^{Rebeca Tomás brings her dance company, A Palo Seco Flamenco, to the Franklin Stage Company as part of their 2023 Summer Season. (Photo by Maly Blomberg)}

Franklin Stage Company Announces 2023 Summer Season

FRANKLIN—The Franklin Stage Company’s 27th season will run from June 30 through August 20.

“We’re thrilled to bring this fantastic season of performance to the Western Catskills,” said Patricia Buckley, artistic director. “We’ve got some returning favorites and some completely new and exciting programming.” 

The season opens with David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy “Good People,” a funny and powerful play about trying to make the American dream a reality, with five shows per week from June 30 through July 16.

“It’s a tale about scrappy characters trying to get out of difficult circumstances, and the results can be very funny,” said Buckley, “but it’s also a heartfelt story of the little guy.”

On July 21-23, FSC presents A Palo Seco Flamenco Dance Company, directed by Rebeca Tomás.

“People loved Rebeca’s work last year with Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana,” said Buckley, “and when we found out she had her own company performing modern, contemporary flamenco, we just knew we had to get her back.”

Founded in 2010, A Palo Seco has been described as employing “lightning fast footwork” and has performed throughout the U.S. at such prestigious venues as Jacob’s Pillow. The next weekend, July 28–30, FSC will feature a return engagement of Julian Fleisher and Band. Fleisher, an FSC audience favorite, brings his four-piece band, performing both original tunes and classics from the Great American Songbook. 

FSC’s final production of the season is a world premiere play by Kyle Bass, which FSC commissioned in 2022. Set at the start of the American Civil War, “Toliver and Wakeman” dramatizes the experiences of two actual historic characters who lived locally. Toliver Holmes was a young black man born into slavery in Virginia who escaped to New York, changed his name to avoid capture, and mustered into the Union Army’s 26th Regiment of Colored Troops, later settling in Delhi. He is also the playwright’s great-great-grandfather. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, a young woman born in Bainbridge, disguised herself as a man and mustered into the Union Army—the 153rd New York State Volunteers—using the alias Lyons Wakeman. 

Franklin Stage Company performs at Chapel Hall, 25 Institute Street, Franklin. Evening shows have a curtain time of 7:30 p.m. and Sunday shows are at 5 p.m. “Good People” and “Toliver and Wakeman” will also have 3 p.m. Saturday matinees. Admission is free—suggested donation is $25.00 per person. Audiences are encouraged to wear masks, but masks are not required.

For reservations, visit www.franklinstagecompany.org or call (607) 829-3700. Programming at the Franklin Stage Company is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.