Here's the Line-up for Mohonk Mountain Stage Co's Encore Series

Raw, powerful, visceral.
Sweet, tender, quiet.
Rowdy, funny, bawdy.
It's the energy that draws you forward in your seat.
It's the pulse that makes you engage.
It's the spark that makes you think.

Celebrating 15 Years!

December 2008

Prologue
MMSC's mostly monthly newsletter

Greetings!

In keeping with our upcoming Encore Series and in an effort to minimize our CWF (Carbon Word Footprint), we are recycling an editorial which I wrote in 2005. Here it is again - yeah, it's just that good.

In the meantime, we hope to see you at our Encore Series. Remember, you asked for them! So come on out. Bring a friend. Make a New Year's resolution to introduce someone to the magic of MMSC.

And stay tuned for the announcement of our Spring/Summer Season which will contain more Hudson Valley premieres!

As always, we are grateful for your support. Without you, there'd be no reason for us to show up!

Happy Holidays to you and all of yours!

From
Bob and All the Good Folks At MMSC!

Mohonk Mountain Stage Company, Inc.
845-380-0155

Encore Editorial

December 2005

As I was exercising my prerogative as head of the house, king of the castle, on this past Thanksgiving Day and carving up our perennial honored guest, I fell to musing about how this bird, so central to a holiday that is quintessentially American, has come to have such negative connotations.

Going "cold turkey" implies doing something as painfully unpleasant as eating turkey cold, without the fixin's (although, as I write this, I am downing some delish cold turkey leftovers). "Talking turkey" means getting down to it, without the frills and niceties of social interaction. The only sport involving the bird is bowling: a turkey is three strikes in a row (although in baseball that's one of the worst things that could happen to you).

Even the infamous Turkey Trot, a jazzy dance imitating the hopping movements of its namesake and performed (in the early 1900's) to the ragtime melodies of Scott Joplin, was denounced by the Vatican and conservative groups in this country as being offensively suggestive and undermining morals (although if it drew this reaction, it could not have been that bad)

And finally, a turkey can refer to an inept person, a bad investment or, closest to my heart, a theatrical disaster.
turkey

Not that the turkey didn't have its shot at glory. Ben Franklin-the first, and perhaps still best, American-once mourned the acceptance of the bald eagle as our nation's symbol because it was a "bird of bad moral character." He much preferred the "more respectable," if somewhat silly, turkey. But, alas, it was not to be.

Then why is a turkey the centerpiece of our annual day of giving thanks?

Could it be that our turkeys are often very dear to our hearts? Have we not all loved that goofy person who could not tie his/her shoes? Have we not all put our hearts and souls into a venture that did not work out? How would we realize success if it were not for the turkeys in our lives?

A little known tradition among "show people" is that when we break bread together on Thanksgiving, we observe a sacred moment before the bird is carved. We all rise, hold hands and remember, in a moment of silence, those beloved turkeys we have all poured our hearts into. Then, in one voice, we sing the verse from the old show biz spiritual:

   "Even with a turkey that you know will fold
   You may be stranded out in the cold,
   Still you wouldn't trade it for a sack o' gold!
   Let's go on with the show!"

So, next Thanksgiving, give thanks for those turkeys that have helped make our lives worth the trip.

About Us
MMSC celebrates ideas, imagination and ingenuity through its award-winning Readers Theatre Group, a literary journal, customized audio recordings and an annual theatre scholarship award.

"It is so simply done. Actors sitting side by side sharing an earthly soul-to-soul saga."
Daily Freeman