After the burning intensity of their last two shows – 9 Circles and Master Harold… and the Boys – for its summer season finale, Gloucester Stage Company sends us off into the cool autumn with a comedy.
Set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart is a slice of Southern life, and its overriding message may be that despite petty annoyances and even great tragedy, we derive our greatest strength and reap life’s richest rewards when we come together as family.
Continue reading ‘‘Crimes of the Heart’ at Gloucester Stage Company’
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Tags: Beth Henley, Brendan Marr, Carmel O'Reilly, comedy, Crimes of the Heart, drama, Gary Ng, Gloucester Stage Company, Jenna McFarland-Lord, Lenni Kmiec, Liam McNeill, Liz Hayes, Mark Sardella, McCaela Donovan, Melody Madarasz, Rachel Padula-Shufelt, Russ Swift, stage, theater, theatre, Will Keary
Yes, he built that
Sardella Sign & Graphics, 68 North Ave., Wakefield, MA was this week’s winner in WRKO radio’s “Small Business Appreciation Initiative.” On Monday morning, WRKO delivered coffee and baked goods from Greenhills Irish Bakery to the staff at Sardella Signs.
I know that my brother Bob built this business all on his own. I watched him build his business from scratch, starting on the day after he graduated from Wakefield High School in the garage of our family home. Forty years later, Sardella Sign & Display is still going strong.
Standing in front of the WRKO truck are (from left) Office Manager Meghan Sardella, business associate Chris Harris, Sardella Signs owner Bob Sardella and business associate John Connors from Batten Bros.
WRKO’s web site describes the station’s “Small Business Appreciation promo as follows: “Are you frustrated by hearing that you didn’t build it yourself or that someone helped you? We want to show you a small token of our appreciation by saying thank you. Each week the WRKO Talk Team will deliver coffee and baked goods to one lucky Massachusetts business, courtesy of Greenhills Irish Bakery, for up to ten people.”
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Tags: Batten Bros, Bob Sardella, business, Chris Harris, Greenhills Irish Bakery, John Connors, Meghan Sardella, radio, Sardella, Sardella Sign & Display, small business, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts, WRKO
On January 15, 2013, the Wakefield, Massachusetts building now known as the Americal Civic Center will turn 100 years old. Last night, it received an early birthday present. In ceremonies held last night in the Heritage Room, a new portrait of the historic building, painted by local artist Elizabeth O’Neill Lowry, was unveiled.
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Tags: Americal Civic Center, Armory, Art, artist, centennial, Elizabeth Lowry, House Proud Portraits, Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Armory, painting, State Armory, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
War is hell, and in Bill Cain’s “9 Circles,” Iraq War veteran Private Daniel Reeves must descend through his own inferno in order to arrive at his only shot at redemption. But are all of the demons he encounters in this hell of his own making? That’s the question that he – and the audience – face in this raw and mesmerizing production at the Gloucester Stage Company through August 26, 2012.
This is the same cast and the same director (Eric C. Engle) that staged 9 circles in its critically acclaimed east coast premiere last year at the Publick Theatre in Boston. If you missed it the first time around, you should grab this second chance.
Continue reading ‘“9 Circles” at Gloucester Stage Company’
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Tags: 9 Circles, Amanda Collins, atrocities, atrocity, Bill Cain, drama, Eric C. Engel, Gloucester Stage Company, Iraq War, Jimi Stanton, Mark Sardella, play, review, soldier, theater, theatre, war, Will McGarrahan
As you read this, I’m hoppin’ a freight train box car and heading out to Britt, Iowa for the National Hobo Convention.
It’s no joke. There really is a National Hobo Convention. It’s been held in Britt, Iowa on the second weekend in August since 1900.
“The National Hobo Convention,” the description goes, “celebrates current and retired hoboes and the independent lifestyle they lead.” It got me wondering about these “retired” hoboes. Do they get a hobo pension or is there a hobo 401(k) plan?
Continue reading ‘On the Road to the Hobo Convention’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion | 1 Comment
Tags: Britt IA, Britt Iowa, Daily Item, hobo, Hobo Convention, hoboes, Mark Sardella, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
Through August 12, 2012
On those occasions when great writing, stunning performances and superb direction collide on stage, the result can be a theatrical experience from which it can take a while to come down – for the audience as well as the actors.
The current Gloucester Stage Company production of Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold”… and the Boys is such an occasion.
If “Master Harold”… and the Boys were merely about the evils of apartheid in 1950s South Africa, Fugard’s semi-autobiographical play might well be outdated. But the GSC’s current production underscores the play’s timeless themes of humanity’s capacity for good and our maddening tendency toward bigotry and hate.
The opening scene takes place on a wet and windy afternoon in St. George’s Park Tea Room in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Sam (played by Johnny Lee Davenport) is a middle aged black man dressed as a waiter. He sits at a table idly thumbing through a comic book while Willie (Anthony Wills, Jr.), also a fortyish black man, is on his knees scrubbing the floor.
Continue reading ‘“Master Harold”…and the Boys, at Gloucester Stage Company’
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Tags: "Master Harold"...and the Boys, Anthony Wills Jr, apartheid, Athol Fugard, Benny Sato Ambush, drama, Gloucester Stage Company, Johnny Lee Davenport, Mark Sardella, Peter Mark Kendall, play, South Africa, stage, theater, theatre
Marching Orders
I love a parade.
I’m especially fond of the Wakefield, MA Independence Day Parade, having attended most of them since the Eisenhower Administration.
Over the years, I became less interested in the clowns and more interested in the politicians. In other words, my tastes haven’t changed very much. The 2012 Wakefield Independence Day Parade featured pols aplenty. That’s no surprise, given that it’s an election year.
It’s good for people along the parade route to get a chance to see their representatives and would-be representatives in the flesh. It’s not every day that you get to see a US Senator up close, wave to a Harvard professor or have an embattled congressman shake your hand as if he knew who you were.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Daily Item, Donald Wong, Elizabeth Warren, Fourth of July, holiday, John Tierney, July 4, Mark Sardella, Parade, parades, Peter Koutoujian, politicians, Richard Tisei, Sen. Scott Brown, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Independence Day Parade, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
Performances July 26, 27 and 28
You might assume that a play set in a beauty salon and featuring all female characters would appeal mainly to women – the theatrical equivalent of a “chick flick.” But after seeing the Next Door Theatre’s production of “Steel Magnolias,” what sticks with you are the play’s universal themes, its humor and the strong performances of the six women in the cast.
Directed by former Wakefield resident Nancy Curran Willis and starring Wakefield resident Margaret McCarty as “Ouiser,” all the action in Robert Harling’s play takes place in Truvy’s Beauty Salon in rural Louisiana.
Continue reading ‘Steel Magnolias at Next Door Theater’
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Reviews, theater, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: actor, actors, actress, actresses, Amelia Broome, Beth Gotha, diabetes, drama, Jackie Coco, Margaret McCarty, Mark Sardella, Melissa Marie Walker, Nancy Curran Willis, Next Door Theater, play, Robert Harling, Sarajane Mullins, stage, Steel Magnolias
The New Drug Culture
Full disclosure: this column was written under the influence of performance enhancing drugs: the caffeine from two cups of Stop & Shop brand coffee.
Especially when it comes to caffeine, the drug culture has come out of the closet. Just look at the advertising campaigns for caffeine containing products. They are now promoted far more for their stimulating buzz factor than for their taste.
You never hear the highly caffeinated Red Bull touted for its delicious taste, only for the fact that it “gives you wings.”
Similarly, 5-Hour Energy is not marketed for its mouthwatering flavor. Each 2 oz. dose is packed with 138 mg of caffeine, about the same as cup of strong coffee – without all that nasty hydration.
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Keep Neighborhood Polling Places
Largely ignored in all the excitement over the margin of victory in the June 9 Special Election was the fact that the decision to build a new Galvin Middle School was made by a minority of the town’s voters. Less than one-third of those eligible weighed in with a vote. If you count only the “Yes” votes, barely a quarter of Wakefield’s registered voters pulled the lever for the $74 million building project.
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Tags: Daily Item, election, elections, Galvin, Galvin Middle School, Galvinize, Galvinize Wakefield, Mark Sardella, polling places, Proposition 2 1/2, school, schools, tax, taxes, vote, voters, votes, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
