THE OPEN EYE THEATER and MIDDLETOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Present “ARMCHAIR CEMETERY TOUR”

MIDDLETOWN — Seven people from the past and a narrator to introduce them will be featured in the Historical Society of Middletown's 2025 Living History Cemetery Tour August 23 and 24.

Instead of a walking tour through a cemetery, this year’s event has been reimagined as an “Armchair Tour” for the stage at The Open Eye Theater in Margaretville. The stories will be just as compelling as in past years, however, with the addition of background visuals.

In this 11th living history event sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, seven characters, individuals who are buried in cemeteries throughout Middletown, will tell their stories. They include:

Fanny Hubbell, the “fourth Hubbell Brother,” who was crucial to maintaining the family business in Kelly Corners, portrayed by Rebecca Newman;

Conservation Officer Bryan Burgin and his outdoorsman friend Burt Tubbs, played by John Bernhardt and Frank Ryan;

Mathew Halcott, first postmaster of Halcottsville and the son of a British soldier who switched sides during the American Revolution, played by Burr Hubbell;

Maria Haner, who bore the loss of a son and her husband in the Civil War, portrayed by Amy Taylor;

Tillie Edelstein, better known as radio and TV star Molly Goldberg, who discovered her passion for performance at her family’s boarding house in Fleischmanns, played by Adrienne Gusoff;

Molly Goldberg, star of radio and television from the 1930s through the 1950s, was born Tillie Edelstein and got her show biz start at her family's boarding house in Fleischmanns where she is buried. She will be portrayed at the Historical Society of Middletown's 11th Living History Cemetery Tour Aug. 23 and 24 at The Open Eye Theater, Margaretville.

Boaz Searle, an early settler in Middletown who ministered to his neighbors as a physician, played by Ward Stevenson.

Kent Brown, narrator, will introduce the characters, linking them in the continuum of Middletown history.

Directing the production will be Joyce St. George and Frank Canavan.

Reservations are not needed to attend the performances, scheduled for 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24. Admission is $20. Children under 15 get in free.

For more information on this and other HSM events, visit www.mtownhistory.org where there is much more local history to be enjoyed or contact Diane Galusha at 845-586-4973, dianegalusha.65@gmail.com.