"A Christmas Carol for Dutchess County"-- Tues. @ Rhinebeck Town Hall!...

Hi all...

You're ALL cordially invited to come see our own twisted version (a
staged, dramatic reading with minimal props) of the holiday Dickens
classic, "A Christmas Carol for Dutchess County"-- this coming
Tuesday, Dec. 21st (my birthday!)...at 7 pm at Rhinebeck Town Hall--
at 80 East Market St. one block of main light in center of village--
three guesses who turns out to be Scrooge in our little version;
lol)...

[also-- tune in today (Fri.) from 5 to 6 pm to hear live radio
play performance of this-- on WVKR 91.3 FM http://www.wvkr.org -- and
if you can't listen then, tune in to hear it Sat. 8-10 am on WHVW 950
AM!]

Note-- if you or anyone you know feels inspired enough to read a
part-- feel free to join us at WVKR studios tomorrow (on third floor
of Vassar College Main Building in back) or at WHVW studios Saturday
morning (at 316 Main St. in Poughkeepsie), k?...

[and we'll also be rehearsing at Rhinebeck Town Hall Tues. starting
at 5 pm; feel free to join us then too!]

So-- let us know if you have any time tomorrow, Sat., and/or Tues. to
help read or make props, folks!...

[...yes, we will be videotaping this, too-- to put on PANDA public
access TV for Northern Dutchess, etc...]

The best birthday present y'all could give me this year-- show up
Tues. (or before) to help on this!...

[have already reached out to some theatrically inclined folks
locally-- but-- could use YOUR help too]

Look it up on Wikipedia-- Dickens wrote original version to make
political point....time for us!...

[note-- check out http://www.CenterforPerformingArts.org -- don't let
our twisted little production of "A Christmas Carol for Dutchess
County" stop y'all from going to see the real thing, courtesy of the
one and only Lou Trapani, Andy Weintraub, et. al. in
Rhinebeck!..."final weekend of performances-- "A Christmas Carol--
Dec. 17-19-- 8 p.m. Friday & Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; next in The
CENTER's Saturday Morning Family Series-- The Puppet People's "A
Christmas Carol"-- 11 a.m. Saturday, December 18"...go see!]

Pass it on...

Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net

[note-- what's below is a rough draft/outline sketch for production--
got story/dialogue ideas?...costume ideas?...set ideas?...any
ideas?...let us know!...ok, it's just a staged, dramatic
reading...but...let us know!]

###############################################

Still hashing out dialogue specifics (ideas anyone?)...but for now this:

Narrator: "Note-- All of the events, characters and institutions in this story tonight-- "A Christmas Carol for Dutchess County"-- are fictional-- and any similarity to any actual events, or institutions is unintentional and purely coincidential.

So-- let's begin-- our play takes place long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away-- in the sleepy little county of Crutches in upstate New York at the early part of the twenty-first century; the setting is the Lardavon 1869 Opera House in Skipperkee-- it's early December, in fact-- and the annual county budget hearing...let's see what the good people of Crutches County are telling the Crutches County government's leadership this evening..."

Tyrone Washington: "My name is Tyrone Washington, I've lived here in Skipperkee for fifty-three years, and I want to tell you why it's important that Crutches County has a Human Rights Commission. Where I work-- at a local retail outlet- I'll keep the name anonymous for now-- I and all of my black co-workers this past fall received a large group of racist emails forwarded to us from our colleagues that were originally from Republican candidate Carl Schmalidino-- and besides this, almost daily for months now, believe it or not, we've had to face near-constant harassment about our skin color-- here and now in 2010. Without a Human Rights Commission here in Smutchess, there is no accountability and no way for us to deal with such insensitivity in the twenty-first century. I some folks think that, with Barack Obama in the White House, that discrimination is a thing of the past, but, as County Legislator Barbara Schmeter-Schmackson recently said during one of the County Legislature meetings, "Let me assure you, racism is alive and kicking in Crutches County."

Ebenezer Steinhooge (on other side of stage): "Bah-- humbug-- special interests; we have to right-size county government here in Smutches County..."

Jose Rodriguez: "My name is Jose Rodriguez, I've lived here in Crutches County for thirteen years; I came here from Mexico looking for work; I was forced to do this (along with many of my neighbors) so that our families could make ends meet-- after the North American Free Trade Agreement made it impossible for our farms to survice. I'm here to tell you that a Human Rights Commission is needed here in Crutches County, still in 2010-- because my children, my wife, and even myself are teased every single day for the color of our skin and for where we came from. If you don't think a Human Rights Commission is needed in Crutches County, please come to my neighborhood and talk with my family and our neighbors-- it's not just us-- all of our kids get picked on, teased, and bullied mercilessly daily in our schools-- aside from what we adults ourselves have to deal with in our jobs. Our county's Human Rights Commission has done a great job reaching out to our community-- to make sure there's communication between us and the police, and to make sure we know we are welcomed here. Please don't end what the Commission has been doing-- have a heart and do what's right for all of us here in Crutches County. We all deserve to have our human rights protected-- no matter what color our skin is."

Ebenezer Steinhooge (on other side of stage): "Hm.... Rodriguez... Rodriguez...rings a bell.....Rodriguez...don't recall any campaign contributions from any Jose Rodriguez-- bah-- humbug- special interests..."

Alice Stevens: "Good evening-- my name is Alice Stevens; I've been living in LaGrange for thirty-six years now; forgive me; I'm a little nervous; I've never spoken before in public at an event like this...But the reason why I'm here tonight is to impress upon you how important it is that our county's Human Rights Commission be allowed to continue to do the important work they've been doing for over three decades now-- not just fighting against discrimination over race issues-- but also effectively addressing unfair treatment of women. Yes, women-- here and now in 2010, folks. And it's not just me-- how do I know this? Because, due to my contacting the Human Rights Commission, I learned that it wasn't just me being discriminated against at my job (I work at a local manufacturing plant; I'll leave the name out for now)-- I also found out, thanks to the Commission, that literally dozens of other women at my job have made similar complaints over the years about being harassed, treated unfairly, and passed over for promotions in favor of lesser qualified, lesser experienced, lesser educated, lesser able male co-workers rising above us. On a national level, the Equal Rights Amendment still hasn't been added to our Constitution, forty years after the 70's began-- but here locally in Crutches County, the very least we can do to stand up for the rights of women, people of color, and all of us, is to keep our Human Rights Commission standing-- and standing strong."

Ebenezer Steinhooge (on other side of stage): "Bah-- humbug-- special interests...."

[...plus......testimony at budget hearing from these twelve below (each time with Steinhooge bah-humbugging at end]

My name is Erica Monroe (senior discriminated against)

My name is Martha Sanborn (disabled discriminated against)

My name is Rudy Gerrickson (gay discriminated against)

My name is Joan Hodges (lesbian discriminated against)

mother of someone cycled in and out can't get GED program at county jail

mother of troubled teen re: Project Return Youth Bureau

mother of troubled teen
Mediation Center's program for juvenile delinquency prevention

senior from Millerton

senior from Pawling

senior from nursing home (senior home care program at county Health Department)

consumer who got ripped off by home constactor (Office of Consumer Affairs)

heroin addict Lexington Center

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act II [setting: Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel-- Dec. 22nd-- Ebenezer Steinhooge crowing with campaign donor cronies and GOP leadership of Crutches County Legislature-- Cob Ruleson, Scary Scooper, Evangelica Fleeceland, and Stale Boorchart-- crowing on their efforts to out-Norquist Norquist (and shrink county government until it can be drowned in a tub-- 28 county employees being laid off this holiday season...

[visit from Ghost of Christmas Past (moderate GOP President "Ike"
Eisenhower-- unafraid to tax the rich)-- warns Steinhaus of corrupt
government-contractor complex-- rife with kickbacks, conflicts of
interest]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act III [setting: Poughkeepsie-- low-income housing projects--
Christmas Eve early evening]-- Ghost of Christmas Present (FDR)
brings Steinhaus (like Scrooge in the original, invisible to those in
the real world) to see poor folks, seniors, youth with love and joy
in their hearts, families pulling together to celebrate holiday
around dinner meal-- with warmth demonstrable in souls despite huge
budget cuts...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act IV [setting: Steinhaus home in Pleasant Valley]-- Ghost of
Christmas Future (Eleanor Roosevelt) brings Steinhaus to see what
Dutchess County could well look like in just a few years unless he
and Co. Leg. GOP majority wake up to their right-wing, tea-party, neocon
idiocy-- a jail quadrupled in size as more and more schools shut down
and effective, preventive, pro-active ATI programs are eliminated,
county senior and youth programs stopped completely, an incinerator
doubled in size, sprawl all over-- and smog getting visibly worse
year by year locally as a result; rampant water pollution across the
county, unchecked and unremediated, and perhaps most importantly,
hundreds more county employees laid off-- leaving the county
workforce only a small fraction of what it once was; practically
every county department fully privatized to GOP crony donors (while
local taxpayers subsidize poverty wages, benefits necessary from DSS
to make up difference for substandard pay in private sector)-- all
this, as county government has gotten smaller and smaller-- while
more and more local homeowners are losing their homes and forced to
move away or become homeless as property taxes have skyrocketed more
and more (GOP inability to make changes in tax system to be more
progressive-- from income tax)...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act V [setting: first in morning at Steinhaus home in Pleasant
Valley-- then press conference in front of County Office Building
later that same day to announce the following]-- Steinhaus wakes up
after his rude awakenings from the three Ghosts-- and a new day truly
is dawning in Dutchess--as our County Executive finally makes public
commitment to fund crucial programs in our county budget fully and
fairly with a county-level income tax (that could also easily,
completely eliminate onerous county property taxes), start a
revolving energy-efficiency/renewable loan fund to help local
homeowners save money on electric bills, create green jobs, and clean
air (as in Babylon and Bedford), catalyze solar farms in all our
communities (as Greene County IDA is doing), fully invest in
microenterprise lending (as Orange County has done), embrace an 85%
recycling goal for the county by 2020 (as recommended by Clearwater
and Sierra Club), hold local financial institutions publicly
accountable for their investment in our communities (as Philadelphia
and Los Angeles are doing, and as recommended by the Northern
Dutchess Alliance), put into place campaign finance reform here in
Dutchess on a county level- a $100 limit on donations to county
officials or candidates from companies who do business with the
county as in Rockland (and as recommended by the Poughkeepsie
Journal)-- and enact the crucial re-entry programs in our community
proven to be effective in cutting recidivism, lowering jail
overcrowding, and protecting public safety (as in Newark, Brooklyn,
and Lancaster)...






Act I [setting: Bardavon-- Dec. 2nd annual county budget hearing in
Poughkeepsie]...Steinhaus (Scrooge) repeatedly complaining "bah
humbug" re: "special interests" he's attacked in local papers
describing atrocious impact from his draconian budget cuts...(he's
done this-- over and over again)...

[re: Court-Appointed Special Advocates program for foster children at
Mental Health America of Dutchess County, Cornell Cooperative
Extension of Dutchess County, Hudson River Housing's overnight
shelter program, BOCES Wheels to Work program, Dutchess County Arts
Council, Lexington Center for Recovery, Hudson Valley Mental Health,
the annual veterans celebration at FDR/Wallace Center in Hyde Park,
the sheriff's department, and current, quality 18-B Family Court
assigned counsel program (at least some funding was restored, thx to
Dems pushing GOP Co. Leg., for all of those)]

[...and also re: programs completely eliminated both by Steinhaus and
GOP Co. Leg. majority (Rolison, Cooper, Flesland, et. al.)-- despite
Dem efforts-- Human Rights Commission, Senior Friendship Centers in
Millerton, Pawling, Hyde Park, and Fishkill, our county Health Dept.
home health care program for seniors, Youth Bureau's Project Return
program, Mediation Center of Dutchess County program for troubled
teens, youth mentoring/job training program at Du. Co. Regional
Chamber of Commerce, BOCES' GED program at our county jail, our
county's Office of Consumer Affairs, and our county Health Dept.'s
water lab; county funding decimated as well for Mid-Hudson Library
System, Mill Street Loft, MLK Center, Literacy Connections, Hudson
Valley Mental Health clinics, and Lexington Center for Recovery]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act II [setting: Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel-- Dec. 22nd--Steinhaus
gloating with campaign donor cronies, Rolison, Cooper, Flesland,
Borchert-- on their efforts to out-Norquist Norquist (and shrink
county government until it can be drowned in a tub-- 28 county
employees being laid off this holiday season...

[visit from Ghost of Christmas Past (moderate GOP President "Ike"
Eisenhower-- unafraid to tax the rich)-- warns Steinhaus of corrupt
government-contractor complex-- rife with kickbacks, conflicts of
interest]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act III [setting: Poughkeepsie-- low-income housing projects--
Christmas Eve early evening]-- Ghost of Christmas Present (FDR)
brings Steinhaus (like Scrooge in the original, invisible to those in
the real world) to see poor folks, seniors, youth with love and joy
in their hearts, families pulling together to celebrate holiday
around dinner meal-- with warmth demonstrable in souls despite huge
budget cuts...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act IV [setting: Steinhaus home in Pleasant Valley]-- Ghost of
Christmas Future (Eleanor Roosevelt) brings Steinhaus to see what
Dutchess County could well look like in just a few years unless he
and Co.
Leg. GOP majority wake up to their right-wing, tea-party, neocon
idiocy-- a jail quadrupled in size as more and more schools shut down
and effective, preventive, pro-active ATI programs are eliminated,
county senior and youth programs stopped completely, an incinerator
doubled in size, sprawl all over-- and smog getting visibly worse
year by year locally as a result; rampant water pollution across the
county, unchecked and unremediated, and perhaps most importantly,
hundreds more county employees laid off-- leaving the county
workforce only a small fraction of what it once was; practically
every county department fully privatized to GOP crony donors (while
local taxpayers subsidize poverty wages, benefits necessary from DSS
to make up difference for substandard pay in private sector)-- all
this, as county government has gotten smaller and smaller-- while
more and more local homeowners are losing their homes and forced to
move away or become homeless as property taxes have skyrocketed more
and more (GOP inability to make changes in tax system to be more
progressive-- from income tax)...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Act V [setting: first in morning at Steinhaus home in Pleasant
Valley-- then press conference in front of County Office Building
later that same day to announce the following]-- Steinhaus wakes up
after his rude awakenings from the three Ghosts-- and a new day truly
is dawning in Dutchess--as our County Executive finally makes public
commitment to fund crucial programs in our county budget fully and
fairly with a county-level income tax (that could also easily,
completely eliminate onerous county property taxes), start a
revolving energy-efficiency/renewable loan fund to help local
homeowners save money on electric bills, create green jobs, and clean
air (as in Babylon and Bedford), catalyze solar farms in all our
communities (as Greene County IDA is doing), fully invest in
microenterprise lending (as Orange County has done), embrace an 85%
recycling goal for the county by 2020 (as recommended by Clearwater
and Sierra Club), hold local financial institutions publicly
accountable for their investment in our communities (as Philadelphia
and Los Angeles are doing, and as recommended by the Northern
Dutchess Alliance), put into place campaign finance reform here in
Dutchess on a county level- a $100 limit on donations to county
officials or candidates from companies who do business with the
county as in Rockland (and as recommended by the Poughkeepsie
Journal)-- and enact the crucial re-entry programs in our community
proven to be effective in cutting recidivism, lowering jail
overcrowding, and protecting public safety (as in Newark, Brooklyn,
and Lancaster)...