Tag: theater

  • ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ as ‘Annie’ takes the stage

    Opening night jitters and “break a leg” well wishes are beginning to stir as the Needham Community Theatre’s production of “Annie” prepares to open Friday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m.

    Cast members say the classic tale of a pure-hearted, redheaded orphan who seeks her parents and ends up finding family in unexpected places, carries a deeper meaning than the experience of memorizing lines and frenetic costume changes.

    “It’s a community theater because really everyone’s such a community,” said Deahna Spada, the 13-year-old actress who plays Annie. “I get to go in after a long day of school or work and (be a member of) a community where everyone loves each other, and we all get to work on something really magical in the end.”

    Spada, who began performing at age 5 and appeared professionally in “The Little Mermaid” and “SpongeBob” by age 11, said the theater provides a refuge from life’s daily pressures. Unlike her other passion, competitive ski-racing, she says she enjoys the helpful, communal ethic of working with other actors.

    Meg Dussault, who plays the villainous Miss Hannigan, typically directs shows for the Needham Community Theater, but chose to act in “Annie.” 

    “When you’re a director, you have to take care of all the details and it’s your job to worry about everything,” Dussault said. “When you’re a performer, you really just have to worry about, ‘Can I do my best and can I deliver?’”

    She described the 40-plus people involved in the production as talented and supportive, so much so, the cast was unaffected by shortened days of sunlight and seasonal mood challenges. “As soon as we get daylight savings everyone’s cranky,” Dussault said, “and that hasn’t been here.”

    The actors involved in the show include Michael Bailit, who plays Franklin D. Roosevelt and is on the theater board. His dog Harpo is cast as Sandy. The cast has put in two to three hours per rehearsal, three times a week, since September. 

    “The theme of the show and its uplifting message means a lot to our community right now because we live in fraught times, where there’s not a tremendous amount of optimism that people are feeling about our country at this moment,” Bailit said when asked what the show means to the Needham community. “Having a show where the theme song is, ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ is, I think, a balm for sad souls.”

    With opening night approaching, actors are antsy to begin.

    “I’m really excited, I can’t wait for all my friends to come,” Spada said when asked how she feels about opening night, her hair cut and dyed, ready to play the part.

    “We’re ready,” was Bailit’s response to the same question. “We have a wonderful director, Marianne Lonati, who has directed for us previously and she runs a tight ship, and she makes sure that her cast is ready to go by the time it’s opening night.”

    Performance dates for the show along with tickets and other details can be found on the Needham Community Theatre website.

  • Newton Theatre Company honors Goldstein family through Monologue and memory

    Keren Kohan, left, and Jesse Kin, right, talk about their memories of the Goldstein family during the Newton Theatre Company Monologue Project. Photo by Georgia Epiphaniou.

    Jesse King and Keren Kohane coped with the loss of their friend Valerie Goldstein and her family the only way they knew how–through performance.

    Hundreds of people gathered at the Hyde Bandstand on May 31 to honor Matt, Lyla, Valerie and Violet Goldstein in this year’s Monologue Project. The Goldstein family died from carbon monoxide poisoning at their vacation home in Wakefield, N.H., in December.

    Matt, 52, and Lyla Goldstein, 54, were dedicated to education and community. Matt taught middle school math at the Edith C. Baker School in Brookline. Lyla was a program manager at Microsoft, a Girl Scout troop leader, and a basketball and soccer coach.

    The couple’s daughters were just starting their adult lives. Valerie, 22, was a recent Syracuse University graduate and a Teach for America fifth-grade teacher in North Carolina. Violet, 19, was in her first year at the Rhode Island School of Design.

    Organized by the Newton Theatre Company, the Monologue Project is an annual performance that amplifies the experiences of communities in Newton. Nearly six months after the Goldstein family died, King and Kohane gathered their friends, classmates and former students to perform in the family’s honor. 

    “Matt and Val were part of our Newton Theatre Company family. I mean, I’ve known this family for 15 years,” said Melissa Bernstein, the company’s director. “For us, it’s remembering and celebrating this wonderful family that was our family—the Newton Theater Company family.” 

    Valerie’s journey with the company started in 2010 when she first auditioned for its children’s productions. During middle school and high school, Violet joined her sister in “The Hipster” and several Junie B. Jones Productions. 

    Over the years, she became a vital member of the company, performing in and directing three previous Monologue Projects. 

    When he wasn’t teaching at Brookline’s Baker Middle School, Matt participated in Newton Theater productions. While Lyla and Violet weren’t frequent performers, their constant support left a lasting impact on the community.

    Given the family’s involvement in Newton Theater Company, King and Kohane said it felt like the most meaningful way to honor their memory. “I think it was a day or two after their passing,” said King, co-ordinator of the event, “and me, Karen, and a few others gathered at Melissa’s house to be together, and we thought it would be a good idea.”

    In the past, participants typically responded to an open call by Newton Theater Company and collaborated in small groups to write their monologues. Each piece is shaped through a process of workshopping and feedback.

    But this year was different. Because of how personal the loss was to the community, King and Kohane didn’t ask contributors to submit their monologues for feedback. Instead, they focused on reaching out to anyone who knew the Goldsteins.

    Each member of the Goldstein family was commemorated in their own way. Over 20 people shared stories, poems and songs that brought them back to cherished memories. Each person stepped on stage and spoke for seven to ten minutes. 

    Contributors included Matt Wilson, one of Violet’s teachers; Elaine Goldberg, a close friend of Lyla; a teammate from Matt’s soccer group; and Miranda Mellen, who met Valerie while studying abroad in Florence. 

    One of the most powerful performances came from a group of middle school boys who had been Matt’s students.

    “Matt was such an amazing role model and support system for all of these kids, and they had these wonderful things to say about him,” Kohane said. “By the end, they were emotional and supporting each other, which was nice to see. But it took me a moment to step back and be like, ‘Oh, wait, they’re middle schoolers.’”

    Kohane was the first performer of the evening, opening the event with a monologue. But for her, the best way to honor Valerie was through music. The two bonded in 2020, when Valerie started a virtual karaoke club to bring friends together during quarantine.

    Kohane returned to the stage later in the evening to sing with two members of the karaoke club. “Power of Two” was the finale song of “The Twelfth Night,” which Kohane sang with Valerie. 

    “Valerie and I were theatrical partners, so I wanted to honor that,” Kohane said. But stepping on the stage wasn’t easy. “I was worried I wasn’t gonna be able to deliver the song properly to convey my feelings. But it felt so freeing to sing at the event, and I really felt very connected to everyone.” 

    The event offered space for vulnerability. “This is the first time I’ve ever lost somebody, and I had to rewrite my monologue a couple of times because it was a bit too raw,” said King, who also performed a monologue. While he wasn’t an actor, taking the stage was his way of showing up for Valerie.

    “It’s bittersweet,” King said, reflecting on the performance. “This has been part of both my personal and work life for so long, and now I kind of have to move on…I recall vividly the night after the Monologue Project, as I was falling asleep, I felt this profound sense of peace that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”

    Kohane put it simply: “I didn’t move on, but I could finally move forward.”

  • Newton North scribes take to the stage for the 18th Annual Playwrights’ Festival

    Theatre Ink ‘s 17th Annual Playwrights’ Festival, Newton North High School, June 7th, 2025 – Photo by Elizabeth Plese

    The ambient lighting dims, and a spotlight shines on three distinct characters in front of a dystopian backdrop, as a night of world-molding drama and comedy begins. 

    Newton North High School’s 18th Annual Playwrights’ Festival, presented at the school Thursday through Saturday, showcased eight plays created entirely by the students.

    Each play was a 10-minute, one-scene act covering concepts ranging from grappling with queer identity to finding existential purpose, with sets spanning from a Louisiana hair salon to a spaceship floating about the cosmos.

    “This is one of the most unique productions in terms of being student-written and student-directed,” said Michael Barrington-Haber, a theater teacher at Newton North and the technical director for Theater Ink, the school’s teaching working theater that prizes inclusion and cooperation.

    “We have student designers who do the lights, the set, the sound, the costumes, the hair, the makeup, the props,” Barrington-Haber said. “It’s all student-run.” He has been a part of Theater Ink for 21 years and has contributed to the playwrights’ festival since its inception 18 years ago.

    “It all started when one student said, ‘Hey, I got this play and I’ve never written a play before,” said Adam Brown, the director of Theater Ink. “And so I read it and I’m like, ‘Hey, we should do this play.’ We reached out to other kids, and they wrote about five or six plays, and that’s how the festival was born.”

    Brown, who has been an active participant in the theater department for 24 years, helps the student playwrights develop their ideas and organize the page-to-stage process.

    At first, Theater Ink had around five students get together and workshop their plays. Now, the school receives anywhere from 10 to 30 submissions a year. It tries to accept between eight and 10 shows. The student writers submit their works to a blind panel of judges made up of their peers, faculty and alumni.

    The students begin their process in September, and throughout the year they get together in groups to edit. This is all before auditions and set design. The festival has its own part-time student tech crew.

    “It’s basically a year-long process,” said Maya Macomber, a graduating senior from Newton North who has written for the festival all four years of her high school education. She is a co-coordinator of the festival and the writer and director of the play “Milkyway,” a situational comedy in which three friends accidentally explode Earth and must search the cosmos for another planet to inhabit.

    “It’s amazing to see something I started thinking about in September, at the beginning of the year, actually happen on stage now in June,” Macomber said. “It’s a really cool process to get to see my play go through all the steps of it.” Macomber plans to major in film and television production at Chapman University in the fall.

    Julia Bartow Fuchs, a junior at Newton North and a co-coordinator of the festival, wrote and directed “The Screen Door to the Sea,” a deeply personal story of unrequited love, friendship, and letting go. This is her third year writing for the festival.

    “It’s a nine-month process,” Bartow Fuchs said. “You’re just sort of in it for this whole time, and then it’s like you’re coming up for air at the end… Everyone comes together at the end, and it’s so surreal.”

    With 18 years under its belt, Theater Ink aims to amplify young voices regardless of experiences and backgrounds.

    “What’s really special about this is the voices of students,” Brown said. “It’s their voice…The plays that you’re seeing are coming from them. Their experiences, their ideas, their thoughts, their creativity, and that’s what makes it really special.”