Both candidates running for the 32nd Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives want to keep casino gambling in Massachusetts, but incumbent Rep. Paul Brodeur and his Republican challenger John Lock disagreed on most other issues as they debated last week at Wakefield’s WCAT studios.
The 32nd Middlesex District includes all of Melrose and Wakefield precincts 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Continue reading ‘State Rep rivals Brodeur & Lock debate’
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Tags: casinos, Democrat, EBT, election, gambling, gas tax, House of Representatives, indexing, John Lock, legislature, marijana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, opiate addiction, Paul Brodeur, Politics, Republican, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item
Through October 18, 2014
The Umbrella’s current presentation of Angels in America Part 2 – Perestroika marks the culmination of Director Nancy Curran Willis’ second time around with Tony Kushner’s epic about the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. In 2008, Willis won an Elliot Norton Award (with co-director Jason Southerland) for Boston Theatre Works production of Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2.
Having seen Part 1 last spring and now Part 2 at the Umbrella in Concord, I can understand why Willis waited six years before undertaking this daunting and demanding show again.
But theater-going audiences will be grateful that she did. And you don’t need to have seen Part 1 to enjoy Part 2, although there is a condensed five minute video of Part 1 to bring you up to speed.
Angels in America is a snapshot of a time in American history. It’s 1985, President Ronald Reagan has just been re-elected and the deadly AIDS epidemic is reaching its height. If Part 1 was about the destruction of lives and relationships, Part 2 is about the attempt to rebuild a shattered world into something new.
Continue reading ‘‘Angels in America Part 2 – Perestroika’ at the Umbrella in Concord, MA’
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Tags: AIDS, Angels in America, Concord MA, Damon Singletary, David Berti, Emerson Community Arts Center, Ethel Rosenberg, James Barton, Jennifer Shea, Kendall Hodder, Liz Robbins, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, New York City, Perestroika, Peyton Pugmire, Roy Cohn, Sharon Mason, Tony Kushner
Directs motion picture adaptation of his play “My Old Lady”
Add yet another to the list of titles used to describe Wakefield, Massachusetts native Israel Horovitz: movie director. His film, My Old Lady, a major motion picture starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas, opened last week and is now playing at theaters around the area including Hollywood Hits in Danvers.
Horovitz, who graduated from Wakefield High School in 1956, is best known as a playwright with more than 70 plays to his credit, many of which have been translated and performed worldwide. My Old Lady is based on one of his plays, and Horovitz wrote the adapted screenplay in addition to directing the movie.
Continue reading ‘Israel Horovitz debuts as a feature film director’
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Tags: France, Gloucester Stage Company, Hollywood Hits, Israel Horovitz, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Mark Sardella, motion picture, movie, My Old Lady, Oliver Horovitz, Paris, play, Rachael Horovitz, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
They’re BAAACK.
Shelter Development, LLC whose proposal earlier this year to construct a Brightview Senior Living facility in conjunction with a parking garage in the downtown area stirred months of controversy before being defeated at the polls and at Town Meeting, has filed a new application for a 137 unit assisted living facility at approximately the same location.
The application was filed with the Building Department on Tuesday, September 9 by Shelter Development, LLC of Baltimore Md. Shelter Development and Brightview Senior Living are both companies that are owned and operated by the Shelter Group, a privately held real estate development and property management company specializing in multifamily and senior living communities.
Continue reading ‘New Brightview Senior Living proposal filed’
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Tags: Assisted Living, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, development, Fraen Corporation, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Shelter Development, Shelter Group, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Zrike & Maio take the plunge
On June 20, School Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike and Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio issued a challenge to the public school students of Wakefield, Massachusetts. If the kids collectively read 10,000 books over the summer, Zrike and Maio pledged to plunge into Lake Quannapowitt. Zrike made the additional promise to shave his head.
Continue reading ‘Zrike & Maio take the plunge’
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Tags: books, Brian Dickey, Courtney Sullivan, Dr. Stephen Zrike, Dylan Melanson, Julia Derendahl, Lake Quannapowitt, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Nicole Galli, Reading, Stephen P. Maio, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
What, me vote?
The 2014 Massachusetts State Primary Election was Tuesday, September 9 and if you are one of the 20 percent of registered voters who cast a ballot, congratulations. You are in an elite group.
One week before the Primary, on Sept. 2, the Boston Globe surveyed 605 voters to see how many were paying attention.
The results were not good.
Continue reading ‘What, me vote?’
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Tags: absentee ballot, apathy, Boston Globe, early voting, election reform, elections, low-information voter, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Politics, primary election, Same Day registration, summer, turnout, Voter ID, Wakefield Daily Item
It’s slightly off the beaten path of Main Street, which may explain why despite over a year in operation, Thai restaurant Phuket remains one of downtown Wakefield’s best kept secrets.
But new owner and chef Maeo Crawford hopes to change that and bring the Princess Street eatery the attention it deserves for its great food, bright atmosphere and friendly, attentive service.
Once you know where it is, Phuket is easy to find. It’s located at 21 Princess St. (corner of Princess and Union streets) in Wakefield, MA, directly across from the Public Safety Building. It also has something most downtown restaurants lack – off-street parking. Phuket’s entrance faces the municipal parking lot between Princess and Centre streets.
Continue reading ‘Phuket offers a unique twist on Thai cuisine’
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Tags: Asian, cooking, food, Maeo Crawford, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Phu-ket, Phuket, Thai, Thai restaurant, Thailand, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Social (Media) Security
Is there a “generation gap” in Wakefield? That’s what I’m hearing, especially on Facebook where all the cool kids hang out.
The term itself sounds so last century. It used to be applied to the cultural differences between the ‘60s kids and their parents. But now, word on the street is that there are issues in Wakefield, Massachusetts that are dividing the citizenry along generational lines.
Was it really a generation gap that separated those who wanted an assisted living facility/parking garage from those who didn’t?
Continue reading ‘Social (Media) Security’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: cheese, CVS, DeSoto, Dollar Store, Facebook, Family Dollar, generation gap, Hazelwood Cottage, Lake Quannapowitt, Mark Sardella, media, Mike's Gym, newspapers, Pleasure Island, social media, social security, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Don’t believe what you read on social media.
Contrary to Facebook rumors, the new Galvin Middle School will open on time. Permanent Building Committee member Chip Tarbell confirmed that Building Inspector Jack Roberto issued an Occupancy Permit for the new school on Monday, August 25 and teachers are unpacking and preparing their classrooms this week in anticipation of the first day of school.
Tarbell was kind enough to take this Daily Item reporter on a tour of the impressive new educational facility earlier this week and there’s no doubt that students and teachers are going to be thrilled with their new digs.
Continue reading ‘Inside the New Galvin Middle School’
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Tags: Chip Tarbell, Galvin Middle School, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, photographs, photos, school building, schools, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Fences can be built and they can be torn down. They can keep people out, or they can keep them in.
In August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Fences,” currently at the Gloucester Stage Company, Troy (played by Daver Morrison) is a former Negro League baseball star, gifted with the same power to hit the ball over the fences as his white counterparts in the Major Leagues.
But because of the race barrier, Troy never got a chance to play in the big leagues. Instead, we find 53 year-old Troy in 1957 eking out a meager existence with his wife Rose (Jaqui Parker) and teenage son Cory (Jared Michael Brown) in a run-down house on the edges of Pittsburgh.
Continue reading ‘Gloucester Stage presents August Wilson’s powerful ‘Fences’’
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Tags: August Wilson, baseball, Bezawit Strong, Daver Morrison, Eric Engel, Fences, Gloucester Stage, Gregory Marlow, Jacqui Parker, Jared Michael Brown, Jermel Nakia, Mark Sardella, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Warren Jackson
Mark Sardella 