PINE PLAINS — Dyan Wapnick, president of the Little Nine Partners Historical Society, is reluctant to call herself a playwright, but after penning Widow’s Weeds — a compelling and true story about a Revolutionary War widow — she’s embracing the creative process and watching her words come to life on stage.
The play will be performed for one-day only at the Stissing Center on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.
Widow’s Weeds is based on the true story of Mary Ingalls, an 84-year-old Revolutionary War widow who, in 1842, fought to receive her late husband’s military pension using only her memories and oral testimony.
Wapnick was inspired to write Widow’s Weeds after a descendant of Mary and Elihu Ingalls, who were married in Pine Plains in the late 1700s, donated family research to the historical society. When the opportunity to apply for a Dutchess County Department of History grant arose, she saw a chance to bring their little-known story to life on stage.
After extensive research and conversations with descendants of Mary and Elihu Ingalls, Wapnick says telling their story carries a sense of vindication. “These widows went through so much just to be recognized,” she says. “As a widow myself, I could relate to Mary — there was a real kinship.” Wapnick believes the play is important not only for the Ingalls family, but also “to highlight a forgotten segment of history.”
Grace Dietrich, left, Dean Temple, and James Elvin, right, running lines on stage at the Stissing Center on Thursday, Aug. 28. Widow’s Weeds is being directed by Robert C. Lyons.Photo by Aly Morrissey
As a historian, Wapnick says “it was important to keep the story as accurate as possible.” She says it was a unique challenge to stay true to the facts while crafting a narrative compelling enough for the stage. There are moments where she allowed creative choices to take the lead, stepping slightly away from strict historical accuracy in service of the story.
For example, though she had access to the depositions from the late 1800s, the language was “dry, rambling and dated.” Wapnick says she edited the dialogue to add color and modernize it, while keeping the original essence.
Additionally, a funeral scene is styled like a medieval wake. “The inspiration is drawn from a different historical time period,” Wapnick says, “but the mood just felt right.”
Though Widow’s Weeds is her first play, Wapnick is no stranger to writing. She researches and pens the monologues for Pine Plains’ annual cemetery tours and even has an unpublished novel. “But a play is exciting in a completely different way,” she says.
With rehearsals well underway, Wapnick credits New York City playwright and director Robert C. Lyons with bringing the production to life on stage. A Pine Plains resident and seasoned director, Lyons has included Wapnick in the creative process throughout rehearsals. “Robert is a fantastic director — he keeps things moving and has brought this so far in a short time,” says Wapnick.
Widow’s Weeds was made possible in part by a $9,475 grant from the Dutchess County Department of History. The Rev250 grant — a $100,000 initiative funded by the Dutchess County Legislature — supports public programming that explores the enduring impact of the American Revolution on local communities, in honor of its 250th anniversary.
Rooted in history and guided by Wapnick’s pen, a love story, a ghost story, and a fight for women’s rights intertwine in this remarkable true account. The performance is free and open to the public, though reservations are required through the Stissing Center website.
Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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