Cristina Pitter
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Melissa James Gibson’s This – a comedy about friends, marriage, and kids – will receive its upstate New York premiere in a staging by the Proprietors Theatre Company at Henry Hudson Studios from Thursday, July 18, 2013, through Saturday, July 20, 2013, at 8pm. The play will be given a distinctly Hudson gallery setting, with a locally sourced set comprised almost entirely of authentic Hudson products from antiques stores including the Collector’s Eye LLC, FINCH life curated, Carousel, and Neven and Neven Moderne.
The Proprietors Theatre Company is a nonprofit company dedicated to offering professional productions with an emphasis on classical theatre and the works of women playwrights, as well as theatre education for the community’s youth. The company is bringing a professional director, designer and five actors from New York City to Hudson for its production of This.
Proprietors Theatre Co. producing artistic director Kristi Funk Dana
Kristi Funk Dana, producing artistic director of The Proprietors Theatre Company, grew up in Hudson. Funk Dana is a trained actor and teacher (B.A., Theatre Arts, Penn State; M.A., Theatre Ed., Emerson College; M.F.A., Acting, Brooklyn College, CUNY). As she visited family and friends in Hudson over the years, she became inspired by the growth of its arts community. Last year, she decided to create The Proprietors Theatre Company as a way to give back to Hudson and become involved in its rapidly growing theatre scene.
In August 2012 The Proprietors held their inaugural event at Basilica Hudson. In the saucy and hilarious historical romp, Or, by Liz Duffy Adams, Funk Dana acted alongside two other professionally trained New York actors. The evening was a great success, boasting 50 attendees and a fabulous response.
The Proprietors held their first-ever Young Proprietors Acting Workshop (ages 11-18) on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at Columbia Greene Community College. Funk Dana and Proprietors Company member Emma Myers taught acting technique, including voice and movement for the actor, improvisation, ensemble awareness, script analysis and character building.
To purchase tickets, visit Proprietors Theatre Company or call 646.831.3517.