Peter Connolly

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                              Mary C. Davis

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                             Chloe Dirksen

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                            Josh Gladstone

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                           Jack Herholdt

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                         David Logan Rankin

Bloodstone Theatrical produces a benefit reading of nationally-recognized Sag Harbor playwright Joe Pintauro’s MEN’S LIVES on Saturday, October 8th at 3pm at the 18th Century Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, between the North and South Forks of
Long Island, New York’s East End.  For directions and tickets see http://www.sylvestermanor.org.

The reading will be part of the annual Plant & Sing harvest festival at Sylvester Manor, the oldest continuously existing plantation in the United States, and a property still under supervision of the original family (in its 13th generation!).  Now an educational, organic CSA farm, Sylvester Manor is also widely known as a cultural center for traditional arts, and in particular the Work Song: songs sung the world around by people while they work.  To this day, Sylvester Manor’s farmers are expert practitioners of this ancient artform.

MENS’ LIVES, adapted from Peter Matthiessen’s moving book of the same name, chronicles the onslaught of modern Hamptons culture on the traditional fishing culture on the East End of Long Island. “Bonackers’, the European families who’ve made a largely subsistence living on these waters for centuries, often use techniques taught to them generations ago by the native Montaukets. While instructive, it is also a tale told with poetry, sensitivity, and the passion that drives these hard lives.

Good for kids 12 and older.

Readers are drawn from Bloodstone Theatrical’s East End company of seasoned professional performers.