The young actors of the Pentucket Players invite you "Into the Woods" this weekend.
The Pentucket Players Summer Youth Theatre Workshop's presentation of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" will be at performed at Sacred Hearts Auditorium in Bradford on Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26, at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee showing on Sunday, June 27, at 2 p.m.
Sondheim's "Into the Woods" is a musical adventure about a collection of characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales who get more than they bargained for when their wishes and dreams actually come true.
Sondheim's exploration of darker themes, as seen in his famous musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", is in full effect as the tribulations of Cinderella, Rapunzel and more are explored through the play's two acts.
This marks the second time the Pentucket Players Summer Youth Theatre Workshop has performed the play, as "Into the Woods" was its first performance in 2002 outside of Winnekenni Castle.
The Pentucket Players Summer Youth Theatre Workshop are a series of plays presented by regular and new young actors between the ages of 10 to 18 of the Pentucket Players for the public at large. Their plays are typically rehearsed on a compact schedule of ten weeks and require nearly 12 hours of practice every week alongside other duties such as set construction and design.
"Into the Woods" has a cast of 18 child actors and 15 adult crew members.
John Buzzell, director of the show and executive director of the Pentucket Players, said that these summer productions typically produced extraordinary results despite the compressed time and budget.
"Kids tend to be more serious and excited about their work," he said. "They want a challenge."
With most shows for the Pentucket Players running upwards of $50,000, the reduced budget of around $10,000 for the Summer Youth Theatre Workshop gives him and the other members of the Pentucket Players and opportunity to enjoy themselves during the production.
"We all look forward to this every year," he said.
Proceeds from the show go back to recoup show expense and fund Pentucket Players scholarships for high schools through the Greater Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire.
Alan Freedman and Therese Honda, the musical director and vocal coach, respectively, agreed with Buzzell that the young actors have met the challenge of the play head on.
"The kids have worked incredibly hard to learn the music," said Freedman. "They impressed us quit a bit over what they absorbed over a short period."
Honda echoed Buzzell's sentiment of the young actors taking their work with a high level of professionalism.
"I found the kids to be as disciplined if not more disciplined than the adults," she said.
The play involves a number of complex musical numbers, including an opening piece fifteen minutes long that jumps across a large number of cast members.
Both the challenge of the performance and the skill of their peers hasn't been lost on the Youth Theatre however.
Megan Morrissey, 16, a resident of Haverhill and student at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, said this was her first performance with the Pentucket Players and, despite being an actress since a young age, had been continually impressed with dedication of the other actors compared to school performances in the past.
"The people here are way more serious and we have actors who want to be on Broadway here," she said. "It's comforting."
She'll be playing the character of the Baker's Wife.
The actors aren't unaware of the challenging performances.
Jon Vellante, 16, a North Andover High School student and North Andover native, said that despite his experience with 19 other plays, he still grapples with how to play his characters the Wolf and the Mysterious Man.
"Yon need to play each character so differently," he said.
Olivia Feole, 18, is a 10-year veteran of the Pentucket Players who was called back to the Summer Youth Theatre on the personal request of Buzzell to play the role of Cinderella, despite graduating from Haverhill High School this year.
She said that she couldn't help but oblige Buzzell's request.
"This is my other family," she said.
Last summer, she played the role of the Narrator in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" for the Summer Youth Theatre Workshop. Though she has worked in the full productions of the Pentucket Players, she said she looked forward to the youth performances because the camaraderie among the actors is so strong.
"It's a smaller cast and we're all closer to the same age," she said.
The Pentucket Players is a nonprofit community theater group that offers two family-focused productions each year for the Greater Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire for more than 17 seasons of productions.
IF YOU GO
What: Pentucket Player's Summer Youth Theatre Workshop 2010 present Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods"
Where: Sacred Hearts Auditorium, South Main Street, Bradford
When: Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 27, at 2 p.m.
How: Tickets are $12 and available at the door or online at pentucketplayers.org
