[00:00:00] Speaker A: You really should mark Saturday, September 13th on your calendars to be at the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater here in Quincy because a combination of the Thalia Theatre Troupe and the friends of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater are putting together an entire day of live entertainment, from theatrical plays to live music. There'll be some food and refreshments as well. It is called From Colonial to A Quincy celebration. Again, Saturday, September 13th, 1 to 8pm joining us to tell us all about it, a familiar face and name, Ann Danby and her legendary husband Ian is with us as well. So the Danbys are in the house.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: The Danbys are in the house, yeah.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Great to have you. Thanks for coming over. Ian, nice to see you again. Ian, nice to meet you. Likewise for the first time.
And I know we touched on this briefly last time you were here about this, this combination of live theater, live music and then just fun, fun, fun.
This is an unbelievable event that's going to be happening and probably I would say a first of its kind at the amphitheater.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: I got the idea when I went to the tricentennial display at City hall and I saw what they did and I said, well, we're not doing that.
But you know, I love.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: That was a week long celebration.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: Well, it was a week long celebration and some of what happened during Flag Day where they had all of the iconic floats and things like that was part of it. So. But they had a lot. You know, I learned that Pageant field at the time was still owned by the Addams Family and that it was called that because of the pageantry and there were maybe 500 citizens involved. And I thought, well, I can't get 500 people right.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: Talking about 100 people on the organizing committee alone is. It was huge.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: It was huge.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: But the idea for Quincy 300, we're talking about.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: For Quincy 300, that's right.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Something struck a nerve with you.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: But it struck. I said, well, we got to do something. Yeah, we got to do something. We've, we've been friends. Fridays is very popular. We've done some theater on the stage. The stage wouldn't have been there a hundred years ago. I mean, Ruth Gordon wasn't that old and so.
But what can we do?
And so I went to the Historical Society, I talked to the library. I got my hands on the script that they had from 100 years ago.
Sarah had always had the idea of us having a play contest. Sarah Callard. Sarah Callard, who's the head of Friends, Ruth Gordon at theatre. And she said, why don't we do a contest for some plays?
And we got submissions from around the country.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: I remember you mentioned that last time.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: It was amazing.
And we picked five of them. One of them is from Cindy Brandy, who is from Quincy. And it's her very first play that she wrote. But it's terrific. It's about a woman who was a welder during World War II at the shipyard.
And so we got these wonderful plays. So, okay, now we've got the place. Now I just have to get a bunch of directors and actors.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: But we also, you know, we'd been doing the rock festivals. And so we said, well, let's also have some music. And so then we, we wanted to get some music. And then I said, well, there's all the. Okay, we don't have the floats, but what if we have everybody as much as possible on Pageant Field. And so we started talking to the various places, the Quarry Museum, we talked to Dylan's Health Spa, which is the Finland Steam Bath. So for people that don't know, there was a lot of immigrants from Finland and the steam bath is still there.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yes, they worked in the granite industry.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: They worked in the granite industry. And our different industries have brought different people. And then as I had mentioned briefly last time about the Big Book.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: The book, the.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: The Big Book is happening.
And so one of our stage managers and just woman extraordinaire, she and her friend Colin are building the Big Book. We've seen Ian has helped us with the editing of the Big Book to make sure we've spelled everything correctly.
But that is going to be a centerpiece on Pageant Field that talks about the history of Quincy.
And she is also organizing a dance showcase that will come just after the plays that will have some of the different immigrant dances, some of the more recent ones through dance, who does Latin dance, We're going to have Yi's Southern Lions for Chinese Dragon Dance and a couple of others. So we're getting all these bits and pieces together. I've had wonderful support from people that are involved either in Thalia Theatre Troupe or Ruth Gordon Amphitheater.
And yeah, so it's all coming together. It's happening, it's happening.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: I mean, it is seven hours of just non stop fun. And it's free as well. Right?
[00:05:06] Speaker B: And it's free. Just like. So we still follow that.
The food is not free, obviously. Right, right.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: But the entertainment.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: But the entertainment is all free. Yeah. And we have local, you know, Marcus Johnson. People by this point should know who Marcus Johnson is. And he's going to start it up at the Pavilion at one o' clock and start playing there.
And one of the bands we had, their name is Quincy Boys in one of the bands that's playing. So we've gotten just phenomenal entertainers.
Really interesting booths for people to visit and learn more from.
Trailside Museum is bringing some animals.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Love that. That's great.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Before we get. I want to get a little more in depth about the plays, if that's ok. Oh, absolutely. Before we do that, I think we should talk to Dana, to Ian Rather, and get your background in how you got involved with this and what you do for.
[00:06:04] Speaker C: So I'm the chief voluntold of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheatre and Thalia Theatre Troupe. So, no, I have a background in a little sound engineering from my college days and I'm very technical. I've worked in software pretty much my entire career. So I'm a natural fit to be involved with the actual technical stage side of the Amphitheatre and also the theatre troupe.
So I've been pulled in and pushed around.
Yeah, it's going to be a fantastic day.
I'm going to be very busy, I'm sure, all day because I have to manage not only the main stage, but also the acts up on the Pavilion.
So to buy us some time on stage, to switch the stage around, we're having acts up at the Pavilion side of Axe Singing.
It's going to be fun.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: So have you been involved, Ian, from the start of the Friends group?
[00:07:01] Speaker C: Not quite. I wasn't crazy enough to go and stand outside in the rain and let others go stand outside in the rain from about halfway through the first year.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Oh, all right. Okay.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: You know, I started doing the announcing of the bands before they come on and letting people know what food options we had that week and anything else they need to know. You know, reminding parents to keep the kids from climbing up the wall.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah, it's important. Yeah. Okay.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Not sure how much that helped, but I tried.
Fortunately, now we put barriers up on the. And that did solve that particular concern.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Oh, good, good.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: Which is good.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Didn't know that. Yeah, excellent. So do you enjoy it? I mean, do you enjoy it?
[00:07:44] Speaker C: I mean. Well, I've never been fond of public.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Speaking, but he's really good at it.
[00:07:50] Speaker C: So I challenge myself to go on the stage and every week I step off the stage and immediately through my head goes a list of things I'm meant to talk about or forgot.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: That's perfectly normal, by the way.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Yeah. All the ways I'D envisage bringing up a topic or a little snippet or you or a little joke or something and it goes completely out of the head and I just deadpan it and.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: I'm like, totally normal.
That really is honestly.
[00:08:17] Speaker C: So it's good for me. And yeah, I do enjoy it a little bit and I enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes.
When I look around, I see 4, 5, 6, 7, 800 people enjoying a gig and having a great time.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
What's it like to work with your spouse?
[00:08:33] Speaker C: It's fine. I work at one end of the venue, she works at the other, so everybody gets along. We would like to spend a little bit bit more time together enjoying the gigs.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Because we're working them all up.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Behind the scenes.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: The Friends of Ruth Gordon AM Theatre's primary fundraiser is by selling T shirts.
And I'm normally stuck, worried about the stage and been managing the T shirts during the evening. So over the next two seasons, we want to get a few more volunteers involved in handling the T shirts so we can spend some time together.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: And maybe find someone else who could help manage the stage from time to time. So I could have the occasional week off.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Yeah. From a technical aspect, Ian, are there things that you'd like to see at the amphitheater improved?
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Yes, there are a few things. I mean, the city, the Parks and rec department do a wonderful job supporting us, but the sound equipment that they have isn't really large enough for the venue and.
And it's old as well.
The mixing desk that side of it is old.
We would like to have a few lights around.
So most of the bigger bands that we come in on the Fridays now, the Friends Fridays, we're bringing in professional sound and lights.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: And maybe that is our longer term answer for it.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Okay, good.
Now's the time to talk about it. Right.
If we're going to be active, and it's obviously very active and hugely successful.
So it sounds like the city may be looking to invest in the property a little bit better.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: I hope so. It would be really nice to see the ramp situation sorted out.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: We've talked about that and yeah, we.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Do keep talking about is the biggest thing that people ask about, I would think.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: You know, some of the things he talks about with the sound equipment, they may not notice as much, but they notice that the ramp hasn't happened yet and they have to do it off season. Right. So after September 13th, if we're lucky.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Is that the last performance for the season?
[00:10:41] Speaker B: It is.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah. It's the end of the season.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Going out with a bang.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Going out with a bang. That's right.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: As it were.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: There's a couple of concerns with a couple of reasons why we want a ramp. One is for accessibility reasons for those who are lesser. Lesser mobile. But the other reason is getting 100 pound speakers on the stage. It can be a real challenge moving equipment around. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: So that's tops on the agenda, it sounds like.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: I think so.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Good, good. You know I called you Dana before because the first play these are. They're five one act plays that are happening is the Bill Dana Museum. Right.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: I see the way you set yourself up for that segue.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: See, he's learning.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: See, this is what I mean.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: He's already learning.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: So.
So the whole event kicks off with these slices in time in Quincy. One act plays. Five of them. How many were submitted by the way?
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Over 20.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Really?
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it was all over the country. In fact, we picked five that were less specific to this event and we're going to have a five one act play event just that on a friends Friday next summer.
[00:11:52] Speaker C: Most specific to this event?
[00:11:55] Speaker B: More specific, yes.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: You chose the five most specific.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: This is why I needed him for the big book.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: He's like the spell checker.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: He really is good at it.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Living thesaurus over here.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: He is. He is. He keeps us on us.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: So Bill Dana, of course, the Quincy native, comedian, writer, Steve Allen, show frequent.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: I didn't know he did get smarts that theme song.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: I mean so many things.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: And he wrote a couple of all in the Family episodes.
Very prolific for sure, in that period.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: So that particular play is one person who's never heard of him, somebody else trying to convince him that they should open a museum.
And so hilarity ensues between the two of them debating whether that's a good thing to do. So you.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: So that's the play.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: And that's the play. Yeah.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: How long are the plays?
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Most of the plays are anywhere as short as eight minutes and as long as about 25. They're pretty short.
An hour and a half, five plays.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Quick moving and quick set changes.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: He's so happy about that.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: I am sure. Quick costume changes too, for the.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Well, the costume changes, yes. So I don't know if we ever talked about it, but when I wrote Remembering Ruth, I had one actor to play all the male parts. And I've promised him if we do Remembering Ruth again, which I think people would like us to do, that we would have more than One actor, because the costume changes were a little much.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: You have combinations of costumes from the last scene.
I've got my socks on.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Yeah, there is like, you just change the hat or the jacket. I mean, actors figure that out.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Well, exactly.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: You know, maybe we should, before we talk about the other plays, talk about the Thalia Theatre Troupe. We haven't really delved too much into that organization and who you are and what you do well.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: So we were formed. So the purpose of the Thalia Theatre Troupe is to be a troupe for two types of actors. People who are professional level actors but decided not to try.
They had a family, whatever, and they've decided they don't want to go to New York. They don't want. But they're brilliant. They're well trained. One of our directors for this, for one of the shows has an mfa. There's others that are theater teachers. So in fact, we have a number of actors in the shows that are also directors which.
So a certain level of skill. And then the other groups are the ones that are aspiring actors that we'll probably. You might see sometime in the future on TV or Broadway or whatever. And so. But they're local people.
And then the theater that we do is about is about here. So slices of time in Quincy, in April, we did a show about Vincent van Gogh at the Quincy Arts Gallery. I'm in conversations with some of our other iconic places to do plays there as well.
And so.
But it was born from doing Remembering Ruth. And then last year we did Shakespeare Bridged. And the play Shakespeare Bridged is a theater company trying to put on all the Shakespeare plays. And the actors in it said, are we the inaugural group for the Thalia Theatre Troupe? And I said, no, the people last year.
But I realized that there was really a hunger for that. And so anybody who is, you know, last year there was somebody who had not done theater in years and she's now, since she did Shakespeare Bridge, like, you can't stop her. There's a woman that's going to be in one of our plays this year hasn't done something in 40 years.
We convinced her to audition and went, oh, no, you must play this particular role.
So I'm very excited about the Thalia Theatre Troupe.
And there's so much talent in this area, you know, Ruth Gordon Lee Remick. There's so much talent in this area and there's so much interesting stuff in this area that you can do shows about.
So that's really what the Thalia Theatre Troupe is.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: It's a true community theater to its core. Right?
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: What is Thalia?
[00:16:05] Speaker B: And so the reason it's named Thalia Theatre Troupe is we're honoring Ruth Gordon when she. I'll tell you what Thalia is. But when she started doing theater in high school, that was the name of the theater club at the high school. But Thalia is one of the Greek goddesses of theater.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Very good. Thank you for that explanation.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: So the first play is the Bill Dana Museum, then Colonial Times.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: So Colonial Times I have adapted from that tricentennial play.
We've taken a few scenes from it that start from 1625 and Thomas Morton, because I wanted to understand why is it 1625? We're not Quincy yet.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: It's settled.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: It goes up to when we become Quincy. So there's three scenes within it.
The first scene is about Thomas Morton. The second is when the Massachusetts tribe agrees to say yes.
There's this paper that says, yes, you are Braintree, therefore you're not Plymouth. And England accepts that. And then the third one is when we become Quincy. So it's not really long, but it's an adaptation from the tricentennial play.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Is there a maypole in that?
[00:17:14] Speaker B: There just might be.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: There might be a maypole. Okay.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: We have, in fact, acquired a Maple.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:17:19] Speaker B: We have.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Okay.
We don't want to give away too much.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: No, no. But yes, I'm excited to be able to say we are, in fact, going to have a maple.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: I'm guessing the Weldorettes are the female.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: It's Flo.
It's Flo. Yeah. Yeah. And Cindy Brandy wrote it, and it follows her life. So it isn't just a single slice, but it's her telling the audience about her life. And I'm not going to say much more than that, but it's several periods of what happens at the shipyard before, during World War II.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: The Rosie the Riveter type stories.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. But our Rosie, who was Flo.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
Strange Interlude 1929, I'm guessing, is based on the Eugene O'. Neill.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: It is. Exactly.
And the mayor, who.
Who decided to let us have Strange Interlude be done here.
So you have the actors talking about it and you have the mayor. And so. Yeah, I won't say much more than that, but one of the things I liked about the play is it's so emblematic of who Quincy is when it comes to. To, you know, we're not just a suburb of Boston.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: There's something very unique, an independent spirit.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Right. A very independent Spirit. And I think a number of these plays represent that.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Ah, okay. And the final one is appropriately a Revolutionary roast.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Yes. Which is a delightful play that takes the letters. The later letters of Jefferson and Adams and it's. And sets it in modern day celebrity roast.
And so. And so Thomas Jefferson is sponsoring the roast for Adams. And as you might imagine, he's not completely happy about it.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah, well, they had this tumultuous relationship. It was a love hate thing going on.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Exactly. And so it is on display.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Very good.
Will any of the playwright's be at the.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: So obviously Cindy will be here.
A couple of them. One of the playwrights is in Florida and will not be able to make it here.
So we haven't heard from all of them yet, but not all of them, unfortunately will be able to make it.
But they're all very excited to have been selected.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Yes, I will.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: And I am certainly hoping that QATV will be able to record it.
I will then be able to say, here you go. This is what you got to.
What we did for you.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Right, right. How we did it. Right.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: How we did it.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: I'll sit with the actors.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Yes. I would like a few more people to dance around the maypole than I have.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: You can never have too many dancing maypole people.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: We don't have any lines. If anybody wants to come and dance around a maypole as part of a play, they can let me know.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Reach out.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Okay, that's right. But we've been in rehearsal.
Tech is on Sunday.
[00:20:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Where he figures out. Because, you know, you talked about the costumes.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: But one of the things he and Ed Krasnow, who is our other technical person, the two of them have been talking about, is you also have to change microphones when you have five plays and that many actors.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: And so that's one of their concerns.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: Is that they know plan of who wears which mic.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Who's wearing which mic. Yeah. Okay.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: What channel are they on?
[00:20:45] Speaker A: See, these are the things behind the scenes things that the audience doesn't think about.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: No, they just. They're gonna get to enjoy a place. And if, for some reason, if somebody sounds a little quiet for a brief moment, I'm sure Ian will certainly.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: He's running to the soundboard to make an adjustment. Yeah, exactly.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: I think I'll be sitting on the soundboard.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Sitting on it.
Well, to that end, are any volunteer opportunities available?
[00:21:06] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. So I will say that if anybody wants to help be a dresser. You know, you joked about it, but it would be helpful to Have, I would think, not just dressers, but also, you know, we don't. We're trying to. And we always do this on the amphitheater because of what Ian said with bringing things in and out. We do have minimal sets, but we do have five plays with different sets.
And so anybody that's willing to help us move those sets around, that'd be fantastic. In addition to that, you know, we've got all this stuff going on with the booths and we. Two of the booths that we're going to have. One is going to be focused on all the different entertainers that. Not just entertainers like John Cheever. There's going to be one of those booths and if anybody wants to.
Hasn't got involved in acting yet, but loves entertainment and would like to talk to people about that because we're going to have things there, they're welcome to assist with that.
So lots of opportunities. I suppose I will not be selling the T shirts, but they will be there as well as a couple of hoodies. Because we've been asked to have hoodies.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Oh, getting be fall now. So, you know.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Right, right. So. So there's absolutely opportunities for volunteers.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Okay, great. So the plays will run from 1 to 3.
Then at 3 o' clock the dance showcase takes place.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: 3:30.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: 3:30, the dancing.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Because actually Marcus is going to open up at the pavilion at one o'.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Clock. One o' clock with music. Yeah.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: And then 1:30 the plays will go. And then 1:30 at three. And then the dance showcase will be three, 3:30. Then John Gorey is going to close out that part of the entertainment back up at the pavilion at 4.
And then around 4:30 is when we'll start with the bands.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Yes, let's talk about the bands. Who's playing.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: So the first one is 21 grams or more, which I had. You probably can talk about the bands more. But one of the things I thought was pretty cool was to find out where the name comes from.
So again, correct me if I get this wrong, but apparently some scientist or something tried to figure out the weight of a soul.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: The weight of a soul, a person's.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Soul, that they were going to weigh a body right before they died and. Right. They died. And I thought, could you imagine if you're like dying, if you don't mind.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Terribly, could I weigh you before and after. Is that the. Wow. Okay.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: Apparently a thing which I had never heard of, but that's what they're named after. And I think that sort of speaks to their personality.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: And then Quincy boys.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: Quincy boys. They're a couple of gentlemen who play. How do you describe it?
Acoustic, classical, rock.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Oh, all right.
[00:23:54] Speaker C: They're both Quincy born and bred. They grew up, jumped in the quarries. You know that routine.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: The Life magazine for a front page cover there. Yeah.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: And we really felt it's important to have Quincy represented within the music as well as the plays and the booths. So we're really excited to have them come and play for us.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Nice. Very good.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: Unfortunately, our other Quincy band who had been pencilled in, had to cancel due to medical emergency with one of their members. So that would have been Rudder Crew.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Oh, sure.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: We have the Quincy boys and they're so. We're really excited to see them play. They're gonna be awesome.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Super. Very good.
And the life sized book, Ann, will be on display throughout the whole day as well.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Yes. So it's seven and a half feet tall by five and a half feet wide.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: And it will be the centerpiece of where the booths are. People can come read about the history.
I'd encourage them to take pictures of it, but it really represents some of the key moments in Quincy's history, some of which similar to what we're doing with the plays, some of which people may know about, some of which people may not be as aware of.
It does finish with the Dropkick Murphy's because we were inspired by the Quincy 400 having them to perform. They're the most modern of our history at this point.
But it's pretty exciting that the big book is happening. I'm very excited about it.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: What's going to happen to it afterwards?
[00:25:33] Speaker B: I would like to donate it to the city.
I would absolutely like to donate it to the city. We're building it so it can be in the outdoors.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: I might talk to, you know, the library of the Historical Society, but I think it's, it's our gift somewhere.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: A permanent installation.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: Very neat.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Yeah. So we'll see what, what they say.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Okay. Anything else we should let folks know about right now?
[00:26:00] Speaker C: We'll have Break Rock brewing there, of course. Quincy's award winning brewery.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:05] Speaker C: So very excited to have them partner with us all season long up at the amphitheatre. And we're very pleased that they'll be there all day.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: Yeah. In fact, all of the food that people have come to expect at Friends Fridays will be there. And I'm also in conversations with another non alcoholic drink establishment that is iconic in Quincy. So we'll see what they say it's not Dunkin, by the way, but.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: They're just.
They've been very busy, so. But I am intending to try to have some non alcoholic as well.
[00:26:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: I mean, they have it at the barbecue. And the other Greeks. The Greeks, Greek Devon and Moms on the go, you know, they all have drinks. But anyway, yeah, the food should be lovely and come out and come and go and I just think it's going to be a lot of fun. And it's our gift to the city.
It's our celebration of the city and I hope everybody can come out and enjoy it.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Okay, a couple of different ways to get more information.
[email protected] or so.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Actually, the thalietheatertroop.org is.
I don't know if you're gonna put that up there, but there is a QR code. If they can scan to the QR code, it goes to the schedule.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: Okay, great.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: So that's probably a good way. And one of the things that we have on there is some more descriptions of the place.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: And even if people would like to donate this, we can't do this for free.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Or it could go to next year's programs, too.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: Right now you can go to the next year program as well. So if anybody would like to donate, they can also go there to donate.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Can you buy a T shirt online as well?
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Not yet.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: Not yet.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Yeah. We're talking about more than just T shirts, so watch this space.
I've been really advocating for getting stadium cushions.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Oh, yes, that's a great idea.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Okay, so, you know, I think I had said this when we'd come before that I used to say to Sarah, five year plan, and next year will be year four.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: Wow. Wow, that was fast.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: It's so fast. And so as we're approaching that year five, there are ideas that have been bubbling up, and that's one of them.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Okay, excellent. Well, I guess I have to ask, is there a rain contingency if the.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: Weather seems to cooperate?
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah, they gave me a rain date, but it's October 11th.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Okay.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: So I'm going to acknowledge the.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: Which is Columbus Day weekend, actually. Yeah.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: And I don't know that I'll be able to get all the actors and everything. So if everybody can pray to the gods.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Pray to Ruth.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: Ruth Gordon. Right.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: Ruth says don't face back, so I'm going with her.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: So, yeah, we do have one.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: All right.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: But they're hoping not to use it.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: We're hoping not to Try to use it. I think if we ended up using it, it would be a modified. It wouldn't be as big.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Gotcha. Okay, so, well, so far, so good with the. The weekends this summer. So let's hope that trends.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: We've been very lucky. I will say, and I think I've said this to you, Studio 2 has always ended up closing our friends, the Beatles tribute band. Right, The Beatles tribute band.
And so this year we said it's always been a rain date. So this year we said, we'll just schedule you with the end. It still rained the day that they were supposed to come. I think anybody who wants like is. Wants rain. Should say, when is Studio 2 scheduled for French riders?
[00:29:44] Speaker A: So you can plan for it because it always seems to rain.
Okay.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it was still. It was the same weekend. At least it was Sunday. And it was very well received. But it is pretty funny.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah. All right.
We won't talk about that anyway, so.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: We'Re not inviting them to this one.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: I was just gonna say no. Studio 2 at the Quincy Celebration.
[00:30:03] Speaker C: We're closing with Wolf Pack.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: With Wolf Pack instead. That's right.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Oh, another band. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah.
[00:30:09] Speaker C: The band's called Wolf Pack. They're up and coming.
They're very fun. Very energetic rock band out of Boston.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: From Boston.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: So they're still nearby.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Very good. It's a great venue for local entertainment and for local talents. It really is, you know. And I know that the word spreads throughout the entertainment industry too. Word of mouth, right?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, Sarah has a list of people that want to perform on her stage. It's fantastic.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Excellent. Thank you both. It's been a lot of fun. I hope you have a great event.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Thank you very much.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: You're very welcome. Thanks for watching us here at AM Quincy. I'm Joe Catalano and we'll see you next time.
