It’s a thrill to be able to write such a celebratory message at the completion of our 2005-2006 season and on the brink of 2006-2007.

In 2005-2006 we were blessed with landmarks for the Theatre and Acting Program: Our move into our first permanent home at 48 Wheeler and the fertile cultural landscape of Pleasantville, the first full year of service of our fantastic Managing Director, Neil Mautone, the presentation of our first company-created full length, The Contract, at 48 Wheeler, the full production of Lost In Paradise at our new performance venue, The Bedford Hills Community House, and the filming of  Lost In Paradise for television. How many times do you get five landmarks in one season?!! In addition to that (would we really need more?!) our audiences grew by a staggering 45% for our spring Full Production.

It’s mind boggling to look back and to realize that we have enjoyed all of these watersheds in the same season. The support of you, our loyal and growing audience has been more than we could have asked for. It is such a privilege to serve the community in this way: providing a birthing room for new American plays from up and coming, gifted writers… and engaging you all in the development of these works. Not to mention offering all the acting classes through Howard Meyer’s Acting Program. (Check out all the class offerings for the new season at www.hmacting.org)

And there is another bountiful year to look forward to. To kick off next season we will present a November workshop production of Marrow, a new work by award winning Axial playwright, Brian Quirk (award for Mapplethorpe, the Opening, developed right here at Axial!) which examines the link between memory and identity: a man forced to face a  complete loss of memory as a result of an assault. The second offering will be something new: our first ever (and maybe our first annual) Ten Minute Play Festival. You will be able to feast on a tempting buffet of short plays from our gifted writing unit: Axial Playwrights. We will bring that to you in February. And in the Spring we will bring you another Full production at the Bedford Hills Community House: An evening of one-acts by our gifted company member Linda Giuliano. Linda was the co-writer of The Contract and author of The Shroud of Turin presented at our Missing Parts evening in NYC in 2004. All these plays will be acted by the Axial Company and our gifted guest actors.

And if that weren’t enough…Plans are in the works to bring Lost In Paradise to NYC for an Off-Broadway engagement!! This will be the first Axial play that will be transferred into NYC for an Off-Broadway run…. Stay tuned for details….. as well as the details for the airing of the Lost In Paradise teleplay on PCTV.

As the Artistic Director, I feel like a proud parent of a healthy, creative and productive family. It’s a great feeling. Thank you for being a part of it!

Best Wishes to you all,
Howard Meyer

Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 1004
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

Studio Address:
48 Wheeler Avenue, 3rd floor
Pleasantville, NY 10570
(914) 962-8828

E-mail Axial