Summer. June Theatre. Unity Church of God 6 William St, Somerville

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1 P R M P Summer The POst-Meridian RadiO Players PRESENT Theatre PERFORMANCES: July 14th - Urban Promise Church of Somerville Three half-hour radio dramas of Suspense, Adventure and Thrills! FEATURING EPISODES OF: Black Jack Justice X Minus One Escape! A Free Outdoor Performance in Davis Square Performances September 2011 Auditions June at Unity Church of God Watch for more details and to sign up for an audition slot Performers of all ages, gender/ethnic/racial identities, and levels of ability are welcome June Unity Church of God 6 William St, Somerville

2 Takeout available 7 days kitchen open 11:30AM 11:30PM bowling 9AM midnight Small Theatre Alliance Of Boston The Small Theatre Alliance of Boston fosters the growth of small theatre companies and artists by providing professional development, initiating collaborative conversation, sharing resources, and cultivating and engaging audiences. Check out smalltheatreallianceofboston.com to learn about membership and upcoming productions and follow us on Memories and Fantasies by Fort Point Theatre Channel An evening of dance featuring Ensemble Warhol, Contrapose Dance, and Kelley Donovan & Dancers. Friday, June 10 - Sunday, June 12. Midway Studios. Journey to the Heart of X Minus One by Counter-Productions Theatre Company Tales from the original 1950's radio broadcast, as well as original sci-fi shorts from local artists Alison Meirowitz McCarthy, Vincent Ularich and John Herman. June 10th - June 19th. Factory Theatre. The 24's by FV Productions Actors & playwrights will be locked in a theater for 24 hours to create four short plays, culminating in this performance. One night only! Saturday, June 25. Factory Theatre. Summer Play Festival 2011 by Boston Actors Theater July 29-August 7. Boston Playwrights' Theatre.

3 12 About is an all-volunteer community theatre based in Somerville, MA. Founded in 2003, we fill a vital niche in the vibrant Davis Square arts scene. We draw upon the talents and support of individuals and organizations throughout the community to provide opportunities for our participants and audiences to experience quality live theatre in a variety of local venues. Our Mission Statement The mission of Theatre@First is to work together to provide a fun, friendly, and creative theater experience for cast, crew, and audience alike. We welcome volunteers at all levels of experience, without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, body type, age or disability. We encourage a supportive environment in which to work, play, grow, and explore new areas of the theatre arts. We offer affordable and eclectic performances to the community, aiming to surprise, delight, entertain, and educate our audiences. Theatre@First Steering Committee President Beckie Hunter Artistic Director Elizabeth Hunter Vice President Andrea Humez Clerk Melissa Vaillancourt Treasurer David Policar Technical Coordinator...Jo Guthrie Nominating Shelley MacAskill Webmaster Jennifer Koerber Wendy Agnew Chris DeKalb Mare Freed Nellie Farrington Members at Large: Renée Johnson Andy Lebrun Neil Marsh John Olson Erika Reinfeld Gilly Rosenthol Paulo Ruffino Lisë Stern Judy Yen Equus Written by Peter Shaffer Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Setting: A provincial British psychiatrist's office. There will be one 15 minute intermission. NOTICE: No smoking inside the building. In case of emergency, please use the emergency exits located at the front and back of the hall. Flash photography is not allowed during the performance. Please silence your cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices. About the Play Equus was originally performed in 1973 and won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play. It has earned critical acclaim and awards for its leads including Anthony Hopkins (1975 Drama Desk Award), Richard Burton and Peter Firth (1976 Golden Globes). The most recent London and Broadway revival starred Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe. Peter Shaffer s other work includes Amadeus, winner of the 1984 Academy Award for Best Picture. Cast Dr. Dy s a r t Elizabeth Hunter Al a n St r a n g Adam Schofield-Bodt Hes t h er Sa l o m o n Melissa Ehlers Jill Mason... Lauren Strand Frank Strang... Johnbarry Green Do r a St r a n g Margaret Healey Nu r s e Monique Frank Eq u es t r i a n Santiago Rivas Ha rr y Da l to n Peter DeGlopper Tr oo per Santiago Rivas Nugg e t... John Olson 1

4 Crew Di r e c to r David Policar Pr o d uc er/house Ma n ager Chris DeKalb St ag e Ma n ager/rehearsal Ass is ta n t judy Yen Technical Director/Light Board Op. Shelley MacAskill Set Des i g n er Jo Guthrie Li g h ti n g Des i g n er giles Hall So u n d Des i g n er/board Op Andy Hicks Costume Designer... Cara Chiaramonte Make-Up Designer... Katie Drexel Gr a p hi c Des i g n er Gilly Rosenthol Pr o g r a m Des i g n er Julia Tenney Publicity/Ad Sales...Heidi Clark Photo g r a p h er Rachel Sommer Rudy s Cafe and Tequila Bar Serving the best Tex Mex, BBQ, Vegetarian Great Margaritas and more than Fifty Tequilas Teele Square 248 Holland St., Somerville Support Theatre@First! Theatre@First is part of the Massachusetts Community Theatre Corporation, a Massachusetts non-profit corporation that is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We invite the community s support. Contributors You can support T@F with a tax-deductible donation. You may claim these contributions on your tax return. Su p p o r ter: $20 49 You ll be acknowledged by name on our web site and show programs. Su b sc r i b er: $50 You ll get free admission to our shows for one year. This includes our usual main stage productions of plays or musicals, as well as staged readings and other Theatre@ First events and performances. Fr i e n d: $50 99 You ll be acknowledged by name on our web site and show programs, and will receive a receipt from our Treasurer. Pat r o n: $ You ll be acknowledged by name on our web site and show programs, and will receive a receipt from our Treasurer. You will also receive premium reserved seating at each show. Sp o n s o r: $250+ You ll be acknowledged by name on our web site and show programs, and will receive a receipt from our Treasurer. You will also receive premium reserved seating at each show. You will be invited to special events with the cast and crew. Please visit our table in the lobby to contribute today, or you can join by mail. Please make any checks out to Theatre@First and mail to: Beckie Hunter, Theatre@First 89 College Avenue Somerville, MA

5 10 Special Thanks extends its heartfelt thanks to the following wonderful folks: Renee Johnson, for helping us move. Betty Walker, for her unflagging support and extra-special efforts for this show. George Dean, for first introducing Dave to this play. Ron DeMarco at the Emerson College Scene Shop for the loan of set pieces. Matthew Knutzen for his original painting. Stan at Fleming Printing for all his help with program printing. Galley Theatre Lighting, for their generous assistance in providing our lighting rig. Carl Gruesz for a timely gesture. Jason Merrill for sawing things apart and putting things together. Alice Merrill Hunter for the generous loan of her rocking horse (and her mom!) Our dedicated team of volunteers, including various members of the cast and crew. Thank you for building our set, working the box office, selling concessions and merchandise, ushering, and generally making these shows happen. Everyone at Unity, for always making Theatre@First feel welcome here. Our friends, family, and members of our audience. Without your support, we wouldn t be here. Director s Note "Is it possible, at certain moments we cannot imagine, a horse can add its sufferings together -- the non-stop jerks and jabs that are its daily life -- and turn them into grief? What use is grief to a horse?" With these subversive questions, Shaffer introduces us to Dr. Dysart and Alan Strang, a psychiatrist and a young boy trying to reconcile the everyday reality of hardware stores and psychiatric offices with hints of a more transcendent existence. Trying and, in different ways, failing. Alan's god is alive and implacable and forbidding; it stands between him and a functioning life. Dysart's gods are dried out, pressed safely between the pages of books, and with them the passion that makes life worth living. Without quite knowing it, each looks to the other for salvation. And thus begins Equus. Those of you familiar with the play will notice some changes in this production. This is a small space, and the staging accordingly exchanges spectacle for intimacy: pants stay on, cigarettes stay unlit, the floor doesn't move, the horses are more approachable. The most striking change is no doubt the character of Dysart, who is female in this production. Logistically, that changes surprisingly little: Margaret becomes Marcus, Martin becomes Martine. Instead of a chapel and a salmon-pink fireplace: a castle and a plaid recliner. Dental work replaces knitting; Chianti and a salt-and-pepper set become a peasant shirt and hat. That's as it should be. To reconcile the sublime with the mundane, to ride that horse without being trampled by it, is a Herculean and sometimes Sysyphean task for all of us: whoever we are, whatever bodies we're born into, however we choose to live, and whatever we choose to worship. Shaffer's characters don't always attempt that leap, and never land unscathed when they do. Neither do we. "I need," says Dysart as the story ends, "a way of seeing in the dark." Every night, part of me hopes they'll find one. They never do. They never will. It remains my fervent wish that, when the lights come up and the show is over, we can all do better. Dave Policar 3

6 Cara Chiaramonte (Costume Des i g n er) returns to design her fifth T@F show, after The Winter s Tale, Dracula, C est Levine! and Shaken Up Shakespeare. Other recent design credits include Still Life With Iris (Cambridge Public Schools) 2010: Our Hideous Future: The Musical! and The Way of the Warrior Bunny (Unreliable Narrator.) See her work at carachiaramonte.viewbook.com. Heidi Clark (Publicit y/ Ad Sa les) An inspired fan of this intense play, Heidi got passionate too for the great spots and good eats in Somerville. Getting to sample while hoofing around is half the fun of her T@F role. She s also psyched to direct one ofthree plays in the July PMRP Summer Radio Theater. See Cast & Crew Bios Peter DeGlopper (Harry Da l to n) has previously appeared as a stagehand in Festival@First and as a sound effect in PMRP s Big Broadcast of He is pleased to be making his speaking debut in this production. It turns out that the first thing to learn is shouting. Chris DeKalb (Producer/ Ho u s e Ma n ager) is glad to be working on another T@F production. When he s not herding horses on stage he s working with headless horsemen over at Sleepy Hollow: The Ride Across America ( During the day he s a project manager at Books24x7.com. Katie Drexel (Make-up Des i g n er) is making a name for herself designing make-up for cyber-punk, dystopian theater him. He s on a horse. He IS the horse. This is his tenth production with T@F, ever since Merry Wives of Windsor six years ago. Apparently, he just can t say Neigh. This will come in handy as, with the help of his Fabulous Redhead wife, Laurie, he prepares for his most challenging role: Daddy. Gilly Rosenthol (Graphic Des i g n er) An experienced print designer available for freelance projects (see RosentholDesign.com for more information), Gilly is also an active performer in the Camberville area. She has appeared in over a dozen T@F shows, and is currently playing Snug the Joiner in the Anarchist s Shakespeare Society s Midsummer Night s Dream. Julia Tenney (Program Des i g n er) will be back onstage next month in PMRP s Summer Radio Theater. A publisher of rural weekly newspapers before moving to a big city, she still works in visual arts & design. Various project details via Judy Yen (Stage Manager/ Re h e a r s a l Ass is ta n t) is nothing but trouble, in the best sense of the term. She is thrilled to be a part of this lovely production. Many thanks and love to friends and family. Save your fork. There s pie! Sweet & Savory Pies & Tarts petsipies.com 285 Beacon St Somerville MA Putnam Ave Cambridge MA

7 Cast & Crew Bios (c o n ti nu ed) Google, which is omniscient and omnipresent. My heartfelt thanks to my beloved Frankin for his stalwart support throughout the show. David Policar (Director) is more delighted than he has words to express to return to this chair, and grateful to his *awesome* cast for creating something wonderful that he gets to take credit for. Thanks always to his husband Paulo for unflagging patience. Adam Schofield-Bodt (Alan Strang) graduated in 10 from Western CT State University with a BA in Theatre Performance and Design/Tech, and is currently working as Director of Harvard Tours for Trademark Tours. Previous shows include: A Flea in Her Ear (Camille), Tommy (Cousin Kevin), The Tempest (Ferdinand), City of Angels (Sound Designer) and The Will of Love (Sound/Projections Designer). Lauren Strand (Jill Mas o n) is absolutely tickled to be in a T@F production. She is a graduate of Wellesley College with a degree in neuroscience, and studied theatre at the British American Drama Academy, London. Hobbies include adventuring, sailing, and getting her ducks in a row. She thanks her family and friends, and Chris, especially, for assigning her the task of auditioning for this gig in the first place. Santiago Rivas (Equestrian, Tr oo per) Look at him. Look at your man. Now back to projects. Her stage credits include Nine (Olga von Sturm) with Longwood Players, Hair (Tribe/Soloist) with Counter- Productions Theater Co., 2010: Our Hideous Future with Unreliable Narrator (Artie), Missionaries (The Poet) with Missionaries Boston and Bear Patrol (Ensemble/ Cocklimah) with Vaquero Playground. She is the Stage Manager for T: An MBTA Musical at Improv Boston and a member of the improv troupe, The Orphans. She looks forward to an opportunity to reverse the work she did for Equus by one day painting horses to look like humans. Melissa Ehlers (Hesther Sa l o m o n) is excited to be working with T@F again. She was last seen in Nothing Serious. When not being the Jiminy Cricket onstage, she is a professional stage manager who thoroughly enjoys working with children. Melissa would like thank her family for their endless support and the cast & crew for the fun ride on her first adventure back onstage in a while! Monique Frank (Nurse) started her acting career over twenty years ago at the Footlight Theater. More recently she has appeared with the Belmont Dramatic Club in Nasty Things Murders, Harvey, and Twice the Number of Suspects; and in the Lexington Players The Assassins and In Memoriam. Monique plans to continue performing well into her golden years. Johnbarry Green (Frank St r a n g) is excited to have his first-time experience with the 8 5

8 Cast & Crew Bios (c o n ti nu ed) Firsties! Having worked with other theater companies in the area such as Theatre To Go, Striving Artists and the Belmont Dramatic Club, it s good to find yet another passionate and focused group to share his talents with! Thank you to the cast and staff of this production for making this puppy feel welcome and appreciated! Hi, Mom! Jo Guthrie (Set Des i g n er) Hold your horses!! Jo understands that the mane attraction of this show is the shear genius of its cast. After a small hiatus, she jumped back in the saddle and listened to the stable voice in her head. Hers is only a bit part in this amazing production and she hopes you enjoy this show. It really is a horse of a different color. Giles Hall (Lighting Des i g n er) builds neat things. Margaret Healey (Dora St r a n g) is thrilled to be in her first show with T@F. She most recently appeared with Community Players of Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Studio Players of Lexington, Kentucky, where she assumed roles both onstage and backstage. In years past, she has appeared in a variety of community theater productions in the Boston area. Thanks to the cast and crew for making this such an incredible experience! Andy Hicks (Music/Sound) is a musician, sound designer, actor, director, radio producer, and, on occasion, a human being who eats and sleeps. Music/lyrics, 2010: Our Hideous Future - The Musical (at Oberon this summer). Sound design for Happy Medium Theater, Holland Productions, Moses/Mogilee (NYC), and WGBH Radio. He s appeared in numerous T@F and PMRP productions, the Commonwealth Museum, and WGBH TV. He's also writing music for As You Like It. Just writing this bio makes him want to take a nap. Elizabeth Hunter (Dr. Dy s a r t) is the founding Artistic Director of T@F. She has previously appeared onstage in Festival@ First 2: Summer Splash (2005) and You Can t Take It With You (2006). She has directed eight T@F shows and is currently adapting Pride & Prejudice for production in March Unbridled thanks to Jason for his love and support and to Alice for her patience while Mommy s in rehearsal. Shelley MacAskill (Technical Di r e c to r, Li g h t Boa r d Op) This is Shelley's tenth show with Theatre@First, and first as Tech Director, which should entitle her to the next one for free, if she can resist working it. John Olson (Nugg e t) This is my fifteenth show with Theatre at First, and my first as a dumb animal. Or a pagan god, it's a little hard to tell. Either way, it's the fewest lines I've ever had to learn. Offstage, I work at 24Unique Burgers as well as Soups, Salads, Wings and F ries! 37 Davis Sq,Somerville MA info@bostonburgerco.com WINNER OF RACHAEL RAY S BEST BURGER CONTEST MTW pm TH, F, S 11-11pm Sun 12-8 pm 6 7