THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MASQUERS PLAYHOUSE | 1

L I F E U PON

THE WICKED STAGE

m a s q u e r s n e w s a n d e v e n t s

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I N S I D E :t h E g a m E S t E r . . . . . . . 2w o r l D g o E S ‘ r o u N D . . . 4t h E E l E p h a N t m a N . . . . 5E N v I S I o N : t h E g I v E r . . . 6N E w m E m b E r S . . . . . . . . 6f r o m t h E b o a r D . . . . . 7a N N o u N c E m E N t S . . . . . 8

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NOW PLAYING:

THE GAMESTER BY FREYDA THOMAS

DIRECTED BY STEVE HILL

Cover: Bethany Matthis-Montgomery and Rick Wood

Masquers’ 2016 Season opened with the delightful farce, The Gamester, by Freyda Thomas, directed by Steve Hill. This is the story of Valère, an inveterate gambler, and his beloved, Angélique, who asks him to make

his choice: it’s her or the gaming. With a raft of delicious supporting characters, this play in iambic pen-tameter, inspired by Jean-Francois Regnard’s 1696 French comedy Le Joueur, romps its way through the

GAME ON

Bethany Matthis-Montgomery and David Weiner

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MASQUERS PLAYHOUSE | 3

casinos (and a bedroom or two) of 18th century Paris.

The cast includes Masquers Loralee Windsor, Daniel Morgan, David Weiner, Judy Zimola, Katina Letheule, Kit Turner and Richard Friedlander, and newcomers Rick Wood, Bethany Matthis-Mont-gomery and Jason Berner. “They had an interesting task to make the verse flow trippingly off the tongue,” said production manager Linda Ellinwood. But flow the verse does, and very nicely, too.

John Hull took on the daunting task of designing both sets and costumes to support director Hill’s vision of “18th century France

meets Las Vegas.” The set is com-prised of a clever “transformer” centerpiece, which rearranges itself to become lodgings, casino or gar-den. The wild, colorful costumes were the result of many volunteer stitchers bringing John’s drawings to life. Robert Love may have had a bit too much fun supplying a vari-ety of period-appropriate wigs to complete everybody’s look.

Steve’s sound design concept of music by Rossini was well exe-cuted by Joe Ponder. Steve also served as lighting designer. Carl Smith does a spot-on job up in the booth running both sound and lights (Nancy Benson will fill

in for a few performances). The production team is rounded out by Laura Morgan on props (fans, whips, you name it), and stage manager Betsy Bell Ringer.

The show is broad, bawdy and brash, and the cast are having a ter-rific time. You will, too. Make your reservations early either by going online to www.masquers.com or calling the reservation service at 510-232-4031.

Does Valère choose Angélique, or does he fall back into his old pattern of gambling? You’ll need to see

The Gamester to find out.

Bethany Matthis-Montgomery and Judy Zimola

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THE WORLDWENT ‘ROUNDDirectors Peter Budinger and DC Scarpelli couldn’t be more pleased about how The World Goes ‘Round turned out. The revue of the songs of Kander and Ebb was a beau-tiful little show with an amazing cast. More importantly, they’re very proud to have introduced a new choreographer and music director to the Masquers fold—the fantastically loopy visionary Jetta Martin (whom we hope someday will direct for Masquers) and the explosively enthusiastic Maria Calderazzo, who’s already at the helm of two Masquers projects in 2016: Songs for a New World, the February Songbook benefit, and Violet, our first musical of the sea-son. Here’s to seeing much more from these two!

Laura Morgan, Mark Enea, and Christina Boothman

J. Scott Stewart, Coley Grundman, Christina Boothman, Susan Tonkin, Laura Morgan, and Mark Enea

Chris Macomber and Alicia Von Kugelgen

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IN THE WINGS :

THE ELEPHANT MANIn a world full of intolerance and prejudice, the story of John Mer-rick, as depicted in our upcoming production of The Elephant Man could not be more timely. This beautifully moving story, grace-fully set to a live cello score, will be brought to life by Clay David, Richard Friedlander, Sarah Ladue, Mark Shepard, Maureen-Theresa

Williams, Max Minton, Jason Ber-ner, Dominick Palamenti, Jeffery Smith and Judy Zimola.  With an outstanding production team headed by director John Maio and including Marti Baer, Katina Letheule, Jo Lusk, Moore Marjorie, Michael O’Brien, Patrice Young and Vicki Zabarte, this production is set to run Mar. 25–Apr 23.

Alessandro Nivola as Dr. Treves and Bradley Cooper as Merrick in the recent Broadway revival

Below: daguerreotype of Joseph Merrick, the “Elephant Man”

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WELCOME NEW MASQUERS!We’re happy to announce new members who have joined our merry little band in the past several months:

❋ MARK ENEA, who first appeared in Johnny Guitar and was most recently seen in The World Goes ‘Round

❋ ENRICO BANSON, who impressed our audiences with his performance in Farragut North

❋ CAMERON DODD, whose first appearance at the Masquers was in The Real Thing

❋ PAULA DODD AIELLO, costumer for The Real Thing ❋ DAN MORGAN, who is currently on stage in The Gamester, and who has

supplied latex (and acting) magic for us in several past shows

Thanks to all for joining us, and we look forward to your future contributions to this all-volunteer group.

next from envision :

THE GIVERAPRIL 29—MAY 8

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS AT 8PM

SUNDAYS AT 2PM

SIX PERFORMANCES ONLY

Jonas’ world is perfect. Everything is under control and safe. There is no war, fear, or pain. There are also no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. Jonas is chosen for special train-ing from The Giver—to receive and keep the memories of the commu-nity. The Giver is the only person who holds the memories of real pain and real joy. Now Jonas will learn the truth about life—and the hypoc-risy of his utopian world. Through this astonishing and moving adap-tation, discover what it means to grow up, to grow wise, and to take control of your own destiny.

Director: Carl Smith

Production Manager: Simon Patton

Stage Manager: George Doerr

Light Designer: Michael O’Brien

Costume Designer: Marjorie Moore

Sound Designer: Judy Zimola

Prop Designer: Kit Turner

Projection Designers: Matthew Evearitt & Enrico Banson

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FROM THE BOARDI need to begin with a huge thank you to Bob Goshay, our former board president, for his tireless support of the theater through thick and thin. At the end of 2015, Bob stepped down from the board after many years of hard work. On behalf of the board and our membership, I want to wish him the best, hoping that he and Lydia can now attend performances free of care.

As Bob’s successor, I am pleased to announce that the theatre finished the year in the black once again. The very fact that a small company such as ours can continue to survive and thrive in an era when live performance is under siege is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of a lot of people. As most readers are used to hearing, only half of our expenses are met by ticket sales. The rest come from donations, grants and fundraising events.

As always, it’s important to thank the many people who contribute—our loyal patrons, the production staff and actors who work hard to mount wonderful shows while keeping expenses low, our board members for their fundraising and support efforts, and Masquers and volunteers who provide a tremendous number of hours taking care of everything from cleaning the theater to selling ads in our programs.

This year we also extend extra thanks to several foundations. The Lesher Foundation renewed its support of Stage One, our summer youth program, and gave an additional grant to help with our lobby and theater upgrade.

The Red Oak Opportunity Foundation (ROOF) increased its grant from last year in support of our outreach efforts to local schools. Through ROOF’s support, students from Washington Elementary School and their families were able to experience the magic of live theater. Even more exciting, several students from the school had the opportunity to take to the stage in our production of Charlotte’s Web. This year we will be using grant funds to bring sixth grade students and their families to the theater for our production of The Giver. Some of the tickets may also go to students in the Richmond High School Creative and Performing Arts Academy.

At the very end of 2015, the Gateway Foundation provided a generous grant toward improvements in accessibility to the theater and bathrooms. A committee of the board and TAS is now in the process of evaluating the cost, priorities, and scheduling for these projects.

One further item of importance: toward the end of 2015, TAS and the board agreed to increase reimbursements to the production staff and to reimburse actors for a portion of their expenses. The majority felt that it was imperative to keep the theater’s policies in line with other local community theaters. This action was taken in conjunction with a small increase in ticket prices with the hope that the enlarged expenses would be offset by the extra income.

Keeping a modest community theater financially healthy is no simple affair. The Board is always looking for new ideas and welcomes your input.

David Cole Board President

GET THE WORD OUT!February brings another of our Songbook concerts to raise money for the theater. Past benefits have included Kiss Me, Kate and last year’s Anyone Can Whistle. These concerts focus on shows that would probably not find a home in our regular season for one reason or another. They’re all about the music, and they’re always a hell of a lot of fun.

This one is Songs for a New World, a soar-ing piece that introduced the world to com-poser Jason Robert Brown (The Last 5 Years, Parade, 13, The Bridges of Madison County)—now a three-time Tony-winner. Come on down and tell your friends! The more audi-ence we get, the healthier our coffers!

info at masquers.org

Huge thanks to BOB GOSHAY for his many years of service, his enormous dedication, and his unflagging good humor.

FROM ROBERT…Dear Friends:

Well, here we go again! 2016 and a new season at the Masquers! I wanted to men-tion a few things that are coming up that you should be aware of.

First of all, deep appreciation to Steve Hill for his hard work on our first production of 2016, The Gamester. Steve has assembled a wonderful cast and has sets and costumes by John Hull. This has been one of those remarkable productions where so many Masquers have assisted in bringing it to the boards. Besides our stalwart builders, Heinz Lankford and Bob Westman, we have contributions from Joe Ponder, Rob Bradshaw, Betsy Bell Ringer and many other members, and John Hull recruited Masquers and others to help create the elaborate costumes he’s designed for this production. I think you’ll love this show and I urge you to make reservations right away!

I want to give a shout out to DC Scarpelli and Peter Budinger for their tireless efforts with our publicity and marketing. I think the Masquers have the finest graphics of any theater or performing arts group in the Bay Area. Our lobby posters are continually praised by our audience not only for the artwork but for the dramaturgy they provide for each of our shows. I especially want to thank them for their current efforts in updating the look and efficiency of our website. If you haven’t been there already, check out the new look. Not only is it more streamlined, it works great on your pads and phones as well as your computer. Thank you DC and Peter!

I recently sent my yearly letter to local Bay Area directors inviting them to submit plays they are interested in directing for us in our 2017 season. If you know of directors who are interested in directing for us, please let me know and I’ll send them a letter. If you need more information about the process, go to our webpage and click on “Get Involved” and then “Submissions.” Everything you need to know is right there.

Also, if you are interested in being on the 2017 Play Selection Committee, drop me a line. Being part of the Committee means you read all the plays that were submitted for our consideration, attend the director’s interviews on Saturday, June 18th, and meet to decide the season on Sunday, June 19th. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun!

And, last but not least, a gentle reminder that we will be voting on TAS members at our March 9th General Meeting. The TAS positions up for election this year are Costume Room Manager, Lobby Manager, Ticket Manager and Production Supervisor. Debbi Sandmann and I are on the TAS Election Committee. If you might be interested in running for any of the TAS positions mentioned above, drop a line to either Debbi or me and we’ll tell you all about the various TAS jobs and what they entail.

I hope to see you soon at the theater. Happy New Year!

Robert Love Managing Director

NOW APPEARINGMICHAEL SALLY appears as John Dodge in the Bay Area premiere of Middletown by Will Eno at Los Altos Stage Company. The show runs Jan-uary 28—February 21.  He even gets to die on stage! losaltosstage.org.

JIM COLGAN’S notorious ten min-ute play, The Story of Oh (Revised and Abridged), is a finalist in the Parish Players (Vermont) Ten Minute Play Festival and will be produced by them sometime in 2016. Also, Jim is appearing later this month in a his-torical play called Uncle Joe Goes to Gettysburg. He plays a 94 year old Civil War veteran. Lots of fun.

Pinole Community Players presents Godspell.  This was the very first show they presented in 1986.  Now celebrating PCP’s 30th anniversary, this production is from the 2012 revised version.  Among the cast are Masquers  PAM DRUMMER-WIL-LIAMS and VICKI ZABARTE with Masquers friends Ted Bigornia as John the Baptist/ Judas, G.A. Klein as director and Anjee Gallia as cho-reographer.  Performances are from Jan. 22 to Feb. 13. pinoleplayers.org or 510-724-6413.

P E N N E L L C H A P I N is p laying Madame Quince in A (Cajun) Mid-summer Night’s Dream at Novato Theater Company. Directed by Clay David (who will be in our upcoming production of The Elephant Man), it opens January 29 and goes to the end of February.

Note: Jerry Telfer, the usual designer of The Wicked Stage, is out this issue due to illness. We wish him a speedy recovery and return.