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April 15, 2022 by Tony Kostecki Leave a Comment

Seagle Festival’s 2022 Stage Directors give insight into the shows

For this Seagle Festival blog entry, we thought our readers might enjoy learning about our shows from a different angle than we usually take – through the lens of our stage directors.

Richard Kagey, Seagle Festival’s long-time Director of Productions, will take on directing the double bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini, with performances July 20-23, as well as the new American opera Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce, which will show August 3-6.

Meaghan Deiter, who returns for a second season this year, will direct our two musicals: Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman, with performances July 6-9, and Once Upon a Mattress by Mary Rodgers, with performances August 17-20.

We asked both Richard and Meaghan to answer a few questions.

Meaghan Deiter & Richard Kagey

How do you prepare to direct shows like these?

Richard (on Puccini): With any Puccini opera you must listen carefully to the score. Not just the vocal lines – but the music when there is no singing. Puccini writes in his music exactly what he expects the moments to be on stage. I have learned over the years to not follow his musical direction complicates the story telling.

Meaghan (on Hello, Dolly!): While I’ve not directed the show before, I’ve performed in it and seen a Broadway revival, so it’s a show I’m quite familiar with. That said, approaching a piece as an actor is very different than approaching it as a director.

I started by rereading the script and noting anything that caught my imagination regarding major themes. I tried to let it speak to me as if I hadn’t read it before, and then jotted down anything that felt interesting, important, confusing, inspiring, etc.

And then I read it again. This time I zeroed in on the setting and timeline. It’s important to have a clear understanding where each scene takes place and how we get from point A to point B throughout the entire show. I read it slowly and took notes to make sure I stacked the blocks correctly.

From there, I read it again! This time around, I took close notes on costume considerations, props, scenic needs, etc. I also started to sketch big picture ideas for staging.

The next step involves meeting with the designer to start building the world of this production together. This is where we are currently for the summer season. We are meeting about sets and costumes and beginning to lock in decisions.

Some famous “Dolly’s” L-R- Carol Channing (the original), Pearl Bailey, and Barbara Streisand

Working with the singers is the final step. I like to schedule a few book reads ahead of starting staging, so that we can explore the themes of the show and the character motivations together.

[Read more…] about Seagle Festival’s 2022 Stage Directors give insight into the shows

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March 15, 2022 by Tony Kostecki Leave a Comment

Meet the 2022 Seagle Festival Emerging Artists

The 2022 Seagle Festival Emerging Artists. L-R and Top to Btm: Elias Aguirre, Justine Alexander, Amaan Atkins, Andrianna Ayala, Willie Casper, Jenna Rose Cipolla, Joel Clemens, Abraham Isai Cruz, Annika De Jonge, Samuel Enriquez, Nicholas Fahrenkrug, Julia Fertel, Emily Finke, Grace Heldridge, Hannah Jones, Daniel Laverriere, Daniel Esteban Lugo, Nathaniel Malkow, Sergio Mandujano, Mario Manzo, Kate Morton, José Olivares, Adam Partridge, Lindsey Polcyn, Grace Reberg, Shannon Richards, Jasmine Rodriguez, Jazmine Saunders, Anna Thompson, William Thompson, Tiffanie Trujillo, Thomas Valenti

Seagle Festival is excited to introduce the 2022 Seagle Festival Emerging Artists. These 32 artists will be in residence at Seagle Festival for nine-weeks during our 107th Anniversary summer season. Here’s some interesting information about these talented young singers.

How were the artists chosen?

Every year, Seagle Festival’s General Director Tony Kostecki, and Artistic Director Darren Woods embark on a rigorous application and audition process to select the Seagle Festival emerging artists. For this cycle, the application process began November 1, 2021. All interested artists applied through an online service used by many opera companies across the country called YAP Tracker. YAP stands for Young Artist Program. The application gathers information like what experience they have, who their teachers are, where they go to school, and more. They also upload their professional resumes, headshots, and video recordings of themselves performing. The application also gathers some financial information to help inform what kind of scholarship they may need.

In a typical year, the application also allows them to request a live audition in one of several locations across the county where Tony and Darren travel to hear auditions in person. The video recordings serve as a screening tool since every year Seagle Festival has between 300-400 applicants, with only around 200 live audition times across the various locations, and only 32 selected for the summer. This year, because of the omicron variant, the Seagle Festival January 2022 live audition tour was unfortunately cancelled.

Because of the cancellation of the audition tour, Tony and Darren, along with Seagle Festival Director of Productions Richard Kagey, took several days to review all the submitted video recordings in lieu of the live auditions. While not the same as hearing these artists live, the advances in video technology over the past numbers of years thankfully allowed Darren, Tony and Richard enough information to narrow down the field to the 32 artists selected to participate this summer.

[Read more…] about Meet the 2022 Seagle Festival Emerging Artists

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June 3, 2021 by Tony Kostecki Leave a Comment

Harmony – A World Premiere Opera

Seagle Festival is excited to present the WORLD PREMIERE of the brand new opera HARMONY by Robert Carl & Russell Banks!

Set in Keene Valley, NY, with numerous Adirondack references, our world premiere opera tells the story of young composer Charles Ives, his love for high-class Harmony Twichell, and the interference of Twichell family friend Mark Twain in their betrothal – the opera is based on true events.

For a full synopsis of the opera CLICK HERE.

The creation of HARMONY began after Robert Carl picked up a copy of Russell Bank’s novel “Rule of the Bone” and later learned that Russell was married to Ives’ grandniece, the poet Chase Twichell. Intrigued by the partnership of Charles Ives and Mark Twain, the two began their own partnership in writing and composing this new opera.

[Read more…] about Harmony – A World Premiere Opera

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April 7, 2021 by Tony Kostecki 12 Comments

Live-Stream Performances & Ticketing FAQ’s

As Seagle Festival begins selling tickets for its 2021 series of live-streamed performances, we know there are many questions people have about the how’s and why’s of this summer – especially since this season is so very different from our past in-person seasons. So, we put together answers to some frequently asked questions. If you have a question that’s not answered here, feel free to comment below, or contact us at (518) 532-7875 or info@seaglefestival.org.

Q: What is a live-stream performance?

A: In live-stream performances like Seagle Festival will be producing this summer, artists are performing live on-stage, in our case at the Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater. Their performance is captured by cameras and microphones, and that information is sent directly to the internet in real time. From there, audience members who have logged in to watch the live-stream on their computer, laptop, smartphone, etc., receive the information from the internet in real-time and watch the capture on their screens. You can think of it as a live TV broadcast like your local news, but using different technology.

Q: How is a live-stream different than an on-demand video, or something on Netflix?

A: On-demand videos, or shows like you watch on Netflix or other online content providers, are playing a pre-recorded version of the show. In a live-stream, the performance of the show is happening at the same time the show is being watched online.

Q: Why produce live-streams and not on-demand content?

A: Seagle Festival’s decision to offer live-stream performances for 2021 is most directly related to our mission. While virtual performances will never replace the experience of live theater for both performers and audience members, offering live-streamed performances will most closely replicate a live performance for both performers and audiences. Our mission to bring quality performances to our audiences and offer exceptional training and performance experiences to our artists drove us to this decision.

Q: Are there examples of live-streamed performances?

A: The most well-known examples of live-streamed performances, especially in our field, are the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD performances seen in movie theaters across the country. These performances, happening in NYC on the Met’s stage, are live-streamed to screens around the world. Often, the recordings of these performances are then re-broadcast later in the week at the same theater, or are available on-demand via the Met’s website.

[Read more…] about Live-Stream Performances & Ticketing FAQ’s

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Recent Blog Posts

  • Seagle Festival’s 2022 Stage Directors give insight into the shows
  • Meet the 2022 Seagle Festival Emerging Artists
  • Harmony – A World Premiere Opera

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