 

The clinic will include custom-fitted earplugs for onstage hearing protection, blood pressure screening, dietician consultation, HEP-C/HIV screening, insurance navigator consultation, Tai Chi meditative wellness, and kits for those aged 45-64 to self-administer a colorectal cancer screening.

The Musicians’ Health and Wellness Clinic will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Caffe Lena. 

Pre-registration is strongly recommended in order to receive the custom ear plugs, valued at $220, that will be available for free to the first forty registrants thanks to donations from Allerdice Building Supply, the Kate Cashel Fund of the Community Fund of the Great Capital Region and JEM Inc.

Online pre-registration is available by going to caffelena.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Home Made Theater has announced open auditions for their February production of Lifespan of a Fact, written by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell. This production will be directed by Laurie Larson.

The auditions will be held Tuesday, Oct. 18 and Wednesday, Oct. 19 starting at 6:30 at Home Made Theater’s headquarters at the Wilton Mall (near JCPenney).

The cast consists of two men, and one woman, ages 25-plus.

Lifespan of a Fact is based on a real-life essay, What Happens There, written by John D’Agata, that took seven years to be fact-checked. This piece was commissioned for and rejected by Harper’s Magazine, but later picked up by Believer Magazine with the condition that Jim Fingal complete a fact check of D’Agata’s essay. The thrust of the play is the summary of discussions, arguments, negotiations, and revisions that took place over this seven-year period. Lifespan of a Fact invites the audiences to consider the deadly serious but briskly entertaining debate of the ethics of factual truth vs. the beauty of literary dishonesty.

To audition: bring a current photo (cannot be returned) and a resume. Auditions will be from the script (sides will be provided). No appointment necessary.

Rehearsals start in January and Performance dates are in February. For a detailed flyer with character descriptions visit Home Made Theater’s website, www.homemadetheater.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS– The Saratoga Book Festival (SBF) has announced the program lineup for its second annual community-wide celebration of books. 

The schedule includes 26 live, in-person sessions that will take place Oct. 21-23 at various venues throughout downtown Saratoga Springs – The Saratoga Springs Music Hall, Saratoga Springs City Center, Saratoga Springs Public Library, Caffè Lena, Saratoga Arts Dee Sarno Theater, Northshire Bookstore, and the Walt & Whitman Brewing Co., among them. 

Festival Highlights:

• “What the Death of Local Newspapers Mean to Us All,” will feature a discussion with Ken Tingley  – former editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls and author of The Last American Newspaper and The Last American Editor- and WAMC’s Joe Donahue. Also joining the panel will be Mark Mahoney, Editorial Page Editor (Daily Gazette) and Will Doolittle (Post-Star). The session will discuss the impact hometown papers have on their communities and what happens when they shut their doors.

• Keynote with Gregory Maguire, the bestselling author of the series that inspired the blockbuster musical, Wicked, and forthcoming film based on Wicked. 

• Keynote with Meg Wolitzer, the New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings, The Wife, and The Female Persuasion and host of the radio show and podcast Selected Shorts joins Susan Kress in conversation about the former’s acclaimed fiction and current projects.

• Dog Meets World features Alexandra Horowitz, New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog and The Year of the Puppy.

• Bestselling author Francine Prose joins SBF in a book chat about her new novel, The Vixen. She also joins a session with noted historians of the ancient world Barry Strauss, James Romm, and Emily Katz that examines the ancient histories of Greek, Romans and Egyptians.

• Peter Balakian–The Pulitzer Prize winning poet and acclaimed nonfiction author joins WMAC’s Joe Donahue in an exploration of the themes of Balakian’s latest poetry collection No Sign.

• The Greatest Evil is War. The Pulitzer Prize winning former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges talks with WAMC’s Joe Donahue about the hidden costs of war.

• Kid Note Presentation with Lauren Tarshis, The New York Times bestselling author of the I Survived series of historical fiction books delivers a rollicking first Kid Note on Sunday, Oct. 23.

• Kid Zone: Story Hour, pop-up read alouds, visits by Moose, Lucky, and other Storybook Characters, graphic novel and bookmark making workshops, and children’s sessions with Ira Marcks, Nancy Werlin, and Ellen Kushner, and more.

More to Explore: Literary Death Match, an international book series hosted by Adrian Todd Zuniga; Literary Marketplace showcases more than 75 authors, artisans, publishers, businesses, and nonprofits at the Saratoga City Center; Interviews with acclaimed fiction authors, including Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Jung Yun, Jessica Winter, Elizabeth Brundage, and Jennifer Fawcett, and other events. 

The Saratoga Book Festival is an event of the Friends of the Saratoga Springs Public Library. 

Ticket info: Keynote Pass: If you wish to attend one or both Keynote events, you will need to purchase a Keynote Pass for $20. Opening Session with Peter Balakian: Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.  Children’s Programs: There is no charge for children’s programs, however, spaces must be reserved in advance due to limited seating. Go to: emamo.com/event/SBF2022.