A Message from the Artistic Director, April 3, 2024
Dear Friends of Theatre Nouveau,
First and foremost, a hearty THANKS to all who have supported us through our first season! We were overwhelmed by the enormity of the positive reactions and feedback to our first two productions.
For our inaugural show, The Madwoman of Chaillot – Uncensored, produced in Mary Weaver’s Playhouse in Belfast, we were sorry to turn away far too many would-be patrons. But what a welcome surprise to sell out our entire run! We sincerely hope that those of you whom we could not seat will try again this season!
Next, we were thrilled to mount our second production, AddictionSpeaks Again, at the Masker’s Basil Burwell Theatre. This original play, based on true stories from residents of Maine, addresses the difficult subject of addiction and therefore we played to smaller audiences. Nevertheless, in post-show discussions audience descriptions of the show included “astounding,” “brilliant,” “riveting,” and “so very necessary!” One patron was moved to note, “This is the best theatre I’ve seen in Maine in the past twenty years!”
Moving forward to our Spring 2024 offering, we had originally scheduled a new farce, The Online Bride, a large-cast show with several contemporary “talking points” of social concern. After much reflection, however, we decided that attempting to present such a complicated production was too great of a challenge for us at this point in our development. Instead, we are excited to mount The Shakespeare Lonely Hearts Club for our spring play. This new piece, a collection of four short plays, addresses the topic of loneliness, particularly among seniors. The four major modern categorizations of Shakespeare’s plays – the Histories, the Comedies, the Tragedies and the Romances – provide the overall structuring of this quartet. In each of these plays, scenes from the Shakespearean canon significantly enhance the stories.
In two of the pieces, the Comedy and the Romance, two elderly women, who live in a senior living residence, navigate friendship and create new ways to counteract their loneliness, including the founding of a Shakespeare club. In the History, a divorced couple runs into each other after many years apart. Shakespeare was a significant part of their former relationship, but can the Bard’s work bring them back together? In the Tragedy, which takes place during a tumultuous civil war, an isolated elderly woman must find the strength to carry off what could be her final self-surpassing act.
Performances are set for May 31, June 1, 7, and 8 at 7:00 pm and June 2 and 9 at 2:00 pm. Performances will take place at the Basil Burwell Theatre at 17 Court St. in Belfast, Maine. All tickets are $20.00. Watch for ticket information at www.theatrenouveau.org.
Happy Spring! We hope to see you soon! Suzanne Ramczyk, Artistic Director
