Ti-Ahwaga Community Players present Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sunday in the Park with George. Inspired by George Seurat’s famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Sondheim’s show revolves around a fictionalized version of the painter and his great grandson.
The two act play feels more like two separate plays with actors playing dual roles throughout. “I think the obvious pairing is that George in both acts is an artist,” said musical director Chris VanDerwerker. “I almost want to say struggling artists, but he's not struggling financially, but he's struggling in the sense that he's a really deep passion for art. But he's trying to figure out how to make that work in the real world.”
This musical also uses several technical techniques to tell the full story. “We knew it would be quite a technical challenge when we first took this on,” said VanDerwerker. “If you've been to the Ti-Ahwaga space before, there's not a fly rig up in the ceiling. We don't have separate wings. We don't have full proscenium curtains that we can drop and hide things or a floor that opens up with a ton of trap doors. So we have quite a bit of fun running around on stage to kind of take the place of what would be more like automated technical aspects.”
Sunday in the Park with George presented by the Ti-Ahwaga Community players runs June 14th to June 30th at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center in Owego.
Watch Bill Snyder’s full interview with Chris VanDerwerker below.