The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

It took Rilla Askew almost 20 years to get to Woodstock, but it was worth the wait.

As a 16-year teenager growing up in Bartelsville, Oklahoma, the future
award- winning novelist was going to meet up with a friend who was headed
out to the Aquarian Music & Arts Fair from California, but at the last minute her folks found out the journey and Rilla stayed home.

A few years down the road, with a couple of stops along the way, Askew
and her husband Paul Austin packed up their bags and moved to a home just
outside White Lake , and 20-some years ago she finally got her wish to
visit the fabled site of the ’69 Woodstock Festival.

It took almost four decades, but as the 40th Anniversary of the festival approached, Askew penned a play titled “By the Time We Got to Woodstock” which will take to the local stage at the Liberty Free Theatre as a world premier Thursday-Sunday, August 20-23.

Karen Young performs as Aradhna, “who finds herself face with a choice between a late-in-life marriage and a risky adventure with two strangers”, played by Dana Priebe in the role of Faythe and Richard Traviss as Ramon.

“The play tells the story of what happened when a woman of a certain age encounters two runaways, a young girl and a Mexican immigrant, at the famed Woodstock site on a globally-warmed hot day in November,” said Austin, in his role a director and founder of the Liberty Free Theatre.

Askew was recently honored with an Academy Award from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters for her body of work, which includes the novels “The Mercy Seat”, a finalist for the Pen-Faulkner Award, “Fire in Beulah”, which garnered an American Book Award, “Harpsong” and a collection of short stories titled “Strange Business”.

Young appeared on HBO’s “The Sopranos” as FBI Special Agent Robyn Sanseverino, and has been a frequent guest star on “Law & Order”, along
with numerous other television productions. Recent film credits include “Betty Anne Waters,” “12:30 Bonne Annee,” shot in Argentina in which she portrayed a bar keep/gun runner, the lead in Amos Kollek’s “Restless,” “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Heading South” opposite Charlotte Rampling.

Priebe is a regular at the Liberty Free Theatre, where she has been seen in “Face Divided,” “Betrayed by Everyone,” “The Person I Once Was,” and last month in Claire Chafee’s “Why We Have a Body.”

Traviss is a singer/songwriter remembered for his performance as Harvey
White in “Dream”.

“We believe that a socially active theatre, which shares the common experiences of living, will be attractive to those who live and work in, and visit our community, and that it will make a valuable contribution to the character and culture of village, town and county…[the theatre] wishes to offer professional theatre to the people of Sullivan County, to serve as a gathering place where first-class productions of plays, music poetry and fiction will stimulate community dialogue while they entertain the public,” said Austin of the mission of the Liberty Free Theatre. The world premier of “By the Time We Got to Woodstock” opens this
Thursday evening at the Liberty Free Theatre, located at 109 South Main Street. Performances are August 20-22 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a Sunday
matinee at 3:00 p.m.

As always, admission is free, but reservations are suggested as seating
in the intimate space is limited. For information/reservations, call 845-292-3788.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from By The Time We Got to Woodstock visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.