Photos Courtesy of Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater Season, a creative product of Vassar College is where you can be in the front row of the next big hit! Each summer, for six weeks starting in late June, Powerhouse puts on a fantastic season of plays, musicals, free reading, and training programs. Annually, Powerhouse brings together some of today’s most influential theatrical voices and welcomes the next generation of theater artists as members of this renowned training program.
This summer’s Powerhouse Season will be presented at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY from June 21 through July 28, 2024. For more information, visit vassar.edu/powerhouse
Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater presents groundbreaking new works for the American theater, with countless subsequent productions in New York City, regionally and internationally. Since 1985, Powerhouse has welcomed artists and students of the highest caliber to the Vassar College campus from Lynn Nottage to John Patrick Stanley and from Taylor Mac to Sarah DeLappe.
Powerhouse strives to nurture passionate theater lovers from students to professional practitioners and audience members. Together, these blossoming members can learn from one another. The Powerhouse Theater Training Program provides aspiring theater professionals a chance to immerse themselves in acting, directing, and playwrighting. Throughout the program’s run, there will also be free performances for the public to enjoy. Initially established as a joint endeavor with New York Stage and Film, Vassar College continues to produce The Powerhouse Season, alongside new partnerships with theater institutions and individual artists. Together, a community is created giving time, space, and voices to the artists of the American theater.
This summer’s program features play workshops such as Absolute Zero, a lesbian spy-thriller, Messy White Gays, a murder comedy, and readings of works such as This Place is Definitely Haunted, following several groups in haunted locations and the desire to scare the living daylights out of ourselves and each other, Possessed, a dramedy dealing with mental illness, and the idea of leaving home, Holes in the Shape of My Father, which explores the nuances of boys who grew up without a father, and more. The Training Company will also present two classic Shakespeare plays, The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night, and a brand new Soundpainting production We Are Gathered Together, which will be an ensemble-based improvised show, and more.
Photo by Buck Lewis courtesy of Powerhouse Theater
Photo by Buck Lewis courtesy of Powerhouse Theater
Notably, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and Stephen Karam’s The Humans—the 2016 Tony® winners for Best Musical and Best Play, respectively—received early development at Powerhouse, as did two daring new works that were named finalists for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. They are joined by dozens of other celebrated projects.
Come see for yourself!
Photo by Buck Lewis courtesy of Powerhouse Theater
Photo by Buck Lewis courtesy of Powerhouse Theater
Take Amtrak to Powerhouse Theater
Experience Powerhouse Theater via Amtrak to Poughkeepsie Station—Don’t forget to use Amtrak’s See New York and Save 15% discount!
Get picked up from Poughkeepsie Station and taken to your reserved NYTRAIN Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Click here to reserve your car or call the Poughkeepsie office today at: (845) 485-2222.
