Carlee WrightThe Verona Studio presents three powerful monologues by three powerful performers this February.
The Verona Studio’s 2021 season is a who’s who of the Salem stage. The local black box theater company, pivoting to facilitate productions during Covid-19, aims to highlight single-person performances from four different playwrights with an intent to show the range that each playwright brings to a short monologue format.
Next up is a night of three powerful (virtual) monologues by three powerful performers in Three Plays by Don Nigro, 7 p.m. February 19-21 and 26-28.
“Don Nigro is a very prolific playwright, who seems to specialize in short plays. The plays in this production are notable for their intelligence, sensitivity, and quirkiness (which, of course, we hope people expect from all the plays we select for our seasons). His best-known play is ‘Still Life with Sharks and Dancer,’ which was popular back in the early 1990s,” said theater co-founder Randall Tosh.
The 40-minute show includes:
Palimpsest featuring performer Tom Hewitt, directed by Patricia Wylie. This duo has worked together previously at Verona. In 2019, Tom was commendable in the one-person play, Every Brilliant Thing, directed by Patricia, as well as Mathieu Voisine.
“In this powerful monologue, Ben, a writer in his sixties, driving through a blizzard in the middle of the night on New Year’s Eve, tries to come to terms with his life, the women he has lost, and the nature of love.”
Girl With Crows featuring Christa Fenton, directed by Jeff Sanders.
“An unloved girl who takes out her frustration by throwing rocks at crows has an unexpected encounter with one particular crow on a railroad track one fateful night.”
And Miss Havisham’s Wedding Cake featuring Pamela Abernethy, directed by Ed Schoaps.
“The grotesque, gothic character from Dickens’ Great Expectations, Miss Havisham, steps outside herself to examine her motives and the consequences of devoting her life to getting revenge upon men after being left at the altar. A sad and funny meditation on the nature of love and the satisfaction of revenge.”
Selecting plays for the 2021 season was pretty challenging, said Randall.
“Technically, our criteria were a one-person play, somewhere around 30 minutes in length, that did not need any set and only minimal costuming. Artistically, we were looking for contemporary plays, with strong literary quality, and that would provide a challenge for the director and actor.”
After that, said Randall, it was simply reading a lot of one-person plays, thinking about whether there were actors right for the parts and directors who would also be interested.
The studio also took into consideration “whether a simple, stripped-down approach would work with the script, and, importantly, whether it would be possible to safely perform/record the play in light of COVID-19 and that the cast and crew would be comfortable working under the restrictions inherent in social distancing, masking, etc.”
Save these dates for future shows, which allow you to support the performing arts in Salem from the comfort (and convenience) of your own living room.
Three Plays by Don Nigro
When: 7 p.m. February 19-21, 26-28
Tickets are $15 and available at https://www.showtix4u.com/events/VeronaStudio
Woman Caught Unaware
Written by Annie Fox. Directed by Patricia Wylie, and starring Robynn Hayek.
When: 7 p.m. April 2-4 and 9-11
A Night of Monologues by John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Seth Allen. Performers TBA.
When: May 14-16 and 21-23
Learn more about The Verona Studio at https://www.theveronastudio.com/.
Author: Carlee Wright
Carlee Wright is a community instigator with a grand love for Salem and notably fashionable shoes (Hello, John Fluevog!) who turns waste into wearable art in her "spare" time.
The Instigator
