Guilford Center Stage will give the first-ever performances of four short plays written 70 years ago, in To Their Appointed End, by Jean Stewart McLean (1917-1963.) The one-acts will be given three performances, with shows on Friday and Saturday, October 6 and 7, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, October 8, at 2:00 pm, upstairs at Broad Brook Grange.
General Admission tickets are $10, available in advance at: http://bpt.me/2792780 or 1-800-838-3006, or at the door.
The playwright, whose son, Don McLean, is a founder of Guilford Center Stage, wrote poetry, short stories, and these four, short plays. The production, which concludes Guilford Center Stage’s third season, is being given in commemoration of the centenary of the playwright, who grew up living in the parish family of an Episcopal Church in New Jersey, where her father was rector.
Two of the plays, the drama, To Their Appointed End, and a comedy, Where the Saints Have Trod, are set in church situations informed by the playwright’s childhood. The show opens with The Vine, a short drama, and concludes with a witty comedy, Happy Hollidays.
Directed by William Stearns, the cast, from seven area towns, includes Nancy Detra, Ian Hefele, Jenny Holan, Julie Holland, Joel Kaemmerlen, Glenn Letourneau, Todd W. Mandell, Nan Mann, Evelyn McLean, Cris Parker-Jennings, Maryann Parrott, Arthur Pettee, Jen Rainville, Genevieve Redmond, Marvin Shedd, Susan Shedd, William Stearns, and Bob Tucker.
Guilford Center Stage is a project of Broad Brook Grange, and was begun in 2015 to make greater use of the building’s 19th century stage. Its particular goal is to present plays which have regional, local, or, as in this case, personal connections to the theater company. Three of the five productions to date have been premieres. The theater is up a flight of stairs. Broad Brook Grange is at 3940 Guilford Center Rd., just under 4 miles west of the Guilford Country Store.
