Health & Fitness
Helping, Sharing, Giving II
As we approach the holiday season, let's all look for ways to help those who need help.
Last week I sat in on a rehearsal of “Three Gifts,” a new production by Red Devil Repertory (formerly the Peekskill High School Drama Club) in the high school auditorium. On a stage devoid of scenery, under spotty work lights, a group of students were gathered to work on the final scene. In jeans or long, muslin rehearsal skirts, they went through their warm up exercises under the direction of Katie Schmidt Feder, whose fine production of you may remember from last season. Then they got down to the business at hand.
The play deals with love, sacrifice, and redemption. An actor has to let emotions show, and in rehearsal that means exploring those emotions, trying many ways to express them within the character, and from time to time, inevitably, feeling foolish. That can be hard enough for experienced actors, but so very hard for teenagers. These students are troupers, though, and with encouragement and guidance from Ms. Feder they worked through the scene and their characters’ motivations in a very professional manner. I’m looking forward to seeing the result of all their hard work when the play is presented in the Peekskill High School auditorium on Dec. 2 and 3 at 7:30 p.m.
As its title implies, “Three Gifts” is about giving. A collection will be taken at intermission for the Jason Paige Scholarship Fund, and a collection box for Fred’s Pantry will be placed in the lobby. For more information see
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What with all the drama at the last meeting of the Peekskill Common Council, some folks may have missed a member of our community being honored for his service. Duke A. Searles, a combat veteran of Vietnam, was recognized with a city proclamation for his work organizing area veterans’ organizations to provide food for hungry vets. Mr. Searles into Senator Greg Ball’s 40th District Veterans Hall of Fame* for his important work as volunteer supervisor of the food pantry at the Montrose Veterans Administration. Many vets from Iraq, Afghanistan, and earlier wars are in need. Please reach out to the Montrose VA or your local post of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or other veterans’ organizations to support programs that help our vets.
