This article appeared in the March 18, 2004 Jewish Advocate.

A Comedy of Errors Ends Newton Group’s season

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

"How would you feel looking down at your dinner plate and seeing brisket on one side and an ad that says S.W.M. on the other?" asks graphic designer and community theatre producer Julie Wiseman. Apparently, Wiseman’s mom shares similar viewpoints with the Goldmans in the Newton Country Players’ performance of James Sherman’s comedy “Beau Jest,” which began March 12 and runs until March 21 at the Windsor Club in Newton.

Sarah Goldman, under parental duress to meet a Jewish professional, turns to the Heaven Sent Escort Service for a date to her father’s birthday party. A non-Jewish actor becomes heart and brain surgeon Dr. David Steinberg, with resultant, highly entertaining repercussions aptly played out by the NCP cast.

Launched at the turn of the century, the community theatre group re-formed in the 1950s, and has been performing at the Windsor Club for the past 16 years. This show will be their last there; Mayor David Cohen and his staff are helping the group relocate elsewhere in the city. “The Newton Country Players are dedicated to providing a quality theatre experience to the Metro Boston community,” said NCP president Jean MacFarland. “Our ongoing mission is to foster the talents of our participants and to encourage growth and creativity in all aspects of theatre,” she said. This past fall, the group staged a spirited and acclaimed production of "Chicago" with the band right onstage.

Beau Jest features Michele Frazee of Whitinsville as Sarah, Kenny Meehan of Peabody as Bob, Jeffrey Prescott of Lowell as Joel, Margie Pell of Framingham as Miriam and David Nestelbaum of Worcester as Abe. Director Wiseman, who lives in Natick, is a graphic designer who works for a mutual fund company in Boston. Her love, though, is clearly the stage. “I have been involved in community theatre for the past 12 years, doing every job backstage, from props to producing and directing,” she says. On the NCP board for two years, this is her first directing gig, and it’s a plot to which she can relate.

“My background growing up in Canton, attending temple Beth Abraham, and being a single Jewish woman made me a good fit to take on the project directing Beau Jest,” she remarks, commenting further that the show shows both the humor and stress within family relationships. “I think every child can relate when Sarah says her mother wants ‘what's best for their children,’ which really means that the children should do only what their parents want then to do. Sara exclaims Sarah's world is my world,” she continues, noting dryly that her mother saves the single page of the Jewish Advocate for her.

NCP enjoyed a very successful 2002-2003 season with Guys & Dolls, Our Town, Two by Two, Captains Courageous, the Musical and Chicago. “Captains Courageous won Best Production along with many other awards at the 2003 Eastern Mass. Association of Community Theaters Festival,” says MacFarland. This past November 8, its cast and crew received the New England Theatre Conference’s prestigious Moss Hart Award.

The Newton Country Players (www.newtoncountryplayers.org) will present “Beau Jest?” at the Windsor Club in Newton, 1601 Beacon St. in Newton, diagonally across from the Waban "T" stop on the Riverside Green Line. Shows on March 12, 13, 19, and 20 are at 8 p.m.; March 14 and 21 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for seniors and students and may be purchased through www.ticketstage.com/ncp. To reserve tickets for purchase at the door, call 617-244-9538. A PSA of the performance can be viewed at: http://home.earthlink.net/~donaghey/BeauJestPSA.mov

"Beau Jest" will run March 12 - 21. Here's the (she's Jewish): jbwiseman@mfs.com

"Beth Purcell" <bpurcell@CI.NEWTON.MA.US>

If you need any additional information, please don't hesitate to ask. I can be reached via email at this address or at 781-237-7567 during the day.

Jean MacFarland and I am president of the Newton Country Players (NCP). President's contact info. Jean MacFarland: jmacfar188@aol.com

Please check back with our website () to find out where we will call home starting this summer. If you have a suggestion for a location that we can look into for our new home, preferable in Newton, please let us know.