Business

(ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK) – APRIL 27, 2022 – Penguin Rep Theatre, the Stony Point-based nonprofit professional theatre, launches its 2022 mainstage season with I AND YOU by Lauren Gunderson, one of the country’s most widely produced authors for the stage, starting Friday, April 29, artistic director Joe Brancato announced today.

“I AND YOU is an inspiring work about youth, life, love, and the mystery of human connectedness,” Mr. Brancato says. “We are excited to have the play kick off Penguin’s mainstage season, which this year is comprised of four fully staged productions that share stories that uplift and entertain.”

According to executive director Andrew M. Horn, the production will follow Penguin’s pre-season special events – the well-received world premieres of SMALL and FAR FROM THE HOME I LOVE – and marks the return of “the Penguin Rep Theatre experience — new works in the inviting environs of our repurposed barn in Stony Point, New York – and brings it into a new, more accessible chapter with lower ticket prices.”

In I AND YOU, the last thing Caroline wanted was a classmate named Anthony walking into her life to work on a school project. But as the two let down their guards and share their secrets, they embark on a journey of exploration that will leave audiences breathless.  

Author Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I AND YOU and THE BOOK OF WILL, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting.

Under the direction of Thomas Caruso, Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel nominee who staged the Broadway national tours of MATILDA, GHOST and MASTER CLASS, the cast features Johnathan Dougan (as Anthony) and Mairéad O’Neill (as Caroline).

The production is designed by David Goldstein (set), Martin E. Vreeland (lighting), Myra Oney (costumes), and Max Silverman (sound).

I AND YOU will be presented through May 15. Performances are scheduled Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays (2 shows) at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is also a specially discounted matinee scheduled at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 29.

From July 8 through July 24, Penguin will produce BREATH & IMAGINATION: THE STORY OF ROLAND HAYES, an inspirational musical play by Daniel Beaty about trailblazing African-American vocalist Roland Hayes.

From August 12 through September 4, Penguin will present the world premiere of THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS. Inspired by Henry Fielding’s novel, this rollicking comic romp through 18th-century England is the latest by Cary Gitter, author of THE SABBATH GIRL, and will be directed by Mr. Brancato.

Closing the season from September 30 through October 23 is another world premiere production – NOW COMES THE FUN PART, with lyrics and direction by Mark Waldrop, music by Jeffrey Lodin, and book by James Hindman and Lynne Halliday, a new musical revue celebrating in songs and scenes what happens after one reaches the milestone marked by the arrival of an AARP card in the mail.  

Individual tickets to I AND YOU and the other mainstage productions are priced at $39 (including facility fee and service charge). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and young people (30 and under).  There is a student discount. Tickets are half-price ($19.50) with discount code STUDIS.

Season tickets are on sale now. Prices start as low as $104 for the four plays, a savings of one-third off the cost of individual tickets.  

“The very best seats in the house go to season subscribers before single tickets go on sale,” says Mr. Horn.  Other subscriber benefits include a discount on the purchase of additional tickets and ticket insurance for lost or forgotten tickets.  

For no charge, he says, patrons can select a value-added subscription series that includes post-performance discussions among the artists and audience, and pre-show tastings supplied by local restaurants. An additional incentive, says Mr. Horn, “is to dine out at a discount, with select restaurants offering special benefits to Penguin subscribers.” 

Performances take place at Penguin’s intimate, 108-seat theatre, located at 7 Crickettown Road. “The converted barn, circa 1880, has never been more inviting” (The New York Times). Says Mr. Horn, “it’s theatre so close you can feel it, with comfy upholstered seats and no seat more than 30 feet from the stage.” The theatre is air conditioned, handicapped accessible, and has plenty of free parking.

During its closure due to COVID-19, Penguin made physical modifications to its venue to make the theatergoing experience safer and more comfortable. Air filtration was upgraded, air circulation modified to ensure increased exchange of inside and outside air, and high-intensity UVC light installed inside the ductwork to remove airborne and surface contaminants.

To order tickets or for further information, visit Penguin Rep’s website at www.penguinrep.org or call 845-786-2873. 

PENGUIN 2022 MAINSTAGE SEASON

April 29 – May 15

I AND YOU

by LAUREN GUNDERSON

Directed by THOMAS CARUSO

​

A stunning work about youth, life, love, and the mystery of human connectedness. The last thing Caroline wanted was a classmate named Anthony walking into her bedroom to work on a school project. But as the two let down their guards and share their secrets, they embark on a journey of exploration that will leave you breathless.

July 8 – July 24

BREATH & IMAGINATION:

THE STORY OF ROLAND HAYES

by DANIEL BEATY

​Directed by GEOVONDAY JONES

Before Paul Robson and Marian Anderson, there was trailblazing African-American vocalist Roland Hayes. Born the son of a slave, Roland turned adversity into opportunity, and, at his peak in the 1920s, was the highest paid singer in the world. This inspirational musical play soars with spirituals and operatic arias as it traces Hayes’ journey from a plantation in Georgia to performing for royalty in Europe.  

August 12 – September 4

THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS

by CARY GITTER

Directed by JOE BRANCATO

​

Misadventures abound for handsome, naïve Joseph Andrews, a servant abandoned as a baby, tutored by the clueless Parson Adams, pursued by the lecherous Lady Booby, tempted by the wily chambermaid Betty, but in love with the forbidden Fanny. Inspired by Henry Fielding’s novel, this rollicking comic romp through 18th-century England is the latest from the author of THE SABBATH GIRL.  World premiere.

September 30 – October 23

NOW COMES THE FUN PART

Lyrics & direction by MARK WALDROP

Music by JEFFREY LODIN

Book by JAMES HINDMAN & LYNNE HALLIDAY

​

Turning 50 may be tricky but … now comes the fun part! Uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly touching, this new musical revue celebrates in songs and scenes what happens after one reaches the milestone marked by the arrival of an AARP card in the mail. World premiere.

ABOUT PENGUIN REP THEATRE

Joe Brancato was a high school English and drama teacher in 1977 when he peered into an abandoned 1880’s hay barn in Stony Point, New York, and envisioned the space repurposed into a theatre.

More than 40 years later, Penguin Rep – the theatre Brancato started with Francine Newman-McCarthy and runs with executive director Andrew M. Horn — has grown from a summer theatre to become one of the Hudson Valley’s most influential nonprofit cultural institutions, reaching tens of thousands of theatergoers each year at its home, in New York City and beyond – with its work moving to Off Broadway and to stages across the country and around the world.

Penguin has presented more than 150 productions – over 100 directed by Brancato himself — for more than 400,000 people from the lower Hudson Valley and beyond. And Mr. Brancato has brought together accomplished professional actors – David Canary, Michael Cullen, Tim De Kay, Ann Dowd, Gregg Edelman, Michael Esper, Barbara Feldon, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Deborah Hedwall, Celeste Holm, Richard Kline, Andrew McCarthy, Lizbeth Mackay, Michele Pawk, and Karen Ziemba, among others – to star in new and noteworthy plays by such playwrights as Lee Blessing, Ronald Harwood, Allan Knee, Arthur Laurents, Warren Leight, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, Lainie Robertson, James Sherman and Elizabeth Swados.

As The Journal News wrote: “Somebody forgot to tell artistic director Joe Brancato that he’s crazy to use a little barn plunked down in the Rockland County suburbs to experiment with unusual and challenging plays… I hope everybody keeps forgetting to tell him. The region is more the richer for it.”

“Guided by the skilled hand of Penguin’s artistic director, Joe Brancato, the splendid performers get first-rate support, as always at Penguin, by an excellent design team” (The New York Times).

“Penguin Rep is a place where theatergoers can experience magic time after time” (Lohud.com).

Ann Dowd, Emmy and Critics’ Choice Award winner for THE HANDMAID’S TALE, who has starred in four productions at Penguin: “I’ve loved every experience I’ve had there, every wonderful play, every wonderful role, in that beautiful theatre in the country.”

Sarah Jessica Parker: “Joe Brancato dreamed it … and now Penguin Rep celebrates 40 plus seasons of incomparable productions of new works. Penguin has a gorgeous pastoral setting in the Hudson Valley only 50 minutes from Manhattan.”

As it launches its forty-fourth season, Penguin Rep Theatre, dubbed “the gutsiest little theatre” by The New York Times, continues to present a cultural experience that is unique in the region: professional productions of new plays at affordable prices.

Penguin Rep Theatre’s 2022 season is sponsored by Orange and Rockland Utilities.

The season is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature,and with funds from ReStart the Arts, a regrant program of ArtsWestchester with support from the Office of the Governor, the Legislature and NYSCA.

Penguin Rep is a proud recipient of a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) administered by the Small Business Administration.

Penguin Rep gratefully acknowledges the additional support of the Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, Cory & Bob Donnalley Charitable Foundation, County of Rockland, GMGPR, Jacques & Margot W. Kohn Foundation, Kathryn I. Matthews Charitable Fund, Rockland County Tourism, The Shubert Foundation, and Town of Stony Point.