2010 Season

A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody
by Ron Bernas
Directed by Diane Chamberlain

Auditions Saturday March 6, 2pm at Bradford Congregational Church
(next door to theater)
Rehearsal April 5 - May 6
Shows May 7,8,9, 14,15,16

It’s New Year’s Eve at the Perry mansion, and Julia and Matthew Perry seem to have it all. But Matthew wants something more — to be rid of his wife Julia so he can have some real fun! He resolves to murder Julia by year’s-end, and tells her so. She vows to stay alive, and tells him so. And so the game begins — a hilarious year-long match of wits and the witless. While Julia cleverly dodges Matthew’s devious murder attempts, the friends and staff are dying off mysteriously. It seems Matthew is successful in murdering everyone but Julia.  Enter Detective Plotnik — a Sam Spade reincarnation who suspects everyone but hasn’t a clue. It’s fun and mayhem until the hilarious (and touching) ending.

Cast:
Matthew Perry - John-Paul Hunt
Julia Perry - Barb Swantak
Bunny Perry - Anna Lornitzo
Donald - Will Ziegler
Buttram - Gary Jesseman
Plotnick - Miles Conklin

Arsenic and Old Lace
by Joseph Kesselring
Directed by Robin Ng

Auditions Friday April 9, 7pm, Saturday April 10, 10am
Rehearsal May 10 - June 10
Shows June 11,12,13, 18,19,20

The story of the eccentric Brewster family of Brooklyn, N.Y. In addition to the scheming old women who poison their victims with elderberry wine, the family includes Teddy, who suffers delusions that he is Theodore Roosevelt and that the Panama Canal runs through the cellar of his home. The locks he digs become convenient graves for the lonely men who fall victims to Aunt Martha and Aunt Abby’s machinations. When their nephew Mortimer discovers a body under the window seat of his aunts’ home, however, the elderly women ‘fess up to their deeds matter-of-factly and the events of the play become more absurd right up to a surprise ending.

Cast:
Mortimer Brewster - Aaron Richter
Elaine Harper - Danielle Mansfield-Marcoux
Abby Brewster - Liane Allen
Martha Brewster - Laine Gillespie
Jonathon Brewster - Chuck Fray
Dr. Einstein - Mark Cookson
Teddy Brewster - Zach Fogg
Mr. Witherspoon - Doug Coughlin
Officer O'Hara - Sam Langdon
Lieutenant Rooney - Paul Landry
Mr. Gibbs - Matt Allen
Reverend Dr. Harper - Peter Richards
Officer Brophy - Joe Scaro
Officer Klein - Jim Heidenreich

The Devil’s Disciple
by G.B. Shaw
Directed by Jim Heidenreich

Auditions May 22, 2pm
Rehearsal June 14 - July 15
Shows July 16,17,18, 23,24,25

In a small New Hampshire town in 1777, during the American War of Independence, Richard Dudgeon, a local scoundrel, is mistaken for the local minister and arrested by the British. He discovers he is unwilling to let another person suffer and so continues to masquerade as the reverend. The minister's wife is moved by Richard's actions and mistakenly interprets them as an expression of love for her. In spite of his protests she finds herself romantically attracted to him. In the last act, Richard is sentenced to be hanged by British commander General Burgoyne, but at the last minute he is saved from hanging in a surprise ending.

Characters:
Mrs Dudgeon - Caroline Swaney
Essie - Mia Eaton
Christy - Justin Woods
Rev. Anderson - Chuck Fray
Judith Anderson - Jennette DiFazio
Lawyer Hawkins - Bob Brown
Sargent Bowen - Ben Daly
Richard Dudgeon - Aaron Richter
Uncle Titus - doubled with Major
Uncle William - doubled with General
Major Swindon - John Hunt
General Burgoyne - Paul Hunt
Rev. Brudenell (British Chaplain) - Peter Richards
Private Kuhns - Brian Hook
Private Merkin - Paul Landry
Mrs Titus - Diane Fray
Mrs. William - Olesia Pazdro

The Gin Game
by D.L. Coburn
Directed by Peter Richards

Due to the extensive parts in this two person play, actors were cast prior to our normal audition schedule.
Rehearsal July 19 - August 19
Shows August 20,21,22, 27,28,29

Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey, two elderly residents at a nursing home for senior citizens, strike up an acquaintance. Neither seems to have any other friends, and they start to enjoy each other's company. Weller offers to teach Fonsia how to play gin rummy, and they begin playing a series of games that Fonsia always wins. Weller's inability to win a single hand becomes increasingly frustrating to him, while Fonsia becomes increasingly confident.
While playing their games of gin, they engage in lengthy conversations about their families and their lives in the outside world. Gradually, each conversation becomes a battle, much like the ongoing gin games, as each player tries to expose the other's weaknesses, to belittle the other's life, and to humiliate the other thoroughly.

Characters:
Weller Martin - Scott Johnson
Fosnia Dorsey - Robyn Greenstone

An Evening of One-Act Plays

Shows September 24,25,26, October 1,2,3

Two Slatterns and a King
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Directed by Peter Richards

A hilarious tale of Chance and Mischance, in verse,.

Characters:
The King - Chuck Fray
Chance - Anne Foldeak
Tidy - Danielle Marcoux
Slut - Jennette DiFazio

Overtones
by Alice Gerstenberg
Directed by Sheila Kaplow

Two cultured women hide their hostility in politeness while their more outspoken alter egos add spice to the situation.

Characters:
Harriet - Liane Allen
Hetty - her primitive self, Barbara Swantak
Margaret - Whitney McKinnon
Maggie - her primitive self, female, Marilyn Blaisdell

Ghosts
by Jeanne Beckwith
Directed by Sheila Kaplow

Is their apartment haunted? An old woman and her grandson have opposite opinions. We don’t find out who is right until the very end.

Characters:
Nan - Blakeney Bartlett
Charlie - Alex McKinnon

Sorry Wrong Number
by Lucille Fletcher
Directed by Peter Richards and Sheila Kaplow

Originally written as a radio drama, this is a darkly suspenseful story about an invalid woman who is terrorized after accidentally over-hearing a murder plot on the telephone.

Characters:
Mrs. Stevenson - Sally Gundy
Various other characters - Barbara Swantak, Alex McKinnon, Peter Richards, Blakeney Bartlett, Jennette DiFazio, Chuck Fray, Liane Allen, Robin Ng

2B (or not 2B)
by Jacquelyn Reingold
Directed by Peter Richards

A lighthearted fantasy, featuring a human-sized bee.

Characters:
Franny - Leah Romano
Dave - Aaron Richter

Coming in 2011
Enchanted April
by Matthew Barber


Elizabeth von Arnim's novel tells the story of four dissimilar women in 1920s England who leave their damp and rainy environs to go on a holiday to a secluded coastal castle in Italy. Mrs Arbuthnot and Mrs Wilkins, who belong to the same ladies' club but have never spoken, become acquainted after reading an advertisement for villas for rent in a newspaper. They find some common ground in that both are struggling to make the best of unhappy marriages. Having decided to seek other ladies to help share expenses, they reluctantly take on the waspish, elderly Mrs Fisher and the stunning, but aloof, Lady Caroline Dester. The four women come together at the castle and find rejuvenation in the tranquil beauty of their surroundings, rediscovering hope and love.

2011