M&M Performing Arts, Red Monkey Theater Group and Theatre 5 Productions Present
Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Adapted for the stage by Tal Aviezer
Based on the story by Arthur Conan Doyle
Setting: 1889 – The Copper Beeches, Hampshire, England and 221B Baker Street, London, England
Cast (in order of appearance)
Miss Stoper/Mrs. Rucastle – Melinda O’Brien
Violet Hunter – Amy Frey
Jephro Rucastle – Derek Tarson
John Watson – Mikel Von Brodbeck
Sherlock Holmes – Tal Aviezer
Toller – Sean Coffey
Production Team
Producers – Tal Aviezer, Michael J. Muldoon, Melinda O’Brien and Quint Spitzer
Director – Tal Aviezer
Stage Managers – Emmy Schwartz and Nan Weiss
Sound Designer – Rachel Tamarin
Costumes – Melinda O’Brien, Michael J. Muldoon, Tal Aviezer and Carolyn J. Fuchs
Special Thanks for the generous donations towards the Performance Tent:
Lisa Abrams, K. Patricia Aviezer-Mahlmeister, Ze’re Aviezer, Karen & Neal 
Blum, Brian Byrne, Jessica Carmona,
Kathy Files DiBiasi, Kate Gofman, George Hardman, Lily Ip, Ellen King, Mark Rinis, Kathleen Reid, Mary Roberts, Helene Rothstein, David Ryan, Susan Schliemann, Karen Sirabian, Derek Tarson, Robin Vernuccio, Amy Weltman and Theatre 5 Productions
Cast & Crew
Tal Aviezer (Producer/Writer/Director/Sherlock Holmes) is the Artistic Director of Red Monkey Theater Group (RMTG), resident theater company at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. He appears regularly as Sherlock Holmes in an ongoing series of original stage adaptations of classic stories at Lyndhurst mansion and Bartow-Pell Mansion-Museum. Other RMTG/M&M Credits: The Seagull, Hamlet; RMTG: Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Julius Caesar, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, many others. RMTG directing credits: Twelfth Night, The Seagull, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, King Lear, Three Sisters, many others. Other favorite NYC & regional credits: I Hate Hamlet (M&M Performing Arts at Lyndhurst), Lone Star (Irish Arts Center), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Elephant Man, The Tempest (Piper Theatre Productions), Macbeth (Fleetwood Stage), Big Time (Fleetwood Stage). He has also worked as a voice actor and voice director for video games and for numerous local and national radio stations. Training: National Theater Institute, Royal Shakespeare Company. Tal is a writer for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Sean Coffey (Toller/Mr. Fowler) is delighted to be a part of this show with such a marvelous group of people! He studied at Fordham University, where some of his favorite roles included: R.U.R (Dr. Hallemier), Marianne Hates Rice Pudding (Tony), The Cherry Orchard (Leonid Andreyevich Gaev) & As You Like It (Duke Senior). He has also performed locally, appearing in Dear Brutus (Mr. Lob, Alpha NYC Theater Company), You Can’t Take It With You (Mr. Henderson, Chill Bucket Productions), Cabaret (Ernst Ludwig, Sherman Playhouse) & Hedda Gabler (George Tesman, Red Monkey Theater Group).
Amy Frey (Violet Hunter) is an occupational therapist and an alumna of Columbia University, Muhlenberg College, The Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) and the Accademia Dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Previous shows include Hamlet (Hamlet), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) and Midsummer…Dream (Helena) with EMIT Theatre, Twelfth Night (Viola), The Seagull (Masha), Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (Jessica/Lamia), Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem (Moran) with Red Monkey Theatre, I Hate Hamlet (Deirdre McDavey) with M&M Performing Arts, Ladies in Waiting: The Judgement of Henry VIII, (Anne Boleyn), meg jo beth amy & louisa (Jo March) with Tier 5, A Man of No Importance (Lily) with Bookworm Theatrics, and Nancy (Nancy) with Punch Drunk Theatre at Sleep No More.
Melinda O’Brien (Producer, Miss Stoper, Mrs. Rucastle) is a founder of M&M Performing Arts Company. She directed The 39 Steps, Travels with My Aunt, Barrymore, I Hate Hamlet and The Mousetrap for M&M in the Grand Picture Gallery of Lyndhurst. She also directed the Red Monkey Theater Group/M&M co-productions of Sherlock Holmes adventures: The Blue Carbuncle, The Speckled Band and The Dying Detective at Lyndhurst and The Musgrave Ritual and The Dancing Men at Bartow-Pell Mansion. Some favorite acting credits include: Hamlet, God of Carnage, Agnes of God, Dancing at Lughnasa, Lost in Yonkers, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, Dinner with Friends, Crimes of the Heart, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Blithe Spirit.
Emmy Schwartz and Nan Weiss (Stage Managers) are very happy to be back at Bartow Pell Mansion stage managing another exciting Sherlock Holmes adventure. Actually, now they would be happy to be anywhere other than their respective houses. They have been involved with local theater for many years; stage managing on stages, in mansions and now under a tent. They think this production of The Copper Beeches is worth its weight in gold. They hope you do too.
Quint Spitzer (Producer) got his start as an actor/techie over 40 years ago, but has also been producing theatre since the mid 90s, working with various companies in New York City and Lower Westchester. One of his favorites: serving as associate producer for the Red Monkey Theater Group’s NYC premier of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. In addition to his theatrical endeavors, Quint has been presenting music events for nearly a decade in some of NYC’s most acclaimed nightclubs, including a year-long residency at Joe’s Pub for the award winning Echoes of Etta: a Tribute to Etta James and the annual holiday show Soul in Your Stocking starring legendary recording artist Jimmy Gilford of the Ink Spots.
Derek Tarson (Jephro Rucastle) is pleased to be performing in his sixth production with Red Monkey Theatre Group, and his third with M&M Performance Arts. His first production with RMTG – one of his all-time favorites in his theatre career – was Uncle Vanya in which he played the title role. His other roles with RMTG were Sherlock Holmes’ brother, Mycroft Holmes, in Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem, Grocer/Papillon in Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, Dr. Grimsby Roylott in Sherlock Holmes: the Adventure of the Speckled Band, and Hilton Cubitt in Sherlock Holmes: the Adventure of the Dancing Men. A few other recent favorites include Ben in The Little Foxes at Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd at Rhino Theatre in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. He will be resuming, after the quarantine, the direction of Hunchback, an original adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, at Antrim Playhouse in March 2021.
Mikel Von Brodbeck (Dr. Watson) has appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare Abridged, Travels with My Aunt, The Seagull, Hamlet, The Understudy, I Hate Hamlet, Barrymore, The 39 Steps, Mr. Dickens’ Christmas Carol and The Mousetrap, at Lyndhurst. He appeared as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes Adventures: The Dancing Men and Musgrave Ritual at the Bartow Pell Mansion Museum as well as several at Lyndhurst. Mikel has been seen on stage at numerous regional theaters throughout the country as well as in NYC at The Living Theater and Theater for the New City. On TV, he has been seen in One Life to Live, All My Children, As the World Turns, Saturday Night Live and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (recurring).
M&M Performing Arts Company Inc.
M&M appreciates the support of generous donors to keep site-specific, live theater alive in the Hudson Valley. With over 100 productions traveling to more than 50 venues throughout the Hudson Valley, M&M continues to tickle, shock and inspire audiences, producing classic and contemporary plays and developing new works in intimate spaces. M&M is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. Please follow us on Facebook.
Thank You to Our Supporters!
Producers:
In Memory of Janice Fay Hanges
Steve Aigner
Carol Eagen
Kathy Files DeBiasi
Emmy & Ed Schwartz
Nan Weiss
Anonymous
Directors:
Karen & Neal Blum
Brian Byrne
Marie Diven
Robin Joseph & Albi Gorn
George Hardman
Kurt Lauer & Robert Millis
Bruce Pearl & Anne Rodgers Pearl
Gary D. Simon
Derek Tarson
Leading Actors:
Lisa Abrams
Vincent & Chitra Alesi
Cynthia & Gunnar Andersen
Ze’re Aviezer
Joseph Cardinale
Rosemary Flynn
Susan & David Geisker
Thomas Hone
Lily Ip
Barbara & Frank Mohalley
Veronica & Michael C. Muldoon
Karen Read
Susan Schliemann
Veronica Shankland
Featured Actors:
Kate Gofman
Kathleen Reid
Mary Roberts
Helene Rothstein
Nichola Taylor
Janet Tinari
Verizon
Background Actors:
Marianne & Gerard De Luc
Jeanne Smith
Richard Ross
Robin Vernuccio
Red Monkey Theater Group
Thank You! The Red Monkey Theater Group gratefully acknowledges the support of our friends and patrons. Our productions are made possible through their generosity and dedication to the arts.
Patrons
The Joan & Alan Ades-Taub Foundation, Patricia Aviezer-Mahlmeister, Howard Brundage, Thomas X. Casey, Danielle & Russell Franklin, Intercity Agency Inc., The Elbert Lenrow Fund, Eileen McMahon, Grace Miss-Anker, Karen Pennar, Nancy Gordon Seif
Benefactors
Ze’ev Aviezer, Brian & Jean Byrne, Shelia Chevrin & Peter Schwartz, Ellen Clancy, Laurie & Peter Delano, Amy Frey, Goodman-Lipman Family Foundation, Peter & Carin Zakes Green, Ellen King, Kelly Kirby, David & Penny Klein, Jeffrey Tamarin, Roger Luskind & Pamela Taxel, Ken & Peggy McAloon, Julie Mialaret, Holland Renton, Ed Richard, Arleen Sharpe, Amy Weltman
Supporters
Todd Brown, Jessica Carmona, Dean & Merri Cocovinis, Jill Conklin, Debbie & Jeff Ertman, Ed Friedman, Peter Fuchs, Barry Konner, Gloria Gonzales, Sonya Hammer, Rebecca Heck, Brian Hinchliffe, Carl Mangelsdorf, Jean Eifert, Nick & Juliana Leshi, Kimberly Lowden, John Morehouse, Michael J. Muldoon and Melinda O’Brien, Jeff Pucillo, Kathleen Renton, David Ryan, Carol Scharff, Patricia Shepard, Monte Silberger, Brian Sims, Karen Sirabian, Lisa Spielman, Jonathan Starch, Derek Tarson, Patricia Vetterman, Gwendolyn Weigold, Walter Weintz
Friends
Rob Bauer, Christy Burkart, Andy Cannistra, Jason Cocovinis, Bryan Creevy, Miriam De Leon, Carrie Ann Keane, Linda Freitag, Miguel Gonzales, Francis Jaskot, Greg Kalvin, Sarah Ellen Lenahan, Olga Marino, Colleen McDade, Holly Phillips, Mark Rinis, William Rodwick, Alison Schubert, Emily Schwartz, Lewis Shore, Gary Smith, Patrick Taafe, Julie Thaxter-Gourlay, Margaret Turner, Nan Weiss, Paul Wood