Pictured is the ensemble cast from M & M Stage Productions’ one act parodies. Front: Tim Moran (East Windsor), Morgan O’Neil Petronis (Ewing), Gina Rose Tiso (Lawrenceville) and Charles Denk (Princeton). Back: Jennifer Nasta Zefulte (Cranbury), Diana Maurer (Ewing), Dave Christofferson (Lawrenceville) and Peter Bisgaier (Princeton Junction).
Executioners played by Josh Stanlaw (Columbus) and Dave Christopherson (Lawrenceville), are about to carry out judgment on a hapless accountant, George (Tim Moran of East Windsor) while Meg, the stage manager (Morgan O’Neil Petronis of Ewing) watches in “The Actor’s Nightmare.”
M & M Stage Productions is set to present two one-act plays at Kelsey Theatre.
The company is set to perform Lawrence Casler’s A Night in the Theatre and Christopher Durang’s The Actor’s Nightmare.
A Night at the Theatre features two couples who are at the theater for their weekly dose of culture, this time in the form of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What ensues between Margaret and Stanley and Donna and Walter is theatrics of a different sort, as they chatter incessantly about themselves, their children, dead friends, hunger – and even occasionally Hamlet. Secrets emerge and friendships unravel.
In The Actor’s Nightmare, an accountant wanders on stage, where he is confronted by Meg, the stage manager. She informs him that he is the understudy for the lead actor and that he must perform in the lead’s stead. Inexplicably, he is referred to as “George” and “Stanley” throughout the play, despite his feeling that neither one is his name. Adding to the strangeness, he cannot remember attending any rehearsals or being an actor at all. And no one will tell him the name of the play.
After being shoved on stage, George tries to improvise his lines, but the plot keeps shifting between different plays as he finally learns that his role is that of Sir Thomas More – and the execution scene seems a bit too real for his liking. He tries to convince himself that he is merely in a dream…but is he?
The cast includes Peter Bisgaier of Princeton Junction, Dave Christoferson of Lawrenceville, Chuck Denk of Princeton, Diana Maurer of Ewing, Tim Moran of East Windsor, Morgan O’Neil Petronis of Ewing, Josh Stanlaw of Columbus, Gina Rose Tiso of Lawrenceville and Jennifer Nasta Zefulte of Cranbury.
Mike DiIorio is the director for A Night at the Theatre and Dan Spalluto directs The Actor’s Nightmare.
Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Jan. 24 and 25, and 2 p.m. Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. Kelsey Theatre, located on the Mercer County Community College’s West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. A reception with the cast and crew follows the opening night performance on Jan. 24.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, and $14 for students and children.
More information is online at kelseytheatre.net.
