PLANS FOR TWELFTH NIGHT, our fall production, are well under way. Auditions are Wednesday September 3rd and Thursday the 4th from 7-10 p.m., with callbacks on Sunday the 7th from 1-4 p.m. Director Thomas Caron is looking for actors "interested in the challenge and pleasure of doing Shakespeare." He will set the play in 1939, using music of the period. Producers Sheryl Blair, Lillian Anderson, and Dolorthy Schecter welcome volunteers for all crews. Thomas' Town Cow Theater Company will present The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke in Anne Chamberlin Park from August 1-17, with free performances Fridays at 6, Saturdays at 2 and 6, and Sundays at 4 p.m. Bring a picnic, to enjoy before the show.

Frannie Huxley will direct her play, Flowering Spurge, or The Road to Compostela, for the Woods Hole Theater Company from August 7-23; for reservations, phone 508 540 6525. The play received the 1999 Promising Playwright award and prize from the Colonial Players of Annapolis.

On Sunday August 3rd at 2 p.m., Celtic harpist (and actor!) Terrence Coe will be featured in a concert on the grounds of the Old Manse on Monument Street; he will also play there with a group called Pandemonium on Sunday the 10th. Concerts are free; bring a picnic, and lawn chairs.

Rik Pierce was recently invited to Dick and Mary Jac Hatch's house on the Cape to select from slides of past Players' productions. He returned with "tons of good pictures," and will be scanning and putting them into our website. Check www.concordplayers.org to see our old productions come to life!

Carly Evans is directing Pippin for the Concord Youth Theatre in July, at the Emerson Umbrella; the last performances are the 25th and 26th; phone 978 371 1482........Katy Blair has been cast in two of the Hovey Theater 'Summer Shorts:' dates are July 17, 19, 24, and 25. For tickets, go to www.hoveyplayers.com.......Dorothy and Harry Schecter are settling in at 100 Newbury Court, #604.

An enthusiastic audience applauded a recent showing of clips from the film Thoreau - a Re-creation at 51 Walden. Director Charles Cook gave a running commentary on the process of film-making, with profuse thanks to the many Players who contributed. He will spend the next months editing the film, with hopes for a premiere in Concord next summer.

David Paul Simon of the Guild Players Touring Company hopes to interest theaters, high schools, and colleges in his new script about Louisa May Alcott's struggle to 'find herself' during her second stay in Concord. The play also features the Emersons, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, etc. His company has performed at the First Parish Church here. You can reach him at dsimon@together.net.

On September 9th, Peter Yensen, who is a collector of road maps and an avid highway traveler, will share his nostalgia for the routes of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, one of five lectures in asssociation with the exhibition titled Degrees of Latitude: Maps of America from the Colonial Williamsburg Collection at the Concord Museum. Phone 978 369 9763 for more info.

A reception honoring long-time Player Ray Johnson was recently held at his home. Ray died in his sleep on June 18. An actor with a distinctive presence, Ray also often graced the lobby of 51 Walden in the role of house manager.

Here ends the newsletter. Keep sending news to cwdolphin@aol.com, or phone 978 369 5899. And thanks.

Claiborne Dawes