High School Actors Collaborate with Professional Theatre

Peterborough Players Ascending Stars Project Begins 

 Talented high school actors from Conval, as well as some who are home schooled, are collaborating with the Peterborough Players to perform and produce I Remember Mama, to open on June 3.

This joint effort - the Ascending Stars project - gives ambitious high school students interested in theatre an opportunity to work alongside professional actors and to experience the rigors of professional theatre.

Kathy Manfre, Ken Sheldon, and Michael Dell’Orto are the professionals cast in I Remember Mama, which will be directed by Players Artistic Director Gus Kaikkonen. Twenty-one local high school talents will be on stage in this beloved play. Conval students include Julia Bascom, Chris Commander, Emily Fernandes, Bridget Ferrill, Kody Grassett, Alice Hale, Rachel Halper, Aidan Holding, Nina Lary, Silas Lunetta, Greg Potter, Melody Rolph, Anastasia Stevens, Gina Tomacchio, Annie Trowbridge, Elise Williams, Greg Yerkes, ,and Mara Zrzavy. Home schoolers include Haviland Johannesson-Forgit, Sienne Johannesson-Forgit, and Sadie Rose Zavgren. All high schoolers involved in this project are a dedicated group; rehearsals run almost daily from 3 to 8 p.m. for the two weeks prior to the play opening.

Written by John van Druten, I Remember Mama is a heartwarming study of American family life in the early 1900s. Set in San Francisco in the home of a Norwegian immigrant family, this series of vignettes chronicles the comic trials and tribulations of raising a family with Mama at the helm. With a stellar cast of professionals and high school actors, supported by the Peterborough Players professional technical, costume, and stage management staff, I Remember Mama is sure to entertain.

            • I Remember Mama
            • June 3, 5, 6 at 8 p.m. and June 7 at 2 p.m.
            • Peterborough Players, 55 Hadley Road
            • $15 adults, $10 students/children
            • Call the Box Office to reserve a seat or for more information:
              (603) 924-7585, or visit www.peterboroughplayers.org

(The Ascending Stars project is sponsored by the A. Erland and Hazel N. Goyette Memorial Fund and Summerhill Assisted Living.)