Artists and Musicians

JOURNEYS IN THE LIGHT, Democracy, Diversity, and Myth in the Wake of the Mayflower: Sunday, May 7, 3 PM

On Sunday, May 7, at 3 PM, the Jacob Sears Memorial Library will present a preview of this newly updated one-hour documentary. The film’s creators look beyond the iconic Euro-centric Mayflower story to present highlights in the history of the African American and Cape Verdean people in this region since the arrival of the English settlers in 1620. They find in the Mayflower Compact, and antecedents in Native American governance, powerful relevance for the divided America of today. Journeys in the Light tells its tale through the eyes, historical research, and works of art of the vibrant community surrounding Zion Union Heritage Museum in Hyannis. The documentary, produced by Janet Murphy Robertson, features important local artists including Robin Joyce Miller, Carl Lopes, Pamela Chatterton Purdy, Joe Diggs, Michael Alfano, Sean Cassidy, Vasco Pires, and others.

 

 

FOUR PLAYS FOR A PLANET IN PERIL: A CAPE COD PREMIERE

FOUR PLAYS FOR A PLANET IN PERIL 
written and directed by Lee Roscoe,
filmed and produced by Janet Murphy Robertson
 
Cape Cod Premiere
Eastham Public Library, 190 Samoset Rd., Eastham, MA 02642

 
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WATER SPIRITS COLLOQUY

THE CAGE

REPRIEVE

THE WARNING

On Wednesday, July 20 a series of short films titled FOUR PLAYS FOR A PLANET IN PERIL was presented at the Eastham Public Library. Following the 80-minute screening, there was a brief Q & A with the writer/director, Lee Roscoe, and filmmaker/producer Janet Murphy Robertson.

Earth’s peril is portrayed differently in each piece. In the first—the poetic and dreamlike Water Spirits Colloquy—two Greek demigods and a legendary Native American spirit meet to share their torment over the ravaging of Earth’s waters by humans and ultimately conspire to exact revenge. They interact amidst spectacular underwater and terrestrial imagery and in scenes of environmental destruction that build to a dramatic ending.

In The Cage, three characters—a boss, a middle manager, and a worker—argue with a mixture of stunning insight and staggering myopia in what might be described as a class war in nine minutes. The highly stylized acting verges on comedy as it highlights the societal conflicts that contribute to inaction on climate issues. 

The raw emotion and ultimate sweetness of Reprieve are a counterpoint to the power and intensity of the pieces that precede and follow it. An indigenous man in despair over the demise of his culture and the Earth is saved by the caring concern and common decency of people he barely knows. This work’s inclusion in the series gives a hint of what the films’ creators see as virtues that might help save the planet. 

According to Roscoe, a long-time environmentalist, as well as playwright, “Our goal is to draw attention to the uncomfortable reality that our whole way of life, in effect, creates the Earth’s climate, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. We employ a range of theatrical techniques—heightened language, humor, outrage, satire, hyperbole, melodrama—as well as exciting new film technologies to entertain and engage viewers and provoke awareness, discussion and, we hope, constructive action.”

In The Warning, the cycle ends with an explosion of imagery and over-the-top theatrics, noted by Roscoe as “inspired by 1930s German expressionist George Grosz.” In this hyperbolized eco-feminist cartoon, Roscoe herself, as Woman/Earth, takes to the stage and reacts viscerally to the assaults on her body by the heat and fire of fossil fuels and confronts the puppet politicians and corporate overlords responsible. The Warning is an official finalist in three categories for the Independent Short Film Awards in L.A.: Best Experimental Short, Best Original Story, and Best Ensemble Cast. 

 

In addition to Roscoe, the cast includes nine other beloved Massachusetts-based actors: Tom Wolfson, Judith Partelow (courtesy of SAG), Rod Owens, Karen McPherson, Constance Wilkinson, Cleo Zani, Geof Newton, Olivia Thompson, and LeVane Harrington.

The three experimental, non representational “shorts”—Water Spirits Colloquy, The Cage, and The Warning—were composed and filmed in a studio in Dennis during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic by Janet Murphy Robertson. She filmed the only “realistic” work of the four, Reprieve, on site in Dennis. All four films are produced by Shoestring Virtual Theater, a new venture (founded in 2021) of Robertson’s marketing and production firm ArtistsAndMusicians.org. The works employ a mix of techniques and technologies native to theater, film, and TV, including both traditional and green-screen filming/recording, cartooning, sound effects, special effects, musical scores, virtual video and photographic backgrounds, and black-and-white, as well as color, styling. The films will be available for online viewing at a later date and details will be posted at ArtistsAndMusicians.org and elsewhere.
 
FOUR PLAYS FOR A PLANET IN PERIL is supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (Towns of Brewster and Dennis).

Lee Roscoe is an award-winning playwright, environmentalist and journalist and currently a correspondent for Artscope Magazine and Provincetown Magazine. She is a former Cape Cod and Massachusetts environmental activist and environmental educator. She has long-time ties to the environmental science and education community as a Woods Hole Ocean Science Journalism Fellow, a recipient of numerous WHSTEPS (Woods Hole Science, Technology and Education Partnership grants), an Eisenhower grant for creating nature/curriculum, a Massachusetts legislature commendation and EPA award and other awards and grants. As a journalist Lee Roscoe has covered many environmental stories, regionally and nationally (some cited in scientific journals) for publications such as Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine, New York Conservationist, Oceanus online (WHOI's magazine), Sierra, and Natural History Magazine. Her theater writing has been praised as “brilliant,” “powerful and important theater,” by such notables as the artistic director of Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C., Michael Kahn; the founder of New York’s Living Theater, Judith Malina; playwright David Hare; and the late Howard Zinn, as well as other theater greats and public intellectuals. Early in her career, she worked as an Equity actress Off-Broadway and in indie films. 

Janet Murphy Robertson is a former New York executive and management consultant and the founder and executive director of ArtistsAndMusicians.org, a firm that spotlights creative and socially conscious people and produces plays, films, and musical events. Her earlier films about social issues include Journeys in the Light, Untold Stories of Cape Cod, produced with Zion Union Heritage Museum (Hyannis) and Icons of the Civil Rights Movement, based on Pamela Chatterton-Purdy and Rev. Dr. David A. Purdy’s landmark exhibition by this name.
 

Dramatists Guild to Present Reading of Lee Roscoe's Gripping Play "Dark"

Playwright Lee Roscoe is on a roll! Following quickly on the presentation of her play "No School" at Eventide's Playwrights' Lab last month, Roscoe will be in the spotlight again at a Dramatists Guild event on Friday, March 12, 7 pm. In her gripping play "Dark," Gaia confronts politicians, is arrested as a terrorist and ends the earth. Or is this mysterious woman merely claiming to be Earth as she attempts to tackle corruption? 

More information

Lee Roscoe's "No School" at Eventide Theatre Company

 

 

 

 

 

Eventide Theatre Company's Playwrights' Lab offered its first virtual showcase on Saturday-Monday, February 13-15. One of the highlights was Lee Roscoe's terrific short play "No School," starring LeVane Harrington and Kat Connelly. In a portrayal of the effects of extreme poverty on relationships, a mother and son engage in riveting combat over sports team fees.

More about playwright Lee Roscoe in our Writers' Corner.

IMPOSSIBLE? by Lee Roscoe Draws 900+ Viewers to Eventide's Virtual Playhouse

Theaters across the country are struggling to produce quality events in a new and challenging technical and logistical environment. And so it was at Eventide Theatre Company on the weekend of October 24 and 25. Notwithstanding the difficulties, Lee Roscoe's terrific and timely play about the rise of an autocratic regime in America drew more that 700 attendees to Eventide's Virtual Theatre. Audience response was overwhelmingly positive—a credit to the excellent cast, director Chris Edwards, and the support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council—Dennis and Brewster, MA.

“It was wonderful! Very unique, extremely well acted, loved the ‘virtual staging’ and the interplay between one actor/scene and the next,  really added a very almost Brechtian mood to the production…Your story line & dialogue so well done…We’ll be donating & hope the theater project can keep on….This online theatre feels like a new valuable addition to the way productions can be done. Great work by all…(only thing that I would suggest that interfered with the flow for me were the ‘names’ that kept coming on (at least my) screen,  found it confusing & distracting…hopefully that can be ‘tweeked’ out in future presentations?)” —Falmouth activist, well known painter

More comments about the play

Impossible? by Lee Roscoe to Premiere at Eventide Theatre Arts’ Virtual Playhouse

WHAT: Regional Premiere of the Lee Roscoe’s highly anticipated and timely play Impossible?—a serious satire about the rise of tyranny in America.  

WHEN: 4 pm, Saturday, October 24 and 2 pm Sunday, October 25—livestreamed online. 

WHERE: Eventide Theatre Company’s Virtual Playhouse located at https://www.facebook.com/eventidetheatrecompany 

FREE. Donations welcomed.

Impossible? is supported by The Massachusetts Cultural Council, Towns of Brewster and Dennis. 

MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT

Impossible? is a serious satire about the rise of a tyrannical president and how this impacts friends in a small New England town. The play is a ferocious, funny, and tragic look at how hyperbolized madness at the national level has real consequences in people's lives. The play is presented in two fast-paced acts. Set in the present day, Impossible? unfolds with an inevitability that is chilling as historical patterns in the rise of dictatorship emerge in modern form. The playwright's keen eye for the ridiculous keeps the audience chuckling along, entertained by witty dialogue even as the unthinkable becomes reality. Racism and sexism also feature in this thought-provoking play. The play is blunt and unsparing, without veering into partisanship or over-simplification, and is likely to be a win with audiences across the political spectrum.  

Sarah St. Mimsey is an artist who struggles to make ends meet. Her lover, Dave O’Sulley, owns a local radio station. Their best friend, Landon Eldredge, is a farmer. As the play progresses, their relationships undergo profound alteration as the newly elected President, Eddie Fabuloso—urged on by his adviser, Nikki Mugg—loses his mental stability little by little as he rearranges a nation in his grip. O’Sulley's reporting on an incident at a Fabuloso rally connects the local action with that of the national scene. 

Impossible? had originally been scheduled for September 2020 as a full-scale production for Eventide’s stage. Due to Covid, the play is being presented online through Eventide’s Facebook page and will be available at http://www.eventidearts.org through November 15. (Additional information at https://www.artistsandmusicians.org/writers_corner/leeroscoe.html)

The Playwright

Lee Roscoe is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been seen from NYC to the Cape and beyond, at such prime venues as The Living Theatre; Provincetown Theater; SlamBoston at Playwrights Theater Boston; Playwrights Platform, Waltham; Women’s International Theater Festival, Provincetown; The Tilden Arts Center, Hyannis; the Piano Factory, Boston; and Great Plains Theater Conference, Omaha. They have also been heard on public radio in San Francisco and Brandeis University. Her original radio drama, The Mooncusser's Tale, is available at https://beta.prx. org/stories/258677, and womr.org where it premiered. Lee Roscoe is a member of The New Play Exchange (NPX).
 
An Equity actress who trained at HB Studio, and Circle in the Square, she worked backstage at several Off-Broadway theaters, and later onstage Off-Broadway in the New Pinter Plays, and in the long run of “The Kitchen” directed by Jack Gelber, starring Rip Torn. The Boston Globe wrote “Roscoe is brilliant” regarding her role in The Captain’s Doll, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater. And she was Cape Cod Times' Best of the Year actress twice. She appeared in a number of films and writes of her experiences in counterculture filmmaking in The Cinema of Norman Mailer.

Her work has been praised by theater greats such as Living Theater founder Judith Malina, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C. Michael Kahn, David Hare, and the late Howard Zinn. Her themes are often about how the ills of the world at large affect the human heart, and her styles vary from realism, to satire, to the groundbreakingly abstract and imaginative.
 
She is a long-time journalist published widely on the Cape, regionally and, on occasion, nationally on topics ranging from the arts, science, and history to the environment and other news. Her poetry has appeared in Counterpunch, The Aurorean, and other journals. Author of "Dreaming Monomoy’s Past, Walking its Present," the interacting nature and history of a typical coastal area, she is a Massachusetts legislature state commended environmentalist/educator, and Woods Hole Ocean Science Journalism Fellow. She invented the first modular, multi-use clothing in the U.S.—The Instant Dress, featured in Life Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily. 

Lee Roscoe is represented by ArtistsAndMusicians (http://www.ArtistsAndMusicians.org).

Eventide Theatre Company, located in the heart of Dennis, MA, provides an encouraging, supportive environment for actors, songwriters and playwrights leading to excellent, creative, and thought-provoking performances that stimulate and educate Cape audiences of all ages.

A Brilliant New Production of A WOMAN'S HEART at Cotuit Center for the Arts, September 12-29!

Actors (l-r) Rod Owens, Dana McCoy, and Judith Partelow

A Woman's Heart has been performed to sold-out audiences since it premiered at Cotuit Center for the Arts' Black Box Theater on September 12. For tickets, please call 508.428.0669 or visit the theater's website.

REVIEWS   

The play feels "like an epic poem, wherein the minutiae of the everyday is elevated to Odysseus-like significance." It is "extremely personal and also universal." "The play feels honest and raw in its emotion but polished in its delivery." Joanne Briana-Gartner, The Enterprise The complete review

"A Woman's Heart is a passionate life in poetry." "Watching how (Dana McCoy) pulls off a lightness of being for her child is like seeing a Disney princess cast in a Quentin Tarantino movie." "Particularly impressive is (Rod Owens') ability to transform from besotted lover to angry, chain-smoking stroke victim, depending on the scene. His face is so malleable it could be made of wet clay, remade with each new emotion." Gwenn Friss, The Cape Cod Times The complete review

THE PLAY

With Judith Partelow’s original poetry as foundation, this new production weaves A Woman’s Heart’s beautiful language into a captivating tale of friendship, heartache, and triumph.

From the opening scenes, we see three close high school friends reconnecting at their 50^threunion to find their mutual impacts and inspirations have not only endured but also, ultimately, made all the difference in their respective lives. 

Replete with life events and cultural references from the 1950s forward, A Woman’s Heart is at once a touching story bound to resonate with all (and especially baby boomers!) and a deft paean to the writer’s craft.

As well as a new story approach, the play is infused with music of the boomer era, plus original music written by McCoy, Owens, and Partelow’s daughter Amanda Sevak. 

The show results from a collaboration between Partelow and McCoy—an award-winning New York-based playwright, director, actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer. The multi-talented duo has shaped Partelow’s beautiful writings into a compelling, music-filled journey through a writer’s life. A Woman’s Heart stars the collaborators themselves and actor/singer/songwriter Rod Owens. 

This brilliant new production of A Woman’s Heart premiered at Cotuit Center for the Arts on Thursday, September 12 and will run through September 29 in the Black Box Theater. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM, and Sundays at 2 PM. Tickets are $20, $15 for members. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit.  

About Judith Partelow
An award-winning writer, as well as Actors’ Equity actor and director, Partelow began writingpoetry when she was in third grade. Cape Cod journalist Caitlin Russell observed that Partelow has “a gift for taking heartbreaking subjects and shining a light on the pain, and the beauty and dignity born of struggling with it.” During its 2019 conference, the Cape Cod Writers Center recognized Partelow’s achievements with the Kevin V. Symmons Scholarship for Second Career Writers. In one of many rave reviews of earlier productions ofA Woman’s Heart, Kelley Brocco-Hagen wrote, “The play was FANTASTIC! Touched my heart profoundly! This needs major exposure!” Reviews of A Woman’s Heart---Earlier Versions of the Play

About Dana McCoy
McCoy brings to the collaboration a wealth of talent and experience in creating and honing stories and bringing them successfully to the stage. Among her many theater credits: “Cube Rat”—Writer/Performer/Producer, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway (2011); “MoM: A Rock Concert Musical,” (Lead Cast Member/CoProducer) written by Richard Caliban, winner of Outstanding Musical at New York Fringe 2009 and selected as part of the Fringe Benefits Anniversary Series (2011) and The Almost Annual Festival (April 2013). As singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, McCoy has topped Billboard charts and toured, directed, taught, and performed her own and other people’s original rock musicals internationally. 

A Woman’s Heart is produced by Janet Murphy Robertson of ArtistsAndMusicians (ArtistsAndMusicians.org).

For more information about A Woman’s Heartat Cotuit Center for the Arts, visit www.artsonthecape.orgor call 508-428-0669.

VIDEOS

Co-directors and story-tellers Dana McCoy and Judith Partelow kibitz during a rehearsal. It's an extraordinary collaboration! 

A New York couple came to see the play on opening night and share their enthusiasm here! 

RADIO INTERVIEW

Candace Hammond interviewed director/story-tellers Dana McCoy and Judith Partelow and producer Janet Murphy Robertson about A Woman's Heart for her radio program on WOMR.

MORE INFORMATION (Earlier Productions of A Woman's Heart and Judith Partelow's poetry)

Note: A Woman’s Heart was originally performed by a cast of four and was essentially a sequence of touching vignettes with beautiful language, and without the story line, characters, and musical score of the current production.

Candace Hammond interviews Judith Partelow and Rod Owens on Arts Week: Interview at WOMR

The Cape Cod Times: Sue Mellen’s  Review of A Woman’s Heart

Readers’ comments concerning Judith Partelow’s poetry. 

New Production of A WOMAN'S HEART to Open September 12

A WOMAN'S HEART Wins Kudos at W.H.A.T.

Judith Partelow’s acclaimed new play A Woman’s Heart moved on to Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater on May 10-12 following four successful prior runs elsewhere on the Cape. The play explores a woman’s emotional life as she faces the challenges of child-rearing, career, love, and loss. Alternately romantic, gutsy, self-doubting, and serene, A Woman’s Heart carries a richly detailed narrative thread—beginning in the 1950s and ‘60s and running through to the present day. Life events and cultural references will likely resonate particularly with any baby boomer. 

Critics have praised A Woman’s Heart’s captivating poetic language, its strong emotional appeal, and its innovative approach to casting. Three female actors represent the story’s heroine at different stages of her journey, and a single male actor assumes multiple roles. The actors are Lee Roscoe, Rod Owens, and Dana McCoy, and the playwright herself. The play is directed as well by the multi-talented Partelow and produced by Janet Murphy Robertson of ArtistsAndMusicians.org.

Partelow’s work has been met with enthusiasm by general audiences, the theater community, and academics. During its recent conference, the Cape Cod Writers Center awarded Partelow the 2018 Kevin V. Symmons Scholarship for Second Career Writers. James Kershner, Communications Professor, Cape Cod Community College, wrote of A Woman’s Heart, "I loved it! Deep, powerful, and entertaining." Actor Rod Owens facilitated a course titled A WOMAN'S HEART:POETRY-INTO-PLAY in the spring 2018 as part of the college’s Academy for Lifelong Learning series. Author Catherine Kelly-Mahon attended the course and observed, “Shakespeare gave us the Ages of Man; Partelow now gives us the Ages of Women. A Woman's Heart is the truth of human experience expressed in beautiful poetry." You can read more reviews of the play here: Reviews of A Woman’s Heart

The play premiered at the Jacob Sears Library Theater in May 2017 and went on to additional successful runs at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, the Women’s International Theater Festival in Provincetown, and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod.

MORE INFORMATION

Candace Hammond interviews Judith Partelow and Rod Owens on Arts Week: Interview at WOMR

The Cape Cod Times: Sue Mellen’s  Review of A Woman's Heart

Readers' comments concerning Judith Partelow's poetry. 

Rehearsal photos 

Lee Roscoe's HERE! to be Presented at Cotuit on January 9

Carol McManus will direct a reading of Lee Roscoe's play HERE! at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, January 9, on the main stage of Cotuit Center for the Arts. HERE! is part satire, part serious. It explores what happens when hyperbole becomes reality and Amerikka turns fascist.

An earlier version of Roscoe's play, titled Impossible! was workshopped at the Women's International Theater Festival.

Lee Roscoe has numerous plays to her credit. Her radio play The Mooncusser's Tale was presented on WOMR on Halloween night 2018 and is available now as a podcast: https://womr.org/podcast_category/mooncussers-tale/

In the following podcast, Neil Silberblatt interviews Lee Roscoe for his WOMR program "Poets Corner": https://womr.org/podcast/playwright-lee-roscoe/   

More about Lee Roscoe

Lee Roscoe's THE MOONCUSSER'S TALE Wins Accolades

“The Mooncusser’s Tale,” an original radio drama by Lee Roscoe, was aired on WOMR-FM on Halloween night. For the first time in a very long time, the station presented a full length radio drama. The broadcast is now available in podcast and on Public Radio Exchange for any radio stations that may be interested to hear and license.

Here's what people are saying about the "The Mooncusser's Tale":

 "We feel so privileged to have heard The Mooncusser's Tale tonight on WOMR. Exciting, lyrical, spooky, tragic, profound -- and so Cape Cod. The characters were real and well-drawn, the writing beautiful, the actors excellent.  Also the pacing and sound effects perfect." June Hager, organizer of Wellfleet Open University, Michael Hager, international lawyer

"Great job! The characters and language were so authentic. The history fascinating. It took me back to another time." Jeff Bumby, retired CEO

"Intelligence, clarity, literacy, integrity..."  Bruce Henry, Jesuit archivist

"Last night was so enjoyable, gathering by the radio listening to listen to your play.  A great way to spend a Halloween evening.  I thought it was very poetic and really captured so much of historical Cape Cod.  Everyone sounded real and authentic.  I hope you have great success with many performances of your fine and beautiful work, Lee." Bill Salem, actor

"Kudos to you on your wonderfully written (I loved the deft language) beautifully acted, and well produced radio play "The Mooncusser's Tale." Neil Silberblatt, founder Voices of Poetry

"A story that keeps me wanting to know what happens next, characters which interest me, and  a story which is new!" (Anonymous) newspaper editor-in-chief

"Terrific Lee! We were spellbound." Larry Minear, author, activist and Beth Minear, weaver

“Bravo! Outstanding work!” Jill Putnam, education expert

“An amazing piece of work!” Bonnie Hiller, best selling children’s author

“Fabulous. Kudos.” Kathy Clobridge, political organizer

“Beautifully written, so poetic” Elysse MaGuire, designer

This radio play is suitable for the whole family. Indeed the fictional family is played by a real family of actors! It is a poetic ghost tale that takes place in the sea and sand laden beauty of Wellfleet, Cape Cod in the 19th century and based on old pirate legends.

Teachers, this can be found in podcast and will make a great teaching tool for the history/nature of the Cape! So pass the word! Please let us know if you are interested by emailing us at [email protected]. "The Mooncusser's Tale" would make an excellent YA novel if there are any interested publishers out there!

Read more.

Judith Partelow's A WOMAN'S HEART Continues in New Venues

A Woman’s Heart by Judith Partelow 

  
Judith Partelow’s acclaimed new play explores a woman’s emotional life as she faces the challenges of child-rearing, career, love, and loss. Alternately romantic, gutsy, self-doubting, and serene, A Woman’s Heart carries a richly detailed narrative thread—beginning in the 1950s and ‘60s and running through to the present day. Life events and cultural references will likely resonate with any baby boomer. Three female actors represent the story’s heroine at different stages of her journey, and a single male actor assumes multiple roles. The actors are Cynthia Harrington, Lee Roscoe, and Rod Owens, as well as the playwright herself. Directed by Partelow and produced by Janet Murphy Robertson of ArtistsAndMusicians.org, the play premiered at the Jacob Sears Library Theater in May 2017, went on to a second successful run at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in August, and was featured in the Women’s International Theater Festival in October 2017. Recently, the play was performed to an enthusiastic audience at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth, MA.

To book a performance, please contact [email protected].

MORE INFORMATION

Reviews of A Woman’s Heart

Candace Hammond interviews Judith Partelow and Rod Owens on Arts Week: Interview at WOMR

Sue Mellen’s review of A Woman’s Heart in The Cape Cod Times: Review of A Woman's Heart

Rehearsal photos 

Readers' comments concerning Judith Partelow's poetry. 

 

Spotlight on Remarkable Playwrights

A Scene from Judith Partelow's A WOMAN'S HEART

Our "Writers' Corner" is currently spotlighting two remarkable playwrights:

Judith Partelow

Lee Roscoe

New Play is Hailed as "Truly Magnificent"...and More

 

In mid-October, following two highly successful runs—a premiere at the Jacob Sears Library Theater in May 2017 and a second production at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in August—Judith Partelow and her talented troupe of actors were off to the Women's International Theater Festival in Provincetown. Audience raves continue to flow in about this remarkable play: Comments about A Woman's Heart.

Presented by Margaret Van Sant, Producing Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts, the festival was held for the 12th year in conjunction with Women's Week Provincetown. The 2017 Women’s International Theater Festival was made possible through the generosity of long-time members of the Provincetown community, including WOMR, Exuma Fine Jewelry, and the Lobster Pot restaurant.

Partelow's enchanting play, A Woman’s Heart, explores a woman’s emotional life as she faces the challenges of child-rearing, career, love, and loss. Three female actors represent the story’s heroin e at different stages of her journey, and a single male actor assumes multiple roles. The actors are Cynthia Harrington, Lee Roscoe, and Rod Owens, as well as the play’s writer-director Partelow. The play is produced by Janet Murphy Robertson of ArtistsAndMusicians.org. Judith Partelow and Rod Owens discuss the play on Arts Week with Candace Hammond: Interview at WOMR

Partelow based the play on her book of poetry of the same name. Her powerful language has been called, “funny, sexy, gutsy and vulnerable," "truly magnificent," and more.

As Sue Mellen notes in her review in The Cape Cod Times, "throughout the ages, writers, philosophers and psychologists have mused on what makes women tick. In the end, poetry—at once simple but profound—may be the best reflection of a woman’s heart. Review of A Woman's Heart

Used as dialogue, Partelow’s guileless poetry creates a distinct mood in each individual scene—at times self-doubting or disquieted, at times romantic or serene. Yet there is also a richly detailed narrative thread—beginning in the 1950s and ‘60s and running through to the present day, with life events and cultural references that will likely resonate with any baby boomer. 

In addition to writing and directing, Partelow is also an actor. You can see her as Diane Delroy in OFFSEASON-- a 14 part series – on Amazon Prime. She has five fiction pieces in the latest Chatham Writers @ 02633-2016 anthology (from Lulu.com). For more about Judith Partelow, please visit her website.

Here are several rehearsal photos and readers' comments concerning Judith Partelow's poetry. These may help to convey the excitement that Partelow's new work has already inspired.

Jacob Sears Library Presents WJSL East Dennis: A Nostalgic Return to the Golden Age of Radio

On June 2-4, Jacob Sears Memorial Library presented WJSL East Dennis—a unique staging of three short plays. Two were thrillers by Louise Fletcher, originally presented as radio plays in the 1940s: Sorry, Wrong Number and The Hitchhiker. The third play was the touching and humorous Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn by Lorees Yerby. 

Fletcher’s plays were originally heard by families gathered together in the comfort of their own living rooms to hear disembodied voices emanating from a radio console. Director Elsa Bastone’s innovative production gave audiences a view into the old-time radio studio itself, where actors, organist, announcer, and sound effects people wove their magic for a listening audience. For this paean to the Golden Age of radio drama, Bastone selected gems from the radio play repertoire, notably, Sorry, Wrong Number, which the legendary actor Orson Welles called "the greatest single radio script ever written!”

WJSL East Dennis starred Bob Redding, Jane Taylor, Kay DeFord, and June Douglas-White. Supporting actors: Louis Maloof and Judy L'Heureux. Sound effects: Bob Redding. Music: Ruth McKendree Treen. Assistant to the Director: Judy L’Heureux.

The Director

ELSA BASTONE, Ph.D., has extensive experience in the theatrel world, as both director and actor. Her previous shows at the Jacob Sears Theater include Jeffrey Hatcher’s Three Viewings in May 2016 and The House of Atreus in October 2016. She has directed several hit shows at the Chatham Drama Guild, including Our Town and a prior production of Three Viewings. As Drama Director at Chatham High School, she directed students in The Rocky Horror Show, Babes in Toyland, and the Magical Pied Piper, as well as a comedy by the great French playwright Molière. Elsa has also acted in leading roles at the Chatham Drama Guild and performed with the Eventide Theater Company in Dennis and the Monomoy Theatre in Chatham.

Cast and Crew

BOB REDDING of West Chatham previously appeared at the Jacob Sears Theater in Jeffrey Hatcher’s Three Viewings in May 2016. He performed in Our Town, as well as in the musical Jekyl & Hyde with the Chatham Drama Guild and The Girl from Quanset with the Orleans Historical Society. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Clark University and taught mathematics and computer science at Worcester State University for nearly 40 years before retiring to the Cape in 2003.

JANE TAYLOR, a resident of Eastham, studies acting with Uta Hagen and Bill Hickey at the HB Studio in New York City. She has appeared in over 40 productions on Cape Cod. In addition to the role of Virginia in Three Viewings at the Jacob Sears Theater, a few of Jane’s favorite roles have been: Ma Strong in Urine Town (Cape Rep Theater, Brewster), Madame Arcardi in Blythe Spirit (Academy of Performing Arts, Orleans), and Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman (Chatham Drama Guild, Chatham). Jane is represented by Cameo Model and Talent Agency in Boston. She recently appeared in a commercial for the Wahlberg show.

KAY DE FORD is the former artistic director of Concord Youth theatre in Concord, MA, where she produced and directed more than 50 plays and musicals winning two Moss Hart Awards from the New England Theatre Conference. Since moving to Cape Cod in 1998, Kay has directed shows for Chatham Drama Guild, The Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans and Eventide Theatre Company in Dennis. She currently serves on the Eventide Board of Directors as Vice President.

RUTH McKENDREE TREEN, formerly of Groton, Massachusetts, is a resident of Harwich Port. She graduated from the University of Illinois where she studied music and theater, and then taught in those fields for fifty years.  Since coming to the Cape in 1992, she has served as Director of Music at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Harwich Port and at First Congregational Church in Chatham. She is a founding member of the Chatham Music Club and is currently an assistant organist at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Chatham.

JUDY L’HEUREUX, a Harwich resident, has stage-managed over 55 plays including dance, musicals, comedy and drama at the Academy in Orleans, Cape Rep and the Chatham Drama Guild. She is also capable of all the technical aspects of theater such as lighting and sound, props, producing and acting. From early childhood she has sung on stage and she's a folk singer in church groups, a choir director and cantor for 40+ years.

A WOMAN'S HEART: Rehearsal Photos

Three women and a man, moving through life and telling their stories of heartache, loneliness, loving, and interconnectedness...

Judith Partelow and Rod Owens

Judith Partelow, Cynthia Harrington, Rod Owens, and Lee Roscoe

Rod Owens, Lee Roscoe, and Cynthia Harrington

Cynthia Harrington and Judith Partelow

Rod Owens, Cynthia Harrington, Judith Partelow, and Lee Roscoe

 

Cynthia Harrington

Rod Owens and Cynthia Harrington

Cynthia Harrington

Cynthia Harrington and Rod Owens

Lee Roscoe

Rod Owens, Cynthia Harrington, Judith Partelow, and Lee Roscoe

Rod Owens

Judith Partelow

Cynthia Harrington

Rod Owens and Judith Partelow

Cynthia Harrington, Lee Roscoe, and Judith Partelow

Judith Partelow and Rod Owens

 

Lee Roscoe

 

Producer's Note: Join us! Share a moment of beauty, freed from literal markers of time and space. See, hear, and feel the poetic vision of A Woman's Heart.

Photos by Janet Murphy Robertson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Janet Murphy Robertson 

A Woman's Heart by Judith Partelow

The Jacob Sears Library Theater in East Dennis, MA presented A Woman's Heart, a new play by Judith Partelow as part of Cape Cod's ArtSpring festival and greater Boston's ArtWeek. Performances were held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday May 5-7.  

A Woman's Heart explores the feminine spirit as it evolves through child-rearing, career, love relationships, and inevitable sufferings toward an integrated and joyful embrace of life. It features three female actors who represent the story’s heroine at different stages in her life and a lone male actor who assumes multiple roles as the play proceeds. Here are several rehearsal photos.

Used as dialogue, Partelow’s guileless poetry creates a distinct mood in each of the nine scenes—at times self-doubting or disquieted, at times romantic or serene. Yet there is also a richly detailed narrative thread—beginning in the 1950s and ‘60s and running through to the present day, with life events and cultural references that will likely resonate with any baby boomer.

A Woman's Heart is directed by Judith Partelow. In addition to writing and directing, Partelow is also an actor. You can see her as Diane Delroy in OFFSEASON-- a 14 part series – on Amazon Prime. She has five fiction pieces in the latest Chatham Writers @ 02633-2016 anthology (from Lulu.com). Her self-published poetry chapbook, A Woman's Heart, will be for sale at the performance. For more about Judith Partelow, please visit her website.

Following the performance on Sunday, May 7, Partelow discussed the challenges and delight of writing poetry, and address the unique feature of this production: poems written on a page and brought to life on a three-dimensional stage. 

To schedule a performance of this superb new play, please contact Judith Partelow through her website or email [email protected].

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"The House of Atreus" Presented at the Jacob Sears Library

On Sunday, October 23, Jacob Sears Memorial Library presented "The House of Atreus: From Tantalus through the Trial of Orestes.” Elsa Bastone, performance artist and psychologist, gave the first in a series of dramatic presentations on the great stories of Greek mythology. This initial performance was free and open to the public and it was given in the library’s new theater space debuted in May 2016. 

Jacob Sears Memorial Library is located at 23 Center Street, just north of 6A, in the historic village of Quivet Neck, East Dennis, MA.

THREE VIEWINGS by Jeffrey Hatcher Finishes Successful Run at the Sears Library

The Jacob Sears Memorial Library in East Dennis presented three performances of Jeffrey Hatcher's acclaimed Off-Broadway play "Three Viewings" on Friday through Sunday, May 13-15. Set in a funeral parlor in a Midwestern town, the play explored love, money, and loss through three witty and touching narratives. The play unfolded in one continuous performance (90 minutes) and clearly engaged and captivated the full house gathered for each of the three performances.

This production of "Three Viewings" was directed by Elsa Bastone, stage-managed by June Douglas-White, and produced by Janet Murphy Robertson. It featured three top-notch local actors: Jane Taylor of Eastham, Susan Sard Tierney of West Yarmouth, and Robert Redding of West Chatham.  

The play was performed on the newly-refurbished and revived stage that in 1929 saw Bette Davis perform in "The Charm School." This run of "Three Viewings" marks the return of serious theater to this historic venue. The next major event at the Sears Library will be "Mick Ryan's Lament, a Song in Three Acts" on Friday, June 17. For more information, please visit Jacob Sears Library.