2021-22 Season
Special Production: in July 2021, we presented our first open air production, performed at the Wayland High School athletic field:
A Picasso
By Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Donnie Baillargeon
July 23, 24, 25, 2021
Featuring:
Pablo Picasso: Chris Cardoni
Miss Fisher: Christina Petrillo
The Price
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Donnie Baillargeon
November 5 - November 20, 2021
FEATURING:
Victor Franz: Bob Williams
Esther Franz: Margaret McCarty
Gregory Solomon: Robert Zawistowski
Walter Franz: Bill Stambaugh
By Kate Hamill
Directed by James Barton
February 25 - March 12, 2022
Friday, Feb. 25 8pm
Saturdays Feb. 26 - March 12 2pm
Thursday - Saturday, March 3 - March 12 8pm
Jane Austen never dramatized her own books, but fortunately others have. In Kate Hamill’s modern, rewarding adaptation of the novel Sense & Sensibility, we get to see all of the Dashwood family’s trials, starting when the family patriarch dies, placing the fortunes of the matriarch and her daughters in doubt. We are in Georgian England, when men held the purse strings and ultimately the power. In telling the story from the perspective of the women in the family, Austen shifts from the male viewpoint, showing that through personal integrity, and with the love and support of family and community, women were able to persevere and prosper. And even though the feminism in Austen’s story might be veiled, the earnestness of the love stories and the circumstances that the Dashwoods endure should convince any romantic soul that strength of character and true love can conquer all.
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
New Book by Douglas Carter Beane; Original Book by Oscar Hammerstein II
Directed by Katie Swimm
May 6 - 21, 2022
Friday, May 6 at 8pm
Saturdays May 7 - 21 2pm
Thursday - Saturday, May 12 - 21 8pm
Rodgers and Hammerstein are synonymous with American musical theater. In the 1950s, they were given a unique opportunity to create the first musical specifically for the small screen. Cinderella was a smash when first televised in 1957, with a vast majority of the homes in America tuning in to see Julie Andrews perform the title role (re-done on TV in 1965). Tony-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane has updated the script, adding nuance and poignancy with a modern slant. The story’s structure ought to be familiar: Cinderella (with help from her fairy godmother) goes to the ball to meet the prince, despite poor treatment from her step-mother and her two step-sisters. Her fairy godmother magically provides a gown, a coach and, yes, glass slippers. The familiar story, the sharp script updates, and the rich music yield a magical concoction of musical theater for the whole family.
By August Wilson
Directed by Michelle Aguillon
July 22 - August 6, 2022
Friday, July 22 8pm
Saturdays July 23 - Aug. 6 2pm
Thursday - Saturday, July 28 - Aug. 6 8pm
Tony and Pulitzer winner August Wilson, one of the top dramatists of the 20th century, wrote The Piano Lesson as part of his 10-play “Century Cycle” (which also includes Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) that tells of the African-American experience through the decades. This Pulitzer-winning play, although modest in its storytelling, displays Wilson’s uncanny ability to capture a snapshot of humanity, in a supernatural-laced story set in 1936 Pittsburgh. Boy Willie, wanting to be his own boss and to own his own land, wants to sell a piano that resides in his sister’s home. This piano has huge family and cultural significance, and his sister Berniece refuses to part with it. Their fight culminates in a stand-off in which the family and the community gather to give witness, as the siblings bear the weight of history and eventually come to honor it.