Arc Stages to Explore Impact of Woody Guthrie in Upcoming Production

Millions of Americans may be familiar with at least some of the music and activism of singer-songwriter and folk legend Woody Guthrie nearly 80 years after his heyday. For certain generations, singing “This Land is Your Land” seemed to be required curriculum in school.

But there are innumerable details about Guthrie’s life and musical career that may be little-known to audiences.

This week, Arc Stages in Pleasantville will explore Guthrie’s work and his lasting impact when the local theater company presents “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” for four performances Thursday through Saturday.

Stephanie Kovacs Cohen, who is directing the Community Stage production that tells the story of his life through Guthrie’s own music and words, said Guthrie’s messages remain as relevant as ever today. So many of the hardships and injustices that he recognized and wrote about during the Great Depression, for example, including the migration of thousands of Oklahomans like himself to escape the Dust Bowl and search for a better life, are relatable to large swaths of modern America.

“You understand to a greater extent when these natural disasters hit and people are powerless to do anything and the banks can’t help you or won’t help you and the government can’t or won’t help you, what do you do?” Cohen said.

Perhaps most important, she said, was that Guthrie pushed the envelope, a rebel writing protest songs in support of the downtrodden, the migrant worker, or as in his work “Deportee,” about immigration.

“He was before his time as far as somebody who knew what needed to be said,” Cohen said. “But honestly, he was just speaking the truth. He was a man who saw what was going on around him and he went out and reported the events in an emotional way that got (to) people.”

Arc Stages is using a cast of 11 actors (the production premiered in 1989 with a cast of five) each taking turns playing Guthrie. The cast is a mix of newcomers to the theater with a musical background as well as Arc Stages veterans.

There are 24 of his songs featured in the show under the lead of Musical Director Jeff Raab, with the first performance on Thursday, the 110^th anniversary of Guthrie’s birth.

For cast member Gerry Hazel, “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” will be his acting debut, although he has been on stage before as a musician. The impressiveness of Guthrie’s music is that he could be understood by the common man fighting to survive.

“He was speaking as if he were the people that he was visiting, that he was spending time with,” Hazel said.

Another cast member, Kimmi Naus, said the storytelling talents of Guthrie made it seem like he was more than a songwriter.

“I feel like some of the songs could be short stories,” Naus said.

Cohen hopes that audiences can recognize that Guthrie’s causes was more than a snapshot in history, that he made a difference.

“He has a special place in what he tried to say, what he did for history and still does,” she said. “The fact that we still are making connections to his music through unemployment and immigration and racism, how we handle ourselves in national and natural disasters, all of this, is terrible.

“We should know our history and what went wrong and what went right and all of that, but he should be celebrated because he did make a difference and we are still singing these tunes, and perhaps someday we will learn because we sing “This Land is Your Land,” Cohen continued. “This land is not everybody’s land; until it is, we have work to do.”

In addition to Hazel and Naus, the cast features Nancy Jane Blake, Shannan Buckley, Rena Gavigan, Kevin Howat, Rich Hunter, Andrew Laden, Julia McCarthy, John Palacio and Luís Quíntero.

Performances of “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” are scheduled for this Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $28 for adults and $22 for students and seniors. For tickets and more information, visit www.arcstages.org or call 914-747-6206.

Arc Stages is located at 147 Wheeler Ave. in Pleasantville.