STC in the Press
STC is a Best Bet!
Since 2003, STC’s plays and programs have been named a “Best Bet” by the Boston Globe North SIX times:
· Chilling Tales - annual program
· STC Improv show - anual program
· Shakespeare Open Mic Night - annual program
· Child’s Christmas in Wales - annual program
· Memory of Water - 2008 mainstage
· Book of Days - 2007 mainstage
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STC PRESS COVERAGE & REVIEWS:
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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…”
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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.”
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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
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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.”
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‘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.
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“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.
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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.
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‘What is this mischief here?’; ‘The Crucible’ opens tonight with historical telling of witchcraft trials
By Michelle Morrissey , Staff writer
Salem News
As such, Fogle says, the show is true to its historic roots and to Arthur Miller’s original 1953 script.
“We don’t do any ‘concept work’ with a classic,” Fogle said of the production that the company also performed in 2003. “We just try to do justice to it.”
Although Arthur Miller’s original play was intended to draw similarities between the witchcraft hysteria of the 1690s and McCarthyism and the Red Scare of the 1950s, Fogle says he’s not using his production as a “soapbox to talk about current events.”
As the company rehearsed in the basement of First Church Unitarian in Salem earlier this week, with players running through lines, lighting and music cues, some of them talked about what Fogle dubs the “homegrown history” of the piece.
One of the most important characters is John Proctor, who is played by James Wilcox of Beverly.
Wilcox said he was drawn to playing this character because of Proctor’s troubled past: The 1690s farmer in the play has an affair with a younger Abigail Williams, played here by Courtney Bennet.
“Proctor wrestles with his conscience, and despite his sinful past” works to seek truth, Wilcox said.
“I consider myself a person of faith; there is a lot I wrestle with,” he said during a rehearsal break. He said while he certainly hasn’t lived the troubled life of John Proctor, he did connect with the play’s deeper themes once he got beyond the memorization of his lines and cues.
Jim Butterfield of Essex, who plays Thomas Putnam - “an important but small character” - has been acting for almost 40 years. He points out that not only is Salem known as a historic place, but the church where this play is being performed has its own ties to the witchcraft trials.
“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
While hundreds are flooding the streets and haunted houses in the city during the month of October, “Chilling Tales” brings something different.
“Salem has so much more to offer than just the witch history,” Bertrand says. “We have this gorgeous ship, why not use it? We highlight the ship and introduce it to thousands of tourists.”
The ship is clearly the star of the show; it needs no decorations, no preparation.
“The ship is the ship,” Bertand says. “It’s so perfect in its setting. Honestly, there’s no need to do anything.”
“Chilling Tales” is now in its fifth year, as is the Salem Theatre Company. Many of the same actors come back each Halloween to do the show, including Frank MacDonald of Peabody, who is doing “Chilling Tales” for the fourth year.
MacDonald writes his own stories for the show. His tales tend to be on the lighter side.
“I try to be as funny as possible,” he says. “This year’s is loosely based on ‘Dracula.’”
“Chilling Tales” was MacDonald’s first try at acting. He got involved after bumping into fellow Salem Theatre actor Steve Stewart; both work in the Cummings Center in Beverly.
“I was at the vending machine, and I saw him in the hallway,” MacDonald remembers. “He was on his phone, and he motioned for me to stop. The first thing I thought was, do I owe him money? But he asked if I had ever done any professional acting.”
MacDonald hadn’t, but he gave it try. And he liked it; he keeps coming back to “Chilling Tales” and has also been in some other local productions.
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.
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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
“You can concentrate wholly on the words because they’re the only things,” says Pauline Wright, who is directing and acting in “Crave.” “You’re bare bones. It’s just voice.”
Wright calls the piece “ambiguous;” there is no defined setting or plot line, just four voices spouting lines about an array of topics, from abuse to love to family to suicide. And although there are four readers, “Crave” isn’t necessarily about four people.
“Are there four people, or are they four different parts of the same person?” Wright asks. “It’s a very fragile narrative.”
It’s open to interpretation, and audiences can decide for themselves this weekend when the series, which runs through March, opens at Old Town Hall.
After seeing “Crave” performed as play several years ago, Wright says she was “intrigued” by the piece and thought it would work well as a reading because it’s centered around the words.
“This is about words. The imagery here is words,” Wright says. “It deals with really important issues and it’s fairly in-your-face, but it’s not offensive. It’s poetic and lyrical.”
The series started with a reading of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” last month, an attempt at bringing something unique to the Salem area for the holiday season. And audiences caught on. Artistic Director Catherine Bertrand says more than 100 people came to see the show during its four-performance run.
Following that success, Bertrand decided to create the series to continue through STC’s usual downtime, January through March. The troupe doesn’t have another mainstage production scheduled until the spring, and the readings are quick and easy to pull together since they don’t require sets, costumes or lengthy dress rehearsals.
“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
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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.
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Set sail with ‘Chilling Tales’:Salem Theatre brings ghost stories aboard the Friendship
By Rebecca Schoonmaker
Salem News
Traditionally, Salem Theatre has incorporated local lore or stories by such writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe into “Chilling Tales.” This year, they’ve taken a different approach, using all new ghostly material by regional writers.
“Imagine that the boat has set sail,” Stuart says. “We’re telling supernatural stories set at sea. It’s very nautical in nature.”
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.
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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.
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“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.”
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