Chester Theatre Group

by Paula Vogel

Spring 2008 Workshop

A special event directed by Chris Mortenson

“A bawdy, thunderingly ironic take on Shakespeare’s Othello, this bride of the Moor is everything Iago pretended she was” (Ben Brantley – New York Times)

What if Othello was right? Playwright Paula Vogel takes a look at this possibility, investing her play about the distaff characters from Shakespeare’s Othello with wit, humor and ribaldry. Director Chris Mortenson works with a cast of veteran community theater performers for his directorial debut at The Black River Playhouse. The show features, Kym Frank in the title role of Desdemona, Othello’s virtuous (or is she?) bride; Donne Petito as Emilia, Desdemona’s long-time handmaiden and Iago’s long-suffering wife and D’Angelique Dopson as Bianca, Desdemona’s worldly and bawdy friend.

Performances: June 13-14, 2008 at 8 pm

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (GODSPELL, PIPPIN)

Book by Joseph Stein (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF)

Based on the film LA FEMME DE BOULANGER by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono

Opens April 25, 2008

Directed by Scott Hart; Musical Direction by Clifford Parrish

The Bakers Wife is set in the 1935 in a rural village in Provence, France, whose inhabitants, though endearing are quite contentious with one another. Having been without a baker for some time, the residents are thrilled when the baker, Aimable Castignent arrives with his beautiful young bride, Genevieve. The bread is hot and delicious and all is well – until Genevieve is seduced away from her older husband, by a young and handsome villager. Aimable crumbles – and so does his bread making abilities. Driven to distraction by “breadlessness,” the villagers rally to lure Genevieve back, setting long-standing arguments aside for the greater good: fresh bread!

The cast includes: Greg Moran, Marguerite Durant, Rich Malloy, Lynn Hart, Robert Longstreet, Jeffery Fiorello, Lou Savarese, Roxanna Wagner, Michael Moran, Brett Petersen, Lamont Hill, Billy Brisley, Claudia Metz, Dave Villepique, Susan Hagen, Lindsey Brown, and Ericka Traugh.

Directed by Scott Hart, who also directed CTG’s award winning production of BLOOD BROTHERS, THE BAKER’S WIFE will be performed with a nine-piece, professional orchestra, under the musical director and conductor, Clifford Parrish.

Rouding out the production team are Producer Ellen Fraker Glasscock, Stage Managers Peg Hill & Geraldine Baillod, and Choreographers Roxanna Wagner & Bill Brisley.

The show runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm, April 25 – May 17 with a Sunday matinee at 2pm on May 4th. Opening night performance (April 25) will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.

$22 per person for Friday evening & Sunday matinees

$24 per person for Saturday evening performances

Please note that we have extended our Seniors/Students discount to all attendees of Friday & Sunday performances, no additional discounts will be offered.

Performances: April 25 – May 17, 2008

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (GODSPELL, PIPPIN)

Book by Joseph Stein (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF)

Based on the film LA FEMME DE BOULANGER by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono

Opens April 25, 2008

Directed by Scott Hart; Musical Direction by Clifford Parrish

The Bakers Wife is set in the 1935 in a rural village in Provence, France, whose inhabitants, though endearing are quite contentious with one another. Having been without a baker for some time, the residents are thrilled when the baker, Aimable Castignent arrives with his beautiful young bride, Genevieve. The bread is hot and delicious and all is well – until Genevieve is seduced away from her older husband, by a young and handsome villager. Aimable crumbles – and so does his bread making abilities. Driven to distraction by “breadlessness,” the villagers rally to lure Genevieve back, setting long-standing arguments aside for the greater good: fresh bread!

The cast includes: Greg Moran, Marguerite Durant, Rich Malloy, Lynn Hart, Robert Longstreet, Jeffery Fiorello, Lou Savarese, Roxanna Wagner, Michael Moran, Brett Petersen, Lamont Hill, Billy Brisley, Claudia Metz, Dave Villepique, Susan Hagen, Lindsey Brown, and Ericka Traugh.

Directed by Scott Hart, who also directed CTG’s award winning production of BLOOD BROTHERS, THE BAKER’S WIFE will be performed with a nine-piece, professional orchestra, under the musical director and conductor, Clifford Parrish.

Rouding out the production team are Producer Ellen Fraker Glasscock, Stage Managers Peg Hill & Geraldine Baillod, and Choreographers Roxanna Wagner & Bill Brisley.

The show runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm, April 25 – May 17 with a Sunday matinee at 2pm on May 4th. Opening night performance (April 25) will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.

$22 per person for Friday evening & Sunday matinees

$24 per person for Saturday evening performances

Please note that we have extended our Seniors/Students discount to all attendees of Friday & Sunday performances, no additional discounts will be offered.

Performances: April 25 – May 17, 2008

by Sarah Ruhl

Opens November 9, 2007

directed by KateLyn Reiter

The Lincoln Center Hit by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl: A warm-hearted comedy that reminds us that our houses (and our lives) can never be as clean as we want them to be.

Performances: November 9 – December 1, 2007

Performances are Sunday, November 11th at 2 pm, November 16,17, 23,24, 30 and December 1 all at 8 pm. The November 9 opening is SOLD OUT. Tickets are $18 general admission with senior and student discounts ($15) on Friday and Sunday. For reservations please call (908) 879-7304.

In November and December we present A Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, an extraordinary new play fresh from its success at Lincoln Center last season. Directed by Kate Lyn Reiter, A Clean House takes place in what the author describes as “metaphysical Connecticut”, mostly in the home of a married couple who are both doctors. They have hired a housekeeper named Matilde, an aspiring comedian from Brazil who’s more interested in coming up with the perfect joke than in house-cleaning.

Into the tidy, logical, and spotless life of Lane comes the unlikely housekeeper, Matilde, a Brazilian and an aspiring comedienne. Matilde’s attitude towards dirt is: “If the floor is dirty, look at the ceiling.” Lane’s orderly universe begins immediately to unravel, “You sound like a very interesting woman. And I don’t want an interesting person to clean my house. I just want my house cleaned.”

Matilde soon becomes depressed at the idea of house cleaning, the difficulty of writing the perfect joke, and still grieving over the death of her parents (the funniest people in Brazil). Enter Lane’s sister Virginia, a woman obsessed with cleanliness, and a friendship is made along with a deal to secretly do the cleaning for Matilde. Lane discovers the women’s deception and then her universe unravels even more with the revelation that her husband Charles has left her for a patient, an older, life-embracing woman named Ana, upon whom he has performed a mastectomy. Charles introduces Ana to Lane and wants them all to get along. Lane doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry; Virginia tries to clean up; and Matilde despairs at the thought that the perfect joke could cause a person to literally laugh to death

Featuring performances by Gloria Lamoureux of Succasunna; Virginia Mesones of Union City; Lou Savarese of Randolph; Lois Sharrott of Ledgewood and Roxanna Wagner of Mendham, this theatrical and wildly funny play brings new meaning to the phrase, “I almost died laughing.”

“1776″

by Peter Stone (Book) and Sherman Edwards (Music and Lyrics)

Directed by Mark Happel and Cliff Parrish; Musical Directed by Cliff Parrish

Performances:
FRIDAY & SATURDAY EVENINGS @ 8pm: June 29, 30, July 6,7,13,14,20,21
SUNDAY MATINEES @ 2pm: July 1,8,15

Special Performance on TUESDAY, July 3 @ 8pm

Cast

• Brian Herrle as John Hancock (President)
• Paul Yampolsky as Dr. Josiah Bartlett (NH)
• Robert Jacobson as John Adams (MA)
• Dixon Stearns as Stephen Hopkins (RI)
• Mark Happel as Roger Sherman (CT)
• Jonathan Glennon as Lewis Morris (NY)
• Stephen Fox as Robert Livingston (NY)
• Chris Rhodes as Rev. John Witherspoon (NJ)
• Michael Foley as Benjamin Franklin (PA)
• Robert Allan as John Dickinson (PA)
• Don Gehan as James Wilson (PA)
• Lamont Hill as Caesar Rodney (DE)
• Mark Paris as Col. Thomas McKean (DE)
• Robert Cox as George Read (DE)
• Chris Mortenson as Samuel Chase (MD)
• Scott Hart as Richard Henry Lee (VA)
• Tom Schopper as Thomas Jefferson (VA)
• Brett Petersen as Joseph Hewes (NC)
• Stuart Scheer as Edward Rutledge (SC)
• Bob Longstreet as Dr. Lyman Hall (GA)
• Steven Nitka as Charles Thomson (Secretary)
• Dave Villepique as Andrew McNair (Custodian)
• Christian Paris as Leather Apron
• Chad Flynn as Courier
• Alice Moynahan as Abigail Adams
• Kathryn Davis as Martha Jefferson