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'Belle of Amherst' to Be Performed at SUNY Plattsburgh

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Sept. 2, 2009)-- The SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Theatre presents the award-winning one-woman play, "The Belle of Amherst," Friday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Hartman Theatre, Myers Fine Arts Building.The William Luce play, directed on campus by alumnus Tyler Nye, is based on the life and work of 19th-century American poet, Emily Dickinson. Kathleen Recchia of Jay, N.Y., appears as Dickinson, sharing her poems, diaries and letters and stories about the people and events that shaped her secluded life.

Kathleen Recchia in "Belle of Amherst"

"The play is very intimate," said Recchia. "And I enjoy playing Luce's Dickinson very much. She interacts with the audience as she would her closest relatives."

Director Nye graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in theater. His SUNY Plattsburgh theater credits include "Guys and Dolls," playing Sky Masterson, "Alice," in which he played the Queen of Hearts, Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap," playing Chris Wren, "Urinetown," playing Mr. McQueen, and "The Cripple of Inishmaan," in which he played Bartley McCormick.

Nye also directed Edward Albee's "The Goat or Who is Sylvia?" last spring. He served as assistant director of "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940," and designed costumes for "Fuddy Meers." He directed and designed the East Branch Friends of the Arts' production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," and appeared in David Mamet's "American Buffalo" at the Recovery Lounge in Upper Jay, as well as many Essex Theater Company productions and collaborations with the Jay Entertainment and Music Society. This past summer, Nye studied Shakespeare at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City.

Recchia recently appeared at The Old Mill in Elizabethtown in "Grace and Glorie," a theater benefit for the Elizabethtown Community Hospital. She has also been seen onstage at Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake in benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" and "The Librarian." Recchia has directed children's theater and produced shows throughout the North Country. She has worked with Community Theater Players, Essex Theater Company, Adirondack Regional Theater and Peru Musical Theater and has served for many years as a board member for the Jay Entertainment and Music Society. Recchia will be performing "The Belle of Amherst" at Keene Central School in Keene Valley, N.Y., Nov. 14 and exploring other performance possibilities with Nye.

Tickets for the Sept. 11 performance are $5 general admission and $2 for SUNY Plattsburgh students and are available at the Angell College Center desk. For more information, call 564-2243.

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