An impression for voices

HIGHLAND LAKE, NY — Salon Sessions continues at NACL Theatre on Thursday, February 8 with a presentation of “Under Milk Wood,” by Dylan Thomas. This poetic “play for voices,” as Thomas called it, portrays the fantastical and hilarious doings of the inhabitants of a small Welsh seaside village called Milk Wood. He described it as “an impression for voices, an entertainment out of the darkness, of the town I live in… with lots of movement and varieties of moods, so that, at many levels... you come to know the town as an inhabitant of it.” The play was completed shortly before Thomas’ death in 1953. It was commissioned by the BBC but was first performed in New York City, with Thomas himself directing and reading several parts.

The play begins with the “moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black” and ends on the same spring day, when “the rain of dusk brings on the bawdy night.” Of the play, poet Randall Jarrell wrote, “It would be hard for any work of art to communicate more directly and funnily and lovingly what it is like to be alive.”

“Under Milk Wood” will be read by members of the Upper Delaware Writers Collective (UDWC). Voice One will be read by Cass Collins, who has performed in many plays locally and in New York City, and Voice Two by Tom Lisenbee, an experienced story teller, poet and musician.

Members of the UDWC, based in Narrowsburg, have performed their original poetry in many venues, including the NACL, the Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg, the Blue Victorian in Jeffersonville, Café Roxanna and Port Java in Port Jervis, Poetry on the Loose in Middletown and the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the reading begins at 8:00 p.m. A $5 donation is requested, and a donation bar will also be available.

For more information visit www.nacl.org or call 845/557-0694.