Baba Yaga Returns to Poughkeepsie

 

This weekend in POK, come out to hear a staged reading of one of my short Baba Yaga plays, “Baba Yaga and the Land of Forgetting,” as well as poetry “intermissions” featuring local Hudson Valley poets, who will lead the audience through the empty Lady Washington Firehouse in between scenes of the play. It’s going to be creepy and fun! I am working hard on a miniature Baba Yaga hut marionette, made of wire and felt, just for the occasion.

Linda Roper returns as Baba Yaga, after originating the role in May’s performance of “Baba Yaga and the 5 Steps of Hypothetical Grief” in the Poughkeepsie Sculpture Park, and Michele McNally and Mark Stochmal will also be returning to read/perform the roles of “Woman Who is Not Vasilisa” and “Mortimer/Koschei the Deathless.” Myself, I will be reading the part of “Death, Who is a Little Girl.” Gina Samardge and Andy Rinehart will be on hand providing accordion accompaniment.

Poetry will be read and performed between scenes of the play, in the nooks, crannies, and large empty rooms of the historic building by Poet Gold, a phenomenal and inspiring spoken word poet, and her mentees the Evolving Wordsmiths, as well as Glenn Werner of Beacon, NY.

Come out and hear as POK writers read their fears–bonus? It’s free.

You can find out more at www.facebook.com/POKLIT, and at the event page.

Happy Would-Be 130th Birthday, A. A. Milne!

Poem and illustrations from When We Were Very Young, which was published in 1924. Pooh makes his first appearance in this book, in a poem called “Teddy Bear.” Trivia and image lifted shamelessly from Brain Pickings, which daily amazes me with its constant posting, intelligent commentary, and infallible good taste.