Cape Cod Journal 10

We're working on Much Ado About Nothing right now! It's set in 1945 Italy and the town of Messina is welcoming the American troops back for a post war visit filled with love, betrayal, good wit, and good wine! Here are some photos we took today all in costume before the publicity shots were taken. They're of Marissa Wolf as Hero, Chris Young as Claudio, Jonathan Silver as Benedick and me as Beatrice!

Cape Cod Journal 09

So, sorry I haven't written for a little while, but things have been a little crazed around here. Primarily because we successfully launched Blithe Spirit which the producer here at the Monomoy Theatre aptly titled, Noël Coward's Hamlet.
We've been having such a fantastic time doing the show, despite how hectic it was getting it to fly (technical rehearsals until 2:00 a.m. and whatnot). The audiences seem to love us, and I am getting recognized around town as Elvira, the mischievous ghost.
As usual a couple of the local papers have written quick reviews on the show. It's always fun to see what they have to say.
The Barnstable Patriot
The Cape Cod Times
The days have also been a little nuts because for the last several days my family was here to see the show! My father came all the way out from Oregon, and my sister, Jennifer, who lives in Maine and her family (including their four small children) came. She brought the girls, Anne (8) and Sarah (6) to see the play, and they were just enthralled. She also had me give them a tour of the whole theater, and with how excited they were about the whole business, I think Jennifer had better watch out lest her little girls get swept up by show business like us poor souls.
During the day we're all working very hard putting together the second big musical of the summer, Once Upon a Mattress, which is most definitely the silliest comedy I've ever been involved with. It's absolutely ridiculous. We've all been here for several weeks now, and the demands of the theatre don't let up for an instant, so things from time to time get admittedly a little tense, but this particular play must simply be cheery no matter what, so it's kicking us up into high spirits every day.
Ah! Time for rehearsal! Bye!

Cape Cod Journal 08

A really nice review of The Dining Room, which sadly closed last night. Please check it out at The Barnstable Patriot.
Also some stills from Fiddler on the Roof.

Cape Cod Journal 07: The Dining Room

We've had two performances of The Dining Room so far, and will continue to play through the rest of the week. It's been lovely to see that the Monomoy crowd turns out for smaller shows just as much as they do for musicals. Being onstage with this piece has been a lovely experience so far. It is captivating in it's episodic nature, and the audience always seems to be right with us. I have to admit, I'll be very sad to see it close. I'm so proud of the all our accomplishments, and our director, Rich Cole, was an absolute joy to work with. We'll have to say goodbye to him soon as he's heading back to New York.
The reviews are around today, and I thought The Cape Cod Times captured the nature of the show quite nicely in theirs.
As true Monomoy Theatre fashion would have it, we had hardly begun dress rehearsals for The Dining Room before several of us were thrown into rehearsals of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, in which I am playing Elvira, the blithe spirit of Blithe Spirit. I'm really having a grand time rehearsing this part. She's such a vibrant, deviant, wildly funny, and wildly dangerous little ghost.
Well, I'd best be off. We began the morning with a rather strenuous, but productive and fun Blithe Spirit rehearsal, and now it's on to both a matinee and an evening performance of The Dining Room!

Cape Cod Journal 06

Some fellow company members and me all geared up for the Chatham, MA 4th of July parade! Photo by Lily Ferguson!

Cape Cod Journal 05

Just a quick update on life on the Cape.
Fiddler on the Roof continues splendidly. We are down to only four more performances and are sold out for every one. As I've mentioned in the past, the Cape community is highly supportive and excited about our theatre. It's wonderful to go out on stage and be greeted with such enthusiasm.
So, Fiddler on the Roof closes on Saturday, we begin rehearsals for Blithe Spirit on Monday, and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room directed by Rich Cole is opening on Tuesday (oh my gosh, that's coming up quick). There's truly no time to stop and breathe at this place. It's just go, go, go, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The Dining Room is looking to be a really smart show. First produced in the early 1980s, The Dining Room is a series of intertwining scenes brought to life by a cast of usually six actors, but in our case eight actors. The scenes serve to display the "dying culture" of the North Eastern American WASP as they chronicle moments in the lives of the well-to-do throughout time. Each of these snippets of life takes place in the dining room, of course, and create a sometimes hilarious, sometimes satirical, and sometimes heartbreaking portrait. It's really a fun project for an actor as we pop in and out of the play as so many different characters. Each of us, at some point, plays a child, and all the women, at some point, play maids. My fellow cast members and I are having a good time covering this expansive range of characters. I, for example, jump into one scene as a neglected 1950s housewife throwing a birthday party for her little girl, Winkie, while contemplating an affair with, little party guest, Billy's father, and leap into my next scene as an elderly extremely senile grandmother at Thanksgiving dinner. Fun.
So things are good.