By Caroline Crocco

Although it seems like Pomperaug Theatre Company’s successful play, Cassandra, just hit the blackbox, Mr. Doniger and PTC’s cast and crew are already preparing for the opening of their 2012 spring play. The weekend of May 4 to May 6, Pomperaug Theatre Company will showcase its production of Life on the Bowery, which is a comic melodrama set in the 1890s. According to Mr. Doniger, “Tim Kelly's Life On The Bowery or The Liar's Doom is an 1890s comic melodrama about a well-to-do New York City family and their acquaintances (both noble and nasty), greed, love, guilt, innocence, and heroism—all in the old-fashioned way—including a death-defying leap off the Brooklyn Bridge.” The play is expected to be very humorous and overplayed.

To prepare for the spring play, the cast and crew will begin daily rehearsals at the start of the second semester for several hours after school. Between the cast working on scenes, and the crew creating props and costumes, the show will be perfected just in time for opening night. An impressive feature about Pomperaug Theatre Company is the amazing ability of the students to take the lead and use their talents to improve the show. However, Mr. Doniger acts as the Director who oversees both the cast and crew, while helping them peak in their performance onstage. Mr. Doniger reveals that lead actors include Lauren Bell as sweet Alice Drayton, and Magghie Warner, who will play her snooty mother. Alice’s sweetheart Jack Hobart will be played by William Linster and Dan Dressel will be playing Steve Brodie. And finally, Tristan Mayes will take on the dastardly villain of Thurlow Bleekman.

Standout members of the crew include senior stage-managers Arielle Landaeta and Mary Kaufman, and Tania Varela returning as the assistant director. Alyssa Rhodes will be the costume designer, Mark Ovesney will serve as construction manager, and Kelly Criswell will be the scenic designer. Mr. Doniger noted that the crew will be making the sets look very artificial (for example, much painted scenery rather than realistic looking walls), in order to make fun of the artifice. There are many other notable members of the cast and crew that will help make Life on the Bowery a show that will go down in PTC history!

Though the play won’t debut for another 3 months, Pomperaug Theatre Company is hard at work at getting the show ready for opening night. If you are interested in seeing this humorous play and supporting the actors, actresses, and stage crew at Pomperaug, make plans to come see it at our very own auditorium. Opening night is Friday May 4 at 7:30 PM, and another performance will follow at the same time on Saturday May 5. The final performance will be Sunday May 6 at 2:30 PM. Stay tuned for more updates!