the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Arts Foundation was founded by residents of the Village of Ridgewood, New Jersey, who saw the need for a foundation to provide funding for the many worthy artistic endeavors within and near the Village of Ridgewood and to encourage the further development of the arts within the community. We are a New Jersey non-profit corporation with 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service. As such RAF is a public charitable foundation.
LET’S MEET 2022 RAF GRANT RECIPIENT FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY
First Flight Theatre Company (FFTC), located in Ridgewood, NJ, is devoted to presenting the works of 20th century American playwright Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959). While Anderson enjoyed commercial success working as a screenwriter for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Death Takes a Holiday (1934),as well as having won a Pulitzer Prize for his humorous prose satirical piece on the corruption of the US Congress, Both Your Houses (1933), his name and works remain virtually unknown. Anderson often expressed politically charged opinions in his writing, while also supporting controversial real life figures in principle and in action, mirroring the tumultuous nature of his personal life. FFTC is dedicated to bringing Anderson’s prolific catalog to the stage, which highlights his use “heightened language”, or as Frank Farrell, FFTC Artistic Director describes it, ”playwrights that bring poetry to their writing.”
In 2022, with a financial boost provided by a Ridgewood Arts Foundation (RAF) grant, FFTC presented Anderson’s historical play, Valley Forge, at The Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, a site where George Washington himself quartered on his way to New York after the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. The fully costumed play was staged with 10 actors, both equity professionals and amateurs, who depicted all 30 characters in a number of well-received performances.
According to Frank, the RAF grant kept First Flight “buoyant” at a critical time for regional theater companies as they tried to regain their financial footing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this day, the challenge remains for regional theaters to continue operating, and it’s only with the support of generous individuals, businesses, and organizations such as the RAF, that this can be achieved.
FFTC is also branching out by presenting works of other playwrights that instill poetry in their writing, and will be returning to The Hermitage with an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women on July 22 & 23, 2023. And a recent partnering with the Instant Shakespeare Company (www.shakespeareinc.com), where the works of William Shakespeare and other playwrights are minimally staged in public libraries throughout NYC, exemplifies the idea that “we are a living book and a library is the perfect venue.”
FFTC is also branching out by presenting works of other playwrights that instill poetry in their writing, and will be returning to The Hermitage with an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women on July 22 & 23, 2023. And a recent partnering with the Instant Shakespeare Company (www.shakespeareinc.com), where the works of William Shakespeare and other playwrights are minimally staged in public libraries throughout NYC, exemplifies the idea that “we are a living book and a library is the perfect venue.”
So why is it called First Flight? It’s a nod to one of Anderson’s earliest plays about Andrew Jackson, where the moniker evokes the notion that “a play cannot take off until it is read!”
To learn more about the First Flight Theatre Company, performances, and tickets, please visit www.firstflighttheatreco.com or contact Frank Farrell at [email protected] or [email protected]
For tickets to Little Women at The Hermitage please visit www.thehermitage.org/events
For tickets to Little Women at The Hermitage please visit www.thehermitage.org/events
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