A couple of Hilltown acting pros will come out for a game of Gin Rummy next month as the North Hall Arts Festival continues the second half of its summer series, which offers an eclectic array of events at North Hall in Huntington.
Kenneth Tigar and Margery Shaw, both professional actors with theatrical, film and TV credits, will present a staged reading of “The Gin Game” Aug. 7 at the hall.
Their performance is just one of many that will be presented between now and September.
“We put on programs that range from opera, to bluegrass and country, to classical as well as plays, readings and children’s programs,” said Nancy Kaminski, co-president of the North Hall Association, the program’s sponsor. “Each year, we try to ramp it up a little bit with different performers.”
In addition to “The Gin Game,” upcoming offerings include a performance by the Celtic folk band Wild Thyme; a show for kids and families with Jose Gonzalez; “Bach to Brazil” with Grammy-nominated guitarist Jose Lezcano; and a performance by The Old Country Road Band.
The festival has grown over the last few years, Kaminski says. “We’ve been able to draw some pretty fantastic performers to the Hall.”
All performances take place in the Historic North Hall at 40 Searle Road in Huntington.
North Hall is the second-oldest building in the town. Built as a schoolhouse in 1795, it has been maintained by the town of Huntington since 1900 as a multi-purpose community center for public and private use.
The venue accommodates an audience of 75, is air-conditioned, has wheelchair accessibility and an elevator.
The North Hall Association is a non-profit organization governed by a board of directors.
“Our mission is to preserve this building and maintain it, and to have it be an avenue for the arts for the Hilltowns which are underserved in many ways,” Kaminski said. “It’s a way for us to involve the community as well as neighboring communities.”
On Sunday at 2 p.m., Wild Thyme will play Irish and Scottish tunes. Ray Lequin, guitarist, tin-whistler and mandolin player, says the group will play mostly jigs and reels — traditional dance music defined by their time signatures.
In addition to Lequin, the band, whose name is adopted from the old Irish song, “Wild Mountain Thyme,” is composed of Alexis Truslow on fiddle and mandolin; Starr Adams and Justine McCarthy on fiddles; and Deborah Stevens on guitar.
On Aug. 7 at 2 p.m., Tigar and Shaw will perform in the staged reading of “The Gin Game,” a 1978 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama by Donald L. Coburn. The reading is directed by Mitch Giannunzio, another theatrical pro.
The two-act play, set on the porch of a retirement home, centers on two strangers who form a bond while playing the card game Gin Rummy.
Giannunzio and Tigar are longtime summer residents of Huntington and have performed together in past summers, including at North Hall.
Each of the participants has extensive professional theatrical experience.
Giannunzio wrote the Off-off-Broadway play “Last Tag,” which was produced as a TV movie, “Falling for You,” in 1995.
Tigar has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, such as “The Avengers,” the “Lethal Weapon” series, and the Netflix original “House of Cards.” (In fact, Giannunzio says, Tigar is currently in the process of filming the next season of that hit show).
One of Tigar’s best-known roles, perhaps, is in a 1976 episode of the TV show “Barney Miller,” in which he appeared as a man who claims to be a werewolf.
“Ken is a well-known face at the North Hall,” Giannunzio said in a phone interview Tuesday. “He’s also sort of the town’s local celebrity … he’s been on TV over 100 times.”
Shaw also has extensive professional experience; she has performed in theaters such as The Circle in the Square in New York City and The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
” ‘The Gin Game’ is a play that I think is particularly powerful,” Giannunzio said. “It’s perceived as being a pleasant comedy but it is full of drama and pathos.”
Audience members are invited to an after party that will serve as a fundraiser to help with the cost of replacing windows at North Hall. The estimated cost of the renovation is $15,000, Kaminsky said. Donations will be accepted at the party.
On Aug. 13 at 11 a.m., Puerto Rican guitarist Jose Gonzalez, now of Amherst, will be joined by his son Ahmed on flute and percussion for “Caribbean Fiesta for Kids,” a program that celebrates Latin American and Caribbean songs. The show will include Latin percussion rhythms from the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba and Dominican Republic, Gonzalez said.
“It is going to be Latin flavored,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview last week. “It’s going to be bilingual and the important thing is that it is going to be interactive.”
Gonzalez recently retired as director of a music magnet program in Holyoke, and says his set at North Hall is dedicated to children.
“I worked with all grade levels, up to college. … I started writing songs with the children and sometimes would write for them,” he said. “That’s where I got the material for my CDs for children, with the first one, ‘Caribbean Fiesta for Kids,’ and the second, titled ‘Best Kids Songs – Bilingual!’ ”
Gonzalez has performed his children’s program in a number of venues, including Jones Library in Amherst, the Springfield City Library, the Worcester Public Library, and at schools in Holyoke, Greenfield, Belchertown and Long Island, New York. He says kids are the toughest crowd.
“When we do the kids’ show, its probably one of the purist shows we do, the audience is so authentic,” he said. “They either like you or they’ll get up and leave!”
The North Hall festival
will continue Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. with “Bach to Brazil,” performed by the two-time Grammy-nominated guitarist Jose Lezcano, with cellist Rebecca Hartka. The two will explore the connections between Bach and Latin American composers.
On Sept. 11 at 2 p.m., the Old Country Road Band will round out the festival with songs by Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and Carl Smith, along with bluegrass music.
Also in North Hall, beginning Sunday, there will be an exhibit of abstract artwork by Worthington artist Jan Roby, a member of the non-profit Arts Alive. The artwork will be on view through the end of the festival’s season.