Don't Miss: 2016 Living Art Event Melds Theater and Visual Arts

OSSINING, NY – The Ossining Arts Council (OAC) and Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) 2016 Living Art Event, showcasing 24 OAC artworks and five original WCT one-act plays inspired by selected artworks, opened March 4 and was an immediate winner with the sold-out audience, the group reports.

For Ossining resident Franco Mesiti it was his second Living Art Event and he “loved it,” pointing out that “I enjoy watching how performers and writers can take an entire story out of a painting and weave it into life.”

This WCT and OAC Living Art Event runs weekends through March 26 at the Steamer Firehouse Gallery in Ossining, NY; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm; talk-back on Sunday, March 20.

Special performance Thursday, March 17 – buy one $20, get one free.

The Steamer Firehouse Gallery is located at 117 Main St., 2nd Floor in Ossining, NY. Advance ticket sales start at $20. Discounted tickets are available for WCT and OAC members, students, seniors and groups of 5 or bigger. Advance online purchase is strongly recommended: www.wctheater.org or www.ossiningartscouncil.org.

The plays are directed by Howard Lipson, founder of The New Group Theatre and Gryphon Repertory, currently head of the theatre ministry at Christ Church in Tarrytown, NY.

The plays are: 'The Reveal' by Linda Bidwell Delaney; 'Mo and May' by Stephen Hersh; 'Shadows and Light' by Carol Mark; 'All Aboard' by Pat O'Neill; and 'Midnight Kiss' by Angelo Parra. WCT actors are Enid Breis, Christine Fonsale Rogerson, Lucas Kane, James Leeper, Michael Meth, Anthony Romano, Sarah Saltus and Lynne Lori Sylvan.

The art inspiring the plays is by OAC members Helen Arbor Young, Karen Edelmann, Jill Kiefer, Stephen Rengstorf, and Fred Schuback.

Westport resident Stephanie Szostak, a film and television actress, called the event where a docent leads a gallery tour then pauses intermittently to allow the art to spring to life, “unique, original, intimate and delightful.” She “laughed and was touched.”

OAC member Beatrice DiMartino found it a “totally unique idea to turn art into plays” and cheered the plays that “drew you into the situation.”

OAC artist and DJ Jack Ciaramella was “very impressed” by the “special treat” noting that he’d never seen anything like it before.

The event’s writers and organizers said they were similarly pleased with the end results. Carol Mark, one of the writers, said, “It was fantastic.” She noted that for her play, 'Shadows and Light,' “The actors captured the feel, the time period. I felt as if I were in the house I wrote about.”

Alan Lutwin, executive director of WCT called it a heady brew. “It’s a wonderful thing to see. We are so grateful to OAC and its gifted artists for consistently partnering with us to develop these productions. We are also incredibly gratified to have our company of fine actors, writers and directors at WCT who bring these works to life.'

Mark Sarazen, president of the OAC, said the OAC was proud to partner with the WCT in bringing the visual and dramatic arts to Ossining.

Helen Arbor Young, an artist featured in the event and a docent leading the gallery tour, said she always “looks forward to the Living Art Event. I love the way it melds visual art and theatre.”