08/20/2020
Bristol Valley Theater, the Finger Lakes’ award-winning live professional theater, will conclude its BVT at Home Series with a virtual performance of the one-woman comedy Bad Dates.
Written by Theresa Rebeck, Bad Dates follows Haley, a divorced mom who decides to dive back into the dating pool, only to find the waters a little fishier than she remembers. There’s plenty to relate to and to inspire laughter along Haley’s quest for companionship, as she wades through bug enthusiasts, a cholesterol counter, the Romanian mob, and 600 pairs of shoes.
In response to New York state mandates prohibiting public performances, Bristol Valley Theater, the Finger Lakes’ award-winning live professional theater, shuttered their summer 2020 season of live performances at the theater in Naples. Instead the theater launched BVT at Home; a series of performances available online, which has been running since June.
“We wanted to keep at least one of our original summer selections as a part of the BVT at Home programming,” said Bristol Valley Theater Executive Artistic Director Karin Bowersock. “ And, since this play has only one actress, and takes place in an NYC apartment, it lends itself beautifully to a digitally filmed production. Liz Wasser– a BVT favorite performer, volunteered to use her own apartment as our location. To ensure that the creation of the production was safe and socially distanced, our director, Kyle Wilson, and set, costume and lighting designers did their jobs through zoom, phone calls, texts, and the U.S. Postal System!”
The design team features set design by Shelley Barish (working remotely from the Boston area), costume design by Samantha J. Miller (working remotely from Charlotte, NC) and lighting design by Annie Garret-Larsen (working remotely from Ridgewood, NY). Stage management duties were split between Meaghan Finlay (New Jersey) and Kassondra Glenn, the actress’s roommate, who is a past BVT stage manager.
“It’s remarkable what a group of creative people can accomplish in a time of crisis!” continued Bowersock. “It’ll take more that a global pandemic to keep BVT artists down!”
Bad Dates will premiere on August 21st and will be available to stream on Broadwayondemand.com for a limited time. Tickets will be sold online only. Further information is available at www.bvtnaples.org
The BVT at Home Series is sponsored by Canandaigua National Bank and Mitchell Joseph Insurance. The 2020 Season Sponsor is Constellation Brands with additional support from the Max and Marian Farash Foundation, The Sands Family Foundation, RiMoRa Foundation, The James P. Gordon Trust, The Fred and Floy Wilmott Foundation, Humanities NY and The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
