Stoneham Theatre Presents The Rimers of Eldritch 3/24-4/10

Stoneham Theatre presents The Rimers of Eldritch by Lanford Wilson. Directed by Weylin Symes. Performances run from March 24 through April 10: Thurs. (7:30 pm), Fri. (8 pm), Sat. (4 pm & 8 pm), Sun. (2 pm). Tickets: $38-$44 regular admission; senior discounts apply; all student tickets $20. Student/senior discount matinees available. [Special pay-what-you-can Thursday performance: March 24.] Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main Street, Stoneham. Wheelchair accessible. For advance tickets and information, visit or call the Box Office at 781-279-2200 (hours Tues.-Sat., 1-6pm) or log onto www.stonehamtheatre.org.

Enter into the heart of mid-20th century mid-West America - into the decaying Bible Belt town of Eldritch, Missouri - an extremely small former mining town, now almost ghostly, whose remaining 70 citizens are trapped by mysteries which are shattering their shuttered lives. Nelly Windrod is on trial for murder, accused of shooting the local vagrant as he allegedly attacked a teenage girl. As the neighbors and families grapple with this sudden upheaval to their existence and struggle to understand how this could happen, long-buried secrets are revealed and the truth is painfully peeled away layer by layer.

Pulitzer Prize winner Lanford Wilson, originally from Missouri and considered a founder of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, had his The Rimers of Eldritch first staged at La MaMa in 1966. A tremendous vehicle for actors, Wilson's daunting play has since been tackled by many regional and college theatres throughout the US, including a TV adaptation for PBS in 1974. That being said, it is not an easy play to present. The chilling plot is revealed in a disruptive style jumping back and forth in time, with 17 actors, all on stage for the duration, embodying the citizenry of Eldritch, Missouri. In 2010, Wilson - who also wrote the highly acclaimed Talley's Folly, Burn This, Hot l Baltimore, among others - received the Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. This honor was bestowed on Wilson on behalf of his peers and fellow artists of the Off-Off-Broadway community "in recognition of his brave and unique works that helped established the Off-Off-Broadway community, and propel the independent theatre voice as an important contributor to the American stage."

Stoneham Theatre's production of The Rimers of Eldritch will feature the following performers: Marianna Bassham (as Nelly Windrod, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's Gaslight), Daniel Berger-Jones (as Walter), Joel Colodner (as Skelly Mannor), Linda Goetz (as Cora Groves, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's It's A Wonderful Life), Georgia Lyman (as Evelyn Jackson), Sharon Mason (as Martha Truit), IsaBelle Miller (as Eva Jackson, a member of Stoneham Theatre's young company and last seen in the young company's 13 and Annie Get Your Gun), Olivia Miller (as Lena Truit, member of Stoneham Theatre's young company and last seen in the young company's columbinus and Oklahoma!), Janelle Mills (as Mavis Johnson, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's A Christmas Carol and How Many Miles To Basra?), Taylor Napier (as Josh Johnson), Dale Place (as Preacher/Judge, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's Pal Joey and A Christmas Carol), Steven Robertson (as Robert Conklin), M. Lynda Robinson (as Mary Windrod, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's As Bees In Honey Drown and The Sweepers), Paul Shafer (as a Trucker, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's The Good War and The Grapes of Wrath), Bobbie Steinbach (as Wilma Atkins, last seen in Stoneham Theatre's A Prayer For Owen Meany), and Annabel Steven (as PatSy Johnson, member of Stoneham Theatre's young company and last seen in the young company's Les Miserables). [The role of Peck Johnson will be cast shortly.] The artistic support team is rounded out by Kathryn Kawecki (scenic design), Elisabetta Polito (costume design), and Jeff Adelberg (lighting design).

The MelRose Cooperative Bank is the sponsor for the special Pay-What-You-Can Thursday of The Rimers of Eldritch.

Additional Events at Stoneham Theatre Connected to the Production:
-- The Rimers of Eldritch Talkback:
Sunday, March 27, following the 2pm matinee. Join the full creative team in a lively discussion on the complexities of staging this challenging play. Refreshments will be served.

Special additional performances of The Rimers of Eldritch:
-- The Rimers of Eldritch will have one additional senior matinee held on Wednesday, March 30th at 2 pm. All tickets are $25 per person.

Further The Rimers of Eldritch Background Information:

The cast of The Rimers of Eldritch include the following members of Stoneham Theatre's the young company: sisters IsaBelle Miller and Olivia Miller from Melrose and Annabel Steven from Cambridge. Tackling difficult theatrical material is not new to these young actors, who in the recent past have performed in such challenging plays as columbinus and 13. For example, columbinus, sparked by the April 1999 events at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, deals with such difficult and controversial issues that Lexington High School recently cancelled their own production of the play. In spite of similar misgivings, Stoneham Theatre made the decision to produce their version of columbinus. In a recent letter to the editor of Boston Globe West, the theatre's General Manager Matt Chapuran had this to say about the theatre's experience: "We can't say that we were surprised upon learning of Lexington High School's decision to cancel performances of the play columbinus. Frankly, we were nervous ourselves when we chose to include it in Stoneham Theatre's 2010 summer session of its young company. We did our best to prepare parents and students that the play included graphic language and vivid imagery of the Columbine massacre, discouraging attendance from our high school students' young siblings. That said, until the first words are spoken on opening night, you can never be entirely sure of an audience's reaction. We are happy to report that the response from columbinus was exhilarating, from the students in the piece to their parents to the other students and parents and ticket buyers in our audience. The verdict was virtually unanimous that columbinus is a messy piece with lots of strong language and no easy answers for why and how shootings like these occur in America. The verdict was also virtually unanimous that the production engendered conversation between teens and their parents; we were proud of our actors and of our decision to mount the production."

The mission of the theatre's the young company is to develop confidence, self-discipline, and collaboration in order to prepare our local youth for the challenges that lie ahead. The young company is also a great place to have fun and learn the joys of teamwork, the major criterion for pulling off any theatrical production.

Stoneham Theatre, a professionally producing regional theatre, is the only company founded within the past ten years ranked by the Boston Business Journal among the area's ten most popular performing arts organization. It is consistently praised by critics and audiences for its superior caliber of production, its connection to the communities it serves and its comfortable atmosphere.

 

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