Chapel Street Players Celebrate New Show & New Home

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

After signing a deal to depart its cramped quarters on North Chapel Street in early 2019, the Chapel Street Players have new digs for their 90th season! The recently completed building features 210 seats – an increase from the former 155 – as well as a large lobby, box office, bar area, and green room. The new theater also has a stage curtain, a modern sound system, more comfortable seats, bigger dressing rooms, and wings for actors to gather while waiting for their cues to go on stage. A 24-foot ceiling allows volunteers to build complex two-story sets. Most importantly, the new location offers plenty of free parking.

While a bit boxy, the new theater is quite beautiful and a deserved home for the long-time community theater. Congratulations to the leadership for all its work in securing the funding, real estate, and partnerships to pull off this monumental move. The capital campaign raised $700,000 over four years to make this all possible. Kudos!

According to CSP President Scott F. Mason: “Due to the rush to get to opening there are more amenities to come such as chandeliers in the lobby, our logo, outdoor signage, an art gallery area, and more. Every show this season will see more and more added to the space.”

(L-R): Michael Anderson, Joel Richard Watson, Connie Regan,

Leslie Green Shapiro, and Nicholas Savino star in CSP's

Footlight Frenzy. Photo provided by Chapel Street Players.

Oh, right…there was a show to put on…a very funny show. Footlight Frenzy is a fast-paced modern farce written by Ron House, Alan Shearman, Bud Slocumb, and Diz White. In a desperate attempt to save their bankrupt “School for Unusual Children,” an inexperienced local group valiantly mounts an ambitious benefit play written by a wanna-be Broadway director. His questionable direction and the group’s dubious talent turn the production into a shambles. 

The wacky story shifts from the dramatic (and at times over-dramatic) tribulations of the performers’ real lives to the play they are performing. The audience sees this entire chaotic story from the best seat in the house – the back of the stage.

The run-up to curtain becomes a disaster as the poorly-conceived play Tarnished Silver is set for its world premiere. Several unseen cast members have quit the production late-on and the shaken director Tony Langdon (Joel Richard Watson) turns to the janitor Benny Dibble (Michael Anderson) to fill in the crucial role of a notorious gangster. (To boot, one of the missing actors is replaced by a telephone!) 

As a young man with no stage experience, Benny hams it up but also comes down with paralyzing stage fright. The ex-actress/singer Laura Becker (Connie Regan) hasn’t trodden the boards in a long time. Laura becomes neurotic as young Debbie Turner (Leslie Green Shapiro) lustily pursues her husband Paul (Tom Hartzell) — a teacher at the school who is always playing catch-up. To add another layer, Debbie’s unrequited lover is the oft-inept janitor Benny.

Meanwhile, Laura’s old flame Alex Malone (Nicholas Savino) is also in the production of Tarnished Silver. His addition just adds froth to the madcap antics. To cope, Laura tries to self-medicate with all sorts of drugs to calm her jangled nerves. You can imagine that doesn’t turn out as expected. 

The jokes come quickly and furiously — both spoken and in the form of physical humor. Highlights include a “toy” dog, a rollicking fight scene, an out-of-place polo match, and the poor (detachable) head of baby Anne. Also, try to keep track of how many gunshots are fired by Debbie — AKA Gwen in Tarnished Silver — to “kill” her fellow actors. Some just won’t die!

Director Brian M. Touchette delivers the action at a rapid clip; although there were times when brief lulls would slow the pace. The cast did a worthy job of acting to the house as well as to the back – where the audience for Tarnished Silver sits. The intertwining plots were sometimes hard to follow, but the jokes never stopped coming.

Performances of Footloose Frenzy run the first two weekends of November. Evening shows on November 8 and 9 are at 8:00pm. A matinee show on November 9 begin at 2:00pm. Tickets are $22 for adults. Students, seniors, and military tickets are $20. Tickes for children under 12 are $12. Purchases may be made at https://chapelstreetplayers.org/footlight-frenzy/ or at the box office, subject to availability. The run time is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes which includes a 15-minute intermission. 

The new theater is located at 643 Creek View Road in Newark. Free parking can be easily located all around the building. A selection of wine, beer, and cocktails are now available before the show and at intermission from the new concessions booth. Water, soda, and snacks are also offered. Cash or credit cards are accepted. 

Chapel Street Players’ 90th season will continue with performances of Times Square Angel in December, The Foxy Mrs. Bumstead Leigh in February, Steel Magnolias in April and the annual Renee G. O’Leary fundraiser in the spring. A season package costs $70.

Dr. Renee G. O'Leary is the only living person and CSP Board Member who has worked in all five CSP locations! She started as an actress in Mitchell Hall. She is a true legend and made a significant donation to have the hearing assistance system installed in the new space. 

CSP is a 501c3 non-profit all-volunteer organization.

Cuckoo for Chapel Street's Latest Production

By Carol Van Zoeren

In the program’s Director’s Message, Brian Touchette states his objective is to immerse the audience in the world of the play. He begins even before the play starts by cleverly presenting the curtain speech as a letter from Nurse Ratched, welcoming the audience to participate in this “group therapy session” while also reminding us to turn off our cell phones. 

The cast of Chapel Street's Cuckoo's Nest.
Photos by Peter Kuo. 

He furthers this with a gorgeous set that evokes a decaying industrial setting, rusty, dirty and dented, with incongruously cheery Christmas lights in the “Control Room”. He pairs Chief Bromden’s monologues with mechanical imagery and sound that augment the Chief’s terror of the destructive machines that consumed his family, his tribe and his sense of self.

Touchette more than succeeded in immersing me in the world of the play. Yes, I was fully invested, but was also especially gratified that these elements highlighted many themes of the play that I might have otherwise missed.

For those unfamiliar with the play, or the 1975 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, a brief plot synopsis: Randall P. McMurphy is committed to a psychiatric ward after “a couple of hassles down at the Work Farm and the Court ruled that I’m a psychopath.” The ward is ruled by Nurse Ratched. A war for control ensues between McMurphy and Ratched, with both tragic and uplifting results. But this plot is merely a vehicle for deep examination of how institutions can destroy, how power can corrupt, and how one can both lose and win at the same time.

OK, enough of the English 101 essay. This is a community theater review, so let’s talk about the performances.

Scott F. Mason is a talented actor with whom I have shared the stage, and I was delighted to see him play McMurphy. Mason portrayed the bravado that has carried McMurphy through every hardship, and also well conveyed moments of doubt when he realizes the power of the forces aligned against him. My only quibble with the entire production is the choice for him to use a deeply gravelly voice throughout. This was distracting, at time made his lines difficult to understand, and generally detracted from the authenticity of the character.

As Nurse Ratched, Shelli Haynes embodied the iron fist beneath the velvet glove (thinking of the cheery Christmas lights in the Control Room). Ratched’s highest priority is control and power. Haynes expertly played Ratched’s repertoire of tools — sing-songy comfort, intimidation, emotional blackmail, flat-out baiting. In the context of Touchette’s design, I realized that Ratched intentionally sacrifices her most vulnerable patient so she can goad McMurphy into an attack that will secure her victory over him. Power corrupts. Yes, it was there all the time. But without the rusty set, I might have missed that.

As Chief Bromden, Arthur D. Paul broke my heart. As mentioned above, the video and sound accompaniment helped reveal the deeper meaning of his poetic monologues. So too did his demeanor — frightened and confused, yet hopeful. In the Act II scene between Chief and McMurphy, when Chief reveals that indeed he can hear and talk, it was simply beautiful to see genuine affection develop between these two flawed men. It set us up to accept Chief’s final act of kindness, not to let his friend live as a vegetable. And, again thanks to Touchette’s overall concept, It is not lost on me that Chief escapes after shorting out the power of the machine, thereby reclaiming his own strength.

In direct contrast how Ratched beats people down to service her need for total control, McMurphy is all about building people up. It is touching that Dale Harding (Alan Harbaugh) eventually finds the courage to convince Chief to leave.  McMurphy convinces the excruciatingly fearful Billy Bibbit (Stephen Ross Ashby) to embrace life, even though this leads to both of their downfalls.

The other patients — Scanlon, Cheswick, Martini (Josh Pelikan, Frank Newton, Andre Wilkins) — are clearly delineated with their own individual quirks, but also serve collectively as a kind of Greek chorus. This was notable in group therapy scenes when the three moved and reacted in sync, and most poignant when they try to convince themselves that the lobotomized McMurphy is just a mock-up, a dummy, and the real McMurphy escaped.

This all sounds like a very depressing evening. Indeed, that was what I expected. So I was pleasantly surprised at how funny the show is. The cast expertly plays up the comedy and was rewarded with raucous outbursts of laughter from the sold-out opening night audience. Coupled with the uplifting elements in otherwise dire circumstances, Chapel Street’s Cuckoo’s Nest offers a deeply satisfying exploration of the worst, and best, of humanity.

See http://chapelstreetplayers.org.