PLAYERS END SEASON ON A
HIGH NOTE
The Concord Players will finish
their season with a flourish. The Scarlet Pimpernel, the smash musical that
careens from the streets of Paris during the French Revolution to a
tranquil British manor to the deck of a ship at sea, will be magically
recreated on the stage at 51 Walden, by director Corey Jackson, music
director Mario Cruz and an award-winning team of designers and technical
crew. Audiences will experience some "amazing set changes and fabulous
period costumes," according to Director Jackson, "so you can expect an
extraordinary stage event."
OPENING
WEEKEND RECEPTIONS
Ticket holders for the opening weekend of The Scarlet Pimpernel,
Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24, are cordially invited to
attend receptions at 7 p.m. before each performance. An authentic 18th
century repast will be served. We hope you will join us for hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and
libations as we discuss the background of this extraordinary production.
The musical runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. April 23 through
May 8, with two Sunday matinees on April 25 and May 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets for all shows are $24 (with a discount of $1 off per ticket
available for groups of 10 or more).
To
order tickets and get show
information, go to www.concordplayers.org You
can also email your
ticket requests to tickets@concordplayers.org
or call 978-369-2990.
SCARLET
PIMPERNEL INTERVIEWS ON TV
Mark your calendar and tune to
Channel 8 in April! Arts and features writer Priscilla Stevens of The Carlisle
Mosquito will be interviewing The Scarlet Pimpernel Director Corey Jackson,
Music Director Mario Cruz, and cast members Ethan Butler (Percy), Sarah
Jackson (Marguerite), and James Tallach (Chauvelin) on CCTV's
entertainment program Discussing
Creativity.
A Pimpernel episode is
shooting this week and will air on local cable broadcast channel 8 on
Monday, April 12 at 9 p.m., Wednesday, April 14 at 5 p.m., and Friday,
April 16 at 8 a.m.
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL PUBLICITY
CAMPAIGN
The Players publicity campaign for this show includes
the theme, "Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel?" (click on this link) As
you may know, discovering the identity of the Scarlet
Pimpernel is the crux of the plot of the musical, and the
characters in the play ask that question constantly. We hope to pique
the curiosity of people who don't know the book or play by placing ads
and posters of the masked cast members all over town. Also, we pulled
the names of some members of the cast of The Scarlet Pimpernel out of a hat to
present to you here.
 One definition of "community
theater" is theater made up of people in the community. And in The Scarlet Pimpernel,
one of those community members is Maddie
Mahoney (Ensemble), a junior at Concord-Carlisle High School.
Says Maddie, "One of my favorite parts about performing is being able to
express myself through song and dance, and being able to entertain
audiences." And she's had ample opportunity to do just that, as Olive in
The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee, Nancy in Oliver!
and Anita in West Side Story.
"I love being able to portray different characters and play someone who
isn't myself," says Maddie. "Rarely in life do people get that special
opportunity."
 Stephanie Mann
(Ensemble) has had considerable experience as a performing soprano. As
an undergrad at Brandeis and a graduate student in Voice and Opera
Performance at The Boston Conservatory, she starred in a number of
operas. Since then, she has sung with the Boston Opera Project, the
Raylynmor Opera, the Asheville Lyric Opera Company, Mass Theatrica,
Worcester Opera Works, Riverside Theatre Works, Longwood Opera, and the
New Hampshire Opera Theatre. Of the current production, she says, "I've
been a fan of the story of the Scarlet Pimpernel since the 7th grade
when we were shown the 1982 miniseries in class. For months after that, I
would watch the movie every day after school. Since then, I've read the
book multiple times, seen the movies, saw the musical twice (once on
Broadway, once with the first touring cast), and have even tried to grow
scarlet pimpernels (my cat ate them). Needless to say, I'm a bit
obsessed with the story and am thrilled to be a part of a local
production."
 Laura Prior (Marie) is performing in
her first Concord Players show, and The Scarlet Pimpernel is her favorite
musical! "Ever since my mother saw it performed on Broadway and
brought home the soundtrack for me, it has been my dream to be in this
musical! It is an honor to work with such a talented cast and crew.
There really is a standard of excellence in every aspect of this show."
Most recently Laura was seen in Anything
Goes with Actorsingers in Nashua, for which she received a New
Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Past
shows include Crazy for You, Of Thee I
Sing, Pirates of Penzance, and Bye
Bye Birdie.
 Tom Richardson (Jessup and
Sentry), has appeared elsewhere in The
Music Man, Once on This Island and The Pajama Game, Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, One
More Angel in Heaven, The Wizard of Oz, and My Comic Valentine. On
the side, Tom performs in the rock band "The Bearded Pigs". Of being in
The Scarlet
Pimpernel cast, he says, "I feel fortunate to be part of this
production. I've worked with some talented people and groups over the
last couple of years, but the depth of talent and commitment in this
production, both on and off stage, is truly impressive. When they had us
in for costume measurements a month before rehearsals began, I could
see that The Concord Players commitment to the show would be something
special."
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BE SURE TO COME TO THE
ANNUAL MEETING!
 The Concord Players
90th Annual Meeting will be held at 51 Walden Street, 7:00 p.m. on April
11, 2010. There will be refreshments, announcement of the 2011-2012
play slate, voting for the Board of Directors for the upcoming year, and
you will hear what has been going on behind the scenes this year and
about plans for the future. After that, members will enjoy a short
one-act play called The Love
Clinic, directed by Faith Pelletier, and starring Lisa Astbury
(director of The Odd Couple)
and Paul Murphy (director of The
Man Who Came to Dinner.) A great way to get together and catch
up with each other. See you there!
NEW BOARD MEMBER CANDIDATES
Long-term member Paul Gill has contributed to a number
of Players productions as a sound and visual effects designer. For
example, in 1992, for Evita, he
rented a Spanish-language movie from a Hollywood vault, set up a
projector and large screen, and created the ambiance of a Buenos Aires
cinema. Paul has co-produced four shows and was Players president from
1986 to 1988, as well as serving on the FOPAC board. He spearheaded the
effort to acquire a Lexicon sound processor, to enhance house sound for
both Orchestra and Players.
Paul Murphy has directed or appeared in several Players
productions. He directed Dinner with
Friends and Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and has appeared in The Odd Couple, 1776, Honk!, Oklahoma!, and An Inspector Calls. Elsewhere, Paul
has directed The Last Night of
Ballyhoo, All Night Strut, Fantastiks, and the Kaufman and Hart
classic, You Can't Take It With You.
Off stage, Paul does educational marketing for the MGH Institute of
Health Professions.
Robert Runck, current Newsletter and Yearbook editor, has been a
member since 1990. A former member of the Players and FOPAC boards, and
former president of FOPAC, he has produced two plays and appeared in
four others, along with helping build sets and prop furniture, paint,
and work on the backstage crew during runs.
REMINDER: DON'T FORGET THE SHOW BUS!
See
the world-famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the Wang Center,
7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 15, 2010. The program includes Uptown,
Dancing Spirit, and Revelations. 34 tickets are available at $90
each (great seats!). Includes bus fare and refreshments. Bus leaves 51
Walden Street at 6:00 p.m. For more information contact Susie Baldwin at
978-287-4898 or susanbal@verizon.net
and Sally Bull at 978-369-2042 or sallybull@erols.com
NEW MEMBERS JOIN PLAYERS
We are pleased to welcome the
following new and returning members: Charlie Atherton, Bill and
Elizabeth Hoermann, Laura Prior, and Andy Swansburg.
PLAYERS ON STAGE ELSEWHERE
Kate Beattie is a Lady
Player
member Kate Beattie will be playing Lady Cynthia Muldoon in The Real Inspector Hound, by Tom
Stoppard, which along with Nasty
Things, Murders by Arthur Lovegrove, is being presented by the
Belmont Dramatic Club at Belmont Town Hall (455 Concord Avenue,
Belmont), April 9, 10 at 8 p.m. and 11 at 3 p.m (tickets are $20
adults/$18 seniors).
Nancy
Curran Willis Directs Again (and Again)
Nancy Curran Willis
directed The Shape of Things at
Quannapowit Players, on stage now through April 3; and will direct Doubt for Hovey Players (May); Jekyll & Hyde for Needham
(November); Lion in Winter at
Nextdoor Theater in Winchester (January 2011); and Moon Over Buffalo (May 2011) for
Acme.
FOPAC SHOW A BIG HIT
Congrats
to Sarah Telford for directing and starring in a
successful production of Die
Fledermaus as a fundraiser for FOPAC. Players members David
Atwood (producer), Jay Newlon (stage manager), Dolores Carabillo
(Costumes), Sally Bull and Susie Baldwin (Front of House) and Rick
Shamel (Lighting) also contributed in a major way to the production,
which featured members of the Concord Band, Concord Orchestra, and
school of ballet at 51 Walden.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS AUDITIONS
 Player member
Robert Runck is directing Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
for the Nashua Theatre Guild, performing in an outdoor park setting in
late July. Auditions for the show are being held on Tuesday April
20, 7-9pm and Wednesday, April 21, 7-9pm. in the Court Street
Theater, 14 Court Street, Nashua, NH. Directions available on the NTG
website at http://www.nashuatheatreguild.org/summer.html
SCARLET PIMPERNEL CAST PROFILES, CONT.
 It may seem surprising that James Sheehan, a junior at Acton
Boxborough Regional High School, has the principal role of Armand St.
Just in The Scarlet
Pimpernel. But he has already built up an impressive resume.
Behind the scenes, he has been the resident associate producer and
graphic designer for ACTS, and he produced his school's fall play, Our Town. Although The Scarlet Pimpernel
is his onstage debut with Concord Players, he has already trod the
boards elsewhere, with lead roles in Les
Miserables, Beauty and the
Beast, On Golden Pond,
and The Boy Friend. When asked
what he likes best about performing, James says, "Live shows are
constantly changing and nothing will ever be the same from
night-to-night-that's what makes it fun!"
 Andrew
Swansburg (Ozzy), was last seen at 51 Walden as Hans in Cabaret. He's also performed
elsewhere in A Man of No Importance,
A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Joseph
and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Carousel, Grease, My Fair Lady, Damn
Yankees, Evita, Gypsy, A Little Bit of Ireland, Remembering the 40's, West Side Story, Mack
and Mabel, What the
Butler Saw and Oliver!
He has this to say about The Scarlet Pimpernel, "Concord has certainly raised the
bar with every aspect of this show. As an actor, it's exciting to see
the incredible work on sets, costumes, publicity, etc., that is going on
when we aren't in the theater. It drives me to work harder at my
craft
to create a polished show for our audiences."
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