NACL attracts full house at double bill

A Review By TOM KANE

HIGHLAND LAKE — Enthusiastic fans of the North American Cultural Laboratory (NACL) swarmed around the former Catskill Actors Theater (CAT) for an outdoor performance and then were crammed into the building for another stunning performance last Saturday evening, August 3.

The performance is part of the group’s Catskill Festival of New Theatre, which will be presented at the theatre from Friday, August 2 to Sunday, August 11.

Besides the NACL group, which is based in New York City, other performers will appear who are from New Orleans, Montreal and Kiev in the Ukraine.

The Saturday night outdoor performance, called “Invisible Neighborhood,” presented a magical world based on the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel Cervantes, a book about a ridiculous demented knight and his equally demented squire that marked the end of the age of chivalry.

As the audience sat around a performance rim drawn in the lawn and others sat on the steps and porch of the former church building that is now the theater, five characters—two women, a monk and two actors on stilts—wielded a strange tale reminiscent of a former age but relevant to today.

It is the story of the struggle between evil and good.

A story-teller begins to tell her story and is interrupted by another female character who speaks mainly in an incomprehensible language.

Then the Don Quixote character appears with an assistant who refuses to play the role of Sancho Panza, Quixote’s squire. Quixote insists on saving the two damsels despite themselves, only to be thwarted by a heinous monster on stilts who menaces the group.

It turns out that the monster is really a gentle female who responds to the others in kind.

The performance is riveting with its admixture of Gregorian chant, a capella singing, Latin language, literary allusions and modern movement.

For three summers now, the experimental theatre group has presented evocative and imaginative productions at the old theater, always to enthusiastic audiences. The group that assembled on Saturday evening were especially enthralled.

The second part of the double bill was a stunning and breath-taking performance entitled “Glimmer” by a group called LAVA, a band of six women who use their physical and intellectual talents to create productions that are rigorous, humorous and totally original.

I was mesmerized by their blend of dizzying circus acrobatics, twirling bodies, post-modern dance, coordinated movement and humorous tricks that defied normal gravity, along with movements of tender affection, all performed before a large screen with projected visuals.

By the time this paper is issued on Thursday, readers can still take advantage of a performance on Thursday, August 1 called “Skin of the Moon” by a group from Montreal beginning at 8:00 p.m.; on Friday, August 9 with a performance called “Nita and Zita” by a group from New Orleans at 8:00 p.m.; on Saturday, August 10 with a performance called “Death of Nations, Part I” by an international group called WOW at 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday, August 11 with a performance called “The Bear” by a group from Kiev in the Ukraine at 8:00 p.m.

For tickets and information, called NACL at 845/557-0694. Tickets for all performances are $15 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and people of low income. The theater is located at 110 Highland Lake Road.