The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Clay & Wattles set for season
BETHLEHEM — Sally Camm, artistic director for the Clay & Wattles Theater Co. along with husband Thomas, recently announced the company’s New York City auditions for “She Loves Me” and “Outside Mullingar” are set for Friday, March 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pearl Studios, 500 Eighth Ave, Room 401. These will be closely followed by Connecticut auditions, all of which are by appointment. Resumes and video clips should be sent to info@thegarytheolivia.com.
The Camms have been planning and producing entertainment at the outdoor theater on the grounds of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem since 2007, when Mother Dolores Hart asked them to take over the theater, which has a history dating back to the 1970s. “The Benedictine order has always included cultural outreach as part of their mission,” Sally Camm said, “and the close presence of nature with 300 acres of a working farm and surrounding abbey land and animals helps to ground the stage and our performers.”
The roofed open-air theater was built in 1986 through active fundraising by Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal, a close friend of Mother Dolores. Neal’s motivation came after lightning struck the tent on the abbey property, where she was performing. The theater was named The Gary The Olivia in honor of Neal’s friend, Gary Cooper, and her daughter, Olivia.
⏩ The 2018 season will open with a cabaret performance on July 15 at 2:30 p.m., featuring cast members of Bock & Harnick’s “She Loves Me,” and performers from past Clay & Wattles productions. This fundraiser for Clay & Wattles Theater Co. will include a wine and cheese reception before the show from 2 to 2:30 p.m. and a chance to meet the 2018 Clay & Wattles cast.
⏩ “She Loves Me” will run from July 28 to Aug. 12. It was originally based on a play by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo with several film incarnations, including “The Shop Around the Corner,” starring Margaret Sullivan and James Stewart in 1940, and “You’ve got Mail,” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in 1998.
⏩ “Outside Mullingar,” which will run Sept. 7 to 16, is an offering by John Patrick Shanley, an American playwright, screenwriter and theater/film director. His play, “Doubt: A Parable,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Here he pays tribute to his Irish roots with a story about two farming families in contemporary rural Ireland living side by side at a generational and emotional crossroads.
Sally Camm is a native of Australia who trained with the Queensland Ballet and the Queensland Theater Co. Thomas Camm, a mainstay in Clay & Wattles productions, studied dance in Boston and at the School of American Ballet in New York City. He has performed as a soloist in the U.S., Austria, Germany and Switzerland and as a featured performer in musicals, operetta and oratorio.
The couple met when Thomas auditioned in New York for a ballet company and Sally auditioned in London for the same ballet company and both were hired. They worked together in European venues, which provided an early understanding of how the dancer or actor impacts the audience.
Sally said the crowd of theater-goers who come to the abbey each summer season have grown to expect a good show with a good story and high production values, so close attention is paid to the perfect costumes, lighting, sound and sets. Her goal for next season is to develop a summer workshop for children, possibly leading to a children’s troupe to be added to the Clay & Wattles playbill. Clay & Wattles Theater Co. is at 249 Flanders Road, Bethlehem. For information, visit thegarytheolivia.com/ wp/events/.