Performances of the show are scheduled at 8pm on Friday and Saturday evenings 4/30, 5/1, 5/7, 5/8, 5/14, 5/15, 5/21, 5/22 with matinees on Sundays, 5/16 and 5/23 at 2:00p.m.  Tickets are $24.00 with a Student (under 18) and Senior (65+) discount of $2.00 at all performances.

About the Show:

Love can make a woman do strange things.  Like lie about her past.  Or give up her career for the man she loves.  Or throw off her princessly raiment and disguise herself as a young man in order to infiltrate the guarded “men-only” palace compound of an exiled prince she’s admired from afar, who is secretly plotting to murder her and usurp her throne.  Such is the state of things in this hilarious, bawdy, risque, tongue-in-cheek, double-entendre filled, anachronistic adaptation of the classic Marivaux comedy, “Triumph of Love.”

Cast:

• Agis – Eric Harper of Edison
• Hesione – Julie Waldman-Stiel of West Orange
• Harlequin – Chris Mortenson of Oldwick
• Dimas – Billy Brisley of Whippany
• Hermocrates – Michael J. Foley of Hopatcong
• Princess Leonide – Kathleen Campbell Jackson of Far Hills
• Corine – Tina Kaye of Brick

The theater is located at the corners of Grove Street and Maple Avenue in Chester, New Jersey.   For reservations please call the box office at 908-879-7304.  For directions or additional information about the theatre, please visit our website at www.chestertheatregroup.org

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

The game is afoot – and only Sherlock Holmes can stop the beast from striking again!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation comes to life at the Black River Playhouse. Chris Mortensen directs Tim Kelly’s adaptation of this classic tale.

• Eric Rolland as Sherlock Holmes
• Steve Nitka as Doctor Watson
• Peter Kendall as Sir Henry Baskerville
• Jean Habrukowich as Lady Agatha Mortimer
• Michael Burkett as Jack Stapleton
• Katie Kennedy as Kathy Stapleton
• Jill Borman as Laura Lyons
• Tom Murray as Barrymore
• Geraldine Baillod as Mrs. Barrymore
• Elizabeth Urcinoli as Perkins

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS @ 8:00 PM OCTOBER 9* – 24
SUNDAY OCTOBER 18 @ 2:00 PM

General Admission $18.00
Students / Seniors $16.00

CALL FOR RESERVATIONS: 908 879 7304 (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
cash or check only

* Friday October 9 – SOLD OUT
call ASAP to get on the list for other performances!

The Hound of the Baskervilles

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(left to right): Eric Rolland, Peter Kendall, Jean Habrukowich, Steven Nitka

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!

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

March 6th and 7th at 8PM; March 13th and 14th at 8PM; March 20th and 21st at 8PM. There will be a Sunday afternoon matinee at 2PM on March 15th.

All performances are $18.00. Seniors and students $16.00.

The play is directed by Jay Mills.

The cast is as follows:

• Becca – Sky Spiegel of Morristown
• Howie – Tom Morrissey of Rockaway
• Izzy – Vicky Reed of Hackettstown
• Nat – Alice Regan Moynahan of Lake Hopatcong
• Jason – William Sandoval of Budd Lake

David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted a drama that’s not just a departure but a revelation – an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, compassion and searing honesty - Variety

With RABBIT HOLE, David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted the most serious, simply told work of his career – a painstakingly beautiful, dramatically resourceful, exquisitely human new play – Backstage

The sounds of Broadway and Traditional Holiday themed music will fill the air when the nine person cast brings sounds of the season to the Chester Theatre Group’s black-box stage on December 5/6/7.  Representing composers from Irving Berlin to Joni Mitchell and including most of the carols you’ve been singing since you were a child, this holiday treat has musical direction and arrangements by James Horan of Morristown and stage direction by Mary Saarmann of Byram.

The cast features veteran CTG performers Michael Foley of Hopatcong, Ellen Fraker-Glasscock of Chester, Roseann Ruggiero of Ledgewood and Jonathan Wentz of Whippany.  HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS also marks the CTG debut of newcomers Zachary Catron of Mendham, Zita Geoffroy-Heinz of Bridgewater, Tracey Lynne Haskell of Garwood, Jennifer Sammartino of Secaucus and Rich Stanton of Denville.

The revue will end with audience participation Christmas caroling, so make your reservations and come join the fun.

Admission is $20 and $18 for Students and Seniors (cash or check only — no credit cards). For Reservations call the box office at 908-879-7304.  Reservations will be held at the theater until 15 minutes before curtain.

Evening performances on Friday, 12/5 and Saturday 12/6 start at 8:00pm and there is a Sunday matinee on 12/7 which begins at 2:00pm. Due to the nature of our theater-in-the-round setting, latecomers may or may not be seated at the discretion of the house manager.

The theatre is located at the corners of Grove and Maple Streets in Chester, NJ.

On Golden Pond, a gentle, wry comedy of American life and ways, takes place one summer, when retired professor Norman Thayer and his wife Ethel arrive at their New England cottage on Golden Pond, just as they have done for nearly 50 years. The Thayer’s daughter Chelsea arrives at the cottage with her fiance Bill Ray and Billy, his 13 year-old son from a previous marriage.

Chelsea and Bill plan for Billy to stay at Golden Pond while they head for a summer in Europe. The brusque, hypochondriac Norman and the irritating Billy are soon at odds – much the same as father and daughter have always been. But despite his summer peace being shattered, the two come to a better understanding of one another over the time they are together, while Chelsea also tries to come to terms with his mortality. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and perhaps another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.

Although originally a very successful play on Broadway, it is more famous as the film in which Henry Fonda, then 75, took his final bow. His performance, along with his co-star Katherine Hepburn won wide critical acclaim, resulting in them both picking up Oscars for Best Actor and Actress.

A story filled with poignancy, warm humor, and wonderfully created characters, we’re proud to present On Golden Pond in its original stage setting.

On Golden Pond features the talents of:

• Rich Maloy as Norman Thayer Jr.
• Eileen Waite as Ethel Thayer
• Bob Scarpone as Charlie the mailman
• Maria Brodeur as Chelsea
• Don Gehan as Bill Ray Sr.
• Noah Befeler as Billy Ray Jr.

Performances are scheduled: 10/31, 11/1, 11/7, 11/8, 11/14 and 11/15 at 8:00 p.m.
11/2 and 11/9 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $18.00 for all performances. The Chester Theatre Group offers student and senior citizen (65+) tickets of $16.00 with I.D. at all performances. Only cash or checks accepted, NO CREDIT CARDS. Our box office opens at 7:30 p.m. for evening performances which begin at 8:00 p.m. and at 1:30 p.m. for matinees which begin at 2:00 p.m. Due to the nature of our theater in the round, latecomers will be seated at the discretion of our house manager.

Reservations can be made by calling our box office at 908-879-7304.

July 18-20, 2008

A special event directed by Clifford Parrish

Back by audience demand, SONGS OF A SUMMER NIGHT 2008 will be presented at the Black River Playhouse on Maple Street in Chester for 3 performances over one weekend only – Friday and Saturday, July 18th and 19th at 8pm with a Sunday matinee performance on July 20th at 2pm. Accompanied by a simple combo and under the musical direction of Clifford Parrish, a rich chorus of 25 singers will perform both standard and contemporary show tunes chorally and individually in a concert format. The program includes the works of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Schwartz, among others.

The Black River Singers are: Geraldine Baillod, Kathryn Cordellia Davis, D’Angelique Dopson, Jeff Dopson, Marguerite Durant, Michael Foley, Beth Gleason, Mark Happel, Lamont Hill, Peg Hill, Robert Jacobson, Julie Madison Jacoby, Gloria Lamoureux, Phil Lamoureux, Jodi Maloy, Rich Maloy, Claudia Metz, Chris Mortenson, Kelly Myer, Alice Regan Moynahan, Roseann Ruggiero, Stuart Scheer, David Villepique, and Roxanna Wagner.

Joining Clifford on piano are Tim Metz on bass and Dan Halpern on percussion.

Tickets are $15.00 and reservations are highly suggested. To make a reservation phone 908-879-7304. Reservations will NOT be taken via our website.