Baby With The Bathwater

I had never heard of Christoper Durang until I came to NEC and worked on Betty's Summer Vacation fall of my sophomore year. I had some issues with understanding the nuances of some of the characters as well as of some of Durang's humor. Today I went to go see another Durang play at NEC Baby With The Bathwater. Unlike Betty's Summer Vacation this play had a good mixture of serious and funny moments which is what made it enjoyable.

Baby With The Bathwater marked the directorial debut for my good friend Nate Hartley who is a junior. I found it to be a very enjoyable show and the cast was very strong and versatile. The play is about a dysfunctional family Helen (Dominique Grant 12') and John (Elliot Greer 10') At the opening of the show they are dealing with a new baby who do they not quite know the gender of . I found this plot point to be kind of confusing honestly. As the child who named Daisy grows older the dysfuction seems to grow more evident and the dynamic between the characters of Helen and John is really what made the show work. In the early days they hire a Nanny (Leanne Derosa 11') who is kind of representation of good parenting that John and Helen are meant to follow but I am not sure if they ever really catch into that vibe through out the play. In scene two there is a really powerful seen between Miss Pringle (DeRosa and the principal Patricia Als 13') when Ms Pringle approches the principal about a disturbing essay Daisy has written. The principal does not find the essay to be disturbing and thinks that there is nothing wrong with the student when she is obviously disturbed. In the following scenes Young Man (Rene Cobar 11') is seeing a counselor and recounts his family situation and the confusion of his childhood. The truth of dysfunction comes out and how bady it has affected Daisy who through out the scene talks about changing his name various times. The ending is quite happy as Daisy who ends up changing his name to Alexander ends up marrying Susan (Jacci Drummond 10') and they have a child of their own.

Congrats to Nate the cast and crew on fabulous show!

Get In The Halloween Spirit

Happy Halloween (A day late)

Two awesome performances this week to fit the theme of Halloween. Friday evening was my sisters final performance for dance team.. the last of her high school career. It was a fabulous show and I am so proud of my sister and all her fellow dance team seniors for all of their accomplishments on dance team. My favorite dances were the Overture from the First Act and Jellicle Song for Jellicle Cats, Don't Scream and Spooky Skeletons from the second act. I grew a little bit nostalgic during the Jellicle Song for Jellicle Cats number because that was of the shows I worked on when I was at NLBP. Congrats to the SHS Dance Team on such an awesome show.
Last night I went to NEC to see the CTE Play Seasonal Help which was written by NEC Alum Paul Lloyd and is based on an experience he had over the summer.
The play starred senior Joe Paredez as Mazzone, Junior Nate Hartley as Shane, Junior Dean Amegashie as Chuck, Sophomore Micaela Hill as Eve and Sophomore Adam Boisellle as Dyer. The setting is a Lexington Massachuetts cemetery where Shane (Hartley) starts a summer job. For Shane this is a rough experience because this is the cemetery where is father is buried. Shane is trying to deal with his father's death and how his father never got to see him grow up and graduate high school and college due to ac holism. Even though this play has kind of a depressing undertone due to the setting Hartley's character brought a lot of humor to the show. The whole first act basically focusses on how Shane gets to know the other people who he works at in the ceemetary. They have a lot of deep and thought provoking discussions in the break room. The second scene goes by in the blink of an eye so you don't want to fall asleep. It features Hartley and Paredez giving monolouges over the tombstones of their fathers saying how they forgive for what happened in the past and don't intend to let them drag them down in the present of future.
The tech staff consisted of Elliot Greer director, Christina Vasta (Stage Manager) Kyle Fullford (Sets) Wally Pineault (Lights) Ian Allen, Dean Amegashie, Adam Boiselle, Rachel Buck, Bill O'Donnell, Lauren Dummich, Dominique Grant, Becky Gissell, Elliot Greer,John Hanks, Nate Hartley, Micaela Hill, Alexis Johantgen, Paul Llyod, Joe Paredez, Katie Sullivan, Christina VAsta

Great job to all on a great show 1

From Courtship To Coffeeshop- An Evening Of Dating Lessons a treat

 Last night I went  up to  NEC to go see the Carriage Theatre Ensemble Spring Production of  An Evening of Dating Lessons.  Once again  I was impressed by the talents of the underclassmen  since a majority of the cast was made up of freshmen and sophomores.  The two one act plays  Blind Date and  Scuba Lessons  were directed by  senior Chris Mitchell and sophomore Christina Vasta.  The plays starred   Michelle Bibeau 12' ( Kelly Donovan in Scuba Lessons)   Jacci  Drummond 10' (Rayne Storm in Scuba Lessons)  Kyle Fullford graduted in 07 but still lives in Henniker  (Felix in Blind Date and  Dan Lanzetta in Scuba Lessons), Elliot Greer 10' ( Robert Henry in Blind Date and Coffehouse Guy/Patron in Scuba Lessons)   Brian McKewon 12' (Martin Michaelson in  Scuba Lessons)  Kelly Merrick 12' (Dolores  Henry in  Blind Date)  and Katie Sullivan  12' ( Sarah Nancy in Blind Date)   In their own way  each one act play had their funny moments as each of the characters brought their story to life.

Congratulations to everyone in the cast and crew on  a job well done.  The crew included   Christina Vasta and Chris Mitchell (directors, set and sound design) Sarah Thiel  10' (Lighting),  Leanne Derosa 11' ( Hair and Make Up and Costume Design) Alex Preston  12' ( Costume Design-Scuba Lessons)    Kyle Fullford , Katie Sullivan  12' and Rachel  (I'm assuming it's Buck but her last name got left off of the program so  I couldn't tell 09')  Dalton Dececco 12 and Alex  Kendall 11'   (Change  Over Crew)  John Hanks 11'  Chris Mitchell 09 and Joe Paredez 10' (Electricians) and  Jamie Valentine 10', Nadia Potenza 10' and Emma Laing 08'  (Stage Managers) 

Keep it  up everyone!

Love  

Janine

Upcoming  Performances I will be viewing

April 17th  Amherst's PTA Play  Peter Pan

April 18th-  By The Bog  of Cats    NEC's Mainstage Perfomance

April 25th (tentative  bc our trip could be pushed back again  due to money issues)  Broadway Revival of HAIR

Souhegan's Evening of Dance is also in April but I do not   know the exact date yet

Stay tuned also for my next article for the  Cabinet which is about the professionals they hired to help with the  flying in  Peter Pan

Looking Back/Looking Ahead

So since the summer I have seen quite a few theatre performances. 6 in total. Since the holiday season tends to get hectic for my family and I I figured I would post a reflection now of the shows I've seen and look foward to shows I look foward to seeing or working on.

Before I went on vacation to Italy I saw Carosuel at Lakes Region Summer Theatre with my boyfriend Matt. I was very impressed by the show and was suprised at how much I enjoyed seeing as how I fell asleep during the movie version. I also went to the Barn Playhouse to go see the junior intern production of Tea For Three based on my mother's children's book What A Pest. It was a really awesome and cute show and I really enjoyed it especially the song in the beginng that had West Side Story-like cherography in it. I do not have the program handy so I can't look up the title of the song. In September when I went up to Henniker to celebrate my birthday I saw the Open Door Theatre Production of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. I am a big fan of Shakespeare and this play was very lighthearted and funny. It was hard to pick a favorite part.. it was all so good. On Halloween weekend I went to Henniker again to see the CTE Production of Kennedy's Children by Robert Patrick directed by Emma Laing. I didn't think I would like it at first but I ended up really liking it a lot. It was very powerful and thought provoking. My high school theatre department's fall show Broadway Babylon was hillarious. I haven't laughed so hard in awhile. This was an a-la carte murder mystery in which a Broadway star gets murdered. It was fun to be part of an interactive murder mystery. Finally I saw High School Musical at Interlakes Theatre in Meredith with my boyfriend and his cousin Jackie. This was another case in which I underestimated the stage version because I didn't like the film version. I didn't think I was going to like play as much as I did but I ended up really enjoying it. My favorite songs were Breaking Free, Getcha Head In The Game and naturally We're All In This Together. A couple of entries down there is a sample review I wrote of HSM feel free to read it and tell me what you think. It's proabably too late to send it in to the newspaper in Meredith.
Now it's time to look to the future.. what does 2009 hold for such the avid theatre goer that I am?
After the Christmas holidays I will be doing publicity work for my town's community production of Peter Pan which will be performed the first week in April at Souhegan High School in Amherst. I don't know times yet. Peter Pan has always been one of my favorite movies... I could never decide if I liked the version with Mary Martin or the Disney version of it better. I am also hoping to do tech work for the upcoming production of Godspell at the theatre i am doing publicity for in Nashua. Show dates for that show are Feb 5-15th. Godspell is one of my favorite musicals ever. The soundtrack is top rated on my ipod with my favorite song being Day by Day followed by Bless The Lord. This year my high school's musical is Gilbert and Sullivan'[s Pirates of Penzannce. I haven't heard of this play before so I look foward to seeing it. Other shows that are going to be performed at the theatre i am interning at are Jungle Book Kids in March and RENT in May. I saw RENT last year on Broadway in New York and I was blown away by it. I definitley plan on seeing it when Peacock Players does it.

I sometimes wish I had a lot of money so I could go to New York and see like four or five different Broadway Shows all in the same trip. There are so many shows I want to see.
Billy Elliot
Shrek
The 39 Steps (it's being transferred to another theatre)
9 to 5
Mamma Mia
Jersey Boys
West Side Story (when it opens in March)
Pinkalicious (offbroadway show that my friend Colleen from the Barn Playhouse is in)

I am also in the process of deciding wheather I want to go see shows at the Barn Playhouse or Interlakes Theatre this summer. It's kind of a hard decision because they both have really goood line ups.
NLBP is doing for Junior Interns: Really Rosie, Captain Bree and Her Lady Pirates, High School Musical,Pocahontas for Mainstage: Straw Hat Revue, She Loves Me, Art,Leading Ladies, South Pacific, Anything Goes ,The Producers, The Fantastiks,SUDS
Interlakes Theatre is doing: Man of La Mancha, Grease,Forever Plaid, I Love You You're Perfect Now Change and CATS.

Good variety of shows in both line ups. The Barn Playhouse has a better variety of shows I haven't heard of or seen previously. Interlakes Theatre also has a good variety though except for Man of La Mancha and Forever Plaid I've seen most of those shows done by other theatres. I wouldn't mind seeing Grease again because that is one of my favorite plays ever. I saw I Love You You're Perfect Now Change @ the Arundel Barn Playhouse in Maine about 6 summers ago when I was on vacation with my family. I enjoyed that play a lot too. However I refuse to ever see CATS again. I've seen it at three other theatres including NLBP and I have never been the hugest fan of that play. The musical score has it's good points including Memory which I have always really loved. The play itself has no real plot to it and it really bores me. Out of the three performances I have seen of it I liked the one the Barn Playhouse did because the director gave it a plot line that made at least a little bit of sense. I have a love/hate relationship with Andrew Llyod Webber musicals. While I like the music in them most of the time I find the plots really boring... though other than CATS the only other ALW play I've seen is Phantom of The Opera which I saw on a choir compettion field trip my freshman year in high school. Didn't care much for the play but love the music especially Think of Me. I think out of all the shows the Barn Playhouse is doing the shows I look the most foward to seeing are South Pacific, Anything Goes and The Fantastiks.


So much to look foward to in the upcoming year theatre wise. Also the student directed and mainstage performances at my colllege as well as thier annual movement concert the week before graduation.

Viva La Vie Boheme!
Janine