SAXTONS RIVER — The Great River Theater Festival returns to its roots in Saxtons River for its second season with shows, workshops, and several gatherings, including cookouts, over the next two weekends.
Main Street Arts will offer performances of Peter Shaffer's Equus, a psychological thriller that is considered a modern classic. Shows are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, July 5, 6, and 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the MSA theater, which has been reconfigured so the audience literally has a ringside seat.
The show is directed by David Stern and features a cast that includes, Michael Duffin as psychiatrist Martin Dysart, Cassie Dunn as Jill, Libby McCawley as Hester, and Liam Johnson as the tortured young boy who has blinded six horses with a metal spike.
The show is suitable for ages 15 and older.
Meanwhile, over at the Horowitz Performing Arts Hall at Vermont Academy, Shakespearean actor John Hadden is directing A.R. Gurney's Scenes from American Life, with performances Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7 and 13 and 14, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 8 and 15, at 2 p.m.
Gurney's play opens in 1930 and journeys through more than three dozen scenes to show us a cross section of upper-class life in Buffalo, the playwright's hometown. As the story wends its way to 1980, its light-hearted and nostalgic themes carry an undercurrent of a serious side that includes prejudice and repression, with references to wars, dictators, demagogues, dropouts, and fallout.
Cast members, each playing many roles, include Bronwyn Sims, Lionel Chute, Liz Guzynski, Joanne Fuller, Kate Udall, Grace Johnson, Marit Bjerkadal, Louise Connor, Ira Richardson, and Alec Dandelions.
Back over at MSA, Jana Zeller and Kalob Martinez will offer a Sandglass Theater production of Puppet Crimes on July 7 and 8, at 4 p.m. The show consists of two pieces, El Beto, with Martinez behind the curtain, is a version of Macbeth set in modern times in the Mexican drug cartels. The show is recommended for ages 12 and older.
Younger theater goers will have a chance to experience Sandglass puppetry at two shows, July 7 and 8, at 10:30 a.m., at MSA when Zeller presents Kasper's Adventures, a family-friendly show originally conceived by Zeller's mother, Ines Zeller Bass. Reservations are encouraged.
Adding to the mix of the Festival are two workshops. Bronwyn Sims will lead a Rhythm, Space, and Character workshop exploring the building blocks of theater through the LeCoq technique Saturday at 1 p.m. The fee is $20.
Sandglass artists will offer a free “Tape Guy” puppetry workshop Sunday, July 8, at noon.
Informal gatherings to meet the cast and directors will take place at the Saxtons River Inn at 9 p.m. after the performances Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7. MSA will host cookouts on both Saturdays, July 7 and 14, at 6 and 5:30 p.m., respectively.