Kingston, NY - July 11, 2001: Close your eyes. You hear Richard III shout; "Fight, gentlemen of England! Fight, bold yeomen! Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood."

And you can almost smell the horses.

TheaterSounds, a new playreading series dedicated to bringing "the theater of the imagination" to the Hudson Valley area, will have its first performance on Friday, July 20 @ 8pm at the Community Center at UUCC, 320 Sawkill Road in Kingston. Admission is free.

Why a reading series? "It is partially because we don't have the space, time, or money to do full-blown productions," says TheaterSounds Founder and Artistic Director Nicola Sheara, "But, in many ways, the mind is the best stage. There are no budget constraints, no restrictions on scenery, costumes, props. You can't easily bring the huge battles of Shakespeare to even a Broadway stage, but you can easily create them in your head."

This first play presented by TheaterSounds will be the world-premiere reading of Wilk & Gayle, a "nasty little play" by Jonathan Van Gieson. Starring Nicola Sheara and Christina Nicosia and directed by Brian Smiar, the play explores the relationship between two women, one of whom has claimed that she is going to kill the other. But is that what she really wants?

The reading will be followed by a discussion session in which the playwright, director, and actors will be on-hand to take part in a dialogue with the audience.

"This series will allow people to experience a wide range of wonderful plays, new and old, performed by professional actors," says Sheara, "Because we use the currency of the audience's imagination instead of cash to build our sets, there is no limit to what TheaterSounds can present."

"As Thesus says in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 'I will hear that play.'"

 

TheaterSounds will present Wilk & Gayle at 8pm on Friday, July 20. Admission is free. The Community Center at UUCC is located at 320 Sawkill Road in Kingston, 1. miles North of Washington Ave, 1.5 miles South of Route 209. Call the UUCC at 845-331-2884. For more information about TheaterSounds, contact Artistic Director Nicola Sheara by email at nicola@theatersounds.com.