It is not often you’re able to recreate a famous battle in a play on the same grounds on which it occurred, but members of the production The Last of the Mohicans will have the opportunity to do just that for the second year.
Steve O’Connor, a Colonie resident, the producer of the play and the man who also plays General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, said it all started when Michael Dufault vacationed in Lake George every summer and decided the spot would be great to put on a play.
`He adapted it to stage,` he said. `From what I understand, he never found another stage adaptation of the story. It had been a television series, it was on Masterpiece Theater, it was a cartoon and had two movies, but it was never a stage play.`
It still took a few more years to get the play under way. Five years ago, Dufault put together a board of re-enactors and local historians in the Lake George area to help formulate the script. A couple of years later, they had their first reading of the script onstage, which then attracted some investors who provided funding for the production. It soon became a part of the hotel occupancy tax in Warren County and began receiving funding.
`Three years ago, we did selected scenes of it for free for the public in Sheppard’s Park and it was very well received,` said O’Connor.
The production ran for six nights last year, with every night filled to its 300 seat capacity. O’Connor said they even put out extra seats to accommodate the demand. This was probably because the 23 person cast is able to use horses, cannons, torches and firearms, without ammunition, in their production.
Nature serves as the backdrop for the play. O’Connor said the only part that needed to be built was a cave for one scene in the play and the faCade for Fort William Henry. It is very exciting to act outdoors, O’Connor said, especially on the grounds where the history was made.
`It’s very fulfilling to play a historical character on the ground they actually walked on,` he said, recounting having to walk by Montcalm’s portrait each night before going on stage. `It was kind of eerie in a way. I hope I did him justice. The other actors who play historic people who were killed in the massacre feel the same way.`
The Town of Colonie has quite the presence in the play as well. Jonathan and Dan Hernandez, sons of Deputy Supervisor Nancy Hernandez, star in the play. Jonathan Hernandez takes the role of Uncas, the young Native American that is the love interest of Lt. Col. George Monro’s daughter, Cora. Dan Hernandez plays a Huron warrior named Reed that Bends.
Jonathan Hernandez, 25, said he was returning home from New York City after working as a marketing director for an architecture firm and was looking at local plays to get involved with. He had been involved in theater earlier in his life and performed in various mediums when attending Northeastern University in Boston. When he saw the production of Last of the Mohicans and that the location was in Lake George, he knew he had to act on it.
`I’m a big fan of the story line and I’m usually going to Lake George every summer,` he said, adding that he unfortunately couldn’t make it up there last year. `I knew I needed to be apart of it and Steve O’Connor gave me an audition.`
Hernandez said he originally thought he was auditioning for the part of Mogwai, the antagonist in the story, which he said would have been stepping out of his usual element of being the fun-loving good guy. He soon learned that the position had been filled but he would be taking the role of Uncus, which he said fits him better.
`My own personalities and characteristics fit Uncus very well,` he said. `I actually enjoy the role and prefer it now. I can fill that role a lot better than Mogwai.`
He’s excited to take part in an outdoor production, he said, because he feels it is a lot more interesting for the audience. There are actual mountains in the backdrop, which Hernandez said is rare in most plays.
`It is so awesome,` he said, adding that it is a much more involved experience for the audience. `You are in the set of the production, which is very different from sitting in an auditorium.`
O’Connor also has several of his family members participating in the play. His wife is the costumer, his son, Adam O’Connor, is the sound designer along with his friend, Jason Parkis, who does the special effects.
O’Connor said this play fills a gap of the availability for families to be entertained on an outdoor stage. He said since the crowd is mainly made up of tourists during the summer they are able to put on the same production each year.
The play will run from July 29 till Aug. 20 and will play of Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 65 and older, $15 for children from 4 to 12 and free for children under four. O’Connor said it is a great deal, especially with how much other things may cost in Lake George.“