Ancram Center presents ‘Penelope’ and fall lineup of original works

The Ancram Center’s 10th Anniversary Season continues this fall with “Penelope,” a cabaret-style musical based on Homer’s “The Odyssey,” told from the point of view of Penelope, Odysseus’ long-suffering wife. With music and lyrics by Alex Bechtel and a book by Bechtel, Grace McLean (who also stars) and Eva Steinmetz (who also directs), “Penelope” runs Sept. 19-21 and 25-28.

The show tells a story you think you know. In Homer’s poem about Odysseus’ return home after the Trojan War, Penelope is a minor character. She is trapped at home, lonely and isolated, yet she runs the city of Ithaca and fends off suitors.

“She is meant to be a paragon of fidelity,” said Paul Ricciardi, Ancram Center co-director, “but this version is a refreshingly feminist take on the Greek epic. And this Penelope has a lot to say.”

With genre-bending songs and a powerful narrative, presented in an intimate cabaret setting with a live band that doubles as a Greek chorus, the show reframes the ancient tale to bring the mythological Penelope to vibrant life with 21st century resonance.

McLean is a multi-hyphenate actress, singer, writer and teacher, and a breakout star of “Suffs,” the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical about the American women’s suffrage movement. This is the first time she is featured in a play she wrote herself. With humor and insight, she casts a spell that illuminates the myriad meanings in the classic text — waiting and loneliness, as well as determination and resilience.

This show promises to be a mesmerizing and unforgettable theatrical love letter to all who wait and hope.

The Ancram Center season continues on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. with Mary Murfitt’s “Framed: The Murder of Beulah Simons.” This is the second production of Ancram Center’s 2025 Play Lab series, which provides theatre artists of all practices the time, space and resources to develop new, innovative projects. “Framed” is based on true events: an Ancram love triangle in the early 1940s that ends with a murder, and a questionable trial that leads to the conviction of a young farmhand.

Every fall also brings a new edition of “Real People Real Stories,” Ancram Center’s signature storytelling program. Since 2016, this celebrated series has provided a forum for area residents to share humorous, poignant and surprising true tales about themselves. The production, at 3 p.m. on Nov. 22, will cap the 2025 season.

For tickets, visit www.ancramcenter.org

Richard Feiner and Annette Stover have worked and taught in the arts, communications, and philanthropy in West Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, and New York. Passionate supporters of the arts, they live in Salisbury and Greenwich Village.