The 9:15 PM presentation at S&Co. in Lenox, MA, caps the daylong reading series featuring seven works (the first is at 11 AM) in the company's Founders Theatre.
Bill Barclay directs The Water Dream, which has book, music and lyrics by Cody and book contributions by Rob O'Hare and musical arrangements by Barclay. Music direction by Emily Otto.
The musical, which has been heard in previous readings in Manhattan, is billed as "a powerful and beautiful musical journey of redemption, that features giant whale puppets, an aquarium of real water." It's the "the story of Cole Whalebone [Rapp], a 30-year-old writer living in present-day Seattle. …Insomnia and writer's block have brought [on] nightmares, causing Cole's girlfriend Sofia [Alers] to leave, and Cole to hit rock bottom," plunging him "into Geographica, an awe-inspiring world he dreamt up when he was a kid."
The first draft of The Water Dream was written in 2006, and was recipient of two awards: the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award in Playwriting, and the Citation from Governor Deval Patrick for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. The Shakespeare & Company reading marks the show's eighth developmental reading and sixth public presentation.
The Lenox, MA, reading will also feature Erik Lochtefeld, Nigel Gore, Alexis Hightower, Shawn Cody, Cheo Bourne, Rob O'Hare, Doug Chapman, Adam Kern, Diane Phelan, Alisa Ledyard and Alana Rader. For more about the show, visit thewaterdream.com.
A donation of $16 per performance/$60 for a Festival Pass is suggested. Shakespeare & Co. is at 70 Kemble Street in Lenox, MA. For more about Shakespeare & Company, visit shakespeare.org.
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According to S&Co., "The Studio Festival provides a rare chance to see cutting-edge works in an informal setting, with Company artists presenting one-time staged readings of some of the most exciting new work around. Many Studio Festival plays are under consideration for future seasons; past plays that have gone on to celebrated full productions include this year's The Memory of Water plus Mengelberg and Mahler, Golda's Balcony, Martha Mitchell Calling and A Tanglewood Tale, to name a few."