ALBANY – Patrick White, actor, reviewer and founder of Harbinger Theatre, has officially revealed the four-play lineup for the upcoming theater season. For 2024, Harbinger Theatre will produce four plays at four different locations: The Saint Rose Theater, Sand Lake Center For The Arts, Albany Civic Theater, and Albany Barn.
The four plays are “In the Blood” by Suzan-Lori Parks, “The Squirrels” by Robert Askins, the American premiere of “Maggie May” by Frances Poet, and “Into the Breeches!” by George Brant.
New to 2024 for Harbinger Theatre is the debut of a flex plan that allows theatergoers to purchase up to four tickets for $50 to see any show.The buyer can use all four tickets to see one show or split them up to see each play.
“We want to knock down everyone’s resistance to why they don’t go to the theater, and if someone says that I can’t afford theater, you absolutely can,” White said. “We wanted to offer the subscription to help build a relationship with our audience. We want to know who these people are who are investing in us and we want to be their theater providers, and they’re our audience and we want to build that relationship.”
Flex subscriptions are available by emailing [email protected] or making a Venmo payment to @HarbingerTheatre.
About the plays
“We’re doing Capital Region premieres,” White said. “We just felt that we wanted to do stuff that people have never seen before.”
Harbinger Theatre will begin their season with “In the Blood,” directed by TJ Collins. The play, to be held at The Saint Rose Theater from March 14-23 with a free preview on March 13, is based on the story of Hester, a single homeless woman of five children who lives under a bridge and struggles to care for her family. White calls it “very theatrical, timely and relevant.” Although The College of Saint Rose will close its doors in May, the theater will remain open.
“It’s actually our first time performing at Saint Rose, and when they announced that they were closing, I was worried, but we’re going ahead and we’re going to be able to do it.” Patrick added.
“The Squirrels”
“Well, I just posted the audition notice for ‘The Squirrels,’ and I’m getting a lot of feedback, and a lot of actors who I’ve not worked with so that’s exciting,”White said.
“The Squirrels,” directed by White, will be held from June 21-30 with a free preview on June 20, at Sand Lake Center for the Arts. The play is based on Scurius, the patriarch of a family of gray squirrels who have collected enough nuts to last 10 winters. When a group of starving fox squirrels begs Scurius to share his hoard of food, animosity erupts into a war amongst the squirrels.
“The Squirrels” is making its Capital Region debut, and according to White, is all about class warfare. He said it will feature a cast of 10 people portraying squirrels, and he would like to incorporate a dance movement in the play.
“People say, ‘Oh you’re gonna do a story about income and inequality featuring squirrels,’ and we’re like, ‘Yep, you’ve never seen anything like this before’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we never have,’” he said.
White is holding auditions for “The Squirrels” on Feb. 19 and 20, located at 319 Hamilton St., Albany, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
“Maggie May”
Harbinger Theatre and the Albany Civic Theater are co-producing the American debut of “Maggie May” at Albany Civic Theater from Sept. 5-21 with a free preview on Sept. 4. The play will also include three weekend showings and have matinee showings.
This is the first time that both theater companies will team up to co-produce a production. As the play is also going to be a part of ACT’s season, both companies are going to split the cost and profits of the play 50/50. White is excited to work with the theater company on the co-production of the play that holds special meaning to his life.
“Maggie May,” based on Rod Stewart’s song, is about a woman who suffers from dementia and how the woman’s family and friends deal with her illness and continue their relationships with the person that they’ve loved all their lives. As a means of connecting withher, the people play pop music from the ’70s, which reverts the woman back to her days of living as a teenager dancing and singing to the music that brings her joy.
A year and a half ago, White’s mother died from dementia. He said he found the play to be very comforting, affirmative and hopeful.
White hopes that patrons who watch “Maggie May” can relate to its subject matter: elder care, getting older, knowing someone who had dementia, and figuring out how to plan for the future.
The Origins of “Maggie May”
“Maggie May,” written by Frances Poet, was originally performed in London, and the performance received four- and five-star reviews. Harbinger Theater is the first theater company in the United States to co-produce the play..
White said he obtained the rights of the play by luck.
“I probably picked it up when we (White and his partner Chris Foster) visited London when we were seeing plays last year. I picked it up in a bookshop and just read it and was blown away by it,” White recalled. “It really spoke to me, and then it went through the whole selection process and I looked in the play to see how to get the rights.”
White contacted the agent and began the process. After the negotiations and the deal was made, White asked Poet if Harbinger Theatre was the first company to have the rights to the play and Poet said yes.
“We’re the first company in America to be able to do it right here in Albany, and I think that’s amazing,” White said.
“Into the Breaches!”
“Into the Breaches!,” the last play of the season, will be shown at Albany Barn from Nov. 8-17 with a free preview Nov. 7. The play, directed by Lauren D’Annibale, is about a woman who takes over her husband’s theater company in Rhode Island while he is off fighting in World War II. She produces an all-female rendition of Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth in which all the women take over the male roles in the production. The women turn to theater to lift their spirits and comfort themselves during times of war.
“It will be a lot of fun too with women playing men,” Patrick said. “It’s gonna be a blast.”
White and his play selection team were impressed by the play but were unable to obtain the right last year. The committee asked again and were granted rights for the 2024 season.
White is thrilled to have D’Annibale, also a College of Saint Rose alumni, direct the play. D’Annibale became involved with Harbinger Theatre when the company was founded two years ago and the college had closed down their theater program. White is excited for her return to direct “Into the Breaches!”
Plans for 2025
White will soon meet with his play selection committee of 10-12 members to begin picking shows for 2025. White, who also teaches acting classes, will sometimes choose plays based on what he is teaching in his classes, in addition to the committee’s recommendations. The committee reads over 20 plays before whittling it down to their final selections.
In the two years since Harbinger Theatre’s founding, more than 100 different actors have taken part in its productions. White said he remains in awe of the amount of talent in the Capital Region.
White said community theater in the Capital Region continues to grow.
“As it grows, not just Harbinger, but the companies throughout the Capital Region, new work is being done and there are new actors and new ideas, new spaces, and new companies are gonna grow and it’s a very exciting time in Capital Region theater,” he said.
For more information, contact Patrick White at [email protected]
This story was featured on page 3 of the January 17th , 2024 print edition of the Spot
