Written & Directed by Scott F. Mason
Co-Directed by Brian M. Touchette
Featuring: Meg Barton, Susan Boudreaux, Marji Eldreth, Chris Hankenson, Curtis King, Peter Kuo, Scott F. Mason, Pete Matthews, Michelle Opalesky, Walt Osborne, and Brian M. Touchette
and a special FUNdraiser appearance by Reneé G O’Leary
Chapel Street Players concludes its 86th Virtual Season with the 58th Annual Reneé G. O’Leary FUNDraiser: The Dame E Bunch. Yes, the virtual season started with a visit by CSP’s favorite Dame Edna understudy (Scott F. Mason) who now returns for the typically zany FUNdraiser.
This time we get a sneak peak into the Dame’s personal world as we watch a “zoom-like” reunion of her dysfunctional family! We got a glimpse of her sister Agnes, son Kenny, daughter Valmai, Mother, and houseboy One, in the 2014 FUNdraiser: Dame Edna’s Barbecue, but now we also meet her brother, Dickie, and a host of other special guests. They all put the “fun” in dysfunction in this comedy that spoofs all that has gone wrong in the last year with zoom meetings and the pandemic. Each performance will be hosted live by different CSP board members and audience members will have the opportunity to make comments and ask questions. We will announce the re-opening of our doors and the upcoming fall 2021 shows as well! Of course, the legendary Reneé G. O’Leary will be in her 58th FUNdraiser, as well!
| Fri | Sat | *Sun |
| Jun 25 @ 7:30 PM | Jun 26 @ 7:30 PM | Jun 27 @ 2:30 PM |
| Hosted by: Scott F. Mason & Michelle Opalesky | Hosted by: Brian M. Touchette & Michelle Opalesky | Hosted by: Scott F. Mason &Brian M. Touchette |
* Talkback Event after the performance on 6/27 with Scott F. Mason and Brian M. Touchette: Have the opportunity to ask about our virtual season and how stage actors, directors, and technicians learned about the art (and challenges) of live streaming and film! And learn more about CSP, as well.
NEXT Showcase
Live Stream: 5/21,22 7:30pm / 5/23 2:30p,m
NEXT is a group of playwrights and actors that meet regularly to read aloud members’ works so the playwrights can hear their words come to life. The shows in the Next Showcase are written by two of these talented playwrights.
- Our Time by Brian Smith: A couple on the verge of divorce reminisce about falling in and out of love while being worlds apart.
- Life in a Glass Jar by Bill Potter is a pandemic murder mystery full of betrayal, murder, and unexpected love.
A Night of One Acts
Directed by Michelle Cullen/Judith A. David
Live Stream: 4/23,24 7:30pm / 4/25@2:30pm
The Last Comedienne– Three female comics vie for the grand prize in the National Comedienne Joke-Off. While waiting to go on, they show us a peek into who they really are and what lies behind the laughs.
Wham! Bam! – What’s a heroine to do when her super hero husband is more interested in saving the world than saving their relationship?
The Nature of the Beast – Gossip? Who me? As four women come and go in a doctor’s waiting room, they show why you should keep your friends close and your frenemies closer.
SEVEN CHANCES*
Written and Directed by Michelle Cullen
*loosely based on a Buster Keaton movie of the same name
featuring:
Meg Barton, Judy David, Chris Hankenson, Zack Jackson, Pete Matthews, Susie Moak, Walt Obsorne, Michelle Opalesky, Leslie Green Shapiro and André Wilkins
Live Stream: 2/12,13 7:30pm / 2/14 2:30p,m
What would you do for 30 million dollars? Would you do the thing you most dread? Perpetual bachelor, Jimmy James is enjoying his single life but finds himself in a self-imposed financial disaster. His only way out is to get married, fast. Egged on by his friends, Jimmy engages in a wacky search for Mrs. Right Now.
Virtual Variety Show: DE’s Day of Giving
Live Stream: 3/4 7:30pm
Join Chapel Street Players for our first ever virtual variety show, featuring volunteers performing monologues, stand-up comedy, poetry, and song. While the event may be free, our show is being offered on Delaware’s Day of Giving, so all donations will be matched by the Delaware Division of the Arts. We will also be having a competition to see which performer can raise the most in donations during their act, so make sure you support your favorite artist..
One Dame Night of Pandemic Pandemonium
PERFORMED BY DAME EDNA’S HONORARY UNDERSTUDY SCOTT MASON
Live Stream: 9/26 7:30pm
Dame Edna shows up to Chapel Street theater expecting to perform to a packed house of her CSP fans, but the pandemic has created pandemonium for the gigastar and her crew! A live stream of laughter with the Dame’s unexpurgated unsuspecting understudy!
Featuring her assistant, One Lung Ho, and Production Manager, Mr. Brian.
Spoon River Anthology
WRITTEN BY EDGAR LEE MASTERS / DIRECTED BY WILLIAM FELLNER
FEATURING Genevieve Aucoin, Ray Barto, Meg Barton, Ruth Brown, Steve Connor, Judy David, Maureen Dintino, Dave Hastings, Lori Ann Johnson, Lisa Osicky, Jerry Roman, Carol Van Zoeren
Live Stream: 10/23, 24 7:30pm & 10/25 2:30 pm
Spoon River is a fictional small town, named after the real Spoon River that runs through parts of Illinois. Edgar Lee Masters’ 1915 anthology consists of short epitaphs for some 212 of the town’s residents — not the ones on their gravestones, but the ones that they carry in their hearts. Quoting one reviewer, the town is “populated with thieves, snobs, nature lovers, the downtrodden, the exalted, happy husbands and wives, miserable husbands and wives, people corrupted by power, touched with grace and some by greed.“ In our adaptation we will meet about a quarter of these denizens.
The Mysterious Death of Madame Marcardi
PRESENTED BY SCOTT F. MASON
Created by Mason’s Made-to-Order Mysteries
Live Stream: 11/16-21 7:30pm
The famous psychic (or is she?) Madame Marcardi is found dead with a knife in her back at a dinner party hosted by millionaire and amateur sleuth, Frederick Worthington III. Whodunnit? The host himself? His good friend? The Countess? The Senator? The Actress? The Cook? or the Butler? No, in this case the butler definitely did not do it as he will be the nightly host for a live stream where each night clues will be shown, suspects interrogated, and vignettes shown to help you solve whodunnit. A new episode is shown each evening of the week, with a recap of all episodes on Saturday afternoon, and then the solution to the murder. You, as an audience member, get to ask questions of Fendleton the butler, to help you solve the crime! It is light-hearted fun and games for the amateur sleuth inside you!
| Ep 1 | 11/16 7:30pm | 11/21 2:00pm |
| Ep 2 | 11/17 7:30pm | 11/21 3:00pm |
| Ep 3 | 11/18 7:30pm | 11/21 4:00pm |
| Ep 4 | 11/19 7:30pm | 11/21 5:00pm |
| Ep 5 | 11/20 7:30pm | 11/21 6:00pm |
| REVEAL | 11/21 7:30pm | |
Miracle On 34th Street : a live radio play
RADIO SCRIPT ADOPTED BY LIZ ZAZZI / DIRECTED BY BRIAN M. TOUCHETTE
Live Stream: 12/10, 11 7:30pm & 12/12 2:30 pm
The heartwarming holiday classic retold in the tradition of a live 1940’s era radio broadcast. When a department store Santa claims he’s the real Kris Kringle, his case gets taken all the way to the Supreme Court. Watch the miracle unfold when the belief of a little girl makes all the difference in this iconic story. This adaptation includes holiday tunes and is being broadcast online for the first time ever – Miracle on 34th Street is sure to melt even the most cynical of hearts.
Click to watch it live:
Live: 12/10 7:30pm (Thu)
Live: 12/11 7:30pm (Fri)
Live: 12/12 2:30pm (Sat)
