Naked Stage’s Weekend Festival
(04/21/2009) Josh Perl, the founder of the Naked Stage at Guild Hall in East Hampton, believes that “magic is possible when talented theater artists collaborate.” To illustrate his point, the Naked Stage players have
 Durell Godfrey
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been stretching and exercising in preparation for its first-ever Naked Stage Marathon, a weekend festival of staged readings, performances, workshops, and events.
Tomorrow at 6 p.m., the troupe, along with Steeplechase Arts and the Montauk School, will present “Moonlight Drift and Reveries,” a theatrical and musical journey through the East End. The show will be led by Damon Ferrante, the founder of Steeplechase, who has done several opera workshops at the Montauk Library. It interweaves humor, adventure, and observations on ecology to tell a story about the interconnectedness of people and the landscape and will feature singing by Montauk’s Lilah Gosman.
At 8 p.m. tomorrow, Michael Nathanson will direct a reading of Ken Kesey’s Tony Award-winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” with Kate Mueth, Nick Fondulis, Andrew Botsford, Peter Fitzgerald, Josh Gladstone, Josh Perl, Shashi Balooja, Rachel Viola, Joseph Brondo, and Tanya Tavereau.
“Newly Naked: New Works From East End Writers” will hit the stage on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and feature new stories by Dan Rattiner, scenes from “Lunch” by Hortense Carpentier, and selections from the new musical “The Violin Maker” by Stephen Dickman. Mr. Perl will direct.
A comedy improv class for all ages will be given by Nick Fondulis and his “band of fools” on Saturday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., followed by a staged reading at 6 of “The Illusion” by Pierre Corneille. The play, “very freely” adapted by Tony Kushner, is about the alienation of parents and children and marital infidelity.
Theatergoers can continue their sprint Saturday night at 8 with a reading of “Lysistrata” — ancient world, men at war, women fed up — and afterward celebrate world peace at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, where the Naked Stagers will let it all hang out with Taboo, a late-night feast of bawdy scenes, wicked recitations, and cold beer. (Filthy language included.) The cost is $15, which includes a free drink.
On Sunday, a 2 p.m. reading of “The Grapes of Wrath,” adapted by Frank Galati from the John Steinbeck novel, will be followed by a charity soup kitchen to benefit the Springs Community Seedlings Project. Participants have been asked to take along a bowl for a picnic outside in the Guild Hall gardens. The program is sponsored by Project MOST.
The marathon will end on Sunday with a reading of three comedies beginning at 7 p.m. In the lineup is “God” by Woody Allen, in which characters such as Blanche DuBois and Groucho Marx pop out of the audience to offer advice, “The Way of All Fish” by Elaine May, about a self-absorbed executive and a drab secretary, and “Boy Meets Girl” by Wendy Wasserstein, a play about two 30-somethings afraid to make a commitment.
The marathon will also include two ACTion Workshops for children taught by Ms. Tavereau. On Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., 5 to 9-year-olds will be shown theater games designed to develop performance skills, and on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the same workshop will be tailored for participants 14 and up. The cost is $10, $8 for members.
Tickets for selected readings vary. A weekend pass costs $40 ($38 for members) and includes all performances except the workshops, Taboo, and the benefit. Tickets go on sale today at noon at Guild Hall’s box office and are available online at guildhall.org.