A New Home for the Salem Theatre Company!

This February, the Salem Theatre Company (STC) will at long last move into its own facility, a new venue for theater, music, and more, right in the heart of downtown Salem.

The theater, located at 90 Lafayette Street, will be a professional performance space with a 60-seat house, modular 180-square-foot stage, green-room and backstage space, a lobby, and a box office.

Community leaders welcome the new facility as a key catalyst for Salem’s growth as a cultural hub and a source of positive future economic impact for downtown businesses.

“The City is thrilled the Salem Theatre Company has found a permanent home in downtown,” stated Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll.  ”Having an active and exceptional theater, like STC, in our downtown will only add to its vibrancy and success.

“This is tremendously exciting news for the Salem Theatre Company and yet another component of a vibrant and thriving downtown Salem,” said State Representative John Keenan of Salem, who chairs the legislature’s Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development.  “Having a permanent home will enable them to focus on productions and enhance partnerships in the community.  It is also great news for our fabulous selection of restaurants, as most folks couple dining with a show.”

“This is great news for the Salem Theatre Company and for Salem,” said Salem Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rinus Oosthoek.  “With the track record of the STC, it’s great that they now also will have a home in the downtown. It’s been a long time coming, and I am sure the larger Salem community – residents, artists, and businesses alike – will be very welcoming to them.”

Entering its ninth year in January, the STC has long dreamed of staging performances in a space of its own. “Now we will be able to begin our educational programming, offer a speaker and artist series, and host musical performances and staged readings nearly every weekend of the year,” said STC Executive Director Gary LaParl.  “Most importantly, it allows us to focus more intensely on presenting the quality theater for which the STC is known.”

STC was compelled to make this bold move upon discovering that not a single theater venue was available in Salem for our Seventh Season. “The lack of a venue of our own has been a serious obstacle to our growth,” said STC Artistic Director John Fogle.

A Theater Comes to Life!

The theater is being designed by Marblehead architect Bruce Greenwald, with input and guidance from STC Artistic Director John Fogle and sound and lighting designer Ryan Robbins of Salem.

Build-out work has already commenced at the site, with a goal of opening the theater officially to the public with Joe Orton’s black comedy Loot in February 2010.  The STC also hopes to collaborate with the Salem Film Festival to bring some of the Festival’s February and March programming to the new venue. That partnership is just one of many – with the Salem Arts Association, Salem Public Schools, Rebel Shakespeare Company, and others – that the STC will make to bring the new theater to life.

How to Help – Applause and Money!

The STC Board of Directors recently began its Capital Campaign to fund the construction of the facility and endow a permanent fund to help support ongoing costs.

Announcements about fundraising events and opportunities will be online at www.salemtheatre.com.  Those who wish to contribute may send their tax-deductible gift to: Salem Theatre Company, att: Capital Campaign, P.O. Box 360, Salem MA 01970, or make a secure online donation by clicking on the “Donate” button at www.salemtheatre.com/support.htm and entering “Capital Campaign” in the Purpose line of the donation page.  Naming opportunities exist for major gifts; call (978) 790-8546 for more information.

Jacob Barz-Snell, John Fogle and Jeff Barz-Snell are featured in "A Child's Christmas in Wales."

Tickets for the Salem Theatre Company’s holiday repertory productions of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues” are now available online at http://salemtheatre.com/tickets/ or by phone at (978) 790-8546.

Tickets ordered and paid for online will be held at the box office for pick up the day of the show. Tickets may be purchased online up to 24 hours before a performance.

You may also reserve tickets for pick up at the box office by calling 978-790-8546 or emailing info@salemtheatre.com. Please tell us the date of the performance you plan to attend, and how many tickets are desired. ONLY CASH AND CHECKS CAN BE ACCEPTED AT THE BOX OFFICE.

Don’t miss this unique holiday experience of two fantastic holiday treats in repertory production: the “nice” (the 5th annual production of the heart-warming Dylan Thomas classic “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” directed by Caroline Watson-Felt) and the “naughty” (Jeff Goode’s edgy comedy “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues” directed by Catherine M. Bertrand).  There are only three performances of each production, so don’t miss out!  Show dates are December 4th-13th, at the Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex Street:

• “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” on stage December 4th and 12th at 7:30pm and December 6th at 3:00pm.
• “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues” on stage December 5th and 11th at 7:30pm and December 13th at 3:00pm.

   

  

  Chris Clark, Adam Gutierrez and James Wilcox are featured in "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues."

HO-HO-HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!
STC Presents Naughty & Nice: A Christmas Repertory

The Salem Theatre Company will produce two holiday productions in their new repertory offering – Naughty & Nice.

For the nice, the STC offers their fifth annual production of Dylan Thomas’ classic, charming holiday tale A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Fun for the whole family, this heart-warming production has become a new holiday tradition in Salem. Thomas’ poetry weaves a touching reminiscence of Christmas’ past and all the joys of being a child during the holiday season. A Child’s Christmas in Wales will be on stage December 4th at 7:30pm, December 6th at 3:00pm, and December 12th at 7:30pm.

If you are looking for naughty, catch the STC’s production of Jeff Goode’s risqué comedy The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, directed by Catherine M. Bertrand. Scandal erupts at the North Pole when one of Santa’s reindeer accuses him of sexual harassment. As the media descends, the other members of the sleigh team share their own tales of corruption and worse at Santa’s Workshop. The Eight features strong language and adult situations. It will be produced December 5th and 11th at 7:30pm and December 13th at 3:00pm.

All performances will take place at the Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex Street in Salem. Tickets are available separately for each production at www.salemtheatre.com or (978) 790-8546. $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Due to strong language and subject matter, children under 18 are not permitted at The Eight.

Audition Announcement – Naughty and Nice: A Christmas Repertory

The Eight: Reindeer Monologues by Jeff Goode

directed by Catherine M. Bertrand

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

directed by Caroline Watson-Felt

Roles to be filled are as follows:

2 Men, 30+, Both actors will play 2 roles: one in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues and one in A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Roles to be filled in The Eight are “Dasher” and “Donner”. Open roles in A Child’s Christmas in Wales are not yet specified.

2 Women, late 20’s+, One actor will play 2 roles, one in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues and one in A Child’s Christmas in Wales.  Open role in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues is “Vixen”. One actor will play 1 role in A Child’s Christmas in Wales.  Open role in A Child’s Christmas in Wales is not yet specified.  All actors in A Child’s Christmas in Wales will play multiple roles of equal importance.

3 boys, ages 10-14 for A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Performances are alternating nights December 4,5,6 and 11,12,13. Rehearsals will begin immediately. Both performances and rehearsals will take place in Salem.

Auditions will be held by appointment only on Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12 between 6pm and 9:30. Please email catherinembertrand@gmail.com for an audition time.

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Audition Announcement  - Joe Orton’s Loot

Loot, Joe Orton’s 1960s black farce, is a tightly plotted play about two bank robbers—Hal and Dennis—who need to hide their loot. Complicating and aiding this situation is the funeral of Hal’s mother, his grieving father, a nurse with a mysterious past, and a police officer who says he’s from the Water Board.

Audition Format: A short comic monologue if you have one and cold readings from the script. British accents are required.

Audition Times & Location: Auditions will be held on November 18 & 19 at 7:30 PM each evening in the Salem Arts Association Gallery on Artists’ Row in Salem.  24 New Derby Street – Unit One.  Please arrive by 7:30.

Characters:

MCLEAVY:  Older man—60s—respectable, religious, middle class, smitten by Fay, confused and appalled by his son Hal.

FAY:  30s–40s. A nurse with dead husbands in her past. She appears to be devout and upright but will stop at nothing to get rich.

HAL: 20s. A young man of loose sexuality and even looser morals. He desperately needs to hide his loot.  Hall is McLeavy’s son and because of his strong Catholic upbringing, he cannot lie.

DENNIS: 20s. He works at a funeral home but wants more. Another young man with loose morals although he wants to marry Fay.

TRUSCOTT: Middle aged. A police detective trying to find the bank robbers. He is absolutely corrupt and makes up the rules as he goes along.

MEADOWS: Any age. A police officer who does as he’s told.

Kris Burke of Salem in "Wives of the Dead" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story, along with two by Edgar Allan Poe, have been adapted for the Salem Theatre Company's 2009 production of "Chilling Tales."

STC’s annual Halloween treat, “Chilling Tales,” is not to be missed this October!  New stories from the original master of the macabre – Edgar Allen Poe – as well as a bonus tale from Salem’s own Nathaniel Hawthorne, in the creepiest, authentic venue in Salem: the Custom House on Derby Wharf.

Bob Karish of Salem rehearses "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Whether you are a “Chilling Tales” regular or this is your first visit, this October’s production offers new stories, new scares, and a brand new venue.  We’re still in partnership with the National Park Service and at the Maritime Site, but stroll on over to the Custom House, opposite the Wharf, weekend evenings starting October 9th for the most bone-chilling Halloween offering in Salem!

Tickets are just $15/$10 and are on sale now.  Performances are every 30 minutes starting at 5:00pm; with only 30 seats per performance, tickets will go fast.  Every year we have to turn people away at the door because they waited to the last minute to buy their ticket at the box office and we already sold out every performance that evening!  Don’t let this be you.  Book your tickets online now to ensure you get your seats for the all new “Chilling Tales” from the Salem Theatre Company.

The Custom House is located opposite the TICKETS booth on Derby Street.

Weekends commencing Oct. 9^th, 5PM-9PM, at the Custom House on Derby Street

“The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crisped and sere — The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October, Of my most immemorial year.”

The STC brings back the creepiest of the classics, with new adaptations of master works of the macabre by Edgar Allan Poe and Salem’s own Nathaniel Hawthorne, on stage for the seventh annual presentation of Chilling Tales this October.

Presented once again in conjunction with the National Parks Service, this year’s Chilling Talesis not to be missed.  In celebration of the 200^thanniversary of Poe’s birth, the STC will stage two of his most gruesome, terrifying tales, as well as an additional offering from Hawthorne, at the historic Salem Custom House on Derby Street, directly opposite Derby Wharf.

The tales will be directed by STC Artistic Director John Fogle and feature a cast of professional actors from across the region.

Performances begin every thirty minutes from 5PM to 9PM on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from October 9^th through October 31^st.  Tickets are $15 for ages 13 and up and $10 for age 6 to 12.  Tickets are now available online at www.salemtheatre.com and those planning on attending are strongly encouraged to book their tickets online in advance; telephone reservations cannot be accepted for this production.  Tickets will also be available on show dates beginning at 4:30PM at the STC Box Office tent situated at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on Derby Street just past Pickering Wharf.

North Shore Art Throb features an interview with Salem Theatre Company Artistic Director John Fogle. Check it out!

 Thanks to everyone who was involved in making our 6th Season possible: those who were on stage, back stage, in the audience, and who generously donated to support the STC.  It was an incredible season of comic adventures and challenging, thought-provoking dramas.  It’s a pleasure to serve the Salem community by offering consistent, year-round, professional-quality live theater right here in Salem.

Here’s to an exciting 7th Season commencing September 1st!

STC is delighted to return for the 3rd Annual “Improv on the Bricks” – a FREE improv comedy show during Salem’s annual Heritage Days celebration.  Bring a chair…bring padding…it’s improv on a hard surface and anything can happen!

Saturday, August 8th

Sunday, August 9th

3:30pm — FREE!

Derby Square (in front of Old Town Hall on Front Street, Salem)

“Catch the comedy at the Salem Theatre!” -Improper Bostonian, July 2009

“Get your tickets now! Fantastic!” -Art Throb, July 2009

Only two more performances of the STC hit production of Steve Martin’s comic romp “The Underpants”!

Last night’s performance was heavily sold out, with a long line of walk-in folks waiting for stand-by tickets.  A good reason to reserve your tickets early at www.salemtheatre.com or by calling 978-790-8546.

Tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 2pm. 316 Essex Street, Salem. $20 adults/$15 students and seniors.

Donate for a discount…. Come to the final matinee tomorrow at 2pm and bring a new, unopened package of at least three underpants that the STC can donate to the Salem Mission and get $8 off your ticket!