7:15 pm |FREE ADMISSION | 1 hr 30 min | Be our test audience! Fill out a survey, participate in the Q&A, Assist the artist in work-shopping and improving their piece.
In Amherst, Massachusetts in 1881, a young, energetic and attractive couple named Mabel and David Todd arrive at the college where David is the new astronomer. They are soon drawn into and become major players in a dark family drama surrounding a reclusive, ailing and unknown poet named Emily Dickinson.
Within this story. Emily’s commitment to her art is at the heart of the story, contrasted with her friend Sue’s attraction to society and wealth. Mabel Todd has tremendous energy and talent but nowhere to use them. David Todd seeks adventure every day and is open to anything. Austin Dickinson labors under a Puritan yoke inherited from his overbearing father — until he becomes close friends with David Todd and the lover of David’s wife Mabel.
Emily Dickinson’s stature has continued to rise in recent years though her poetry continues to mystify, just as it did during her own life, when her attempts to publish her work met with little success. Transit of Venus gives us an account of how Emily’s poetry was saved from oblivion but it also gives us insight into New England traditions, tight social conventions and dark family drama that surrounded her. It is through Emily’s poetry that we know her best, and her poems are a continuing chorus within the script.
Having the story performed in front of the discerning Rosendale audience and have their comments and critique would be of tremendous benefit toward moving the project forward.
Writer/Director, Robert Clem, received his MFA from NYU Graduate film school and was a fellow at the Sundance writer/director’s lab. Award-winning films (www.onestatefilms.com, www.foundmedia.org) include Big Jim Folsom: The Two Faces of Populism, In the Wake of the Assassins, Last of the Bohemians, Malbis Plantation.
Artist’s New Work Forum is a new program at the Rosendale Theatre which provides an opportunity for artists, who may not have other opportunities or access to audiences, to present and workshop new work or works-in-progress to the public free of charge in the Rosendale Theatre.
OUR MISSION:
–To celebrate new projects designed to encourage, engage, and financially assist emerging and established artists in the community.
–To connect audiences to artists, spark new ideas, introduce local, original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent art and storytelling.
–To provide audiences a first-look at exciting new films, plays and performances by local artists of the Hudson Valley.
–To assist in the development of new works, works-in-progress, and fundraising for an artist’s project and to support diverse projects when needed most.
There is no entry fee or audience admission fees. Entrants retain all rights. The artist must be present at the screening and participate in a Q&A immediately following, moderated by a member of the forum’s committee. It is the forum’s intention to provide a safe, constructive critique and experience for the artist. Artists are also asked to submit a survey to the audience, to fill out on the night of their event. Gauging audience reaction is a key element to work-shopping the piece and is at the core of this program.
SAVE THE DATE! Tuesday 7/26, 7:15 pm, FREE ADMISSION FOR OUR NEXT Artist’s New Work Forum Presents: Times of Change, from Russia to USA How can we be citizens of the world and support each other in these times of change? The live performance will weave the audience’s spontaneous stories through dance, musical improvisation, modern physical theatre, and playback theatre.
This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.