Shakespeare in the Catskills

From April 8 through 28, 2024, Catskill Mountain Shakespeare’s presentation of The Tempest will be on tour throughout the Catskills at various middle schools, high schools, and community venues. Performances open to the public include:

 

·      Prattsville, NY: Prattsville Arts Center, Saturday, April 13, 7:30 pm

·      Mt. Tremper, NY: Emerson Resort & Spa, Sunday, April 14, 2 pm

·      Cairo, NY: Storybrook Hollow, Saturday, April 20, 2 pm and 7:30 pm

·      Margaretville, NY: Open Eye Theatre, Sunday, April 21, 2 pm

·      Delhi, NY: Bushel Collective, Thursday, April 25, 7:30 pm

·      Red Hook, NY: Rose Hill Farm, Friday, April 26, 5:30 pm

·      Hunter, NY: Doctorow Center for the Arts, Saturday, April 27, 7:30 pm

·      Saugerties, NY: Opus 40 Sculpture Park: Sunday, April 28, 1 pm

 

Click here for tickets to the can’t-miss production, headed by founder and artistic director Sarah Reny and managing director Frank Wildermann.

Woodstock Bookfest!

Don’t miss Woodstock’s fun and thought-provoking writer/reader festival, now in its 15^th  year. From Story Slam (this time: “That’s Not What I Meant”) on Thursday evening, 3/21, to Memoir A-Go-Go on Sunday, 3/24, this fest delivers the goods. All events will take place at the historic Bearsville Theater. If you don’t yet have your tickets, link here. Remember, as festival leader Martha Frankel always says, “Reading changes everything.” See you there!

Back to the Garden

In January 2024, Henry Holt and Co. published Stephen McCauley's new book, You Only Call When You’re in Trouble. A blend of family and literary fiction, it centers on the lives of a sixty-something brother (Tom), his sister (Dorothy), and her thirty-four-year-old daughter (Cecily). The novel opens with Dorothy, who has recently moved to Woodstock, NY, preparing to send a momentous email message to Cecily:

 

Dorothy had turned on some music when she sat down to write this email. The designer friends had programmed her cell phone and hooked it up to a speaker system, so even she knew how to put on a playlist. She hadn’t been paying much attention for the past hour, but now, at just the right moment, she heard the familiar clear soprano of 1970s Joni Mitchell. This had been the background music to most of the important moments in her life. It was Mitchell’s iconic song about this town that had given Dorothy the courage to move here. We are stardust, we are golden . . . Impossible not to think of the random appearance of Joni, right here, right now, in her too-sunny living room, as a sign. By the end of the song, she’d send the email.

 

She turned up the volume and started to type.

 

It’s a great book, and I highly recommend it. In the words of Francine Prose, “I read You Only Call When You’re in Trouble at a moment when I needed to be around the intelligence and humanity of the novel’s characters, and I’m still grateful for being so happily entertained and totally engrossed.” New York Times bestselling author Jane Green adds, “I can’t find the words to say how much I love You Only Call When You’re in Trouble. This perfect novel has profoundly moving observations of human nature, emotional acuity, and brilliant insights wrapped up in warmth and wit. I don’t think I will find a book I love more this year.”

 

Dorothy’s email message to her daughter includes the line, “I should have guessed Woodstock was the town I was meant to live in . . . I’ve always known that one way or another, I’d get myself back to the garden.”

 

Other parts of the book occur in Boston and Chicago. The Woodstock setting may have been selected by McCauley largely for its usefulness as a cultural and generational metaphor. But on the other hand, aren’t most of us, wherever we live and whatever our circumstances, trying to get back to the garden?

Experiencing Overlook

View from the Overlook summit

The Town of Woodstock, NY, stands at the foot of Overlook Mountain, the southernmost peak of the Catskill Escarpment—the Catskill Mountains visible from the Hudson River.

Native Americans called the escarpment the Wall of Manitou, named for the Algonquian “Great Spirit.” According to Anita M. Smith in her Woodstock History and Hearsay, “There is a legend that when the Indians were on long marches, they avoided passing through the Wide Clove [the path between Overlook and Mt. Guardian to the west] because Overlook exerted a drag upon their footsteps. It would be necessary for them to camp for a while before they would muster enough strength to continue their journey.”

 

Many generations of Woodstock residents and visitors have felt the spiritual pull of Overlook. In July 1980, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) became the first Karma Kagu monastery to be established in the United States. This Tibetan spiritual center is on the site of the former Mead’s Mountain House, opposite the trailhead to the Overlook summit. Countless other places of worship have also made their homes in Woodstock.

 

Inside the Overlook Mountain House today

The approximately 2.5-mile hike up that trail to the Overlook Fire Tower (close to five miles roundtrip) can be a form of meditation, an excellent workout, a way to enjoy nature—or all three. The view from the fire tower and from the Overlook “lookout” atop the escarpment is spectacular, even on a partially cloudy day. And there is plenty to see along the way: the occasional bear or timber rattler, wildflowers with pollinators, and the skeletal remains of the thrice-built Overlook Mountain House. The latter first opened in 1871 and hosted President Grant two years later but burned to the ground on April Fool’s Day of 1875. It was rebuilt in 1878 and flourished initially but ran into hard times in the 1890s. The most recent iteration was begun in the early 1900s but was never finished, falling victim to the Great Depression. What remains today is a concrete structure, once white but now gray and, in places, embellished with colorful artwork.

Having climbed Overlook Mountain for the first time at age five many years ago, I’ve recently joined a group that hikes it every week. I’m finding that there’s always something new to see and enjoy on the path to Overlook.

 

A bear on the trail

When in Woodstock, be sure to hike the moderately difficult trail to the 3,140-foot Overlook summit. From the Village Green, take  Rock City Road and then Mead’s Mountain Road north for 2.7 miles to the Overlook Mountain trailhead. In winter, use microspikes or crampons, as the trail tends to be icy. During the warmer months, please be respectful of the timber rattlesnakes  (it’s their home, not yours) and keep dogs leashed. Thank you!

~ Julia Blelock