Hoosick Falls

Confused about healthcare? Get health insurance help and information at The Armory on Friday, March 14, from 5 to 7 pm. Pamela Cole, a representative from WellCare, a healthcare group that partners with providers and governments to deliver quality, cost effective health care solutions will be there to meet with you and help you make sense of the confusing healthcare system.

WellCare provides managed care services through government sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. They offer a variety of health plans for families and children as well as prescription drug plans.

submitted by Gail Smith

About a dozen interested veterans attended the information night on the Patriot Flight that will take place on May 10 (originally reported as May 3). Bill Schaaf and Danielle Havel from the organization brought with them all the information veterans and/or guardians needed to know. Bill began with three tear-jerking clips from the movie Honor Flight, which is a documentary based on an Honor Flight event that depicted what attendees might experience during their trip.

The sole purpose of Patriot Flights is to bring veterans to the Washington, DC, War Memorials, free of charge, for a day filled with honor, recognition, remembrance and memories. Their goal is to take as many World War II Veterans as possible, but they are also taking applications for Korean War Veterans and Guardsmen.

Patriot Flight has made 13 trips to Washington over the years, which are funded through donations by individuals and organizations. It is a life changing experience which Bill promised, besides a veteran’s wedding day and the day their children were born, would be the most memorable event of a veteran’s life. The only thing they’ll have to do is get up, get dressed and get themselves to Hoosick Falls Community Alliance Church, the departure location. Patriot Flight will take it all from there.

We were assured that the veterans’ personal comfort is of utmost importance and the only medical concern they will have will be facial muscle fatigue from smiling all day. That’s a good problem to have!

Seats are first come-first serve, so don’t delay. Cost for Guardsmen is $350. If you have any questions or would like an application, you can call Gail at 686-3269 or Bill Schaaf at 542-0609, stop in at the Hoosick Falls Community Alliance Church or visit patriotflight.com.

The Friends of Cheney Library in Hoosick Falls will be hosting a Dr. Seuss Party at 10 am on March 15, in the Library. We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss by reading some of his books, doing a craft and having a snack. Last year the children who attended had a wonderful time. This is a great day in Hoosick Falls because after the Dr. Seuss Party you can grab some lunch and be on time for the St. Patrick’s Parade in downtown Hoosick Falls. Be sure to start your day at the Library with our party for the great children’s author Dr. Seuss.

The Cheney Library is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1 to 8 pm, Tuesday from 10 am to 5 pm, Friday from 11 am to 4 pm and Saturday 8 am to 1 pm.

a review by Alex Brooks

Hubbard Hall has opened a new production of King Lear, Shakespeare’s epic drama of greed, power, madness and family succession. It’s an ambitious undertaking, and Hubbard Hall proves itself once again the Little Company That Could with this creditable production. John Hadden, Artistic Director of Hubbard Hall, has managed to bring in an impressive collection of talent from outside the area to build this show.

Ava Roy co-directs with Hadden and stars as Cordelia and the Fool. Her loving Cordelia and wise and rueful Fool are the emotional anchors of this show. In the topsy turvy world of King Lear, in which the Fool is the wise man, the former King descends into madness and the King-to-be feigns madness to save himself from the designs of evil men, the darkness of the play is happily mitigated when the good characters, Cordelia, the Fool and Edgar, have a strong presence.

Young James Udom is a dynamic Edgar, making an admirable hero of a character that is often lost in the spectacle of his turn as Poor Tom.

Hadden’s Lear is understated. I missed the titanic rage, against himself and against the hard hearted world, that I think of as central to the character. In the first half, the arrogance, the imperious moods, the curses and sarcasm that Lear spews at those who thwart his will, seem watered down. Yet in the second half of the play, Hadden’s approach works better, when Lear’s madness leaves him befuddled and bewildered. It reaches its finest moment when Lear exhorts Cordelia to come away with him to prison where “We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage” to tell tales and laugh and hear “poor rogues” talk of court news.

Carmen-Maria Mandley and Myka Plunkett bring a sinister energy to the evil sisters Goneril and Regan, and Scott Renzoni does a fine job with the good but weak Albany, who tries ineffectually to turn his wife Goneril from her evil ways.

The action of the play takes place in the center of the space, with audience on all four sides, so there is no backdrop, and the sets are pretty minimal. In general this works well, but it was perhaps carried too far in the storm scene, which was signaled only by a little water thrown into the actors’ hair. A sound of rainfall or a lighting effect suggesting rain or some such thing would have been a welcome addition. Someone who did not know the play might not have realized that the King was making his way through a violent storm bareheaded.

But let’s put such quibbles aside and celebrate our local company, which has the chutzpah to take on difficult classics like this one and the ability to bring to life one of the high points of Shakespearean drama.