Young Company Summer Festival Features Stoneham's Best

A release from the Greater Boston Stage Company:

Twenty-nine Stoneham students will be taking the stage at Greater Boston Stage Company during The Young Company Summer Festival 2019. The Summer Festival, Aug. 8-18 is the culmination of five weeks of preparation by Young Company students and their professional Directors, Music Directors, Choreographers, Stage Managers, and Design Teams.

Performed by actors in grades 4-12, The Young Company Summer Festival includes 6 fully staged productions: family friendly Freckleface Strawberry The Musical, hilarious murder mystery Curtains, and the toe tapping classic Singin’ in the Rain. High School Students continue the fun with the madcap musical farce Lucky Stiff, as well as musical satire How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and finally the action-packed adventures of She Kills Monsters.

Three Stoneham students will appear in Freckleface Strawberry The Musical as the popular books come to life to teach that anyone can be anything they want! Freckleface Strawberry can’t stand her freckles and will do anything to be rid of them. Will she succeed? Or will her schoolmates help her learn to love herself, freckles and all? Stoneham actors are Lyra Polcaro (Jane), Kayla Rigano (Tommy) and True Smith (Fredo Freckle).

Nine Stoneham students will appear in Curtains. In a Boston theatre in 1959, the opening night of a new musical is goes awry when the leading lady is murdered. A local detective (and musical theatre enthusiast!) locks down the theatre to conduct a thorough investigation. It’s a race against the clock as the detective works to discover the murderer while the cast works to save their show. Stoneham actors are Melis Baloglu (Roberta Wooster), Gianna Bonavita (Jane Setler), Jeng-Aun Chou (Johnny), Madelyn DiLeo (Georgia), Erica Harmon (Bambi), Abigail Martin (Carmen), Chloe Nasson (Harv), Dylan Rudy (Bobby) and True Smith (Arlene Barruca).

Five Stoneham students will appear in Singin’ in the Rain. It’s 1927 and talking movies are all the rage! To keep up with the times, Monumental Pictures decides to apply this new technology to the next film of its biggest stars: Lockwood and Lamont. But the transition from silent film to talkie is more complicated than expected. Come inside the golden age of Hollywood in this musical comedy adapted from the critically acclaimed 1952 movie. Stoneham actors are C. Darci Degen-Portnoy (Sid Phillips), Lauren Farelli (Woman on Screen), Amanda Grose (Don's Vocal Coach/Young Don), Alexandra (Lexi) Murphy (Party Girl) and Sydney Vallone (Miss Dinsmore).

Five Stoneham students will appear in the hilarious and heartfelt physical comedy Lucky Stiff. Harry Witherspoon, an English shoe salesman, dreams of adventure. His humdrum existence gets a jolt when he inherits six million dollars from an uncle he’s never met. The inheritance has one caveat; to get the money, Harry must take his uncle’s embalmed body on a one-week jaunt to Monte Carlo. Don’t even try to guess what happens next in this fast-paced, madcap musical farce. Stoneham actors are Maya Cunningham (Dominique/Ensemble), Colleen Green (Southern Lady/Ensemble), Jazmin Hopkins (Drunk Maid/Ensemble), Max Lehmann (Luigi Gaudi) and John Pagliarulo (Solicitor/Lorry Driver/Ensemble).

Three Stoneham students will appear in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, crafted by the team behind Guys & Dolls. How to Succeed... follows ambitious window washer, J. Pierpoint Finch, as he makes his way up the corporate ladder by following the advice of an instruction manual called How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Inspired by an actual humorous publication from 1952, this clear-eyed musical satire hilariously sends up corporate politics and gender dynamics in the workplace in the early 1960s. Stoneham actors are Neena Dilorio (Mr. Johnson/Mr. Davis), Katie Kelley (Rosemary) and Carlie Lafauci (The Book).

Four Stoneham students will appear in the action-packed critically acclaimed play She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. When her sister Tilly passes away, Agnes discovers a notebook from Tilly’s Dungeons and Dragons game. In order to better understand her lost sibling, Agnes enters Tilly’s world. Her journey brings her face-to-face with a bevy of fantastical beings, including a homicidal faerie, a fanged cheerleader, and the Overlord of the Underworld. Along the way, Agnes will embrace her inner geek as she tries to come to terms with her sister’s passing. Stoneham actors: Marissa Diplacido (Kobolds/Bugbears/Monsters), Valerie Drew (Assistant Stage Manager), Greta Hall (Lilith) and Keira Haughey (Orcus).

Performances:
Singin’ in the Rain — Thursday, Aug. 8th at 7 pm; Saturday, Aug. 10th at 7 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 11th at 7 pm. Recommended for all ages.

Freckleface Strawberry The Musical — Friday, Aug. 9th at 12 pm; Saturday, Aug. 10th at 12 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 11th at 12 pm. Recommended for all ages.

Curtains — Friday, Aug. 9th at 7 pm; Saturday, Aug. 10th at 3 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 11th at 3 pm.
Recommended for all ages.

She Kills Monsters — Thursday, Aug. 15th at 8 pm; Saturday, Aug. 17th at 8 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 18th at 12 pm. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — Friday, Aug. 16th at 4 pm; Saturday, Aug. 17th at 4 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 18th at 8 pm. Recommended for all ages.

Lucky Stiff — Friday, Aug. 16th at 8 pm; Saturday, Aug. 17th at 12 pm; and Sunday, Aug. 18th at 4 pm. Recommended for all ages.

Tickets are $15. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at Greater Boston Stage Company at (781) 279-2200, or visit www.greaterbostonstage.org.