theaterThu-Sun, Jun 16-26
From parking to pooper-scooper laws.Local issues skewered on popular Bway tunes & roasted slowly!
Summer vacation theater workshopAugust 22-26
A week-long program of voice instruction and choreographed pop and show tunes. Grades 2-12.
A satirical musical revue of our town!
Forbidden Newburyport
written & directed by Suzanne Bryan
Thu-Sat, June 16-18, 8pm
Thu-Sat, June 23-25, 8pm
Sun, June 19 & 26, 3pm
A VERY SPECIAL
FIREHOUSE 20th ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION!
"I've lived in this town for thirty years and I can't believe ___________." Fill in the blank with your favorite local issue. Whether it's griping about parking, pooper-scooper laws, nesting plovers, Plum Island erosion or the greenheads there is sure to be something in Forbidden Newburyport that will make you laugh.
Forbidden Newburyport is a satirical musical revue featuring fully-staged Broadway show tunes lovingly (mostly!) rewritten to parody Newburyport icons, institutions and issues. Songs such as "Tradition" (Fiddler on the Roof), "All That Jazz" (Chicago), and "La Vie Boheme" (Rent) will have you howling as the 'new and improved' lyrics highlight beloved local heroes and skewer those hot topics that push our buttons from time to time.
See Ann Ormond (President,Newburyport Chamber of Commerce), Melissa Moore (Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank), Teresa Spaulding (Law & Order, As the World Turns), Allyn Gamble (opened for Johnny Carson, George Carlin), John Budzyna (Executive Director, Arlington Center for the Arts); and many more of your talented friends and neighbors as they eschew their day jobs and take to the Arakelian Stage to participate in this summer's sizzling roast of all things near and dear to our hearts!
Directed and written by Suzanne Hitchcock Bryan, Forbidden Newburyport will also feature additional lyrics by John Budzyna and will be choreographed by Cheryl Fisher Schwind. Musical direction provided by Jerad Lawson.
The live band will include Dan Bryan (guitar), Jamie Welch (bass) and P.J. Holaday (drums). Yes, that Holaday -- son of the current Newburyport mayor. Holaday the younger will be sworn to secrecy during rehearsals...just in case there's a little mayoral skewering in the works!
Sure to be the talk of the town, don't miss Forbidden Newburyport. It's all here: dancing, singing, all your favorite show tunes, talented friends and neighbors hoofing it at the Firehouse and side-splitting comedy as local current events are put to music and put to the torch in this no-holds-barred revue!
About the Director: Suzanne Bryan began her directorial debut at the Firehouse with GB Shaw’s Saint Joan for Darkhorse Productions. She then went on to found Persephone Theatre and directed Amadeus, Arcadia, Master Harold and the boys, Wit and Fully Committed. Bryan also directed Our Town for the Firehouse. Her greatest joys were at Newburyport High School where she taught and directed fourteen productions including Noises Off, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, On the Razzle, The Laramie Project, and the first Shakespearean productions at NHS -- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night. In 1999, Suzanne’s students put on Bang Bang You're Dead to raise awareness of school violence and its causes including the effects of bullying. Most recently, Suzanne volunteered as an after-school theater teacher at Dorchester Academy. Her students were selected to perform at the 2010 Martin Luther King city-wide celebration at John Hancock Hall in Boston. As a performer, Suzanne has appeared on stage, in independent films, educational videos, voiceovers etc.
Directed and written by Suzanne Hitchcock Bryan.
Musical Director: Jared Lawson
Choreographer: Cheryl Fisher Schwind
Contributing Writer: John Budzyna
Poster Design: Tim Hiltabiddle/Milestone Marketing
This event is produced by the Firehouse Center for the Arts
Tickets: Adults $25; Students/Seniors/Members $23
