Gary Sredzienski has achieved the status of a local legend on the Seacoast.
Acclaimed accordion master, performer and raconteur, he is perhaps best known for his year-round daily swims in the icy waters through the tidal creeks of the Piscataqua. WHERE: York Harbor Reading Room, 491 York St., York Harbor WHEN: May 7-17. Thursdays and Fridays, dinner at 6 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinees, cocktails at 3 p.m., show at 4 p.m. Saturday evenings, dinner at 6:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees, cocktails at 12 p.m., show at 1 p.m. Sunday evenings, show at 5 p.m., post-show cocktails at 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: $63.50 for dinner theater $34 for cocktail theater With rehearsals under way for opening night, Stephens took time out to talk about the performance and how the idea was conceived. Along with his wife, Patricia Lynch, the executive director of the Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H., Stephens met Sredzienski when he was guest speaker at a charity event for Kittery Land Trust acquisition at Chauncey Creek. “When Gary started to speak, I was instantly enthralled,” Stephens said. “I saw the glimmer in Patty’s eye that said ‘this is important’. A vision for doing a one-person show quickly emerged. I got together with Gary, and we were ‘simpatico’ from day one.” Dubbed “the merman,” Sredzienski started sending material to Stephens and Lynch last fall.
“There was a gold mine there — stories from his early life, a personal tour of the artifacts and creatures he finds in tidal creeks, local history and his career as a musician, radio host, educator and cultural ambassador,” Stephens added.