In the spring of 2012, Staples Players directors David Roth and Kerry Long produced “Into the Woods.” Both are longtime fans of Stephen Sondheim, and first staged the show 10 years earlier.
Click here or below for highlights. As always, they’re courtesy of former media teacher Jim Honeycutt, who videotaped all of Roth and Long’s shows.
Many Players have gone on to interesting careers, in and out the arts. Among them:
Will Haskell (Narrator) went on to serve 2 terms as Connecticut state senator — one of the youngest state legislators in the country.
Elle Deran (Rapunzel’s Prince) is a trans and non-binary actor, singer and content creator.
Sofia Ribolla (Cinderella) shifted her focus from theater to to medicine while in college, and is now an optometrist with Greenwich Ophthalmology Associates.
Clay Singer (Jack) has extensive theater credits, including “Masquerade” in New York, “Fiddler On the Roof.””The Band’s Visit” North American tour,
“Next to Normal,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Ragtime,” “The Full Monty — and “Into the Woods” in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Jamie Yarmoff (Cinderella’s Stepmother) is a renewable energy professional amd chapter leader for Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy. She founded the WRISE Utah chapter in Salt Lake City.
Cara McNiff (Drusilla) graduated from Elon University with a degree in musical theater. She is still involved in theater. as a regional booking manager.
Sami Schwaeber (Jack’s Mother) is a Brooklyn-based musical comedian, actor and writer recognized for her queer, Jewish and mental health-focused stand-up and sketch work.
Madeline Seidman (Jack’s Mother) is a Brooklyn-based actor, with an MFA from Yalel School of Drama. She can be seen on screen in the TV shows “Elsbeth” and “A League of Their Own.”
Michelle Pauker (The Witch) is a singer and actor. She has appeared in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Idaho Shakespeare Festival), “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (Great Lakes Theatre Company), and “Into The Woods (Forestburgh Playhouse). On Sunday, her band Back to the Garden 1969 performed at the Levitt Pavilion.
August Laska (Wolf) transitioned from acting to behind-the-scenes work in producing and marketing, eventually serving as a marketing coordinator for Disney Theatrical Group. He co-produced “Broadway Gets GLAAD” at Joe’s Pub, and worked as a co-producer on the Off-Broadway and summer Broadway runs of “Broadway Bounty Hunter.” He currently owns The Old Yew plant shop.
Charlie Greenwald (Cinderella’s Prince) is an actor, voiceover artist, comedian, copywriter and children’s book author. He has appeared in the Academy Award-winning film “The Trial of the Chicago 7” and the TV special “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.” (2018).
Everett Sussman (Cinderella’s Father) is an applied mathematics/computer science graduate of Harvard University. He is now a digital creator. He has acted in regional theater productions, including “Sweeney Todd.”
Charlotte Weber (Repunzel) attended the International Culinary Center. She works professionally as a pastry chef).
Ryder Chasin is a television writer, creative and comedian in Brooklyn.
Nicholas Massoud (Mysterious Man) attended Yale, and performed all over the world with the a cappella groups the Wiffenpoofs and Sprizzwinks.
Joe Badion (Sprites) is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He teaches upper school music at the Town School in New York.
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April 30, 2012, Dan had an interesting post that had a picture of Stephen Sondheim from 1950.
I’m glad to see Staples Players carrying on the tradition of excellence. However, I’m slightly disappointed that I don’t see more serious plays ie; non musicals, being staged as we did back in the 70’s when Al Pia and Judy Luster had the Helm.
Hi Jeff — This is Kerry Long, one of the current directors of Staples Players. Not all musicals are pure fluff! In fact, this year we produced “Les Miserables,” based on the classic novel about one man’s fight for justice and humanity and “Urinetown,” which sounds silly but is actually about a rebellion against an evil megalomaniac.
Last year, Players produced “The Diary of Anne Frank” and hosted the entire Westport 8th grade to coincide with their academic unit on the Holocaust and also welcomed a Holocaust survivor for a talkback after the show. This year, our Black Box show was “12 Angry Men,” which deals with the themes of systemic racism, sexism and the justice system.
Players often produces larger musicals because the program is so robust and so many students want to be involved — it’s hard to fit 65-70 cast members in a “straight” play. Hence, you’ll often see us singing and dancing on stage! But, rest assured, we still do dramas, too.
Thanks for your comment and for giving us the opportunity to share this information.
All the best,
Kerry
Other Black Box productions include “The Laramie Project” (twice) and “Lord of the Flies” — among many others.
Thank you yet again!
We attend all the musical productions as well as the black box plays. As Kerry Long wrote- Staples Players has all the bases covered- you just have to buy the tickets! They even sell flowers for the actors and actresses, candies and nonalcoholic beverages and fund raise selling Players’ swag!
All the plays are Broadway and off Broadway quality.