Where the Mountain Meets the Sea

The regional premiere of “Where the Mountain Meets the Sea,” a poignant play about an estranged father and son written by Jeff Augustin with music by The Bengsons, will be presented by Ancram Center for the Arts July 11-20. The production will be directed by film and theater veteran Christopher Windom.

The father, a Haitian schoolteacher who legally gains passage to the United States, gives up a fulfilling vocation to become a baggage handler in Miami, and struggles to adjust to American life and to find love. Decades later his gay son, who has moved across the country to study at UCLA, makes a road trip back to Miami to retrieve his father’s remains and return them to Haiti. Told through alternating monologues and songs addressed directly to the audience, the story combines spoken text and live music by onstage musicians to capture the ache and frustration of the two characters as they ultimately forge a connection that had eluded them for years.

Jeff Augustin is a Haitian-American playwright whose work has been staged by Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Rep, among others. Abigail and Shaun Bengson (The Bengsons) are a married composing and performing duo who have received Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and been nominated for Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards. Christopher Windom’s most recent project was the feature film RESPECT starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.

Tai Bennett, who plays the father, Jean, is an LA-based actor whose work in television includes Power Book 2: Ghost, All American, and the upcoming Netflix drama A House of Dynamite, starring Idris Elba and directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

Kristofer Wilson, who plays the son, Jonah, is a North Carolina native and has trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting while pursuing a BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His regional stage work includes The Comedy of Errors, The Winter’s Tale, and OAK at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. He is a founding member of the Lucien Theatre Company.

Also performing as onstage musicians/vocalists are songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Kaia Dedek and songwriter/guitarist Andy Stack.

This production has been generously supported by Jane Plasman.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary season, Ancram Center for the Arts is an award-winning theater located in New York’s Hudson Valley. Housed in an historic Grange Hall, Ancram Center is dedicated to presenting risk-taking productions and new work by nationally recognized theater artists in an intimate performance space. The Ancram Center for the Arts 2025 season is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. For more  information visit www.ancramcenter.org.

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA

By Jeff Augustin
Music by The Bengsons
Directed by Christopher Windom
Ancram Center for the Arts
1330 County Route 7, Ancram NY 12502

July 11-20
Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays @ 7:30pm
Sundays at 3pm

Running time: 80 minutes