NORTH BENNINGTON – Many years ago, when Living Room Theatre co-founder and artistic director Randolyn Zinn imagined a professional theater company of her own, she might not have considered how enduring it could become, given the short life span of such endeavors and their increasingly difficult future outlook.
And yet, today, Zinn watches the sun set on the farm house she and her husband, LRT co-founder Allen McCullough, own on the grounds of the Park-McCullough Historic Mansion estate. There, she prepares to launch LRT’s 2025 production, “Get It Right,” which she has written, and whose world premiere she will direct starting July 23.
The endurance of LRT, and it’s improbability, isn’t lost on her, as ticket sales alone cannot sustain the performing arts.
“That LRT is small with a limited season contributes to its longevity,” Zinn said. “A major factor is that the community is committed to our survival. This season we received a challenge grant from Alison Nowak and Robert Cane, as well generous donations from our supporters, without whom we couldn’t do these shows.”
The Fund for North Bennington, Zinn continued, has provided grants for many years, and this time there will be two interns: Aidan Ellison, recently graduated from Bennington College, and Lily Hutchinson, a rising Princeton sophomore who grew up in North Bennington.
Raquel Friedman Vargas, a founding member of the theater company, said that LRT has stood the test of time because of many factors a professional stage covets.
“Its singularly dedicated artistic directors, highly talented actors, unique production style, longstanding relationship to place, and, of course, the support of its audience,” Vargas said. “LRT has a magical recipe for creative longevity, and it relies on the support of the Bennington community.”
Co-founder McCullough was quick to add that quality productions with growth potential also helped.
“Perhaps the other reason LRT survives is our intimate and unusual site-specific productions of exceptional new and classic plays performed and directed by excellent actors,” McCullough said. “We are grateful for the two productions that have moved to New York, most recently ‘Her Name Means Memory,’ that was shown at BAM in 2023.”
McCullough was referring to Zinn’s creative take of Euripides’ “Trojan Women,” which garnered a best world premiere and new play nomination from the annual awards of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association, and shortlisted for the prestigious Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award of the American Theatre Critics Association.
This year’s show, back in the pool
The upcoming production, “Get it Right,” has it origins in source material from Zinn’s graduate school days, but she actually started writing it the day after wrapping LRT’s 2024 season.
The story finds Ivy Foster (Valeri Mudek), a New York playwright, called to Hollywood to interview for a script doctor job on an action film. She meets the two producers of the film, Phil (Rick Howe) and Larry (Allen McCullough), as well as the obnoxious first-time director, Sam (Matt Dallal), and eventually, the movie star, Billy Mason (George Olesky). Along the way, her friend Chloe (Elizabeth Kenney) checks in, as does her ailing mother (Janice Young).
In a world where making the big time is everything, Ivy isn’t sure she wants to play the game. Which begs the question of the audience: Is hitting it big all that it’s cracked up to be?
“That day last year, I opened my laptop and began writing this play for Valeri Mudek, who is now in her fourth show with us,” Zinn said. “Val is an amazing actress, and since meeting her several years ago, I’ve been wanting to give her a leading role.”
Unlike Zinn’s ancient-Greek inspired plays of the past two years, “Get It Right” is set in present day sunny California, offering the audience a different twist from recent seasons.
What will be the same, however, is the staging of the play in the estate’s defunct swimming pool, a stroke of venue genius born of the post-pandemic logistical need for an outdoor setting in 2021, as well as the added benefit of a theater-in-the-round audience experience.
The staging has been wildly popular with audiences, and actors have also found it unique and inspiring.
Elizabeth Kenney, having previously served with LRT as an understudy and a stage manager, is acting this time around, and described the opportunity to perform in an LRT production as “a dream.”
“‘Get It Right’ is a smart, funny, moving piece that examines the dilemmas that artists, particularly female artists, face,” McKenney said. “My character, Chloe, calls for a lot of fun versatility, but she also feels very close to me. I don’t think I’ll ever come across a role quite like this again, and I’ll certainly never be in a production like this again, performing in an empty pool, looking up at an audience. I feel extremely fortunate that I get to inhabit her and help bring this extraordinary play to life.”
McCullough said that the show will also feature music and dance, and this year’s preview teaser is: “How do we create a long car trip in the pool?”
Costumes are by Cynthia Flynt, Music by Michael Chinworth, and scenic design by Seancolin Hankins.
The kitchen as stage
Any preview of an LRT season would be incomplete without mention of the company’s tradition of living and dining together for the better part of a month during rehearsals and production. Nearby community members and longtime devotees also contribute farm-to-table offerings, a practice almost as sacred to locals as securing tickets to a show.
The kitchen is where the LRT artists discuss their work, continuing for hours around the dinner table, and after performances when they still work on the plays, Zinn added. As the nicer weather of summer permits alfresco dining, the troupe continues its give and take begun in the kitchen, under blue Vermont skies.
“Kitchens are a lot like rehearsal rooms because both rooms balance creativity and generosity and end up nourishing everyone involved,” Zinn said. “Audiences will feel the special camaraderie among our actors onstage.”
“Get It Right,” will run from July 23-August 3 at Living Room Theatre, on the estate of the Park-McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion, 1 Park St., North Bennington, Vt. Performances are Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Buy or reserve tickets at: 802-442-5322 or [email protected]
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