(bright music) - [Presenter] This week on "Expressions," we go on the road to Delaware County to visit the historic West Kortright Center.

We'll learn more about this unique arts organization.

- I'll put myself in poor and mean attire.

And with a kind of umber smirch my face, the like do you.

So shall we pass along and never stir assailants.

- I think it was always clear that it was going to be a performance space.

It was going to be a meeting space.

It was going to be a place for neighbors to come together.

- [Presenter] And we'll also feature a performance from the improvisational indie rock trio Doom Dogs.

(upbeat rock music) All this week on "Expressions for the Road!"

This program is made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle merry music) And now your host, Adara Alston.

- The West Kortright Center is located in the rolling hills of East Meredith, New York.

Originally built in 1850, it was the initial location for the West Kortright Presbyterian Church, until it was nearly torn down in the mid 1970s.

It was saved thanks to the amazing foresight of community members who recognize the potential of this location as a hub for performance, art and education.

- I just say that's an audience.

- Yeah, I mean, no, 'cause she'll be here, so you can look at her.

- Okay.

- But yeah, you don't have to look at your servants.

- Okay, right, right, right.

- Right, they're over here, 'cause we're still thinking.

- Yeah.

- Right, so okay.

So she goes out and you have an idea.

(gentle merry music) - For the past 50 years, West Kortright Center has hosted poetry readings, concerts, craft classes and workshops for all ages to create a true convergence of creativity and community right here in the Catskills.

(gentle merry music ends) (birds chirping) - It's my love for this landscape, the green, the hills.

It moves me a lot, and I've been other places, but I come back.

I guess what I love the most is the peace.

(birds chirping) - We are a little bit in the middle of nowhere.

And the history of the church, there was one story that stuck out to me that people would come here when it was a church and they would stay all day.

And actually the offices upstairs was a kitchen, because they would have all their meals here.

When you come here for a show, it makes a lot of sense to make a sort of a whole evening of it.

We don't really have like a artistic point of view.

This isn't like a venue for country music or folk music.

When you come here, it may be a genre that you don't even know about, and it might not be your favorite kind of music, but the performances are so incredible.

(upbeat rock music) So discovering this artistic, unique perspective is kind of, I think, really what we're known for, not a specific genre itself.

- We have a truly eclectic band on stage tonight.

Doom Dogs are an improvisational rock trio consisting of guitarist Reeves Gabrels, bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, and drummer Jonathan Kane.

All three have had a long history playing in popular indie rock bands, and Gabrels is also currently the touring guitarist for The Cure.

For the concert at West Kortright, the band played three 20-minute sets that we have consolidated for this episode.

(guitar swell music) (foreboding rock music) (gentle shoegaze music) (shoegaze rock music) (groovy rock music) (groovy rock music continues) (groovy rock music intensifies) (groovy rock music continues) (dissonant rock music) It is impossible to stand in the West Kortright Center and not marvel at its architecture.

This Greek revival structure still has its original stained glass windows and kerosene chandeliers.

Concert audiences sit in the same pews that Churchgoers sat in over 100 years ago.

And thanks to community efforts, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

(bright merry music) - So we do about eight concerts a year, but we also do workshops like basket weaving, fiction writing, we do natural dyes, we do plant forge walks.

They're hands on, I just attended myself a tintype workshop that was given by a tintype photographer.

(bright merry music) We've also branched out with our workshops and are now starting to do more kids-related educational activities.

So we've started some afterschool programming in local schools.

(bright merry music) I think what is so exciting to me is the idea of discovery.

And I think that finding this place is a little bit of a discovery when you like turn down these roads with all these farms and farm houses, and then suddenly there's this place where you can go see arts and music and finding something new.

(bright merry music ends) (heavy bass music) (groovy rock music) (shoegaze rock music) (groovy rock music) (dissonant rock music) (groovy rock music) (dissonant rock music) (atmospheric rock music) (atmospheric rock music continues) (atmospheric rock music continues) ♪ The horn, the horn, the horn, the horn ♪ ♪ The lusty horn is not a thing to laugh ♪ ♪ Is not a thing to scorn ♪ (group screaming) - One of West Kortright's longest-running educational initiatives is its Shakespeare in the Valley Festival.

Every summer, students from ages 12 to 19 gather to learn everything there is to know about putting on Shakespeare performance.

There are workshops ranging from costume design to set building, from acting to musical scoring and performance.

And it all culminates in a public performance during the first weekend in August.

- But cousin, what if we assay'd to steal the clownish fool out of your father's court?

Would he not be a comfort to our travel?

- He'll go along o'er the wide world with me.

- Can you describe the characters and the design process for these costumes?

- So the characters are cousins and best friends, so we kind of wanted to make their costume look similar, so it shows their relationship.

- Throw some of them at me, come, lame me with reasons.

- Then one should be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any.

- But is all this for your father?

- No.

- What career path this early on do you think you wanna take?

- Definitely acting for me.

- I like making things and I thought this would be a really cool, like, experience and I would learn a bunch of things from it.

- These are the, we have floor lights right over there.

- Yep.

- And these are, like, stage lights.

- Yeah, we've got our four foot.

- So the Shakespeare in the Valley program, we're really proud and it's in its 37th year, and about 70 to 80 kids participate.

There's kids that are coming back whose parents have done it.

- So these look like, you know, when you have the swim noodles.

- These are pool noodles.

You are correct.

Pool noodles and then with a piece of wood.

- [Adara] So where do these go, they go in front of the stage?

- [Niall] These go on the trees.

(bright flute music) - [Adara] Amazing, it looks all hand-built.

What is this for, what character is this for?

- A forest God.

- Okay.

- His name's Hymen, and at the end of the play, he marries a bunch of couples.

So he is also kind of like a priest.

- You and you are heart in heart.

- All the flowers are made out of tissue paper and tool.

And then the rest of it's just made out of cardboard.

- [Adara] We have tape around here?

- [Daisy] Yeah, and covered in glow in the dark paint.

- So at nighttime it glows.

- Yeah.

- [Adara] That's fantastic.

- It's great because the kids have friends that they see from year to year, that they only see during Shakespeare in the Valley.

There's some really sweet friendships that are made and kids getting to know each other from all over.

(bright merry music ends) (dissonant music) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant music continues) (dissonant rock music) (energetic rock music) (energetic rock music continues) (ambient dissonant music) - That's all the time we have for this week's episode.

I wanna thank everyone at the West Kortright Center for their help in putting this program together.

And please visit their website, westkc.org, for more information about all their great events and activities.

Please visit wskg.org/expressions if you wanna see the full performances from the Doom Dogs and other extra content we didn't have time for tonight.

Thanks so much for watching.

I'm Adara Alston, good night.

(groovy music)