The Walpole Players

The Walpole Players announces auditions for an upcoming murder mystery dinner event, “Murder on the Vine,” an Agatha Christie-inspired evening. Auditions will be held Sunday, October 20, 4:00-6:30 pm, and Wednesday, October 23, 6:00-8:30 pm, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Walpole, located at the corner of Westminster and Elm Streets, across from the Town Hall.

Performances will be Friday and Saturday evening, February 7 & 8, 2020, with snow dates February 21 and 22. This event is a fundraiser for the Church’s renovation fund. Rehearsals will be 1-2 times per week in January.

The setting is at a vineyard/hotel in Italy, where guests gather at a dinner for prospective buyers from Walpole, NH. Everyone has a secret and a motive for murder! In place of the Christie-esque snowstorm that strands everyone at the hotel, there is a volcanic eruption and no one will be allowed to leave (until dessert, that is!). This is an interactive show, and audience participation is encouraged.

The murder mystery will feature at least 8 actors in brief comedic scripted scenes with lots of improv.  Adults of all ages and types are invited to audition – including experienced high school actors. No preparation necessary. We just ask that you plan to stay until the audition is finished, since it will be done in a group format. Casting is flexible and the number of actors can be expanded.  Jeanie Levesque, the director, has performed in, directed and produced several productions in the area, including several mystery dinners.

Even if you’ve never done improv before, come and try your hand at the audition. Fun is guaranteed!

For more info, please email WalpolePlayers@gmail.com, send a personal Facebook message to Jeanie Levesque, or post it to the Walpole Players Facebook Page.

The reviews are in! Get your tickets now for Lost in Yonkers. Remaining shows are Saturday at 7:00 and Sunday at 2:00, at the Helen Miller theater at the Walpole Town Hall. Tickets will be available at the door. Email walpoleplayers@gmail.com for more info.

https://www.eagletimes.com/lifestyles/walpole-players-produce-lost-in-yonkers-neil-simon-s-family/article_03f09978-5c0d-11e9-8152-d71fcf75b7a1.html

The Walpole Players’ next production is Neil Simon’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, LOST IN YONKERS.

Mark your calendars now for this heartfelt and hilarious coming-of-age story, as funny as it is poignant and certain to leave you spellbound with laughter and tears.

This Neil Simon classic tells the story of a family coping with the challenges of keeping together during World War II and the struggles to balance love with tough times. Grandma Kurnitz, played by Maggie Jennings, is the matriarch with a will of iron and a hardwood cane who spared no rod in raising her four children. When her two teenage grandsons, played by Ben Robison and Anthony Mitchell, are forced by circumstances to live with her for a year, the clash of generations and battle of wills leads the whole family to learn important lessons about love, duty, devotion, and trust.

The childlike Aunt Bella is played by Karen Soohoo, with the rest of the cast rounded out by Tom Durnford as Uncle Louie, a small-time gangster, Gregory Higgins as Eddie, the boys’ father, and Jenny Plante as Aunt Gert. The production is directed by Charlestown resident Mike Wright.

Lost in Yonkers is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. Performances are Friday-Saturday, April 5-6, & Saturday, April 13, at 7:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $10 and will be available at Joanie Joan’s Eatery, 14 Westminster Street, and Galloway Real Estate, 47 Main Street, in Walpole. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Walpole Players will be holding auditions for our 2019 spring production of Neil Simon’s LOST IN YONKERS..

The Pulitzer Prize winning play, LOST IN YONKERS is a heartfelt and hilarious coming-of-age story about a very eccentric family by America’s great comic playwright, Neil Simon. Like many of Simon’s plays, LOST IN YONKERS is drawn from his experiences growing up in New York City. Set during World War II, two young brothers, Arty and Jay, are sent to live with their formidable German Jewish immigrant grandmother, the sweet but mentally challenged Aunt Bella, and Uncle Louie, a small-time hoodlum running away from gangsters. LOST IN YONKERS tells the story of a family coping with the challenges of keeping together during World War II and the struggles to balance love, duty, devotion, and trust with tough times.

LOST IN YONKERS is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

AUDITION DATES:
Sunday, January 13th 4:30 to 6:00 PM
Tuesday, January 15th 6:30 to 8:00
At the Walpole Town Hall in Walpole, NH

CALLBACK DATES
As needed.

Auditions will be readings from the script.
If you have questions or are not available on the audition dates please contact Mike Wright at mikey2573@comcast.net .

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:

JAY – about 15, independent, jokester type who sometimes gets carried away with the situations going on around him; the play tells his coming-of-age story.

ARTY – Jay’s younger brother, he is 13 years old. More of an observer than the rest of his family, he often goes with the flow of things, but also can be a little childish.

EDDIE – Jay’s middle-aged father. After the death of his wife, he is forced to send his two sons to live with their grandmother, while he repays his large financial debts. He is shown to be, much like his sisters, a nervous wreck around Grandma

BELLA – Jay’s thirty-five-year-old aunt. She is sometimes a bit off-center and is mentally challenged, but despite this she is also loving and protective of her nephews. Much of the second half of the play focuses on her attempts at independence from her stern mother.

GRANDMA KURNITZ – Eddie and Bella’s mother, a big woman, buxom, with a strong and erect body, 70 odd years of age. Jay’s grandmother. A very old and stern woman. Owing to her harsh childhood, she has always been very intolerant of what in others she calls “weaknesses”. She is blunt, sometimes even in a funny way, and always knows what is going on with the people around her

LOUIE – Jay’s flamboyant, jovial uncle, in his late 30s, who comes to live with the family when he is hiding from the local mob. He is considered by Grandma Kurnitz to be the “survivor” of the family. He has a strong, mercurial nature, and a certain underlying dark side, which the kids uncover in the second act of the play. He works as a “bag-man” for the mob.

AUNT GERT – Jay’s aunt, and Grandma’s daughter. She is a very interesting addition to the family. Her most noticeable issue is that when she breathes she has a tendency to suck in while still speaking, as a result of trauma instilled in her by Grandma from a young age.

Rehearsals will be at the Walpole Town Hall in February, March, and April. Performances are April 5-6 and 12-13.

Save the date and get ready to be a part of The Walpole Players’ Christmas on the Air!  On Saturday, December 15, the Players will bring back its holiday-themed variety show.  The evening of entertainment will be similar to that of the Players’ popular Radio Follies show which has been performed in March for the past six years.

Performers will include the Radio Follies crew and others.  We would love to have you join the cast, so if you are interested in performing with the Players for this event, please contact Mike Delaney (mdelaney10@myfairpoint.net) or Deb Robarge (qduaiwlrt@live.com) with your ideas and energy!

For those of you who just want to enjoy an evening of fun entertainment, bring your own dinner, snacks, beverages of choice, and some friends!  Seating will be at round tables for eight, so feel free to linger after the show and relax with your table-mates.

Tickets are $10 and will go on sale after Thanksgiving.  They will be available at Joanie Joan’s Baked Goods, where table reservations can also be made.  All proceeds will go to Our Place Drop-in Center and the Fall Mountain Food Shelf.  Doors will open at 6:00 and the show will begin at 7:00.

For more information, please email WalpolePlayers@gmail.com or call Lisa Bryan at 756-2535.

You may have heard the news, you may have seen a copy, but you still have a chance to own a copy of Happy Momentum: 30 Years Onstage with The Walpole Players, by Jan Kobeski. This Old Home Days, The Walpole Players celebrated its 30th anniversary by performing George Washington Slept Here – the Players original production during Old Home Days in 1987.

Looking forward to completion of this third decade, a search for posters, programs, photographs and related ephemera proved tremendously fruitful. Material was collected on all 30 years of productions, the Junior Players, Theater Camp, A Christmas Carol, and more. The result is an 88 page full-color book, created by Jan Kobeski, taking you through a nostalgic memory filled trip of Players’ history.

Priced at $15, copies are available at Joanie Joan’s Baked Goods Company on Westminster Street in Walpole. If you would like a copy mailed anywhere in the US for $20, contact Ray Boas, or make arrangements at Joanie’s. And, in case we miss someone with this posting, please spread the word.