The Valley Players will present the world premiere of “Wake Up, Gloucester,” by Jeanne Beckwith, February 7-16 at the Valley Players Theater, Main Street (Route 100), Waitsfield. This fully-staged reading (while reading scripts, actors appear in costume with full staging and a complete set) will be directed by Doug Bergstein (Waitsfield). Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
The story takes place in late August 1939, and deals with the lives, hopes, loves, and fears of a group of people who come together at The Dancing Duck, a tavern in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The depression is ending, but dreams that have been on hold still seem beyond reach. Life is not simple. Rumors of a war abroad are coming closer to home every day. The owner of the tavern is starting up a new radio station attached to the tavern. His friends, who are also his employees and customers, are supportive, but the future still seems cloudy, and there just might be a sea serpent off the coast.
The cast includes Sarah DeBouter (Berlin), Susan Loynd (Fayston), Hunter Hague* (Williamstown), Vic Guadagno* (Montpelier), Stefanie Seng (Waterbury), Maeve McCurdy* (Montpelier), Danielle Dukette (Fayston), and the director himself, Doug Bergstein (Waitsfield).
Those actors with an asterisk by their name are appearing for the first time on the Valley Players’ stage.
“There is nothing like creating a new production,” Bergstein said. “We get to take the playwright’s words and create a world with a group of people that has never been seen by anyone before.”
Tickets are $14 for all shows and are available in advance from valleyplayers.com.
