Category Archives: Announcements

We will hold our holiday season party on Sunday 11 December 2016, starting at 7:0o PM.  This is a potluck dinner affair.  Bring something to share, either a main dish, a side dish, a dessert, or drinks.

We will also hold our Annual General Membership Meeting.  This will be brief, but there are two important items on our agenda that require the review and approval of the membership:

1. We will hold our Election for members of the Board of Directors.
2. We will discuss and approve the plan for shows in the Next Season, 2017-2018.

The Board of Directors has nine members, with three members elected each year to staggered three-year terms.  The people with terms expiring at the end of 2016 are Mary Moffett, Jessica Stockton, and Stacey Wilson.  Many thanks to them for their service!

We have nominated one continuing member and two others to fill the open slots:

• Mary Moffett is eligible to serve another term, and is interested in doing so.  Mary has served on the board a number of times, and has worked with us for many years behind the scenes and on stage.
• Wes Toma-Lee.  Wes has been a very organized stage manager for several of our productions in the past few years.
• Damien LaCount.  Damien has been an energetic cast member on stage in two of our shows this year.

Here is our thinking about the shows for the next season.  This plan may still be refined or modified by the board of directors before the general meeting.  We expect to do four shows, as usual, in addition to our summer youth theatre workshop.

1. A Halloween 2017 season show.  Our recommendation is Bat Boy, the popular musical about a family that adopts a bat boy, by the same authors as Heathers.  The alternate, in case we cannot get the rights, would be The Woman in Black, a mystery thriller play.
2. A holiday season 2017 show.  Our recommendation is A Charlie Brown Christmas, a one-act musical with a cast of children.  This might be paired with a one-act play The Gift of the Magi, with two adults.  The alternate would be The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a one-act play with children and adults.
3. A winter season show, in early 2018.  We recommend the play Almost, Maine.  A popular comedy.  The alternate, if we need a second musical in the season, would be The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
4. Another Nunsense show in spring 2018, continuing the series.  Probably Nunsense Jamboree.

Founders Day is the annual street fair in Saugus Center.  Vendors, games, food, performances, and the presentation of the Saugus Person of the Year.  Saturday 10 September 2016 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  On Central Street north of the monument at Main Street.

Come visit the Theatre Company of Saugus booth, on the sidewalk right in front of Town Hall.  Enter a raffle, get discount tickets to Heathers, learn about our upcoming season and past shows.

TCS will perform numbers from our shows, starting at 2:15 PM, on the front steps of Town Hall.  Come watch cast members from:

• our summer Youth Theatre Workshop production of Seussical Jr.
• our upcoming production of Heathers the Musical
• and the funny nuns from our last year’s production of Nunsense The Mega Musical

Click here for an article about William Fafard Jr., who appeared in a summer stock production of Cats at the Star Theatre in Kittery, Maine.  William, and other family members, have been in many TCS productions for over a decade.  The article, by Jeannette Hinkle, appeared in the Saugus Advertiser on Wicked Local.

It is time to plan our next season 2017-2018.  You are all welcome to join the Play Reading & Season Planning Committee.  We have two meetings scheduled so far:

• Wednesday 10 August 2016 at 7:00 PM
• Thursday 25 August at 7:00 PM

The location of both meetings is the American Legion.  (In a different room than the Heathers rehearsal that will be going on at those times.)  See our Directions page.

There are four show slots to fill.  We will most likely want to do the next in the series of Nunsense shows.  The season should also include at least one Play.  Possibly another musical.  Possibly some sort of revue.  Possibly some sort of Christmas show.  We are open to your suggestions.

If you have suggestions, or questions, please contact our Committee Chairperson, Stephen Russo, at TCSaugus@gmail.com.

TCS would like to present an entry at the EMACT Festival in June 2017.  (We brought our production of Macbeth to the 2014 Festival.)

We are now accepting proposals for a production at the next Festival.  A show that runs in less than an hour.  And has a set that can be assembled in under ten minutes, and can be disassembled in under ten minutes.  The show can be a play or a musical, a one-act, or a cutting of a longer show.

A proposal should explain the show, and include who will be the Director and other staff.  Please send your proposal to us at TCSaugus@gmail.com.  We will schedule an interview with the Board.

Update, November 2016.  We have engaged directors for the Mis-Cast Cabaret and for Lost in Yonkers.  We are still in need of a Music Director for Nunsense 2.

We are now looking to engage some needed Artistic Staff for the remainder of the current 2016-2017 season.

1. A Miscast Musical Revue.  This is your opportunity to perform a song that you would normally never get to do.  Cast yourself against type.  Performances in early December 2016.  We are looking for a Director / Coordinator.  (We have a Music Director.)
2. Lost In Yonkers.  The Pulitzer Prize-winning comic drama by Neil Simon, in winter 2017.  We are looking for a Director.
3. Nunsense 2, The Second Coming.  The second in our planned series of musical comedies about funny nuns, in spring 2017.  We are looking for a Music Director.  (We believe we have a Director.)

Honorariums are available.  To apply for any of these three positions, please write to us at TCSaugus@gmail.com.  Include your contact information, theatre resume, and a brief statement about which shows you want to do and why.  We will contact you to schedule an interview with the board, and to answer a director questionnaire.  The deadline to apply is August 31, 2016.

We are also looking for the technical staff for all of these shows, including Producer, Stage Manager, and Designers for Sets, Costumes, Lighting, etc.  (We do not pay honorariums for the technical positions.)

Theatre Company of Saugus (TCS) is a member of the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres (EMACT).  EMACT runs the DASH program (Distinguished Award and Special Honors) that evaluates many of the shows done by its member groups.  Many aspects of each show and the performers are rated, and those with the best ratings are Nominated for DASH Awards.  The nominations for the 2015-2016 season were announced on a webcast on Wednesday 20 July 2016.

The award winners were revealed at the annual DASH Gala, which is very much like the Tony Awards, but local.  This year the DASH Gala was on Saturday 27 August 2016.

TCS had a nomination for one of its productions in the 2015-2016 season:

• Evelyn Holley for Best Lead Actress in a Play for The Laramie Project 

There are many other TCS members who were nominated for their work with other companies.  Many of these are for the Winthrop Playmakers production of The Shadow Box, which was also nominated for Best Ensemble in a Play, and for Best Play:  The show was the winner of the award for Best Ensemble in Play.

• Nicholas Raponi for Best Director of a Play.  He was the winner of this award.  Nick was in the TCS production of The Producers, and will appear in our next show Heathers the Musical.
• Lauren Amaru for Best Makeup and Hair Design for a Play
• Anthony Turilli for Best Youth Actor in a Play
• Brian Dion for Best Supporting Actor in a Play
• Nicholas Raponi for Best Set Design for a Play

For other productions, TCS members earned these nominations:

• Amanda Allen for Best Makeup and Hair Design for a Play for The Man Who Came to Dinner at Spotlight Playhouse
• Shawn Gelzleichter for Best Musical Director for The Rocky Horror Show at The Footlight Club
• Kai Chao for Best Choreography for The Great American Trailer Park Musical at The Burlington Players
• Gabriel Clark for Best Youth Actor in a Musical for Seussical at Wakefield Repertory Youth Theatre
• Lauren Amaru for Best Specialty Ensemble in a Musical as one of the Strippers in the Winthrop Playmakers production of Gypsy.

Anthony Turilli was nominated for the same award last year, for the TCS production of Charlotte’s Web.

The complete set of nominations and winners is here.  Congratulations to all the nominees.