A gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a murmuration of starlings – with collective names like these for species of animals, what would you call a group of playwrights? Several years ago, when Darrah Cloud and David Simpatico gathered a group of their fellow Hudson Valley dramatists to develop and nurture new works, Simpatico figured the title was obvious – “A HOWL of playwrights.” The nod to poet Allen Ginsberg coupled with a word meaning a long, loud cry winningly defined the creative body.
This Sunday, June 18, several members of HOWL will present their work in an afternoon of readings at The Stissing Center. “Father’s Day HOWL” is the final production of the 2022-23 season of Local Produce, a series of play readings co-founded by Cloud and Lenora Champagne, curated by the two from works of area writers, and performed by area actors.
The Father’s Day theme for Sunday’s event was given to the HOWL playwrights by Cloud, leaving them to offer their individual takes. Anne Undeland, a HOWL playwright and also an actor is the author of “Mozart’s Wife,” an excerpt of which will be read in the performance. It looks at the composer as a husband and father, from the perspective of the spouse.
Cloud will present her work, “The Day Tower Pizza Stood Still,” featuring a pizza guy named Jeff and an alien from an unnamed planet. Simpatico described it as exploring, with a great deal of humanity, a moment in life when one has to adjust to the change in parents’ needs. He has a role in Cloud’s play, and also offers an excerpt from “That Hellbound Train,” an opera he wrote with composer Lisa DeSpain. The aria, “Baby Boy,” sung by Ory Lopez as father to child, closes the program.
Cloud, the former Pine Plains town supervisor, and Champagne met in New York City in the late 1990s when they were in New Dramatists, a playwrights organization for which members are selected and admitted for seven years. The two were in the music-theatre working group. When Champagne later made a home in Dutchess County, she says, “One of the things that excited me about having moved to Pine Plains is that I lived in a town where a playwright could be mayor!”
In the summer of 2021, Cloud and Champagne began talking about creating a series of readings, with the thought that The Stissing Center might present a good venue. Cloud says that, for playwrights, “audience response is key to developing new work. A playwright hears so much about their play by hearing it read aloud.”
The two approached Brian Keeler, then the executive director of The Stissing Center, and got an enthusiastic reception. The inaugural season got underway in the fall of 2021, with the sponsorship of Oblong Books and local farms and farm markets, leading Champagne to name the series, “Local Produce.”
Now wrapping up their second season with Sunday’s show, they look ahead to a third series. Because The Stissing Center may be shuttered for some time due to construction, Cloud says they may have to take “Local Produce on the road!”
Brett Bernardini, the current executive director of The Stissing Center, offered an optimistic view. “I do not think we are going to be closed very much at all. We are trying to plan around construction interruptions … Local Produce is an asset to this community. To make space for artists to create, explore and share their thoughts is what transforms communities.”
Father’s Day HOWL is June 18, 3 p.m. at The Stissing Center, 2950 Church St. Pine Plains, NY.