The Hurdy Gurdy Man comes to Poughkeepsie, New York, July 21-23, when New York Stage and Film presents Dick Beebe's new play, directed by Sheryl Kaller. Real-life couple Maryann Plunkett (Saint Joan) and Jay O. Sanders (The Taming of the Shrew) star opposite Cotter Smith (An American Daughter).
In Hurdy Gurdy, a nice Boston butcher makes a bet in a bar one night and lives to pay the weighty price. "But was the whole thing a set up? And why does Jimmy's ex-wife keep having visions of a figure known as the Hurdy Gurdy Man?"
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Still remaining on the NYSF schedule is Necessary Targets by Eve Ensler, directed by Michael Wilson, July 28-30. The play mixes a strident young disaster specialist, a pampered, urban therapist, an unlikely friendship, and a trip to Bosnia. Understandably, there are repercussions.
Also coming up is the second main stage offering, Richard Greenberg's The Dazzle, a new play expected to be part of the coming Drama Dept. season in New York City. Dazzle, running July 26-Aug. 5, and directed by David Warren, features Greenberg favorite Peter Frechette, as well as Reg Rogers and Francie Swift. *
The summer season has also included Susan Miller's A Map of Doubt and Rescues, starring Frank Wood; Quincy Long's latest, The Lively Lad; Under Cover of Darkness by Cindy Lou Johnson; and What Didn't Happen by Christopher Shinn.
For more information, call (845) 437-7235 or visit www.vassar.edu/powerhouse/.
--By Robert Simonson