The "day to remember" may be too short for Shana Dirik as Sonya, but Alex Fondrier tries a little comfort in "The Rental," one of two one-act comedies to be presented at the Concord Players' fall opening event free to the public on October 21 at 51 Walden St., Concord. Festivities begin at 7:00 P.M. Curtain time 8:00.

The Concord Players send their condolences to member Charlie Atherton on the loss of his mother, Barbara, on August 21st. Mrs. Atherton taught for many years at the Lesley Ellis School and the Cambridge School of Weston.  Donations in her memory may be made to the Buckingham, Brown and Nichols School Scholarship Fund, Gerry's Landing Road, Cambridge, MA 02138

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

The EMACT DASH Awards Gala took place on September 26th at The Montvale Plaza in Stoneham – and ALL THREE of Concord Players’ shows from last season won DASH Award recognition: All My Sons (Non-Musical Category: Rick Shamel for Lighting Design, Charlotte Kelly for Set Dressing, and Douglas Cooper for Set Design), Lend Me A Tenor (Non-Musical Category: Susan Yanofsky for Costume Design, and Gordon Ellis for Best Supporting Actor), and She Loves Me (Musical Category: Linda McConchie for both Set Dressing and Props Coordination, Charlie Atherton and Cheri Fletcher for Makeup and Hair, and Carly Evans for Best Supporting Actress). Congratulations to everybody who helped make last season an award-winning success!

Concord Players will be featured in an upcoming show about community theater on Cable TV Channel 8 – watch your local listings!

More Concord Players TV news: on Tuesday, October 30, at 10:00 PM Eastern time, Boston’s PBS TV Channel 2 (WGBH) will broadcast the documentary Louis Brandeis: The People’s Attorney, featuring Concord Players Christopher DiGrazia, Philana Gnatowski, Bill Maxwell, Jay Newlon, Jonathan Niles, and John Small.

Anyone wishing to lend a hand in building and painting the set for The Odd Couple, and/or helping out backstage during the show itself, is invited to contact the director, Lisa Astbury, at 617 694-7845 or lisaraspberry@hotmail.com.

Casting News:

The Odd Couple has been cast and is in rehearsal! The cast includes Julio Gomez, Paul Murphy, R. Michael Wresinski, John Alzapiedi, John Small, Christopher DiGrazia, Stacy Kernweis, and Leslie Wagner. Performances will be on November 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, and 17 at 8:00pm, and November 11 at 2:00pm. Get your tickets now before this beloved and hilarious Neil Simon comedy classic sells out! The three ways to get your tickets are: (1) Order online on our website, http://concordplayers.org/ , or, (2) Call (978) 369-2990 and leave a ticket request on the answering machine, or, (3) Send an email with your ticket request to tickets@concordplayers.org .

Birgitta Knuttgen worked as an extra on the feature film The Women, which was shot in Boston in September – watch her stroll by as Annette Bening and Meg Ryan quarrel and hurl green peppers at a vegetable stand on a New York street!

Auditions for The Lion In Winter will be at 51 Walden Street in Concord on Saturday, November 3, from 1:00pm to 4:30pm, as well as on Sunday, November 4, from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. Callbacks will be on Thursday, November 8, from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. For more information, visit our website, http://concordplayers.org/ .

Lida McGirr is calling for ideas and input from playwrights and directors interested in doing original, short, springy, frolicking plays for Concord Players’ Spring Frolic! Lida is also looking for suggestions on what Concord Players can bring to the EMACT Festival in June of 2008 (e.g. original one-act plays, a full production of the upcoming staged reading (TBA), or a cutting from one of this season’s productions). Please send all plays (12 pages or less!) and/or statements of directorial interest in the Spring Frolic, as well as EMACT Festival suggestions, to Lida McGirr at lida.mcgirr@gmail.com

The Fall Huddle’s 2 one-act plays will be directed by Dorothy Schecter and produced by Lillian Anderson. The cast of The Rental by Mark Harvey Levine features Shana Dirik as Sonya and Alex Fondrier as Harold. The cast of Perfect by Mary Gallagher includes Lida McGirr as Tina, Patricia Collins as Kitty, and Ian Dowell as Dan.

Shana Dirik will play Anna in The King and I at Theater at the Mount in Gardner. The show will be performed at Mount Wachusett Community College from November 30th-December 8th.  Get tickets online at www.mwcc.edu/html/gmod/tam

Membership Updates:

Our membership books have been mailed out and you should have received yours by now. If your information is incorrect or has changed since the book was published, please send the changes to Corinne Kinsman at the following email address and we will make note of it in the next newsletter: corinne.kinsman@gmail.com  

Visit the website at concordplayers.org or call 978.369.2990, mailbox 1 with questions.

Deadline for this newsletter is the third Friday of the month.
Send us your news at news@concordplayers.org