The boy who wouldn’t grow up lights the stage"
Othello’s dark tale unfolds



NEW SCOTLAND – Community theater draws people together, says Ed Bablin of the Classic Theatre Guild.

The four-year-old guild will perform Othello and Peter Pan as part of the first outdoor Helderberg Theater Festival at Indian Ladder Farms this weekend and next.

The English plays bookend three centuries – the early 1600s to the early 1900s – and embrace two genres – the adventurous comedy and the weighty tragedy.

Bablin hopes the festival, which is free to the public, will become an annual event.

Bablin is the producer for both Othello and Peter Pan and has been involved in theater for 35 years, he said.

He remembers acting in A Christmas Carol when he was 9. His sister was involved in the production, he said, and the cast needed boys to fill the parts of the Cratchit sons.
"I got hooked, and have been doing it ever since," Bablin said of his passion for theater.
"I’ve done pretty much all aspects of theater," he said. "A good producer has to do everything" You have to be a jack-of-all-trades."
Theater is a "transitory art," said Bablin. It just happens at the moment, he said. "That’s kind of the magic of it."

In the four years of its existence, the Classic Theatre Guild has grown in popularity, Bablin said. Both the town and the village have responded positively to the group, he said.
"We’re gaining ground, certainly," Bablin said. "Community theater has to grow with the community."

Never-Never Land

Jane Nielsen has been involved in theater since she was in high school. She joined the guild about a year-and-a-half ago to play Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame, a play she had previously been in, about an eccentric woman raising the son of her deceased brother.

She is now directing the upcoming production of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie’s classic about a boy who wouldn’t grow up.

Nielsen enjoys directing children, she said, because she likes to teach them basic things about being in front of people, such as looking at the audience and not speaking too fast.
"I find they’re creative, they’re honest, they’re fun," Nielsen said of the children, adding that they are "very teachable."

Nielsen’s cast of 35 includes four adults and 31 children between the ages of 7 and 15. The group has been rehearsing since early May.

Jolie Siegel, 13, and her sister, Phoebe, 9, are excited about their roles in the production. Jolie plays Tiger Lily, and Phoebe is Panther. Their sister, Chloe, plays a Lost Boy.
"It’s a lot of fun," Jolie told The Enterprise about acting.
Nielsen used to teach at a small school district that housed all the grades in one building; there she directed three elementary-school productions. She enjoys showing the children that they can do anything, she said. "I like to give them the full ride," she said.

She likes to see the kids perform in front of an audience. She also enjoys their reaction, and the reaction of those in attendance, she said.
The actors will frequently come off stage after a performance, and say that audience members told them, "You did a great job – I don’t think I could have done it," said Nielsen. "That’s really cool.
"I think some of them are in for a real treat when they start doing it in front of the audience," she said.
Nielsen believes that her cast is well prepared for the upcoming performances. "The worst thing I could do is put them on the stage ill rehearsed," she said.
"We have addressed nerves," Nielsen said, adding that she advised them to turn nervousness into energy.
"That’s the only way you can have fun on stage – when you’re no longer worried," she said.

"The green-eyed monster"

Kathleen Broadus is a 19-year-old theater major at the University at Albany. She is directing the Classic Theatre Guild’s production of Othello, and is also playing the role of Roderigo.
"It is the tragedy of Othello, general of Cypress," said Bablin of the play.

The play tells the story of a noble Moor who elopes with the daughter of a Venetian senator but is ultimately twisted by his jealousy and, unfairly believes her to be unfaithful and kills her.
The Classic Theatre Guild had done three comedies in a row, Bablin said. "We decided we should do a tragedy," he said, adding that Broadus had expressed interest in Othello.
"I love Shakespeare," Broadus told The Enterprise. "I’ve been reading Shakespeare since I was 9. Othello was the first one I read."

Akil J. Sandy, who plays Othello, and Dan Dudden, who plays Iago, provide "an incredible centerpiece to the play," said Broadus.
The show is "shaping up really well," Bablin told The Enterprise. "It’s going to be a wonderful tragedy," he said excitedly.
"I think she’s done a very good job," Bablin said of Broadus, who is originally from Loudonville.
"When I was 19, I could barely spell my own name," Bablin joked. "She’s a very accomplished actor and director," he said.