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Staged Play Reading: THE THANKSGIVING PLAY to be held on March 9

WESTPORT, NY —The Depot Theatre and the Westport Wadhams Community Alliance are pleased to present a staged play reading of THE THANKSGIVING PLAY on March 9 at 3pm at the Westport Heritage House. The reading is produced by Saranac Lake-based Adirondack Stage Rats.

Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally woke teaching artists scramble to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.

Larissa FastHorse (a member of the Sicangu Lakota tribe) is a playwright and choreographer based in Santa Monica, California. In 2023, she became the first known female Native American playwright produced on Broadway with THE THANKSGIVING PLAY at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater.

The staged reading is directed by Beth Glover and features Peter Corley, Laura Farrell,
Tyler Nye, and Tara Palen.

The event is free and open to the public. The Westport Heritage House is located at 6459 Main St, Westport, NY.

About the Adirondack Stage Rats

ADIRONDACK STAGE RATS is a collective of theatre artists and devotees dedicated to creating theatre that inspires, enriches, and educates residents of, and visitors to, our region. Utilizing minimal lighting & set pieces ADIRONDACK STAGE RATS creates “small-batch” personal, intimate, thought-provoking productions for adventurous, discriminating audiences. adirondackstagerats.com

About the Depot Theatre

The Depot Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre located in a historic, functioning 1876 train station in Westport, N.Y., and it is the only theatre in the Adirondacks that operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. In addition to its volunteer board of trustees, the theatre depends on the support and generosity of its loyal donors, volunteers, and community members. Committed to promoting and providing exposure to the performing arts in the Adirondacks, the Depot Theatre invites all to “Take a journey without leaving the station.” DepotTheatre.org

About the Westport Wadhams Community Alliance

The mission of The Westport-Wadhams Community Alliance is to nurture collaborations among public and private entities and support economic growth, cultural vitality, and environmental sustainability in the Westport-Wadhams community. gowestportny.com

Staged Play Reading to be held at the Westport Heritage House

WESTPORT, NY —The Depot Theatre and the Westport Wadhams Community Alliance are pleased to present a staged play reading of ADMISSIONS by Joshua Harmon on November 16 at 3pm at the Westport Heritage House. The reading is produced by Saranac Lake-based Adirondack Stage Rats.

ADMISSIONS is a new play in which main character Sherri Rosen-Mason is head of the admissions department at a New England prep school, fighting to diversify the student body. Alongside her husband, the school’s Headmaster, they’ve largely succeeded in bringing a stodgy institution into the twenty-first century. But when their only son sets his sights on an Ivy League university, personal ambition collides with progressive values, with convulsive results. A no-holds-barred look at privilege, power, and the perils of hypocrisy.

The staged reading is directed by Beth Glover and features Fran Yardley, Laura-Jean Swanson, Tyler Nye, Laura Menzie, and Peter Corley.

The event is free and open to the public. The Westport Heritage House is located at 6459 Main St, Westport, NY.

Meet the Cast


Peter Corley (Charlie Luther Mason) recently played Harrison in Analog & Vinyl at The Depot Theatre. In the last year he appeared in two Martin McDonagh plays, as Katurian in The Pillowman and Ray in Beauty Queen of Lenane, as well as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, Billy in Stoppard’ s The Real Thing and Fred/Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, all in Northwest NJ. He’s a graduate of the musical theater program at New York’s Circle in the Square, where he played Konstantin in The Seagull, Cooper in Island Song, and as guest artist alum returned for productions of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See

Laura Menzie (Ginnie Peters) is thrilled to join the ADK Stage Rat’s for another reading. Previous acting credits with the Rats include Blackbird and Radiant Vermin. Laura has also worked with Pendragon Theatre, Saratoga Shakespeare, Titan Theatre Company, Stages Rep, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Franklin Stage, and others. She has also worked in Mexico with Icaro Teatro and in the UK with TCSquared Theatre Company. Laura currently teaches Acting and Voice and Speech at Skidmore College. For more information visit lauramenzie.com

Tyler Nye (Bill Mason) spent his summer in Westport performing Every Brilliant Thing at the Depot Theatre. Previously with the ADK Stage Rats: readings of None of the Above and Radiant Vermin. His credits at Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake include Our Town, Doubt, Deathtrap, Baskerville, and Shipwrecked!. Other regional favorites include The 39 Steps and See How They Run. Tyler grew up in the Adirondacks and appears as Uncle Drosselmeyer in the North Country’s Nutcracker. Off-Broadway: The Mystery of Irma Vep, Twelfth Night, The Glass Menagerie. Off stage: Associate General Manager at Lake Placid Center for the Arts. tylernye.com

Laura-Jean Swanson (Sherri Rosen-Mason) has several acting, directing, and choreography credits from NYC and Mpls, MN. She has been associated with over 30 Pendragon theatre productions and is a SUNY Plattsburgh Theatre Department professor. An improv specialist, she leads improv therapy sessions with Veterans and teen groups. LJ also does production work through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Fran Yardley (Roberta) is delighted to be involved with yet another marvelous Stage Rats Production with some of her fave fellow actors. Some past roles include Fanny in Painting Churches, Kimberly in Kimberly Akimbo, Sister Aloysius in Doubt, and Abby in Arsenic and Old Lace. Fran’s memoir/history, Finding True North, explores her fifty years in the Adirondacks woven with the history going back to the mid 1800s. Thanks to Karen and Beth for creating a generous space for us all to aspire to really terrific theatre.

Beth Glover, Director (she/her) Her passion for theatre began with a Southern upbringing that valued storytelling. Directing credits: Analog & Vinyl at Depot Theatre, Honky Tonk Angels at Pendragon Theatre, 9 to 5at SUNY Plattsburgh, Southern Comforts & Bakersfield Mist for Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts & Adirondack Stage Rats, Wicked City & Heroes for Depot Theatre, and more for Adirondack Stage Rats, co-founded with Karen Lewis. Selected acting credits: 6 Broadway National Tours, Off-Broadway, Goodspeed Opera House, Papermill Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre Co. of DC, etc. Favorite roles: Blanche, A Streetcar Named Desire, Big&Lil Edie, Grey Gardens (BACC Award Best Actress). Complete credits: www.Beth-Glover.com

About the Adirondack Stage Rats

ADIRONDACK STAGE RATS is a collective of theatre artists and devotees dedicated to creating theatre that inspires, enriches, and educates residents of, and visitors to, our region. Utilizing minimal lighting & set pieces ADIRONDACK STAGE RATS creates “small-batch” personal, intimate, thought-provoking productions for adventurous, discriminating audiences. adirondackstagerats.com

 About the Depot Theatre

The Depot Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre located in a historic, functioning 1876 train station in Westport, N.Y., and it is the only theatre in the Adirondacks that operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. In addition to its volunteer board of trustees, the theatre depends on the support and generosity of its loyal donors, volunteers, and community members. Committed to promoting and providing exposure to the performing arts in the Adirondacks, the Depot Theatre invites all to “Take a journey without leaving the station.” DepotTheatre.org

About the Westport Wadhams Community Alliance

The mission of The Westport-Wadhams Community Alliance is to nurture collaborations among public and private entities and support economic growth, cultural vitality, and environmental sustainability in the Westport-Wadhams community. gowestportny.com

ANALOG AND VINYL – A Review

Tiara Whaley, Peter Corley, and Aja Downing in the Depot Theatre’s ANALOG AND VINYL.

A strength of the Depot is its perfect pitch for knowing when to poke smoldering social issues and when to let sleeping dogs lie. There are so many eye-averting troubles we must confront today at every turn that the luxury of escapism feels to be just what we needed.

Analog and Vinyl is a light and welcome beach-read of a musical that asks little of us, except that we sit back and enjoy an evening free of worldly encumbrances.

The scene of Analog and Vinyl is a vintage record shop operating out of a defunct convenience store, and from the get-go the set makes us happy — nostalgic posters of Steppenwolf and such, papering over walls that retain the garish 7-Eleven color scheme.

This is the lonely stamping grounds of the stressed Harrison, played by Peter Corley, whose lot in life is a blind devotion to the pressed albums of old that have lost out to the inferior but more convenient strains of the digital world.

Peter Corley

Corley aptly channels his inner Eeyore while still maintaining an appropriate hint of optimistic light (not an easy balancing act, but Corley pulls it off), by way of a stone cold assurance that one of these days the unwashed masses will see the error of their ways and come flocking to his store for LPs. (We in 2024 America know that, theoretically, he was right, and somehow this knowledge makes Harrison both more endearing and situationally valid.)

Helping Harrison in the shop, or trying to, is the air-headed Rodeo Girl (Tiara Whaley) who is a bubbly, amusingly difficult to explain presence. Though the plot of Analog and Vinyl is a bit uneven in spots, we’re all having fun so it can remain an article of faith that loose ends will eventually be tied and inconsistencies reconciled, at least close enough for a rom-com.

Tiara Whaley

Whaley skillfully takes a puzzling character and layers on complexities that grow as the show goes on, culminating in A&V’s best moment, Whaley’s rendition of “Vinyl Boy,” which brings down the house.

But the most delicious role of The Stranger is saved for the superb Aja Downing, who knows exactly what to do with a choice part. Of course you can’t spell “stranger” without s-a-t-a-n, and sure enough, the stranger has an offer that Harrison and Rodeo Girl can’t refuse. Or can they?

Aja Downing

As the two wrestle with their difficult decisions, more of their veneers crumble away and reveal tear-shedding vulnerabilities that make us feel far different about them than when they started out.

Director Beth Glover keeps the show hopping with levity until the plot can build momentum of its own. Also keeping toes tapping is a talented orchestra — Jane Boxall on drums, Bill Stokes on bass, and Andy Tompkins on guitar, with keyboards and music direction by Valerie Gebert — playing a lively score that is kind of essential to a show about a record shop.

THE ORCHESTRA –  (L-R) Valerie Gebert, musical director and keyboards; Andy Tompkins, guitar; Jane Boxall, drums; Bill Stokes, bass.

All told, the show leaves us far happier than when we came in, and not many diversions today can make that claim. Circumstances being what they are, the Depot’s Analog and Vinyl is a refreshing oasis from our cares in a day and age when, for a little carefree fun, we might even sell our souls.

Tim Rowland contributed this review by the request of, and in collaboration with the Depot Theatre. Rowland is a journalist and New York Times bestselling author, whose humorous commentaries explore an eclectic variety of subject matter, from politics to history to the great outdoors. He and his wife Beth live on the Ausable River in Jay, N.Y.

Depot Theatre’s ANALOG & VINYL opens 2024 main stage season

WESTPORT, N.Y. — The Depot Theatre in Westport, New York, is pleased to announce the dynamic cast of ANALOG & VINYL, the first production in the theatre’s 46th season main stage lineup.

ANALOG & VINYL is a musical rom-com romp with a memorable score infused with the influences of Elvis Costello, the Beatles, and Brian Wilson. It’s a delicious, devilish tale of Harrison, a young record shop owner, Rodeo Girl, the seemingly spacey—yet weirdly wise—hipster obsessed with him, and a mysterious stranger who rocks their world with an offer they might not be able to refuse.

The part of Harrison is played by Peter Corley. This past year Peter appeared in two Martin McDonagh plays, as Katurian in THE PILLOWMAN and Ray in BEAUTY QUEEN OF LENANE, as well as George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Billy in Stoppard’s THE REAL THING, and Fred/Young Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, all in Northwest NJ. He’s a graduate of the musical theater program at New York’s Circle in the Square, where he played Konstantin in THE SEAGULL, Cooper in ISLAND SONG, and as guest artist alum returned for productions of I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, and LaChiusa’s SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE.

Aja Downing plays the role of The Stranger. Downing graduated from The American Musical Arts Academy in 2016. Some of Aja’s previous roles were Annette in TJ LOVES SALLY 4 EVA, Lorrell in DREAMGIRLS, Jojo in CHERCHEZ LA FEMME, Cassandra in ALEX AND EUGENE, Christine Daè in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Aida in AIDA, and Ella Baker in BAYARD: A NEW MUSICAL.

Tiara Whaley will play the role of Rodeo Girl. She is a Philadelphia-based actress and holds a musical theatre degree from West Chester University. Her favorite roles include Ti Moune (ONCE ON THIS ISLAND), Emmie Thibedeaux (CAROLINE OR CHANGE, Helen Hayes Outstanding Supporting Actress), Dorothy Gale (WIZARD OF OZ), and Heather Chandler (HEATHERS).

“We saw so many amazing actors at our New York City auditions – any number of them could do a fine job in ANALOG & VINYL,” said Beth Glover, the show’s director and part of the Depot’s Artistic Production Management team. “But these three talents, Tiara, Peter, and Aja, not only knocked it out of the park, they knocked us out with their vocals and scene work. ANALOG & VINYL is dear to us and we love watching this joyful enthusiastic cast bring this funny, smart, heartfelt story to life, and we’re certain you’ll love it, too.”

The musical will be backed by a top-notch pit band led by Valerie Gebert, Director/Conductor/Keyboardist with National and International Tours of Broadway musicals including SIX, THE LION KING, WICKED, ANASTASIA, CINDERELLA, FINDING NEVERLAND, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, CABARET, JOSEPH……, SOUND OF MUSIC, WEST SIDE STORY, A CHORUS LINE and HELLO, DOLLY! Other members of the band are Jane Boxall (drums), Andy Tompkins (guitar), and Bill Stokes (bass).

ANALOG & VINYL will run from June 27 through July 14. Tickets can be purchased online at DepotTheatre.org or by calling 518.962.4449.

The Depot Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre located in a historic, functioning 1876 train station in Westport, NY, and it is the only theatre in the Adirondacks that operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association.

For more information about the Depot Theatre’s main stage and Academy youth programs and for news updates visit DepotTheatre.org.

Analog & Vinyl
June 28 – July 14, with a $25 Preview on June 27
Music and Lyrics by Paul Gordon
Book by Paul Gordon & Michael Berresse

RATED: PG-13 (Language)
PRODUCTION SPONSOR: The Brooks and Joan Fortune Family Foundation

Analog and Vinyl is presented by special arrangement with Uproar Theatrics
www.UproarTheatrics.com

About the Depot Theatre

The Depot Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre located in a historic, functioning 1876 train station in Westport, N.Y., and it is the only theatre in the Adirondacks that operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. In addition to its volunteer board of trustees, the theatre depends on the support and generosity of its loyal donors, volunteers, and community members. Committed to promoting and providing exposure to the performing arts in the Adirondacks, the Depot Theatre invites all to “Take a journey without leaving the station.” The Depot Theatre’s 2024 programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by the Essex County Arts Council. The Depot Theatre 2024 Season is sponsored by the Rogers-Carroll Family Foundation.

The Depot Theatre Academy is a robust educational experience for area youth and a pathway for those interested in pursuing a profession in theatre—whether that’s backstage or on stage.

Our Mission & Vision

Mission: The Depot Theatre is to entertain, enrich, and educate through professional theatrical arts and related programs based in a historic train station.

Vision: The Depot Theatre will have a robust, regional, and year-round presence by creating the highest of quality programs, building strong partnerships, and enhancing community engagement while promoting diversity in all that we do.

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The Depot Theatre receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

With special thanks to the following for their support of the Depot’s ongoing strategic objectives: Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, Cloudsplitter Foundation, J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc., Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation, Charles R. Wood Foundation, Adirondack Foundation, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Rogers Carroll Family Foundation, Brooks and Joan Fortune Family Foundation.

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