Strong characters with Russian accents, a story line set in an era unfamiliar to teenagers, an elaborate set design with complicated lighting cues and music that covers the waterfront — it’s no wonder the high school drama department started work on this play last spring.
But they did and the hard work was evident at Chess the Musical, which opened last night at the high school Performing Arts Center and shows again tonight and on Sunday this weekend.
Leslie Stark is a busy man this weekend. At the helm directing a group of short plays by David Ives on Sunday, he is also the man at the wheel on Saturday, Nov. 12, for reading Arnold Rabin’s new play, Quartet for a Queen. The reading takes place at 6:30 p.m. at Howes House in West Tisbury.
Currently, Venus in Fur, the new play by David Ives, is appearing on Broadway. The show gained stellar reviews last year when it opened off Broadway and the performance of ingenue actress Nina Arianda has mesmerized critics. This week’s New Yorker has a feature on her.
By HOLLY NADLER
In a word, atmospherics. Theater director Donna Swift knew she had to hold her junior high school players’ attention, and keep it held. But how?
Scour the old books and find the most Gothic fairy tale possible and bring it to life.
Junior High Cinderella
Next Friday and Saturday evening, Nov. 18 and 19, the Tisbury school gym will transform itself into the magical world of Cinderella for the junior high school play. Twenty-three student actors have been rehearsing since the first week of school to prepare the show that’s a lot of glass slippers to try on. Four other students make up the stage crew, cue turning into a pumpkin. Barra Peak returns this year as a graduate assistant.
The show is a musical, think Julie Andrews reborn
This coming Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m., the Vineyard Playhouse will present a staged reading of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. And they will not be alone. At the same time there will be simultaneous readings of the play worldwide.