Like so many performing arts centers, 51 Walden was forced to cancel or postpone most of its spring calendar due to the Covid-19 quarantine. F
or the remainder of quarantine, we will be featuring Concord Players members performing songs/scenes of their choice from the safety of their home. This month we are featuring two acts: the first is a vocal duet by Amanda Casale & Ryan Trapani-Goldberg, and the second is Nadine Sa on the clarinet!
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| Amanda Casale & Ryan Trapani-Goldberg |
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Date: August 22, 2020
Time: 8pm
Presenters: Gillian Gordon & Brian Boruta
Admission: Free!
Since we are virtual this year, we are strongly encouraging all attendees to make a donation to one of our member theaters, or to a social justice cause such as Black Lives Matter or the ACLU.
The DASH Awards are going virtual this year! Due to the nature of this year's program, we will not have our traditional July nominees announcement ceremony. Instead, on August 22 we will be honoring the top 3-6 highest scoring performers and designers in several different categories with Outstanding Achievement Awards. We will also be awarding six Consultant Choice Awards, two Board of Directors Awards, and inducting six new Lifetime Achievement Award Winners!
Concord Players is pleased to announce that "The Divas" have been nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award! As you may recall, Allen and Anne Bantly were awarded this tribute recently and we are all hoping for a repeat performance!
Concord Players is blessed to have an abundance of talent working at the theater, particularly in the field of costume design. Over the course of time as these creative geniuses have plied their craft, a small group has become lovingly known as "The Divas". This moniker is a term of endearment and used only to highlight the superior design and construction skills they've brought to every project.
Carol Antos has enjoyed designing costumes for over 40 years and her many credits with the Players when she started in 2003 include
The Producers,
Les Miserables,
Sunday in the Park with George,
The Secret Garden, and
Chicago. She won a DASH award in 2015 for her designs for
My Fair Lady with the Wellesley Players and was nominated in 2018 for
Terra Nova with Quannapowitt Players. Carol has been very active with the theater and has served on the Board of Directors where we hope to see her again.
Kathy Booth has been costuming local shows for decades and especially loves costuming for period and character roles. She's active in the Medieval Sewing Guild, an association that helped her tremendously in designing
The Hunchback of Notre Dame for the Players in 2018. She has been working with Concord since 1998 starting with
Oklahoma!, then adding to her repertoire
The Rivals,
1776,
West Side Story, and several other shows in collaboration with the rest of the "Divas". Her love and dedication to the theater is made possible by the loving support of her husband.
Pat Kane has been costuming for the Players since 1991 starting with
Lysystrata and finds that the best parts of costuming are the creativity, special effects, fast sewing and support of her fellow beloved Divas of Costume. With over 20 productions that she's designed or assisted in, some of the highlights of her work include
Barefoot in the Park,
Little Women,
The Importance of Being Earnest,
Cinderella,
The Lion in Winter, and
Spamalot. Thanks to her daughter, she is now a world traveler and can be found in Polynesia on a regular basis.
Tracy Wall joined the Concord Players for the 2002 production of
Little Women to see if she might like designing costumes when she met the rest of the "Divas" and was hooked! Since then, she has designed costumes for
Hay Fever,
The Scarlet Pimpernel,
Little Women in 2012,
The Matchmaker,
Arcadia,
Amadeus and been involved in and designed many more. She is a past President of the Board of Directors and co-Chair of the 100th Anniversary Committee for the theater. Although she's designed costumes for other theaters including Opera 51, Arlington Friends of the Drama, and the Town Cow, she considers 51 Walden and the Concord Players her home.
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PANDEMIC IN THE PLAYHOUSE!
The Concord Players was born in a pandemic. In 1919, despite the tumult in the world, a group of determined Concord thespians banded together and launched a company dedicated to bringing world-class theater to the small town west of Boston. One hundred years later, we're still here, and a once-in-a-century event is again in residence.
For many of us, 2020 is the first time we've seen the Concord Players' season completely shut down. It feels utterly outrageous to have cancelled a show already in production, and to postpone the following season, for something totally out of our control.
But this is not the first time the Players have dimmed the lights at 51 Walden due to outside forces. Only it wasn't a pandemic that stopped the show.
In 1941, as they were "putting to bed" their fall production of
You Can't Take It With You, Pearl Harbor happened and scuttled not only the remainder of their season, but the next four years. Not because the fighting was on their doorstep, but because many of their leading members - the people who make everything happen - were contributing to the overall war effort.
That doesn't mean they were idle - not by a long shot. They staged a Patriotic Rally and held pantomimes at their closed meetings, raising money that they then donated to the Red Cross and Concord's own Company H. They gave curtains to Lovell General Hospital at Fort Devens, for use on their stage, as well as two make-up kits, though for what purpose we can only surmise. And they donated their time and talent to innumerable other groups who used their hall during the war.
Once the war was over, they took stock of what was left and began the arduous work of rebuilding their beloved theater. "There are problems," then-president Marian Miller conceded, citing lack of money and the uncertain future of the Veterans Building. "But these questions, and others, will be solved by an active and vigorous membership." The group came together and stitched a season into place, choosing simpler shows that required no set building; borrowing costumes; and urging members to bring new blood into the theater to make it all happen. Which they did.
And now, 100 years after being born in a pandemic and 75 years after soldiering through a World War, we have no choice. We will ride out this very different, but no less dire, situation, discovering new ways to keep our theater going. And when we can finally come back together in our hall at 51 Walden, we will heed the words of Marian Miller in her last letter to the membership, in 1946:
"The future of the Concord Players lies in your hands and I know that you will always aspire to a high level of production. The best is none too good."
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
We want to hear your story. What has this time been like for you? Please share your experience with us as we source material for a new piece of theater by our community and for our community. You are free to keep your submission anonymous. Please email
ourstories@concordplayers.org.
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A continued BIG SHOUT-OUT to Carol Antos and Mike Lague for providing you, our avid audience, more ways of enjoying remote theatre.
On the CP
website, w
e've developed a one-stop guide organized for your viewing pleasure, featuring offerings from the West End, Lincoln Center, Broadway, Boston theatres, and more! Just click and enjoy.
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The Town of Concord, taking guidance from the CDC and Town Health Departments is making plans to reopen the Visitor Center as soon as it is safe to do so. New procedures will be in place to provide for the safest environment for both staff and patrons. We are actively promoting all the fun outdoor activities there are in Concord. It is essential to our mental and physical health to be outdoors and there are lots of ways to be socially distant while doing so. All our trails and parks are now open to the public and everyone is encouraged to take advantage and spread out. We have launched a virtual Concord to Concord challenge found
here - it's a great way to be outdoors and earn a prize too!
The new
Visit Concord website went live in April and has many exciting ideas for what to do while visiting. We have lots of data indicating that local tourists will be the first to return and we are eager to welcome them back!
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The renewal letters have been mailed out; some have been returned to me due to incorrect addresses. If you have not received yours yet and would like to renew again this season, please
email me and I'll mail the necessary information out to you. If you would prefer to pay online, you can do so on our
website. Thanks to so many people who have not only renewed their memberships, but for the generous donations that have been included!
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UPCOMING EVENTS AT 51 WALDEN
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In compliance with Governor Baker's order on May 18th, 51 Walden remains closed; all events of the residence groups through the summer have been cancelled or postponed. Please check our Events page for current information.
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