Chester Theatre Group

Join us on Saturday December 11 at 8 pm for this one of a kind Holiday Event!

Maggie Graham is bringing her show “Carol Channelling Caroling” to the Black River Playhouse as a fundraiser for our “Make The Exterior Paint Match” project.

As an impressionist, Maggie has been featured in Rick Skye’s The War of the Mama Roses as Carol Channing, Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters and Kristin Chenoweth.

Off-Broadway, Maggie appeared in An Evening at the Carlyle as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Ann Coulter.  Maggie wowed audiences at Gayfest’s premier production of Revolution as Judy Garland and Theatrical Gems’ Actor’s Fund benefit performance of Irving Berlin’s Mr. President as Sarah Palin.

You never know what will happen as Carol channels some of Broadway’s greatest DIVAS!

You could run into Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, Patti LuPone, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Idina Menzel, Angela Lansbury, Eartha Kitt and many others!

Seating is limited.  All seats for this special event fundraiser are $20.  Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling our box office at 908.879.7304.

CTG is pleased to present a reading of Claire Booth Luce’s classic comedy of manners  ”The Women” on November 5th and 6th at 8 pm.

Directed by Cindy Alexander, the cast includes Ellen Fraker-Glassock (Mary), Barbara Haag (Sylvia), Kathleen Campbell Jackson (Crystal), Roseann Ruggiero (Nancy), Gloria Lamoureux (Peggy), Claudia Metz (Edith), Roxanna Wagner (Miriam), Karen Cantor (Countess), Carla Kendall (Olga), Jodi Maloy (Jane), Geraldine Baillod (Maggie), Rachel Cantor (Little Mary), Peg Hill (Mrs. Morehead), Penny Hoadley (Lucy), Erika Traugh and Colleen Lane

Admission for this CTG Special Event is $10.

The Chester Theatre Group of the Black River Playhouse will be presenting its November 2010 production of SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS by Richard Alfieri. This warm and endearing show, directed by Roseann Ruggiero and produced by Penny Hoadley, features CTG veteran Eileen Waite of Randolph as Lily Harrison and CTG newcomer Matt Cotton as Michael Minetti. The play runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 pm beginning November 19th thru December 5th with 2 Sunday matinees at 2 pm on November 28 and December 5. Tickets are $18, student and senior discount tickets at Friday and Sunday performances are $16. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 908-879-7304.

SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS is a touching and human comedy about what happens when an antagonistic relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship as two characters from very different backgrounds reveal their secrets, fears, and joys while dancing the Swing, Tango, Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, and Contemporary Dance.  A comedy with music and dance, the play also addresses the serious issues of ageism and intolerance.

Since its Los Angeles premiere and Broadway opening, SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS has been translated into 12 languages and has traversed the globe with productions in over 20 countries. With over 50 productions and two national tours in Germany alone, the play has established itself as an international hit and one of the most produced plays in the world.

On October 9 and 10, the RoxburyPAC and Roxbury Arts Alliance are presenting Gloria Lamoureux as she reprises her Perry Award winnning title role in Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine.

The show, directed by Cindy Alexander, will be presented at the Investors Savings Bank Theatre, located at 72 Eyeland Ave in Succasunna.  Show times are 7:30 pm on Saturday October 9 and 2 pm on Sunday, October 10. 

Tickets are $15 and can be reserved online at http://roxburyartsalliance.tix.com

The only thing harder than dying with a secret…

… is living with one.

The Chester Theatre Group is presenting Steven Dietz’ 2002 play “Fiction” from October 8-23, 2010.  Directed by Jeff Knapp, the play features Tom Morrissey as Michael, Carol Holland as Linda and D’Angelique Dopson as Abby. The play runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 pm with a Sunday matinee at 2 pm on October 17. Ticket are $18, Students and seniors discounts on Friday and Sunday performances $16. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 908.879.7304

Fiction tells the story of Michael and Linda Waterman, a pair of writers who find themselves facing Linda’s mortality after the diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor which will run its course in a matter of weeks.  Linda suggests she read Michael’s diaries before she dies, as he will read hers after she’s gone.  In doing so, she runs the risk of exposing the lies and fictions they both have created around their “real” lives and their literary creations. The Watermans share a common muse in Abby, a docent at a writer’s colony they both (seperately) attended.  How Abby plays into each other’s fictions is revealed as the evening progresses. The script is filled with warmth, pathos, humor and topics for discussion on the ride home.

Steven Dietz is one of America’s most widely-produced and published contemporary playwrights. Since 1983, his twenty-plus plays have been seen at over one hundred regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in England, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Slovenia, Argentina, Peru, Singapore and South Africa. His work has been translated into seven languages.

Mr. Dietz is a two-time winner of the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, for FICTION (produced Off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company), and STILL LIFE WITH IRIS. He received the PEN USA West Award in Drama for LONELY PLANET; the 2007 Edgar Award for Drama from the Mystery Writer’s of America for his widely-produced SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE (adapted from William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle); and the 1995 Yomuiri Shimbun Award (the Japanese “Tony”) for his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel SILENCE. Other widely produced plays include INVENTING VAN GOGH, GOD’S COUNTRY, PRIVATE EYES, THE NINA VARIATIONS, TRUST, ROCKET MAN, HALCYON DAYS, TEN NOVEMBER, FOOLIN’ AROUND WITH INFINITY and MORE FUN THAN BOWLING. Other award-winning stage adaptations include FORCE OF NATURE (from Goethe), OVER THE MOON (from P.G. Wodehouse), THE REMEMBERER (from Joyce Simmons Cheeka), PARAGON SPRINGS (from Ibsen), DRACULA (from Bram Stoker), and, with Allison Gregory, GO, DOG. GO! (from P.D. Eastman).