Summer Shorts

Festival of New Works by Local Authors
August 26-28 and September 2-4, 2004

“Summer Shorts is …the best damn theater company doing what they do best…”
– Larry Stark, Theater Mirror

Hot New Shorts In A Cool Location!!!

Hovey’s incredibly successful Summer Shorts festival of new works will be moving to a new home, just up Moody Street to Auburndale’s Turtle Lane Playhouse! “This co-production between Turtle Lane and Hovey has come at a terrific time,” says Jerry Bisantz, producer and founder of the seven year old Summer Shorts festival. John MacKenzie, former Hovey president, agrees. “Last year’s show was SO successful, with the addition of original music, mini-musicals and ten minute plays, that we literally had nowhere to put our audience and, unfortunately, many people had to be turned away. This won’t happen at the larger space.”

To many of our readers who don’t know, Turtle Lane is a quaint little theater on Melrose Street in Auburndale, just off Commonwealth Avenue. They have seating capacity for 170, central air conditioning, and even have a cute little pub on the premises. They are well known for their musicals, and just completed a very successful run of “Fiddler On The Roof.” Bobsie Mitton, the managing director of the theater, was so smitten with last year’s Summer Shorts festival that the decision was made in no time at all.

A reluctant businessman at an airport terminal is sent on a life or death mission… a guilt-ridden man breaks into the Red Sox front office with “the curse” in his briefcase… a woman bargains with a Jewish cowboy for her son’s Bar Mitzvah… these and many other silly, moving, strange and vivid tales will be presented by Boston’s finest talent in the 8th annual Hovey Summer Shorts Festival at Turtle Lane Playhouse. Featuring the area’s top playwrights, the festival is an explosion of writing, acting, songwriting, and singing talent presented in six evenings from August 26th through September 4th.

Performed over two weekends and divided into three programs, each evening consists of six ten-minute plays, four original songs by local composers, and a twenty minute “mini” musical… all original, all fresh, and all performed by the quality acting and singing talent that is synonomous with the Hovey Players and Turtle Lane Playhouse.

The “Hub Of The Universe” has some of the best playwriting talent in the country, and Summer Shorts will put it all out there for you with productions that will expand your theatrical world. Settle in… enjoy a drink at our bar, grab a seat in the air conditioned comfort of Turtle Lane Playhouse, and enjoy what Larry Stark of Theater Mirror called “…the best damn theater doing what they do best…”

The 8th Annual Hovey Summer Shorts Schedule
Festival of New Works by Local Playwrights and Composers

Slot “A”
performing Thursday August 26 and Saturday September 4 at 8:00 p.m.
Keep It Brief (opening number)
Don’t Asp, Don’t Tell by George Sauer (director Jerry Bisantz)
Next Fall at Drumlin by Tom Berry (director Michelle Aguillon)
Almost An Affair by Ed Biggins
Holly’s Plea by George Masselman (director James Tallach)
So This is How it Ends by Ed Biggins

Intermission

Your Kiss is on My List by Christoper Lockheardt (director Gordon Ellis)
Mediocre Man by Rachel Cole
The Thing About Ballast by Susan Leonard (director Darren Evans)
Here and Now by Steven Bergman
Ma In Her Kerchief by Janet Kenney (director Janet Kenney)
Mini Musical (Aug 26 Romance 101, Sept 4 The Purloined Painting)

Slot “B”
performing Friday August 27 and Thursday September 2 at 8:00 p.m.
Keep It Brief (opening number)
Seriously by Laura DeCesare (director Deidre Purcell)
Out of the Blue by Barbara Brilliant
A Bloomsbury Proposal by Carl Rossi (director Jerry Bisantz)
The City is Empty by Rick Berlin
Random Selection by Gail Phaneuf (director Christine MacInally)

Intermission

Xmas Eve by Rick Berlin
famous – small “f” by Robert Mattson (director Robert Mattson)
I Love You by Eva Kendrick
Salvation by Donna Sorbello (director Marc Miller)
The Klezmer Cowboy by Monica Bauer (director Jennifer Condon)
Mini Musical (Aug 27 Romance 101, Sept 2 The Purloined Painting)

Slot “C”
performing Saturday August 28 and Friday September 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Keep It Brief (opening number)
Help Wanted by Geralyn Horton (director James Tallach)
An Ordinary Day by Dennis Livingston
The Game of Life by Mark Baumhardt (director Dave Sheppard)
At the Stroke of Marmalade by Jena Lustbader (director Ronni Marshak)
An Everyday Romance by Steve Price

Intermission

a song by Dennis Roach
Wounds by Frank Shefton (director Michelle Aguillon)
Keeper of the Curse by Jack Neary (director John MacKenzie)
Ole Pal O’ Mine by Kerry Zukus
Fair and Balanced by Patrick Brennan (director Thelonius Griffin)
Mini Musical (Aug 29 The Purloined Painting, Sept 3 Romance 101)

Hovey Summer Shorts 2004. For tickets and information, call 617-244-0169.

Hovey Summer Shorts at the
Turtle Lane Playhouse
283 Melrose Street
Newton, MA 02466

Prompter

Review: Theater Mirror

G.R. Point is a war-drama set at a Graves Registration Point in Tay Loi, Vietnam, in 1969 where bodies of combat victims are brought for processing before being sent home. Through the experience of a young draftee and the situation he and others are thrust into, extraordinary relationships are formed that forever impact each of their lives. The play explores the insidious way in which human life is robbed of its dignity and dimension, and perhaps helps us to understand what led decent young men to commit acts which, in another place and time, would have filled them with remorse and horror.

Performing Saturday, May 29th, 12 noon session (2nd slot) at the Sorenson Center at Babson College in Wellesley. Go to www.emact.org/festival.htm for more information.

Hovey Players presents three time I.R.N.E. Award winning G.R. Point by David Berry at the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters Festival (EMACT)

Our Cast
Ben Bartolone as Straw
Garrett Blair as Micah
Michael Corbett as Johnston
Claude Del as Deacon
Patrick Flanagan as Zan
Louis Jacques, Jr. as Shoulders
Pablo Velez as Tito
Margaret Pham as Mama-san
Keedar Whittle as K.P.

Production Staff
Producers Helene Andersson and Julia Van Daam
Director Michelle M. Aguillon
Assistant Director Leigh Berry
Stage Manager Shannon Allen
Production Assistant Gabrielle M. Aguillon-Hatcher
Assistant Stage Manager Kevin St. Gelais
Sound Operator J.P. Nadeau
Light and Set Design John MacKenzie
Sound Design and Photography Daemeon Pratt
Program and Posters Leigh Berry
Matt Silverstein
Rocco Sperazzo
Beth Gustin
Manasi Ramanna

by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Directed by Luke Dennis

Produced by Michelle M. Aguillon

The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker is a contemporary reworking of the ancient Greek myth of Philomele, a vibrant, inquisitive Athenian princess whose questions are answered by silence and who is soon violently silenced herself, by her brother-in-law, the King of Thrace. Her chilling revenge, five years later during an evening of Dionysian revelry, is simply astonishing. A story of the power of words and the price of silence, The Love of the Nightingale is written in exultant modern prose that has the resonance of myth by a playwright who is as interesting and surprising as her name.

May 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, & 29, 2004, at 8 pm
May 23 at 2 pm
Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, MA
Tickets $15.00 — Seniors $13.00

The Cast

Dorothy Ahle: Echo, Niobe, Nurse
Sujoy De: Soldier, male chorus, Captain, Theseus
Sally Dennis: Philomele
Katheryn Holland: June, Queen of Athens, Bacchae
Mark Lessne: Soldier, sailor, male chorus
Wayne Vargas: King Pandion, soldier, sailor, male chorus
Brian Polak: Tereus
Donna Spurlock: Hero, Euripidean chorus, Bacchae
Renee Tyzbir: Iris, Phaedra, Bacchae
Julia Van Daam: Procne
Nora Williams: Helen, Aphrodite, Bacchae
Christopher Wren: Soldier, sailor, male chorus, Hippolytus

The Crew

Jeremy Medicus: Light Design
Julia Van Daam: Set Design
Katie Pearson: Costumes
Daemeon Pratt: Photography
Set Construction:
Michael Tonner
Michelle Aguillon
Luke Dennis
Sally Dennis
Matthew Silverstein
Rocco Sperazzo

Program

Prompter

Reviews: MetroWest Daily News, Theater Mirror, Norm Gross (PMP Network)

A movie script with Depth? Passion? Serious Intent? …Not a chance. Charlie and Bobby are film execs who will do anything to get to the top. Their Hollywood is a Niagara of bad taste, backstabbing and predatory deal making. Charlie has a clichéd movie script and a big star who wants to play the lead. Perfect! The road to riches! But will the pretty temp Karen convince Bobby that he just might have a conscience? Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Mamet pulls the tinsel off the town in this dazzling dissection of the movie business.


March 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 2004, at 8 pm
March 21 at 2 pm
Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, MA
Tickets $15.00 — Seniors $13.00

Reservations Call 781-893-9171

Featuring
Bill Stambaugh as Fox
Richard Rininsland as Gould
Renee Tyzbir as Karen

Directed by Nancy Curran Willis
Produced by Michelle M. Aguillon
Technical Director: John MacKenzie
Sound Design: Matt Silverstein
Set Design: Nancy Curran Willis & John MacKenzie
Stage Managers: Chris Wrenn
Production Assistant: Jenna Lea Scott
Lighting Design: James Lavenberg
Props: Karen Dervin
Crew Chief: Rocco Sperazzo
Poster Design: Daemeon Pratt

Tech Crew
Ben Aldridge
Shannon Allen
Garrett Blair
Justin Budinoff
Michael Corbett
Valerie Fanikos
Gabrielle Hatcher
Chris Lockheardt
Sandie McNeal
Jane Montosi
Matt Silverstein

Program

Prompter

Review: Theater Mirror

by Tom Stoppard

Arcadia: Tom Stoppard’s brilliant play where science and romance; enlightenment and ignorance arc across the stage and two centuries of time as rich, unforgettable characters speak some of the most elegant dialogue written for modern theater.

This extraordinary and demanding play challenges the viewer to grasp dizzying concepts, both large and small, played out on a stage at once as vast as the universe and as small as a bowl of rice pudding.

January 16, 17, 23, 24, 29-31, 2004, at 8 pm
January 25 at 2 pm
Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, MA
Tickets $15.00 — Seniors $13.00

Poster
Program

Arcadia is directed by Michael Tonner and features:

Stephen Barrett as Captain Brice
Justin Budinoff…Ezra Chater
Eric Houghton…Jellaby
Alison Lemoine…Chloe Coverly
Kate Mahoney…Lady Croom
Marc Miller…Richard Noakes
Michael Parsons…Valentine Coverly
Devon Stone…Gus\Augustus Coverly
Michael Tomasulo…Septimus Hodge
Wayne Vargas…Bernard Nightingale
Tara Brooke Watkins…Hannah Jarvis
Nora Jane Williams…Thomasina Coverly

Review: MetroWest Daily News

Hovey Players of Waltham presents G.R. Point by David Berry, a war-drama set at a Graves Registration Point in Tay Loi, Vietnam, in 1969 where bodies of combat victims are brought for processing before being sent home. Through the experience of a young draftee and the situation he and others are thrust into, extraordinary relationships are formed that forever impact each of their lives. The play explores the insidious way in which human life is robbed of its dignity and dimension, and perhaps helps us to understand what led decent young men to commit acts which, in another place and time, would have filled them with remorse and horror.

November 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29, 2003, at 8PM
Matinees November 16, 23 at 2PM
Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, MA
Tickets $15.00 — Seniors $13.00

Our Cast
Ben Bartolone as Straw
Garrett Blair as Micah
Michael Corbett as Johnston
Claude Del as Deacon
Patrick Flanagan as Zan
Louis Jacques, Jr. as Shoulders
Tyler Raynolds as Tito
Jenna Lea Scott as Mama-san
Keedar Whittle as K.P.

Production Staff
Producers Helene Andersson and Julia Van Daam
Director Michelle M. Aguillon
Assistant Director Leigh Berry
Stage Manager Shannon Allen
Production Assistant Gabrielle M. Aguillon-Hatcher
Assistant Stage Manager Kevin St. Gelais
Sound Operator J.P. Nadeau
Set Design John MacKenzie and Michele Boll
Lighting Design Jeremy Medicus
Sound Design and Photography Daemeon Pratt
Program and Posters Leigh Berry

Prompter

Reviews: Theater Mirror, MetroWest Daily News, Norm Gross (PMP Network)

by Alan Bennett

Directed by John MacKenzie

14 September – 4 October

PERFORMANCE DATES: September 19, 20, 26, 27, 28 October 2, 3, 4. All performances are held at 8:00pm, with the exception of a 2:00pm matinee on September 28.

THE STORY: A side splitting British comedy that is signature Alan Bennett. Habeas Corpus was last performed at the Abbott 10 seasons ago with Joel Vernon as Mrs. Swabb. It was his final performance at the Abbott. The production will feature the acting talents of Michael Tonner, Kate Tonner, Ronni Marshak, Mike Corbet, Lorna McKenzie, James Laing, Christine Conner, Julia VanDaam, Richard Frankel, Michael Legge, David Cherenson.

For ticket reservations…please call (781) 893-9171, or forward a check to: Hovey Players, PO Box 540101, Waltham MA 02254-0101. You may also order tickets online at www.hoveyplayers.com. Tickets are $15.00 for adults, $13.00 for seniors and children under 12.

Prompter

Review: Theater Mirror