Let it rain
‘The Rainmaker’ at Gloucester Stage
By MARK SARDELLA
GLOUCESTER – I almost didn’t go to see The Rainmaker when it opened at Gloucester Stage last weekend. But I’m very glad I changed my mind and went to see this classic American play by N. Richard Nash.
Written in the early 1950s, The Rainmaker is easily the best known of Nash’s plays. Some may remember the 1956 film adaptation starring Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn. But although it has been revived frequently on stage, many have never seen it. Under the skillful direction of Artistic Director Robert Walsh, Gloucester Stage is bringing this uplifting work to a whole new audience.
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Tags: Brian Homer, Dave Rich, David DeBeck, drama, drought, Gloucester, Jessica Bates, Joe Short, Mark Sardella, N. Richard Nash, Norman Jones, play, review, Robert Walsh., Sean McCoy, The Rainmaker, theater, theatre Gloucester Stage, Wakefield Daily Item
A hero in the family
By MARK SARDELLA
The long July Fourth holiday weekend was a source of fun and enjoyment for most of us. For one local family, it also produced an authentic hero.
Broadway resident and Wakefield High School teacher Erin Chrisos, her husband Steve and their two children, three and-a-half-year-old Noah and one-month-old Fiona were on vacation in Old Orchard Beach last week with Erin’s parents and her younger brother, Wakefield Police Sergeant Thomas Flynn.
But at about 6:30 p.m. last Saturday, an otherwise peaceful vacation in Maine turned terrifying and chaotic for the Chrisos family.
“My one month-old daughter vomited and began to choke,” Erin says. “Every parent’s worse nightmare is realizing your child is not breathing.”
But thanks to his police training, Tom Flynn knew what to do and took charge of the situation.
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Tags: 9/11, Batman, Biddeford, choking, Erin Chrisos, Family, first responders, hero, Maine, Mark Sardella, officer, Old Orchard Beach, police, Sgt. Thomas Flynn, vacation, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
To get you in the mood for Wakefield‘s 2017 July 4th Independence Day Parade, check out these PHOTOS FROM THE 2008-2016 PARADES.
See you at the Parade!
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Tags: Fourth of July, Independence Day, July 4th, marching bands, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Parade, photograpy, pictures, United States, USA, Wakefield MA
Parade of days
A thought occurred to me while anticipating the Wakefield July Fourth Parade. As important as Independence Day is, it overshadows other early summer observances that just don’t get the respect they deserve. It’s like having a birthday on Christmas. Nobody notices.
Well, I’m here to right this wrong, because fighting injustice is what I’m all about. Continue reading ‘Parade of days’
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Tags: air conditioning, Canada Day, Cinco de Mayo, Climate Change, CNN, dog days, fake news, Fourth of July, Global Warming, handshake, holidays, Humor, Independence Day, July 4th, nudism, Opinion, Parade, Politics, Tom Brady, US Constitution, voting, Wakefield MA. Massachusetts, Wikipedia
Rain can’t dampen Relay spirit
By MARK SARDELLA
The cold, driving rain may have kept attendance down but nothing could dampen the spirits of hundreds who turned out Friday evening for the opening ceremonies of the Relay For Life of Wakefield.
As attendees gathered under as huge tent in the center of the track at Northeast Metro Tech, organizers braved the pouring rain to present an abbreviated opening ceremony for the 18th annual Relay For Life of Wakefield to remember loved ones lost, honor survivors of all cancers and raise money to help the American Cancer Society make a global impact on cancer.
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Tags: American Cancer Society, Amy Walsh, Anthony Longo, cancer, D'Alelio, Darcy Corcoran, Elaine Silva, Harborlights Chorus, Kathryn Gelardi, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Noreen, Northeast Metro Tech, rain, Relay for Life, The Savings Bank, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WCAT, WMGLD
Love is a drug
“The Effect” at Gloucester Stage
By MARK SARDELLA
Is there really such a thing as love? Or is it all just a matter of brain chemistry?
That is a question explored in The Effect, a play by Lucy Prebble at Gloucester Stage through July 8. But it’s far from the only question. The play also deals with issues related to trust, perception (its causes and effects), as well as depression and the ability – or perhaps lack thereof – of antidepressant drugs to improve lives.
The play also comes with a bit of star power. Academy Award nominee Lindsay Crouse plays Dr. Lorna James, a research psychologist hired by Dr. Toby Sealey (Saturday Night Live alum Brad Hall) to help him conduct a controlled drug test on a new anti-depressant.
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Tags: antidepressant, Brad Hall, dopamine, drama, drugs, experiment, Gloucester Stage, Lindsay Crouse, love, Lucy Prebble, Mark Sardella, Mickey Solis, pharmaceutical, play, Susannah Hoffman, The Effect, theater, theatre, trial, Wakefield Daily Item
Name that board!
Right on the heels of the plastic bags crisis, the latest issue to rock Wakefield is what name we should use for the town’s executive body. For the past 370 years, “Board of Selectmen” has done quite nicely, but no more. The position contains the word “man” (and in the plural, “men”). In 2017, this oppressive patriarchy simply will not stand.
The Board of Selectmen (for now) discussed the issue at their meeting on Monday. The current board has five men and two women. There have in the past been as many as three women on the board. The word “man” or “men” in the title of the office was apparently not an issue until now.
Not surprisingly, towns in Vermont have been among the first to switch to the gender-neutral term, “Selectboard,” which sounds a little like a choice piece of lumber. That works fine, since two-by-fours generally aren’t very sexy.
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Tags: attorney, Board of Selectmen, Cyrus Wakefield, gender neutral, History, humpr, lawyers, man, Mark Sardella, men, Opinion, Politics, select board, selectboard, selectman, tradition, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Warriors, Xena Warrior Princess
Town Meeting highs and lows
Let me be the first to say it. Hot enough for you?
I know, it’s barely 70 degrees, but after the February weather we had earlier this week, today feels like Death Valley. It doesn’t get reliably warm around here until the summer solstice. Then it’s summer until about the Fourth of July, and it’s all downhill after that.
Like the solstice, something else happens twice a year – around the time of the Annual Town Meeting in the spring and the Regular Town Meeting in the fall. People start talking about changing from Oppen town meeting to Representative Town Meeting.
What usually sparks the debate is some mean-spirited person remarks upon Town Meeting attendance.
Critics say that there are two major problems with Open Town Meeting: low attendance and high attendance.
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Tags: attendance, Bill Carroll, democracy, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, Politics, Reading MA, Representative Town Meeting, solstice, Special interest, summer, sun, taxes, Town Moderator, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Running down the downtown
“Wakefield has such a pretty downtown,” my friend in the passenger seat said as we drove past The Rockery on the right, with its rows of bright red and white tulips leading up to the Hiker Statue. It was a few weeks ago and the fountain hadn’t been turned on yet.
“That’s not what our local Facebook philosophers say,” I remarked. “They call downtown Wakefield ‘a ghost town.’”
We continued down Main Street, dodging tumbleweeds, looking for a parking space. We didn’t find one.
“Wakefield: a ghost town with a parking problem,” I thought to myself, combining two of the favorite cudgels used by locals fond of bashing the downtown, oblivious to the irony.
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Tags: Albion Cultural Exchancge, business development, business district, commercial, downtown, economic revitalization, economy, ghost town, Lake Quannapowitt, Main Street, MAPC, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, merchants, parking, real estate, restaurants, retail, stores, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Main Streets
By MARK SARDELLA
You needn’t be a Chekhov scholar to enjoy Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” currently on stage at Quannapowitt Playhouse in Reading. Durang’s comedy may have been inspired by Chekhov, but it is 180 degrees from the dark, despairing mood that permeates Chekhov’s plays.
In fact, it’s hilarious.
Wakefield native and second generation QP-er Nancy Curran Willis directs and once again her casting is pitch perfect and she brings the best out in every performer.
Continue reading ‘Quannapowitt Players present hilarious ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’’
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Tags: Anton Chekhov, Ashley Skeffinton, Barbara Douglass, Christopher Durang, comedy, Dayle Ballentine, Kendall Hodder, Margaret McCarty, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, Quannapowitt Players, theater, Tim McShea, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 