WHAT's Happening

WHAT Funny Valentines !!

2012-01-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

On-stage Comedy Coming to WHAT for Valentine’s Day
February 10, 8 pm, $25

WHAT is spicing up Valentine’s weekend with some of the Cape’s most hilarious mainstays: Mike McDonald, Patty Ross and Jimmy Dunn. Bring your sweet honey pumpkin and enjoy a night of hilarious comedy at WHAT !!

Mike McDonald
Mike has traveled the world making people laugh in 50 different countries plus Rhode Island. Mike has shared the stage with Robin Williams, Drew Carey and Steven Wright and made appearances on HBO, Comedy Central and The Real Housewives of Truro.

Patty Ross
The American Comedy Awards nominated Patty for Best Female Guest-Star in a Sitcom for one of her appearances onRoseanne. She's also been seen on Damon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Her charming sarcastic wit and no-holds-barred prospective on life's every day problems are components of a tough but lovable, character that wins with audiences from coast to coast.

Jimmy Dunn
Jimmy has become a regular at top clubs across the country, including venues in NY, LA, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Boston. He's made TV appearances on Comedy Central, CMT and NESN
and was the Boston Correspondent for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for the historic 2004 Sox-Yankees series. You may recognize Jimmy from the Olympia Sports commercials he produces and stars in during Red Sox telecasts.

Announcing Bruce Bierhans as President, CEO and Board Co-Chair

2012-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

BRUCE BIERHANS ELECTED AS WHAT’S FIRST
PRESIDENT, CEO AND BOARD CO-CHAIR

Bierhans is local attorney and consummate community leader

Bruce A. Bierhans, longtime Wellfleetian attorney and community advocate, is the new president and CEO of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and co-chair of its board of directors. He was recruited to help guide the former seasonal theater company as it evolves into a year-round performing arts center.

“Bruce brings critical leadership and local knowledge to WHAT,” said co-chair John Dubinsky. “The majority of our board does not live fulltime on the Cape. It’s critical that we recruit talented community members like Bruce, who care deeply about WHAT and appreciate how the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater contributes year-round to our region’s cultural identity and economic development.”

Bierhans, who has law offices in Hyannis and Wellfleet, currently is President and Chairman of Outer Cape Health Services and serves on the board of Preservation Hall, Inc. He formerly served as board president for the Payomet Center for the Performing Arts. Bierhans serves proudly as Wellfleet town moderator.

“I am very honored to lead WHAT’s board at this very exciting time.” said Bierhans. “Not only must we nourish its quarter-century, iconic status as an innovative theater, but we must expand WHAT’s year-round offerings to represent the diverse tastes of our many audiences.”

WHAT’s expansion is driven by the $6-million, year-round Julie Harris Stage, which opened five years ago to complement the smaller and seasonal Harbor Stage. In addition to simulcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and London’s National Theater, the Julie Harris hosts productions ranging from the Cape Cod Symphony Sounds to Cinema WHAT. This month, it presents A Raisin in the Sun in collaboration with Counter Productions.

“Those who know me understand that I am committed to do everything I can to serve Wellfleet and surrounding towns,” said Bierhans. “WHAT is an integral part of our community fabric and needs local leadership and direction. I have been asked to provide that leadership and am eager to serve.”

Bierhans not only brings business and legal expertise to his board role, but also a background in theater that dates back to the Fisherman’s Players in Wellfleet and Eastham in the early 1970s. “I know what it is to run a business but also have the perspective of a performer.”

“The Players were cutting-edge theater before WHAT was a twinkle in anyone’s eye,” he recalled. “One can engage people and also entertain them. My vision is to ensure that WHAT remains innovative and cutting edge. However, we must also diversify programming so that we put people in the seats.”

“It may not sound exciting, but we have a state-of the-art building to pay for,” Bierhans emphasized. “So, we must combine a package of theater, music and the arts, which culminates in a true performing arts center. I also want WHAT to be there as a venue that contributes to our community. My neighbors and local colleagues love WHAT’s heritage, and it must belong to all of us.”

Bierhans and Dubinsky, along with David Willard, an executive of Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, are leading an effort to recruit new members like Mark Watson, who recently joined the board. Watson, a Harwich resident, is founder and principal of Keel Asset Management, LLC which provides investment advice and non-profit consulting.

“In recruiting new board members, we also must mobilize key committees, especially those focused on fundraising,” said Bierhans. “Tickets only represent half of the money needed to operate WHAT,” he noted.Bierhans brings significant experience leading or serving on numerous local non-profits, including two that have grown significantly – Outer Cape Health Services and Preservation Hall. “I have tried to do whatever I could do to make those organizations successful. I do what I think is best for the organization. Of course, the people you have around you and their commitment always are a key to success. Both Preservation Hall and Outer Cape Health Services are blessed with talented and committed people. ”

Among those at WHAT is Mark Hough, the newly appointed executive director. “Bruce’s arrival at WHAT is exciting news. It is absolutely necessary for staff to have a guiding local light. He brings a unique combination of theatrical experience, business and legal expertise and a deep community network – all critical assets for WHAT to achieve its goals.”

Bierhans also will emphasize partnerships among other cultural groups and the community at large – from schools to businesses to non-profit associations.

“I am a strong believer in collaboration,” he said. “I hope to lead WHAT into collaboration with community, cultural and entertainment organizations on all levels. We just concluded a highly successful fall series with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and we have plans for a spring series. In addition more than 200 school children will be at WHAT to see A Raisin in the Sun.

“I would love to see WHAT work with Preservation Hall and Payomet; I’d also like to see us become more involved with other theaters regionally and do more events for community benefit.”

Bierhans graduated Suffolk Law School in 1982 and practiced for many years in Boston before moving his practice to Cape Cod in 2000. He specializes in business and trial law. His wife Nancy is the firm’s office manager.

The Enchanted Island

2012-01-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

The reviews are in for this new world premier from The Metropolitan Opera. WHAT has been packing the house with opera patrons since we began HD simulcasts of the Met's season.

Enchanted Island is a lighthearted "mash-up!" The four young lovers from A Midsummer Night's Dream find themselves shipwrecked on Prospero's island of The Tempest, leading to a torturous web of comic and dramatic romantic entanglements. Break out all your Shakespeare and bone up before joining us at WHAT on January 21 and 28.

Enchanted Island is making news and here's why:

William Christie, an early music specialist of worldwide acclaim, conducts—in his first Live in HD appearance.
Creator Jeremy Sams worked with Christie to select the score, which is drawn from more than 30 operas, cantatas, and oratorios by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others. Most of the works inThe Enchanted Island are rarely performed in modern opera houses, which will allow audience members to experience music by the great masters of the Baroque era for the first time.
The story, by Sams, combines two of Shakespeare’s best-known plays in a lighthearted “mash-up.” In The Enchanted Island, the four young lovers from A Midsummer Night’s Dream find themselves shipwrecked on Prospero’s island of The Tempest, leading to a tortuous web of comic and dramatic romantic entanglements.
The gifted cast, led by Joyce DiDonato and David Daniels as the warring magicians Sycorax and Prospero, includes many of the best Baroque singers in contemporary classical music: Danielle de Niese, Luca Pisaroni, and rising stars Lisette Oropesa and Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Legendary tenor Plácido Domingo appears in a star cameo as Neptune, god of the seas: the 136th role of his career.
The visually spectacular production, by Phelim McDermott (director of Satyagraha, seen earlier this season), combines 17th-century theatrical devices with modern technology to create unique, theatrical effects.
The production features video technology by the acclaimed designers 59 Productions. The revolutionary video effects in the opera are produced by projecting three-dimensional, moving video images on flat scenery to create scenery that appears to move on its own.

We've attached below for you some recent reviews of Enchanted Island. Stay tuned, we'll have a back stage tour of the production in the coming weeks !!

NY TIMES: “A terrific cast… a brilliant production team… fanciful, clever, and touching…”
(read the review)

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Irresistibly entertaining… a light-hearted romp with enough fizz to send a dozen champagne corks popping”
(read the review)

HUFFINGTON POST:“A triumph… an unabashed extravaganza both musically and visually.”
(read the review)

A Raisin in the Sun

2012-01-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Next at WHAT's Julie Harris Stage:

Provincetown Counter Productions:

Raisin in the Sun
January 19-29, 7:00pm

Thursdays through Sundays
Tickets: $22 ($20 students)

This groundbreaking play set on Chicago's South Side, evolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis and matriarch Lena.

When her deceased husband's insurance money comes through, Mama Lena dreams of moving to a new home and a better neighborhood in Chicago. Walter Lee, a chauffeur, has other plans, however: buying a liquor store and being his own man. Beneatha dreams of medical school. The tensions and prejudice they face form this seminal American drama. Sacrifice, trust and love among the Younger family and their heroic struggle to retain dignity in a harsh and changing world is a searing and timeless document of hope and inspiration.

Winner, NY Drama Critic's Award as Best Play of the Year

Counter Productions is a non-profit 501 (C) (3) community based performing arts organization with a commitment to cultivating and supporting our thriving community of theatre artists and audiences.

Since Provincetown Counter Productions' inception in the summer of 2007, we continue a dedication to our community in providing year round theatre entertainment to our Provincetown Audience. Each year, the number of theatre artists and audience members involved in this work grows beyond our expectations. Thanks to to the hard work and talent of many, our work and what we have accomplished in a few years has become recognized for its excellence in Provincetown and beyond.

cinemaWHAT in January

2011-12-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at what we're showing:

Tweeting at the Julie

2011-12-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

A fifty something friend of mine posted to my facebook page over the holiday that two women at least his age or better had texted throughout the readings at his place of midnight worship. I was appalled but as a marketing person went right to work thinking that it might be time to relax a little and experiment with adding some tweetseats to our winter performances to see what might come of us.

So, to that end (and let me just say I am fighting this with every cell of my existence) we are adding 19 tweet seats to the Julie Harris Theater at WHAT. The 19 tweet seats are located stage right on the upper level near the rail and we hope the area will become the designated tweeting area of the Julie.

Please, dim the light on your phone and turn off the sound. After all, the real light and sound of the evening is on the stage. While you're at it, please check in on facebook to WHAT and tweet what you are seeing and what you think about the performance so we can be on the pulse of what you like to see so we can program better and better each year.

-- Holly Brockman-Johnson, Marketing Director.

WHAT's first-ever Children's Film Festival

2011-12-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

Wondering what to do during school vacation week? Wonder no longer.

Our Children's Film Festival is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, December 28-30. Go play in the snow (maybe there will be snow??) and then come here just after dark. Here's what's showing:

Azur & Asmar
Wednesday, December 28, 4:30 pm – Azur & Asmar. Two boys raised as brothers, reunited as adversaries, set off on a quest. Animated, Rated G.

The Secret of Kells
Thursday, December 29, 4:30 pm – The Secret of Kells. Follow 12-year-old Brendan as he battles vikings and confronts an ancient serpent god on a mission to locate a legendary crystal and complete the mythical book of Kells. Animated, Rated G.

Mia & The Magoo
Friday, December 30, 4:30 pm – Mia & The Magoo. Created from an astonishing 500,000 hand-painted frames of animation, this is a thrilling family adventure that pits a plucky, wild haired young heroine Mia against profit-hungry developers, with the future of life on earth in the balance. Rated G.

Tickets for all Children’s Film Festival shows are $7.

Free reading!

2011-12-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

WHAT Lab

"The Rules" by Dipika Guha

FREE Reading of a New Play-in Progress

Sunday, Dec. 11. 7:00 pm, The Julie Harris Stage

Playwright Dipika Guha will work on a script titled *The Rules *during a week-long residency as part of the WHAT Lab play development program. She, director Jesse Jou, a cast of four actors, and WHAT Lab director Dan Lombardo will spend the week working with the playwright. The public is invited to a reading of *The Rules* on Sunday night at the Julie Harris Stage. The feedback from this reading is an important part of the development process -- so come and be part of the WHAT Lab!

The Play:

Ana, Mehr and Julia are childhood friends, their friendship held fast by their observance of several unspoken rules. That is, until a brooding stranger with a mysterious resemblance to Colin Firth and a strange addiction problem comes to town. THE RULES is a romantic comedy turned revenge tragedy.

The cast:

Irene Sofia Lucio (Ana)

Nicholas Carriere (Valmont)

Caitlin Clouthier (Mehr)

Valerie Stanford (Julia)

Dipika Guha: Playwright

Dipika Guha’s plays include The Betrothed (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Passing (YaleCabaret and Yale School of Drama), The State of Affairs (Yale School of Drama)and The Rules (supported by Old Vic New Voices). Short plays include Habeas Corpus, A Brief History of America (Fairfield University commission), In the Red White and Blue (finalist, Heideman Award) and An American Dream (T.S Eliot Award). She graduated with a BA in English Literature from University College London, was a Frank Knox Fellow of Playwriting at Harvard University and is a recipient of the Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting at Yale University where she studied under the mentorship of Paula Vogel. She has reviewed fiction for The Times Literary Supplement and is a graduate of the Young Writer’s Program at the Royal Court Theatre. Dipika Guha has an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.

The director: Jesse Jou

2011 Season at WHAT: The Betrothed; Neighborhood3: Requisition of Doom Jesse Jou graduated from Yale School of Drama, where his credits include La Ronde, 99 Ways to F*ck a Swan, and the things are against us [les choses sont contre nous]. Other credits include Take on Me: Adoption, Addiction, and a-ha (New York International Fringe Festival); My Mom Across America (The Kitchen Theatre Co., Ithaca, NY); Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen], Mask Ritual: Electra, Flowers and Other Stories, Language of Angels, and Dipika Guha's Passing (Yale Cabaret). At Yale, he was the recipient of the Edgar and Louise Cullman Scholarship. He served as Artistic Director of the 2010 season of the Yale Summer Cabaret and as the Staff Repertory Director for the 2010-2011 tour of the Acting Company.

Two weeks of performances, on stage and screen

2011-12-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

Happy December!

We are decorated. We have gifts gathering under the tree.* Who cares that it's 60 degrees and balmy?

To make it feel even more like a holiday, we're launching a two-week festival of performances on stage and screen to celebrate the season - beginning Friday, December 16 at 8 p.m. with a return engagement by songstress Lisa Jason and friends.

“Our show is about wishes and dreams,” says Jason, a Chatham resident. “Especially around the holidays, we remember dreams we may have had as children, or those we have as adults. This show will take you on a holiday musical journey, through some of your favorite seasonal songs. It’s about friendship and love – Broadway and pop, and the opportunity for our audience to sing along.”
Tickets for her concert are $20 for adults, $15 for students.

Lisa Jason’s appearance will be followed on Sunday, December 18 at 3 p.m. by the Cape Cod Symphony Sound’s String & Wind Trio, blending the magical with the spiritual. Cellist Elizabeth Schultze, flutist Claude Colbert and violinist Sungmin Yoo will perform festive holiday favorites including the Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker, along with selections from Haydn and Mozart.
Tickets for Symphony Sounds are $29 for adults and $15 for children.

On Tuesday, December 20 at 4:30 p.m., WHAT presents on its screen the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker, followed on Friday, December 23 with the Metropolitan Opera’s wickedly funny production of Hansel and Gretel will be presented at 4:30 p.m.

The Metropolitan Opera returns on Tuesday, December 27 at 4:30 p.m. in a broadcast of the Magic Flute.
Tickets for these Met Opera broadcasts are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors and $15 for students.

The holiday season is capped by WHAT’s first-ever Children’s Film Festival from December 28 to December 31.

The festival includes:

Azur & Asmar at 4:30 p.m. and The Storytelling Show at 6:30 pm on December 28;
The Secret of Kells at 4:30 p.m. and Tahaan at 6:45 p.m. on December 29;
Eleanor's Secret at 4:30 p.m. and Mia & The Magoo at 6:30 p.m. on December 30;
and the festival’s closing event featuring Charlie Chaplin shorts and a live band at 1 p.m. on December 31. Tickets for all Children’s Film Festival shows are $7.50.

More on Lisa Jason & Friends:
At only 5 feet 2, Lisa Jason sure can belt out a tune. A former opening act for bands up and down the East Coast, she has settled in Chatham, where she grew up to raise her own children.

“On the road, my style was akin to Pat Benatar and Cyndi Lauper. The audience didn’t know how to react when I started singing. How could so big a voice come from such a small person?” she recalled.

The road was no place to raise children,” she said. “I wanted to have them grow up on the Cape, near my parents and surrounded by the sea.” Her father is Richard Sullivan, retired dean of student services at Cape Cod Community College and founder of the Southeastern Massachusetts March of Dimes.

One of Jason’s signature songs, “Beautiful Child,” has been adopted by the March of Dimes, constantly played at fundraisers and events such as the National Volunteer Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C – often sung by her personally. “Beautiful Child has reached thousands of families, giving them hope or helping them heal,” said Jason. In 2007, she was the Massachusetts March of Dimes Ambassador.

She also is committed locally to Children’s Cove, which will be the recipient of a fundraising wine-tasting before the concert, so show up at hour early for wine, accompanied by desserts from PB Boulangerie and food from Ptown Parties.

Children’s Cove is a nonprofit located on Cape Cod to support victims of children’s sexual abuse and their non-offending family members.

Jason will be joined on stage by her daughter and several other accomplished local high school singers, Celeste Howe, Richard Jay Sullivan and Jared Hagen, as well as Bill Duffy on piano, Laird Boles on bass, Bart Weisman on drums, Bruce Abbot on sax, flute and clarinet and special guest Brian Morris on guitar.

Celeste Howe lives in West Barnstable and is a professional singer and actress. Her most recent theatrical roles include, Rona in “Spelling Bee” at The Harwich Junior Theatre, Seniora Leonata in “Much Ado About Nothing” and Abigail Adams in “1776,” both presented at The Cotuit Center for the Arts. She has performed many one woman cabaret shows in New York City, Boston and Newport.

Richard Jay Sullivan has appeared in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Class Act,
Sunday in the Park with George and Little Women (HJT). Directing credits include Born
Yesterday (Cape Rep) Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, A Grand Night for Singing, Bye Bye Birdie, and Meeting Judy .

Jared Hagan has appeared at Cape Repetory Theater including Avenue Q and Xanadu. The Drowsy Chaperone, The Wizard of Oz, How I Became a Pirate, A Class Act, My Fair Lady, The Emperor's New Clothes, Wintertime, A Year with Frog & Toad, Ragtime, Seussical, Steel Pier,Urinetown, Lady in the Dark, The Myster of Edwin Drood, and four Sea Pine's reviews.

*WHAT is collecting small, gently used toys to donate to the Lower Cape Outreach Council's Santa's Workshop.

2011-11-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

Zoe Lewis - December 10

Yule for Fuel is in its fourth year of giving to those in need through the Lower Cape Outreach Council. WHAT is also collecting new and gently-used toys as donations for the Lower Cape Outreach Council’s free store. Collection boxes are in the theater lobby. We thank Cape Cod Oil, Marcey Oil and Snow’s Fuel Oil for their sponsorships.

Four successive Saturdays at 7:30:

November 26
Frightened, Amelia WY, Big Jazz, Larry Marsland, Toast & Jam, Chandler Travis Three-O

December 3
Sophie Crafts, Crabgrass, Tim Joyce & His Bag O' Cats Band, Kami Lyle, Sarah Swain Band

December 10
Catie Flynn, Sarah Burrill, Zoe Lewis, Sputnik, All Worn Out Jug Band

December 17
Josh Paul, Seaside Brass Quartet, Celtic Folks, Higher Ground String Band, The Trees, Bruce Maclean The Rip It Ups, Randy & the Oak Trees

WHAT to do in December

2011-11-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 1
The Collaborators
from London's National Theatre
HD Broadcast
8 pm

Friday, December 2
CinemaWHAT:
The Way
7:30 pm

Saturday, December 3 (live)
Sunday, December 4 (encore)
The Metropolitan Opera
Rodelinda
HD Broadcast
12:30 pm

Saturday, December 10 live
Saturday, December 17 Encore
The Metropolitan Opera
Faust
HD Broadcast
1:00 pm

Friday, December 16
Lisa Jason and the Nauset Holiday Concert
8 pm

Sunday, December 18
Cape Cod Symphony Sounds String & Wind Trio
3 pm

Tuesday, December 20
The Nutcracker
broadcast from the Royal Ballet
4:30 pm

Friday, December 23
The Metropolitan Opera
Hansel and Gretel
HD Broadcast
4:30 pm

Tuesday, December 27
The Metropolitan Opera
The Magic Flute
HD Broadcast
4:30 pm

To reserve you tickets, please click the links above, go to what.org or call 508-349-9428.

It's a Teva Surf Fiesta!

2011-11-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

Spend a lazy post-tryptophan afternoon watching surf films on the WHAT’s big HD screen on Friday, November 25 from 4:00 to 8:00. Filmmakers include Wellfleet locals: Andy Jacob, Justin Lynch, Shaye Cavanaugh, Rachael Finn, Katy Weeks, and Brandon Silva, fellow New Englander Michael Sander, and Virginia native Raven Lundy.

While everybody’s fighting it out at the mall on Black Friday, catch a white wave and take the plunge at WHAT. We’ll have live music from Sacred Mounds and a funky surf art show that we know you’ll totally dig! Join us for a free raw bar provided by Matthews Shellfish Company. We’ll be pouring Watchusett Ryde beers and enjoying the culinary stylings of Sunbird.

While your mom and her friends are jacking up their credit cards, enter our raffle packed with prizes including two $350 Southwest Airlines tickets provided by platinum sponsor, Teva, encouraging you to "Live Better Stories" and giving you the miles to get started. Also featured in the raffle is a brand new surfboard from Vec, a board bag and 20 cool goodie bags from Pump House and prize packages from Sugarsurf. There's something for everyone at the Surf Film Fiesta, so come on over and join in the fun!

Every ticket comes with a free T-shirt. Raffle tickets are available at the event - 3 feet for $5.

buy tickets in advance (there's no additional fee)

Met Opera in HD

2011-11-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

From the Metropolitan Opera:

HD BOX OFFICE REPORT:

Siegfried takes in $1.54 million in North America

New York, NY (November 6, 2011) - Wagner's epic Siegfried (running time of 5 1/2 hours) had its single largest paying audience ever when The Met: Live in HD continued its sixth season Saturday with a live transmission seen by an estimated 70,000 people in North America (earning approx $1.54 million) on more than 850 screens. An estimated 53,000 people also saw it live on 600 screens in 39 additional countries; 28 countries in Europe (including the UK), and nine countries in Latin America, Morocco, and the Bahamas.

Delayed showings in Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa to take place over the next several weeks are expected to boost total worldwide attendance of Siegfried to over150,000.

Siegfried, the third installment in the Met’s new Ring cycle staged by Robert Lepage, was conducted by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi. Jay Hunter Morris led the distinguished cast of Wagner singers in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, with Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde, Patricia Bardon as Erda, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, Bryn Terfel as the Wanderer, and Eric Owens as Alberich. The entire principal cast—with the exception of Morris and Siegel—all made role debuts in this production. The live transmission, hosted by soprano Renée Fleming, was directed by Gary Halvorson.

The Met: Live in HD, the Met’s award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters around the world, has expanded its worldwide distribution to more than 1,600 theaters in 54 countries, the largest global audience the initiative has ever reached. In addition to Russia, Italy and Israel, new countries joining the Live in HD network this season include China, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Morocco, Slovenia, and the territory of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Siegfried was the third of 11 live transmissions to be shown this season. The next transmission will be Satyagraha, Philip Glass’s visually stunning opera about the early life of Gandhi, on November 19.

In the Spotlight Cabaret - a benefit for We Can

2011-10-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

In the Spotlight Cabaret
Sunday, November 6 at
4 pm to 7pm
WHAT’s Julie Harris Theater
Wellfleet

Tickets can be purchased at www.capecdp.org/info/events.php
or call 508-240-7873, ext. 25.

In the Spotlight features talented local singers, musicians and entertainers will be performing jazzy show tunes, strong melodies and the greatest classics. Appearing are singers/actors/composers Jon Arterton and James Mac; actor and vocalist Elizabeth Bridgewater; vocalist Elena Mancheva; singer/actor/playwrite Larry Marsland, pianist-composer John Thomas and mezzo-soprano Ashley Wade.

Three nonprofits partner to present cabaret fundraiser -

When Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the Community Development Partnership, and Larry Marsland, her counterpart at the Lower Cape Outreach Council, met last year to discuss how the two organizations could work together, they didn’t expect it would actually occur on stage.

They quickly realized each shared a passion for singing and performing. Entrepreneurs both, they found themselves creating a novel way to raise money for both nonprofits: a Cabaret show featuring themselves and other local talents. “We came cheap,” joked Bridgewater, who is classically trained as a singer. “It also was a great marketing angle: two executive directors on stage,” she continued with a wink.

Their collaboration since has expanded with the arrival of a third executive director, Andi Genser of WE CAN Corporation, whose theater experience as a producer proved a perfect match.

On Sunday, November 6, all three are collaborating to present “In the Spotlight,” at WHAT’s Julie Harris Stage in Wellfleet. Benefiting all three Lower and Outer Cape organizations, the cabaret will be hosted by State Sen. Dan Wolfe and State Rep. Sarah Peake. Bridgewater and Marsland will be joined on stage by Jon Atherton and James Mack, Ashley Wade, John Thomas and Elena Mancheva. Gensler, who helped found the Wheelock Family Theater in Boston, is the ‘In the Spotlight’ producer.

WHAT ‘s Julie Harris Stage proved to be a perfect location, not only for its 220 theater seats, but because of its growing commitment to collaborate itself with nonprofits and to open its state-of-the-art venue to the community. “After the summer theater season, the Julie Harris Stage is available for nearly eight months for the widest variety of performances and events – some produced by us, and many others presented by community organizations,” said WHAT’s newly appointed executive director, Mark Hough.

“I fell in love with the Julie Harris the first time I saw it,” recalled Bridgewater. “We brought the CDP’s annual meeting there previously because we wanted something special. We also want to support the theater. A lot of people have not been inside it yet since it is only a few years old,” she added. This is a way for CDP supporters to see the building and learn all the other events and productions planned this fall and winter.”

That was the economic development spirit that rises from Bridgewater constantly in her role as the CDP’s executive director. “The arts economy on the Lower Cape is a major driver, attracting visitors and second homeowners, while employing many residents year round,” she explained. “When you think about what is unique in our community, theater and the arts surely come to mind.

“With the growth of our second-home population – many living within two hours of the Cape – the performing arts have become a year-round endeavor, as exemplified by W.H.A.T.’s $6 million-plus investment in the Julie Harris stage,” said Bridgewater.

Producing the cabaret show last year and again this year not only is helping to raise needed funds for all the CDP, LCOC and WE CAN, but it also is proving a powerful force bringing all three organizations together for year-round work serving the region’s critical needs – from housing and fuel assistance to career assistance to business assistance.

“We have been able to transfer the experience and trust that comes from working on our stage production to our daily professional relationships,” said Genser. “When you are performing in front an audience, you have to totally trust the people you are working with. That creates a unique environment and nurtures a collaborative spirit.”

Adds Genser: “We have found that what happens on stage extends to how we work with each other off stage, not only among the executive directors, but also among our board members and volunteers who get to know each other through the annual productions. The artistic endeavor has been the catalyst.”

All three executive directors speak forcefully about the need to collaborate among nonprofits with common missions and constituencies, and to limit if not avoid duplication of efforts and expenditures. “Especially in this economy, with state and federal money drying up, it is critical that nonprofits break down barriers among each other and share resources for common benefit,” said Bridgewater.

While the three organizations have to share the funds raised by ‘In the Spotlight,’ it is the combined talents of each and the individual audiences they attract that will make the Nov. 9 performance all the more successful.

Hough is very appreciative of the trust the three nonprofits have also lent to W.H.A.T. “When the Julie Harris Stage was built, we didn’t quite appreciate just how important it has become to the entire community. It is a world-class venue that not only has an extraordinary stage for live performances, but also state-of-the-art HD technology and screens that can be used not only theatrically, but also for organization meetings.”

About the CDP

The Community Development Partnership (CDP) nurtures a vibrant Lower Cape region by promoting environmental and economic sustainability, expanding opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents and preserving the region’s unique cultural and historic character – from scallop fishing to the arts.

About LCOC

The mission of the Lower Cape Outreach Council is to provide emergency assistance of food clothing and financial support to individuals and families in Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet which will lead to healthy, productive and self-sustaining lives as part of the Cape Cod community.

About WE CAN

For 10 years, WE CAN – Women’s Empowerment through Cape Area Networking - has empowered Cape Cod women of all ages to successfully navigate challenging life transitions such as divorce, career change, job loss, illness, retirement, isolation or personal loss.

The quintet take-away

2011-10-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mark Skala wrote a post about his trip to WHAT for the brass quintet on Sunday.

"Music took center stage Sunday at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater in Wellfleet. Yes, music was in the spotlight and was the star on the Julie Harris stage as part of a new collaborative between WHAT and the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday’s event was the first of three concerts in the Symphony Sounds Series being hosted at WHAT. A brass quintet was featured, including CCSO members Walter Bostian on trombone; Meredith Ganler on horn; Stuart Gunn on tuba; Philip Hogue on trumphet and Tobias Monte also on trumphet.

It was what you might call a stripped down symphony performance. The stage was simple — a few plants and the musicians centered in the spotlight. No props, no sets. Just beautiful music as the main attraction.

It was refreshing and unique to just hear the quintet. It gave the audience a wonderful chance to get to know these individual musicians, appreciate their incredible, individual musical gifts and see how they fit into the larger symphony ensemble. With Hague as MC, there were a lot of jokes and laughs mixed in with some exceptional music. I appreciated watching the five of them them interacting with each other and enjoying the intimate setting with the audience...."

Bluebeard's Castle at WHAT

2011-10-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

What opera could possibly be more WHAT than Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle?

"Completed in 1917, Bluebeard’s Castle is a chilling psychological reimagining of Charles Perrault’s folk tale where Bluebeard’s three previous wives are locked away and his fourth wife is about to join them." Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe

(read the review)

“We are very excited to bring to our patrons Bartok’s only opera, which recently received excellent reviews when it was performed at the 15th annual Fringe Festival in Boston,” said WHAT Executive Director Mark Hough. “This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with the Boston Center for American Performance and the Boston University Opera Institute.”

The Boston Center for American Performance and the Boston University Opera Institute have adapted the opera for intimate settings like the Julie Harris in ways designed to appeal to modern audiences. It eschews an orchestra for a piano reduction performed by BU’s Opera Institute music director, William Lumpkin, and is sung in English instead of its traditional Hungarian.

The roles of the principals will be shared for each of the two performances.

Adrian Smith (Bluebeard), bass-baritone, is a second-year member of the Opera Institute at

Boston University, where he also earned the Master of Music degree in 2010. He has performed

as Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Colline in La Bohème.

Heath Sorensen (Bluebeard), Bass, is a second year student at The Opera Institute, He

recently portrayed Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, and Sackett in The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Celeste Fraser (Judith), soprano, who has performed a variety of roles including Mimi in

La Bohème throughout the United States. She was a 2011 semifinalist for the Houston Grand

Opera Studio/Eleanor McCollum competition and the 2009 Florentine Opera Recital Award

winner for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions,

Meredeth Kelly (Judith) is a second year Performance Diploma candidate in the College of

Fine Arts after graduating with a Master’s of Music degree in 2010. She has performed the roles

of Madame Lisette Raquin in Tobias Picker’s Thèrése Raquin, Annunciata in the world premier

staging of William Bolcom’s comedy Lucrezia and Despina in Cosí fan tutte.

WHAT presents

Boston Center for American Performance and the Boston University Opera Institute

production of

Bluebeard's Castle

November 12 & 13, 8pm

Buy Tickets!

Coming in November....

2011-10-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here's WHAT you're going to do

Visit www.what.org for updates

WHAT Cinema Series - Nov. 2,3,4 - Tuesday-Thursday - 7:30pm

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Come early and stay late at our Parisian café to sample French wines and enjoy PB Boulangerie’s exquisite pastries. French wine tasting.

Met Opera in HD - Nov. 5 - Saturday - 12 pm
Live simulcast of Siegfried. In part three of the Ring, Wagner's cosmic vision focuses on his hero's early conquests. Gary Lehman sings the title role and Deborah Voigt's Brünnhilde is his prize. Bryn Terfel is the Wanderer. James Levine conducts.

Tickets on sale now.

WHAT Jazz Series - Nov. 5 - Saturday - 8 pm

Nationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Krisanthi Pappas performs. Compared with Norah Jones and Diane Krall by JazzTimes Magazine, she and her band feature jazz standards and Broadway show stoppers.
Tickets on sale now.

We CAN Benefit - Nov. 6 - Sunday - 3 pm

Cabaret to raise funds for We CAN, the Community Development Partnership and the Lower Cape Outreach Council.

WHAT Cinema Series - Nov. 9-11 - 7:30pm

The Guard, a suspense comedy starring Don Cheadle

WHAT Opera Live - Nov. 12 & 13 - Saturday & Sunday - 8 pm

Bluebeard’s Castle - Bartok. Direct from Boston University’s music and theater departments (where all four performances sold out), this exceptional opera company will be performing live on the WHAT stage. Tickets on sale now: Saturday & Sunday

Symphony Sounds - Nov. 13 - 3 pm

The Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra’s Mozart String Trio performs in the second of three fall concerts. Tickets on sale now.

Met Opera in HD - Nov. 19 & 26 - Saturdays - 1 pm

Simulcast live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, this extravagant production of Philip Glass's Satyagraha stars Richard Croft as Gandhi. Live simulcast November 19. Encore broadcast November 26.

Tickets on sale now. November 19 November 26

WHAT Cinema Series - Nov. 19 - Saturday - 8 pm

Warren Miller comes to life on WHAT’s high-definition screen. Feel like you are on the slopes. Sponsored in part by the Land Ho!

Bolshoi Ballet in HD - Nov. 20 - Sunday - time TBA

The famed Bolshoi Ballet comes alive on WHAT’s high-definition screen with Sleeping Beauty.

WHAT Lab - Nov. 20 - Sunday - 7 pm

The first of our WHAT Labs is a staged reading of TC Squared, by Boston Arts Academy Alumni, pushing artistic boundaries to produce transformative theater.

November 24 - Give thanks.

WHAT Teva Surf Series - Nov. 25 - 7:30pm

Experience the surf on WHAT’s high-definition screen

Yule for Fuel - Nov. 26 - Saturdays - 7:30pm

WHAT’s annual entertainment extravaganza to raise funds for our neighbors’ fuel needs during the winter. First of four (series continues on December 3, 10 & 17 @ 7:30pm). Tickets on sale now.

From Bach to pop

2011-10-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

"We play what we really like."

WHAT’s Julie Harris Stage will resonate with the sounds of the Cape Cod >Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Quintet this Sunday afternoon in the first of a three-concert Symphony Sounds series continuing in November and December.

“This is a special opportunity to create an intimate experience between the Cape Symphony’s musicians and our audience. It also signifies WHAT’s commitment to classical music, a genre we know patrons enjoy based on our standing-room only Metropolitan Opera series,” said WHAT’s Executive Director Mark Hough.

The October 23 concert features trumpet players Phil Hague and Tobias Monte, horn player Meredith Gangler, trombonist Walter Bostian and tuba player Stuart Gunn. The quintet blends a wide range of sounds and tone. The musicians also will interact with the audience to share knowledge about their instruments and program.

The CCSO has been engaging audiences for more than 47 years. In recent years, it has organized ensembles to exemplify the high quality of orchestra members and to share the symphony’s talents across the Cape.

“About two years ago, our artistic director and conductor Jung Ho-Pak created an initiative to develop small chamber ensembles from within the orchestra,” explained Hague. “Principal members of the brass section got together for one quick rehearsal and played some of that for Jung Ho. We toyed with several names and agreed to The Cape Cod Symphony Brass Quintet, mostly because I can only remember 5 or 6 words in a row,” he laughed.

“We all have played with brass groups all our lives, and most of us have acquired a library of arrangements. We pull our repertoire from these and other sources. We play what we really like,” said Hague. “We love doing what we love to do.”

Hague and his fellow musicians are still selecting and rehearsing Sunday’s program. “I'll just say that it will be a group of composers that includes Bach, Sousa and "Fat's" Waller. Tha way we keep the suspense alive.”

WHAT’s Hough said that the Brass Quintet’s performance illuminates the goal of becoming a year-round performing arts venue in Wellfleet serving the Lower and Outer Cape community. “The state-of-the-art Julie Harris Stage is a particularly powerful home for the ensembles. On November 13, we will host the CCSO’s Classical String Trio, which will perform Mozart; then on December 18, we will feature the symphony’s Mixed Trio of wind and string instruments.”

Tickets can be purchased at www.what.org. for $29 for adults and $15 for students. In addition, patrons can enjoy pre- and post-concert receptions featuring PB Bistro and Boulangerie’s food and pastry selections. To reserve for $20 per person, please contact WHAT Development Director Courtney Watson at Courtney@what.org.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Bart Weisman Klezmer Swing Group comes to WHAT.

2011-10-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

It’s not just Klezmer; it’s swinging Klezmer

Its roots may be in the Yiddish tradition, but Klezmer music as interpreted by the Bart Weisman Group brings a zesty, modern swing to the stage on Saturday, Oct. 22 at WHAT’s Julie Harris Stage in Wellfleet.

Weisman’s drums are joined by Monica Rizzio on violin and vocals, Clayton March on clarinet and mandolin, Alan Clinger on guitar and Laird Boles on bass, as WHAT expands its fall music season during a weekend that includes the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra’s brass quintet playing a Sunday matinee.

For a jazz musician, Weisman brings a twist to the Klezmer tradition. He’s been playing and recording the genre for more than 25 years, and has performed Klezmer from New York to Washington, D.C. including the Kennedy Center. His group has opened for the Boston Pops.

His performances merge the music with personal insights into Klezmer’s history and traditons. “For me, it’s Jewish jazz,” he says.

Klezmer comes from the Hebrew words “kley,” meaning vessel or instrument,” and “zemer,” meaning song. It dates to at least the 16th century. During the vaudeville era, many European musicians rich in the Klezmer tradition began to meld their sounds with Dixieland, jazz and show tunes, absorbing more and more American influences replete with brassy arrangements and virtuosic style.

As it crossed over, Klezmer could be heard in hits such as Benny Goodman’s “And the Angels Sing,” the Andrews Sisters “Bei Mir Bis Du Schon” and Cab Calloways “Ot Azoy.” Weisman’s band will be playing the latter two songs.

Its popularity experienced another resurgence in the mid 1970’s with groups like the Klezmorim, the Klezmer Conservatory Band and Andy Statman. The Klezmatics billed themselves as the “planet’s radical Jewish roots band.” By the late 80’s. Jazz musicians from New York City’s downtown scene began to merge Klezmer not only with jazz, but even psychedelic rock.

Weisman has been enamored with Klezmer for more than 25 years, mixing it into his jazz-heavy repertoire that has let him play with some of the best-known jazz musicians, including Keter Betts, a long time side man for Ella Fitzgerald, and vocalists Lea DeLaria and Rebecca Parris.

Before settling in Provincetown, he lived in Washington, D.C. performing at the White House and the vice president’s mansion numerous times for two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan.

These days, Weisman is interested in Cape Cod musicians. “I came here and wanted to work with established musicians on the Cape,” he says. “Like you want to buy local, I wanted to work local.”

Weisman and his band play everything from rock to pop, from Latin to Klezmer and even musical theater.
He moved to the Cape because his wife, photographer Amy Heller, had spent her summers in Provincetown as a child, and her sister, Julie Heller, owns an art gallery on Gosnold Street.

“I had never lived in a small town where you walk down the street and people know your name,” Weisman says. “It took me a while to get used to not hearing airplanes or helicopters and all the things we got used to in Washington.” Today, he also is a principal organizer of the Provincetown Jazz Festival.

The group is: Monica Rizzio (violin & vocals), Clayton March (clarinet & mandolin), Alan Clinger (guitar), Laird Boles (bass) and Bart Weisman (drums).

Details:

When: October 22, 2011

Time: 8 p.m

Where: WHAT Julie Harris Stage, 2357 Route 6, Wellfleet (next to the Wellfleet Post Office)

Season Sponsors: WCAI Radio, Winslow’s Tavern, Cape Cod Life

Tickets: $15

Contact: 508-349-9428 (WHAT), www.what.org

Amenities: bar, concessions, free parking

BUY NOW!

Chatham’s Lisa Jason brings her celebrated cabaret show to WHAT

2011-10-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Throughout high school in Chatham, Lisa Jason sang, danced and dreamed of being a Radio City Rockette. Her ambition was so intense that she raced to graduate a half year early, then immediately moved to New York City to launch her career.

Her dream, however, immediately encountered a roadblock: she had to be at least 5 feet, 4 inches to kick across the Music Hall stage. She was only 5 feet 2.

Years later, sitting in her Chatham living room, Jason can smile about what then was a huge disappointment. She might be diminutive of size, but not of spirit. "That was the moment I decided to focus on my voice and not my legs."

Encouraged by her roommate, who was working for Epic Records at the time, Jason launched a song-writing and singing career that soon had her opening for bands up and down the East Coast. "I bought a pair of Lycra pants and sequined tube top became a rock singer. My style was akin to Pat Benatar and Cyndi Lauper. The audience didn't know how to react when I started singing. How could so big a voice come from such a small person?"

It's a voice that surely belies her size. Her current cabaret showcase - coming to WHAT on Friday, Oct. 28 - features music elements from the British play, "Little Voice," starring another diminutive singer, Jane Horrocks, whose character warmed up by singing impressions of Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman.

"I identified entirely with Horrocks," said Jason. "When I was a little girl, I would sit in our living room listening to Garland, Barbara Streisand and Cher, spending hours perfecting their voices and inflections. There was a show in my house every week. It became part of me. When I sang, I felt special, free and connected to these women, whom I watched on television."

Jason retired from the road and returned to Chatham as a single mother to raise two daughters, one now in college and the other at Nauset Regional High School. "The road was no place to raise children," she recalled. "I wanted to have them grow up on the Cape, near my parents and surrounded by the sea." Her father is Richard Sullivan, retired dean of student services at Cape Cod Community College and founder of the Southeastern Massachusetts March of Dimes.

One of Jason's signature songs, "Beautiful Child," has been adopted by the March of Dimes and is constantly played at fundraisers and events such as the National Volunteer Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C - often sung by her personally. "Beautiful Child has reached thousands of families, giving them hope or helping them heal," said Jason. In 2007, she was the Massachusetts March of Dimes Ambassador.

"I wrote Beautiful Child in about five minutes, and it has morphed into a life of its own. It takes people on a journey. It lets me not only sing to people, but interact with them, share feelings."
As her daughters grew older, Jason has begun performing and touring with her one-woman cabaret performance, 'Lisa Jason's Little Voice.' "It's a concept show, a tribute to many legendary female vocalists including Garland, Dionne Warwick, Peggy Lee, Streisand, Marilynn McCoo, Dusty Springfield and Eydie Gorme, among others."

Her act has opened for Huey Lewis, KC and The Sunshine Band and the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. Wherever and whenever she performed, people would come up to her and say, "You really touched me. Where did that voice come from?"

"I tell them it is not how I do it. I have to do it. It is part of me. The stage is my second home. I can't wait to sing."

"I may be on the stage at the Julie Harris, but I want the audience to feel like they are in my living room. I tell them stories they can relate to. They listen to the singers they grew up with. It's about memories. Where was I when I first heard that song? I draw them into a journey and the times they have lived through. It's all about sharing."

She is backed by drummer Bart Weisman and bass player Laird Boles, well-known local performers. Her musical director and arranger is Fred Boyle.

Recently, she headlined the Cabaret Fest in Provincetown, receiving strong praise. John Amadeo of EdgeBoston.com had this to say about Jason:

"The truest standout of the entire weekend was Cape Cod's own Lisa Jason, a firebrand of a performer, who packs a powerful belt, a rapier wit, and a big heart into her petit 5'-2" 100 lb. (soaking wet) frame. Her show was packed with 15 gems, each one solidly delivered and set up with stories both humorous and heartfelt."

"From a riveting and fragile 'Where Do You Start,' to a belting 'Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart,' she showed that both lilt and belt are at her command. Her show, a tribute to great ladies of song and stage, included a finger snapping 'Fever' a brassy 'Downtown' (the Petula Clark hit), and a gorgeous 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me' (Dusty Springfield's standard) with lush all out bel canto vocals. She knocked 'Don't Rain On My Parade' right out of the park, nearly making you forget Barbra sang it first, and brought people to their feet with a brilliant pairing of 'At the Ballet' and 'Music and the Mirror' (both from "A Chorus Line"), sung with total abandon and urgency. Her version of Frank Wildhorn's 'Gold" (from Camille Claudel, recorded by Linda Eder), was sung with such driven emotion, and strident conviction that the audience again leapt to their feet, wiping tears as they cheered. This is another performer we need to see more of."

You can see her on Oct. 28 at WHAT. To purchase tickets, visit www.what.org.

-Glenn Ritt

(photo: SHAREEN DAVIS)

Reviews - The Ding Dongs by Brenda Withers

2011-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Tom Patrick Stephens, Brenda Withers and Marshall York in The Ding Dongs or What Is the Penalty in Portugal

Photo: Jeff Zinn

It’s difficult to describe Brenda Withers’ new play The Ding Dongs or What is the Penalty in Portugal?

Absurdist? Yes. Funny? Yes. Horrifying? Absolutely.

- Provincetown Magazine

Boston Globe - A shrewd visit to suburbia - with a twist of terror

"Brenda Withers is out to mess with your head and knock you off balance. She succeeds. As a cat-and-mouse game steadily unfolds between a bewildered homeowner and two uninvited visitors, the mood of unease escalates into something like terror. By the end of The Ding Dongs, you feel almost as dazed and dislocated as the hapless homeowner.

You've also developed considerable admiration for Withers's skills as a playwright who can toy so expertly with the line between possession and dispossession, between everyday suburban life and surreal nightmare, while adroitly dissolving that line in her own performance as one of the visitors." (full review)

Chatham Chronicle - "A Witty, Disturbing Rumination"

"As always, Withers' dynamic facial expressions are superb as she slowly unveils her character's mental instability. She and Stephens have a wonderful chemistry playing off each other's energy, with Stephens mostly playing the dim-witted "good cop" while Withers shows more of a sinister side. York's slow transformation from confident host to psychologically stressed victim is realistically portrayed, evoking a heartfelt response... The moving and disturbing comedy keeps the audience engaged and laughing, as the fast-paced twists and turns of the psychological game playing between the characters is artfully revealed." (full review)

Barnstable Patriot - "Tight writing, vital acting, thought-provoking"

"This show is a wonderful testament to young talent and to a theater committed to growing that talent. The play itself is multifaceted, fast-paced and interesting; the acting and directing are amazing; and you will leave thinking about what may be on the other side of the door the next time you hear, "Ding Dong." If you haven't made it to Wellfleet this summer to see a show, this is WHAT it's all about down there." (full review)

Provincetown Magazine -

"The Ding Dongs or What Is the Penalty in Portugal? is a play that demands a lot of its audience, but it does so in a sharply funny manner, achieving a combination of entertainment and sociopolitical provocation that is rare in contemporary writing. It is an absolutely perfect end to the season at the always exciting Harbor Stage." (full review)

Read Boston Globe article featuring Brenda and Jeffrey Withers!

Reviews - Body Awareness by Annie Baker

2011-10-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Alex Pollock, D'Arcy Dersham, Michael Bryan French and McNeely Myers in Body Awareness.

Photo: Jeff Zinn

The most critical they get of Body Awareness is a small complaint that it's too funny in spots. We'll take it.

Provincetown Banner - "WHAT sings the body electric"

"It’s one of those theatrical plot devices that can get the heart racing even before it happens: the arrival of a guest destined to upend a household’s familiar, if tentative, sense of wellbeing. In Annie Baker's Body Awareness, at WHAT, the mind and heart are grippingly explored along with the flesh." Read full review in Provincetown Banner

Cape Cod Times - "Self-acceptance underpins 'Body'"

"Pollock's immersion in Jared's behavior, his deadpan delivery, his earnestness despite his snarkiness...all create a touching portrait of a confused young man even while his observations elicit most of the chuckles from the audience. The earthiness and self-reflection that Myers gives Joyce grounds the family and play, and you root for her strength.... Phyllis is high-handed in much of her conversation ... but it is Dersham's warm, candid interactions with Pollock's Jared that help to make her Phyllis seem less self-involved and more sympathetic. French's self-assured delivery and smooth reactions leave you wondering whether Joyce or Phyllis is right about his intentions." Read full review in Cape Cod Times

Cape Cod Chronicle - "A Kaleidoscope Of Insights"

"Annie Baker has an uncanny gift for language, making her characters' everyday dialogues and actions moving and compelling. The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's production of this naturally flowing, controversial and language-rich comedy is a vivid tapestry of conflicting emotions... After opening the season with the lauded "Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes," Robert Kropf also directs this beautifully orchestrated and entrancing story. Being a language-driven play, with the well-placed silences also speaking volumes, the remarkable cast lets Baker's insightful writing do all the heavy lifting. This frees the actors to hone in on the subtleties and nuances of their characters." Read full review in Cape Cod Chronicle

Barnstable Patriot - "WHAT gets to the heart of Annie Baker's play"

" The work of up and coming Massachusetts playwright Annie Baker has been very popular on Cape stages this theater season... Baker's deft touch at depicting relationships is at her best in this play. WHAT's cast of capable performers easily etches strong, sometimes stinging portraits as it grapples and cope with the subject matter. Under the direction of Robert Kropf, the play is crisp and the acting tight throughout the entire 90-minute one-acter. " Read full review in Barnstable Patriot

InsideOUT Cape Cod

"Part comedy, part post-feminist conversation, Body Awareness - now playing at the Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theater - is a fascinating new play by Annie Baker that will have you laughing, gasping, and getting teary-eyed in rapid succession." Read full review in InsideOUT Cape Cod

Cape Cod Magazine - Artist Profile

2011-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

WHAT and Cape Rep were featured in an article, "Home Grown," in Cape Cod Magazine this month. Both theaters are premiering plays they helped develop.

From the article: "We are out here on this little spit of land in a place that is magical," says [Dan] Lombardo. "You cannot be your self, your old self, when you come out here. Actors and playwrights come out here and are filled with joy and inspiration and wanting to be part of this company. Something special happens out here."

Brenda Withers' new play "The Ding Dongs, or What Is the Penalty in Portugal?" opens on the Harbor Stage September 8. It was developed in the WHAT Lab last winter.

Jeff Zinn to Step Down as WHAT Artistic Director

2011-08-20T11:13:00.001-07:00

Wellfleet, MA - After a successful tenure at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), Jeff Zinn has advised the Board that he will be leaving his post as Artistic Director at the end of this summer season. A national search for his replacement will be undertaken soon.

"We understand that Jeff has chosen this time, after bringing Wellfleet and the Cape many wonderful years of provocative and critically acclaimed theater, to move on to other opportunities," said WHAT President John Dubinsky. "We are totally committed to our main mission of producing cutting edge theatre but will also be supplementing that with some diversified off-season presentations."

"There’s quite a bit left for me to accomplish as a director, teacher, writer and actor," said Zinn. "I’m also looking forward to next year when I might actually enjoy a summer vacation with my family." (more)

The (Theater) People Speak

2011-08-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

This morning the Boston Globe broke the story that Jeff Zinn is resigning as Artistic Director of WHAT.

Here are a couple responses:

"Jeff Wolf Zinn is the most courageous artistic director I ever worked for. I owe him the greatest theatrical experiences of my life. His relentless pursuit of fascinating material, combined with his dogged determination to present it to audiences, have been a rare asset to the otherwise limp and toothless American regional theatre establishment, producing as it does outside of Wellfleet, sentimental, self-congratulatory, bourgeois drivel. American Theater: there may be one hell of a free agent on the market right now, and if you have the guts, I suggest you nab him."
Brendan Patrick Hughes

"Jeff Zinn did it the brave way; uncompromising in the best senses of the word. A generation of making exceptional theatre on the Cape, providing artists a cool and artistic summer respite...summer theatre that was not "summer theatre"...THESE are all the things that great legacies are made of. Wherever I am, he has a place. Good luck friend, and enjoy those light moments around the kitchen table with your kids :) You deserve it."
Todd Olson

The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin

2011-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

The reviews are in! Here's one:

"If you think you know this timeless tale, be forewarned, Russell has a very different take on it. This hour-and-forty-five minute contemporary version will not only have your head spinning with delight, as you try to follow all the fun and creative changes, but your funny bone will also get a work-out from the continual antics.

When the trial of the ditzy but lovable queen (Holly McCarthy) finally begins, the tale of Rumpelstiltskin is told about five different ways as the witnesses, including the accused, tell their side of the story, with each version zanier than the next.

The ensemble cast does not miss a chance to ham up this silly production that has just as many jokes for the little ones as it does for the adults.

With baby dolls unexpectedly being thrown about, Russell's signature and daring sword fights unfolding before the audience, men dressed as women and an anything-can-happen attitude, everyone is sure to enjoy themselves at WHAT's The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin, whether one is too old to believe in fairy tales or not."

-Ellen Petry Whalen, Cape Cod Chronicle

Robin Holland in the gallery

2011-07-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

PORTRAITS: Filmmakers, Fighters, Friends (and one guy in VA who, after backing up into my parked car, couldn’t say no when I asked to photograph him and his daughter)

July 15-August 13

The gallery is open to the public from 1pm to curtain, Tuesday-Sunday

Images ©Robin Holland, top: Werner Herzog; John Perreault and Jeff Weinstein; bottom: Leymah Gbowee

See more images by Robin Holland on her website www.robinholland.com

a review from the audience

2011-07-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Unsolicited and very welcome words from our patrons:

The four-actor cast of “An Ideal Husband” was terrific. Aside from the gymnastics of altering roles, they were remarkably effective in each characterization. If one relishes Wilde’s words, as we do, the production was beautifully staged and directed, and faithful to the text. We were wholly enthralled. We saw the British production brought to Broadway in 1997, when we fell in love with the play. Last night lived up to that standard. Collins is seductive and dangerous as Mrs. Cheveley, Watson is authentic as Robert Chilton, and Wheeler is superior to Rupert Everett as Goring. Donnelly had the toughest parts as the moralistic Lady Chiltern and obtuse Lord Caversham. But well done overall!!!

Reviews for A Behanding in Spokane

2011-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Boston Globe:

What can you do with a one-handed man in a seedy hotel room in a random American town?…Welcome to playwright Martin McDonagh's latest and lightest farce, now getting a superb production on Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's intimate Harbor Stage…always giddy rather than gruesome...deliriously funny!
Click here to read the full review from The Boston Globe

The Barnstable Patriot:
"A Behanding in Spokane is great fringe theater. It's tightly meshed, and its well-tuned execution is the work of resident director Jeff Zinn. He's provided a scalpel-sharp sheen to the one-act production that cuts deep from beginning to end... if you're up for some top-notch acting and a play that explodes like an IED, then by all means catch A Behanding in Spokane."
click here to read the full review from the Barnstable Patriot

The Cape Cod Chronicle:
"A Behanding in Spokane is so theatrically satisfying with its intensity, intrigue and zany, dark humor that waves of laughter kept rolling through the audience on Saturday night, growing with intensity as the evening progressed. I for one couldn't stop laughing. Based on this stellar season opener, the rest of the plays WHAT has planned at the Harbor Stage this summer have a tough act to follow."
click here to read the full review from the Cape Cod Chronicle

The Cape Cod Times:
"Dark humor keeps audience on edge...McDonagh's profane yet darkly humorous examination of what motivates us...whirlwind tour of madness...watch as dynamic relationships transform through a mixture of comedy and horror...a play that helps us come to terms with what makes us who we are."
click here to read the full review from the Cape Cod Times

The Provincetown Banner:
"In Behanding, playwright McDonagh takes slapstick turn...makes for a great night of theater. The production at the Harbor Stage deftly slaloms the play's quicksilver dialogue, and the acting from Collins, Exilus, Pollack and Weiss makes the sad story of Carmichael achieve vivid and highly comic proportions."
click here to read the full review from the Provincetown Banner

Provincetown Magazine:

What do you get when you cross a one-handed racist with a bickering interracial couple and a bellhop who fantasizes about rescuing prostitutes, lesbians, and monkeys?

Click here to read the full review from Provincetown Magazine

#neighborhood3

2011-07-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

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WHATorg WHAT

#Neighborhood3 starts in 5 minutes. Make sure your cat is inside.

1 hour ago

WHATorg WHAT

#neighborhood3 has an in-house rating of PG13 for language and violence (but it's the parents of teens who will have nightmares).

1 hour ago

WHATorg WHAT

It's just like Clue except instead of Miss Peacock with the lead pipe it's Zombiekllr14 with the hedgeclippers. #neighborhood3 opens tonight

7 hours ago

lainyb27 Alaina Sciascia

If you have ever played/know/seen a Zombie video game then come to @WHATorg production of #Neighborhood3! Tomorrow at 8pm at the Harbor!

21 hours ago

WHATorg WHAT

Brains should be fed, not eaten. #Neighborhood3

6 Jul

lainyb27 Alaina Sciascia

"The gut raping cue was off today." @WHATorg #Neighborhood3

5 Jul

WHATorg WHAT

Garden gnomes will be harmed. #Neighborhood3

5 Jul

WHATorg WHAT

@lainyb27 watch for coffee and sleep deprivation-fueled tweets for #neighborhood3. The marketing dept. is cracking itself up.

Director Dan Lombardo on Boeing Boeing

2011-06-15T10:00:00.001-07:00

Dan Lombardo took a few minutes to chat with us about Boeing Boeing today. After threatening to do the entire update in mime, he gave up the goods....

Dan: Today was great. We’re doing some improvising to get scenes even funnier. I wish someone could look at some of this and say “no, that’s not anywhere near over the top” because I want it to go almost over the top, and then go over the top. At this point nobody can come in the room because everybody’s still trying out different stuff and throwing furniture.

WHAT: You’re not throwing actors are you?

Dan: We’re just swinging them, not actually throwing them.

[Boeing Boeing] is one of the funniest modern farces that has ever been done. And that’s an anomaly because I don’t think modern farce can be done anymore. How do you do farce anymore? It’s been done for hundreds of years. Can we still laugh at all of these absurd situations that are so unrealistic. It’s the “falling down on your face” kind of humor, where there’s mistaken identity and complete misunderstanding. The characters don’t know what’s going on but the audience does. You can dissect the farce into its minutest details and piece it back together and it’s all a formula. But the way a great farce is done – and this is one of them – is so fresh and different. You bring new actors to it every time and the actors come up with fresh ways of doing it. It can be utterly hysterical.

We think of modern theater as being so sophisticated and being cutting edge - we’re proud of being cutting edge - but we’re also proud of being able to open up those places in human beings where the laughter just comes out, regardless of age or background.

This is a play where that happens. It’s a French play. It was written in French. It was first done in Paris in 1960. Why in 2011 can we do this play in English and it’s still utterly hysterical? It hits on all these universal yearnings. The universal recognition that we’re all pretty pathetic and, and that’s the bottom line. When you put that together in a modern play, like Boeing Boeing - it happens at the end of the age of Beat-era hipsters with bongo drums and French berets, it’s them and the Frank Sinatra rat pack “we’re so cool, we drink martinis and smoke and have women on each arm.” Just at the edge of that and the complete turnaround of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement and the jet age - you put all that together and you get a world that speeds up out of control. The guys in this play think they’re cool and hip and they can manipulate these wonderful flight attendants, and fool them and nobody’s going to be the wiser – and it all goes haywire. By the end of the play they get their come-uppance in a really hysterical way. I’m not going to describe what that is, but believe me, you go into this play thinking “hey, these guys are really dinosaurs.” They’re from the age of the very first James Bond film – 1962 is when the first Bond film came out. That suave, debonair guy who gets all the women, kisses them and then pushes them out of the helicopter and it’s all fine. This play turns that on its head by the end. The women make utter fools of the men in a completely hysterical and believable – not believable - way. But a complete, on a soul-level believable way, where all the classic elements of farce are there - the doors-slamming, people tripping. We don’t actually have pants falling.

When we did Noises Off, that was the first time this theater company said “we’re going to do a play that’s strictly funny with no redeeming value other than it’s cutting edge-ly funny." Jeff and I were in the audience one night when a character dropped his pants. It got the biggest scream of laughter I’ve ever heard in any WHAT venue (other than the children’s theater, WHAT for Kids). We both looked at each other and smiled. It’s like, this is not bad to make people laugh that hard. There’s something huge about making people laugh so hard they lose themselves. It brings in a universal compassion. It brings us down to the very essence of people sharing the best thing about being alive. No other creatures can laugh the way human beings can laugh.

And that’s why I love directing Boeing Boeing, and why I’m dying to get as many people in to see this. You laugh because you see yourself in this play. You love these characters and you love the struggles they have. It’s all struggles about love, ultimately. And what’s better than that?

Pay WHAT You Can

2011-05-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

We work at a theater, so trust us when we say we understand that money can be an issue. We have bought rush tickets till the cows came home. We've sat in seats so high we needed oxygen tanks. We are always grateful when companies find a way to make theater accessible to everyone, so we try to do just that.

On the second night of every run, we offer Pay WHAT You Can night. Got a dollar? Buy a ticket with it. Feeling a little more flush? We won't turn you down. Buy your PWYC ticket at the door and see a great play. The box office is open 1-5 and 6-8 on PWYC days.

You take your chances with seating, but with a theater this size you'd be hard pressed to find a bad seat. If you feel strongly about where you sit and having a confirmed seat on these days, regularly-priced reserved tickets are available for advanced purchase.

Please come. We really, really want you to see our plays. We're sure you'll love them as much as we do.

Jihad Jones (Julie) - May 26

A Behanding in Spokane (Harbor) - June 2

Boeing Boeing (Julie) - July 2

Neighborhood3 (Harbor) - July 8

Ideal Husband (Julie) - July 13

Betrothed (Harbor) - August 5

Bakersfield Mist (Julie) - August 12

The Ding Dongs (Harbor) - September 9

Body Awareness (Julie) - September 15

online service fees are so last year

2011-04-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

We ran an informal survey recently and asked people what bugged them about buying tickets. What came up over and over again was an annoyance with online service charges. And honestly, when we (I) buy tickets online for another venue, we're always taken aback when the service charge pops up. We've done all the work, why are they charging us?

We came to the conclusion that it's one of those things that's been done for so long, it's just what's done.

We've never liked doing what's done.

This year there are no online service charges. The ticket price you pick is the ticket price you get. There's not a will-call fee or a printing fee or a save-the-silkworms fee.

We also thought the subscriptions were unnecessarily complicated, so we replaced them with flex passes. You can get a 6, 8 or 10 ticket flex pass and book your seats immediately or dole them out as your own schedule comes together. You can still get individual tickets, too. (Don't let the lower-than-last-year price throw you.)

Let's face it, some of our plays are complicated enough. We love messing with your mind - just not in the box office.

WHAT for Kids! Audition call

2011-04-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

WHAT for Kids!, the family theater wing of Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater will hold auditions for our 2011 season on Saturday, April 23, from 2 to 5pm, in the rehearsal room above the Wellfleet Post Office, just off Route 6 in Wellfleet. This year's show will be a revival of our 2005 hit, The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin, featuring a number of members of the original cast. For that reason, roles are somewhat limited this year. We're looking for actors to portray the following:

Amos Fairport - male or female, late teens to twenties. A guard, but also the mysterious Mr. Stiltskin.
King Sizecarton - male, late teens to twenties. Male. A King and a formidable presence.
Jacob Grimm - age range (14 - 16) - male. One of the Grimm brothers. Must be able to do a convincing German accent and breakdance well. The ideal candidate will be somewhat short in stature.
Charlie Schuyster - male, mid to late teens - a lawyer for the prosecution.
Natalie Turnbull - female, mid to late teens - a lawyer for the defense
The Bailiff - male or female, mid to late teens
Two additional actors, male or female to play a variety of roles. Age range: mid to late teens.

Copies of the script will be available at the WHAT Box Office for perusal. Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Rehearsals for The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin will begin the week of June 20. The show runs from July 11 through September 1 with performances every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night at 7:30 for those eight weeks.

reports from the field

2011-03-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

This email came in today, quite out of the blue:

"WHAT is such a wonderful place-we have enjoyed many nights and afternoons there. It is such a terrific theatre with great events-we are so lucky to have it nearby. Who would have thought that in that wonderful town we would not only have peace, tranquility and beauty, but also first class entertainment in a perfectly designed theatre." - MH

We couldn't agree more!

All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

2010-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Lucy Swain, who technically still has one of her front teeth(barely), made a guest appearance at last Saturday's Yule for Fuel. It's so cute it will make your own teeth itch.

The Voyage of Bran

2010-11-04T05:39:00.001-07:00

Promise references the story of Bran from Celtic lore. According to the great and mighty Wikipedia:

Bran, son of Febal, embarks upon a quest to the Other World.
One day while Bran is walking, he hears beautiful music, so beautiful, in fact, that it lulls him to sleep. Upon awakening, he sees a beautiful silver branch in front of him. He returns to his royal house, and while his company is there, an Otherworld woman appears, and sings to him a poem about the land where the branch had grown. In this Otherworld, it is always summer, there is no want of food or water, and no sickness or despair ever touches the perfect people. She tells Bran to voyage to the Land of Women across the sea, and the next day he gathers a company of men to do so.
After two days, he sees a man on a chariot speeding towards him. The man is Manannan mac Lir, and he tells Bran that he is not sailing upon the ocean, but upon a flowery plain. He also reveals to Bran that there are many men riding in chariots, but that they are invisible. He tells Bran of how he is to beget his son in Ireland, and that his son will become a great warrior.
Bran leaves Manannan mac Lir, and comes to the Isle of Joy. All the people upon the Isle of Joy laugh and stare at him, but will not answer his calls. When Bran sends a man ashore to see what the matter is, the man starts to laugh and gape just like the others. Bran leaves him and sails farther.
He then reaches the Land of Women, but is hesitant to go ashore. However, the leader of the women throws a magical clew at him which sticks to his hand. She then pulls the boat to shore, and each man pairs off with a woman, Bran with the leader.
For what seems to be one year, although it is in actuality many more, the men feast happily in the Land of Women until Nechtan Mac Collbran feels homesickness stir within him. The leader of the women is reluctant to let them go, and warns them not to step upon the shores of Ireland.
Bran and his company sail back to Ireland. The people that have gathered on the shores to meet him do not recognize his name except in their legends. Nechtan Mac Collbran, upset, jumps off the boat onto the land. Immediately, Nechtan Mac Collbran turns to ashes.
Bran and his company relate the rest of their story to the Irish, and then sail across the sea, never to be seen again.

Do with that what you will. (Don't worry, it's not a spoiler.)

photography by Stephanie Zollshan

2010-11-03T09:17:00.001-07:00

Stephanie Zollshan has been here photographing Promise. What she's done so far is gorgeous! Here are a few:

cast: Ed Hyland, Tessa Klein, Lizbeth Mackay, Graham Winton, Natsuki Arai, Gerald Haynes, Mary Horne and Jake Warren

Special Nights at Promise

2010-11-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

When you purchase a ticket to Promise for these nights, take advantage of the special events and programs…

Parents Night Out
Bring the whole family for an evening out at WHAT. Parents come get swept away by the mysterious sea side saga of PROMISE while your kids enjoy an admission free evening of games, crafts and storytelling.
Children must be 3 and up.
Fridays, November 12 and 19

Talk Back
Buy a ticket for select Thursday and Sunday performances and stay after the show for creative conversation with the cast and special guests including Boston College Professor of Irish Studies, Philip O’Leary and playwright Joyce Flynn.
November 7, 11 and 18

A Promise to Mass Audubon
Please join us on November 14th for a special benefit show honoring the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. For every ticket sold to this performance, five dollars will be donated to the organization. This is your theater, this is your land.
November 14

Date Night
Indulge your date with a night at the theater. Arrive to the theater early for special sweets compliments of Wellfleet Candy Company and a glass of Champagne provided by Seaside Liquors.
November 6, 13, 20

Plus, dine out at The Wicked Oyster, The Lighthouse or Falcones and show proof of ticket purchase for a 10% discount off regular menu items.

"...echoes of Yeats... "

2010-10-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

It’s not often that the phone rings at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and on the other end of the line is a Broadway producer cold-calling to ask if, by chance, he might bring his brand-new show there so the creative team can get it on its feet. But it did happen once, last spring.
“It really came out of the blue,’’ said Jeff Zinn, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater’s artistic director. Zinn is an off-Broadway kind of guy who had never heard of Jed Bernstein before he picked up the phone and found himself talking to him. Bernstein, whose recent Broadway shows include “Hair,’’ “Equus,’’ “Oleanna,’’ and “Passing Strange,’’ was calling to pitch a play called “Promise,’’ by an unknown Connecticut playwright named James B Murphy II. Its world-premiere production, directed by another Broadway veteran, John Tillinger, is in previews now at WHAT.

Boston Globe writer Laura Collins-Hughes goes on to trot out the credentials of everyone involved - the numerous Broadway credits of Tillinger and Bernstein and Chris d'Amboise's history as principal dancer of NYC Ballet and artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet.

(read the article)

"two executive directors singing for their suppers”

2010-10-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Lisa Sullivan Jason, Elizabeth Bridgewater, Larry Marsland, Jon Arterton and James Mack filled the house for the Community Development Partnership, Lower Cape Outreach Council and WE CAN last week:

Bridgewater, a singer, suggested the idea of a benefit concert to Marsland, executive director of the Lower Cape Outreach Council in Orleans and another singer.

“Wouldn’t it be fun… two executive directors singing for their suppers,” says Bridgewater.

They enlisted Andi Genser, executive director of WE CAN in Harwich Port, as the show’s producer.

Read the article in the Provincetown Banner

"a show with a Broadway pedigree"

2010-10-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

"Wellfleet's charm as a fishing village is one reason it's becoming a tryout town for a show with a Broadway pedigree. The national reputation that Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and its audiences have built for welcoming unusual projects proved the perfect match.
So the high-caliber talent was willing to travel."

That's how Kathi Scrizzi Drisoll began her theater column this morning. I am so proud of this theater.

"The national reputation that Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and its audiences."

That's you.

Thank you.

(read the Cape Cod Times column)

"It's about being entertained."

2010-10-05T09:33:00.001-07:00

"It's not 'come, listen and learn.' It's about being entertained."

Since the play's title, Danny Casolaro Died for You, doesn't read as "come be entertained," we asked production manager Ted Vitale what he meant by his statement. Here's what he had to say.

Us: What is it about this production that makes for an evening of entertainment?

Ted: We threw every bell and whistle at this production. We are using all of our technology.

We use the projector for every scene. Sometimes it takes up the entire stage, sometimes it's just a small window we want to project. The projector is 7000 lumens and it cuts through the lights. We use it in all of our lighting effects.

Us: Any cool sound effects?

Ted: It's in 7.1 surround sound. You never know where the sound's going to come from. sometimes it's coming from behind you, sometimes from onstage, sometimes from off stage. It's pretty cool.

We wanted to make it theatrical. One of the things we did with this one is it's all open. You see all the rigging, you see how we went about putting everything together. you see the lights, you see the rigging holding up the set.

We have 8 different booms - an upright lighting position - some of which are 14 feet tall. You are allowed to see those - all the side-lighting. It's an interesting way to go about putting the show together and it's an interesting show to watch because of that. If you're interested in technology and multi-media, this is a really great show to see.

Us: What about the set?

Ted:
In keeping with our technology theme, the stage (floor) itself is painted like a computer circuit board.

We have a working stove, a working oven, a working sink. They actually cook onstage at the top of the show. Don't come too hungry because the place smells like garlic almost right away and stays that way for most of the show. They're literally cooking garlic on the stage. Often you'll see a stove on stage but it's not working. Ours works.

Us: Are people concerned about the "..Died for You" part?

Ted: Some people are concerned it's a little left wing preachy, and it really isn't. Yes, it was Danny Casolaro. It's his cousin who wrote the show. But he allows you to make up your own mind. There's a fantastic closing monologue - the whole point of it is to encourage you to make up your own mind.

Us: What happens to Danny?

Ted: In the end, it comes as a very big surprise - which is part of the idea of the show. When it does happen, you're not ready for it. There's no giant, dramatic scene. All of a sudden there it is, because that's the way it was in real life. All of the sudden he was gone. He (Dominc Orlando)'s allowing you to have the same feelings that the family did. And that's the way it is in the play. All of the sudden he's gone.

Nobody knows why. In a lot of respects, nobody knows why.

Phèdre encore with Helen Mirren

2010-10-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

National Theatre Live launched in June 2009 with a broadcast of Phèdre. Seen by over 50,000 people worldwide. Don’t miss your chance to see an Encore screening of this smash hit production on October 10 at 2pm and October 22 at 7:30pm.

Helen Mirren takes the title role in this savage play by Jean Racine, translated into muscular free verse by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes.

Consumed by an uncontrollable passion for her young stepson and believing Theseus, her absent husband, to be dead, Phèdre confesses her darkest desires and enters the world of nightmare. When Theseus returns alive and well, Phèdre, fearing exposure, accuses her stepson of rape.

The result is carnage.

Danny Casolaro talkback tonight!

2010-09-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some questions for the Danny Casolaro Died for You talkback after tonight's performance. Please add your own.

How does wardrobe get all the stains out? I've gotten to a point in my life where I see something happen and immediately think "oooooh, that's gonna stain." Pathetic.
Is the combination of Michael Riconosciuto and Robert Nichols specified in the script? Are they meant to show the potential we have to be one way or the other? Will someone else please ask this so it doesn't look like I have multiple personality disorder and am asking because I have a thing for making lasers for good but then using them for evil?
May we have the Casolaro family tomato sauce recipe?
How much garlic is too much garlic? And I thought it was supposed to protect people. It didn't.
Was Riconosciuto vindicated?
Can you play Dungeons and Dragons in prison?
Is that thing about the cow mutilations for real?
Is that really Thomas Vacarro's response at the end?
What do you suppose holidays were like when this family got together?

The talkback is free with admission. Or it's $34 and the play's free. Pick one.

See you tonight.

"not easily left behind as one exits the theater"

2010-09-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Cape Cod Chronicle review

Complex Political Intrigue Ends WHAT's Summer Season

by Ellen Petry Whalen

An astute, nineteenth-century British politician is credited with making this universal observation: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

This, in a nutshell, is the basic tenet of Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's world premiere of Danny Casolaro Died for You. Revolving around the 1991 mysterious death of real-life freelance journalist Danny Casolaro, the gripping and intense storyline explores the circumstances that led to his untimely demise.

Playwright Dominic Orlando wrote the political thriller as a tribute to his older cousin Danny Casolaro. Even though his cousin's death was reported as a suicide (his body was found in the bathtub of a cheap hotel in West Virginia with multiple slash wounds to his wrists and most of his important papers missing), the Casolaro family believes foul play was involved. Based on the high level and broad reach of corruption the journalist was trying to expose, this does not seem out of the realm of possibility.

The play follows this complicated trail of corruption revolving around the Reagan/Bush administration that Danny (Lewis D. Wheeler) refers to as “the Octopus.” It includes Iran-Contra, the Iran-hostage crisis, the theft of a software system by the Justice Department that connects all law databases and the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. In an effort to help the audience easily digest Danny's year-long investigation, Orlando uses his cousin Thomas Vacarro (David Fraioli) as the sounding board for Danny's findings and updates. As Danny is further drawn into the web of intrigue, so is the audience.

Wheeler is a natural as the idealistic Danny. He captures the drive, courage, outrage and single-mindedness of a journalist who is not afraid to follow his leads, no matter where and to whom they lead. As Thomas, Fraioli brings some levity to the powerful drama through his strong physical energy and passion about Italian cooking. He is like a tightly wound rubber band about to spring.

The highly talented all-male cast of five includes three other actors who play multiple roles. Justin Campbell plays two polar-opposite characters so well I had to do a double-take to make sure he was the same actor. One is the picture of perfect diction, slickness and elegance and the other a hyperactive, unkempt geek. David Nelson and John Kool are the fabulous ensemble cast playing anything from a software developer to a waiter. The two are wonderfully amusing as the finely timed FBI duo investigating Danny's death. Playing other characters, Kool's variety of accents and posturing are especially enjoyable.

Director Jeff Zinn keeps the intricate, two-hour-and- 30-minute drama moving at a suspenseful pace, which is a challenge since there is so much information to reveal without overwhelming the audience. The playwright is aware of this challenge as he has Thomas ask Danny to simplify the investigation into one sentence. With that in mind, there are a few areas where some of the dialogue could be shortened to maximize the momentum without jeopardizing the thriller.

Ji-Youn Chang's set is as deceptively simple as it is expansive. A backdrop of large post-it notes, covered with investigative facts, reaches up a 20-foot-high column, behind the fully functioning kitchen, and stretches out to the full width of the stage when it reaches the top, acting as a multimedia screen, displaying photographs and real newspaper clippings. John R. Malinowski's lighting design and Nathan Leigh's sound design work precisely to expose multiple and simultaneous pockets of drama on two-tiers of the stage that are otherwise hidden by darkness.

Danny Casolaro Died for You is a disturbing conspiracy story filled with stimulating dialogue and political intrigue. The intensity of this real-life drama fully entrances the audience, and would be a wonderful end to a perfect evening except for one fact. The story's weighty message, about power, greed and corruption and how one man might have died, while uncovering these truths, is not easily left behind as one exits the theater.

In the Next Room, pictorial edition

2010-09-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or the vibrator play. The New England Premiere was here August 5-September 11, 2010.

pen vs. sword

2010-09-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

David Nelson, Justin Campbell and John Kooi, making plans
(David Fraioli in the background)

"At an important point in “Danny Casolaro Died for You,” on stage at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater through Oct. 17, a pen changes hands."

Ellen Chahey's observation references a specific pen in the play. It also applies to the passing of the story from an investigative journalist (Danny) to a playwright (Dominic):

Danny Casolaro Died for You is about a journalist who was murdered while investigating government corruption. Entertainment, organized crime, drugs, the federal government, news magazines, Native Americans, the war on communism, the emerging software market in the Reagan era, the urge to write, the search for the American dream among immigrants and their children in the 20th century — and the endless human search for fame, fortune and riches — all figure into the plot, as do the human flaws that drive all tragedy, the ones that lead to murder and suicide. It’s a grim play based on the true story of playwright Dominic Orlando’s cousin.

This one's not just worth seeing. It's worth seeing again.

(read Barnstable Examiner review here)

see for yourself

2010-09-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

You need to come see this play. The end.

Danny Casolaro Died For You, World Premiere, through October 17, 2010.

another preview of Danny Casolaro - Cape Cod Times

2010-09-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll wanted to get to the bottom of the Casolaro story (it's what writers do), so she talked to Dominic and Jeff. Here's an excerpt of the scoop:

Play director Jeff Zinn, artistic director at WHAT, saw a staged reading of "Danny" at a December showcase in Atlanta by the National New Play Network organization and thought Orlando's play was "the best thing in the weekend." He was originally working with theaters in Dallas and Chicago to premiere the show together, but when those two had to back out, the solo debut went to WHAT. Zinn's happy to have it, and to have Orlando working so closely with the group on the complex script. "Dominic has been great," he wrote in an e-mail. "There's so much information, so many threads and questions about those threads. He has been in rehearsal since day one and it's been invaluable having him there to answer our questions."
As the title indicates, Casolaro, an investigative reporter, died in 1991. The family is still mourning his loss.
It's been harder to get past the grief because family members and many others believe that — while circumstances (he was found dead in a West Virginia hotel room, his wrists slashed repeatedly) suggested suicide — he was murdered. Casolaro was tracking down a conspiracy theory related to the Reagan administration (including the Iran-Contra affair, the hostage crisis and software theft) and most of his research disappeared.
It's a compelling back story and could be complicated to explain on stage. But Orlando believes he lays it all out in an audience-friendly way. The play, which includes a "kind of rabble-rousing political thing" about changes needed in how things happen in this country, only "hints at the hugeness of the story."

(read the Cape Cod Times preview)

a highly cofidential preview of Danny Casolaro

2010-09-16T08:33:00.001-07:00

Lewis D. Wheeler and Justin Campbell in rehearsal

There was an article on Danny Casolaro Died for You in this morning's Provincetown Banner.

Briefly, "the software theft was only the beginning of a chase that led Casolaro down a rabbit hole of different conspiracy stories from the 1980s, particularly during the Reagan years. What he discovered was a lot of overlapping connections and a network of people who were profiting off the U.S. domestic and foreign policies."

Danny Casolaro was written by his cousin, Dominic Orlando. This is the play's World Premiere.

Orlando wrote the play to memorialize his cousin, but also because he thinks it is an important story about mourning both the personal loss of one person and a collective mourning over the death of idealism that our country will always be the “good guy.” Sometimes that just isn’t so, and rather than sweep those feelings under a rug and ignore them, he thinks we should actually grieve about it.

"You have to have the emotional response," he says. "We always try to skip over that and I think that is what theater is for. That’s what makes it different from journalism."

And hopefully it's less likely to get you killed.

(read "The Death of Idealism" here)

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

2010-09-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

The great poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, gave WHAT two days of extraordinary programs, on Aug. 25 -26. Yevtushenko is considered by many to be the first voice to speak out against Stalinism. His famous poem, Babi Yar, is a searing criticism of the Soviet response to the Nazi massacre of 30,000 Russian Jews outside Kiev in 1944.

On Wednesday night, the 25^th, he read, performed, and sang in Russian to a rapt audience. Reading Yevtushenko's poetry in English were poet/novelist Marge Piercy, journalist Dan Okrent, poet and scientist Dr. Laura Manuelidis and musician and producer Isaiah Sheffer.

He began with “On the Question of Freedom”:
Yes I’m enslaved to Tashkent women
and to Dallas bullets and Peking slogans
and Vietnam widows and Russian women
with picks beside the tracks and kerchiefs over their eyes

The “reading” ended with everyone on stage singing a Polish folk song, before repairing to Winslow’s Tavern for a reception. A luncheon in the poet’s honor was held the next day at the new Norman Mailer Writers Colony in Provincetown.

At 5:00pm on the 26^th, Yevtushenko gave a moving introduction to a showing of his film, “Stalin’s Funeral,” on the Julie Harris Stage. The film, written and directed by the poet, is a powerful depiction of the near-hysteria in Trubnaya Square during the funeral. The Felliniesque film is told through the eyes of Yevtushenko as young poet experiencing the despair and political confusion of the time.

It was a rare opportunity for WHAT to host a literary figure who, only a week before, had attracted an audience of 42,000 in Russia.

-Dan Lombardo,
WHAT Dramaturg

Dead Ringer - "a tightly wound production, intense and suspenseful"

2010-08-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Cape Cod Times: 'Dead Ringer' mines dark emotions by Debbie Forman

"Only one of three people in "Dead Ringer" is actually locked up - in a root cellar. But the other two have created prisons of their own. And that is at least one of the messages of Gino DiIorio's play, a Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater production at its Harbor Stage for the next month...

Brendan Hughes, the impresario of the Harbor Stage and director of the play, presents a tightly wound production, intense and suspenseful. Robert Kropf, who sensitively captured the title character in WHAT's production of "Cyrano" earlier this summer, puts on another hat - and a totally other persona - as Tyrus, the vitriolic jailer. Kropf has amazing versatility. He is able to inhabit a diversity of characters with remarkable authenticity.

And we can say the same about Jonathan Fielding, who plays Dwight. A multitalented actor, Fielding played Christian and several other cavorting roles in WHAT's production of "Cyrano" and the sad-sack brother in the company's June play, "Colorado." Fielding's Dwight is meek at first; he winces at Tyrus' vehemence and even backs away from Mary's aggressive talk, although she is safely - for him - behind a locked door. The pair's menacing behavior soon has an effect on Dwight, and we watch a transformation.

Although unseen, Brenda Withers gives a powerful performance as the imprisoned Mary, whose body may be limited but whose mind soars. Confined to this cellar, she creates her own world, as she suggests we all do with our imagination." (full review)

"She can't wait for her next appointment."

2010-08-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

"As Mrs. Givings, Stacy Fischer is perfect in her portrayal of a woman who feels overshadowed by the consuming work of her preoccupied doctor husband, played by Robin Bloodworth. The good doctor’s demeanor, especially toward his wife, is anything but electric. In his mind, his work and its shocking results are paramount." - Barnstable Patriot

(read the review)

The People Speak - Sunday, 8/22 @2pm

2010-08-19T06:55:00.001-07:00

Join us for a special encore screening of The People Speak, a beautiful and moving film inspired by Howard Zinn's book A People's History of the United States, one of the bestselling history books in the United States. The film features the words, letters, songs, poems, speeches, and manifestoes of American rebels, dissenters, and visionaries, including Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Bob Dylan, Langston Hughes, Chief Joseph, Muhammad Ali, and unknown veterans, union workers, and abolitionists. The film weaves together archival footage and interviews with dramatic readings by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Don Cheadle, John Legend, Viggo Mortensen, Bruce Springsteen, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei, Eddie Vedder and Kerry Washington, among others. A post-show reception follows.

photo by Robin Holland

insert double-entendre here

2010-08-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

The reviews have begun for Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or the vibrator play.

Cape Cod Times:
"John Kolvenbach’s direction insightfully balances the comic and serious elements in the play. Stacy Fischer gives a sparkling performance as Mrs. Givings, a spirited woman, full of energy, yet troubled by her inability to nurse her baby. She is a contrast to the originally lethargic Mrs. Daldry, who with treatment is relieved of her symptoms and becomes an animated, compassionate young woman. As Mrs. Daldry, Laura Latreille delightfully makes the grand leap from a cringing figure hiding behind a thick veil when she arrives for treatment to the lighthearted woman with roses in her cheeks who emerges from the doctor’s office.

Robin Bloodworth nicely embodies the starchy, purely clinical Dr. Givings, who, despite his knowledge of medical science, has no clue to the erotic aspects of his treatment. In some ways, the good doctor is as sexually ignorant as the women.

David Fraioli lights up the play with a fiery portrayal of the painter needing treatment in order to get back to his easel.

John Romualdi is fine as the chauvinistic Mr. Daldry. Chandra Hartman gives an understated performance as gentle, wise and subservient Elizabeth. And Valerie Stanford is Annie, Dr. Givings’ assistant, who despite her medical experience is as naive as the other women – except for Elizabeth, perhaps the most knowing character in the play.

Ji-Youn Chang’s set of the Victorian parlor, dressed in patterned red walls and the adjoining blue-papered medical office, despite Edison’s electrical inventions, in many ways symbolizes the shadows that lurked over male-female relationships of that era.

Carol Sherry’s costumes, complete with petticoats and corsets, remind us of the limitations women had to endure even in their dress.

It was quite a coup for WHAT’s artistic director Jeff Zinn to secure rights so quickly to produce this play, which is as illuminating as it is provocative."

(read the review)

"an intense experience" - reviews for Storytelling

2010-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Boston Globe:
"Things get extreme in a hurry in Carter W. Lewis’s “The Storytelling Ability of a Boy.’’

How extreme? Well, we have barely been introduced to a teenager named Dora before she has, um, nailed her hand to a wall in a high school hallway, using a nailgun she sees as a must-have accessory, the way more conventional girls might view a Prada purse or a pair of Uggs.

It’s jolting, yes. But the greater shock that lies in store for the audience at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, where “The Storytelling Ability of a Boy’’ is receiving its New England premiere in a production by the Boston Art Theatre, is what a strangely tender, ultimately moving ode to the power of friendship this play turns out to be."

"Shepard gives a performance expertly attuned to Caitlin’s internal struggle as she tries to get past her past and nurture this new talent she has discovered, to fill the clean slate and get it right this time.... Doyle, who is WHAT’s lighting designer (and fulfills that function with this production as well), proves an able performer, thoroughly inhabiting the difficult role of Dora and letting us see the wounded heart behind her self-protective scorn, but by degrees, not all at once.

As Peck, Foster builds a persuasive portrait of the artist as a young eccentric. Peck’s initial bravado dwindles to something more interesting as it becomes clear that his third-person approach to narrating his life might be not just the impulse of a born storyteller, but also a defense mechanism meant to establish a degree or two of separation from reality."
(read review online)

Cape Cod Times:
"Ted Vitale's sparse set for "The Storytelling Ability of a Boy" makes it almost like a reading, which really works for a play about the power of narrative, and allows us to focus on the interaction among the three actors.

It's an intense experience, reminding us once again how transforming words on a page, especially when spoken aloud, can be — for characters in a play, and for us; for good, and for evil."
(read review online)

Barnstable Patriot
"Bridget Doyle as Dora shines as the recalcitrant, cynical young woman trying to survive both her upbringing and high school. Her training and experience have led her to shoot from the hip first, ask questions later and yet there is something lovable and vulnerable about her and it is probably that little bit of an unprotected underbelly that has made her best friend and supporter, Peck, played by Adam Foster, fall in love with her."

"Foster plays a difficult part so well it is hard to remember he is really not an adolescent in pain. He strikes the perfect chord as a young man relating the poetry of how life could be that his character wants to live out and the real hard life behind the words he cannot stop putting into story form. Shepard gives a calm yet engaging performance as a teacher burdened with her own secret as she gets caught up in the unfolding of the stories of her two students. She probably has the least dramatic part on stage and yet it is through her that much of the story unfolds, and she is up to the task."

"Between the scenes of this dark play the stage went dark and the audience was silent. The lack of applause certainly didn’t mean the acting and directing weren’t wonderful, just that the story demanded a certain respect and attention. This is not a play for children or immature adolescents. It is a tough story of fear, loss and confusion but it is also ultimately a story of love, compassion, truth and mostly of the raw grit of survival we all must find in our own souls and our own stories. In the end the audience applauded for a long, long time."

"The sets by Ted Vitale are attractive as well as effective, efficient and minimalist, something many designers attempt and not many accomplish. Lighting design by Bridget K. Doyle (yes, the same young woman who played Dora) was excellent as was sound design by Jess Bauer. Costumes by Carol Sherry were perfect and Sarah Beals did a great job with the props."
(read the review online)

"a very pleasing cavort" with Cyrano

2010-07-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Director Brendan Hughes has created a story within a story in Jo Roets' Cyrano, (an adaptation of Edmond Rostrand's play). By the end you may find yourself wondering whose love story you've been watching.

Here's what the press had to say:

Provincetown Banner:
"It’s not easy to show that true beauty is more than skin-deep, particularly in a time-sensitive frame of 90 minutes, but “Cyrano” at the Harbor Stage of Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater does just that."
(read review online)

Barnstable Patriot:
"Those of you who have but an inkling of Edmond Rostand's 19th century French theatrical masterpiece Cyrano de Bergerac might wince at the idea of taking in the five-act in a tiny theater in the midst of a humid summer night. Fear not. The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater has found an adaptation by Jo Roets that is microwave quick and, under the capable direction of Harbor impresario Brendan Hughes, as easy to sink your teeth into as a profiterole.

Roets' adapt is like a Rocky and Bullwinkle' “Fractured Fairy Tale.” It’s a Cliffs Notes version, if you will, that gives you just enough of the gist of the story so you can impress your friends with your knowledge of the classics without needing to put in the seat time to engage the unabridged leviathan."
(read review online)

Cape Cod Times:
"The versatile Robert Kropf gives a multi-dimensional performance as Cyrano. He is passionate and funny, nimbly moving among the various emotions. He is a courageous soldier and swashbuckling swordsman dueling without a rapier, a pompous cavalier sensitive to any untoward remarks about his disfiguring nose, a disappointed lover and finally the unselfish, amorous speaker and writer of poetry. He says to Christian, "I'll lend you the words and you'll lend me your good looks and charm." Together they make the ideal lover. Although it is Christian's face Roxanne sees, it is Cyrano's words that she loves.

In addition to playing Christian, Jonathan Fielding takes on several other roles, and his quick persona and costume changes add delightful humor to the play. He is comical as the foppish, rotund De Guiche with a pillow in his weskit, who courts the unresponsive Roxanne. With the swift discarding of a wig or donning of a hat or hood, he becomes the baker Ragueneau, a flamboyant monk and several others for good measure.

Brenda Withers sparkles as the quixotic Roxanne. Her expressive eyes and animated gestures provide a dynamic picture of the misguided young woman who can't resist a pretty face.

Ted Vitale's set of a miniature 17th-century Paris is clever and Carol Sherry's costumes are authentic with an amusing flair, like the pillow that can be seen slipping from De Guiche's weskit. And let us not forget the nose, seemingly as long as a ski run, projecting from poor Cyrano's face."

"Hughes' direction of the play is sure and swift, a very pleasing cavort with three actors who clearly know their business and come together for a sparkling performance."
(read the review)

"All it lacks is the high ticket price and the drive to NYC."

2010-07-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

The online version of the Cape Cod Chronicle is smarter than we are and for the life of me I can't figure out how to link the review of Born Yesterday. So here it is, in all its glory:

WHAT Makes Classic 'Born Yesterday' Fresh And Funny
by Ellen Petry Whalen

The role of Billie Dawn in "BornYesterday" made Judy Holliday a star on stage, in 1945, and in film, in 1950. Many leading ladies like Melanie Griffith, in the 1993 film, and Madeline Kahn, in the 1989 Broadway revival, tried to make it their own, with limited success. Actress and comedian Winslow Corbett is Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's answer to the challenging and well-known role. Her stellar performance captures the essence of Holliday, while still leaving room for her own mark on the character.

The story in a nutshell is "Pygmalion" with a political twist. The uncouth, self-made, junk-yard king Harry Brock (Tom Kee), worth millions, arrives in Washington, D.C., to bribe a senator (Ron Jacoby) with the hopes of getting an advantageous amendment passed. Brock sets his entourage up in a posh penthouse suite, with a stunning and ever-present view of the Capitol building's dome. After discussions with his well-paid lawyer (John Romualdi), Brock decides his ex-showgirl, long-time girlfriend Billie Dawn (Corbett) needs some refining, since they are now in the Washington big leagues. He decides "New Republic" writer Paul Verrall (Adam Harrington) has the right measure of culture and education for the job. With knowledge comes enlightenment and soon Billie is questioning her passive ways and biting the hand that feeds her.

The play has a timeless quality to it, with corruption in politics seemingly impossible to eradicate and greed ever-present. Through Billie, playwright Garson Kanin stresses how one person can make a difference, but it takes educating oneself to become empowered. The comedic character development of Billie's awakening is the cornerstone of the story. She goes from swaying her hips and honestly admitting, "I'm stupid and I like it," in the first act, to standing up to the imposing Brock at the end declaring, "I don't think I like you anymore," and making the simple, yet astute observation, "When you steal from the government, you steal from yourself."

The acting in WHAT's production is nothing less than outstanding. Corbett not only fits the blonde bomb-shell ideal, but more importantly captures Billie's vulnerability, revealing the tragedy in the comedy. In a WHAT press release Corbett shared, "Billie Dawn is my dream role. She's my Hamlet." Having recently seen the movie before the drama, I couldn't help but notice that Corbett's voice had a ring of Judy Holliday's, which made her performance all the more stirring. Kee's fully developed portrayal of Brock seems part James Gandolfini and part Jackie Gleason, producing a threatening Brock with an endearing comical edge. Harrington plays the classic hero of the story, with his chiseled features and soft-spoken idealism, reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." When Billie starts to fight back, Romualdi, as the lawyer, becomes the conscience of the story, demonstrably carrying the weight of his wrongdoings and lost ideals.

The audience clapped when Ji-Youn Chang's stunning, gold-gilded, art deco set was revealed. Two dramatic staircases frame the stage, with a large commanding window overlookingWashington. Carol Sherry's period costumes were fantastic; especially Billie's many glamorous outfits, each fitting her different moods, with bling to match.

WHAT's production of the idealistic comedy "Born Yesterday" is a stunning success. Director and WHAT Dramaturg Dan Lombardo has captured the feel and essence of the classic-play-turned-movie, while making it feel fresh and updated. It has everything one would expect from a big Broadway revival: the drama, the glitz and the superb acting. All it lacks is the high ticket price and the drive to NYC.

"Watching her on stage is simply a delight, even when the spotlight is on someone else."

2010-07-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

Barnstable Patriot:

"Winslow Corbett plays the iconic part of Billie Dawn in WHAT’s production of Born Yesterday, and the young actress is not only up to the challenge but makes the part her own, something that is not easy to do with such a well known character. She sulks, she struts, she looks confused and angry and belligerent. She sees the light and her body language begins to change as well as her speech. She finds her own strength, not only in her beauty and natural allure but in her mind as well."

"Cute as a button, Corbett has wonderful and consistent stage presence throughout, something not all actors maintain. Her struggle for transformation from chorus girl to lovely lady is totally believable and is achieved as much through her facial expressions as anything else. Watching her on stage is simply a delight, even when the spotlight is on someone else."

"Tom Kee is perfect as Harry Brock, the self-made millionaire junk dealer who has come to Washington to exchange his money for influence. ... Kee brings just the right mix of bravura and arrogance to his part, allowing for a touch of vulnerability and confusion here and there...."

"Though all this Paul Verrall, played by the likable Adam Harrington, is obviously falling for Billie Dawn even as he teaches her the meaning of democracy and the importance of high ideals and integrity.... Harrington plays Verrall with a good mix of seriousness and humor."

"Andrew Eldredge as cousin and assistant Eddie Brock brings a touch of humor to his part and Robin Vacek, Billy Balmer, Randy Bartlett and Katie Quigley all deserve a mention for their small but well played parts. Ron and Linn Jacoby, an older couple who have acted together all over the place for many years, are delightful to watch as well."

"The set by Ji-Youn Chang brought well-deserved applause when the curtain was lifted and lighting and sound were well done throughout. Dan Lombardo directed and is to be congratulated for an excellent job bringing new life to an old play and a new light on an old but still relevant story."

(read the review online)

Rave Reviews for Born Yesterday!

2010-07-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

These are the reviews you can read. What you can't find online is the response our audiences have had every night. There's a gratifying little gasp when the curtain opens on Ji-Ji's gorgeous set, followed by riveted silence, followed by belly-laughs, followed by people standing and cheering.

The Cape Cod Times:
"Tom Kee gives a powerful performance as Brock. He swaggers and yells, cajoles and threatens. He vigorously drives the play, commanding the stage with a compelling performance.

Adam Harrington is credible as the mild-mannered reporter who seems hardly a match for Brock. But he is as wily in his way as Brock, except his intentions are for the greater good. He’s out to clean up government and Brock seems a good place to start.

John Romualdi gives a sterling performance as Brock’s lawyer, handling his shady finances and smoothing the mogul’s way in the corridors of power. In some ways, attorney Devery is more culpable than Brock. Devery knows better, yet he has been enticed by money into a life of white-collar crime. Romualdi’s portrayal of a man who ethically traded down for the fast and easy buck is sensitive and insightful. He stands as a symbol of the segment of society that is easily corrupted by big payoffs and power, so prevalent today.

Ron Jacoby ably presents Senator Hedges (a name that has a contemporary reference that playwright Kanin wouldn’t have known) as a weak-kneed politician seduced by easy money and easily threatened by the bombastic Brock.

Ji-Youn Chang’s set design of the two-story, Art Deco-inspired hotel suite costing the unheard of sum in those days of $235 a night (the chambermaid makes $18 a week) is beautifully done with great attention to detail. The view of the Capitol building looms large through a window."

(read the review online)

Provincetown Banner:

"At first glance Garson Kanin’s 1946 play “Born Yesterday” might seem an odd choice for the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, known more for looking to the future than looking back. But under Dan Lombardo’s tight direction, the play’s classic themes and dialogue sparkle in the hands of an accomplished cast."

"Harrington brings a Jimmy Stewart good-man quality to the stage. Kee as Harry turns in a strong performance that smacks of physicality. In his best scenes he fairly bristles with animal intensity. Which is not to say he has any trouble with his comic bits; he doesn’t. But it is Corbett’s Billie Dawn that makes it all happen.

Corbett undergoes a believable, if somewhat rapid, transformation from vapid and me-centered to contemplative and ethical. She’s got plenty of funny lines and her comic timing is terrific. We are soon rooting for her.

By the final curtain everything gets neatly, and not unexpectedly, wrapped up. And even though Billie is the one who was being “schooled,” everybody learns something important here."

(read the review online)

"Family fun for Everyone (depending on your definition of fun, that is)"

2010-06-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Cape Cod Chronicle:
"Word seems to be getting out about WHAT’s professional Harbor Stage. The intimate theater’s edgy season opener, Colorado, was packed to the gills on Saturday and summer isn’t even in full swing yet. A big part of this demand is that this is the third summer director Brendan Hughes and his synergistic acting troupe of six are back to entertain the Cape with their combined comic genius throughout the season.

Colorado’s satirical edge and twisted, yet insightful, view of contemporary America not only hits the funny bone but also the heart of the perfectly packaged, dysfunctional family. If you enjoy an insightful, unpredictable black comedy, this show will not disappoint."
(read the review)

Barnstable Patriot:
"The Ackhart family could be the typical American middle-class clan – if the daughter is a beauty pageant winner, the son is obsessed with a trash TV-show personality, the mom lives vicariously through her daughter, and the dad’s dream is to to leave his family behind and live in a small beach hut on the shores of Cuba.

They’re not exactly Ozzie and Harriet, but the dark, twisted Ackhart family tree sprouts many laughs as we visit them in Colorado, playing at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's Harbor Stage.

Harbor Impresario Brendan Hughes unleashes his talented repertory troupe in this New England premiere to great success. The play, written by West Coast playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, provides plenty of perverse material that the Harbor ensemble eagerly sinks their teeth into. The end result is a outlandishly humorous and macabre evening of theater that's right up WHAT's alley."
(read the review)

Boston Globe - Daughter of Venus

2010-06-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Louise Kennedy, theater critic for the Boston Globe, visited WHAT last weekend:

"In Jeff Zinn’s fluid, naturalistic staging at WHAT (on an evocatively academic-homey set by Ji-Youn Chang), the play comes across as a quick-witted and emotionally complex study of a family, and a world, in crisis. For admirers of Howard Zinn’s passionate politics, and indeed for anyone interested in art that engages with the political world, it’s worth the trip to Wellfleet."

(Read the review)

and the winner is.....

2010-06-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Colorado!

Cape Cod Times:
"Brendan Hughes directs a superb cast of four in this dynamic production. Amanda Collins hits the perfect pitch as the cocky teenager so wrapped up in herself that she can only whirl through her family, whipping out one piercing criticism after another. Standing there in her gown and crown, she shines a bright smile while spouting the ugliest epithets. Collins makes us want to sit this girl down and shake some sense into her.

Brenda Withers is terrific as the flighty mom, whose nervous energy fuels the angst of the family. Withers hits high comedy as she scolds her son, scorns her husband and tries to be “friends” with her daughter, who nastily refuses to return the favor.

Jonathan Fielding gives a sensitive portrayal of poor, sad Travis, who spends most of his time in his room in his attempt to escape from his family. He evokes our sympathy at the same time he makes us laugh.

As Ron Ackhart, Lewis D. Wheeler ably expresses the confusion of the father who seems lost in this family, and like his son, seeks an escape route.

“Colorado” is stinging satire that provokes laughter as we see how ridiculous this supposedly normal suburban family is and how foolish they’ve become by investing in some of the most shallow values in American culture. Nachtrieb makes us laugh at them as we wonder whether we are also laughing at ourselves."

(read the review)

Daughter of Venus - more reviews!

2010-06-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Barnstable Patriot:
"Richard McElvain as Paolo turns in a near perfect portrait of a man torn between his work and his family. The cost both emotional and financially of his wife's hospitalization could be greatly alleviated by going back to work in his field, but at what cost to him and his morals? McElvain performed in WHAT's production of What The Butler Saw last season, and his talent should be used whenever possible in any future productions.

Poornima Kirby gives us a fine rendering of Aramintha, who searches for direction along the fine line of her youthful moral compass, trying to make the intricate family puzzle fit together neatly. Aramintha’s sibling love for her handicapped brother is touching, and it is evident she wants to play the role of healer of all of the family problems.

Jamie is deftly played by Alex Pollock, who pushes deep into his character's childlike tendencies and also those that show a young man who wants to be more than his mind will allow him to be.

Elizabeth Atkeson, as Lucy, is perhaps Zinn's most intriguing character. We see her only in flashback segments with her husband in better times. Lucy adds an almost ephemeral quality to the play; I wanted to know more about her deeply disturbing emotions.

Lastly Stephen Russell, longtime WHAT actor, plays Lendl, an almost devilish character who seems intent on stirring the Matteotti complex family concoction into greater turmoil. As always Russell is consummate in his acting.

Special mention is due Ji-Youn Chang's wonderfully designed set, which at least one viewer would like to inhabit.."
(read the article)

Cape Cod Chronicle:
“Kirby leads the flawless acting and palpable tension between family members with her natural presence on stage as the moral compass. Pollock perfects the child-like nature and nervous physical ticks of Jamie, never breaking character. While trying to maintain control over his family’s collapse, McElvain subtly reveals his internal struggles, showing glimpses of feelings, barracked by statements like “good cannot prevail over power.” Russell is excellent as the righteous humanitarian who has become a justifying member of the president’s inner counsel. Atkeson’s sorrow-filled presence is felt whether she is on or off stage, personifying the heart of the family."
(read the article)

Provincetown Banner;
"Even for those of us who barely knew great historian Howard Zinn it was hard to hold back from weeping at the curtain call for “Daughter of Venus.” The production seems a fitting celebration of the man who became well known in the world and in Wellfleet, in that order.

A columnist for the Globe who was a friend of Zinn’s described him as 'having a genius for the practical meaning of love.' This production offers a peek at that genius."
(read the article)

Daughter of Venus review - Cape Cod Times

2010-06-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

"Poornima Kirby gives a vibrant performance as the rebellious Aramintha. You may delight in her childlike innocence and her sometimes astute arguments at the same time you are inclined to shake her for her reckless behavior." Debbie Forman, Cape Cod Times

Read the whole review of Howard Zinn's Daughter of Venus online.

Daughter of Venus, the set

2010-06-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Atkeson and Richard McElvain in Daughter of Venus by Howard Zinn.

The paintings used in this set are by our very own Evan Farley.

here goes!

2010-05-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

I asked Jeff to proof the Daughter of Venus program for me, since it's my first program and I have no idea what I'm doing. "I want to make sure I have everyone listed correctly," I told him. "I don't want to come out and find someone's lit my cat on fire and slashed my tires."

"I don't blame you," he said quite seriously.

If this is my last post, I guess we'll all know what happened.

Hours from now we'll open the season with Howard Zinn's Daughter of Venus. I keep expecting people to run down the hall yelling "heads will roll!" but no, all is quiet. I think everyone worked late into the night yesterday. They must have because it looks pretty dang great.

This is not what the stage looked like a week ago.

While everyone was still sleeping, Rowland Scherman showed up to hang a collection of his photographs. I was sent off for a ladder and although I never found the ladder I did get a self guided tour of backstage. It's amazing the actors don't get lost between scenes.

We did get everything hung (by "we" I mean "they") so you can come see them and meet Rowland tonight. You'll be one degree of separation from pretty much everyone.

(by Rowland Scherman)

We hope to see you at the theater soon. I'll be the one carefully guarding my tires.

Season Posters - Daughter of Venus

2010-05-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

Brendan Hughes is designing our posters this season - here's the first! Howard Zinn's Daughter of Venus opens at the Julie on May 27. You can download a full sized pdf of the poster here.

WHAT’s production of Daughter of Venus is a family affair in more ways than one. WHAT Artistic Director Jeff Zinn is son of the historian, political activist, and author of A People’s History of the United States who died in January. Zinn directed the play’s world premiere in the 1980s, and is directing it now a generation later as a husband and father himself.

Howard Zinn - Daughter of Venus

2010-04-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

The 2010 season opens with Howard Zinn's Daughter of Venus
May 27-June26
Thursday-Sunday, 8pm

Did You Know?

The Pearl Jam song "Down" from the album Lost Dogs was inspired by the band's friendship with Zinn.

Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who grew up near Zinn and were family friends, gave "A People's History" a plug in their Academy Award-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting

Marge Simpson is seen reading "A People's History" in The Simpsons episode 1911, ―That 90's Show,‖ which flashes back to when Marge was in college

Musician Bruce Springsteen's bleak album "Nebraska" was inspired in part by "A People's History"

In the System Of A Down song "Deer Dance", about police brutality against peaceful protest, Zinn is paraphrased in the line "We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train"

In the System of a Down song "A.D.D.", Zinn is paraphrased in the line "There is no flag that is large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs"

In 2007, the bluesman Watermelon Slim begins his Blues Music Award-nominated CD, NoPaid Holidays, with the song "Blues For Howard", which references Howard Zinn's life-changing World War II experience, and his memoir, You Can't Stay Neutral On A Moving Train

2009-08-19T11:01:00.001-07:00

Weekly Missive #13 August 7, 2009

This missive comes in the form of "how I spent my summer vacation." Only it was just a weekend and it wasn't really a vacation (although it was fun.) I travelled to Chicago for the "First Look Repertory of New Work" festival at the Steppenwolf Theatre, seeing five plays in two days and attending a panel discussion. Chicago is cool (the weather was nice too.) The plays ranged from good to great. The panel was edifying. I thought I'd use this space to share my impressions.

My cab driver from the airport took me on an educational (if somewhat queasy) tour of Chicago. Fortunately it was a flat rate.

First up in the festival (at 10am on Saturday) was a staged reading of The Boys Room by Joel Drake Johnson (r). This was the best thing I saw all weekend. An extremely well written family drama that was dark, funny, moving. The dialog was so strong in act one I kept wondering when the writer would run out of steam. He never did. Characters: two middle aged sons whose imploded lives have driven them back to the "boys room" in their mother's house. The mother, who is learning Spanish so as to nurture a burgeoning (and possibly imaginary) romance with a Hispanic man she passes on the sidewalk each day. The wife one son has abandoned because she has breast cancer. Their sixteen year old daughter. The director, Sandy Shinner, happens to have directed Julie Harris at the Victory Gardens Theater. We had a nice talk at intermission and she introduced me to the playwright whose other work I am now eager to read.

Next, fully produced in the Garage Theater (their black box), was Honest by Eric Simonson. Compelling story about a young, successful memoirist who turns out to be a con man and a pathological liar. The play moves backwards and forwards in time ultimately revealing his true story which is both creepy and tragic. Very producible for WHAT.

Saturday night I saw their mainstage show, UP by Bridget Carpenter. Based on a true story about the guy who attached weather balloons to a lawn chair and managed to reach an altitude of 16,000 before landing safely. He tried to transform his :15 of fame into a career as a motivational speaker. That didn't work out. In the play we see a guy who struggles to realize a dream, resists the quotidian world of real work despite the fact that he has a wife and son to support. The son hooks up with a pregnant schoolmate and goes to work for her mom, telemarketing office supplies nationwide from 5am. That doesn't work out so well either. I think the play is good but there was something missing in this production that I can't quite put my finger on. You want it to soar but it didn't. We might be able to do it better justice. You can see a scene from UP here.

Ski Dubai by Laura Jacqmin - also in the Garage - was well done (they were all well done) but left me cold (pun intended.) A young architect is lured by the crazy inflated salary to move to Dubai to inject green technology into a massive construction project. The defeat of her idealism is marked by the progressive rejection by her employers of descending levels of LEEDS certification (Platinum, Gold, Silver, etc.) She also struggles against the unrelenting artificiality of her environment, the (by now well documented) cultural oppression of women and the advances of her married "roommate." I didn't care.

Finally, Sex With Strangersby Laura Eason (r) was a winner. So much so that it will probably be a runaway hit and we won't be able to touch the rights for awhile (sigh.) Two characters. Simple set. Sexy title. Brilliantly written. Producers from coast to coast are warming up their abacuses. I'll let the Steppenwolf PR department do the heavy lifting: "Ethan Strange is a hot young scenester whose online journal of sexscapades have turned him into the "it" boy of the blogosphere. Olivia is an attractive 30-something whose own writing career has crapped out. After they hook up, sex turns into dating and dating into something more -- but their online exploits threaten to destroy their real-life connection." It works.

And now the panel. These things can be deadly but there were some great questions on the table starting with a quote from Brecht (l): "A theatre which makes no contact with the public is a nonsense. Our theatre is accordingly a nonsense... All those establishments with their excellent heating systems, their pretty lighting, their appetite for large sums of money, their imposing exteriors,[ringing any bells yet?]together with the entire business that goes on inside them. All this doesn't contain five pennyworth of fun. ..." And the questions: "When was the last time you had fun in a theater?" Provocative stuff. Another, "To what degree is the theater in a generational crisis...?" And finally, "Who sets the agenda for the American theatre now? Artistic Directors? Audiences? Playwrights? Critics? The Board?"

This led to a wide ranging discussion with the setting up, almost immediately, of a rather obvious divide between two types of theaters: the young and scrappy vs the established and institutionalized. Chicago is swarming with "storefront" theaters who rely on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter for their marketing - not necessarily because they're hipper, but because it's all they can afford. The "institutions" (like The Goodman, Victory Gardens and Steppenwolf) do a fair amount of hand wringing about the aging of the audience and wondering what to do about it.

As I listened (uncharacteristically keeping my mouth shut) it struck me that WHAT straddles both worlds, especially given how our programming at the Harbor and the Julie - and the differentiation between the two - has evolved. Another way of looking at it is that we have the problems and the opportunities inherent in both structures. No easy answers, but it's always good to ask the questions.

Other News:
Noises Off closed out its record breaking run last Saturday. Ted, Victor and the crew then plunged into what they tell me was their most difficult and complicated "turnaround" - ever! The massive Noises set was dismantled and removed, likewise the turntable which had been in place since the early spring when it was installed forIrma Vep. Then the set for The Little Dog Laughed,pre-built in our offsite shop in Eastham, was loaded in. We're talking 25 hour days here. Of course Little Dog(David Nelson & Robert Kropf, l) opened last night so you can see the fruits of all this incredible hard work.[Most of this missive was written yesterday and the day before. I'm happy to report that Little Dog was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm last night. I'm tremendously proud of this show. Try to get there soon.]

Our other shows continue: Laughing Wild & Death by Chocolate at the Harbor; Puss in Boots under the Tent and The Happy Oyster Spectacular Show, on Sunday nights at the Julie. Meanwhile our next Harbor show, Speech & Debate (opening August 19) is in rehearsal. Yeah. Lots going on as usual.

The LAB has been generating lots of excitement. Our intention was to start it up in mid September at the earliest since that's when the rehearsal studio opens up. Then John Kolvenbach, who has rented a house here in Wellfleet for the month, asked if we had a space where he could work on re-writes for Mrs. Whitney (part of our Willy's reading series last March.) Just so happens thatThe Blue Roomdoesn't go into rehearsal for a couple of weeks. So (drumroll) we have our first LAB project! It's nice having John around too...

Our next special event is "The People Speak," the new film based onA Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Voices of a Peoples History Edited by Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Not surprisingly this event is already selling like hotcakes. [Yeah, yeah, they always say that. Well, we've already sold 125 and remember we can't sell the first two rows. That leaves about 50 available seats and we haven't even put up the poster! Nuff said.]

New England Foundation for the arts has awarded us a grant to present Avner The Eccentric (l) next winter. Kudos to Deb and Kathy for bringing this one home.

Just over the horizon, good stuff from The Metropolitan Opera and The National Theater London. MET Opera Guild Members can purchase tickets starting August 21. The Hoi Polloi must wait till September 8. One reason why our Opera Guild membership is growing...

That's all for now. I have real work to do!

As always...

Jeff Zinn
Artistic Director

2009-07-28T05:00:00.001-07:00

Introducing the WHAT LAB

For this week's missive I'd like to focus on a new initiative that everyone at WHAT is excited about: I am happy to announce the formation of the WHAT LAB, a purely creative space for the development of new work and the enrichment of our extended company.

Perhaps the best way to describe how this will work is to share an experience we had last spring. Back in March I got an e-mail from Tom Kee and Laura (Pee Wee) Latreille saying that they had an exciting new script by Ronan Noone (The Atheist) they wanted to work on. Would it be possible for them to use our empty rehearsal room for a weekend? Would it also be possible for them (7 people, 6 beds)to stay at the actors' house? It took about ten seconds for me to say, "why not?"

They came, they worked, they left. We barely knew they were here. They had a ball and declared the weekend a fruitful enterprise. The whole thing reminded me of my time as a member of the Circle Rep Lab in New York. At the time, Circle Repertory Company was 25 years old, well established as a major non-profit, producing a six show mainstage season in its 350 seat theater in Sheridan Square. The Circle Rep Lab had a membership of 300 actors, directors and designers. They met weekly to hear a play read or a guest speaker and produced projects that were open to the public. Everything was produced on a shoestring with minimal production values and no one got paid. Some of those projects ended up on the mainstage (Marsha Norman's 'Night, Mother, Bill C. Davis' Mass Appeal, and William M. Hoffman's As IS.) Most did not. In general there was a sense that some of the most exciting creative work at Circle Rep was generated in the Lab. The experience with Tom & Pee Wee and reflecting on the Circle Rep lab got me thinking, "why not have a Lab at WHAT?"

Some months later, after many discussions with WHAT staff and the Board, I am happy to say that we have reached broad consensus that a LAB at WHAT is a good idea and should be pursued. Here's a brief outline of what it would look like.

Genesis
The need for a LAB at WHAT arises from a desire on our part to be able to say "yes" more often to creative ideas - projects, scripts - that seem to arrive on an almost daily basis. Our seasons at the Julie and the Harbor are now reduced to a total of 7 plays - four at the Julie, three at the Harbor - plus two plug-ins. The demand that each of these plays have broad appeal, sell the maximum number of tickets, etc. further circumscribes our choices. Even the four plays chosen for the Willy's reading series seem to buckle under the same demand - to sell tickets - further limiting our ability to take chances. The LAB is an opportunity for us to open a window and let some fresh creative air blow through our space.

Leadership

The LAB will be lead by Dan Lombardo. He and I will provide guidance to projects, sitting in on rehearsals and providing feedback to project participants. Jim Dalglish will organize a "Playwrights Unit" within the LAB. Jim will work with Dan and myself to vet project submissions and recruit playwrights for the LAB.

Timing

Our rehearsal hall and "actors house" becomes available in mid September when our last regular season shows opens. This marks the earliest possible time that local projects could begin. The regular season typically goes into rehearsal at the beginning of May. LAB projects, both local and non-local (requiring housing) will have to conclude at least a week prior to company move-in dates.

Membership

There will be no "membership" in the LAB per se. Anyone can submit a project for consideration. Projects will be accepted or rejected on the merits with some preference given to artists with existing relationships to WHAT.

Project Vetting

Artists with projects will be asked to submit in writing:

Script or synopsis.

List of participants and bios.

List of needs including desired rehearsal schedule, days in residence.

Private/public outcome:

No performance?

Invited only performance?

Public performance?

Costs
Like individuals and theater companies everywhere, WHAT is already struggling to survive in a difficult economic environment. We have recently gone through a major restructuring that entailed cutting our annual budget by one third, shortening our season, reducing the size of the full time, year round staff, reducing remaining staff salaries by 15%, and implementing a host of other innovative and cost saving strategies.

Given the above, it might seem like an inopportune time to launch something as ambitious as a WHAT LAB. Nevertheless we all feel strongly that this is NOT the time to stop looking for ways to generate new work, to experiment and to provide new opportunities for artists to create. But it is imperative that we employ all of our creativity to find ways of creating a LAB that will neither add to the budget nor substantially add to the work load of our already overworked and underpaid staff! To that end we ask that LAB participants agree to work within the following parameters:

Projects will be required to do all bulk copying off site and prior to arrival.

Projects will be encouraged to arrive with their own props/costumes if needed.

Projects requiring guest housing will be asked to pay a "concierge fee" (to be determined) to pay for cleanup and utilities.

Revenues

Public readings will charge a "pay what you can" admission.

Dedicated grants will be solicited to fund the LAB Director stipend and miscellaneous expenses associated with the LAB. The existence of the LAB will also enhance our ability to get other, more general, grants.

Benefits

The LAB goes to the creative soul of the company, in keeping with WHAT's original mission. This artistic development can create wider benefits not least of which is recognition from foundations and granting agencies who are keenly interested in this kind of work.

The LAB will provide a new venue for play/project development that is unencumbered by our customary (and legitimate) fiscal constraints.

The LAB will provide an outlet for members of our creative community to experiment and enlarge their skills beyond their usual roles, i.e. actors/designers/techies/administrators who wish to act/write/direct, etc. (I'm reminded of Charlie Marz, the ART's longtime Development person, who wrote "The Island of Anyplace" which is still in their repertory 20 years later.)

What about the WHAT Playwright's Alliance (WPA)?
WPA was a pilot program that took place in the spring of 2008. A group of playwrights, led by Jim Dalglish, shared drafts of their work online for a number of weeks and then participated in a week long residency of workshops and readings. The members/projects of the WPA will be folded into the LAB. I believe the LAB concept is more elastic, more open to new blood and will, ultimately, be less stressful on the company. Rather than have ten playwrights (with accompanying actors and directors) show up for a week's residency, the LAB will see a succession of individual projects (i.e. less people at a time). Previous WPA participants are encouraged to submit their projects for inclusion in the LAB.

If you would like to submit a project or have any questions or comments about the lab please send me an email (jz@what.org) with "WHAT LAB" in the subject line.

Dan, Jim and I look forward to hearing from you.
As always...

Jeff Zinn

Talk Back for Laughing Wild

2009-07-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Shut down your computer and call the WHAT box office immediately! Seriously, you must see "Laughing Wild" at WHAT Harbor Stage. AND, if you get tickets for Thursday night, July 23, you have a chance to meet the cast and director. I'll be hosting a free Talk Back after the curtain goes down.
About the show, the Cape Cod Times said,

"Laughing, crying, and laughing again is the roller-coaster ride of Christopher Durang's Laughing Wild, the new production at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater Harbor Stage.

"First performed off-Broadway in 1987, the play features lots of references to the pop icons of the times, Sally Jessy Raphael and Dr. Ruth Westheimer among them."

Brenda Withers gives "a stunning performance..."

Jonathan Fielding is "screamingly funny."

This is a Brendan Hughes production, so be prepared for theater like you've never seen it before. And we promise a Talk Back like you've never seen, as well -- one never knows WHAT will happen...

On stage
What: "Laughing Wild"

Presented by: Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater

Written by: Christopher Durang

Directed by: Brendan Hughes

When: Wednesdays through Sundays through Aug. 16

Where: Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater Harbor Stage, 1 Kendrick Ave.

Tickets: $29

Reservations: 508-349-9428 or www.what.org
Director Brendan Hughes has assembled the perfect duo to capture the broad range of this satirical romp through pop culture and the stresses of life.

WHAT's Happening

WHAT Funny Valentines !!

Announcing Bruce Bierhans as President, CEO and Board Co-Chair

The Enchanted Island

A Raisin in the Sun

cinemaWHAT in January

Tweeting at the Julie

WHAT's first-ever Children's Film Festival

Free reading!

Two weeks of performances, on stage and screen

WHAT to do in December

It's a Teva Surf Fiesta!

Met Opera in HD

In the Spotlight Cabaret - a benefit for We Can

The quintet take-away

Bluebeard's Castle at WHAT

Coming in November....

From Bach to pop

Bart Weisman Klezmer Swing Group comes to WHAT.

Chatham’s Lisa Jason brings her celebrated cabaret show to WHAT

Reviews - The Ding Dongs by Brenda Withers

Reviews - Body Awareness by Annie Baker

Cape Cod Magazine - Artist Profile

Jeff Zinn to Step Down as WHAT Artistic Director

The (Theater) People Speak

The Very Sad Tale of the Late Mr. Stiltskin

Robin Holland in the gallery

a review from the audience

Reviews for A Behanding in Spokane

#neighborhood3

Tweets ·

Director Dan Lombardo on Boeing Boeing

Pay WHAT You Can

online service fees are so last year

WHAT for Kids! Audition call

reports from the field

All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

The Voyage of Bran

photography by Stephanie Zollshan

Special Nights at Promise

"...echoes of Yeats... "

"two executive directors singing for their suppers”

"a show with a Broadway pedigree"

"It's about being entertained."

Phèdre encore with Helen Mirren

Danny Casolaro talkback tonight!

"not easily left behind as one exits the theater"

Cape Cod Chronicle review

Complex Political Intrigue Ends WHAT's Summer Season

In the Next Room, pictorial edition

pen vs. sword

see for yourself

another preview of Danny Casolaro - Cape Cod Times

a highly cofidential preview of Danny Casolaro

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Dead Ringer - "a tightly wound production, intense and suspenseful"

"She can't wait for her next appointment."

The People Speak - Sunday, 8/22 @2pm

insert double-entendre here

"an intense experience" - reviews for Storytelling

"a very pleasing cavort" with Cyrano

"All it lacks is the high ticket price and the drive to NYC."

"Watching her on stage is simply a delight, even when the spotlight is on someone else."

Rave Reviews for Born Yesterday!

"Family fun for Everyone (depending on your definition of fun, that is)"

Boston Globe - Daughter of Venus

and the winner is.....

Daughter of Venus - more reviews!

Daughter of Venus review - Cape Cod Times

Daughter of Venus, the set

here goes!

Season Posters - Daughter of Venus

Howard Zinn - Daughter of Venus

Talk Back for Laughing Wild