2009 - 2010 Professional Ensemble Season

La Fille at Tess’ Market

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 16:30:45 -0400

January 22 - February 13 / A Professional Ensemble Production in Repertory

On January 22, The Theater Project of Brunswick will premiere LA FILLE AT TESS' MARKET, an original musical by founder and Artistic Director Al Miller.

Who was this La Fille, and why should she have a play? Though known as "La Fille," her real name is Theodora. A long time resident of Brunswick, La Fille was on Maine and Pleasant Streets every day except Sunday, collecting bottles and cans. Miller got to know her after he told her there were bottles and cans at The Theater Project. "I told her we worked with a lot of kids and they drank a lot of soda and juice while at the theater. The next day she showed up and after that, she was a regular. We would speak a little French together, and one day I noticed she was curious about what was going on in the theater itself. I invited her in to watch and from then on, she often stayed for a while and watched a rehearsal or class."

Miller decided he wanted to write a play with La Fille as the main character and Brunswick the location. It would be a fantasy, not a realistic historical play. “As I got to know La Fille a little, I realized how little we know about people, any people, if we don't take time with them. I wanted La Fille to have a secret life that only someone close to her knew about."

Those close to La Fille in the play are Tess, the late owner of Tess' Market, and Dancer, her silent partner. There is also a musician, a troubadour, who gets to know her. What these three discover about her is that she travels, or seems to, through time and space, going back to the late 1800's and the mid 1950's in Brunswick. She visits the Cabot Mill and the Franco-American community when the mill was active, wanders in Merrymeeting Park over 100 years ago, and goes to St. John's Bazaar in the past and present.

LA FILLE AT TESS' MARKET is a musical, with music by Jim Hall and lyrics by Al Miller. The show opens Friday, January 22, and runs for four weekends, together with The Theater Project's other rep offering, David Lindsay-Abaire's raucous adults-only comedy WONDER OF THE WORLD. All tickets are Pay-What-You-Want, with a suggested price of $18, and are available anytime on this website, or by calling the box office at 729-8584. The Theater Project is located at 14 School Street in Brunswick.

Wonder of the World

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 16:24:49 -0400

January 23 - February 14 / A Professional Ensemble Production in Repertory

By David Lindsay-Abaire

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
If you missed it this summer - you are in luck!
Nothing will prepare you for the dirty little secret Cass discovers in her husband's sweater drawer. It is so shocking that our heroine has no choice but to flee to the honeymoon capital of the world in a frantic search for the life she thinks she missed out on. It's a wild ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel of laughs as Cass embarks on a journey of self-discovery that has her crossing paths with a blithely suicidal alcoholic, a lonely tour-boat captain, a pair of bickering private detectives and a strange caper involving a gargantuan jar of peanut butter, all of which pushes her perilously close to the water's edge.

Directed by Christopher Price, and featuring Theater Project favorites Craig Ela, Michele Livermore Wigton, Wendy Poole, Reba Short and Heather Weafer, along with Burke Brimmer and a shared role by Brent Askari and our own Al Miller.
Don’t miss this show!

Oliver Twist

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 16:14:18 -0400

May 7 - 23 / A Professional Ensemble Production + Young Company

Theater Project's OLIVER TWIST Features Young and Old Together

When The Theater Project's Professional Ensemble takes the stage in May with their latest production of OLIVER TWIST, there will be some new - yet familiar - faces added to the mix. For the first time in Theater Project history, The Professional Ensemble will share the stage in a full collaboration with teen actors from The Young Company.

Directed by Christopher Price, the play is an adaptation of the well-known Dicken's novel, set in 19th century London. In it, young Oliver runs away from an orphanage and is taken by The Artful Dodger to Fagin's den, where he joins in a series of adventures with the ragtag street gang until he is befriended by a young benefactor.

According to Price, “Although the novel’s scope is greatly reduced in playscript form, it’s still quite a challenge to produce due to multiple scenes with a relatively large cast made up of both adults and young people. The Theater Project is a good venue for this because of the availability of student actors from The Young Company and our company of professional adult actors. Working with such a range in age and experience has been interesting and rewarding. It has forced me to articulate the craft more fundamentally and less conceptually than I would normally do with an exclusively professional cast. This is a good foe me and, I think, good for the kids to have the experience of working with seasoned actors.“

Featured professional actors include David Butler as Fagin, David Currier as Brownlow, and Craig Ela as Bill Sykes . Young Company actor and Mt. Ararat senior Emily Bowie has a difficult role as Nancy, the mistreated but loving wife of Bill Sykes. "Working closely with professionals has taught me more about acting than any other acting experience," Bowie says. "I'm surrounded by adults to strive to teach me and still listen to what I have to say. I think this is a learning experience for everyone involved, a positive one. I love it." Other featured young actors include Anna Palopoli as The Artful Dodger and Odie DeSmith as title character Oliver Twist.

The production is decidedly unlike the rather well-known musical Oliver!, but rather a grittier and perhaps more accurate take on the novel. "Dickens wrote Oliver Twistas a social commentary on the appalling conditions of the poor and of children in early 19th century England, " says Price. "Work and poorhouses, the harsh treatment of orphans, child labor laws, and the gross economic disparity between the rich and the poor were favorite topics; sarcasm, caricature and black humor favorite weapons to illustrate them. This makes for great reading and, I think, great characters to portray on stage."

OLIVER TWIST will run May 7 through May 23. Performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are Pay-What-You-Want, with a suggested price of $18, and are available online anytime. Patrons may also call the box office at 729-8584, or visit 14 School Street in Brunswick.