Chester Theatre Group

It’s the dancing calendar! :-)

One last time, we had to shuffle the Shirley Valentine performance schedule a little bit, so may be a little off from what you’ve seen previously.

The show will open with a sold-out performance to benefit the Long Valley Women’s Club on March 5.  Public performances open up after that, with shows on March 6, 12, 13, 14*, 19, 20, and 21*. the shows on the 14th and the 21st are matinees.  Friday and Saturday shows start at 8 pm, Sunday matinees start at 2 pm.  Due to the nature of the piece and the layout of the theatre, latecomers may not be able to be seated.

The piece, directed by Cindy Alexander, features Gloria Lamoureux as Shirley Valentine.

About the show:

Inside Mrs. Joe Bradshaw is the former Shirley Valentine longing to get out. Her self- confidence badly shattered by school, marriage and life, she is reduced to talking to the kitchen wall whilst preparing her husband’s evening meal – to be on the table as he opens the front door every night.  As she sips a glass of wine, she dreams of drinking in a country where the grape is grown.  Her feminist friend offers her a holiday in Greece and, with great trepidation and a lot of forward planning; Shirley seizes the opportunity.  In Greece she encounters a totally different lifestyle, breaking out of the mold cast for her by society.

Someone will be right with you…

Adam Bock’s office comedy, The Receptionist opens at the Black River Playhouse on Friday, November 20, 2009.

To let Samuel French summarize: “At the start of a typical day in the Northeast Office, Beverly deals effortlessly with ringing phones and her colleague’s romantic troubles. But the appearance of a charming rep from the Central Office disrupts the friendly routine. And as the true nature of the company’s business becomes apparent, The Receptionist raises disquieting, provocative questions about the consequences of complicity with evil.”

The show is directed by Jeff Knapp and features Carla Kendall as Beverly, The Receptionist; Rachel Dunwoody as Lorraine; Stephen Catron as Mr. Raymond and Don Pflaster as Mr. Dart.

The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through December 5th with a Sunday matinee performance on November 29 at 2pm. Opening night, November 20, is sold out. Tickets are available for all other performances. The show runs approx 80 minutes and is presented without intermission.

Tickets are $18 at the door (cash or check only) and may be reserved by calling the box office at 908.879.7304.

About the play:

“A deceptively complex work that intends to reinvent the concept of the office comedy, The Receptionist plays with the idea of who knows how much and how good a thing that ultimately is.” – Tom Avila, Metro Weekly

“The genially mundane goings-on in this blandly average workplace are throw into macabre relief when … a single, jarring line of dialogue sets the calm surface of the play rippling with creepy currents.” – Charles Isherwood, New York Times

Read more »

Chester Theatre Group is gearing up for their production of “Nine” which opens on June 26.  Telling the story of Guido, an Italian film director, and the women in his life, Nine is set to a score by Maury Yeston and a book by Arthur Kopit.  At CTG, the production is guided by the sure hand of Cliff Parrish who is handling both directing and musical direction with assistance from Jeff Fiorello.  Mark Happell is serving as producer and designer.

The show will be performed weekends from Friday, June 26 through Sunday, July 19, 2009 with no performance on July 4.

Making up the cast are:

• Jeff Jackson (Guido Contini)
• Nathan Kohn, Will Roper (Young Guido)
• Andrea Brooks (Luisa Contini)
• Tina Kaye (Carla)
• Kathleen Campbell Jackson (Claudia)
• Barbara Haag (Guido’s mother)
• Karen Cantor (Lilianne LaFleur)
• Ellen Fraker Glasscock (Lina Darling)
• Roxanna Wagner (Stephanie Necrophorus)
• Marguerie Durant (Our Lady of the Spa)
• Roseann Ruggiero (Mama Maddelena)
• Beth Gleason (Sarraghina)
• Christina Cafaro (Maria)
• Zita Geoffroy-Heinz (Diana)
• Maria Hladczuk (Francesca)
• Brenda Kull (Renata)
• Ericka Traugh (Giulietta)
• Pat Wry (Annabella)
• Annie Groves (Heidi)
• Gayle Hendrix (Ilsa)
• Jodi Maloy (Gretchen)
• Michele Yampolsky (Olga)
• Zachary Catron, Albert Garrido, Terry Peters (Young Guido’s schoolmates)

See you there!

The CHESTER THEATRE GROUP in residence at the BLACK RIVER PLAYHOUSE will present the American Premiereof Improbable Fiction, a comedy by Alan Ayckbourn.

Improbable Fiction will be directed by Michael T. Mooney (of Mount Olive) and produced by Penny Hoadley (of Brookside).

Starring David Neal (of Fanwood), Elizabeth Urcinoli (of Hackettstown), Bob Sackstein (of Chester), Julianne DiPietro-Renshaw (of Maplewood), Cody Dalton (of Montclair), Maria Brodeur (of Rockaway), and Eric Rolland (of Freehold).

Fridays & Saturdays, May 1 through 16 at 8pm and Sunday, May 17 at 2pm. For reservations and information: 908.879.7304 General Admission $18, Students & Seniors $16. All performances at the Black River Playhouse, corner of Grove and Maple, Chester, New Jersey.

Six aspiring authors meet on a winter’s evening to discuss their work. Among them are writers of historical romances and children’s literature who are finding it difficult to start writing, and a crime writer who can’t stop! A creator extremely complicated science fiction, a librettist without a musical partner and the Writer’s Circle chairman, who produces instruction booklets, make up the team.

The chairman, Arnold, attempts to get the rest of the group out of a rut by suggesting that they collaborate on a piece of writing, an idea that is received without enthusiasm. However, as Arnold is clearing up after the meeting, there is a clap of thunder, a black-out – and the story that would have resulted from the collaboration takes place before his very eyes.

FACTS ABOUT IMPROBABLE FICTION:

1. This is the American Premiere of the play.
2. The title is a quote from Shakespeare’s *Twelfth Night.*
3. It was originally produced in 2005 in Scarborough, England, directed by the author. A short tour of the provinces followed, but the play did not go to the West End.
4. It is Ayckbourn’s 69th play (of the current 72 he has written). His 73rd will premiere later this year in Scarborough.
5. The play is being presented here in the round, just as it was originally staged by Ayckbourn.
6. 2009 marks Ayckbourn’s 70th birthday and his 50th year of writing plays.
7. Ayckbourn is currently represented on Broadway by the Old Vic revival of THE NORMAN CONQUESTS trilogy at Circle-in-the-Square
8. The cast of this production have (all but one) appeared in many other Ayckbourn plays.
9. Chester Theatre Group has presented 4 American Premieres of Alan Ayckbourn plays and 15 other productions of his work, including two productions of the full NORMAN CONQUESTS trilogy.
10. Director Michael Mooney studied theatre in the round with Ayckbourn in England and is founder of the 4A’s – Alan Ayckbourn Aficionados of America