Cloning Drama "A Number" Closes Ancram Center's Season
Drew Ledbetter and John Wojda star in a play about a father and his three sons, two of whom are clones, directed by Jeffrey Mousseau in the Grange Hall.
October 1–4 and 8–11 | Ancram, NY
Ancram Center for the Arts presents Caryl Churchill's "A Number" to close its 2026 season. It opens Thursday, October 1 and runs eight performances over two weekends.
The play is a standoff between an aging father, Salter, and his three grown sons. Two of them are clones of the first. In a series of charged confrontations, the story takes up issues of nature versus nurture and the ethics of scientific ambition. Like the play's other productions, this staging has one actor play all three sons. Drew Ledbetter and John Wojda star as father and sons, respectively.
Critics have long praised how much Churchill fits into so little time. The Daily Telegraph called it a play with "more drama, and more ideas, than most manage in a dozen full-length works," and The New York Times called her "ferociously inventive." Ancram's own description notes that the play, written in 2002, anticipated today's questions about artificial replication.
Ledbetter's credits include Off-Broadway's "Williston," regional productions of "Hamlet" and "King Lear," and TV work on "Succession" and "The Blacklist." He appeared at Ancram before in "Constellations." Wojda has been on Broadway in "The Nap," "Present Laughter," and "Two Shakespearean Actors," won an ensemble Obie for "Ecstasy," and spent four seasons at Canada's Stratford Festival. He was last seen locally in "Things I Know to Be True" at Great Barrington Public Theater in 2022.
Jeffrey Mousseau, the center's co-director, directs. His earlier Ancram productions include "Constellations," "Homebody," and "An Iliad." The design team is Sarah Edkins (scenic), Matthew Adelson (lighting), Alicia Austin (costumes), and Liam Bellman-Sharpe (sound).
Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7pm, Sundays at 3pm, and a Saturday, October 10 matinee at 2pm. Two events are planned: A Sunday Salon, a facilitated conversation with the cast and director, follows the October 4 matinee. TGIF Hang, post-show drinks with the cast and crew on the deck, follows the October 9 performance (cash bar). October 8 is Pay What You Wish Thursday, with tickets sold only at the door.
Ancram Center for the Arts, 1330 County Route 7, Ancram, NY. Tickets at ancramcenter.org.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
