Theatre Company of Saugus

In addition to the full-length performances of our holiday show Nuncrackers, you can also catch free previews of bits of the show:

• At the Saugus High School Art Festival, on Saturday, November 22, 2014.  The Art Festival runs from 10 AM until 4 PM.  We perform at 12:00 noon.  See flyer below.
• At the Barnes and Noble bookstore on route 1 in Saugus, on Wednesday, December 3.  At our Bookfair fundraiser, which runs from 3 PM until 9 PM.  We perform at 7:00 PM.
• At Cliftondale Congregational Church, on Saturday, December 6 at 11:00 AM, as part of the town of Saugus annual Holiday Stroll.

Theatre Company of Saugus is pleased to announce the artistic staff for our productions in the 2014-15 season.

Charlotte’s Web – October 2014

• Director … Julia Short

Nuncrackers – December 2014

• Director … Becky Rush
• Musical Director … Thom Lissey
• Choreographer … Kim Misci

The Underpants – February/March 2015

• Director … Larry Segel

Clue, the musical – May 2015

• Director … Harriet Friedman
• Musical Director … Thom Lissey

Becky Rush, our director for Nuncrackers, has been actively involved with various theatre programs throughout southern NH since 2003, both on stage and behind the scenes. In the last five years, Becky has directed 28 youth and adult main stage shows and she has performed in 18 main stage productions at various community theatre companies in southern NH and in the Boston area. Her directorial and choreography credits include Annie Jr., A Year with Frog and Toad, Dear Edwina Jr., You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown!, Seussical, Grease, Adventures of a Comic Book Artist, The Wizard of Oz (Young Performers’ Edition), Honk Jr. and many others. Becky currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Majestic Theatre in Manchester, NH where she is the Advisor to the Teen Board. She has taught various acting classes and summer theatre camps for youth with the Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has been a voice actor for commercials, and was also featured as a vocal performance expert on a local NH cable television series. Becky is the founder of a flourishing Drama Program at Northwood School in Northwood, NH, where she currently produces four shows every school year for students in grades 1-8, with an average cast size of 36 students per show. She was also honored as World Language Teacher of the Year in 2013 for the state of NH.

This is Becky’s second time directing Nuncrackers for the main stage, and her first time working with The Theatre Company of Saugus. She has played the roles of Sisters Amnesia and/or Robert Anne in 7 different chapters of the Nunsense series (Nunsense, Nunsense II, Nunsense Jamboree, Nunsensations, Meshuggah-Nuns, Nunset Boulevard, and The Nunsense Mega Musical), and is excited to bring her passion for the Nunsense series and its characters to the TCS stage. She has had the pleasure of meeting and working directly with the creator of the series, Dan Goggin during her 2013 run of Nunset Boulevard. She looks forward to celebrating the Christmas season – Nunsense-style – with the cast, crew, and patrons of the Saugus area.

Thomas Lissey is looking forward to his first season with Theater Company of Saugus and to working as the Music Director on both Nuncrackers and Clue, the Musical.

Other recent credits include The Full Monty (ACT Andover), Evita and Cabaret (Wakefield Repertory Theater), King of Hearts (Colonial Chorus Players) and Pippin (Northeastern University Theater Department).  During the summer of 2009, Thom conducted a high-school cast in The Who’s ‘Tommy’ with the Stoneham Theater Young Company.

Thom has won four EMACT awards, including the 2004 DASH award for Best Music Direction for his work on Ragtime at the Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain.

A native of New Haven, Connecticut and graduate of Wesleyan University, Thom is the music director at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, and is a studio accompanist for The Boston Conservatory.