The Vokes Players of Wayland present The Nance, directed by Donnie Baillargeon. Performances will be held at Beatrice Herford’s Vokes Theatre, Route 20 in Wayland, MA from July 19 through August 4, Thursday-Saturday evenings at 8pm with a 2pm matinee on Saturdays, July 28 and August 4. For tickets and information call 508-358-4034, or order online via our website www.vokesplayers.org. Ticket prices are $19 for Thursday evenings and Saturday matinees; $22 for Friday and Saturday evenings.
Chauncey Miles is a burlesque show “nance” — a stock comedic character often played as a campy caricature of a gay man. Chauncey himself is a not-very-closeted gay man in 1937, who loves his work, loves his co-workers like family, loves his independence as an artist, and also loves Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the other New York Republicans. But the Mayor decides that indecency must be rooted out, and clamps down on “deviance” in New York theaters, threatening the life that Chauncey has built around himself – and perhaps his chance at real love. Douglas Carter Beane’s play focuses on a man in the prime of his life, doing work he enjoys, living his life fully, harming nobody and yet condemned by a government and society that do not know or understand him.
The cast for the show includes: Jason Rutledge (Arlington), Ryan MacPherson (Waltham), David Berti (Waltham), Jennifer Gasser (Maynard), Jessica Tomer (Norwood), Rachael Rabinovitz (Waltham), Christina Petrillo (Newton), John Crampton (Dedham). The director, Donnie Baillargeon, is from Waltham.
The historic Beatrice Herford’s Vokes Theatre in Wayland is one of the truly unique cultural and historical resources in Metrowest. The Vokes Players is a non-profit theatrical organization. The Nance is the last production of our 2017-18 season. The theatre is wheelchair accessible. For more information about the Vokes Players, visit our website – www.vokesplayers.org.
