Favorites of 2024: Mark G. Auerbach

Of the limited numbers of shows I saw, 2024 was the year of brilliant solo performances, particularly Felicia Curry in David Cade’s Sandra at TheaterWorks Hartford, and Jay Sefton in his and Mark Basquiill’s Unreconciled, which for me was the best new play of the year., 2024 was also the year that video and projections became a major…

REVIEW: “Big Big Sky” at Chester Theatre Company

by Mark G. Auerbach (This review originally appeared in Westfield News. Used with the author’s permission.) There are three heroes onstage in Chester Theatre’s 35th season finale, the American Premiere of Tom Wells’ Big Big Sky. First hero is Joel Ripka, an actor with multiple Chester credits, who stepped in at…

REVIEW: “Circle Mirror Transformation” at the Chester Theatre Company

by Macey Levin Four acting hopefuls have enrolled for a creative dramatics class in the imaginary town of Shirley, Vermont. The group, led by the wife of the community center administrator, finds to their consternation, that in spite of the seemingly innocuous and at times mystifying acting exercises, their lives…

Chester Theatre Company Presents “Circle Mirror Transformation”

Chester Theatre Company (CTC) is proud to present Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, performed at Chester Town Hall Theatre, 15 Middlefield Road, Chester, MA, from August 10-20.  In this work by Pulitzer Prize winner, MacArthur fellow, and Amherst native Annie Baker, five very different people come together in a Vermont community…

Chester Theatre Company Announces Full Casting for the 2023 Season

Chester, MA – Recently appointed Co-Producing Artistic Directors James Barry and Tara Franklin are pleased to announce the full casting for Chester Theatre Company’s 2023 season, the first under their direction. Barry and Franklin are known for their award-winning work on the Town Hall Theatre stage, and they are excited to now be heading the organization and programming…

Chester Theatre Company Announces 2023 Season

Chester, MA – Recently appointed Co-Producing Artistic Directors James Barry and Tara Franklin are pleased to announce Chester Theatre Company’s 2023 season, the first under their direction. Barry and Franklin are known for their award-winning work on the Town Hall Theatre stage, and they are excited to now be heading the organization and programming works for Chester audiences.…

REVIEW: “The Night Alive” at the Chester Theatre Company

by Macey Levin   The Night Alive by Conor McPherson is the story of five Dubliners bumbling through life and often at odds with one another.  McPherson, the award winning playwright of Shining City, The Seafarer, The Weir and many others, has an ear for realistic dialogue full of incomplete…

Chester Theatre Company Announces Complete Casting for 30th Anniversary Season

Many Audience Favorites Returning to the Town Hall Theatre, Onstage and Off Chester, MA–Co-founded by Vincent Dowling and H. Newman Marsh in 1990 with the belief that every town should have a professional theatre, Chester Theatre Company (formerly The Miniature Theatre of Chester) prepares to celebrate its landmark 30th Season with four works, each a…