STC is a Best Bet!
Since 2003, STC’s plays and programs have been named a “Best Bet” by the Boston Globe North TWELVE times:
· Chilling Tales – annual program (recognized twice)
· STC Improv show – annual program
· Shakespeare Open Mic Night – annual program (recognized twice)
· Child’s Christmas in Wales – annual program (recognized twice)
· Memory of Water – 2008 mainstage
· Book of Days – 2007 mainstage
· Public Exposure – 2008 staged reading
· No Exit – 2009 mainstage
· An Evening of Pinter - 2009 mainstage
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STC PRESS COVERAGE & REVIEWS:
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Salem News, December 10, 2009
At long last, a place to call home
by Tom Dalton
The Salem Theatre Company has been looking for a home virtually since its founding in 2002.
It has been seriously looking for a couple of years. The search grew almost desperate last fall when Executive Director Gary LaParl couldn’t find any place in Salem to stage next year’s plays — not a meeting room, not even a church basement. It got so bad that he considered taking the whole season on the road to Marblehead and Lynn.
“Gary came to me and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m just exhausted by looking,’” said John Fogle, the theater’s artistic director.
The search, and anxiety, ended last Wednesday night when the Salem Theatre Co. board of directors signed a two-year lease for 90 Lafayette St., a former auto repair business that once housed Dracula’s Castle, a haunted house.
The space is small, but big enough for the planned 60-seat theater.
The location, they say, has many assets. It is in the downtown, on a busy thoroughfare, and in a building that seems almost made for theater. It has high ceilings and good acoustics, is handicapped-accessible, comes with working bathrooms and will require only minimal renovations — a small stage, risers for seating and a box office.
After 22 plays and more than 40 small productions at countless venues, the Salem Theater Co. is happy to be home.
“Salem is the place we want to be,” Fogle said Monday as he stood in the center of the empty, first-floor storefront. “This is the place we feel can support a regional theater.”
The arrival of a small theater company may not be major news, like the Peabody Essex Museum expansion, but it is one of those little pieces that supporters, and local officials, feel will make a difference.
“I think Salem is ready for this,” said Patricia Zaido, executive director of the Salem Partnership, who recalled the Barton Square Theater’s attempt to establish a foothold in the downtown about two decades ago.
“Salem didn’t have the renaissance then that it has now,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”
Having a permanent home will help the Salem Theatre Co. expand its customer base and establish relationships with other downtown businesses, said Rinus Oosthoek, executive director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
“I saw the proposal a couple of weeks ago, and it just sounded right,” he said.
The Salem Theatre Co. is in good financial shape, according to Dominick Pangallo, a director and longtime member. It will finish the current season with a balanced budget and will soon announce a $50,000 capital campaign to cover renovations and to establish an endowment. The names of donors who contribute $100 or more will appear on a plaque in the lobby.
The Salem Theatre Co. had been part of the arts group interested in the former St. Mary’s Italian Church, but this opportunity was hard to pass up.
“That’s a long-range effort,” Fogle said, “and we had a shorter-range need.”
The new theater is being designed by Marblehead architect Bruce Greenwald in collaboration with Fogle and Ryan Robbins, a sound and lighting designer from Salem. They hope to have it ready by February, when the black comedy “Loot” is scheduled to open.
There is talk of partnerships with other groups, such as the public schools and Rebel Shakespeare, a children’s theater. They hope the Salem Film Festival will be able to hold some of its programs here in February and March, and that it will become a popular spot for local musicians to play.
They are also planning educational programs and speaker and artist series to make the theater busy right through the year.
Best of all, once the theater is up and running, they can concentrate on their primary task and won’t have to expend energy and funds searching for places to hold a play, or spend days rigging lighting and putting up temporary staging.
“Now, with this space, we can put all our energy into growing our (theater) and developing our audience, all the things we should be doing, and that’s exciting to us,” LaParl said.
They still plan to stage “Hair” at the Marblehead Little Theatre next spring and may continue to use outside stages for larger productions. But this is home now, and they intend to perform at least three plays a year at 90 Lafayette St.
“We might do a lot more,” Fogle said.
Salem Theatre Co.’s past venues (2002-2009)
Since its founding in 2002, the Salem Theatre Co. has bounced from church basements to school halls throughout the city, including:
The Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex St.
Bates School
203 Essex St. storefront (now site of The True Story of Lizzie Borden)
Morse Auditorium at the Peabody Essex Museum
Colonial Hall (Daniel Lowe Building)
Old Town Hall
The Griffen Theatre, 7 Lynde St.
The First Church in Salem, Unitarian, 316 Essex St.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 24 St. Peter St.
Derby Square (outdoors)
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Art*Throb, December 8, 2009
Salem Theatre Company is home at last
by Dinah Cardin
Their days of schlepping are over. The leadership from The Salem Theatre Company stood around their new space on Lafayette Street earlier this week and laughed as they counted the various spaces they’ve rented over the years. Something like a dozen, from churches to schools to municipal spaces for performances and rehearsals.
Now, they have found a home. In a neighborhood that could only benefit from art, they will set up shop on 90 Lafayette Street a couple of doors down from Strega. The bar and restaurant will no doubt want to collaborate on opening nights and such to continue to entice foot traffic from downtown Salem.
To turn the new space into a cultural hub of sorts, the STC plans to partner with the Salem Arts Association, Salem Film Fest, the public schools and the Rebel Shakespeare Company to ensure that something is happening there every weekend from musical performances to speaker and artist series and staged readings.
The first production in the new space will be Joe Orton’s black comedy Loot in February.
“Our first challenge is to turn this whole place black,” said Artistic Director John Fogle, as he stood with broom in hand and prepared to start painting this week. Fogle will oversee the buildout, designed by Marblehead architect Bruce Greenwald. The last time the longtime community director undertook such a project was in the early 80’s with Salem’s Barton Square Playhouse.
Board president Dominick Pangallo said that when they realized that all three of STC’s most recent mainstage productions were to be staged outside Salem, they knew the time had come for their own professional performance space. This has been a goal since the STC began nearly a decade ago.
Despite the economy, the STC has seen a continued demand for live theater, said Pangallo, and last year saw an increase in giving. With a $50,000 capital campaign underway, the STC is leasing the space from developer RCG for two years, with an option for the third year. This will also fund the buildout project, which they expect to run under $20,000. They also seek to endow a permanent fund to help support ongoing costs.
The company has no debt, said Pangallo, and doesn’t plan to go into debt with the building project. On their website, the company lists stats for 2008 regarding their contribution to the economy. Nearly 30,000 people attended an STC event in its first seven years of operation and the STC generated one million dollars in direct and indirect spending for the local Salem economy through its productions.
Executive Director Gary LaParl is quick to point out that they will not make the fiscal mistakes of the North Shore Music Theatre, which closed last summer while the artistic director earned a reported annual salary of $250,000.
“We’re a lean organization and we want to be a lean organization,” said LaParl. “We want the money to go into what people can feel and see and touch.”
The theater company has staged A. R. Gurney’s Sylvia, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Macbeth and more recently, Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, Harold Pinter’s An Evening of Pinter and Steve Martin’s The Underpants. Popular regular programs have inlcuded Shakespeare Open Mic Night, Moments of Play: North Shore Festival of Original Theater and Improv on the Bricks.
Donors can give specifically to sponsor new lighting or chairs. For the right price, they can have the theater named after them.
Fact facts about the new theater:
60-seat house
Modular 180-square-foot stage
Green-room and backstage space
Lobby and box office
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 on their website. 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.
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Salem News, December 8, 2009
New theater another plum for downtown Salem
Government, retailers, manufacturers, newspapers — no one has been immune to the impact of the Great Recession, which we all hope is nearing its end.
Recently came news of the fiscal meltdown’s impact on major cultural institutions. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced the closing of its New York City branch, which had been open only a year. And closer to home, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem revealed last week that a plummeting endowment had forced it to lay off 16 staffers.
Thus the word that the Salem Theatre Company will soon have a venue of its own is certainly worthy of celebration.
About to enter its ninth season, the STC has developed a strong local following. Yet its programming was hampered by the lack of a permanent home for its productions.
Last week, STC officials announced plans to move into a former storefront at 90 Lafayette St. in Salem near where the historic downtown meets the city’s growing waterfront district.
City leaders were quick to hail the announcement.
“Having an active and exceptional theater like STC in our downtown will only add to its vibrancy and success,” Mayor Kim Driscoll declared.
Indeed, STC executive director Gary LaParl says that besides its own productions, the company plans to present educational programming, speaker and artist series, staged readings and musical performances that will keep it open “nearly every weekend of the year.”
While the organization is in full fundraising mode, the relatively small scale of the effort makes the project entirely feasible.
Marblehead architect Bruce Greenwald, with input from STC artistic director John Fogle and sound and lighting designer Ryan Robbins, has already drawn plans for the exterior and interior of the facility, which will include a 180-square-foot stage, seating for 60 people, backstage space and a box office and lobby out front.
Plans are to have the space ready for the STC’s February production of “Loot,” and host parts of the Salem Film Festival in March.
For area theater fans, the holidays haven’t been quite as bright without the opportunity to see the North Shore Music Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” now being performed in Portsmouth, N.H. It should be noted, however, that STC is offering not one, but two, holiday productions of its own (“A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and the adults-only “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues”), albeit in still temporary quarters at the Salem Athenaeum.
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Salem News, December 4, 2009
At last, Salem Theatre Company finds a home
by Tom Dalton
Get ready for live theater in downtown Salem.
The Salem Theatre Company signed a lease this week to build a theater at 90 Lafayette St., right on the edge of the downtown.
That’s great news for a local theater that has built up a strong following over eight years without having a permanent home.
The new theater will have 60 seats, a 180-square-foot stage, a lobby and box office.
The Salem Theatre Company already has big plans.
“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,” STC Executive Director Gary LaParl said in a release.
They hope to open in February.
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Salem News, December 4,, 2009
Salem Theatre Company gives audiences a Christmas choice: Naught or Nice
by Will Broaddus
The Salem Theatre Company will present two plays for the holidays. One is about childhood. Children will not be admitted to the other, due to its mature themes and language.
This weekend and next, “Naughty and Nice: A Christmas Repertory” will give theater audiences a choice of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Dylan Thomas’ nostalgic evocation of holidays past, or “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues,” in which Santa’s beasts of burden give the lowdown on their boss’s bad behavior. Both plays will be performed at the Salem Athenaeum.
Director Catherine Bertrand, who presented “The Eight” twice when she was a student at Salem State College, acknowledged that she has always enjoyed “jostling audiences” with edgy, honest material.
“Everyone sees Christmas as this cheery, jolly holiday,” she said. “Why not take people out of their comfort zone?”
The play is staged as a press conference, which has been organized after accusations surface against Santa Claus. As Dasher, Prancer and the others tell their stories, an ugly image of Santa emerges.
“This is for adults to think about, and to laugh about,” Bertrand said.
Playwright Jeff Goode drew suggestions from the reindeer’s names — Prancer, Vixen and the rest — to create their characters. He also gave each one a recognizable perspective on the world.
“One character is a real hard right-winger,” Bertrand said. “Before that, you get a very feminist point of view.”
The play as a whole “makes a bold statement about politics and gender roles in this media-saturated society,” she said.
Where “The Eight” presents contrasting and contrary voices, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” has been adapted by director Caroline Watson-Felt to reveal distinct characters within the narrator’s voice.
Thomas, primarily a poet, is renowned for the richness of his language. Surprising figures of speech, delivered in a lurching, lilting manner, create new worlds as it makes music out of English.
In her reading of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Watson-Felt sensed separate layers in the story’s language, which she identified as “the three Dylans.”
“There’s a clear child voice of memories with phrases like ’slap-dashing home,’” Watson-Felt said.
This is accompanied by “a slightly older-man voice that loves to tell stories about young boys pretending to smoke candy cigarettes and getting into trouble.”
Thirdly, “there is also a definite voice of an older-wiser-darker Dylan that ponders and reflects with really poetic phrases like, ‘Not many those mornings trod the piling streets.’”
By staging these layers as distinct characters, Watson-Felt said, “I’ve literally created three Dylans,” and made a new play out of the classic Christmas story.
In the same conjuring spirit, she added a “pre-show” to the performance, “an audience interactive pre-show, with a young boy playing a whistle, audience sing-alongs, and the actors themselves caroling and setting up the stage. The audience will watch the environment come to life before their eyes.”
Watson-Felt admitted that she loved the story during her own childhood and hopes her adaptation “leaves everyone loving this story and ready for the holidays.”
As a repertory production, the pair of plays have overlapping casts. Four actors appear in both shows, and, according to Bertrand, it’s a challenge for them to move from “the language and environment of Wales, only to follow that up with the sometimes painful questions and details of ‘The Eight.’”
Watson-Felt, who plays Blitzen in “The Eight” while directing “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” described the contrasting plays as “the proverbial holiday chocolate coin, completely wholesome about Wales on one side, absolutely flipped and wild on the other.”
If you go
What: “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”
When: Today at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
What: “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues,” no one under 18 permitted
When: Tomorrow and Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 13 at 3 p.m.
Where: Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex St., Salem
More information: Tickets $10 students/seniors, $12 adults at www.salemtheatre.com or 978-790-8546.
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Boston Globe, November 22, 2009
Holiday shows’ various guises include off-color
by Geoff Edgers
There is no Santa Claus at the Ramrod. But starting next week, you’ll find the holiday spirit in a basement theater at this gay bar, where a gussied-up Ryan Landry and his Gold Dust Orphans bring back their camp-fueled comedy “All About Christmas Eve.’’
More literary (and family-friendly) fare? How about productions of Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales’’ in Boston and Salem and adaptations of holiday tales by Grace Paley and Truman Capote in Cambridge?
There is a world of holiday entertainment in the Boston area beyond such traditional attractions as “The Nutcracker,’’ Handel’s “Messiah,’’ and that beloved theater mainstay, “A Christmas Carol.’’ Productions at smaller theaters generally offer cheaper tickets, less competition for prime seats, and often something more unexpected.
“No, you won’t see people descending from the wings or anything like that, but I don’t think it’s going to be a lesser holiday experience,’’ says Jacob Strautmann, managing director of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, which is co-producing a new adaptation of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales’’ at the Boston Center for the Arts with Boston Children’s Theatre. “A lot of people are looking right now for a lower-priced ticket that’s a quality show.’’
For local theater companies, the holidays present an irresistible opportunity to bid for a piece of the lucrative seasonal box office. And this year offers a more open field than in the past. The Citi Wang Theatre, which has offered long runs of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’’ “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,’’ and “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular’’ in recent years, is offering a few concerts and a four-day run of “The 101 Dalmatians Musical.’’ And the collapse of North Shore Music Theatre means thousands of people who attended the Beverly theater’s popular production of “A Christmas Carol’’ may be looking for entertainment elsewhere.
While New Repertory Theatre presents its own version of the Dickens classic in its main theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, it will also stage “The Santaland Diaries,’’ based on David Sedaris’s irreverent essay about his brief gig as a Christmas elf, in its smaller black-box theater.
“We want something that’s very family friendly,’’ says Kate Warner, New Rep’s artistic director, “but then we also want something for folks looking for the alternative, something different.’’
Underground Railway Theatre decided to offer “Tru Grace: Holiday Memoirs’’ at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, a pair of works inspired by Paley’s “The Loudest Voice,’’ an account of a Christmas play put on in a largely Jewish neighborhood, and Capote’s autobiographical story of his boyhood struggles around the holidays, “A Christmas Memory.’’
“I’ve taken my kids to ‘The Nutcracker’ and I love ‘A Christmas Carol,’ ’’ says Debra Wise, Underground’s artistic director. “But we want to provide an alternative. Yes, let’s do a holiday show, a Christmas show. But let’s do one that is eccentric.’’
Company One is doing the same, putting on “Christmas Belles’’ – a comedy about three sisters in a small Texas town – at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.
The Salem Theatre Company is offering both “A Child’s Christmas in Wales’’ and Jeff Goode’s “The Eight: Reindeer Monologues,’’ a show open only to audience members 18 and older. “Monologues’’ follows a scandal at the North Pole when one of Santa’s reindeers accuses him of sexual harassment. The company is calling its holiday programming “Naughty & Nice.’’
“The North Shore has lost the North Shore Music Theatre, and even though we’re tiny, a 50-seat athenaeum, we’re hoping to draw some of those people,’’ says Gary LaParl, the Salem company’s executive director. “Christmas isn’t always about the nice stuff. We wanted to do something a little edgier.’’
The same can be said for “The Slutcracker,’’ a holiday burlesque show running at the Somerville Theatre next month. It’s definitely only for viewers 18 and older.
Landry, of the Gold Dust Orphans, knows there’s an audience for such shows.
Though this is just the second year for “All About Christmas Eve,’’ a risque take on the 1950 film starring Bette Davis, Landry has put on holiday shows for more than a decade, including “Who’s Afraid of the Virgin Mary?’’ “Silent Night of the Lambs,’’ and “Joan Crawford’s Christmas on the Pole.’’
“We offer something to people who don’t feel included in the Norman Rockwell Christmas,’’ says Landry, “people who would be more at home in a Paul Lynde Christmas special than a Donnie Osmond Christmas special. There’s not much ridiculous about ‘A Christmas Carol.’ It’s a beautifully written masterpiece. But I don’t think there’s a lot of ridiculousness to it. I like things that are really ridiculous and silly.’’
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Boston Globe, October 9, 2009
A heartfelt happy birthday
by June Wulff
There’s no better place than Salem to summon the macabre this time of year, and “Chilling Tales’’ is proof. The Salem Theatre Company presents adaptations of “The Tell-Tale Heart’’ and another creepy tale by Edgar Allan Poe, plus “Wives of the Dead’’ by Salem’s Nathaniel Hawthorne. The production celebrates the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth. Fri-Sun from 5 to 9 p.m. through Oct. 31 (performances every 30 minutes; online reservations are recommended). $15, $10 ages 6-12. Salem Custom House Bonded Warehouse, Derby Street, Salem. 978-790-8546.
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Improper Bostonian, July 29, 2009
Panty raid: A Brief Run
by Borana Greku
A common nightmare is finding yourself out in public in nothing but your knickers. Thankfully, few of us ever awaken to that reality. But this unlucky happenstance befalls a character in Carl Sternheim’s play The Underpants. Adapted by funnyman Steve Martin, the show centers on the life of a married couple after two suitors catch a glimpse of the wife’s panties and do their best to woo her. Catch the comedy at the Salem Theatre until Aug. 2, but follow mom’s advice and don’t leave without putting on a clean pair.
In Steve Martin’s adaptation of a 1910 comedy, a woman’s bloomers fall down in public, leading to a lot of unwanted attention. Directed by Dominick Pangallo.
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Connections Magazine, July/August 2009
Exclusive theater discount for PEM members
PEM members can see Steve Martin’s comedy The Underpants at the Salem Theatre Company for the discounted price of $17 for adults and $14 for students and seniors, a $3 savings per ticket. This “face-paced romp of a farce,” set in 1910 Dusseldorf, chronicles the formerly conservative existence of Theo and Louise after Louise’s bloomers fall down in public. Performances are July 16 through August 2. To reserve tickets, call 978-790-8546 and mention that you’re a PEM member. Then bring your PEM membership card to the box office on the day of the show. For more information, visit www.salemtheatre.com
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Boston Globe, July 12, 2009
Salem Theatre presents ‘The Underpants’
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company presents Steve Martin’s comedy “The Underpants’’ at the First Church in Salem Thursday through Aug. 2.
Described as “hilarious and bawdy’’ by the Village Voice, “The Underpants’’ tells the story of Louise and Theo Maske, whose quiet lives are shattered when Louise’s bloomers fall down in public. Soon, two prospective boarders with ulterior motives arrive at the house, hoping to rent a room.
Themes include society’s fascination with fame, enslavement by sex, and reliance on gender roles.
“The play is a real romp,’’ said director Dominick Pangallo of Salem. “Steve Martin invigorates Carl Sternheim’s 1910 comedy, loading it up with his own unique brand of humor, wit, and comic timing.’’
The cast includes Bob Karish and Caroline Watson-Felt, of Salem; Sarah Carlin and James Wilcox, of Beverly; Stephen Cooper and John Fogle of Marblehead; and Craig Owen of Georgetown.
Stage management is by Jason Feran of Beverly. Jessica McGettrick of Salem is assistant stage manager and Alicia Greenwood of Beverly is costume designer.
Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m., at 316 Essex St. Tickets are $20; $15 for students and senior citizens. Call 978-790-8546 or visit www.salemtheatre.com.
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Salem News, July 9, 2009
Steve Martin’s ‘The Underpants’ to be performed
By Will Broaddus
Steve Martin’s “The Underpants,” to be performed by the Salem Theatre Company at First Church in Salem from July 16 to Aug. 2, begins with a glimpse of something shocking.
Set in Dusseldorf in 1910, the play is adapted from Carl Sternheim’s German original. The story centers on Theo and Louise Maske, a respectable couple trying to recover their composure after Louise’s bloomers fall down when she waves to the king. Theo is convinced this moment of immodesty, however minor, has ruined his reputation.
Mostly, the fallen garment attracts some unusual characters, including a busybody neighbor, who put a strain on the couple’s relationship. What is finally exposed — to ridicule — in the comedy that results, are the couple’s values and those of their middle-class culture.
Sternheim’s targets included anti-Semitism and sexual double standards in the Germany of his day. Steve Martin adds more contemporary concerns, such as our obsession with fame, into the satirical mix.
Martin also doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at himself.
“There are some self-referential jokes about banjo players in there,” referring to Martin’s stand-up comedy act, according to director Dominick Pangallo.
The cast will include the company’s new artistic director, John Fogle, with Sarah Carlin, Stephen Cooper, Bob Karish, Craig Owen, Caroline Watson-Felt and James Wilcox.
In a special offer, the Salem Theatre Company will give nearly 50 free tickets, 12 for each performance of “The Underpants,” to subscribers of the North Shore Music Theatre. These tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis through the theater’s box office and e-mail address. Proof of NSMT subscription will be required.
“The Underpants” is the last main-stage event in the company’s current season.
Salem Theatre Company’s seventh season will include three main-stage productions, starting with Joe Orton’s “Loot” in February 2010, Michael Frayn’s “Alphabetical Order” next April and “Hair,” the company’s first musical, next June.
Second-stage events will include “Chilling Tales” this October, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” in December, April’s “Shakespeare Open Mic,” “Moments of Play” in July, then another “Improv on the Bricks” next October.
Performances of “The Underpants” on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays will be held at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, at www.salemtheatre.com and www.mrktx.com/stc, or by calling 978-790-8546 or e-mailing info@salemtheatre.com.
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Salem News, July 9, 2009
Finding permanent home high on list for Salem Theatre Company’s new artistic director
By Larry Claflin, Jr.
To find a new artistic director, the Salem Theatre Company promoted from within its close-knit ranks. It recently hired John Fogle, former president of STC’s board and a theater veteran who has directed several shows for the company.
Fogle, of Marblehead, has a long history with live theater on the North Shore and the Boston region: In 1975, he cofounded the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, which is still going strong; and he ran the Barton Square Playhouse in Salem in 1982 and ‘83. He has produced, directed and designed dozens of productions for area theaters, including The Lyric Stage, The Gloucester Stage Company, The Charles Playhouse, Wharf Rat Productions, the Salem Theatre Company and more.
In April, he retired from Promosis Inc., a promotions marketing firm where he was a partner, freeing up time to take the Salem Theatre position, which begins Sept. 1.
“I’m thrilled and delighted that John will be taking on the role,” said Dominick Pangallo, president of STC’s board of directors. “He has extensive experience on-stage and backstage. He’s been a part of the Salem Theatre Company family, in one part or another, since its inception, and he’s familiar with the group and the work we like to do.”
Dominick Pangallo is the twin brother of Matteo Pangallo, founding artistic director of STC, who as a student worked with Fogle when he was a drama coach at Marblehead High School.
Fogle said finding a permanent space for the 7-year-old theater company is high on his list of priorities.
Last year, STC put on plays at the Griffen Theatre in Salem, but scheduling conflicts will prevent that in 2009 and 2010. Instead, some main-stage productions will be held at First Church of Salem and Marblehead Little Theatre. Side-stage productions will take place in Salem, on the deck of The Friendship and on the bricks at Derby Square. The company even had a recent “Shakespeare Open Mic” at the Gulu-Gulu Cafe.
“Space is the big elephant in the room — where to find a space that we can begin to call our own,” Fogle said. “We’re constantly looking.”
While developing season eight, Fogle said he will simultaneously concentrate on maintaining STC’s reputation for high-quality shows and continue its good relationship with its audience.
A major goal, he said, is to develop a “vigorous” theater-education program for teens and adults.
He proposed classes that meet for six to eight weeks and intensive one-week workshops that bring actors, directors and playwrights together with skilled teachers.
“I’m hoping by January 2010 we’ll have a meaningful theater education program in place,” said Fogle, who first developed the InterActing drama program at Marblehead High School 15 years ago.
“I believe in theater education as a very valuable tool for young people,” said Fogle, adding that classes will harness the collective energy of students.
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North Shore Art*Throb, July 6, 2009
From the Director’s Chair: Inside Steve Martin’s Underpants
By Dominick Pangallo
On July 16th, the Salem Theatre Company will open its 23rd Main Stage play, Steve Martin’s adaptation of The Underpants, by Carl Sternheim.
The script is both an adventure and a delight from a director’s perspective. It is rife with Martin’s trademark comic wit, innuendos, and slapstick.
In the play, Louise and Theo Maske’s quiet, conservative existence is shattered when Louise’s bloomers fall down in public. It doesn’t take long for prospective and peculiar boarders to show up at the door, with a not-so-subtle ulterior motive to renting a room in the Maske’s house.
But the play also carries deeper messages from Sternheim, its original author, and revived by Martin for a contemporary audience.
Sternheim knew that comedy on stage was not an end unto itself, but rather a means to express a larger point or story. Martin, despite his reputation for pratfalls and buffoonery, understands that as well, as illustrated by scripts such as The Underpants and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. These are comedies with underlying arguments about gender issues and celebrity, and art and science, respectively. Comedy is merely one instrument in the playwright’s toolbox.
Sternheim, a Jewish author and thinker from the latter years of the 19th century through the middle of the 20th century, was born in and wrote during a time of significant change in German society. The Underpants, originally Die Hose, reflects Sternheim’s German Expressionist sensibilities by satirizing and mocking the hypocrisy, moral corruption, and latent racism and anti-Semitism that pervaded the then-emerging German middle class. Not surprisingly, the Nazi government banned his works when it came to power.
Martin updated it in 2002, injecting his own brand of comic social commentary for a new era, with a focus on our culture’s strictures of gender roles, our obsession with sex, and our attention deficit disorder when it comes to fame and celebrity, but keeping the period and spirit of Sternheim’s original story.
As a director, comedy is tricky already: jokes live and die on how they are framed and set up, on whether your audience believes in the character making the gag, and on the timing of the delivery.
Martin’s script is even trickier: it has suggestive directions, but much is left to discover in the rehearsal process. Then add the pressure of giving life to words penned, not just by a funny author, but also by a renowned comedian in his own right. Even if a there were a poorly written joke in the script – and I haven’t found one yet -Martin would never be culpable of a bomb: it would have to be the director’s fault. In many ways, directing Ted Hughes’ Seneca’s Oedipus – stylized, poetic, and sans punctuation – was less challenging and intimidating than directing a comedy by Steve Martin.
I have found that the best way to make comedy work, as a director, is to make certain, above all else, that the actors are having a good time. There are other requirements – being solidly off-book early allows for more discovery and invention of physical gags, being willing to completely re-stage a moment to try timing a joke differently can open up entirely new ways of presenting a comic bit, and so forth. But if the actors are low-energy or not invested in what they are presenting, there is no way the comedy will propel itself across that fourth wall and into the house.
Every director has his or her own process and preferences. My personal method is very casual and open to give-and-take and feedback from the actors. While I occasionally have a precise vision for staging a bit of blocking or delivering a certain line, I resist forcing something on actors that seems unnatural to them. Because no matter how talented they are, if they don’t believe in what they are doing or saying, it will come across as unbelievable.
And while that could be interpreted as a shade of gray in a tragedy, there is simply no room for that kind of hedging in a comedy.
Catch The Underpants July 16 through Aug. 2, Thursdays through Saturdays, at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the First Church in Salem, 316 Essex Street.
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Salem Gazette, July 3, 2009
Taking the lead: STC promotes theater on the North Shore
By Bobby Gates and Lisa Guerriero
Salem Theatre Company is playing a main role in supporting community theater, partnering with local businesses and working to help audience members affiliated with the soon-to-close North Shore Music Theatre.
Jilted subscribers to the now-defunct North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) have been showered with offers of free tickets from other eastern Mass. performing arts venues.
Theaters in Salem, Gloucester, Saugus and Stoneham have all made offers to the 4,400 subscribers NSMT Board Chairman David Fellows said are unlikely to get their money refunded. Fellows said about $2.5 million was paid for season tickets for the 2009 season and won’t be returned because the theater doesn’t have the money. The Beverly-based theater announced last month that a campaign to raise $2 million to stay in business came up short and it would close.
Last week, Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Barbara Anthony said anyone who paid for season tickets with a credit card should write to their credit card company and try to get the money back under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act.
In Salem, the Salem Theatre Company (STC) will make six free tickets available to former NSMT subscribers to each of its performances of Steve Martin’s “The Underpants.” (Scroll down to get details on the play.)
The free ticket offer is not good for opening night or Saturday nights; otherwise the tickets are first come, first served with proof that you’re a former 2009 Music Theatre subscriber.
In total, Executive Director Gary LaParl said, close to 50 free tickets would be given to former NSMT subscribers.
Salem theater fans have benefited from NSMT, not only as audience members, but through North Shore Music Theatre’s Spotlight Awards program. Each year, NSMT would honor the region’s best in high-school drama, as a way of encouraging and rewarding young actors and their teachers and mentors. Salem High School was a frequent winner, taking home awards for acting, choreography and more.
Promoting Salem theater
Salem Theatre Company has an eye toward good business, and not just by supporting NSMT audiences.
Apart from the usual group-rate offers, STC is a ticketing partner of numerous businesses and organizations in the city. Members of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Arts Association, Massachusetts Teachers Association, House of the Seven Gables and the Salem YMCA can show their membership card at the box office to receive a $3 discount off their ticket price.
Patrons who dine at Cafe Graziani, Gulu-Gulu Café, or Capt.’s, or who stay at the Hawthorne Hotel or Salem Inn the day of the show, can show their receipt at the box office to receive a $3 discount.
STC also has friends in the art community. “Blush” is a themed show of visual art by members of the Salem Arts Association, running in conjunction with “The Underpants” until July 26, at SAA Gallery, Artists Row. (Learn more at salemartsassociation.org.)
Probably the most unique offer is this: Patrons who bring an unopened, new package of at least three pairs of underpants to the box office at any Sunday matinee of “The Underpants” will receive $8 off their ticket. The collected items will be donated to Salem Mission at the close of the show’s run. This discount applies only to one patron per donation and may not be combined with any other discount.
While NSMT shudders to a close, Salem Theatre Company’s promotional efforts seem to be succeeding. The company enters its seventh season with an even fuller roster than usual. The schedule of three main-stage plays and six second-stage programs includes local favorites like October’s “Chilling Tales” aboard the Friendship and “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” as well fresh picks like Joe Orton’s farce “Loot.”
And after putting on their underpants, STC may be taking them off toward the end of their 2009-2010 season: The group will be performing the classic hippie production “Hair” next June.
STC recently welcomed a new artistic director, John Fogle, known locally for his extensive work with theater groups like the Gloucester Stage Company, the Charles Playhouse and the Mugford Street Players.
STC doesn’t have a permanent stage of its own, and members have expressed interest in the Salem Community Arts Center, which some residents want to build in the former St. Mary’s Church. (The church is owned by the Salem Mission, which had planned to build more housing there.)
STC leaders, however, emphasize that the group’s mission remains to “move and inspire audiences,” not maintain or purchase their own building.
“Our seventh season is full of engaging and stirring theatrical endeavors,” Executive Director Gary LaParl said in a statement. “We will produce our first musical and take one of our Main Stage plays outside of our traditional Salem location.”
That location is Marblehead Little Theater, where STC will perform “Alphabetical Order” in April. The comedy, by Michael Frayn, captures the final days of a provincial newspaper and the battle between the easy going manager and her fiercely organized new young assistant.
Putting on ‘Underpants’
“The Underpants” opens Thursday, July 16 at the First Church, 316 Essex St. in Salem, and runs through Aug. 2. Shows are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Cost is $20 for adults; $15 for students and seniors, with special offers for groups.
If you can’t wait to see the play, there will be an open dress preview and sneak peak Wednesday, July 15, at 8 p.m. at the First Church. Admission is “pay what you will” and advance reservations are not accepted.
Steve Martin adapted ‘Underpants’ from a 1910 German farce by Carl Sternheim, which offers an indication of the play’s darkly comic nature. It tells the story of an uptight, conservative couple whose lives are turned upside down when the wife accidentally drops her undies in public.
Scandal and gossip ensue, giving the playwright (and director and actors) fodder to question and mock social mores.
“This play is a real romp,” said director Dominick Pangallo in a statement. “Steve Martin reinvigorates Carl Sternheim’s 1910 comedy, loading it up with his own unique brand of humor, wit, and comic timing. Brimming with off-the-wall comedy, clever banter and edgy wordplay, this adaptation is as relevant today as Sternheim’s original play was a century ago.”
Needless to say, theater-goers should leave the kiddies behind for this one.
As STC’s name suggests, Salem residents are a force behind this production of “The Underpants.” Pangallo is a resident of Witch City, with fellow Salemites Jessica McGettrick as assistant stage manager and Alicia Greenwood as costume designer. The cast includes John Fogle, Sarah Carlin of Beverly, Stephen Cooper of Marblehead, Bob Karish of Salem, Craig Owen of Georgetown, Caroline Watson-Felt of Salem, and James Wilcox of Beverly. Stage management is offered by Jason Feran of Beverly.
For information about “The Underpants” or any other Salem Theatre Company production or program, visit salemtheatre.com. The box office can be reached at 978-790-8546.
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Beverly Citizen, July 1, 2009
Area theaters offer tix to subscribers of North Shore Music Theater
By Bobby Gates
Jilted subscribers to the now-defunct North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly have been showered with offers of free tickets from other eastern Mass. performing arts venues.
Theaters in Gloucester, Salem, Saugus and Stoneham have all made offers to the 4,400 subscribers NSMT Board Chairman David Fellows said are unlikely to get their money refunded. Fellows said about $2.5 million was paid for season tickets for the 2009 season and won’t be returned because the theater doesn’t have the money. The Dunham Road theater announced last month that a campaign to raise $2 million to stay in business came up short and it would close.
Last week, Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Barbara Anthony said anyone who paid for season tickets with a credit card should write to their credit card company and try to get the money back under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act.
In Salem, the Salem Theatre Co. will make six free tickets available to former Music Theatre subscribers to each of its performances of Steve Martin’s “The Underpants.”
The free ticket offer is not good for opening night or Saturday nights; otherwise the tickets are first come, first served with proof that you’re a former 2009 Music Theatre subscriber.
In total, Executive Director Gary LaParl said, close to 50 free tickets would be given to former NSMT subscribers.
“The Underpants” opens July 16 at the First Church, 316 Essex St. in Salem, and runs through Aug. 2. Shows are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The regular price of an adult ticket is $20.
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Salem Gazette, June 26, 2009
Salem Theatre Company announces new artistic director
The Salem Theatre Company announces the schedule for its landmark seventh season, with nine productions to be staged around the North Shore, including the group’s first musical.
The STC also welcomes their new artistic director, John Fogle, of Marblehead. Since 1977, Fogle has staged more than 70 productions at a variety of venues in the greater Boston area, including the Gloucester Stage Company, the Charles Playhouse, the Lyric Stage, Quannapowitt Players, Theatre-By-The-Sea, Wharf Rat and the Mugford Street Players, which he also serves as artistic director.
“I am thrilled and delighted to return to the STC as the company’s artistic director,” said Fogle. “I look forward to taking the group in new and exciting directions, including the revival of our educational offerings for children and adults.”
“Our seventh season is full of engaging and stirring theatrical endeavors,” said STC executive director Gary LaParl. “We will produce our first musical and take one of our main stage plays outside of our traditional Salem location.”
The seventh season will consist of three main stage plays and six second stage programs.
Tickets for all productions — both main stage and second stage — are available at salemtheatre.com or by calling the box office at 978-790-8546. Main stage passes are available for $50 and are good for one adult admission to all three Main Stage performances — a savings of over 15 percent. Passes can also be purchased at salemtheatre.com.
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North Shore Art*Throb, June 26, 2009
Diary of a Socialite
By Dinah Cardin
Last Sunday’s Style section of The New York Times featured a Hamptons social diary blog, run by a 20-something, called GuestofaGuest.com that gets two million page views a month.
This isn’t the Hamptons and we don’t exactly have that many fans yet, but we at Art Throb have been having some fancy evenings out this summer…
Last Wednesday, we attended a cocktail party at the Salem home of Jim and Julie Rose, a fundraiser for the Salem Theatre Company, where $100 donations by benefactors were listed right on the invitation. The champagne and white wine flowed, the hors ‘doeuvres were magnificent (Julie Rose has run a catering company) and the large dewy back garden sparkled in June greens and flowers climaxing in ultimate bloom.
At one point, this party go-er slipped off her heels and ran her toes through the wet grass with Catherine Bertrand, former STC artistic director, and the evening crescendo-ed into one of those party high moments when guests you haven’t met join you and your friend Catherine and you bond over wondering what the little people are doing tonight.
Earlier in the evening, actors, board members and patrons of the arts gathered in a living room painted a beautiful avocado color to hear Dominick Pangallo and Executive Director Gary LaParl name longtime theater director, past board president of STC, Marblehead resident and Art Throb board member John Fogle, as new artistic director. Since 1977, Fogle has staged over 70 productions at a variety of venues in the greater Boston area.
(It was that kind of evening when insider information is always fun, like how Dominick took more of a backseat to the theater company when twin brother Matteo did a lot of heavy lifting of the then infant troupe in his early 20’s. With Matteo in Amherst writing dissertations on Shakespeare’s contemporaries, the political consultant Dominick has been hard at work nurturing the theater company.)
Plans for the 7th season were also shared, with performances at Marblehead’s Little Theatre and a break from the Sartre and Pinter of 2009 toward the lighter upcoming production of The Underpants by Steve Martin, which has been called “laugh-out-loud funny” by The New York Times and “hilarious and bawdy” by the Village Voice, which is good enough for us…We’ll be attending the opening night performance as Salem’s First Church on July 16 and will give you a full report.
You can also sneak a peek at their Underpants! Open dress preview and sneak peak of the show with “pay what you will” admission. Advance reservations are not accepted. Wednesday, July 15, curtain at 8 p.m., First Church Salem, 316 Essex Street.
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Hub Arts, June 26, 2009
Salem Theatre Company offers free “Underpants” to NSMT subscribers
By Joel Brown
Add the Salem Theatre Company to the list of groups trying to get a share of the thousands of theatergoers disenfranchised by the closing of the North Shore Music Theater. The STC is offering nearly 50 free tickets for subscribers of the NSMT to the STC’s upcoming production of Steve Martin’s “The Underpants.” The STC will make a half-dozen tickets per show available free to NSMT subscribers on a first-come-first-serve basis, one per subscriber. Blackout dates include opening night. Interested? Send an email to info@salemtheatre.com or call (978) 790-8546. Proof of NSMT subscription must be shown the day of the performance to collect the tickets. Oh, and if the freebies are unclaimed 24 hours before the performance, they may sell them. Steve Martin’s adaptation of “The Underpants” by Carl Sternheim runs July 16 – Aug. 2 at the First Church in Salem. Regular tickets are $20 for adults.
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Hub Arts, June 19, 2009
Salem Theatre Company announces seventh season: “Loot,” “Hair,” Fogle
By Joel Brown
Salem Theatre Company will tackle Joe Orton and its first musical, “Hair,” during its seventh season, which will also be its first season under new artistic director John Fogle. Fogle’s no stranger to the STC, as a past president of the STC board who has also directed for the company. He’ll direct the season’s second main stage production, Michael Frayn’s “Alphabetical Order,” which will also be the company’s first out-of-town show. They’ll present it in April at Marblehead Little Theatre (where Fogle just directed “Blood Brothers”).
The first main stage show of the season, next February, will be Joe Orton’s “Loot”; the third will be “Hair” in June 2010. Also on the bill are the company’s annual “Chilling Tales” cruise before Halloween and seasonal favorite “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” Tickets for all productions are available at www.salemtheatre.com or (978) 790-8546.
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Boston Globe, May 24, 2009
New Theatre Leadership
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company has three new board members: Catherine Bertrand, Louis Mangifesti, and April Swieconek.
Bertrand, a graduate of Salem State College’s theater program, was the company’s artistic director from 2006 to 2008. In addition to directing many of its shows, she established “Moments of Play,” a festival of original one-acts written by local playwrights. She lives in Salem.
Mangifesti has been an arts advocate for decades. He was chairman of the fine arts department at Danvers High School for nearly 30 years, and is a member of the Salem Historic Commission and a patron of the House of Seven Gables. A resident of Salem, Mangifesti owns Blair House Antiques in Beverly.
Swieconek, of Salem, is public relations manager for Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. She previously was director of public relations and marketing at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.
The Salem Theatre Company was founded in 2002 with the aim of enriching the artistic, cultural, and economic life of the Salem area through the performance of classic, contemporary, and new works.
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Boston Globe, March 19, 2009
No exit:
Despite North Shore theater’s closing and economic troubles all over, most local stages are managing to keep their doors open
The shutdown at the North Shore Music Theatre in January was a dramatic twist, but local stage companies are still playing the first act of the economic downturn.
“We’re going into this stage of, how are we going to be able to learn from this and how are we going to adapt to be able to survive?” said Sue Griffin, a member of the board of directors at Marblehead Little Theatre.
Even before the recent stock market plunge, the Little Theatre had formed a strategic planning committee to work toward long-term stability for the group, which is based in a former firehouse. Board president Doug Hill emphasized that the organization has dependable support in its community, from sold-out houses to one patron who responded to a fund-raising pitch last year with a check for $25,000. But there’s little margin for error these days.
“Every show we do has to be profitable,” Griffin said. “It’s a little pressure cooker situation.”
They hope to ease the pressure beginning tomorrow night with the popular London musical hit “Blood Brothers,” starring Medford roommates Matt Romero and Michael Letch.The Gloucester Stage Company acknowledged the recession last year, offering pay-what-you-can nights for each production, which will be continued this year. But “as a summer theater, much remains to be seen,” said artistic director Eric C. Engel, “as the worst turns in the economy have been since we closed last season.”
On the fund-raising side, where work is year-round, the theater is anticipating tough times for corporation and foundation grants, “but we are seeing significant increase in personal interest,” so that individual generosity may help make up for those losses, Engel said.
In planning the 2009 season, he continued, “we have considered the economic issues and people’s desire for more laughter and a little less gloom and doom.” Those were factors in scheduling the musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” beginning June 4, and “our first Neil Simon play in 30 years, “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” beginning July 2, he said.
Everyone knew that nonprofits would face challenges, but many were still shocked when North Shore Music Theatre cut short its season in Beverly, laid off all but three employees, and began a drive to raise $500,000 by spring in hopes of restarting productions. The April 15 gala opening of the Nordstrom’s at Northshore Mall will benefit NSMT, among other charities. But there’s no decision on what will happen after April.
A recent survey by Theatre Communications Group, a New York-based umbrella group for nonprofits, found that 77 percent of its members are “re-projecting expenses” in light of the economy. “The majority of our theaters are having challenges,” said TCG artistic director Teresa Eyring.
Money problems don’t mean tickets aren’t selling, though.
“I’ve got to say – and this is important, because there’s so much bad news on the news, the impression is that everybody’s suffering – yeah, it’s hard, but our programs are growing, our audience is growing,” said Marc Clopton, executive director of the Actors Studio at the Tannery in Newburyport.
Clopton was happy to have sold out the first in a series of one-woman shows at the 50-seat black box venue – adding 25 new names to his mailing list on the same night. But enrollment in performance classes at the Studio is down as much as 60 percent, as people don’t want to spend the money.
“They just don’t have it,” Clopton said. “Their disposable income is either already reduced, or they’re planning ahead for that.”
On the other side of Newburyport, Theater in the Open operates as artist in residence at Maudslay State Park. They’re not worried about getting venues there to stage shows this season, said board vice president Olive Larson. But state budget problems could affect their deal for other park facilities that the troupe uses all summer for everything from rehearsals and storage to summer theater workshops for younger children and teens, she said. And those workshops generate both cash and enthusiastic workers for the troupe.
Boston comedian Jimmy Tingle will star in a pair of benefits for the troupe at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport on April 8 and 10. But even those shows could be affected, Larson said: “$25 a ticket is a significant amount of money.”
Surprisingly, there are upsides to the economic situation.
“One place where I think we’re seeing a small change for the better, in fact, is among theater patrons in Salem and the surrounding towns, who used to go into Boston for their theater and spend a lot on tickets and parking,” Dominick Pangallo, president of the Salem Theatre Company board of directors, said via e-mail. “They’re now starting to look closer to home, to rein in those costs.
“Hopefully, they’ll come to a play at STC, or MLT, or Mugford Street Players, or Gloucester Stage, or any of the small North Shore theaters, and realize that they’re getting the same professional-caliber work for significantly less than they’d spend in Boston,” he said.
Salem Theatre Company changed its fund-raising schedule this year, so it’s hard to draw comparisons with the past, but Pangallo said, “We do know that when we resolicit past donors for their monthly donation, they’re giving at close to the same level they gave in the past.”
The troupe has had “setbacks” in grants and foundation donations, though, Pangallo said, and an attempt to gain corporate sponsorships last year for each production was not successful even after the troupe cut its requests in half.
On the bright side, the company’s last mainstage production, “No Exit,” actually ended in the black by a sizeable margin, he said, and it is anticipating strong attendance for upcoming works by Harold Pinter and Steve Martin.
“The STC isn’t in any financial trouble, and we’re not going anywhere,” Pangallo said.
If the North Shore Music Theatre remains closed, said Engel of the Gloucester Stage Company, “our musical might see some interest that it might not have seen otherwise.”
Don’t, however, think anyone is happy about North Shore’s troubles, he said: “I’m a believer in the idea that a rising tide floats all boats and a sinking tide does the opposite. . . . I feel nothing but disappointment.”
And Engel said small nonprofit groups like Gloucester Stage may have an advantage in these times because, well, it’s not all that different from before. “Are the times challenging for us? Yes, but it’s always been so.”
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Hub Arts, March 2, 2009
Salem Theatre Company has a deal for you
By Joel Brown
No surprise when so many theaters are flailing financially, but the non-profit Salem Theatre Company is offering a deal on tickets to its main stage productions. Pony up $50 by March 29 and you get a pass to three plays and save $10. The three productions are “An Evening of Pinter,” opening March 20, Steve Martin’s “The Underpants” in July and a 2010 winter play TBD. To redeem your pass, make a reservation by phone or e-mail 72 hours in advance. You’ll need to present the pass when picking up tickets at the box office. The announcement from STC Board President Dominick Pangallo casts this simply as a chance to help theatergoers save in “these challenging economic times,” and I haven’t heard anything about STC being in trouble, but given what’s happened at NSMT and Foothills, I have sent in an email doublechecking. To get the pass, visit the web site or call 978-790-8546.
UPDATE: In response to my question about finances, STC executive director Gary LaParl writes: “Non-Profit organizations are always asking for donations and support of some kind… but while things are difficult all around we do have a very loyal audience base and we’re small enough that we can be flexible where necessary.”
UPDATE2: Hey, maybe there’s good news for some theaters around here. Pangallo writes, “The notion of a subscription or mainstage pass is something we’ve revisited once or twice since our inception in 2002. This latest incarnation is the simplest (3 plays for $50) and we hope it catches on – our Board of Directors actually began discussing this program well before the current economic downturn materialized. The STC isn’t in any financial trouble and we’re not going anywhere – our last mainstage (No Exit) actually ended in the black by a sizable margin and we’re anticipating a great deal of interest in and attendance at both Pinter and The Underpants. We carry no debt and are heavily supported by the community and our audience base.”
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Salem News, January 22, 2009
‘No Exit’ director sees similarities between play, Obama’s message
By Larry Clafin
“You are your life and nothing else,” declares Inez Serrano, Caroline Watson-Felt’s character in Salem Theatre Company’s latest production, “No Exit.”
That line could tidily sum up the drama, written in 1944 by playwright and Existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, who subscribed to the notion that for every action there is a reaction, and that we simply exist and every choice we make creates our essence.
The play is directed in a 1940s, film noir style by Catherine Bertrandt of Salem, STC’s former artistic director.
According to Bertrandt, Existentialism, which she refers to as “a philosophy of responsibility,” has a strong connection to current events.
“No Exit” is the story of three sinners who must spend eternity together in a locked room, acting as torturers to the others. Watson-Felt, of Salem, plays Serrano, an outspoken postal clerk in life; Dave Rich of Marblehead plays Joseph Garcin, a former journalist and man of letters; and Luraine Armandt of Ipswich plays Estelle Rigault, who was a wealthy socialite. The cast is rounded out by Patrick Reidy of Salem, a valet who shows each character to the room, one of many in a hotel-like hell.
As the play progresses, we learn how the characters’ decisions and behaviors on earth led them to be banished, and their personas are stripped away, leaving only base, raw emotions — evil, jealousy, loneliness, self-doubt, narcissism and more. In the end, each character must accept responsibility for his or her choices.
While watching President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Tuesday, Bertrandt said she saw similarities between “No Exit” and Obama’s message that we now live in “a new era of responsibility,” in Obama’s words, which requires of us “a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly ….”
“This is the specific moment that … really exemplified the pertinence of No Exit,” Bertrandt wrote in an e-mail.
“At the (end) of this piece, these characters have finally taken responsibility for their choices rather than pass the buck,” she continued. “What Obama is doing is cleaning up what the previous administration has done, but without placing blame. He’s taking the responsibility that no one else ever did.”
The idea of choice and responsibility and stepping up is how I tie the play into this world in which we live.”
Bertrandt, who first read “No Exit” as a Salem State College freshman, said the play always stuck with her, but she waited until what she thought was the right time to direct it.
“There is a theory in the creative world that artists are generally ahead of politics and society,” Bertrandt wrote. “This play, although on my mind for 10 years, was not meant to be produced by us until now, when we had new-found hope for change and existence. It is my sincere hope that the audience, during this epic and historic time, will witness the despair and seemingly hopelessness of ‘No Exit’ and see that they can, as Gandhi said, be the change they wish to see.”
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Salem News, December 3, 2008
STC brings Dylan Thomas’ ‘A Child’s Christmas’ to life
By Will Broaddus
Dylan Thomas performed “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” as a radio play before he published it as a short story. The Salem Theatre Company’s past two productions, by presenting the work in staged readings, have reflected that original delivery.
“It was meant to be heard,” according to Wanda Strukus, newly appointed artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company, which will perform Thomas’ Christmas classic this weekend at the Salem Athenaeum.
In important ways, however, Strukus wants to break with that tradition.
“We’re doing it to be seen and heard,” she said of STC’s latest version.
The story is a reminiscence, by an adult talking to children, of Christmases past. Snowball fights and tippling aunts are recalled in poetic language that is both rich with nostalgia and unsparing in its observations. It invites the children it addresses, and by extension every listener, to appreciate Christmas fully.
Strukus has taken no liberties with Thomas’ text — she hasn’t altered speeches or added scenes. But having actors perform the parts, rather than read them off a script, allows Strukus to “weave and visualize the story,” she said.
This also allows the company to bring out aspects that are lost in a staged reading.
“It’s a generational story, and (our version) will be more like a community saying all these things, rather than a single memory.”
Sarah Carlin, who lives in Danvers and plays several roles in the play, said she admires Strukus’ approach.
“What’s fun with the way Wanda is doing this, it’s as if we’re all the storyteller, at different times in the play, in addition to playing characters.”
Carlin, who recently appeared in “The Visit” with the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, was also drawn to the production because “it has singing, which I like.”
Indeed, the addition of singing and dancing are another of Strukus’ innovations in this show and further mobilize the telling of Thomas’ story.
“Morris dancers open with a double jig, a kind of competition,” to which the cast responds with song, Strukus said.
Morris dance, she said, is a “traditional, man’s dance form, rooted in the U.K. It’s very vigorous, with jumping, leaping and intricate footwork.” The dance will be performed by three of Salem’s Newtown Morris Men.
“I like working with music, dance, alternative ideas,” said Strukus, whose previous credits include productions at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
In addition to Strukus’ directorial debut with the Salem Theatre Company, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” also marks Gary LaParl’s first play as the company’s managing director.
Other locals in the cast include Julie Korzenik of Marblehead and teenage brothers Benjamin and Nat Roberts from Swampscott.
“The actors are going to be right up close,” Strukus said of the three-quarters staging in the Athenaeum’s parlorlike space, which she feels resembles the domestic setting in which the story is told.
Strukus said she hopes the audience will feel so much at home that they sing along at the end.
“We’ll print the words in the program,” she said.
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Salem Gazette, October 3, 2008
Theater for the thoughtful: STC season ranges from classic to edgy
By Kristin D’Agostino
Salem Theatre Company (STC) has launched their sixth season of performances with old classics like an adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and new shows including Steve Martin’s “Underpants” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit. “
The company is working harder than ever to keep audiences on the edge of their seats, incorporating live music into stage performances and cleverly playing off the current presidential race with their first show, “Public Exposure,” a political farce that debuted last weekend.
To shake things up Wanda Strukus, says she’s reached out to local musicians add a new level of excitement to performances. This year, “A Child’s Christmas In Wales,” playing in December, has been expanded to include Christmas carolers, fiddlers and traditional English dancers whose impressive leaps and bounds have their root in the Middle Ages.
“We’ve not had these things in the past,” she says. “It’s a good fit for the season and for what we’re trying to do: create an event for the community.”
The staged reading will be performed this year at the Salem Athenaeum in the historic McIntire District, which Strukus hopes will make show goers feel they’re “at a nineteenth-century house party.”
For those more fond of ghostly locales, STC’s other seasonal offering, “Chilling Tales: Eerie Legends of the Supernatural at Sea,” will transport audiences to times when pirates fought dark storms at sea. The annual event takes place this month on Salem’s own Friendship, a replica of an eighteenth-century ship, on Derby Wharf. After stepping on deck, guests will be treated to spooky performances by actors perched in different locations throughout the ship.
The storytelling experience is particularly unique, says STC board president and play director Dominick Pangallo, because stories were written specifically for the ship, incorporating its every creepy crook and cranny.
“It’s not often you get to perform in a venue that is exactly the setting for the story,” Pangallo says.
Another dark, dramatic work will be performed in January, Sartre’s existential work that brings to life his idea of what Hell must be like: Being trapped in a waiting room with a lot of really annoying people for all eternity. Audiences will both laugh and squirm as they watch the psychological torture that goes on between the quirky characters, as they probe into each other’s pasts.
“The Imaginary Invalid,” a lively French comedy, will lighten up the mood when it opens in March. Written by Moliere in the seventeenth-century to entertain King Louis XIV, the play is peppered with musical number some of which, rumor has it may be performed by a local rock band. It tells the story of a miserly hypochondriac who tries to marry off his daughter to his doctor for his own personal benefit. Strukus says she’s chosen to add many physical touches to the comedy, with actors employing slapstick techniques that conjure up old vaudeville shows.
In May “The Underpants,” Steve Martin’s hilarious adaptation of an early twentieth-century German farce, will cap off the comedy theme, tracing the chaos that ensues after a domineering politician’s pretty young wife accidentally drops her underpants in public. Soon after, a string of men shows up at the couples’ house wanting to rent the spare bedroom, each with a unique romantic agenda for winning the young wife’s heart.
In addition to newer main-stage productions, the STC will bring back old favorites for the 2008-2009 season such as April’s Shakespeare Open Mic, where audience members are invited to share their favorite passage from the Bard’s work; “Moments of Play” in June, a one-act play festival that celebrates the work of local talent; and Improv on the Bricks, a summer comedy show held in front of Old Town Hall.
In coming months the STC hopes to pin down a permanent location, having moved to various venues throughout the city for the course of their lifetime. Until then the group will continue by putting on memorable events set in some of Salem’s most interesting locations. The upside of not having a home base, Pangallo says, is that the theater group is constantly challenged to come up with innovative ways to make the shows come to life in new spaces.
“It makes your designers think more creatively sometimes because it poses real challenges,” he says.
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Salem Gazette, October 3, 2008
New faces join Salem Theatre Company
By Kristin D’Agostino
Gary LaParl
Starring role: Managing director
Other roles in the community: Stained-glass craftsman, president of the Salem Arts Association.
Background: Stained-glass artist, actor, trade-show manager, business and marketing guru. Has worked as an actor in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia though he jokes, “Some people say I was never a real actor because I never waited tables.”
Favorite role: Playing playwright Bertolt Brecht in a play about his life and work, performed at Philadelphia’s Arden Theater. “It was one of my finest hours of acting…It was a role I felt good about. When you are playing someone who was a master you have to really know your stuff … It was hard to get that authority in the role.”
How he juggles his many roles: “I’ve not been in the glass studio since January. I’m not doing any of my own stuff lately but I’m enjoying the work I’m doing for the SAA (Salem Arts Association) and the STC (Salem Theater Company.) My life has become extremely hectic but … what I’m doing is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Goals for STC: Work toward getting a permanent location; seeking out sponsors for show; and attracting a larger audience. “This is the city’s theater company and we want the community to come out and enjoy it,” he says.
Wanda Strukus
Starring Role: Artistic director
Day job: Drama professor at Boston College and Northeastern University. Dancer with the Cambridge-based Daniel McCuster Dance Projects.
How she juggles her roles: “It all balances out. They all inform one another. It’s nice to be in touch with different arts.”
Background: PhD in drama from Tufts University. Has worked as theater instructor, director, dancer and playwright.
Favorite directing experience: Directing any show with a large cast. “You have more of a community energy in the audience if there is a community on stage,” she says.
Goals for STC: Get local musicians involved in performances; offer theater classes and other programs; reach out to a broader audience. “There’s people who haven’t yet been to our shows,” she says. “We need to reach them, to draw them into our home. A big part of that is finding a permanent space.”
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Salem Gazette, June 13, 2008
The making of a theater festival
By Kristin D’Agostino
If brevity is the soul of wit, then audiences will be pleasantly
surprised by “Moments of Play,” the Salem Theatre Company’s (STC)
annual one-act play festival, which opens Sunday in the Peabody Essex
Museum’s Morse Auditorium.
Eight works of 10-minute length will be performed, featuring local
actors and directors. The festival’s call for playwrights this year
garnered 200 entries from places as far-flung as Israel and Russia.
Last year there were just 20 entries, when the festival had a slightly
different modus operandi and went by the name “Catch ‘Em on the Rise.”
Artistic director Catherine Bertrand attributes the wide range of
entries to unexpected promotion from free theater web sites all over
the world. After placing one advertisement on a theater web site, many
others picked it up, causing a rush of attention.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen,” she said. “It’s
nice because there are so many playwrights out there. With actors you
know their names but with playwrights, they are the lesser known part
of the theater world.”
The winning entries, chosen by Bertrand, were selected with the goal
of taking the audience on an emotional rollercoaster in two hours’ time.
“I want the audience to see eight very different stories,” she said. “[I want] to make them laugh, think and cry…”
~~~~~~~~~~
Salem Gazette, June 13, 2008
One-act wonders: Local playwrights share their inspiration
By Kristin D’Agostino
Georgette Beck, 77, found hers on a midnight
train to Savannah when she stayed awake all night watching the summer
landscape go by and letting her mind wander.
“I was thinking about America at night …” she says. “The railroad yards and the small towns slumbering …”
The scenery later proved fodder for her one-act play, “Elegy for
Auntie Em,” the story of a woman’s journey through family memories, set
to the rhythmic pace of a train ride. Her tale hits the stage Sunday as
part of Salem Theatre Company’s “Moments of Play — A Festival of One
Acts.”
Beck, a retired businesswoman who says she writes plays, poems and
novels to “feed her soul,” has seen her one-acts performed in the STC
festival for the last three years.
For Jonathan Busch, a 27-year-old Beverly playwright, inspiration
came while sitting at his office job as an advertising copywriter. A
poet and fiction writer who teaches creative writing part-time at
Gordon College, Busch often logged onto Webster’s Dictionary’s web site
to check the word of the day.
“I started to think what could be the worst-case scenario for
someone … with a productive little hobby,” he says. “How could that
really get away from them? It could take over his life.”
Thus “Intervention”was born, Busch’ comedy about a linguaphile who
becomes so obsessed with Webster’s words of the day he isolates himself
from his friends.
The play includes more than 20 words Busch drew from Webster’s Word
of the Day archives and about 30 “obnoxious words” he came up with
himself with help from a thesaurus.
Two big challenges in writing short plays are staying within time
limit and building a storyline that will capture the audience in such a
short time.
Beck refers to the editing process as “killing the baby” but says
it’s a necessary evil she’s become adept at. Her biggest challenge is
incorporating all the elements of a successful story. “You’ve got to
crowd the principles of drama in,” she says. “… An introduction, a
climax, a resolution … all in 10 minutes.”
Busch’s own personal challenge was including as many big words as he
could in his 10-minute long opus. At 50 words total, he boasts, it
includes about five big words per minute.
Chuckling, he says, “The person I feel worse for is the actor who has to remember these words.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Salem News, June 12, 2008
Salem Theatre Company to offer eight one-act plays
By Will Broaddus
Sometimes, a slice of life can give you the whole picture. This Sunday, the Salem Theatre Company will try to open some eyes when they present eight original one-acts in “Moments of Play: A Festival of One-Acts,” in Morse Auditorium at Peabody Essex Museum on Sunday.
Catherine Bertrand, Salem Theatre Company’s artistic director, sent out a request in March for works to stage, and received 220 submissions. The only requirement was that each script take no more than 10 minutes to perform.
“People come up with some crazy ideas,” Bertrand said. “There’s a kind of freedom in the strict form.”
Bertrand said it took 10 days for her and Lisa Champigny, the theater company’s publicist, to narrow the choices to a final list.
This is the company’s third one-act festival. The first two were held in Old Town Hall, which according to Bertrand, has half the space of Morse Auditorium. Bertrand said she was inspired to start Salem’s one-act festival after seeing a theater marathon in Boston where 50 plays were performed.
Submissions for the Salem festival came from Israel, Russia and Australia, Bertrand said, as well as Ohio and Missouri, but two of those chosen were by local playwrights.
One playwright, Georgette Beck of Marblehead, has been an actress and poet for 50 years. She started writing plays after retiring from her job as an administrative assistant 10 years ago. She has written sketches that dramatize exhibits at the House of Seven Gables as well as at PEM.
Beck describes her one-act, “Elegy for Auntie Em,” as “a personal thing, a memory piece. It’s about somebody going home to the south, a midnight train trip to Savannah, (Georgia).”
Another author featured in the festival is Jon Busch, a New Jersey native who now lives in Beverly. Busch graduated from Gordon College in 2003, and recently finished his master’s in playwriting at Boston University. Busch said he used a comic premise for his one-act, “Intervention.”
“(‘Intervention’ is) about a guy who’s addicted to Merriam-Webster’s ‘Word of the Day’ program,” Busch said, who added the character is obsessed with using new vocabulary words in his daily conversations, which alienates his friends, who finally confront him.
Both playwrights and directors were recruited in the same fashion.
“Just as we put out a call for plays, we put out a call for directors,” Bertrand said. From the much smaller pool of directors’ resumes, Bertrand selected Jessica McGettrick of Salem to direct Busch’s play.
“Is this a comedy sketch, or a 10-minute play?” asked McGettrick, who studied theater at Emerson College, and teaches the subject at a Newton middle school.
“A play tells a story, while a comedy sketch is punch lines and laughs. (‘Intervention’) does say something; there are some universal truths and questions,” McGettrick said.
McGettrick said that she directs a lot of Shakespeare, but enjoys working on short plays. She has participated in all of Salem Theatre Company’s one-act festivals.
“As a director, it’s exciting to do something new,” McGettrick said.
If You Go
What: Moments of Play, A Festival of One Acts, presented by Salem Theatre Company
Where: Morse Auditorium, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem
When: Sunday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20, students and seniors $15
Information: Salem Theater Company, 978-790-8546; P.E.M., 978-745-9500
One-Act Plays
“Elegy for Auntie Em,” by Georgette Beck, directed by Jenn Vento
“Intervention,” by Jon Busch, directed by Jessica McGettrick
“The Last Four Things My Father Held Against Me,” by Ellen Lewis, directed by Andrew Winson
“Safe,” by James McLindon, directed by Catherine Bertrand
“Action and Reaction,” by Joel Doty, directed by Pauline Wright
“Planting the Music,” by Maureen Brady Johnson, directed by Caroline Watson-Felt
“Don’t Mention It,” by David-Matthew Barnes, directed by Tara Wiseman
“Flooding,” by Jami Brandli, directed by Janet Neely
~~~~~~~~~~
Boston Globe, June 8, 2008
One-act plays featured at Salem museum
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company presents “Moments of Play: A Festival of One-Acts,” next Sunday in Morse Auditorium at Peabody Essex Museum.
The third annual festival features short original scripts from around the world. Each act is directed and performed by local artists.
The company received more than 100 entries – including comedy, drama, and overall entertainment – and chose eight.
“Theater is about group effort, and ‘Moments of Play’ is just that: highlighting the work of playwrights through collaboration with directors and actors,” said Catherine Bertrand, Salem Theatre Company artistic director and festival founder. “Theater artists have an opportunity to work together to create a world that takes place in just 10 minutes.”
~~~~~~~~~~
‘Oedipus’ next Salem Theatre Company stages rare version of classic tragedy
By Larry Claflin Jr.
Staff writer
The Salem Theatre Company could have just put on Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” this spring and local audiences would have left satisfied. Instead, the 5-year-old company took on the challenge of staging Seneca’s “Oedipus,” a rarely performed version of the classic tragedy. And, if that wasn’t enough to bite off, the troupe opted to employ a poetic adaptation of the play, written in 1969 by the English poet laureate Ted Hughes.
“You have the opportunity to create your best artwork when you take on projects that aren’t easy,” said Dominick Pangallo, president of Salem Theatre Company’s board of directors and the director of this production of “Oedipus.”
Seneca’s “Oedipus” is known as a more sophisticated version of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” written during the golden age of Greece. Seneca, a Roman philosopher, modernized the play during Nero’s destruction of Rome, and his play reflects the times with its description of violence, death and sickness, according to Pangallo, who added that Seneca’s version offers more emotionally developed characters who play better onstage.
But Seneca’s “Oedipus” was written in Latin and intended to be read at private functions, not performed, so bringing it to stage was a hurdle. Also, Seneca provided no stage direction and Hughes’ adaptation is free of punctuation. The Salem Theatre Company thrives on such challenges, according to Pangallo.
“It’s a challenge, but it also presents opportunity for creativity, and that goes for not just (for) me as a director, but also the actors and designers,” he said.
The basic story line is the same in both versions: Oedipus, king of Thebes, considers returning to his home city of Corinth during a deadly plague in Thebes, a city he escaped to years earlier after Apollo prophesied he would kill his father and marry his mother. Without giving too much away, Oedipus ends up disfiguring himself once he discovers his role in a sordid tale of patricide and incest.
James Wilcox of Beverly, who plays Oedipus, said he had to immerse himself in lengthy pages of dialogue to prepare for the role.
“I hadn’t done a classic play before, so it was more of a challenge,” said Wilcox, who has been with Salem Theatre Company since 2006.
Wilcox also had to learn to walk with a limp to play Oedipus. Originally he rehearsed with a cane, but it didn’t feel genuine, he said, so he and Pangallo decided to drop the cane.
“I believe very much in making the rehearsal a collaborative process,” said Pangallo. “I trust my actors a lot.”
Jocasta, Oedipus’ wife and mother, is played by Julie Korzenik of Marblehead, a Salem Theatre Company actor since 2003.
“Like Oedipus, this is one of those roles that’s an actor’s role. It’s on the list of roles that you want to play,” she said. “Emotionally, it’s such a big role.”
Korzenik said at first she had a problem identifying with Jocasta, who had an incestuous relationship with her son, something Korzenik called “a horrendous societal and personal taboo.” Eventually, Korzenik came to appreciate and identify with her character as a woman in love who has suffered tragedy, compounded by ancient Rome’s lack of mass communication, such as telephone or e-mail, which may have been used to alert Jocasta to her predicament.
Ultimately, it was Oedipus’ compassion for humanity that won her over, she said, the same compassion that attracted Pangallo to Seneca’s version in the first place.
“I wouldn’t direct a play that didn’t have a message I didn’t want to tell, a story I didn’t want to tell … Sophocles’ Oedipus — that story’s been told, and I think that Seneca had a completely different perspective,” he said. “Despite all the sickness and violence, the stoic philosophy is that the measure of who you are as a person isn’t your ability to change your fate or escape it or blame someone else for it. You have to face it and face it with courage and compassion.”
If you go
Who: Salem Theatre Company
What: Seneca’s “Oedipus”
When: Weekends, March 21-April 6. Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 5 p.m.
Where: Griffen Theatre, 7 Lynde St., Salem
Tickets: Adults, $18, seniors and students, $15. Available at www.salemtheatre.com or 978-790-8546.
~~~~~~~~~~
“THE MEMORY OF WATER”
by Shelagh Stephenson
directed by John Fogle
review contents copyright 2008 by Carl A. Rossi
Vi … Grace Butler
Mary … Linda Goetz
Teresa … Janet Sheehan
Catherine … Carlin Chew
Mike … Mark O’Donald
Frank … Jim Butterfield
I caught the closing performance of Salem Theatre Company’s THE MEMORY OF WATER and am sorry you didn’t for Shelagh Stephenson had penned an entertaining “comedy of mourners” about three bickering Yorkshire sisters and their men in their late mum’s bedroom as all prepare for her funeral. (The play’s title refers to a scientific theory that I couldn’t quite fathom, in context.) The evening ran on longer than it should as Ms. Stephenson gave each character numerous solos or duets in the spotlight, and in Act Two I reached for my coat whenever a scene cleverly ended only to put it down for yet another topper. Still, Ms. Stephenson made this dank, complex family perfectly understandable with her gnarly dialogue and added theatre-dashes whenever the mum-ghost popped up to haunt, comfort or enlighten daughter Mary, the once-family hopeful now stuck at several crossroads.
John Fogle staged the comedy in the intimate Griffen Theatre with his reliable detail and sensitivity, and the lived-in excellence of his ensemble kept my clockwatching to a minimum. Jean Fogle contributed a convincing little bedroom steeped in the past, complete with snow beating against a wee window, and Anne Hinton stuffed some bizzaro dresses and hats into the late mum’s wardrobe. Most entertaining — again, pity that you weren’t there.
~~~~~~~~~~
Boston Globe, November 18, 2007
By Wendy Killeen
RETURN TO OLDE SALEM
The Salem Theatre Company presents “The Crucible” today and next weekend.
The play, based on the Puritans of Salem Village during the witch hysteria of 1692, features a cast of 19 local actors, ranging in age from 12 to 76.
“I believe we have a cast of actors and designers that will help us do justice to this amazing story about failed justice in Salem more than 300 years ago,” said John Fogle, director and president of the Salem Theatre Company board.
~~~~~~~~~~
‘What is this mischief here?’; ‘The Crucible’ opens tonight with historical telling of witchcraft trials
By Michelle Morrissey , Staff writer
Salem News
“This congregation was one that some members (who were accused of witchcraft) belonged to,” Butterfield said.
He has ties to the story: His house in Essex is on land that once was farmland where the real John Proctor lived with his family when he was a teenager.
Fogle said one of the challenges in presenting the play was portraying New England life during this turbulent time.
“The challenge is to recreate the incredible times in which the Puritans lived, and what it must have been like to live in Salem in 1692,” Fogle explained. “Diseases were rampant, Massachusetts had lost its charter with England, so no one knew who owned what.”
All that unrest and strife meant that for many of the religious New Englanders looking for explanation, “the devil was the Puritan’s constant companion.”
Fogle said what strikes him most about the Salem of the 1600s is that “people were hanged based on spectral evidence,” – intangible evidence, wherein one person claimed that another person’s ’spirit’ meant to do them harm – rather than on real physical evidence.
Whether audience members watch the play to learn about the city, or to examine current events as Miller intended, “It’s wonderful to be doing this particular play in Salem … it’s great fun,” Butterfield said.
If you go
* What: “The Crucible” by Salem Theatre Company
* Where: First Church at Salem, 316 Essex St., Salem
* When: Opens Friday and runs through Nov. 25, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m.
* Tickets: $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and kids, available by calling 978-790-8546 or online at www.salemtheatre.com
Scare on the sea: ‘Chilling Tales’ brings guests aboard the Friendship for haunted history
By Rebecca Schoonmaker , Staff writer
Salem News
A total of 10 actors usually rotate through the “Chilling Tales” lineup, including ticket-takers, guides and storytellers. The actors start preparing for the seasonal show in July, when they review the stories, write new ones, and recruit other actors.
Last year, “Chilling Tales” attracted about 2,000 people. Bertrand says the stories told at the event are a bit scary, but still family friendly. All ages are welcome.
“We’re more family oriented than some other attractions,” MacDonald says. “We all have a good time. It’s just fun from the minute you walk up to the ship.”
If you go
* What: “Chilling Tales,” maritime ghost stories
* When: Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 5 to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 4 to 8 p.m. through October.
* Where: The Friendship, Derby Wharf off Derby Street, Salem
* How: Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children under 13. Call 978-790-8546 or visit www.salemtheatre.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
By Wendy Killeen
WITH THOMAS, IT’S A WRAP
The Salem Theatre Company wraps up its Stage Reading Series with “Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas at Old Town Hall in Salem Friday and Saturday.
Completed a month before Thomas died in 1953, “Under Milk Wood” is an irreverent look at one spring day in a small coastal village in Wales.
“It is a wonderfully energetic and beautifully imaginative piece of theater,” said Catherine Bertrand, artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company.
Other staged readings presented in the series included “Crave,” and “The Lincoln-Douglas Debate.”
Easy listening Salem Theatre opens staged reading series this weekend
By Rebecca Schoonmaker , Staff writer
Salem News
“We’re just doing what we love to do,” Bertrand says. “It’s going back to the text.”
Wright, who lives in Lynn and is a board member of STC and the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, jumped at the chance to get back to the basics of theater.
“It’s different from most stuff in theater,” Wright said, noting that an intimate-staged reading is a good way to spend a relaxing evening. “We have so much noise and so much going on in our lives.”
Because of strong language and subject matter, “Crave” is intended for an adult audience. Bertrand wanted to try out an “edgier” piece during the series, but the upcoming shows, she says, will be more family-oriented. Next up in the series is “The Lincoln-Douglas Debate,” a historical piece written by Joseph Taylor of Salem, on Feb. 23 and 24.
If you go
What: A staged reading of “Crave,” a poetic piece for four voices
When: Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.
Where: Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem
How: Tickets are $10, $5 under 15. Call 978-790-8546 www.salemtheatre.org.
Taking the stage in “Crave:”
* Pauline Wright of Lynn
* Kristine Burke of Salem
* Jim Butterfield of Essex
* Bob Karish of Salem
~~~~~~~~~~
Boston Globe, December 10, 2006
A CHRISTMAS STORY
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company will present a staged reading of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas, launching what it hopes will be an annual holiday tradition.
The story “is a heart-warming reminiscence of all those things that make the holidays such a memorable time, especially for children – the family, the generosity, the carols, and the traditions,” said Dominick Pangallo, who adapted the script for the reading.
The cast includes company regulars, as well as young actors from the Rebel Shakespeare Company. Featured are Jim Butterfield of Essex; Steve Cooper and Henry McLean of Marblehead; Miles Hartfelder, Jackson Martel, and Caroline Watson-Felt of Salem; and Pauline Wright of Lynn.
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales” also kicks off the company’s staged reading series. At the end of January, February, and April, it will present or host another local theater group’s staged reading of a play. January’s presentation is by the Mugford Street Players of Marblehead.
“Ideally, the readings will accomplish several goals, including bringing an energy to downtown during Salem’s quieter months, as well as establishing connections with local theater companies,” said Catherine Bertrand, artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company and coordinator of the series.
RETURN OF “MACBETH”
By Wendy Killeen
When the Salem Theatre Company was founded five years ago, William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” was one of the first plays the company considered staging.
Now, the time has come. Directed by Matteo Pangallo, the company’s founder, “Macbeth” is presented Friday through Nov. 26.
“There’s something haunted about this play and that has an undeniable appeal, given Salem’s violent legacy,” said Pangallo, who returned this summer from a year studying Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre in London. “`Macbeth’ reveals the darker side that accompanies each of us. Very few plays today can produce such a powerful, visceral reaction.”
The show has inspired one of the largest cast and crew assembled by the company. Chris Cardoni of Needham appears as Macbeth and Melissa Sine of Woburn plays Lady Macbeth. Stage manager is Cathy Hoelscher of Cambridge; assistant stage manager and props master is Jason Feran of Beverly; costume designer is Anne Hinton of Beverly; lighting designer is Dominick Pangallo of Salem; set construction chief is Bill Smalley of Marblehead; and production assistant is Marc Fillion of Salem.
~~~~~~~~~
Set sail with ‘Chilling Tales’:Salem Theatre brings ghost stories aboard the Friendship
By Rebecca Schoonmaker
Salem News
Cambridge playwright Art Hennessey, who runs the Essayons Theater Company in Boston, wrote a story for this year’s production. Hennessey, a self-described “big ghost story fan” who has been involved with “Tales” for three years, has woven a tale of a ship caught in the ice in the Northwest Passage.
“You have to tell it to a live audience, and try to keep things visual and draw people in and keep people’s attention,” Hennessey says, and keeping it fresh can be tricky, especially when the tours get busy toward the end of the month. “You could end up telling your story six times in row in an hour. But what’s great is every group is different.”
He adds a different spin for a group of adults or a group of children, and the audience helps change up the storytelling.
Tours usually last about a half-hour. Passengers start on the main deck with a light, comedic introduction before venturing below the deck to hear three ghost stories. Fourteen local actors will tell the tales on a rotating basis throughout the month.
Stuart says the show is family-friendly and not too scary for children; he says it’s more “literary” than some ghost tours.
“They’re not terribly creepy; it’s a family show,” Stuart says. “That’s one thing that differentiates us (from other ghost tours).”
If you go
What: “Chilling Tales” presented by the Salem Theatre Company
When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through October from 5 to 10 p.m., as well as Monday, Oct. 30, and Tuesday, Oct. 31
Where: The Friendship, Derby Wharf, Salem
How: Admission is $10, $5 for children, under 4 free. Call 978-790-8546 or visit www.salemtheatre.org.
~~~~~~~~~~
SPOOKY SHIP
By Wendy Killeen
The Friendship in Salem is the backdrop for “Chilling Tales,” a collection of eerie stories of the supernatural at sea, performed onboard by the Salem Theatre Company from this Friday through Oct. 31.
A different story, based on Salem’s maritime history, is presented in several areas of the ship, from the main deck to the crew’s quarters to the captain’s cabin.
In previous years, the stories were adaptations of classic ghost stories by authors such as Hawthorne, Poe, and Stoker. “This year, for the first time ever, we have all original stories,” said Steve Stuart , director of “Chilling Tales.”
Catherine Bertrand , executive director of the Salem Theatre Company, is the producer of the event.
Friendship is a replica of a Salem-based 1797 cargo ship of the same name that was used in the late 18th and early 19th century for trading expeditions to the Far East. The replica was built in 1998. Docked at Derby Wharf, it’s part of the Salem Maritime National Historic site.
A portion of proceeds from “Chilling Tales” will be used to help pay for year-round maintenance of the site and public use of the ship.
~~~~~~~~~~
“TWO GENTLEMEN OF SOHO”
by A. P. Herbert
directed by John Fogle
review contents copyright 2006 by Carl A. Rossi
Plum, an inspector … Erik Rodenhiser
Topsy, a reveler … Dorothy Eagle
Lady Laetitia … Jennifer Wilson
Lord Withers, her escort … Jim Butterfield
The Waiter … Steve Walsh
Hubert, an escort … Mark O’Donald
The Duchess … Kristine Burke
Sneak, a private eye … Bob Karish
The Salem Theatre Company is a company without a home but it has its eye on Salem’s Old Town Hall in Derby Square and for two weekends the company performed in the Hall’s courtyard A. P. Herbert’s 1920s farce TWO GENTLEMEN OF SOHO, free to the public though donations were most welcome. Mr. Herbert had written a mock-Shakespearean romp about a Scotland Yard inspector and a private eye, each on a mission, clashing in a speakeasy over a dowager who has succumbed to the Jazz Age, much to the shame of her socialite daughter who slums in the same dive, herself — the evening ended in a hilarious bloodbath whose final tableau put the Bard to shame. TWO GENTLEMEN OF SOHO was clever-clever fluff and Mr. Herbert, whoever he was, was a good-enough playwright to know how to write deliberately bad soliloquies, duets and ensembles, and John Fogle — still one of the area’s finest directors — staged it with the same customary care and detail as he does with his more substantial, indoor productions.
His cast was no less exquisite, proving that it takes as much passion to mock-declaim as to declaim, seriously, and they remained stylized in the midst of late comers crossing their lines of vision, zephyrs that threatened to blow apart their makeshift setting, and the unexpected appearance of a tourist horse-and-buggy, followed by its hasty retreat down an alley (cloppity-clop) — a day in the life of a strolling player. The Derby courtyard had no acoustics to speak of, thus, those who declaimed the loudest made the more lasting impression: the Inspector of Erik Rodenhiser, an ever-amazing chameleon with a profile that is both handsome and a send-up of handsomeness, Bob Karish’s sleuth, right out a penny-dreadful, and, especially, the booming Kristine Burke as the Duchess, a dainty dragon that only a Dickens could love (a priceless moment: Ms. Burke shifted a corpse’s leg ever so slightly to give herself more room for expiring). Audiences who prefer to hear all of their actors might well consider a donation to the company’s Setting the Stage Campaign and help to bring these actors into the Old Town Hall sooner than later. Donations may be processed through the company’s website (http://www.salemtheatre.com/).
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OUTDOOR WHODUNIT
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company takes its performances outdoors with five free presentations of the one-act comedy “Two Gentlemen of Soho” in Salem’s Derby Square, Friday through Aug. 12.
The Shakespearean parody by A.P. Herbert takes place in a 1920s nightclub, where two detectives one from Scotland Yard, the other a private eye collide one evening while in pursuit of lawbreakers.
The 40-minute play features Salem actors Erik Rodenhiser as the Scotland Yard detective and Bob Karish as the private eye. Kristine Burke of Salem plays the Duchess of Canterbury. Mark O’Donald , also of Salem, is Hubert, her dancing partner.
The cast also includes Jennifer Wilson of Ipswich, Jim Butterfield of Marblehead, Dorothy Eagle of Somerville, and Steve Walsh of Swampscott. Anne Hinton of Beverly does the costumes. John Fogle of Marblehead directs.
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LIVING PROOF
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company presents its second play of the season, “Proof,” at the Griffin Theatre in Salem tomorrow through July 23.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, the play is about a 25-year-old woman grappling with the death of her father, a brilliant but mentally ill mathematician. The situation leads her to explore her own reality and mental state.
The cast features Natalie Cowell of Reading, Kerry Bertrand of Marblehead, and Caroline Watson-Felt and Will Neely, both of Salem. Catherine Bertrand directs.
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UP AND COMERS
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company presents “Catch ‘em On The Rise!”, a festival of new plays by local authors directed and performed by emerging area artists, next Sunday at Old Town Hall in Salem.
One-act plays written by Steve Stuart of Beverly, Georgette Beck of Marblehead, Peter Zachari of Peabody, and Bill Cunningham of Rockport are showcased. Catherine Bertrand , artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company, Cunningham, Erik Rodenhiser, and Caroline Watson-Felt direct.
Casts include Julie Cleveland, Dan Merhalski, William Neely, and Andrew Winson of Salem; Leah Beninato of North Andover; Linda Coleman of Manchester-by-the-Sea; Elloree Crowe of Marblehead; John Depew of Haverhill; Ann Marie King of Newburyport; and Jim Robinson of Lynn.
The festival also includes original scenes by young actors under the direction of Leah Miles , a theater arts teacher at the Collins Middle School in Salem. Student performers include Chrisanthe Theodorakakis , Kayleigh Ristubem , Adelaide Majeski , Diana Resciniti , Steven Levesque , Tom Regan , Miles Hartfelder , and Lee Accomando .
The show includes interludes by a local improvisational troupe, Grandma’s 3d Leg.
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Boston Globe, February 12, 2006
SIX INTO ONE
By Wendy Killeen
Five local theatrical directors and a cast of 14 join in a production of “All In The Timing,” six one-act comedy plays by David Ives, at the Griffen Theatre in Salem Friday through March 5.
“These shows will keep you laughing through the winter months to come,” said Paul Mitri , artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company, which is producing the show.
One of the directors, Catherine Bertrand, said the challenge is having all six pieces share props, sets, lighting, music, and actors. “Working in such an atypical theatrical situation has been excellent,” she said. “I think the bringing together of so much local talent has been great for the artistic community.”
Other directors include Michael Siering , Janet Gottschalk , Anne Lucas , and Sarah Cole.
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A NEW DIRECTION
By Wendy Killeen
Paul T. Mitri is the new artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company.
He replaces founding artistic director Matteo Pangallo, 24, who is leaving Salem at the end of the summer to pursue a graduate degree in Shakespearean Studies at the Globe Theatre in London.
Saying the theater company has “already done so much for this community,” Mitri added, “Our goal is not only to keep that momentum going, but to take things to a whole new level.”
A director, writer, choreographer, and actor, Mitri will plan the company’s season of four mainstage productions. The season, to be announced in the summer, features comedies and light-hearted shows.
Mitri, of Salem, is an associate professor of theater at Salem State College. He’s a founder and artistic director of the Seattle Shakespeare Festival and has taught in Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Egypt, and Japan.
Salem Theatre Company’s final production of this season, “The Best Man,” runs Thursday through Saturday at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Salem. Call 978-790-8546 or visit www.SalemTheatre.com.
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INTRODUCING ‘THE BEST MAN’
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company presents the final production of its second season, Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man,” Thursday through May 28.
Written in 1963, the political drama is set in the last few days of a fictional presidential nominating convention as two candidates go head to head: an idealistic, intellectual liberal from New England and an ambitious, conservative man from the Midwest.
Richard White and Judson Pierce star as the rival candidates. Julie Korzenik and Jessica Shulman play the candidates’ wives. And Bob Karish and Marc Fillion are the campaign managers.
The show is produced by Matteo Pangallo and directed by Dominick Pangallo.
A preshow reception hosted by state Representative John Keenan and Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz Jr. of Salem is set for the National Park Service’s regional visitors center at 6:30 p.m. It is also a farewell to the theater’s founding artistic director, Matteo Pangallo. A coffee hour with the cast and crew follows the performance.
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Boston Globe, February 6, 2005
PANGALLO TAKES FINAL BOW
By Wendy Killeen
Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
It’s two firsts, and a last, for the Salem Theatre Company.
According to artistic director Matteo Pangallo, the theater is the first in America to produce Seamus Heaney’s “The Burial at Thebes,” a new version of Sophocles’ “Antigone” opening Thursday.
And, it’s the first show in which Pangallo will act.
It’s also the last production he will direct. Pangallo, who founded the group, is stepping down to attend a prestigious Shakespearean graduate program in London in the fall.
Pangallo is one of only 20 people annually selected for the one-year master’s course, taught jointly by King’s College and the Globe Theatre. The focus of “Shakespearean Studies: Text and Playhouse” is the study of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the original context.
Pangallo said that upon his return, he hopes to teach Shakespeare at the high school or college level, and earn his doctorate.
Pangallo has long been involved in local theater, including Marblehead Little Theater, Rebel Shakespeare Company, and at Marblehead High School. He’s a graduate of Bates College in Maine.
He said many people are surprised he is leaving the Salem Theatre Company. “Most assumed I started the STC over four years ago with the goal of having my own theater company. But that wasn’t my objective,” he said. “My objective was to make sure Salem had a theater company. I think I have accomplished that objective. In my efforts to build a community theater, I have actually succeeded in building a theater community.”
Pangallo said the seven-member board of directors, under the leadership of president Rob Gray , will set the theater’s priorities and goals for next season.
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Boston Globe, December 12, 2004
HOLIDAY LAUGHS
By Wendy Killeen
If you need a laugh at this point in holiday preparations, check out “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” presented by the Salem Theatre Company.
The “festive tale of yuletide humor has charmed readers for over 30 years,” said Matteo Pangallo , the company’s artistic director. “And this stage version, adapted for performance by the author herself, contains all the delight and appeal of the original book.”
The show is directed by Betty Lautner of Marblehead, and produced and designed by Ellen Becker -Gray and Robert Gray , of Salem.
It features a cast of nearly 20 actors, including Frank MacDonald ; Holly Grose ; Julie Korzenik ; Geoffrey Lubbock ; Barbara Dempsey-West ; Wendy Webber ; Karl Fried ; Stephanie Harris ; Rebecca Maddalo ; Leah Camire ; Allie Theriault ; Henry McLean ; Hannah Duffy ; Liam Fried ; Jed Lautner ; Andrew Hill ; Wilson Lautner ; Alea Moscone ; and Kenneth Veilleux.
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Boston Globe, October 31, 2004
A BOOST FOR FIREFIGHTERS
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company has donated all of the proceeds from its production of “The Guys” to the Salem Fire Department.
The play, by Anne Nelson, is about a New York City fire captain who lost almost all his men in the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001. Faced with writing many eulogies, the captain enlists the help of a freelance writer. Together they examine, and honor, the lives of the firefighters.
Matteo Pangallo, the company’s artistic director, said that after the performances “audience members would gather in the lobby and talk about their experiences on Sept. 11, 2001. You don’t often see fellowship like that after a play.”
He said the nonprofit theater company’s board of directors voted to donate the proceeds “in memory of the nearly 300 firefighters who lost their lives in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and to thank the Salem Fire Department for their services to the community.”
“The Guys” was the theater’s first mainstage production of the season, which also includes Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”; Sophocles’s “Antigone”; and Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man.”
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Boston Globe, October 14, 2004
CHILLING TALES
By Wendy Killeen
Visitors to Salem can board a replica of the tall ship Friendship, at Derby Wharf, and hear “eerie legends of the supernatural at sea” weekends throughout October.
Presented in conjunction with Haunted Happenings, the event is sponsored by the Salem Theatre Company and the National Park Service.
Actors tell classic ghost stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and others, adapted for performance by Erik Rodenhiser . Steve Stuart directs.
The cast includes Amy Aldrich, Laura Faith, Gene Fleming, Amanda Good, Art Hennessey, Frank McDonald, Brielle Montgomery, Jason Reulet, and Keith Remon .
Last year, several thousand visitors boarded Friendship to hear the tales.
“October is an important time for the city and ‘Chilling Tales’ is rapidly becoming a major part of the city’s festivities,” said Matteo Pangallo, the theater company’s artistic director. He added that the event is “family friendly.”
Proceeds benefit the Salem Theatre Company, Friendship, and the Salem Partnership.
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“THE CRUCIBLE”
by Arthur Miller
directed and designed by John Fogle
review contents copyright 2003 by Carl A. Rossi
Betty Parris … Allie Theriault
Rev. Samuel Parris … Stephen Cooper
Tituba … Dianne Chalifour
Abigail Williams … Victoria Engelmayer
Susanna Wallcott … Casey Sussman
Ann Putnam … Doreen Marquis
Thomas Putnam … Edgar Johns
Mercy Lewis … Suzanne Wyman
Mary Warren … Erin Boyle
John Proctor … Dave Rich
Rebecca Nurse … Janet Raskin
Giles Corey … Robert Stewart
Rev. John Hale … Kevin Walker
Elizabeth Proctor … Julie Korzenik
Francis Nurse … James Robinson
Ezekiel Cheever … Jason Rabin
John Willard … Bob Karish
Judge Hathorne … Craig Owen
Deputy-Governor Danforth … Jim Butterfield
Sarah Good … Doreen Marquis
A Note from playwright Arthur Miller, included in the program:
I want to wish the cast and crew of the Salem Theatre Company’s production of THE CRUCIBLE all the best luck with the show, and I wish the very best to the STC with its future endeavors. You’re doing a great thing for the city of Salem. I look forward to hearing how the show goes and staying updated about your future activities.
Sincerely yours,
Arthur Miller
Mr. Miller would enjoy The Salem Theatre Company’s production of THE CRUCIBLE in this, their inaugural season: director John Fogle, assisted by artists, staff and volunteers from the North Shore area, comes up with some good, solid theatre and has staged it in the very town where THE CRUCIBLE’s action takes place — how’s that for authenticity?
THE CRUCIBLE, of course, is based on the witch hysteria that swept the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692; what began with two girls’ antics led to scores of people being accused of devil worship and ended with nineteen being hung on Gallows Hill in Salem Town; others, dying in prison; one, being crushed to death. Mr. Miller wrote his play during the Communist Scare of the early 1950s — a brave act in itself — and it is to his credit that THE CRUCIBLE stands powerfully on its own today without being seen only as an attack on McCarthyism though he does short-change history, somewhat: instead of showing the hysteria being the result of Puritanical repression, ignorance and fanaticism (all those bottled-up passions had to be released, somehow), Mr. Miller boils it down to young Abigail Williams stirring up trouble in Salem for being rejected by John Proctor, her married lover — still, in an age of two-character, politically-correct plays, what pleasure it is to watch CRUCIBLE’s townspeople go at each other with hammer and tong in a work created for the stage and showing no signs of cinematic influence! (Young playwrights, please take note.)
Last summer, Mr. Fogle directed and designed a superb production of OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD for the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead (four of his COUNTRY players have followed him to town); here, Mr. Fogle works some of his magic with the fledgling STC company: a few of his actors look and act convincingly Puritanical (i.e., Julie Korzenik’s deceptively fragile Elizabeth Proctor and Janet Raskin’s kindly, worn Rebecca Nurse) and he has placed them in a simple, stark setting somewhere between the Expressionistic and the shoestring. Scene One is the company’s warm up — the mumbling Tituba is incomprehensible; the growing terror of the townspeople is loosely orchestrated (a nice touch, though: the Reverend’s afflicted daughter is first glimpsed as two arms rising up from her bed then sinking down below view again); the production stirs with Dave Rich’s one-note Proctor (the man is ever on a rant) and comes to quick fruition with Jim Butterfield, Mr. Fogle’s longtime collaborator, in the pivotal role of Deputy-Governor Danforth who presides over the witch trials. Often cast in small roles in Boston but a proven leading man elsewhere, Mr. Butterfield is a valued addition to any cast; though his stage persona is a solemn, even graven, one, I continue to be amazed at his range: earlier this year, cast against type, Mr. Butterfield turned Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA into a BBC romp for the Arlington Friends of the Drama; here, he is chilling as Danforth, a crafty, merciless man wearing a mask of unenlightened authority — Mr. Butterfield proves to be the spark in this CRUCIBLE’s tinderbox, igniting his fellow players into becoming an ensemble, especially John Proctor’s two young betrayers: Victoria Engelmayer, the Abigail, is but a brat when around her Proctor; when pitted against Danvers in Scene Three, Ms. Engelmayer matches Mr. Butterfield in steely cunning (there’s a thrilling moment when they coldly stare each other down) and leaves us with a harrowing portrait of Evil incarnate. In contrast, Erin Boyle’s Mary Warren — a stiff ninny in Scene Two — becomes a terrified innocent when caught between Danvers and Abigail’s (verbal) grinding tools.
Prior to this production, I had never been to Salem: on the night I attended, the sleeping town was wrapped in black, bare-branched trees vainly grabbed at their leaves that ran into the streets while twinkles of light peeped from houses sealed up from the cold. A most atmospheric setting for the STC’s CRUCIBLE; I would not be surprised if Mr. Fogle had a scenic hand in it….
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Boston Globe, October 26, 2003
STAGE ENTRANCE
By Wendy Killeen
The Salem Theatre Company has received an $1,800 grant from the Target Corp. to fund after-school workshops at the Bates Elementary School in Salem.
About 40 students will be introduced to the fundamentals of theater arts during the workshops. They will explore improvisation, dramatic storytelling, role playing, and the use of theatrical tools such as masks, props, and costumes.
Kerri Cahill, founder and director of the Rebel Shakespeare Company in Salem, and Erik Rodenhiser, a local theater professional, will lead the workshops. Both are members of the theater company’s board of directors.
“The mission of the Salem Theatre Company includes providing resources for performing arts education outreach in the community. This grant makes that possible,” said Matteo Pangallo, the company’s artistic director.
He said the workshops are designed to give the students an outlet “to express their artistic creativity with the guidance and support of experienced performing artists.”
The nonprofit Salem Theater Company is in the middle of its inaugural season, which includes four mainstage productions, public events and, other activities. It’s next production will be “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, Nov. 6-22, at St. Peter’s Church Hall in Salem.
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Boston Globe, May 1, 2003
THE PLAY’S THE THING; AT 21, HE’S FOUNDER OF THEATER COMPANY
By Sean Persaud, Globe Correspondent
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company
Matteo Pangallo, a 21-year-old senior at Bates College, has logged significant time onstage. However, this summer he will be taking on a different theatrical role as he kicks off his first full season as the president and artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company, a performance arts group that he nursed from dream to reality.
The idea, which Pangallo first had years ago as a student at Marblehead High School, is to bring quality performing arts events to Salem and the surrounding region.
“It’s time Salem opened the curtain on act one, scene one of its own revitalization,” Pangallo said.
The Salem Theatre Company begins its first season with a production of A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia,” directed by Adrienne Effron, a local director and arts educator, in July at Bates School Theater in Salem. The theater company, which is still looking for a permanent home, also has performances scheduled later in the year, “The Crucible” in November (no location yet) and “The Santaland Diaries” in December at Salem Athenaeum.
The company, which has been rehearsing at members’ homes, is still auditioning actors and filling various crew positions, but Pangallo is confident he will be able to pull off the openings.
Theater has long been a large part of Pangallo’s life, from the community theater of his youth to his involvement in drama groups at Bates College, where he is majoring in English and minoring in theater. Born in Salem, Pangallo became involved in the performance arts when he and his twin brother, Dominick, appeared in a production of “The King and I,” staged by Marblehead Little Theater in the early ’90s. Throughout school, he was active in various drama clubs and acting troupes, including the Rebel Shakespeare Company, which was based in Marblehead and recently moved to Salem.
“As an art form, theater connects me with an ancient tradition and yet at the same time teaches the value of modern awareness,” Pangallo said. “It stimulates creativity and engenders a love for life, collaboration, and learning.”
Pangallo started planting the seeds of the Salem Theatre Company as a junior at Marblehead High School. By his freshman year of college, in the fall of 1999, Pangallo had created a business plan for a theater company in the city. In 2001, Pangallo approached Jim Haskell, executive director of the Salem Harbor Community Development Corp., with the idea because Haskell had experience starting a theater group as the founder of the now defunct Salem Arts Center Inc.
Together Haskell and Pangallo formed the Salem Theatre Project. Last year the fledgling group was introduced to the public with two summer performances: the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “Complete History of America, Abridged” at Colonial Hall, and Edward Albee’s “Zoo Story” at the Salem Athenaeum. Last December, their project was renamed the Salem Theatre Company and received nonprofit status. For now, Pangallo depends on ticket sales, donations, and a fund-raiser for money. He has no grants or corporate sponsors.
Last December, Pangallo wooed local politicians, artists, and educators, such as Keri Cahill, director of the Rebel Shakespeare Company in Salem; Richard King, former education director of the North Shore Music Theatre and now the Beverly public schools arts curriculum director; Mary Usovicz, wife of Salem Mayor Stanley Usovicz, and Haskell, who is also the theater company’s treasurer, to join his board of directors and board of advisers.
All this before his 22d birthday.
Pangallo said that his age has been an issue for others, but he has tried not to focus on it and finds people who are excited to work with him on the project – whatever his age.
The mayor, who spoke at a fund-raising dinner for the theater company in March, agreed. “Ideas are timeless. I’ve never considered someone too young or too old to accomplish a project like this,” said Usovicz.
Usovicz added that he is delighted at the potential the company represents for Salem. Citing organizations like the Peabody Essex Museum, Usovicz added there “are a growing number of people interested in the arts and we’ve tried to encourage that.”
Beyond the cultural benefits, Pangallo’s company will not ignore possible benefits for Salem’s youth.
Pangallo said he hopes to partner with Salem public schools, the National Park Service, and the Peabody Essex Museum in an effort to marry theater and education.
Margaret Voss, language arts curriculum director of Marblehead public schools and a member of both the company’s board of advisers and the Salem School Committee, said, “The long-range goal of the Salem Theater Company is not only to put on shows, but to hold educational workshops and provide an outlet for children of the community.”
Pangallo also hopes to see the expansion of the company itself. The biggest issue in the development of the group is finding a permanent home for rehearsals and performances.
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Boston Globe, March 23, 2003
NEW THEATER
By Wendy Killeen
A new troupe, The Salem Theatre Company, kicks off fund-raising and ticket sales for its inaugural season with “A Taste for the Arts” dinner and reception Friday in Colonial Hall.
The event includes food, music, and performances of scenes from its four upcoming productions – “Sylvia” by A.R. Gurney, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, “The Santaland Diaries and Season’s Greetings,” by David Sedaris, and “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare.
The aim of the new organization is to establish a permanent, professional theater company serving Salem and surrounding communities.
It has scheduled performances from July through May 2004 at various locations in the city, including Old Town Hall, Salem Anthenaeum, Bates School, and Colonial Hall. It also is considering acquiring property to develop into a performing arts facility.
The troupe is being led by Matteo Pangallo, president of the board. Also on the board of directors are Jim Haskell, John Fogle, Kathy Fay, Richard King, and Tony Salvo. The board of advisers includes Keri Cahill, Kim Driscoll, Adrienne Affron, Judson Pierce, Erik Rodenhiser, Mary Usovicz, and Margaret Voss.
“It’s a grass-roots effort and a collaboration of neat people,” said Usovicz, wife of Salem Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz, Jr. “We’re having a real rebirth in downtown Salem and this plays right into that.”
