Original play shows family through the generations
By Renee Merchant
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Two local playwrights, Toby Tarnow of Hollis and Ellen Cunis of Amherst, share a personal story about family, community and strong women in their original play The Big White House on Main Street. The play premieres at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts in Milford on Thursday, Oct. 19.
The play begins with two Italian immigrants moving to Massachusetts in the 1920s to pursue their dream of opening a cafe and starting a family. Spanning five decades, The Big White House on Main Street is a piece of historical fiction inspired by Cunis’s parents and grandparents, who all lived together in a big white house.
Cunis said her grandparents owned the house and it was split into four apartments. Her grandparents lived in one apartment, her family in another, and her aunts and uncles lived in the other two.
“It was a place of community … music, and laughter,” she said. “We would sit on the steps of the big white house and sing.”
While The Big White House on Main Street is not a musical, Cunis said that there is spontaneous singing and dancing throughout the play, echoing the musical traditions of her family during her upbringing.
Cunis began to write her story as a children’s book. When she shared it with Tarnow, whom she had worked with in the past, Tarnow recalls saying, “I can see it — it’s a play, let’s do it.”
“The only pieces [from the children’s book] that remain are some of the narration,” Cunis said.
During their writing process, Tarnow is often at the computer, capturing the story, while Cunis acts out the scenes, which they said can be an emotional experience.
“Then we’re both crying, and we’re both laughing,” Tarnow said. “We’re both living it.”
Tarnow said that she pictures the set, the lighting and the sound, and she adds those elements into the script.
“Our plays flow one scene into another and we use lighting to create our moods and our scene changes,” Cunis said.
“It runs like a movie,” Tarnow added.
In all of their plays, Tarnow directs while Cunis acts — a dynamic that shapes their storytelling process.
“Those personas will always be a part of who we are, so they come out in the play through the writing,” Cunis said.
Tarnow said she takes an actor-focused approach to directing.
“I want to see what they feel and how they want to express the character,” she said. It’s a process, she said, of trusting the actor to become the character and then fine-tuning it.
Instead of telling an actor what their character should do in a scene, Tarnow said she asks them questions like, “What is your goal in this scene?” to help them elicit genuine emotion.
In this play, Cunis is the narrator — a departure from her work in other plays in which she portrayed characters within the story.
“It’s very different for me because the narrator is outside of the story,” she said. “So the challenge is to feel it. It’s not just saying words or setting up the story; it’s actually feeling it in the moment, which presents a challenge because it can be emotional.”
Writing and producing this play, Cunis said, has been filled with personal reflection, and a journey into the heart of her past. “It takes me to a place of great appreciation for the simple things in life — for family, for living in that house — and sharing that experience with people.”
The Big White House on Main Street
When: Thursday, Oct. 19, through Saturday, Oct. 21, with showtimes at 7:30 p.m., and a 2:30 p.m. matinee on Saturday
Where: The Amato Center for the Performing Arts, 56 Mont Vernon St., Milford
Tickets: $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors
More info: thebigwhitehouseonmainstreet.com
Featured photo: Tarnow, left, and Cunis, right. Courtesy photo.
