published August 27 - September 9, 2002 in The Towne Crier

Weird and Welcome

By Jason Robert Dole
For The Towne Crier

'It is community work that I have never experienced ... and I come from a communist country!'
-- Saviana Stanescu

In Highland Lake, folks from all around have been treated for three summers now to a type of artistic theater that they thoroughly enjoy even though, or perhaps because, it is not always predictable, safe or immediately understandable.

This strong dose of culture comes from the North American Cultural Laboratory (NACL) Theatre, which was co-founded in New York City by Brad Krumholz and Tannis Kowalchuk in 1997. By 1999 they were moving into the renovated Church in Highland Lake that had served as the home for the Catskills Actors Theatre for nine seasons.

Despite its experimental, edgy and curious nature, the NACL has thrived due to good old-fashioned community support and a large measure of acceptance.

Here the group has the close proximity to New York City without the difficulties in finding and paying for space amongst so many artists. And Krumholz, echoing the sentiments of other performers, likes the peaceful setting but also explains that there are economic and cultural incentives as well. "We have bigger audiences here than in New York City," he says. "I'd rather have the festival here."

In addition to creating, rehearsing, and performing their own original pieces at this summer residency, the NACL theatre began work on hosting the Catskill Festival of New Theatre, which they have now also hosted for the third year in a row.

The Festival gives cutting-edge theater groups from around the continent and beyond a chance to meet and combine their efforts as they search for new ways to communicate their experiences to others. There are also lecture sessions hosted by guest scholars and presenters so that the groups not only work together, but learn together.

Next to the theater is a large building that was once a hotel but is now an artists' residence. With office space down stairs and 13 rooms upstairs, it is the business and living center for all activities concerning the NACL theater.

Many of the performers feel that the opportunity to live together as well as work together adds greatly to the success of the festival. Saviana Stanescu, one of the guest scholars, says that Brad and Tannis "created the perfect environment where art and life meet."

Saviana comes from Romania and is working on a Fulbright Grant at NYU's Performance Studies department. She has written 5 books, produced plays throughout Europe, and won the award for best play in Romania in 2000. She took a break from her chores of making coffee and cleaning in the kitchen to talk about the benefits of performers, scholars, and writers eating, cleaning, learning and making theater together. "It is community work that I have never experienced." She then added with a laugh "And I come from a communist country!"

If the sense of community created within the festival has been a key to its success, so too has been the support from the community outside of the theater. Among other things, the NACL's neighboring families and businesses helped to house and feed the 50-plus people participating in the theatre.

There are more participants than there is space at the artists' residence. Kowalchuck explains that this year they started the "Adopt an Artist" program to find space for performers to stay in the homes of local people. In exchange, those who adopt artists get to attend all of the performances at the theater free of charge. The Kadampa Buddhist monastery in Glen Spey also opened its doors to the artists.

Other forms of support have come from local businesses like the Highland Lake Yoga & Dance Studio and Michael's Restaurant. The Eldred Peck's Market donates baked goods, day-old bread and produce to the NACL to help feed the artists. Michelle Amore, the Deli Manager at Peck's, notes that the theater is "appreciative of whatever we give" and that "... the community is pleased, they enjoy seeing the people come up here."

Of course, people in the local community have also helped the festival by becoming its audience. People have been turning out - the Friday night opening to the festival, Jay Ruby's "Next Door" was attended by more than 50 people, and the next night was sold out.

Bill and Jennifer are a couple who live right next door to the theater and were hosts in "adopting" an artist. Jay Ruby's performance was their first experience with live theater of any kind. And how did they react to a work that even the author admits is better suited for a more experienced audience? Bill and Jennifer both thought the play was great, saying they had no problem following what was happening. "I had no idea what to expect coming in," Bill says. "But once I caught on I was afraid to turn my head for even a second, or I might miss something else."

The divergent types of performance that happen in the Catskill Festival of New Theatre can be puzzling, strange, scary, or fun; but they all impact the audience in a way that is hard to define yet impossible to ignore. Many people leave the theater smiling and overwhelmed, but unable to say more than "it was great."

They may be reacting to the "laboratory" more than anything else. The laboratory means this is "where the artists attempt to understand for themselves and to communicate to the world what it means to be alive," explains Krumholz. "Everyone who has been here believes that to do this, it requires a certain discipline and rigor of craft."

It is in this way that the North American Cultural Laboratory has the best chance of living up to its name. In a modern culture often seen as flooded with cheap items mass-produced without craft or care, the theater is aimed at preventing the same from happening with cultural heritage. Their welcome comes from the community around them, but the community of artists they created in order to nurture innovation is essential in an entirely other sense. Or, as Krumholz succinctly puts it: "We're either individual weirdos or a part of something else, a movement, something legitimate."

And for the audience, the power of the performance comes from the simple act of watching people wholly dedicated to their craft.

Back to Reviews