Staged Readings

Part of the 6 Playwrights in Search of a Production…

Playwright: Alex Ladd

Director: Alex Ladd

Cast: Austin Pendleton*, Andy McCutcheon*, Tarynn Wiehahn, Jen Danby, Victor Arnold*, Jess Osuna*, Lauren Munger.

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini, Technical Director: Corrie Beth Shotwell, Office Manager: Tara Webb, Stage Directions: Catherine Siracusa

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Chekhov’s Rifle was performed on April 6th & 7th, 2008

Synopsis: This play is about Harry, a misanthropic playwright, and his dim but charismatic actor roommate Tim. When Harry rails against what is wrong with contemporary theatre, he uses his own script as an example. Ironically, it’s the best thing he has ever written! When Tim steals the script and pawns it off as his own the story begins to unravel the same way as the maligned script. Rifle is humorously self-aware of its own device, down to the maxim that Chekhov himself first coined: “If a gun hangs from the wall in the first act of a play, it must fire in the last.” As a commentary on pop culture, this murder mystery is as much about the lives of the characters in the play as it is about the writer who has written it, the artists who are acting in it, and the audience watching it.

Part of the 6 Playwrights in Search of a Production…

Playwright: Peter Conston

Director: Edith Meeks

Cast: Peter Alexandrou, John Golaszewski, Heather Kenzie*, Catherine Kjome*, Andy McCutcheon*, Joseph Foley.

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini, Technical Director: Corrie Beth Shotwell, Office Manager: Tara Webb, Stage Directions: Joseph Foley

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Wiring was performed on April 25th & 26th, 2008

Synopsis: Darcy hides her infidelity from her two year-old relationship with Michael, who is absolutely clueless about her secret affair with Andy. Roommates, Jonathan and Andy both share an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where they sometimes meet-up with Michael and pose as a gay couple in order to act as a cover for Darcy. A play wrapped in lies, secrets, uncontrollable feelings, and regret were these characters can’t attempt to escape from.

Part of the 6 Six Playwrights in Search of a Production…

Playwright: Bernard Kops

Director: Kelly Morgan

Cast: Thom Christopher*, Katharine Cullison*, Austin Pendleton*.

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini, Technical Director: Corrie Beth Shotwell, Office Manager: Tara Webb, Stage Directions: Giovanni Villari, Sound: Mike Skinner

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Playing Sinatra was performed on April 13th & 14th, 2008

Synopsis: A powerful psychological drama set in an oppressive old house in London, where grown-up siblings Norman and Sandra resist their lonely future by living out their fantasies in the music of their idol, Frank Sinatra. Norman, an agoraphobic bookbinder, works at home and heats microwave meals to perfection; Sandra, with outside job and interests, longs to break free of her existence. But the option of leaving her mentally-disturbed brother and running off with the “mystic” Phillip proves less than straightforward … This tense play’s clammy grip never slackens.

An HB Staged Reading

Part of the 6 Playwrights in Search of a Production…

Playwright: Frank Canino

Director: Frank Canino

Cast: Reed Birney*, Jim Boerlin*, Matthew Conlon*, Liam Mitchell*, Anslem Richardson, Louis Zorich*.

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini Technical Director: Corrie Beth Shotwell Office Manager: Tara Webb Stage Directions: Tom Tinelli

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

The Altar Boys’ Picnic was performed on April 11th & 12th, 2008

Synopsis: One summer afternoon four priests in their mid-fifties meet for a reunion — possibly their last — at the bishop’s summer residence where they used to come for their annual altar boys’ picnic. They have known each other since their childhood when they fell under the influence of the charismatic Father Edward Calkins, who first guided them into the seminary. Later he became the bishop who ordained them and then dominated their lives. But Bishop Calkins is dead, and the four men are at a critical moment in their lives. One of them is on the verge of leaving the priesthood, another is involved in a love affair, and still another is facing a life threatening illness. They spend the day with the bishop’s older brother, Father Michael Calkins, whose career never matched that of his brilliant brother’s. Also with them is a young seminarian from Rwanda who has been temporarily assigned to help Father Michael prepare to go to a retirement home. Through the day, these three generations of men, who have made the uncommon decision to give their life to God, reunite to eat, play basketball, reminisce and deal with mementoes of the past. But as the day wears on they also reveal – sometimes against their will – how problematic their lives have become, and how they have become estranged from the Church which should have nurtured them. Whatever happens to each of them, no one will be the same after this picnic, where decisions must be made and unpleasant news dealt with. In what may be their last meeting, truths withheld are finally spoken, and delayed confrontations erupt.

An HB Ensemble Production

Part of the 6 Six Playwrights in Search of  a Production…

Playwright: David Rimmer

Director: David Rimmer

Cast: Polly Adams*, Matthew Cowles*, Bridgit Giuffrida, Will Koolsbergen, Thomas J. F. Regan III, Danton Stone*, Tom Tinelli, Jennifer Williams.

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini Technical Director: Corrie Beth Shotwell Office Manager: Tara Webb

The Reunion Guy  was performed on April 4th & 5th, 2008

Synopsis: A small New England school named, Windsor College reunite six men every June, spanning from 1991 to 2056 to discuss life after college. The men are old and have settled into families of their own with careers and self-owned businesses. Despite being a long time ago, they still reminisce those college years when they were younger and the memories they shared and continue to create new ones through every reunion.

An HB Staged Reading

Part of The 2nd 6 Playwrights in Search of a Production

Playwright: Maureen Laffey

Director: Jack Hofsiss

Homing was performed October 29th – 30th, 2009

An HB Studio Production

Part of The 2nd Six Playwrights in Search of a Production

Playwright: Barbara Dana 

Director: Anthony Arkin

Managing Director: Marlene Mancini Technical Director: Giovanni Villari Office Manager: Tara Webb

What Keeps Us Going was performed October 22nd – 23rd, 2008