Chester Theatre Group

CTG is proud to present, for one night only, a reading of The Ten Commandments, a comedy by Gary Hill and Perry Kroeger, based loosely on the Cecil B. DeMille movie of the same name.

In the cast (playing over 40 parts among them) are Barbara Haag, Steve Graham, Maggie Graham, Lori Lawrence, Stephen L. Fredericks, Danny Campos, Mark Happel, Steve Nitka, Perry Kroeger and Bob Jacobson as Moses.

The fun starts at 8:00, and reservations are recommended by calling 908.879.7304.

The play was originally done in New York at LaMama in 1995.

Hot on the heels of the auditions for Fiction (thanks to everyone who came out!) we have auditions for an evening of one acts to be performed September 24-26, 2010.

On August 15 and 17 at 7 PM, Stephen Catron and Jeff Jackson will be holding auditions for the one acts, “Check, Please” and “The Actor’s Nightmare”, at the Black River Playhouse.  Auditioners will be asked to read from the provided scripts.

The plays:

CHECK, PLEASE by Jonathan Rand – directed by Jeff Jackson

Cast Breakdown: 4-8 men, 4-8 women, all mid-20s to mid-40s

Synopsis: Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a schizophrenic, a bigamist, or a mime. CHECK, PLEASE follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse—until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

 An extremely funny collection of short, SNL-style skits that present a fantastic—and rare—opportunity for actors to really explore their comic chops with fun, smart, hip material. Each is only 2-3 minutes long, so for actors who only want to tackle one character in one vignette, it’s a very easy, manageable undertaking that still offers a great payoff. But we may also cast actors as multiple characters, so if you want to take on more, there’s an opportunity for that, too!

 THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE by Christopher Durang – directed by Steve Catron

 Cast Breakdown:  2 men, 3 women (ages mid-20s to 50s)

 Synopsis: Anyone who’s involved in theatre knows the dream:  you find yourself on-stage, ready to perform, only you don’t know what the play is – you’ve never rehearsed  - you don’t know the plot, let alone the lines!   George finds himself on stage, uncertain of where he is or how he got there – suddenly he’s thrust on stage, it’s HAMLET?!? – a glamorous actress appears to be doing PRIVATE LIVES by Noel Coward?!?  Shakespeare??WAITING FOR GODOT??  A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS??   This hilarious spoof is a classic!

The Chester Theatre Group and director Jeff Knapp will hold auditions for a fall production of the play FICTION by Steven Dietz on Sunday, August 8th at 7pm and Tuesday, August 10th at 7pm at the Black River Playhouse, on the corner of Grove Street and Maple Avenue in Chester, New Jersey.  FICTION is a drama with much humor, but it’s not set-up/joke/joke humor…

The show runs Fridays and Saturdays, October 8-23, 2010 with a Sunday matinee performance on October 17.

All roles are open:

Linda Waterman: mid 40s-50s – her first book was a non-fiction best-seller; now a professor dying of brain cancer.  (Not not like Wit dying of brain cancer, she lives with it the best she can. No head shaving required. Maybe a bandana.)

Michael Waterman: mid 40s-50s – an author of pop-lit who had grander aspirations.  He’s dealing with his wife’s illness as best he can.  He’s maybe a little full of himself, takes himself a little too seriously.

Abby Drake,  late 20s-mid-30s – curator of “The Drake Colony”, a writer’s colony where Linda and Michael both wrote, at different times.  Abby knows both of them, separately.  She keeps secrets for both of them.

“The power to change one’s life comes from a paragraph, a lone remark.” – James Salter, Light Years

A bit about the play:  Linda, a successful author turned professor, is dying of cancer, and she asks her husband, Michael, to dispose of her diaries after she’s gone; but she invites him to read them after she’s gone before disposing or donating them.  Since she will be showing him hers, she says its only fair if he let her see his journals before she shuffles off the mortal coil.  He hesitates and then relents — what can he say?  What she reads is at times known to her, and at other times, a revelation.  When she reaches the volume about Michael’s time at The Drake Colony, a writer’s retreat, she recognizes a familiar face from her own time at The Drake.   The play dances around in time and place, so Linda is not always dying, Michael is not always 40ish, etc. But the one thing that endures is their love for one another, even through the dark times, their love binds them together.

For additional information, call the producer, Ellen Glasscock at 908-698-3678.

[UPDATE 8/5/10: Synopisis and character descriptions tweaked.]

CORRECTION: The opening night date is July 16, not July 17.

It’s back by popular demand!

Our popular  musical evening, Songs for a Summer Night, will include choral arrangements and group performances from such shows as Les Miserables, Porgy & Bess, Fiddler on The Roof, A New Brain and Songs of a New World and songs by George & Ira Gershwin, David Shire and Frank Loesser, all under the skilled direction of Perry Award winning musical director, Clifford Parrish.

The talented group of 26 performers includes: Karen Cantor, D’ani Dopson, Jeff Dopson, Jeffrey Fiorello, Michael Foley, Ellen Fraker-Glasscock, Barbara Haag, Mark Happel, Eric Harper, Lamont Hill, Robert Jacobson, Julie Jacoby, Scott Jacoby, Tina Kaye, Jodi Maloy, Rich Maloy, Claudia Metz, Alice Regan-Moynahan, Roseann Ruggiero, Christina Ryan, Stuart Scheer, Robert Stone, Ericka Traugh, Roxanna Wagner, Julie Waldman-Stiel, and Dave Villepique.

Performances are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays, July 16, 17, 23, 24 at 8pm and on Sundays July 18 and 25 at 2pm.  Tickets are $20.00.

For reservations please call 908-879-7304.

Kate Lyn Reiter’s Comedy Workshops comes to CTG for a one-night only comedy event!

Join CTG veteran Julie McCormick and her “Late Shift” colleagues, Fred Holzapfel and Phil Sweet  on June 12th at 8 PM as they’re joined by Dan Hoffman, Kris Swanson and Penny Rowe for an evening of laughs that can’t be beat.

Tickets are $15 and proceeds benefit CTG’s Capital Improvement Fund.

Reservations are recommended.  Call the box office at 908.8789.7304 to save your seat.