According to Garrett Bethmann of the Canterbury Shaker Village Museum, our modern conception of the Shakers — devout Protestants who lived in self-contained communities across the United States in the 1700s and 1800s — is intimately tied in with the objects they made. “I think the first thing [people think of] is certainly the more stereotypical artifacts and objects that feel very classified as Shaker and very much kind of have that Shaker aesthetic of clean lines, very efficient-looking use, very simple … look to them. So, you know, that’s kind of where you get into your furniture, your oval boxes, your brooms.”
On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Shaker Village Museum will present an interactive look at some of those objects, called “Artifact Speed Dating — Canterbury Shaker History in 10 Objects.” This event is part of “We Want More History!,” an initiative by the Organization of American Historians to present historical education at events on the same day at “libraries, parks, museums, and other civic spaces” across the country, according to the initiative’s website. “It responds to heightened public interest in history and historical interpretation. Historians and educators are positioned as scholars and teachers committed to the public good through evidence-based, contextualized understanding of the past, in order to promote excellence in scholarship, encourage wide public discussion, and advocate for history. It ensures that national commemorations reflect the full, complex story of the people and places that make up the United States.”
Which is where the Shakers and their objects come in.
Shirley Wajda, the Shaker Museum’s curator of research and collections, will lead an exploration of different Shaker objects and how we can determine when an object was made or used.
“It will be a lecture,” Bethmann said, “that allows people to see objects close up. It will be in the spirit of, ‘Check this out! Here is a little bit of history, information and context.’ It will be an interactive lecture.”
“The importance of establishing dates for particular artifacts,” Bethmann said, “is to be able to identify when a certain object was used … because that can be insightful as to how they used it and what they were using it for.”
By looking at objects the Shakers owned, Bethmann said, we gain a deeper understanding of the world around them and what kind of technology was available to them.
“I think the objects that can grab people’s attention,” he said, “are the objects that are less associated with Shakers [in particular]. For instance, one thing I always find cool when I’ve walked around the [Shaker] Village is in one of our areas we have a telephone. Seeing a telephone, electrical wires, and seeing an object that is more tied to a modern America or to kind of a contemporary outlook that doesn’t necessarily include our antiquated and kind of folkloric romanticism of them, I think people will always find those types of objects interesting because they find themselves saying, ‘Huh, really? I didn’t think this type of society would be into that type of technology or that type of innovation.’ In fact, Shakers in general were relatively welcoming and inclusive of innovative technologies and things that made their lives easier. Objects like that are more closely associated with American culture, and not Shaker-specific, and can be attention-grabbing for [modern] people.”
The objects themselves are being kept under wraps until the actual event, Bethmann said. “We’re not going to talk about the specific items because that would be a spoiler.”
Artifact Speed Dating — Canterbury Shaker History in 10 Objects Where: Canterbury Shaker Village, 288 Shaker Road, Canterbury, 783-9511, shakers.org When: Saturday, Sept. 26, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tickets: General admission tickets are available through the museum’s website for $20, or $10 for museum members. More: shakers.org and wewantmorehistory.org.
A few weeks ago, New London Barn Playhouse presented a four-day run of Wakeman, the first staging of a musical about a woman who presents as a man to fight in the Civil War. Audience response to the powerful work seemed to promise that it wouldn’t be the last. One imagines a future Tony acceptance speech thanking New Hampshire for giving it a chance.
An hour’s drive away in Derry, another potential Granite State creative triumph is quietly taking shape.
The unassuming exterior of StudioLab, in an industrial park near Tupelo Music Hall, masks the wizardry going on inside. It includes LED panel walls that use the same kind of technology Lucasfilm popularized for The Mandalorian, with LiDAR renderings that create photorealistic sets.
It’s where Rob Livie, an Emmy-winning veteran of corporate video and motion graphics, is building Resonance, a 1980s-set science-fiction series. Born from memories of living in the shadow of the Cold War, it’s something he’s imagined since his days as a teenager drawing comic books with apocalypse-themed mushroom clouds.
Last year, Livie launched Human Originals, a story studio and production company “dedicated to creating original worlds and characters that resonate on a deeper level,” beginning with Resonance. Livie’s leap of faith meant leaving Connection, Inc., the company he’d worked for since 2017, and setting up shop in StudioLab, with its state-of-the-art equipment.
He’d connected with the facility during his time providing services to Events United, a production company owned by Tim Messina, who operates StudioLab. When Livie pitched Messina his long-held idea, he didn’t hire him outright but offered whatever help he could: studio space, crew, and a network built over years in corporate production work.
A LiDAR-generated warehouse, with windows looking out at a gritty New York City street, opens the film. Livie has shot the first 10 minutes. “A proof of concept,” he called it. “We’re using this to try to find a champion for the project, whether that’s an executive producer, a showrunner, or an actor. Someone that helps create a snowball effect.”
That footage got a public airing at the recent Granite State Comicon, where organizer Chris Proulx urged Livie to “show people what’s being done here in New Hampshire.” The screening was followed by a live Q&A with the mostly local cast and crew. The latter is a crucial element of Resonance.
Livie is emphatic about using a Granite State cast, though some hail from the region, like the Springfield, Mass., actor on screen when the film opens. The net’s been widened when necessary. For example, James Hilliard is a California-based actor and former Connection colleague of Livie’s who also emceed the Comicon panel.
The show’s premise leans hard into Cold War-era anxiety as well as New Hampshire’s own strange corner of UFO lore. Its inciting incident is pegged to Sept. 26, 1983, the actual date a false alarm on a Soviet missile-defense system nearly triggered a retaliatory nuclear strike. It was averted only because the officer on duty didn’t believe the data.
In Resonance, that glitch becomes the moment the aliens crash to Earth. While Area 51 exists in the show’s mythology, it is used for misdirection; the actual black ops site is a fictional Area 52, located in New Hampshire. It’s a wink at the state’s own abduction lore, rooted in the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill case near Exeter.
A shelf in Livie’s office has comic books and a primitive 8mm movie camera he used to make stop-action animation as a teenager. He plans to shoot a future episode entirely on period-appropriate equipment like this, aiming for a lived-in era feel rather than pastiche. “I don’t want to yell that it’s the ’80s,” he said. “I just want to show it.”
Livie’s ambitions carry well past the screen. He’s sketched out an interactive extension of his story, with walkable, LED-enhanced sets. There’s also a theme-park vision of Resonance that’s spread across five locations in New Hampshire and tied to the show’s five alien worlds.
What’s next is the unglamorous, essential work of packaging: a finished script, a pitch deck, a show bible and an informal advisory network. There’s also a Keene-based CEO helping with the business plan and veteran line producers helping him suss out a budget, all assembled mostly over email.
It’s the stage where most independent projects quietly die for lack of know-how. Whether Resonance breaks through is an open question. But after decades spent, as Livie puts it, “adjacent to Hollywood, but not within Hollywood,” he has a 10-minute opening and a local team that believes in it, along with a story that starts, as he envisioned, close to home.
Made in New Hampshire Follow the progress of Resonance at humanoriginals.com
Featured photo: Granite State Comicon. Courtesy photo.
Find Shakespeare at a brewery, spooky tales, murder mysteries, updated classics and more theater this season
By Michael Witthaus mwitthaus@hippopress.com
From Fiddler on the Roof to Blithe Spirit, Sister Act and Seussical, the fall theater season has lots of familiar notes. Look closer, though, and there’s a twist. Horror movie musicals, gourmet dining with Poe as a palate cleanser, murder mystery meals, an international tragedy recast for its basic humanity — all are there.
Moreover, these shows are happening in unexpected places, like Tupelo Music Hall, best known for classic rockers and standup comics, but also a hub for the nomadic Lend Me A Theatre company. A musical version of Stephen King’s high school bloodbath Carrie will be performed in an actual gymnasium, a nice touch.
That’s not to say opera houses, glittering theaters, arts centers and playhouses aren’t in on the action. They are, but they’re balanced by offbeat, inventive venues like a historic house in Portsmouth and a former pop-up lemonade stand that’s now a brick and mortar dry bar, not to mention a winery. Here’s a rundown of upcoming performances, grouped thematically.
‘Immersive experiences’
Theatre Kapow is well known for blurring the line between cast and audience in its provocative productions, and an upcoming evening of dinner theater is no different. Attendees should dress up and perhaps wear a mask, but most of all come hungry.
On Oct. 23 the Concord company takes over Gnomies, the dry bar that now occupies the former home of Area 23, for an evening built around four Edgar Allan Poe poems and three of his stories, woven through a menu designed by master chef Susan Reidel.
It’s the first time Theatre Kapow has collaborated on an experience like this, which began with a conversation between Reidel and the company’s artistic director, Carrie Cahoon, a few months ago. “My dream is to have these immersive experiences with food and performance,” Reidel told her.
Recalled Cahoon, “One of us said, ‘Oh, what about Edgar Allan Poe?’ I realized that’s perfect.”
The roughly two-and-a-half-hour evening will have actors performing from all four corners of the room as the meal unfolds in courses. Cahoon, who is directing but not performing, has spent weeks living inside Poe’s language before rehearsals even start.
“It’s just such a wonderful physical experience to say it,” she said. “It’s so expressive and so powerful, and really does set this macabre, creepy, dark tone.” The stories, she’s quick to note, aren’t relentlessly grim — Poe’s social satire gets room to breathe, even as, true to form, almost nobody survives to the final course.
The masquerade element was Reidel’s idea, and Cahoon quickly embraced it.
“That brings you into it in a whole other way and really helps create the mood,” she said. It’s not a haunted-house jump-scare kind of dark, she’s careful to add, but something more elegant — a “dark night” with “a storm coming.”
The language is more American than most people assume; Poe, despite his gothic reputation, was born in Boston. It’s a great way to pull audiences out of their seats and into the room and, timed to Halloween, it’s a one-night experiment that could easily become a tradition.
Here are more shows in this vein:
• As Time Goes By
The Players’ Ring ( Players’ Ring Theatre, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth) Tickets: $33 at playersring.org. When: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., through Sunday, Oct. 11. A blend of retro nostalgia, mad-science time travel, and comic chaos that mashes up Leave It to Beaver, Back to the Future and Groundhog Day through looping timelines, baffled lovers, cosmic frustration and surrendering to the inevitable. Written by G. Matthew Gaskell, directed by Jamie Bradley.
• Majestic in Wonderland
Majestic Theatre (Majestic Studio Theatre, 880 Page St., Manchester) Tickets: $25 per person, $45 per couple, at majestictheatre.net. When: Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m. 21st Annual Auction & Performance Fundraiser, with the company’s Adult, Teen, & Youth actors performing along with the Ted Herbert Music School Faculty & Students and special guests. Silent auction prizes include tickets and passes to art and cultural venues, electronics, gift baskets, dining gift certificates, art and more. Special themed raffles, and refreshments each evening.
• Soap Opera (Episode 5)
New Hampshire Theatre Project (West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth)When: Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20 at portsmouthnhtickets.com. A monthly episodic improv series centers on the Beaver family dynasty and their maple syrup matriarchy. Identical twin sisters are inheriting the business from their grandmother and aunt, who are also identical twins. Questions entertained in the free-wheeling show include whether to modernize or stick with tradition, i.e., should they “boldly go beyond just breakfast,” plus the mystery of the Great Pancake Social of 1987.
• A Victorian Frightful
New Hampshire Theatre Project (Langdon House, 959 Islington St., No. 3, Portsmouth) When: Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. Tickets: $35 and up at nhtheatreproject.com. Eerie songs and stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu are performed in a historic mansion by storyteller Diane Edgecomb, Genevieve Aichele, Kathleen Somssich and musical storyteller Tom Megan. An interactive presentation explores the Victorians’ deep interest in death along with their fascination with tarot, fortune-telling and spiritualism, with seasonal historical refreshments served, such as soul cakes and mulled cider. Guests are encouraged to dress in Gothic Victorian attire.
• Masque & Macabre: Edgar Allan Poe
Theatre Kapow (Gnomies, 254 N State St., Unit H, Concord) When: Friday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. Tickets: $135 (includes dinner) at tkapow.com. An intimate evening of candlelight, live theater, beautiful food and a touch of the macabre. Over the course of approximately three hours, Poe’s stories and poetry will unfold around diners experiencing an elegant five-course dinner inspired by his dark and unforgettable works.
• The Edgar Allan Poe Afterlife Radio Show
Winni Players Community Theatre (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith) When: Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2 p.m.Tickets: $18 at winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org. A live, old-time-radio-style show conjuring the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe for a Halloween-week broadcast built from his stories and poems. Writers: Patrick Greene & Jason Pizzarello.
John Cares in Occupation: Murder! Courtesy photo.
Murder most delicious
Sometime during a sumptuous meal, someone is going to die, and it’s up to a well-fed audience to find the killer. That’s the pitch behind an interactive murder mystery dinner theater staged by Lend Me A Theater, a fun-loving troupe marking its 11th production season this fall with Occupation: Murder!
The game-show-themed whodunit by Billy St. Jean, in which a TV quiz show sponsor turns up dead and nine lucky audience members get pulled onstage as contestants, happens at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry on Saturday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 4, with a dessert-only version the following two weekends at YWCA New Hampshire in Manchester.
Kat Abdelwahid plays Broadway diva Julia Warren in the production and more than inhabits her role.
“You are in character that whole time and you do not break it; that’s who you are,” the company’s co-founder said in a recent Zoom interview. Actors mingle table to table during dinner and again at intermission, scouting for volunteers who are up for a turn in the spotlight.
The company grew out of a shared production of Lend Me a Tenor, when a few theater friends realized their traditional fixed-seating home venue couldn’t support the kind of roaming, audience-in-the-room show they wanted to build. Three months later they were a registered nonprofit.
Eleven years on, Lend Me A Theater has never operated in the red, has hauled its own set trailer as far as Maine’s Cliff House and Cape Cod, and recently found a semi-permanent home base at the Manchester YWCA after a decade as a fully nomadic troupe.
Dinner, death and deduction is a formula other companies are running with their own twists this fall, like the seasonal offerings at LaBelle Winery and Majestic Theatre. But for a group that started with a folding table and a borrowed hall, Occupation: Murder! is proof the schtick still has lots of life, and suspects, left in it.
More murderous merriment:
• Occupation: Murder!
Lend Me A Theater (Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry) When: Saturday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 4, Tickets: $25 show only, $60 with dinner, at tupelohall.com.
Occupation: Murder!– Dessert only: Lend Me A Theater (YWCA New Hampshire, 72 Concord St., Manchester)When: Saturdays, Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, and Sundays, Oct. 11 and Oct. 18. Tickets: $25 at lendmeatheater.org.
Interactive murder mystery dinner theater set in a television studio; audience members help solve the crime. Presented by Lend Me a Theater. Director: Ben Mahon. Two ticket options, with or without an autumn-themed buffet meal.
• Monster Mash Murder Mystery Dinner PartyLaBelle Winery (LaBelle Winery, 345 Route 101, Amherst). When: Sunday, Oct. 18, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $84 per person including dinner at labellewinery.com. The evening’s premise has famed director Alfred Z Hitchdick filming scenes for a horror blockbuster where Wednesday Addams meets the Universal classic monsters Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein and Invisible Man, with the real monster potentially a hidden murderer amongst them. Professional actors help diners enjoying a three-course menu unravel clues and challenge their detective skills.
• Much Ado About Murder
Majestic Theatre (Majestic Studio Theatre, 880 Page St., Manchester) When: Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $15-$20 at majestictheatre.net. Interactive murder mystery comedy with the audience voting on a killer’s identity at intermission via secret ballot. The victim is Carlton Larraby, whose life was filled with macabre little surprises for his family. His final joke is a Shakespeare-themed Halloween costume party that he sadly won’t live to enjoy, with the audience learning about the murder before the play’s characters. Writer: Pat Cook. Director: Becky Rush.
Janis Costa Deedy in Emma. Courtesy photo.
Halloween spirit
Manchester Community Theatre Players is already leaning into the season with a run of The Addams Family. But its second Halloween-timed offering this fall is a different animal entirely, and it comes with a promise, courtesy of co-director Amanda Morgan: “There will be blood.”
Carrie: The Musical is based on the Stephen King novel and Brian De Palma movie. Its first iteration is famous as one of Broadway’s most legendary flops, but it found new life in a darker, more psychologically grounded 2012 revision, though it’s still a deep cut for most theater fans.
MCTP’s production of it runs Oct. 23 through Nov. 1 at North End Montessori School, the same weekend a second area production of the show opens in Newmarket — but that one doesn’t have a real school gym. Morgan, who is both directing and music-directing, has wanted to tackle the show since she discovered it in college.
“I was always just a super fan of Halloween and all the fall-type activities, and I thought it was really cool that someone had made a horror movie into a musical,” she said in a Zoom interview, while describing having the chance to direct it as a dream project.
The musical stars a tight 18-and-up cast of 16, chosen over two days of auditions and including an intimacy coordinator, Jen Stearns, to safely stage the show’s more sensitive scenes. MCTP Artistic Director Margaret Tello co-directs the show with Morgan.
Morgan is aiming for a blend of tragedy, horror and dark comedy that honors both the campy 1988 flop and the leaner, bullying-focused 2012 rewrite, with enough fidelity to satisfy die-hard fans of the movie, along with enough new material to surprise them. “We’re trying our best to marry the two together,” she said.
The technical flourishes will be impressive, as lighting designer Josh Benham and a live pit will work in tight sync with sound design to simulate the show’s violence safely, an approach Morgan credits partly to the recent immersive stage production of Paranormal Activity as inspiration.
“It’s going to be a really acutely technically orchestrated experience,” Morgan said. With a run that stretches through Halloween weekend, Carrie: The Musical arrives at a moment when the work is enjoying a broader pop-culture resurgence, with an eight-episode streaming adaptation premiering Oct. 7 on Amazon Prime.
Rest assured as well that the infamous bucket of pig’s blood is very much part of the plan. So come for the nostalgia, stay for the gore. And enjoy a few more seasonally appropriate shows:
• Ride the Cyclone
Cue Zero Theatre Company (Arts Academy of New Hampshire, 19 Keewaydin Drive #4, Salem)When: Friday, Oct. 2, and Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 4, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20 at cztheatre.com. In this cult-favorite, dark-comedy musical, a group of teenagers killed in a roller-coaster accident compete in the afterlife for a chance at reincarnation, with music, book and lyrics written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. Directed by Darren Bernard, with Music Director Nate Faro.
• Evil Dead The Musical
Seacoast Repertory Theatre (Seacoast Repertory Theatre, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth) When: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., through Nov. 8. Tickets: $47 and up at seacoastrep.org. Campy, gory musical comedy adaptation of the Evil Dead film franchise, following five college students whose cabin weekend unleashes demonic forces. Book & Lyrics: George Reinblatt. Music: Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris & George Reinblatt. Director: Kate Sheridan.
• Carrie: The Musical
Manchester Community Theatre Players (North End Montessori School, 698 Beech St., Manchester) When: Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 1. Tickets: $15-$20 at manchestercommunitytheatre.com. Musical adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a bullied telekinetic teenager whose prom-night humiliation triggers a bloody reckoning. Music: Michael Gore. Lyrics: Dean Pitchford. Book: Lawrence D. Cohen. Director & Music Director: Amanda Morgan. Co-directed by Margaret W. Tello.
• Carrie: The Musical
Millspace Mainstage & Jonesing for Theatre (Newmarket Millspace, 55 Main St., Newmarket) When: Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 1 (including Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2 p.m.). Tickets: $25 at portsmouthnhtickets.com. Another adaptation of the King novel, directed by Kat Mail.
Many musicals
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, it’s worth remembering that the day produced more than tragedy.
It also put a Newfoundland town of 9,000 in the spotlight, as it opened its homes to thousands of stranded strangers when 38 planes were diverted there. That’s the story of Come From Away, the Tony-nominated musical directed by Betsey Cox-Buteau that Community Players of Concord is bringing to the stage.
It’s an unusual show to direct, Cox-Buteau noted in a recent phone interview.
“It’s an ensemble piece, where everyone’s part is essentially equal,” she said. “There’s no particular star, but everybody is on stage for pretty much the entire show.”
An hour and 45 minutes long, it opens with the attacks and never lets the audience look away, but also never lets them forget what came next.
“It brings you into a space during that time, or in the days afterwards … where things were remarkably humane and good,” she continued. “It’s a marvelous story of community, and kindness.”
Before the first table read, Cox-Buteau gathered the cast, a dozen actors each tasked with multiple roles, around a table. She availed everyone, herself included, to describe where they were that fateful morning. The answers ranged widely.
“Some were just gleams in their mother’s eyes, and some of us were older,” she said. A Navy member who was serving in Southern California at the time “got to work and there was war, [while] I was a principal of an elementary school, K-8, and my reaction was to shut the school down.”
The exercise provided a shared foundation to tackle a script based on real people from the town of Gander. Some characters are straight portrayals, from the town’s mayor to the first female American Airlines pilot, grounded mid-flight. Others, like a couple who met on a diverted plane and later married, are composites.
With a Celtic score anchored by a pulsing bodhran drum, Come From Away has its cast singing and moving in near-constant rhythm. What it leaves audiences with, Cox-Buteau said, isn’t despair. “People will come away from this crying, for the most part, but full of happiness and their gratefulness for the kindness of strangers.”
Come From Away is one of many musicals on tap this season.
• The Addams Family
Manchester Community Theatre Players (North End Montessori School, Manchester) When: Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $15-$20 at manchestercommunitytheatre.com. Clash of offbeat family and conventional in-laws to be, as daughter Wednesday brings home the “normal” boy she wants to marry to her parents Gomez and Morticia, based on Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons. Director: Margaret Tello. Music Director: Christie Conticchio. Choreographer: Kayla Williams.
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Dine In Productions (Newmarket Millspace, 55 Main St., Newmarket) When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Friday, Sept. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 4. Tickets: $25 at portsmouthnhtickets.com. Genre-stretching musical tells a story of love, identity and survival through storytelling and powerful music, “a celebration of self-expression and resilience; loud, vulnerable and deeply human.” An intimate production brings the show up close, as Hedwig navigates fame, heartbreak and her search for wholeness.
• Sister Act
Palace Theatre (Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester) When: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., through Oct. 4. Tickets: $45-$54 at palacetheatre.org. Based on the movie starring Whoopi Goldberg. A disco diva (Cathy McKay) witnesses a mob murder. Hiding in a convent, she transforms the ragged choir of nuns into a sensation. Music: Alan Menken. Lyrics: Glenn Slater. Book: Cheri Steinkellner & Bill Steinkellner (additional book material: Douglas Carter Beane).
• Green Day’s American Idiot
Seacoast Repertory Theatre (Seacoast Repertory Theatre, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth) When: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Sept. 27. Tickets: $47 and up at seacoastrep.org. With the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album as a starting point, this musical is both political rage and straight-up punk rock. This high-octane show includes every song from Green Day’s American Idiot as well as several songs from its follow-up release, 21st Century Breakdown.
• Seussical the Musical
ROH Presents (Rochester Opera House, 31 Wakefield St., Rochester) When: Friday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Nov. 8, Wednesday through Sunday, various times. Tickets: $32-$36 at rochesteroperahouse.org. A mashup of Dr. Seuss stories centered on Horton the Elephant, working to protect the minions of Whoville despite a skeptical jungle. Music: Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, co-conceived with Barry Moss.
• The Commedia Pinocchio
Winnipesaukee Playhouse (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith) When: Saturdays, Oct. 17 and Oct. 24, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. Tickets: $16-$22 at winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org. Professional Theatre for Young Audiences presents a commedia dell’arte-style, entirely a cappella musical retelling of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, published by Pioneer Drama Service. By Lane Riosley with music by Aven Stephenson.
• Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryWindham Actors Guild (Windham High School Theater, 64 London Bridge Road, Windham) When: Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $22 at windhamactorsguild.com. Musical based on Roald Dahl’s story of Charlie Bucket, who wins a golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory. Book: David Greig. Music & Lyrics: Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman. Director: Paul Conway (Music Director: Michael Shaw; Choreographer: Caleb Anderson.
• Fiddler on the Roof
Palace Theatre (Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester) When: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m., through Oct. 4. Tickets: $45-$54 at palacetheatre.org. Tony winner about a poor milkman and his five daughters. With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, he tries to protect his daughters and instill in them traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. Written by Jerome Robbins and Harold Prince.
• The Wedding Singer
Actorsingers (Keefe Center for the Arts, 117 Elm St., Nashua). When: Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $25 at actorsingers.org. Musical based on the Adam Sandler film about an ’80s wedding-band singer who falls for a waitress engaged to the wrong guy. Book: Chad Beguelin & Tim Herlihy. Music: Matthew Sklar. Lyrics: Chad Beguelin. Director: MaryEllen Stevenson. Music Director: Jessica Love. Choreographer: Valerie Psoinos Nelson.
• Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
Winni Players Community Theatre (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith) When: Thursday, Nov. 19, through Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov 21, and Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $17-$25 at winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org. Stage musical based on the 1954 film built around Irving Berlin standards: Two WWII Army buddies turned song-and-dance men help save a struggling Vermont inn. Music & Lyrics: Irving Berlin. Book: David Ives & Paul Blake.
• Come From Away
Community Players of Concord (Concord Civic Auditorium, 2 Prince St., Concord) When: Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $22 adults, $20 students and seniors at communityplayersofconcord.org. True story of Gander, Newfoundland, whose residents welcomed thousands of air travelers diverted there on Sept. 11, 2001. Book, Music & Lyrics: Irene Sankoff & David Hein. Director: Betsey Cox-Buteau.
Marilyn McBride in Occupation: Murder! Courtesy photo.
Character driven
Finally, there are shows that are all about the actors, like Kate Hammill’s Emma, which Nashua Theatre Guild will stage Oct. 2 through Oct. 4 at the Janice B. Streeter Theatre. NTG’s Alyson Galipeau described the play, directed by Vicky Sandlin, as a period comedy that will strike a chord with fans of Bridgerton.
It’s centered around the antics of lead character Emma Woodhouse, who decides to make matchmaking her pet project and arranges a series of events to that end.
“However, her plot backfires, resulting in outcomes that will make the audience laugh,” Galipeau wrote in an email. “While she is busy trying to set other people up, she fails to notice that her own match has been in front of her the entire time.”
Here are more stage productions to enjoy:
• Night Watch
Garrison Players Arts Center (Garrison Players Arts Center, 449 Roberts Road, Rollinsford) When: Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., Oct. 2 through Oct. 17. Tickets: $18 and up at garrisonplayers.org. A woman (Sarah Kuhn) in her Manhattan apartment is haunted by the horrific memory of her first husband’s affair and death, both of which she discovered at the same time in this psychological thriller. She glimpses what appears to be a murdered body in the building across the way, but no one believes her. Writer: Lucille Fletcher. Director: Judi Currie
• Emma
Nashua Theatre Guild (Janice B. Streeter Theatre, 14 Court St., Nashua) When: Friday, Oct. 2, and Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 4, at 4:30 p.m. Tickets: $20 at nashuatheatreguild.org. Stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s comedy of manners about a well-meaning matchmaker whose meddling in her friends’ love lives keeps backfiring. A fresh feminist take on a treasured classic, this Emma breaks down convention, expectation, and even the fourth wall with vibrant comic flair. Director: Vicky Sandin.
• Looking Glass Land – Misadventures of a Girl Named Alice
Community Players of Concord (Concord Civic Auditorium, 2 Prince St., Concord) When: Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $15 at communityplayersofconcord.org. James DeVita’s take on Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, this adaptation highlights and improvises on the pure, unadulterated fun of the story while retaining some of Carroll’s deeper meaning, but mostly it’s pure silliness. All the familiar characters are there, and some new ones, like a baseball team, a rap group, a train conductor and star-struck tourists. Director: Karen Braz.
• Queens
Pinkerton Players (Stockbridge Theatre, 44 N. Main St. (Pinkerton Academy), Derry) When: Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $5-$15 at pinkertonacademy.org. King Henry VIII is trapped in purgatory, bound to his throne by a Fool and the ghostly Women in White, forced to relive his transgressions against his six queens, his mistresses and the people of the court for eternity as punishment. Writer: Kristen Doherty.
• The Sound Inside
New Hampshire Theatre Project (West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth) When: Friday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Nov. 1, Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $30-$33 at portsmouthnhtickets.com. A solitary creative-writing professor’s carefully guarded routine is upended when a student reveals a devastating secret, in this Tony-nominated two-hander. Writer: Adam Rapp. Director: Constance Witman.
• And Then There Were None
The Players’ Ring ( Players’ Ring Theatre, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth) When: Oct. 23 through Nov. 15, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. (Oct. 31, 2 p.m. only; Nov. 1, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.)Tickets: $33 at playersring.org. “A masterfully constructed thriller packed with shocking twists, mounting suspense, and one of the most famous endings in theater history,” as 10 strangers lured to an isolated island are murdered one by one in Agatha Christie’s best-selling mystery. Director: Jamie Bradley.
• An Empty Sky
The Players’ Ring (Players’ Ring Theatre, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, playersring.org/) When: Tuesday, Oct 27, at 6:30 p.m. Staged reading of a play depicting a love relationship “struggling to blossom in a time of political strangeness nearly devoid of hope” centered in a small New England church, as a disgraced clergywoman and a Jewish piano tuner build a fragile haven. Written by Joshua Faigen. Directed by Leslie Pasternack.
• Crimes of the Heart
Bedford Off Broadway (Bedford Old Town Hall, 3 Meetinghouse Road, Bedford) When: Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 15. Tickets: $12-$15 at bedfordoffbroadway.com. Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy about three estranged sisters who reunite in Mississippi after the youngest shoots her abusive husband. Writer: Beth Henley. Directed by Deb Lund and stage managed by Pat Napolitano.
• A Wrinkle in Time
Winnipesaukee Playhouse Education Dept. (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith) When: Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $16-$22 at winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org. Stage adaptation performed by students ages 8-18 of Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery-winning novel, in which Meg Murry, her brother and their friend travel through time and space to rescue her scientist father from an evil force.
• Blithe Spirit
Cue Zero Theatre Company (Arts Academy of New Hampshire, 19 Keewaydin Drive, No. 4, Salem) When: Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $10 at cztheatre.com. Noel Coward comedy about a novelist’s dead first wife who’s accidentally conjured up by an eccentric medium and proceeds to haunt his second marriage, presented by Arts Academy of New Hampshire.
Lend me your beers
Bar Shakespeare in Manchester
Performer Ashley Risteen in a The VanGuard Shakespeare performance in Salem, Mass. Courtesy photo by Glenn Provost, founder of Stage of Fools who has performed with VanGuard.
At Stark Brewing Co. on Monday, Oct. 19, it will be possible to order a pint and enjoy a Shakespeare play. That’s the idea behind Shakesbeer, a bar-reading series from Stage of Fools Theatre Company. It began with a back room staging of Much Ado About Nothing on Sept. 21 and continues with Julius Caesar.
Stage of Fools founder and artistic director Glenn Provost describes the format as loose by design, with actors carrying scripts as they weave among the tables and let the play spill into the crowd.
“It’s a little bit improvisational because we only have two rehearsals, one of which is going to be over Zoom and then the other one is in person,” Provost said. The big beats are blocked, but everything else is looser, as actors feel out the room in real time.
The concept wasn’t invented from scratch. Provost points to Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, which ran the similar ShakesBEERience in Portsmouth for many years, as a direct inspiration. He got the blessing from its former executive director Christine Penny, now at the Dance Hall in Kittery, to carry the idea forward.
He’s also performed twice with VanGuard Shakespeare, a comparable series in Salem, Mass. Provost has run companies before like Strangers at Home Theatre Company and Bolt Cutter Productions, but he said those were built as vehicles for two-person dramatic shows.
Stage of Fools is the opposite instinct: an ensemble built to grow. Nine actors make up the Much Ado cast, with nine or 10 expected for each of the next two shows; Provost estimates the company will work with more than 50 actors by the end of its first season.
That season runs monthly through fall and into spring, with Julius Caesar on Oct. 19, Henry IV on Nov. 16, then a winter break before Romeo & Juliet returns Feb. 8 with a “gender-crossed” Valentine’s Day spin, The Winter’s Tale on March 8 and The Comedy of Errors closing things out April 12.
Every (free) show is one night only, at Stark Brewing Co., 500 N. Commercial St., Manchester, 6 p.m. — Michael Witthaus
Featured photo: Quinn Spiewak at Bar Shakespeare. Courtesy photo.
Catch the second to last Final Friday this season in downtown Manchester today between 4 and 8 p.m. on Hanover Street between Elm and Chestnut streets, featuring vendors, food, music and more, according to the event’s Instagram page.
Friday, Sept. 25
The Manhattan Short Film Festival, manhattanshort.com, will screen at NHTI in Concord today at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 26, at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m., according to the website, where you can get information about the 10 finalists.
Saturday, Sept. 26
Beaver Brook Association’s Fall Festival will take place today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Beaver Brook Association, 117 Ridge Road in Hollis, and feature live demonstrations, food, activities for kids and an apple cider press, according to Beaver Brook’s Facebook page. See beaverbrook.org.
Saturday, Sept. 26
Local Comic Shop Day will take place today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Double Midnight Comics, 252 Willow St. in Manchester, according to Double Midnight’s Facebook page. See localcomicshopday.com.
Saturday, Sept. 26
The Harvest Moon Festival at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner will take place today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to indianmuseum.org. Tickets will be for sale at the gate, the website said.
Saturday, Sept. 26
Henniker Handmade & Homegrown will take place today and tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Henniker including inside the Community Center and in the park at 57 Main St., according to a press release. The event will feature 90 local artists, crafters, farmers and food makers as well as live music, food trucks, farm animals and a kids zone, according to a press release. Scheduled musical performers include Danny Savage Band, The Honey Bees Trio, Colin Nevins, Doug Farrell, Beth Mangano, Joey Clark, Vickie Branch, and Walker Smith on the Angela Robinson Bandstand, the release said. Scheduled food trucks include Taco Beyondo, Batulo’s, a Chicago-style hot dog cart, Rico’s Grill and more, the release said. Parking will be available at Henniker Community School with a free shuttle to and from the event, the release said. See facebook.com/HennikerCommunityMarket.
Saturday, Sept. 26
Henniker Brewing Co. in Henniker will host Dysfunction Junction 2, a day of music, food trucks, vendors and more, on Saturday, Sept. 26, with doors opening at noon. The event, which is for all ages (no pets), will feature music on two stages (one inside, one outside), according to hennikerbrewing.com, where you can find a link to purchase tickets.
Sunday, Sept. 27
The Concord Municipal Airport will host Wings & Wheels today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., an all-ages event focused on aviation and STEM, featuring vehicles and aircraft, Academy of Model Aeronautics demos, food trucks and more, according to concordnh.gov/1713/ Wings-Wheels-Event.
Sunday, Sept. 27
Concorso Italiano, a celebration of Italian cars and food as well as live music and family entertainment, will take place today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tuscan Village in Salem, according to tuscanvillagesalem.com.
Save the Date! Thursday, Dec. 17 The annual holiday celebration TheGreg and the Morning BuzzBall will take place Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts John F. Swope Theater (formerly the Chubb Theatre) 44 S. Main St. in Concord, according to a Cap Center update. The event will feature the Greg and the Morning Buzz team as well as musicians, comedians and other guests, the newsletter said. See ccanh.com for tickets and see morningbuzz.com/buzz-ball for more on the event.
The Big Story – Sox Headed for Postseason: The good news is, after a truly dreadful first three months of the season, the Red Sox somehow are headed to a wild card playoff match-up with the Yankees starting Tuesday.
The bad news is after going 9-9 in September against a line-up of mostly bad teams they backed into it while losing two of three in Tampa Bay over the weekend. Some of that understandably was from resting banged up guys to get healthy for the playoffs. But that’s a delicate balance, as you wonder if a mediocre team can regain the momentum of winning 24 of 27 in July and August.
Worse, they’ve hit .233 during 18 September games while averaging just 3.3 runs per game. That’s daunting especially with their best hitter, Roman Anthony, striking out 35 percent of the time as he struggles to find his form after missing four full months with injury. It all sets up the ancient what’s best conundrum: keep your foot on the gas, or get everyone healthy through needed rest?
Sports 101: Name the three NFL quarterbacks to win an MVP award before turning 25.
News Item – Pats Even Record at 1-1: Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the 20-3 win over Pittsburgh.
Good – The D: True, they played against a backup QB in Game 1 and a QB with a horrid O-line who should have retired five years ago in Week 2. But they’ve given up just 16 points with six sacks while holding the bad guys to 161 yards passing and 94 on the ground.
Bad – The O: The D (Elijah Ponder) scored as many TDs as the O vs. Pittsburgh, after the fourth-quarter horror show when they scored just 10 in the Seattle loss.
Ugly – Injuries: RG Mike Onwenu broke his ankle, so he’s done for a long while at best, while starters Craig Woodson and Dre’Mont Jones were lost with significant shoulder injuries.
News Item – Baseball’s Pennant Races: The only race of note entering the final week is the National League wild card chase, where only two of Philly, Chicago and San Diego will get in. And a la 1967, Philly starts one game behind the other two.
The Numbers:
18 – pitches Tristan Peters forced Cleveland’s Gavin Williams to throw before drawing the sixth-inning walk that opened floodgates to a six-run rally and a 7-3 White Sox win.
37 – of the Red Sox’ 84 wins are of the comeback variety after Trevor Story’s three-run eighth-inning homer that gave them a much needed 4-3 comeback win over Texas on Thursday.
157 – temperature on the artificial turf in Nashville Sunday that actually melted players’ cleats and forced Philly Coach Nick Sirianni to be given an IV after Philly’s 24-20 win over Tennessee.
… Of the Week Awards
Thumbs Up – Return Of Patrick Mahomes: For his Jayson Tatum-like quick return from last December’s torn ACL.
Let’s Run It Up Game of the Week – Oregon vs. Portland State: OU laid the wood 84-0 to schedule patsy P.U., er, I mean P. S. on Saturday.
Random Thoughts: Congrats to the USA women for winning gold in the World Basketball Classic. But I wasn’t a big fan of its wildly over-rated coach Kara Lawson before the WBC. Less so now. Too arrogant and too stubborn.
Sports 101 Answer: The three under-25 QBs to win an MVP are Dan Marino, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
Final Thought – Coach B Update: Despite a surprising opening week upset of TCU to start this year, most know his tenure at North Carolina has been barreling out of control right from the jump. But it got even worse as the calendar turned to 2026. Here’s the recap. (1) The mouthy girlfriend, young enough to be his granddaughter, caught attention in all the wrong ways from Day 1; (2) They went a shocking 4-8 in Year 1; (3) An internal university investigation this summer yielded the resignation of program GM/Belichick lackey Mike Lombardi, and last week his son/DC Steve Belichick resigned; and (4) They’re now 1-2 after losing 28-20 to Clemson Saturday. The UNC mess is dragging the coaching legacy down and it’s looking like a good time for a course correction. Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.
On Monday, Sept. 21, a routine inspection by the NH DOT found “potential structural deficiencies” in Manchester’s Queen City Bridge and so the bridge was closed until further notice, according to a press release the City issued that day. “At this point the full inspection has yet to be completed. In order to protect the safety of the traveling public the bridge will be closed until further notice. We will continue to keep the public informed as the inspection is complete, and will provide updates and plans for traffic as information becomes available,” the press release said.
QOL score: -2, but feeling good about routine inspections
Comments:Visit nixle.us/manchester-nh-city to see recent Nixle alerts for Manchester and to sign up for mobile alerts for your area.
‘We will not tolerate that in Manchester’
In the early hours of Sept. 16, downtown Manchester cafe The Moka Pot was vandalized. Windows were broken and “offensive language and hate symbols had been spray-painted on the business,” according to a press release from Manchester Police Department. “Due to the nature of the graffiti, the New Hampshire Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit was notified,” the release said. Manchester Police Chief Peter Marr released a statement: “This was more than property damage. It was a deliberate act intended to intimidate and instill fear, and we will not tolerate that in Manchester.” On Sept. 17, the police released images from a nearby security camera to the media and on its socials showing a “person of interest.”
QOL score: -2
Comment:A post labeled as “from The Moka Pot Team” on the cafe’s Instagram page thanked the community for support after the vandalism and read, in part: “We’ll fix the windows. We’ll clean the walls. We’ll make the repairs. And we’ll do what we do best: make the coffee.”
Helping the kids
In a Sept. 17 press release, local educational support organization Manchester Proud announced the turnout for its annual free back-to-school event, CelebratED. “More than 2,500 people attended this year’s celebration,” the statement read, “an estimated 200 percent increase over 2025. Families received 1,000 backpacks, 833 items of clothing, 372 books and 600 lunch boxes, while young people received 150 hair services and 65 vision screenings. More than 90 community organizations participated, supported by 60 volunteers and more than $50,000 in contributions from donors and community partners.”
QOL score: +1
Comment:“Manchester Proud has done an amazing job connecting thousands of families with the resources and support they need to start the school year ready for success,” Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais said in the press release. Visit manchesterproud.org.
QOL score last week: 65
Net change: -3
QOL this week: 62
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.
