4th Street Theater
  • Home
  • Category: Uncategorized

Category: Uncategorized

2021 10-Minute-Play Festival

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: September 21, 2021
Thanks to all of the folks who came out to auditions for the Ten-Minute Play Festival at 4th Street Theater. We had old friends and new friends come and it was fantastic. Here is the list of plays, directors, and casts for this year!

1. REMEMBERED by John Mabey

Director: Jill Watterson
Cast: Doris - Laura Blythe
Peter - Michael Thomas

2. FINDING HELP by Marj O'Neill - Butler

Director - Lisa Formosa-Parmigiano
Cast: Evelyn - Marcia Gienapp
Daphne - Sarah Wermuth
Michael - Nathan O'Brien

3. SECOND STORY JOBS by Fred Tacon

Director - Peggy Glennie
Cast: Huey - Dean Johanson
Tooth Fairy - Linda Lemond

4. THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN OF FORGIVENESS by Rich Orloff

Director - Larry Piotrowski
Cast: He - Jerry Golvidis
She - Margie Calhoon

5. MINOR DEVIATIONS by Erin Osgood

Director - Kate Ryan
Cast: Townsend - Jason Horn
McNally - Roy Siebert
A298, A452. A671. Maeve - Laura Blythe

6. CLOSING DOORS by John Minigan

Director - Amy Stepanek-Briseno
Cast: Valerie - Kristina Hanna
Sandra - Jena Bellezza

7. GRAM SCAMS by Cary Pepper

Director - Tony Thomas
Cast:: Grandma - Laura Sullivan
"Michael" - Brian Brophy
Michael - Michael Thomas

8. POETRY, PROSE, AND...PIRATES! by Ken Preuss

Director - George Maslankowski
Cast: Vern - Joe Culley
Shelley - Kerry Margus Fitch
Theo - Jason Horn
Peg - Maggie Reister
Chad - Dean Johanson
It is going to be a fun festival and we hope to see you in the audience in November! More info coming soon!
Again, THANKS TO ALL WHO TRIED OUT!

COVID Policy as of August 2021

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: August 26, 2021

COVID Policy as of August 2021

 

4th Street Theater has decided to announce we will continue the following COVID policy due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.  We want to continue to provide live theater and ensure the safety of our patrons and our volunteers.

The following policies will remain in place until further notice. 4th Street Theater will continue to monitor COVID recommendations from the health department and CDC, and we will revise the guidelines as required.

Seating

Our board has decided to voluntarily reduce our seating capacity to 2/3 capacity.  This will allow us to increase the spacing between the rows as well as between the audience and the stage.

Note as of October 2021 - we have increased our seating capacity to 50 seats.

 

Patrons:

Due to our small space, we require all patrons to wear a mask inside the theater regardless of their vaccination status.  We also ask that you please do not come if you have been sick within the last 24 hours.

 

Volunteers – Including Performers, Crew, Board & Other Volunteers

All volunteers are required to be fully vaccinated if they are over the age of 12.  Vaccination exemptions will be considered when a doctor has recommended against it for medical reasons.

Performers will not wear a mask while performing.

If a volunteer tests positive for COVID or is required to quarantine, they are required to immediately alert the theatre so that contact tracing may be conducted.  These alerts should go to Linda Pauli.  4th Street Theater contact tracing will require all exposed volunteers and/or staff to be tested. If additional positive tests are discovered, then appropriate measures will be taken to ensure the safety of all.

 

Cleaning:

Over the summer we had our carpets, chairs, and ductwork professionally cleaned.

We have also installed a UV filter in our HVAC system to continuously clean the air.  We will also use a disinfecting fogger between performances.

Thank you from the board of 4th Street Theater.  Please stay healthy.

2021 Reopening Plan

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: April 27, 2021

2021 Reopening Plan Announced

 

Our board has been hard at work sprucing up the theater as well as determine when is a safe time to reopen.

We are happy to announce some of the initial details of our plan to reopen the theatre.

·         Grand Reopening & 20th Anniversary Celebration – August 20-22, 2021

·         Art – this show had to be canceled.  We will be announcing some other events in it's place.

·         Red Kite on October 16th – We will be bringing Chicago Children’s Theatre to perform Red Kite for one day only.  Registration is required for this event.  Please go to http://4thstreetncca.com/red-kite to learn more

·         10 Minute Play Festival – we will present the plays selected in 2020 during November 5-14, 2021. Please visit http://4thstreetncca.com/6x10/ for more information on the festival including the selected plays.

·         Grant Fitch will be back with his one-man version of A Christmas Carol on November 27th

·         The Importance of Being Earnest will be in March 2022.

·         We are working on bringing you some other special events including a Halloween Event and some Improv.

 

Please note, that due to the changing nature of COVID we may have to change some dates.  We will announce closer to the performances what the COVID restrictions/precautions will be.  We are currently working on deep cleaning the theatre and will be installing a UV light to filter the air in the heating and cooling system.

We will also release a call for directors for the 10-minute play festival later this summer.

The auditions for the 10-minute Play Festival and The Importance of Being Earnest will be announced at a later date.

Please join our mailing list (http://eepurl.com/3fv91) or follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/4thstreettheater) to catch the latest updates.

Thank you to all our supporters who helped us thru this difficult time.  We cannot wait to see everyone in the theater again.
Again, we will be releasing more details, including exact dates for Art & the 10 Minute Play Festival at a later date.

2020 Update

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: December 20, 2020

Thank you to the many generous supporters and donors this year. While we had to cancel most of this year's shows due to COVID-19, we are looking at re-opening sometime in 2021. The exact details have not been worked out yet of when we will re-open. We look forward to seeing our generous supporters, patrons, and volunteers in the hopefully near future. Stay safe and healthy.

 

To be updated when we do make the announcement on our schedule, please either follow our Facebook page or join our email list - please visit: https://mailchi.mp/e0698bb2396c/email-list

COVID 19 Update

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: March 17, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

DATE:  March 17, 2020

FROM:  Sandra Assarian, Producer, 4th Street Theater

SUBJ:  CANCELLATION OF PERFORMANCES OF ART

4TH STREET THEATER CANCELS PRODUCTION

 

Due to the coronavirus outbreak and in the interest of health and safety for our community, staff and performers, all remaining performances of the play ART are canceled.  The show was scheduled to run through March 29th.  This splendid piece of work will be remounted in March of 2021 per the suggestion of many who were able to attend performances the first weekend.

Unfortunately, this cancellation will mean a loss of over $4000 for the theater, as well as potential losses for the upcoming show Closer Than Ever in June.  Since shows provide a substantial amount of operating revenue, these losses will be adversely felt.  The theater, a not for profit 501c3, depends on many avenues of funding, including donations and sponsorships.  All staff and performers are volunteers; however, the budget for the theater is still in excess of $60,000 annually.  This includes production costs and overhead expenses.  Substantially all equipment is purchased with grant funds from local benefactors.  All board members are charged with ongoing fundraising efforts in order for the theater to break even each year.

The coming months will undoubtedly be challenging for all arts organizations that rely on both community donations and audience attendance. During the Covid-19 pandemic and the accompanying financial downturn, neither will be in ample supply.  If you are able, 4th Street Theater appeals to members of the community for any amount of financial support they can provide.  Additionally, any person or business that would be willing to sponsor a show or make a donation, should contact the theater by phone at (219) 926-7875 or in writing to 4th Street Theater, P.O. Box 2281, Chesterton, IN 46304.  (Please do not mail to the street address).  In the meantime, stay safe, remain hopeful, and be kind to each other.  Together, our community can and will ride out this storm.

###

Art Cast List Announced

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: December 4, 2019

Thank you to everyone who auditioned.  Our cast list is:

 

Serge - Alexander Bonner

Yvon - Grant Fitch

Marc - Dean Perrine

 

a play, written by Yasmina Reza

Translated by Christopher Hampton

Directed by Stanlee Hodsden

 

Performances - March 13. 14, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28 & 29, 2019

Sundays performances at 3:00 pm, all other nights at 8:00

 

How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc's best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It's about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn't have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: "Go on." This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action and its reaction affirms the power of those bonds.
Winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play. Winner of the 1996 Olivier Award for Best Comedy. "…wildly funny, naughtily provocative…" —NY Post. "…a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a degree from the Sorbonne…Reza is a fiendishly clever writer…'ART' sounds like a marriage of Molière and Woody Allen…" —Newsweek. "Anyone looking for a play that is funny, sophisticated, stylish, stimulating and moving should go to 'ART'." —Independent (London). "That such a simple plot can throw up such profound and meaty ideas about the rules that dictate art and friendship is a real treat. Reza and Hampton have an acute ear for the idiocies, trivia and petty assaults that pepper the conversation between friends…The real pleasures come from Reza's creation of three beautifully defined, original characters…" —The Mail (London). "In October I called it a minor classic. Let's change that to classic comedy, period." —London Times.
Produced with special arrangements with Dramatist Play Service

Outside Mullingar Opens

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: November 5, 2019

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

 

FROM:  4th Street Theater, Sandy Assarian, 219-929-5533

 

RE:      Press Release

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

OUTSIDE MULLINGAR

(a romantic comedy)

 

4th Street Theater presents John Patrick Shanley’s play, Outside Mullingar, Friday November 8th through Sunday November 24th.

 

John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. His play, Doubt: A Parable, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film Moonstruck.  The play is set in the Midlands of Ireland, and involves two farmers, Anthony and Rosemary, who live next to each other. Rosemary has been romantically interested in Anthony for all of her life. Anthony, however, is shy, and is unaware of Rosemary's feelings. Anthony does not like farming and his father plans to leave the farm to a nephew.  With Anthony’s father threatening to disinherit him and a land feud simmering between their families, Rosemary has every reason to fear romantic catastrophe. But then, in this very Irish story with a surprising depth of poetic passion, these yearning, eccentric souls fight their way towards solid ground and some kind of happiness. Their journey is heartbreaking, funny as hell, and ultimately deeply moving. OUTSIDE MULLINGAR is a compassionate, delightful work about how it’s never too late to take a chance on love.

"Mr. Shanley's finest work since DOUBT…a softhearted comedy freckled with dark reflections on the unsatisfactory nature of life and the thorns of love." —NY Times. "

…”Mr. Shanley is telling a tale of inhibition overcome by love, but he's translated it (so to speak) from Italian to Gaelic, and the results are both charming and dramatically persuasive." —Wall Street Journal.

"OUTSIDE MULLINGAR is a valentine to the wonder and weirdness of love." —NY Daily News.

The 4th Street Theater cast includes Anne Nicholls of Crown Point as Rosemary, Kevin Mellen of Michigan City as Anthony, Donald Beck of Michigan City as Tony (Anthony’s father), and Maggie Reister Walters of Valparaiso as Aoife (Rosemary’s mother).  Linda Pauli of Chesterton directed the play, Kevin Doler also of Chesterton created the set, Angela Heid of Kingsford Heights designed the lighting and sound, and Barbara Baker Malangoni of Valparaiso designed the costumes.

Outside Mullingar opens on Friday, November 8th and runs through Sunday, November 24th at the 4th Street Theater, 125 N. Fourth Street in Chesterton.  November 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 8:00 pm and November 17 and 24 at 3:00 pm.  Reservations can be made by calling the theater at 219-926-7875 or by www.brownpapertickets.com on line.  Outside Mullingar is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York, NY.

###

 

2019 NIETF Awards

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: October 27, 2019

Congrats to all the NIETF nominees and award winners for 2018-2019 Gala

 

2018-2019 Award Winners

Congratulations to all the award recipients at NIETF’s 27th Anniversary Gala! Thank you, everyone, for an amazing evening!

Musical

Principal Actress in a Musical: Sheree Gudeman as Francesca Johnson; Bridges of Madison County, 4th Street Theater

Featured Actress in a Musical: Tie

Holly Schroeder as Marge; Bridges of Madison County, 4th Street Theater

Caroline Herrera as Lita Encore; Ruthless, Hammond Community Theatre

Music Direction – Musical: Jeff Otto - Bridges of Madison County, 4th Street Theater

Vocal Direction – Musical: Linda Pauli - Bridges of Madison County, 4th Street Theater

Plays

Principal Actor in a Play: Donald Beck as Joe Keller; All My Sons, 4th Street Theater

Featured Actor in a Play: Donald Beck as Mrs. Bumbrake/Teacher; Peter and the Star Catcher, 4th Street Theater

Set Design – Play: Kevin Doler - All My Sons; 4th Street Theater

Lighting in a Play: Angela Heid & Dan Watt - Peter and the Star Catcher, 4th Street Theater

Sound Design in a Play: Angela Heid - Peter and the Star Catcher, 4th Street Theater

Costume Design in a Play: Stanlee Hodsden - Peter and the Star Catcher, 4th Street Theater

Director – Play: Steve Rohe - All My Sons; 4th Street Theater

Overall – Play: Peter and the Star Catcher, 4th Street Theater

 

Volunteer of the Year

4th Street Theater - Sarah Lackey

 

Full list of all award winners at: http://nietf.org/2018-2019-award-winners/

 

2019 10 Minute Play Selections

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: June 2, 2019

2019 10 Minute Play Selection

 

The 10 Minute Play Festival reading committee had the difficult task of reading all the shows and narrowing it down to just 8 plays. After much debate, we are ready to announce this year’s 10 Minute Plays. Here are this year’s plays  

Frameworks

By: Mike McGeever   Characters: MARIE, 26, a graduate student in Physics GABE, 40, a Physics Professor   Synopsis; Marie, a graduate student in physics waiting for a train, encounters a stranger who suggests a route that will change her life forever.    

The Elimination Round

By: Carl L. Williams   Characters: FENRICK………..wealthy man seeking to eliminate an unwanted wife MORGAN………..hitman engaged to do the eliminating GENEVA…….…..the unwanted wife who resists being eliminated PRISCILLA.……..Fenrick’s wife-to-be and finalist in the elimination round   Synopsis: A wealthy man engages a hitman to kill his wife so he can marry a new love. The hitman, however, proves to be an even shrewder businessman in negotiating a better deal.  

Goodbye Itzy-Bitzy

By Betty Robinson   Characters: Ben and Annie Mickey – An elderly couple   SYNOPSIS Today’s the day! Ben and Annie are leaving their home to move into a retirement community. Though they have discussed this move many times, Annie is very upset. Their dog, Itzy-bitzy can not go with them because they can not afford the $900 dollar pet deposit. Ben has promised they will save up the money and in six months bring Itzy-Bitzy home. A niece is caring for the dog. Annie says she has called a taxi and is leaving to pick up Itzy-Bitzy and live on the streets because their daughter should have moved into their home and taken care of them. Years ago, Ben did that for his mother causing Annie to run off to Mexico for some time. Ben says she is running away, again. “If you don’t realize that we are responsible for caring for each other, then just go! Two wrongs do not make a right.” Both Ben and Annie must deal with what happened in the past and what needs to happen now. The unexpected happens at the end and Annie does not have to say goodbye to Itzy-Bitzy  

Budget Airlines Flight 711

By: Bruce Guelden   Characters: TODD …. about 35, professional MARY …. about 30, a loose cannon, spunky JENNA …. about 30 CAPTAIN SMITH (voice only) .…no-nonsense, southern drawl   SYNOPSIS: This play is about a struggling airline company and its dysfunctional flight crew.  

172 PUSH-UPS

by Scott M ullen   Characters:   TOM (60s-70s). An aging man in a thin coat. QUINN (female, 20s). Just out of the army. Thin coat. JENNY (20s). Quinn’s girlfriend   Synopsis: When two veterans meet on a bus station bench, their differences are clear, but ultimately they find common ground as well  

You Haven’t Changed a Bit

By Donna Hoke   Characters: LEN: Old man LOTTIE: Old woman   SYNOPSIS: Lottie has never been to a high school reunion; Len has been to them all. Their 70th is a first for them both.  

About Time

By Robin Baron   Characters: JIM A man, around 50 years old. DIANE A woman, around 50 years old.   Synopsis: Time is just about up for Jim’s watch and clock store when Diane helps him discover a new way to spend his leisure time.  

Office Hours

by Bryan Harnetiaux   Characters: Eleanor Price – mid 50’s; a college professor – seemingly the ultimate professional Nicole Seversen – mid/late 20’s; edgy and unhinged in appearance   Synopsis: Nicole goes to confront a college professor about plagiarism.  

Please follow our facebook page and website for more information on directing and auditioning.

All My Sons

Posted by: angelaheid Posted on: February 20, 2019

Chesterton’s 4th Street Theater presents Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Family secrets, greed, lust and tragedy abound in this iconic drama directed by Steve Rohe. This production is based on a real incident that occurred in 1943 and was brought to Miller’s attention by his mother-in-law. Defective airplane parts were sold to the military, resulting in catastrophic consequences. The story revolves around the Kellers and the Deevers.  They had been neighbors and the men business partners. Their children grew up together.

Director, Steve Rohe, is a regular at 4th Street Theater and an avid Arthur Miller fan. Rohe has previously directed Crucible, as well as Enemy of the People (translation by Arthur Miller) and has performed in Death of a Salesman. He is excited to bring this dramatic piece to the stage of 4th Street Theater and he proudly proclaims his cast members and crew as both incredibly talented and dedicated.

Cast members include: Donald Beck of Michigan City as Joe Keller, Barb Malangoni of Valparaiso as Kate Keller, Rodney Thornton of Hobart as Chris Keller, Erin Shields of Chesterton as Anne Deever, Thomas Knoerzer of Portage as George Deever, Emily Gulbransen of Hobart as Lydia Lubey, Jeff Schultz of Valparaiso as Frank Lubey, Mark McColley of Valparaiso as Dr. Jim Bayliss and Laura Toops of Merrillville as Sue Bayliss.

Assistant Director: Victoria Luster Bartz, Stage Manager: Rea Robinson, Production Supervisor: Jude Tanter.

When: March 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 2019 at 8:00 pm and

March 17, 24, 2019 at 3:00 pm

Where: 4th Street Theater, 125 N. Fourth St., Chesterton

Cost: $20

Call to reserve seats: 219-926-7875 www.4thstreetncca.org or order tickets online @ https://allmysons.brownpapertickets.com

Patti Pretzel, Publicist for 4th Street Theater