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Presented May 9 - 19,
2013
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In 2012 Kaliyuga Arts presented its first Upstate New York production, Lanford Wilson's THE MOUND BUILDERS, and it was selected as one of the ten best productions of 2012 by Metroland. For our second outing we presented the area premiere of TRUE LOVE LIES by Canadian playwright Brad Fraser.
In 1997 Kaliyuga Arts presented the San Francisco premiere of Brad Fraser’s POOR SUPER MAN in a production that went on to win multiple awards. More than a decade later (after we’d re-located to New York), Brad sent us a draft of a new play he’d just completed called TRUE LOVE LIES. It follows the further adventures, about 15 years down the line, of POOR SUPER MAN’'s main character, David McMillan. Still alone, still adrift, and now entering his 50s, he has returned to the Edmonton of an even earlier Fraser play in which he appears, UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN REMAINS AND THE TRUE NATURE OF LOVE, to open a new restaurant. There he unintentionally re-encounters Kane Sawatsky, with whom he once had a two-year relationship that did not end well. Kane is now married, and he and his wife Carolyn have two kids – Madison, a brash and self-assured 20-year-old and Royce, an insecure, somewhat geeky teenager - neither of whom has any idea that their father was once one half of a homosexual couple. Almost against their wills, these characters get sucked into one another’s orbits, old wounds get re-opened, old lies get exposed, sparks fly, and all of them are forced to re-evaluate everything they think they know about love, marriage, and family.
“Brutally funny … This Canadian playwright’s wordplay, his manipulation of characters and themes, and his love of love in all its manifestations demand tolerance and, for want of a more apt term for Fraser’s plays, ballsiness. It’s not a play for typical regional theater subscribers or for the fainthearted … The four actors of the Sawatsky family create engaging variations on the TV sitcom families of years long past, brought up to date with their father’s gay past, their mother’s role as a home-wrecker of Kane and David’s relationship, their eldest daughter’s nymphomania, and their youngest child’s depression/asexuality/suicide ideation. The only things the Sawatsky family really share are questions, DNA, and homophobia. Dr. Phil would lose his twang trying to handle all the Sawatsky’s issues. Roiling at the center of the questions is David McMillan (suavely played by Kevin Craig West); he out-advices Dan Savage even when he's screwing Madison from behind and whispering her father's name into her ear … An engaging and unique evening of theater. True Love Lies is worth a look, and it’s a good follow-up to director John Sowle and Kaliyuga Arts’ The Mound Builders of last season. See it now, because based on past events, it won’t be playing around here again any time soon.” -- James Yeara, Metroland
"True Love Lies by Kaliyuga Arts at Stageworks/Hudson was a challenging, involving show about relationships you haven't seen before. Throw the likability yardstick away....but these characters are never less than interesting and you do want what's best for them, especially Samuel Hoeksema in a very moving portrayal. Kevin Craig West is the calm, cool center as the family he's messed with shatters and flies apart. Worth the trip." -- Cover Theater
"What better way to bond with mom than to see how other families are more messed up than your own? Combine this with a night out at the theater, and you've got yourself a recipe for Mother's Day fun. True Love Lies by Brad Fraser, presented by Kaliyuga Arts at Stageworks Hudson, is a sharp, witty drama centered around the rekindled flame between Kane and David—Kane now straight, married, and with two children. Grab a cocktail with mom after the show, and bask in a comparative sense of normalcy." -- Jennifer Gutman, #1 in the "Top Five Things to Do With Mom in the Hudson Valley on Mother's Day", Chronogram
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Anna Chazelle --
Madison Anna is an NYC-based actress, singer, and circus performer. She is an alumnus of New York University and has additionally trained at the Atlantic Acting School and The Shakespeare Forum. Favorite roles include Oedipus Rex (Chernuchin Theatre), Jenga (Gallery Players), Laura in The Glass Menagerie (Acme Theatre), Mary Lane in Reefer Madness (Little Radical Theatrics). Circus credits include: The Highline Ballroom, the Galapagos Art Space, the Lion's Den, and touring with punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls. Founding member of New York cirque troupe The Gyronauts. www.annachazelle.com |
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Samuel Hoeksema -- Royce Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Samuel Hoeksema moved to New York in 2010, attending the two year Professional Acting Program at Circle in the Square Theatre School, graduating this past Spring. Select theatre credits include: Lazy Philosophy, originating the role of Evan (Manhattan Theatre Rep), Waiting for Lefty as Sid (Circle in the Square Theatre), Five Variations on Hamlet as Hamlet (Frost Theatre), and The Right to Children (Workshop Theatre) as Jack, also written by Samuel. www.samuelhoeksema.com |
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Molly is an actor and singer based in the Hudson Valley. Molly is delighted to work with the Kaliyuga Arts team again, after appearing in last year's production of The Mound Builders (Cynthia). Other recent credits include The Divine Sister (Mrs. Levinson/Timothy) and Forbidden Broadway at Stageworks/Hudson, The Ladies Man (Marie) at Shadowland Theatre and The Sound of Music (Elsa) at TriArts Sharon Playhouse. Favorite roles includeThe Language Archive (Mary), Hairspray (Velma), The Drowsy Chaperone (The Drowsy Chaperone, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Muriel Eubanks) and Falsettos (Doctor Charlotte). |
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Steven Patterson* -- Kane Steven has performed in New York City and regionally with such theaters as South Coast Repertory, TheatreWorks, Capital Repertory, Lexington Conservatory Theatre, freeFall Theatre, Chenango River Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Depot Theatre, Contemporary Opera Marin, and the Oregon, Orlando, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. A few of his favorite roles have been King Lear, Jean Genet in Beauty, Austin Wiggin in The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, David in Poor Super Man, Zach in A Chorus Line, the Creature inFrankenstein, Ubu in Ubu Rex, and Judi Boswell in How to Pray. Co-Artistic Director of Kaliyuga Arts, he currently resides in Catskill, NY.
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Kevin
Craig West* -- David
Kevin is an award-winning actor/filmmaker
and proud member of SAG, AFTRA and AEA. Some of his favorite
stage credits include
Eros/Bacchus/Vertumnus/Ceyx/Hermes in Metamorphoses, Henry Brown in Race,
Oberon in Midsummer Nights Dream, Mr M in My Children! My Africa! and
Sam in Master Harold and the Boys. Some of his on camera favorites are
Sargeant Raimo in The Place Beyond The Pines, Mavis in Bumpin Uglies,
Dick in Distractions, Steve in Orphaned and Frank in Little Bi Peep. When
not on camera or stage, he enjoys producing, directing, writing and
coaching. He also enjoys sharing his talents as a teacher/artist and has
worked with many Arts in Education groups including Theatre for a New
Audience, Only Make Believe, and Symphony Space. Kevin is the owner of
the production company, MoBetta Films an advisory board member of WAM
Theatre as well as Lake Placid Film Forum, President of Upstate
Independents and has served as Assistant Director of FilmColumbia
Festival. Visit him at www.KevinCraigWest.com. |
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Jen Dobies -- Production Stage Manager Jen resides in Durham New York and is a 2012 graduate from Mount Saint Mary College with a BA in English and a minor in Theater. In 2010, she produced, designed, and directed a Staged Reading of Dog Sees God. In her senior year, as an executive member of the Student Government Association, she designed the annual spring concert featuring We The Kings and Mayday Parade. And as President of the campus Drama club, she designed and directed an adaptation of Rent. This summer, she will be the Stage Manager for all productions at Stageworks in Hudson, New York. She plans to attend Graduate School sometime in the near future. |
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George W. Veale VI -- Costume Designer George has been designing costumes and clothing for theater, television, film, and fashion and in many other ways since 2004. He is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and is currently the Professor of Costume Design in the Theater program he also has a degree from London College of Fashion and is working on a Masters at F.I.T. in Historic Textiles. He has recently worked with The Berkshire Fringe Festival designing their fund raising event, worked with Bazaar Productions as their costume designer, and was at B.T.F. costume designing Moonchildren. He was in a residency at Mass MOCA and at Mixed Company designing Zara Spook and Other Lures. He has worked with Sam Handel on two short films I’m Comin’ Over and the River and did wardrobe for Bobby Houston for the show Viva La Diva at Made in the Berkshires. He has also collaborated with Pooja Roo, and Heather Fisch on multiple projects. His costumes for The River can currently be seen at the Tribeca Film Festival. |
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Brad Fraser - Author Fraser first came to his prominence as a playwright with Unidentified Human Remains and The True Nature of Love, an episodically structured play about a group of thirtysomethings trying to find their way through life in Edmonton, Alberta, while the city is haunted by a serial killer. It was a hit at the Alberta Theatre Projects' playRites '89, and numerous highly acclaimed productions followed, including tremendously popular productions in Toronto and Chicago. The play was named one of the 10 Best Plays of 1992 by TIME. Fraser has not directed his career toward New York. Indeed, his next script, Poor Super Man, had its premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio. Coming three years after the 1991 Robert Mapplethorpe controversy in Cincinnati, Poor Super Man inspired international headlines when the board of directors of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati temporarily canceled the production because of its anticipated obscenity. After a public outcry, the production was reinstated. Poor Super Man opened without incident and played to considerable acclaim. It was named one of the 10 Best Plays of 1994 by TIME. Kaliyuga Arts produced it in 1997. Fraser has been especially successful in the U.K., where his work has enjoyed both critical and popular success, beginning with London's Evening Standard Award for Unidentified Human Remains in 1993. Fraser's work references heavily typical popular culture, especially comic books, horror films and primetime television, and is often more highly valued in retrospect than when it first opens. In addition to his theatre work, Fraser has written two films, Love and Human Remains and Leaving Metropolis, both adaptations of his plays. He has also written for the television series Queer as Folk, was host of his own Toronto-based television talk show, Jawbreaker, and for a period of time wrote a biweekly column for the Canadian gay magazine fab. |
Kaliyuga Arts, 2678 Old Kings Road, Catskill NY 12414 518-943-3894
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