By JORDAN KINZLER

This weekend and last, North American Cultural Laboratory Theatre (NaCl, yes-that's the formula for salt) is hosting the first ever Catskills Experimental Theatre Festival in Highland Lake. Currently running through August 13, the festival features avant-garde performances from NaCl and a host of other acclaimed performers, workshops, collaborative forums, cabaret and even a dance party.

Housed in the former Catskill Actors Theatre, NaCl was founded and is currently run by a nucleus of three core members, artistic director Brad Krumholz and troupe performers Allison Waters and Tannis Kowalchuck. Their aim is to help foster the development of unique and challenging, yet accessible, theatrical work. In addition, the team handles all administrative affairs, placing emphasis on the maintenance of a creative decision-making process in which the group's artistic aims are prioritized.

	TRR photo by Jordan Kinzler NaCl members perform a scene from Arca Nova. (Click for larger image)

NaCl's work is rooted in various physical/vocal awareness tra-ditions. The actors rely on the development of conscious movement and vocals; however, they also incorporate music, a surreal aesthetic sense and sources of traditional mythology and cosmology.

"When you consider the rich legacy of our culture's experimentations with and explorations into the unknown, it becomes clear that the kind of theater we are working with is not really weird at all, but actually a very normal, necessary part of that history of development," said Krumholz. "I don't believe that theater has been given the chance to evolve as many other art forms have. There is a whole world of new possibilities which we are discovering with our work, and we hope that people will want to come and share in this experience."

	TRR photo by Jordan Kinzler Troupe members Brad Krumholz and Pamela Samuelson, left, in the NaCl residence kitchen. (Click for larger image)

Having spent the summer in the old boarding house next to the theater, NaCl members have had the chance to become familiar with the local spirit. Krumholz said that everyone he's come to know has been warm-hearted, generous and inquisitive. "From what I have seen, people in this area are very comfortable with themselves," he said. "They're just content to be who they are. It's a refreshing change from the city, where so many people try really hard to come across as being something they're really not."

Krumholz said that people he encounters often seem concerned about NaCl's chances for survival in the local economy. He's not particularly worried, however, because the theatrical work goes on with or without an audience, thanks to the availability of grants and the group's work in New York City.

	TRR photo by Jordan Kinzler At right, NaCl core members Brad Krumholz, Allison Waters and Tannis Kowalchuck. (Click for larger image)

"This theater is for people who are willing to be open," he said. "The key is to relax and not worry about where the performance is taking you, to allow yourself to experience its fullness even though you don't immediately understand it. Sometimes it can just be enough to create and experience beauty."

NaCl will host five different shows from Thursday August 10 through Sunday August 13. It will also host evening cabarets, a Saturday workshop entitled "Group Songs in Harmony" and a dance party following the Saturday night performance of "ASPHIXIA and Other Promises."

For information and reservations call 845/557-0694, or visit them on-line at www.nacl.org.