Posted October 3, 2008

TriArts’ Sharon Playhouse is proud to host the Aglet Theatre Company at the Bok Gallery. This year, Aglet is offering six staged readings of compelling plays from October through May, featuring many local actors.

In TriArts’ attempt to bring a multi-faceted program to the tri-state region, Aglet was invited to perform in the Gallery after they had spent several years offering their presentations at the Chaiwalla Tea House in Salisbury, CT. While there, they quickly gained a reputation for presenting well-acted productions of off-beat and provocative plays. Two of TriArts’ board members attended a performance, and, being impressed by the quality of the work and the large gathering in the restaurant, suggested that if Aglet wished to change venues, they should contact the theatre. When Chaiwalla could no longer accommodate the growing audiences, Aglet contacted TriArts in the spring of 2006 and began to work here that fall.

Aglet’s readings are preceded by complimentary wine and snacks, many of which are often home-made. Their subscribers look forward to this as a socializing event where they meet old friends and make new ones.

A major element of their program is to explore the material of the plays by featuring a talk-back after each performance, led by Gloria Miller, who moderated very popular panel discussions at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts this past summer.

The fall season includes the following works: October 4-- “Kimberly Akimbo,” a dark and bizarre comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire; November 1--“Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Helen Gahagan Douglas,” a new play about Richard Nixon’s first campaign for the U.S. Senate against the wife of actor Melvyn Douglas, by Wendy Kout and Michele Willens. Participating in the talk-back, the Saturday before Election Day, will be several local politicians; December 6—“The Dining Room” a comedy by the highly respected A.R. Gurney, a resident of the Northwest Corner.

In 2009 Aglet will be performing at the Sharon Playhouse and at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. On February 21 in Stockbridge, they will present their highly praised reading of “Sin (A Cardinal Deposed)” by Michael McCarthy, centered on the testimony of Boston’s Cardinal Law regarding the diocese’s sexual scandals. This was Aglet’s first presentation at the Bok and it featured the organizer of “The Voice of the People,” the grass roots organization whose campaign led to Cardinal Law’s resignation. She will once again participate in the discussion. If you didn’t see “Sin” at TriArts, you can catch it at BTF The spring season at TriArts will feature, on March 28, “Amy’s View” by David Hare a comedy-drama about a famed actress, her career and her daughter; April 25--a series of one-act plays presenting different views of the famous gentleman caller scene from Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie (one of the plays is by comic playwright Christopher Durang;) May 9—“Phantasie,” by Sybille Pearson, a story of an adoptee searching for her birth mother.

Reservations may be made by calling 860-435-NWCT (6928) or writing aglettheatre@comcast.net. Visit their website at www.aglettheatre.net. See Aglet’s presentations. You will treasure the experience.

A Letter from the Executive Director

“You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors and the audience, - and each must give something” Kenneth Haigh

Dear Theatre Lover,

Now it’s your turn to take a bow! It’s our turn to applaud YOU. Thank you so much for visiting us at TriArts Sharon Playhouse this summer for without an audience there would be no need for anyone to mount a stage. I hear that people are still talking about The Full Monty at cocktail parties, humming tunes from Camelot, and even wiping eyes in remembrance of a poignant Aida. And how much fun was Divas Do Berkeley?

Reviewers called TriArts 2008 “the best argument that can be made for summer theater…”, and also said that Aida was “the hands-down winner of the area’s best musical of the summer…”as well as “TriArts demonstrates what quality entertainment local theater can deliver…” among many other complimentary reviews.

But it is more than the theatre critics who like us. Just recently I was stopped by the butcher at my local grocery store as she was compelled to tell me how much she loved our Aida and that she had never been to a play that had that effect on her. Are those not powerful words? Her heartfelt sentiment, echoed by many other friends and neighbors, is the reason for keeping theatre alive in our area.

So thanks go out to our audience, our sponsors, housing hosts, advertisers, board members, and the many volunteers who contribute to making TriArts an integral part of the cultural arts fabric of our community. Thank you for allowing us to enrich and even transform lives. Yes, the main stage is locked up for the winter, but the memories remain as a place to return to when we need a break from our cares.

We look forward to see you at the Bok Gallery for an Aglet production and for Tea at Five, the intimate portrayal of Katharine Hepburn, over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Long live the arts. Long live TriArts!

Alice Bemand, Executive Director

What the Heck’s an Aglet???
Aglet Theatre Company arrived at its unique name at a meeting when one of the staff members said, “We’re doing this on a shoestring.” The response by a colleague was, “Shoestring? No, we’re doing it on an aglet!” An aglet is the tab at the end of a shoelace! Crossword puzzle aficionados probably are familiar with this unusual term. To coin a phrase, an Aglet Theatre by any other name would be as unique as this cutting edge theatre group.

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