Posts Tagged ‘Nancy Curran Willis’
The sounds of silence
READING — When brilliant, Radcliffe College-educated Henrietta Leavitt (played by Grace Sumner) receives a letter at her Wisconsin home inviting her to come and work for Edward Charles Pickering, director of the prestigious Harvard College Observatory, she is thrilled by the prospect of doing important astronomical research.
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Tags: astronomy, community theater, Demetra Tseckares, drama, earth, feminism, Grace Sumner, Harvard College Observatory, heavens, Henrietta Leavitt, History, Humor, Lauren Gunderson, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, Nancy Finn, Nick T. Miller, planets, play, Quannapowitt Players, Rachel Furgiuele, Radcliffe College, review, science, Silent Sky, sky, stage, stars, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, womens sufferage
By MARK SARDELLA CONCORD — If, like me, you enjoy stories in which everyone is despicable, David Mamet’s testosterone-fueled Glengarry Glen Ross is hard to beat. And under the direction of Wakefield native Nancy Curran Willis, these dishonorable characters are brought to vivid life by a strong cast at The Umbrella in Concord. Set mainly […]
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Tags: Adam Heroux, Bill Stambaugh, Brian Boruta, Chicago, Concord MA, Craig Ciampa, Dan Kelly, David Mamet, Eric Lamarche, Glengarry Glen Ross, Gordon Ellis, Jason Myatt, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, real estate, The Umbrella, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
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 […]
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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
Directed by Nancy Curran Willis By MARK SARDELLA Israel Horovitz’s play “My Old Lady” is set in Paris but in Quannapowitt Players upcoming production there are Wakefield connections galore. Most obvious is the fact that Horovitz is a Wakefield native who grew up on Elm Street and graduated from Wakefield High School in 1956. On […]
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Tags: comedy, David Kimmelman, drama, France, Gloucester Stage, Israel Horovitz, Kevin Kline, Kim Anton Myatt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lake Quannapowitt, Liz Robbins, Maggie Smith, Mark Sardella, My Old Lady, Nancy Curran Willis, play, playwright, Quannapowitt Players, theater, viager, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
by Mark Sardella (Wakefield Daily Item) “It’s not often a community theater gets the opportunity to produce the New England premier production of a Broadway musical,” says former longtime Wakefield resident Nancy Curran Willis. She is directing the New England premier of Bonnie and Clyde at The Umbrella Community Arts Center in Concord, Mass. The […]
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Tags: Aaron Chow, Adam Sherkanowski, Andrea Giangreco, Ariel Sargent, Arthur Comer, Ashleigh Vittum, Becca Griffing, Ben DiScipio, Bonnie and Clyde, Brad Amidon, Brian Boruta, Broadway, Cathy Merlo, Colin Lester Fleming, Concord MA, Connell Benn, David Rodrigues, Don Black, Frank Wildhorn, Glenn Kane, Jim Ansart, Joel Hersh, Ludovica Burtone, Mark Sardella, musical, Nancy Curran Willis, Nate Ramsayer, Nicholas V. Raponi, Owen Reinhold, Pam Sontag, Pat Lawrence, Paul Alperin, Rusty Chandler, Ruth Fontanella, Sarah Cowell, Sarajane Morse Mullins, Sean Crosley, Texas, theater, theatre, Thomas Carroll, Tim McShea, Tom Young, Tristyn Sepersky, Umbrella Community Arts Center, Wakefield Daily Item, West Dallas
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 […]
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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
On stage at The Umbrella in Concord, MA through May 4 I did not see the 2008 Elliot Award-winning Boston Theatre Works production of Angels in America directed by Nancy Curran Willis. In fact, I had never seen Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play at all. So I headed to Concord, MA for the Umbrella Community […]
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Tags: AIDS, Alex Savitzky, Angels in America, Brian Boruta, Concord MA, Damon Singletary, David Berti, Emily Rosser, Jennifer Shea, Kendall Hodder, Kevin Tobias Brown, Liz Robbins, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, Peyton Pugmire, Rick Shamel, Sharon Mason, stage, theater, theatre, Tony Kushner, Umbrella Community Arts Center
Directed by former Wakefield resident Nancy Curran Willis St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and as much as we’d like to, most of us can’t just drop everything and go off to celebrate in Ireland. Fortunately, the Arlington Friends of the Drama are offering a very attractive alternative that will whisk you off to Ireland […]
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Tags: Anne Sullivan, Antione Malfroy-Carmine, Arlington Friends of the Drama, Demetra Tseckares-Restuccia, Iain Bason, Ireland, Irish, Jenna Lourenco, Jennifer Soucy, Katie Higgins, Marina Carr, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Nancy Curran Willis, Nellie Farrington, play, The Mai, theater, theatre, Tricia Akowicz, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
As much as I like community theater, I have to say that for this North Shore resident, Maynard’s Acme Theatre is a little outside my jurisdiction. But the opportunity to see Nancy Curran Willis direct David Mamet‘s American Buffalo last Saturday during the show’s opening weekend was one I just couldn’t pass up. The show […]
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Tags: Acme Theatre, American Buffalo, Bill Stambaugh, David Mamet, James Barton, Jordan DiGloria, Maynard, Maynard MA, Maynard Massachusetts, Nancy Curran Willis, stage, theater, theatre
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, […]
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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
Mark Sardella 