The 2017 Library Series

MARRIAGE IS MURDER by Nick Hall

This fall, M&M Performing Arts brings Marriage is Murder, a murderously funny comedy by Nick Hall, to the library. Ex-spouses Paul and Polly Butler write murder mysteries together. They act out the crimes in Paul’s apartment: poison, knives, guns, alibis and fingerprints all contribute to the hilarity. There are many fast paced comic twists as they attempt to outdo and surprise each other and they learn that marriage, like murder, is in the details. Directed by Maureen Howard and featuring the talents of Carol Eagen, Dick Smith and Janet Tinari.

DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE by Sarah Ruhl

M&M again presented a production by the excellent Red Monkey Theater Group. An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man—with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man’s Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative comedy by MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, author of The Clean House and Eurydice. A work about how we memorialize the dead—and how that remembering changes us—it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically-obsessed world. Directed by Rachel Tamarin with Katy Wood, Basia Zak, Abigail Savage, Kate Berg, Germainne LeBron and Brian Rojas with stage management by Sam Schroedel.

THE LAST ROMANCE by Joe DiPietro

A crush can make anyone feel young again—even a widower named Ralph. On an ordinary day in a routine life, Ralph decides to take a different path on his daily walk—one that leads him to an unexpected second chance at love. Relying on a renewed boyish charm, Ralph attempts to woo the elegant, but distant, Carol. Defying Carol’s reticence—and his sister’s jealousy—Ralph embarks on the trip of a lifetime, and regains a happiness that seemed all but lost. The Last Romance is a heart-warming drama/comedy about the transformative power of love. Veteran director, Maureen Howard heads up this production featuring Carol Eagen, Dick Smith, Ann Signorelli and Janet Tinari.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by William Shakespeare

M&M was proud to present Red Monkey Theater Group’s new dramatization of Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s comedy of love, wit, deception, revenge, and redemption. This 90-minute adaptation, directed by Tal Aviezer, is set in the late 1940s, just after the close of World War II, and featured period costumes and music, including classics of swing and big band as well as original choreography by Katy Cocovinis. The cast included Tal Aviezer, Jessica Rodwick, Mario Fuentes, Ed Friedman, Cameron Blair, Charly Bivona, Nick Leshi, Tom Spitzer, and Katy Wood.

“Much Ado About Nothing is a play set at the end of a war, at a time when people are allowing themselves to believe they have a future,” says Aviezer. “Their emotions are thawing out after a period of national trauma. At the same time, it’s a moment of great social change – people are choosing their own husbands and wives based on individual ideas of love and respect, rather than economy or family arrangements. I felt that the post-Second World War era was the perfect setting to explore these ideas. Plus, it gives you a chance to use plenty of Sinatra and Count Basie in the soundtrack.”

“Like any Shakespeare play, Much Ado is a piece that reaches across time to shake us by our collective cultural lapels,” says Aviezer. “It confronts us with a wealth of ideas that couldn’t be more current – love, gender roles, infidelity, betrayal, generational divides, civil war – and hope. We’re really excited to share it with an audience.”