Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Thalia Theatre Troupe here in Quincy preparing for their final production of 2026. And it's coming up in November, actually. So it's something that you want to learn about right now from Anne Danby and Ed Krasno are here in studio to tell us a bit more about it. Folks, Anne are familiar with you, but Ed, you're brand new to them, so welcome.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Oh, thank you. Thanks, Joe. Great to have you.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Always a good place to start, I think, is a little history lesson. Ann Thalia Theatre Troupe. Who are you? What are you.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: So back a few years ago, as you know, we started doing things at the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater. And because Ruth Gordon is an actress, we said, well, we have to make sure we do some theater.
And on our second year, we did something called Shakespeare Abridged, which is a theater troupe trying to put on the Shakespeares in about an hour and a half. And the people in it said to me, are we the inaugural theater troupe? And I said, I think you are.
And because Ruth Gordon, in her high school, when she started acting, was part of the Thalia Club, we've named ourselves the Thalia Theatre Troupe
[00:01:08] Speaker A: in her honor.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: In her honor. And last year was 2025, was the first time that we were not just at the amphitheater and as part of our board. And we did something called Vincent at the Arts Gallery. They were kind enough to have us come back again this year where we did an original work called Nantasket Nonsense, which was very nonsensical but very well received. And we're very grateful that the Art association has allowed us to perform there. Do you know, since we started doing things there, they now have a jazz series in the fall.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Really?
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: It's a neat little space. It's the Quincy, the Q Arts Gallery, right in Quincy center, right in Cruise
[00:01:45] Speaker C: Center. And so they have a jazz series now.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: That seems to be going in the fall. So this was our first full season. So we had Nantescut Nonsense in June, and then this summer we did Feathers Fights and flashbacks, which was 51 acts on the Ruth Gordon Amph Theater stage.
We had a reprise of one act that we had done the previous year called Weldrettes as part of the Quincy Heritage Day on the USS Salem, which Margaret laforce kindly invited us to do that. It was very well received.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: It was my first time seeing the Salem just even from the outset. But being inside of it was pretty amazing to see this.
[00:02:31] Speaker C: It's wonderful.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: It's this retired Ship, you know, military.
I forget what class of ship. It's
[00:02:39] Speaker A: a heavy cruiser.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Heavy cruiser, right. So these big guns on it. It's really neat. And to be inside and see these rooms in the sales, it was really. Yeah, it's
[00:02:45] Speaker A: a World War II time capsule. Stepping back in time and
[00:02:48] Speaker B: to do performance in there was a pretty amazing.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: It was wonderful, right, Because.
So not only was it written by Cindy Brandy, local person wrote this, but the person she based it on was a real person named Flo.
And she had been interviewed for a class and the teacher from that class was there like this. It was just. It was a wonderful experience. So when she's talking about the welds, she can just point out up at the ship and say, I did that weld.
So that was so cool.
And now we're going to be inside again at the Four River Clubhouse doing Harvey.
Ed is directing it. I'm going to let Ed talk about Harvey. But I'm so grateful for everybody who's come out. I've been excited that we're continuing on, that people are enjoying us and I hope they come out for this show. Tell us about her.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is our first sort of mainstream show. We've been doing local Quincy authors and regional authors, smaller programs. This is our sort of first full length show. It's a program. It's a show that I've wanted to do for a very long time. Mary Chase won a Pulitzer Prize for this play.
A lot of people might remember the James Stewart movie Harvey. She not only wrote the play, she adapted it into a stage play that was on Broadway with James Stewart. And then also it went to London. And in the DVD there's an interview with James Stewart where he talks about playing Elwood P. Dowd, the main character of this being his favorite character to play of all the movies and all the things he's done. Because it's such a charming, nice story.
It's really about this guy who decides with help to leave the rat race and help people.
And he does that by bringing his best friend, who happens to be an invisible six foot one and a half inch rabbit. He brings him to bars, meets people and tries to help them. And a lot of people think Elwood's crazy, as you might think someone's crazy, who introduces you to an invisible rabbit and then offers you help.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: So can he see the rabbit?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Elwood sees the rabbit.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Sees the
[00:04:55] Speaker B: rabbit. And as we will come to find out during the course of the show, maybe others do. Who knows what happens? But the rabbit is Described pretty early on in the show as a puka. And so in the beginning of the show, Elwood's crazy and everybody else is sort of sane. And at the end of the show, maybe Elwood's the sane one in this world of craziness. And that's what I like about it, that it's kind of a story of making a choice to help other people instead of continue the rat race.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Okay, so
[00:05:30] Speaker B: that's kind of uplifting story for today's world.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: So during the production, is there an actual character playing the rabbit?
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Harvey is an invisible character.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Okay.
He
[00:05:42] Speaker C: actually said that to their imagination.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Use their imagination.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: We don't have to cast. We
[00:05:46] Speaker B: don't have to cast the
[00:05:47] Speaker C: rabbit.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: There are times when Harvey's more present than others. I'll just leave it at that. Okay, so, yeah,
[00:05:56] Speaker A: we don't want to give away too much.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we don't want to give away too much. But Harvey can be a little bit more present. As Elwood maneuvers this world, his sister tries to have him committed because he's crazy and sees this rabbit. And then, of course, things don't go so well for having Elwood committed because he does have his friend Harvey
[00:06:18] Speaker C: who can help him out.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Who helps him, you know.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Okay, Ed, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, theater, and how you came to Thalia Theater Troupe.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: So I've been doing theater since probably the late 80s.
I started at Massasoy Community College, where I work full time. I have for a very long time, off and on. And I started doing Damn Yankees, and one of my first shows was actually a lead. I played Elwood P. Dowd at Massasoy in the 90s. And I was very young then.
It was my favorite character to do, and I've always wanted to do it again, which is. Which is why we're here today. Now
[00:06:57] Speaker A: you're directing it? Yeah,
[00:06:58] Speaker B: now I'm directing it. Yeah.
So, yeah, I get a chance to sort of put on the vision that I have. I've seen it a few times, and I. And I've seen good productions of it, and I've seen not so good productions of it. And I really had a sense of how, I think, you know, what I wanted the story to portray. I just. Yeah, it all comes down to hiring good actors and great writing. And Mary Chase's writing is just full of smart witticisms, jokes, cute things, and some visionary things that, you know about human beings that she kind of peppers in here. And if you're really listening, it's very, very Smart. Very, very clever.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Who would you say the audience is for Harvey?
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Harvey's 8 to 80s. It's a fun show. Kids can come. There's no violence, there's no blood. Nobo gets stabbed.
It's an awful lot of people. Elwood is
[00:07:51] Speaker C: lovely. And you want everyone to meet Elwood.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, there are people that you might know, family members that you might recognize. It's done in a different time. It's in the late 40s.
And several people have said, why don't you modernize it? Can you modernize it? And the fact is, there's a charm to the period, but the story's universal and the characters are universal.
It doesn't feel dated to me.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: Tell me about the cast a little bit, if you can.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah, we've got. So Paul Antico, who's somebody I've known for a long time, he's playing Elwood. He's done a lot of musical theater. And I was actually in a show with him about 12 years ago called laughter on the 23rd floor above the writers room at the Sid Caesar show of Shows. We were fellow writers. I've seen Paul do a number of different things. He's a wonderful. Elwood is a. He has a charming personality.
We've got
[00:08:46] Speaker C: a list if you need it.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Oh, great. Oh, thank you. And
[00:08:48] Speaker A: it's right on top of things.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Right, right, right. Yes, I remember my cast. Of course, I know the cast.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: The cast of characters.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Bonnie Gardner, who's a very experienced local actor, who's playing Vida, Elwood's sister.
Ryan Guimares and Christine Walsh are playing doctor and nurse. Dr. Sanderson and nurse Kelly in this kind of a.
So the play takes place in two locations. One at the Dowd House, where Elwood and Vita are sort of where Vita's trying to marry off her daughter and Elwood is causing problems because it's hard to marry off your daughter when her uncle's crazy and Vita kind of gets fed up with it. And then the other is when she takes him to the sanitarium, the kind of nuthouse where she wants to have him committed. So it takes place back and forth between these two locations. And so there's some doctors, and eventually everybody comes together.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: As these things do.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: So tell me about creating the set for this production.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Been tough? This is tough.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: I don't think so. Yeah.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: Because he's actually. This is the first time we were able to build a proper set. Because at the Four River Clubhouse, you're not going up and down hills.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:52] Speaker C: And at the end at the arts Gallery, you're not worried about damaging these beautiful art. You know, it's a proper stage. And so we've been able to get full flats. Yes. And doors.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Doors, windows.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Permanent structures. Right.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Well,
[00:10:08] Speaker C: I mean, obviously not
[00:10:09] Speaker B: permanent,
[00:10:09] Speaker C: but yes. Yes.
We don't have to move them
[00:10:13] Speaker B: each night. It's wonderful not to have to take everything out,
[00:10:15] Speaker A: put it in every
[00:10:16] Speaker B: single. But it's been a challenge because while the city of Quincy's been fantastic to work with us, they've been so supportive of our production. The Clubhouse is in use, of course, and we don't have as much access as we might have if we had our own theater.
So we're in and out, and we had to build a set but also leave room for folks. So it's a lot of.
It's a little extra work having to build it in a space that we have to be very careful of and so make sure it's still accessible during the day. But it's really coming out wonderfully. The set's coming out nicely. It's a really nice set. And we were gonna do some moving of walls, but it turns out. So we'll be changing the set, the locations, by decorating it. It's gonna happen very quickly in front of people. I
[00:10:57] Speaker A: understand.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Okay. So it's live theater. Right.
Watch it in action.
How long is the show in?
[00:11:04] Speaker B: It's gonna run about two hours. Okay. Yeah. A little over.
He's
[00:11:07] Speaker C: gonna be timing it this week because I've promised people I'll let them know how long it is. But you have to have the run, and when you're rehearsing, you're stopping and starting a lot,
[00:11:15] Speaker A: so.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So right now it's probably running about two and a half, but it'll be closer to two by the time because we're stopping a lot for technical things right now.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: But by Friday, we'll be probably right around 2, 2, 10.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Okay. And 6 performances, right?
[00:11:29] Speaker C: Six performances.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: A lot of playing.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Yes. I
[00:11:34] Speaker C: mean, it's a good amount. So if people are Sunday people, you know, they want to come out at two, they've got two choices.
If they want to come out in the evening, they've got four choices. So we just felt that two weekends gave people a lot more opportunity to come see the show.
Pre sales have been happening already, so we've been putting up a few posters and letting people know.
And so we do have pre sales. People can buy the tickets at the door as well.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: We're not sold out, but that's but we're doing all right
[00:12:06] Speaker B: and we went with 7pm some of the theater companies are going at 8pm and it feels a little late for folks to get out at 10, 10:30 for
[00:12:13] Speaker A: a two hour show. Yeah.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: But for seven to get out at 9, 9, 15 is still, you know, pretty reasonable.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: It's dark so early now too.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Chance to get out of work quickly, grab some dinner and get to the theater by seven. So we're hoping that's a good time for folks. That's why we picked it up.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: So Friday and Saturday, November 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st at 7:00pm Then Sunday matinees, November 15th and 22nd at 2:00pm@
[00:12:37] Speaker B: 2:00pm
[00:12:38] Speaker A: yes. What's the seating capacity at the clubhouse?
[00:12:40] Speaker C: 50.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Yeah, it's not bad.
It's a good size.
It's a good size. Yeah.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: If we sold out and we had to put 10 more chairs up, we could do that.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: We could do it. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: No capacity where. If the capacity is there.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: I'm sure there are.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: We won't turn anyone away.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: I
[00:12:58] Speaker A: was just going to
[00:12:58] Speaker B: say. Is that the limit?
[00:13:00] Speaker A: There's probably regulations you have to adhere to
[00:13:03] Speaker C: fire
[00:13:03] Speaker A: codes and things.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: Oh yeah. I thought it was, it was a. Was a choice.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Is there any music in the production?
[00:13:12] Speaker B: There is not. I mean, there'll be some. It's not a musical. It'll be open and closed music. There's a few sound effects. It's not heavy tech. Pretty simple lighting.
No. Yeah.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: All. All the more pressure on the, on the actors.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: You know, I have to tell you. So I've done, I've. I've been doing theater for many years. I know
[00:13:31] Speaker A: you
[00:13:31] Speaker C: have and I. And I've done. You
[00:13:32] Speaker A: just directed your first, actually, not too long ago. Right.
[00:13:34] Speaker C: I wrote my first one.
I've been, I've been directing, I've been directing, I've been stage branching. This is, this is my first. Oh,
[00:13:42] Speaker A: you acted and directed. That's what you're doing? Yes, that's right.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: It's the getting it all together.
In fact, one of the nice things about this show for me personally is that I'm just producing.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:52] Speaker C: And so as we, as you get a new theater company off the ground, you're doing, you're wearing a lot of hats.
And hopefully my just producing has also helped the show because Ed can pick up the phone and say, what's going on with this? What have you done with this? How are you helping? Because the
[00:14:07] Speaker A: buck stops with you.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: Right, Exactly. Exactly.
But I was going to Say, with musicals and acting, I've found, for me personally, that the relationships are stronger when there's not the music. And what I mean by that is you're focused on the relationships with each other and the cast forms a tight bond, whereas when you're doing music, it's about the music.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: It's bigger than yourself, right?
[00:14:37] Speaker C: It's bigger than yourself. Yeah. So there's benefit. There's. There's joys in doing both of them.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Sure, of course.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: But I think for the actors, I mean, I just saw Paul just posted the lead, just posted something on Facebook about how wonderful it is working with these actors and how much he's enjoying it.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: I am shocked, because some of us are a little bit older, and there's a number of young people in the cast as well. And I've been so surprised through this whole process how much they really love the show, how much they're enjoying it, how much fun they're having during a show that was written in 1944. And to see that them finding the value in this script and then as a cast, they've just bonded. I mean, the text threads are never ending. People sending rabbit memes and jokes. And now I saw this rabbit thing and, oh, hey, did you hear about this thing that Mary chase did in 1952?
It's really an engaged cast, and they're really loving it and enjoying the show and the experience together. So you'll see that on stage of the relationships.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: You can feel it, right? You can feel it. You can
[00:15:41] Speaker C: feel it. Yeah.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: What do each of you kind of hope that the audience takes away from this, you know, after they see
[00:15:46] Speaker C: it? I mean, I think you've expressed. I want them to be too strong to say, believe in Pukas, but, you know, I got really invested in this concept of the Puca being this mischievous Celtic character. Right. And for. For each of the characters in the show, they are influenced by Harvey, and they grow differently as to how they view Harvey. And I think in our lives, we may initially see something as just really bothersome and then ended up. It really benefits our life. And I think that's really what I'd like people to take away, to be able to look at people that are looking at life differently and what happens when you see it through their eyes.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Okay. All right,
[00:16:38] Speaker B: that's nice. So as we progress through the show, we've spent a lot of time, the cast and I, talking about the characters and what they mean and what she meant by it and what the interaction is.
I'll get a Little spiritual for a moment.
Harvey has come to me to be faithful.
You know, having faith in Harvey is what Elwood has. And even though other people can't see him, he's present in the sense that he is a force.
And if people have faith in the universe, the
[00:17:15] Speaker A: unknown. Right.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: The unknown, and in the goodness of people, even if, as Anne says, even if they seem like they're different from us, that everybody's really the same and that doing good is always better than doing bad.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Was Mary Chase. Was she inspired by something that happened in her life to write this?
[00:17:32] Speaker B: I don't know. I mean,
[00:17:33] Speaker C: there's been so many texts. I am sure one of the texts. One of the actors especially, has been sending a lot of texts about Mary Chase. And if we had more time, I'd be pulling those up and saying, this, this, this.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Okay. But it might inspire folks to look into her life. I
[00:17:46] Speaker C: think they should look into her life because. Yeah, there's a lot of really interesting things about her.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. I didn't want to do. Some of the cast members have done that. I didn't want to do too much looking at her life. I want to focus on the. It's not
[00:17:58] Speaker A: a documentary.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Yeah. But. But I'm sure that she.
I know that she was inspired by. By her. Her own sort of Celtic background and study of maybe Irish culture. So. Yeah.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Interesting. Very good.
The troupe itself, Thalia Theater Troupe. Right. Is a nonprofit. That's
[00:18:17] Speaker C: right.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: 501C3.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Corporation. So donations, I'm sure, are welcome.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Donations, especially as we.
So we will always be doing original works because they're wonderful to do that level of creativity, but we would love to balance it with things like Harvey. Obviously, they come with the cost of rights. The more we get a chance to do things in a building as well, the more we're going to be building things. So donations are always welcome.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: It's expensive to put on shows, and I'm not complaining, but it costs a lot. Wood is expensive and labor is expensive, and we, you know, there's electricity and there's props and there's costumes and things, and there's the rental of places and lighting, things like that. So it all costs a lot of money. And we're happy to do it because it's for the art of it. And we're glad when people come and buy tickets, and that helps pay for the show. But we are certainly welcome donations. But, yeah, I don't think people realize the cast is not paid. Most of the crew, if not all of the Crew in this case is not paid, so they're volunteering somewhere in their ballpark of 2 to 300 hours each to put on a show like this. And they're not paid, so we sometimes put out a tip jar. People are generous when we do, but they're paying for their own gas. They're doing this because they love it, not because they're hired.
[00:19:34] Speaker C: And I would say to you, one of the goals always for Value Theatre Troupe is to bring together professional level talent, two groups of people primarily. And that's especially true in this show. There are people who are not only theater trained, who have been out there in the world maybe and said, now I want to live in Quincy, who've been on Broadway, who've been wherever, and then they've come and said, but this is where I want to live. And then there's the young people that are maybe still going to school or just. And they might end up in Hollywood or Broadway.
And that combination of people coming together, first of all, produces wonderful theatre for the audience, which is the primary goal. But for those people, they get to nurture each other and I think we're seeing that a lot in this show and I'm very proud of it.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: They each feed off each other, right? Yes, absolutely. It's kind of Ruth Gordon's story, right? It
[00:20:27] Speaker C: is.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Started as a Quincy girl
[00:20:30] Speaker C: and she never lost connection with her roots. And so, yeah,
[00:20:34] Speaker B: we have Julia, who comes from the North Shore somewhere, who gets right here all the time, young woman and she's got very little experience, but she's been with us all this time for a small part to learn. And we have Sky Wild, who's been in New York and worked professionally. We have our stage manager, Beth Jackson, who's from Quincy and is first time stage managing, which is doing
[00:20:56] Speaker C: a phenomenal job,
[00:20:57] Speaker B: unsung job, and she's doing an incredible work. So it's really a lot of people pitching in. Must
[00:21:03] Speaker A: be rewarding for you, for both of you to see the growth in those folks.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: It's been wonderful.
I'm very happy. You know, we just said, well, let's try to do this and I hope everybody comes and see the show. I think it's wonderful and then we can plan for next season.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to ask you for a preview, but I won't because I don't want to take away from this production.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: Right. We're focusing on Harvey today.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Again, it's the Thalia Theatre Troupe presenting the classic story of Elwood P. Dowd's friendship with a tall white rabbit that you may or may not be able to see at the Four River Clubhouse on Nevada Road in Quincy Point.
And six performances, Friday, Saturday, November 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st at 7 o'. Clock. And then two matinees on Sunday, November 15th and 22nd at 2pm Thaliatheatertroop.org is the website go to to learn more about this production or the troupe itself. Anything else we should add?
[00:21:59] Speaker B: No. Thank you so much for the time.
[00:22:00] Speaker C: Thank you for the time.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Always a pleasure. Thanks for stopping by.
[00:22:02] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: And thanks for watching us here at AM Quincy. I'm Joe Catalano. See you next time.
