Downtown’s Upside
Despite the insistence of the local online Fellowship of the Miserable that the revitalization of downtown Wakefield should happen overnight, in the real world things don’t happen that fast.
But in the past week alone, we saw several hopeful signs that things may be heading in the right direction. Dare we say the word “momentum?”
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Tags: Artichokes, business, Caffe Italia, Caryn's, Duck Walk, economic development, Galvin Middle School, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Sabatinos, Ski & Sport Shack, Sky City, Stephen P. Maio, Sweet Kiwi, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Zoning Board of Appeals
by Mark Sardella (The Wakefield Daily Item)
“Gloucester Blue is a comic thriller and has often been compared to a Coen Brothers movie,” says Wakefield native Israel Horovitz about his new play, which opens this week at Gloucester Stage.
“I can see why,” he says. “It’s a comedy, but quite dark. The final moments of the play are, I think, cripplingly funny. For Massachusetts people, there is much to recognize. I think local people are going to love this play.”
Horovitz grew up in Wakefield, Mass., graduating from Wakefield High School in 1956. His 70+ plays have been translated and performed in as many as 30 languages worldwide and have introduced such actors as Al Pacino, John Cazale, Jill Clayburgh, Marsha Mason, Gerard Depardieu and many others.
Continue reading ‘Horovitz brings ‘Gloucester Blue’ home’
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Tags: Coen brothers, comedy, drama, Esme Allen, Francisco Solorzano, Gloucester Blue, Gloucester MA, Gloucester Stage, Israel Horovitz, Mark Sardella Wakefield Daily Item, Massachusetts, play, playwright, Robert Walsh., theater, theatre, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, working class
by Mark Sardella (Wakefield Daily Item)
Not even a passing shower could dampen the spirits of the dozens who turned out for the Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015 dedication of the Dr. Paula M. Mullen Field at the Galvin Middle School in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Teachers and administrative staff past and present joined with friends and family members to pay tribute to one of the most beloved educational leaders to ever serve the Wakefield Public Schools. Dr. Mullen was a respected coach, athletic director, assistant principal and principal. Continue reading ‘Dedicating Dr. Paula M. Mullen Field’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, News, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Adam Colantuoni, dedication, Dr. Kim Smith, Dr. Paula M. Mullen Field, education, Galvin Middle School, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Paula Mullen, schools, soccer, Therese Jarmusik, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
The Right Stuff
Wakefield’s long human rights nightmare is over.
No more need to tell your stockbroker to divest from companies doing business in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Last week, the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee voted to endorse the establishment of a “Wakefield Human Rights Commission.”
You didn’t know that human rights abuses were rampant in Wakefield? Clearly you haven’t been attending ZBA meetings. Continue reading ‘The Right Stuff’
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Tags: anthropocentric, Bill of Rights, blue-green algae, Board of Selectmen, Canada geese, Human Rights Commission, Lake Quannapowitt, Massachusetts, patriarchy, privilege, rights, School Committee, United States Constitution, Wakefield MA, Zoning Board of Appeals
Dunk Tank Diplomacy
The newest addition to last weekend’s Festival Italia was by far the best part of the event and should immediately be made a permanent fixture of this annual celebration.
No, I’m not talking about the Wakefield Civic League booth.
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Tags: dunk tank, Evan Kenney, Festival Italia, Gerard Leeman, Gregory Liakos, Jason Lewis, Jay Ash, Joseph Tringale, Mark Sardella, Paul Brodeur, politicians, Politics, Stephen P. Maio, Thomas Markham, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Interfaith Foof Pantry, Wakefield MA. Massachusetts
‘The Flick’ is the reel thing
From the opening scene, connections – real, missed and misplaced are on the minds of the three principal characters in The Flick, Massachusetts playwright Annie Baker’s 2014 Pulitzer winning drama at Gloucester Stage now through Sept. 12.
As they do their post-movie “walk-through” to sweep up spilled popcorn and other trash in a run-down central Massachusetts movie theater, Sam (played by Nael Nacer) quizzes new employee Avery (Marc Pierre) in a game of “six degrees of separation” of movie actor trivia. Avery, a kind of movie savant, never fails to find the connections.
Continue reading ‘‘The Flick’ is the reel thing’
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Tags: Annie Baker, Bridget Kathleen O'Leary, Courtney Nelson, David Remedios, film, Gloucester Stage, James Weschler, Lara Jardullo, Marc Pierre, Mark Sardella, Marsha Smith, Massachusetts, Melissa Jesser, movie, movies, Nael Nacer, play, Russ Swift, The Flick, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item
Not Cool
Last week, a drunk Lynnfield woman was spotted driving the wrong way on Route 128, heading south on the northbound side of the highway. Luckily, Wakefield Police were able to stop and arrest her before she killed herself or anyone else.
She was wasted on a legal drug, alcohol, not (as far as we know) on the, as of this moment, still illegal marijuana. But this incident does raise the obvious question: Why on earth would anyone want to add another legal mind-altering drug to the mix?
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: addiction, alcohol, Charlie Baker, drugs, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medical marijuana, pot, prohibition, Route 128, smoking, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police, weed
In Wakefield, Massachusetts
After 10 long months of public hearings, dozens of letters to the editor, lawsuits and even protests in Wakefield Square, the Zoning Board of Appeals on July 29 approved three Special Permits that will allow Shelter Development to construct a 130-unit Brightview Senior Living facility on Crescent Street in Wakefield, MA. The project plans call for 69 assisted living units and 61 independent living units.
It remains to be seen if the decision will be appealed in Superior Court. After the meeting attorney Alan Grenier, who represents Andrea Sullivan of 12 Crescent St. in opposing the project, said that he would have to discuss the possibility of an appeal with his client.
There is a 20-day appeal period that begins when the ZBA’s written decision is filed with the Town Clerk. It could take as long as a month for the official decision to be written. It will then be reviewed by ZBA chairman David Hatfield before being filed with the Town Clerk.
Continue reading ‘Zoning Board approves Brightview Senior Living facility’
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Tags: Ami Wall, architecture, Assisted Living, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, Charles Tarbell, David Hatfield, Eric Anderson, Fraen Corporation, John Kennedy, John Ogren, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Michael Pierce, parking, Shelter Development, Special Permit, Town Meeting, traffic, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, ZBA, zoning, Zoning Board of Appeals
Project Healing Waters
“Fly fishing never takes you to an ugly place,” says Wakefield’s Joe Cresta, who runs a local chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a national program that helps disabled veterans heal through the sport of fly fishing.
Fly fishing, Cresta points out, usually involves places like mountains, rivers and lakes.
Continue reading ‘Helping Disabled Veterans Heal with Fly Fishing’
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Tags: Alicia Reddin, disabled veteran, fishing, Fly Fishing, Greg Fowle, Joe Cresta, Malden Anglers Association, Mark Sardella, Project Healing Waters, Saugus MA, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
‘The New Electric Ballroom’ runs through August 15
Enda Walsh’s The New Electric Ballroom, currently at Gloucester Stage is not a conventional play and therefore may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re up for a bit of a challenge, the rewards of this dark comedy are many.
The setting is a tiny island village off the coast of Ireland, in a cottage where three sisters have isolated themselves for the last four decades. Their self-imposed confinement is the aftereffect of the two older sisters’ traumatic experience 40 years ago, when their romantic hopes and aspirations were dashed on the same night by a visiting rock god after a concert at the local dance hall, the New Electric Ballroom.
Continue reading ‘A dark comedy of Ireland at Gloucester Stage’
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Tags: Adrianne Krstansky, Arshan Gailus, Catholic, Derry Woodhouse, Enda Walsh, Erika Bailey, Gloucester Stage Company, Ireland, Irish, Jenna McFarland-Lord, Mark Sardella, Marya Lowry, Maureen Lane, Miranda Giurleo, Nancy E. Carroll, New Electric Ballroom, play, Robert Walsh., Russ Swift, theater
Mark Sardella 