Scene from "Roadside Attraction." Image courtesy of Third Rail Projects.
Flattened by Hurricane Irene’s floodwaters, feisty little Prattsville is coming back strong -- and even emerging as a hotspot for avant-garde art, thanks to the Prattsville Art Center, a brand-new nonprofit that recently got a major boost from the national nonprofit ArtPlace. This Sunday night, arts mavens and curious onlookers will assemble on Prattsville's green for what may be the first dance-theatre performance here in a century.
"Roadside Attraction" -- written and performed by the quirky, athletic dancers and performance artists of Third Rail Projects -- takes place in and around a vintage 1970s pop-up camper. It's a postcard from the era of eight-track players, Supertramp, and cheetah-print bathing suits, when family vacations went unmolested by handheld electronics and you were free to get lost without annoying the GPS robot. After days and days of joyful family togetherness, Mom dreams herself an avatar capable of acting on her secret desires. A premiere of the piece in Lower Manhattan last month impressed the New York Times's Alastair Macaulay, who wrote that it had "an eloquence that stays in the memory."
The exuberance, angst and hilarity of the piece will be matched by the high spirits of Prattsville’s citizens coming out to see their very own arts center roar to life.
“We were operating for a year without heat, lights or running water. Then we got lucky enough to be one of four rural projects funded by ArtPlace,” says Nancy Barton, NYU arts prof turned Prattsville organizer. "Of course, when they did the site visit, half the town came out...I think they saw how much the community cares."
"Roadside Attraction" by Third Rail Projects. Sunday, July 21, 6pm. Town Green, 14517 Main Street, Prattsville. Free admission. For more information on the piece and bios of the performers, see Third Rail's website.
