PLAYERS NEWS
Paul Murphy is directing the hilarious musical comedy 9 to 5
at the Arlington Friends of the Drama. The show also features Tricia
Akowicz, with props by Charlotte Kelley. Based on the classic movie, the
musical version of the show features music and lyrics by Dolly Parton.
The show runs March 9-25, and tickets can be purchased at afdtheatre.org Diana Doyle will be performing in a production of Private Lives by
Noel Coward at Norwood Theatre March 9-11. Andy Swansburg will
playing Vernon Hines and Julia Bandini is in the Ensemble of the Weston
Friendly Society's production of The Pajama Game, going up in March.
MEG SPRING
"Work
hard, play fair, be kind." Meg Spring learned to live by this motto as a
young student at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord. She has threaded the
philosophy through all the strands of her life, including her role as a
board member for The Concord Players. It is one of the many roles she
excels at as part of a busy, purposeful life.
Meg doesn't make her living at theater, but it's possible her early
introduction to the craft (she started in the first grade) informs the
profession she chose as far back as the fifth grade: law. Learning about
the American Revolution and people who determined to govern themselves
with equal rights and protections was an idea that ignited her passion
for justice.
Later, the civil injustices exposed by a study of the Civil War and a reading of To Kill a Mockingbird
honed that passion into a sense of purpose that led her to the place
she occupies now as a District Court Judge in Massachusetts. As the
youngest judge in the state, she had to face down some skepticism about
her readiness for the bench, but ever true to the principles of that
early motto she prevailed, and now hears civil and criminal cases as a
seated judge in Worcester.
So how does a young woman who loved to sing and dance and who went
through school performing in plays attain the honorific The Honorable?
It's actually a pretty straight road.
"I always loved to sing when I was a kid," Meg says. "My first play was the musical version of Wind in The Willows. I sang a little song about living in my hole and being comfy. I loved it!"
All through school, she kept on performing, with the law never out of
sight. In high school the theater became a family affair.
"I did my first play with my dad (Players' member Charlie Streff) my senior year in high school. We did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
with Theater III in Acton. I loved having that much time with him,
especially with leaving for college so close. I did his makeup for him
and led him on and off stage because he wasn't allowed to wear his
glasses!"
Later, they again performed together in a Players' production of Our Town.
Meg found she had a lot in common with her character, Emily. "I love
that she loves school and is not afraid to excel at it. I love that she
has big dreams despite what society had planned for her. I love that she
is brave," says Meg.
From there the father-daughter team went on to perform in Little Women. "I love being in plays with him because we get to spend so much time together we wouldn't ordinarily have. Our last play was The Sound of Music.
I hope one day my daughter Lizzie will do a show with both of us. She
absolutely has the bug!" Definitely a family affair.
Ever dogged in pursuing her goals, Meg worked her way into law school,
where she decided that she wanted to join the District Attorney's
office. That's when her experience in the theater and her love of the
law found Kismet.
"I wanted to stand up for victims of crimes and hold people
accountable. In order to be good at that job you have to be a good
multi-tasker and a bit of a performer, so my acting background certainly
helped me in that regard. Part of being a successful trial attorney is
being able to tell a story and react to unexpected occurrences. It's the
ultimate in live theater!"
Meg manages her multiple roles with aplomb and grace. She is mother,
daughter, wife, judge, actor, Players board member, softball coach and
backstage mom. At board meetings for The Concord Players, it is always
her reasoned, articulate voice that brings the group round to sound
decisions. At Players' events, it is Meg who has organized the food, the
entertainment and the clean-up with a finesse that suggests she has
nothing else in the world to worry about. One wonders; does she have a
work/life balance?
"I couldn't do it without my husband or dad," she says. When I was
applying to be a judge I had to go to all kinds of interviews over the
course of almost two years. My husband took over pick-ups and drop offs
of Lizzie. One of her classmates started calling him 'business suit guy'
because he was always rushing to school from work. Dad picks up Lizzie
from school every day now that he is retired and takes her to dance
class, voice lessons and softball. He gives her dinner and takes her to
lunch on half days. They have a regular order at Johnny Rockets in
Acton."
Thank goodness she has some help.
But even with help, a lesser woman couldn't accomplish all that Meg
Spring has. She cites her natural empathy and affinity toward fairness
as the traits that led her to the law, and credits her parents for
instilling in her a can-do attitude from her earliest years.
"Work hard, play fair, be kind." Meg Spring does it every day.
--Linda McConchie
