Next on Stage
BLITHE SPIRIT
by Noel Coward
directed by Karina Ramsey
June 1, 2, 8, 9, at 8 PM; June 3, 10 at 2 PM
Van Cortlandtville School on Route 6 in Mohegan Lake (directly across from the Cortlandt Town Shopping Center)
Tickets are $15, adults; $12 for seniors and students. Call (914) 528-4145.
Blithe Spirit is a comedy with a supernatural twist and is one of Noel Coward’s best known plays. As the story opens, we meet Ruth and Charles Condomine played by
Christine D’Amato and real life husband, Robert J. D’Amato. Charles is a writer who is doing research for a book he’s writing on the occult, and he has invited, in addition to friends, a well known medium to hold a séance. His goal is to expose the woman as a fraud, and denounce her so called supernatural gift as nothing more than hocus pocus.
Madame Arcati, played by Dawn Bernitt-Perito arrives and does her thing. To Charles’ astonishment, his first wife, Elvira, portrayed by Danae MacDonald pays him a visit from the “other side”. Visible and audible only to Charles, she provokes him into quarreling with her. When he answers her back in anger, Ruth thinks he’s talking to her.
Ruth is upset and thinks her husband is a bit mad. A floating vase, handed to her out of thin air, finally convinces Ruth that Charles is not losing his mind and that his first wife is indeed in the room. The first wife has a ghostly plot in mind: if she can get Charles into an automobile accident and make a ghost of him, life in the spirit world will have more appeal to her. Mistakes occur, however, and it is Ruth who takes the fatal car ride and passes on only to return with the first wife to plague Charles. How Charles manages to extricate himself from those two very blithe spirits makes a hilarious conclusion to this very unusual farce. Coward has such a good time making mischief with marriage and medium.
Also appearing in the play are Tim Simonds and Abby Jennings who play the Condomines’ guests, Dr. and Mrs Bradman. Rounding out the cast is Carolin Schuetze who plays the part of Edith.
Karina Ramsey, makes her YCP TheaterWorks directorial debut with Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Her previous directing credits include, Rivers Edge and The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood with the Fort Hill Players, Ecstasy in the Light in NYC, Three Tall Woman and The Zoo Story in Danbury Connecticut. She has been professionally stage managing for over three years before moving to Westchester to direct.
---------------------------------------------
Last Season YCPTW
produced these fine plays:
(click on title to get more information)
THE FOREIGNER, a comedy by Larry Shue, directed by Elaine Hartel Poritzky, October 2005
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, a comedy by George Axelrod, directed by Chris Arena, March 2006
THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON, a drama by Jason Miller, directed by Brian DeToma, May 2006
