Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 7:30PM

A Special LIVE Streamed Staged Reading from the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre
BEDTIME STORIES by Norm Foster is presented by arrangement with Pam Winter, GGA, www.ggagency.ca 

Due to the mature content and issues of language, ​this show is not suitable for children under 16 years of age.

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ALL VIRTUAL EVENTS made possible by

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SPONSORED BY

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PRESENTING SPONSOR

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NANCY MARINE STUDIO THEATRE SPONSOR

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Executive Director
RUFUS DE RHAM

Director of Operations
RANDALE NUNLEY

Producing Artistic Director
SHARON W. HOUK

Education Director
ISABEL CARRINGTON

Relationship Director
LESLEY BUDNY

Technical Director
WOODROW DICK

Facilities Manager
​JOHN FITCH

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SYNOPSIS OF SCENES & CHARACTERS

ACT I
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Eddie 'Nighthawk' Nichols - FRANK BEAUDRY
Lou Ballantyne - MATT AUSTIN
Betsy Ballantyne - COLLEEN RENZULLO 

Derek Baumgarden - DICK TERHUNE  
Susan Upchurch - OLIVIA WADSWORTH 

Nick - FRANK BEAUDRY
Davey - MATT AUSTIN

- INTERMISSION
There will be a brief five (5) minute intermission.  
Grab a snack or take a bathroom break.

ACT II

Tommy Quick - DICK TERHUNE
Melody Ballantyne - OLIVIA WADSWORTH 

Sandy - COLLEEN RENZULLO
Charlie - FRANK BEAUDRY 

Laura Nichols - OLIVIA WADSWORTH
Steve - DICK TERHUNE
Jerry - MATT AUSTIN
Eddie 'Nighthawk' Nichols - FRANK BEAUDRY
Yolanda - COLLEEN RENZULLO

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Director
WES BALDWIN
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Videography
JEFFREY B. SCHLICHTER

Live-Stream Director/Engineer
WOODROW DICK

Graphics
SHARON W. HOUK

Production Intern
AUDREY TERHUNE

Costumes
RENEE C. PURDY

​Props
EMILY CREIGHTON, LESLEY BUDNY, SHARON W. HOUK

Voice Over Recordings & Original Music
JIM LUURTSEMA of JPL Music Services

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ABOUT THE SHOW

What Really Goes on Behind Closed Doors?

This play by Canada's comedic master, Norm Foster, takes a look at five different 'bedtime' stories. Sometimes there's more than a skeleton residing in the bedroom closet. Meet an aging rock star, a couple of burglars, the shock talk radio jockey and many others, and discover what really goes on in the bedroom.

A radio shock jock pays a couple to make love on the air. A woman visits a dying man she feels she hurt years ago. Two men rob a house and discover a shocking secret. An aging rock star is confronted by a groupie. An accident-prone stripper meets with her no-nonsense boss. A woman leaving her husband lectures the movers on the proper way to treat a lady. Six interconnected scenes about friendship, romance, and the true meaning of love that take place in the most private of rooms - the bedroom. 

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WHO'S WHO

MATT AUSTIN (Lou/Davey/Jerry) is thrilled to be adding three more roles to the twenty five he’s played on the Warner stage. Impressively considering he’s only done two shows! Usually he can be seen on the stage acting  in 100+ productions in the tri-state area over the last 20 years, including LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, BOEING BOEING and the CT premiere of AN ACT OF GOD (which won an AACT award). He has directed many productions including THE DIVINE SISTER, THE BOOK OF LIZ and THE LYONS. As a writer, he has written a handful of plays, including an adaptation of A Christmas Carol called ‘What The Dickens?’, which will make it’s CT premiere in 2021 (fingers crossed). 

​As an improviser, he is a graduate of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater, where he was also fortunate enough to perform for a short time. He currently performs regularly with Sea Tea Comedy Theater in Hartford and is a member of their international touring company. Most recently he became the Artistic Director of the Sherman Playhouse. The things that gives him actual money to survive is his day job, which is being the Director of Education, Training & Outreach at The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.

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​FRANK BEAUDRY (Eddie/Nick/Charlie) has been performing in community theatre for 12 years. He has performed at many different places at many different times. Many of the shows he has performed in have been at this theatre. You may have seen his previous work. He’s very humbled and proud to be working with this cast. Thank you for taking the time to watch us speak.

COLLEEN RENZULLO (Betsy/Sandy/Yolanda) lives in Torrington with her husband Emil and her cat Carl, who recently made his stage debut in the Warner Theatre 9th Annual International Playwrights Festival in PUT ON A GRUMPY FACE as Tarder Sauce!  Colleen enjoys performing and directing in several local community theater groups and can not WAIT to be back on stage with her theater family.  She is grateful and excited to be a part of the Warner Theatre’s staged reading of BEDTIME STORIES!

DICK TERHUNE (Derek/Tommy/Steve) is a professional voice actor whose commercial credits include Little Caesar’s, Ruby Tuesday, Jackson Hewitt, Fisher Investments, Yoplait, Blue Freedom, Pepsi, Verizon and Google; he is also well-known to gamers for his roles in “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm,” “Heroes of Newerth,” “Bard’s Tale IV”, and as the title villain in “Pinstripe.”  Currently, he appears in the Cartoon Network animated series “Transformers: Cyberverse” as MacCadam, Prowl, Quintesson Scientist and The Dweller.  Most recently, he “appeared” in the Resounding.live online production of DRACULA as Prof. Van Helsing; as Chancellor Davis in the WST International Playwrights Festival production of ANALOG; and as over thirty characters in the WST’s one-man production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  Some of his other favorite roles on-stage include Joseph Pulitzer in NEWSIES, Hertz in ROCK OF AGES, Richard Hannay in THE 39 STEPS, Mr. Applegate in DAMN YANKEES, King Arthur in CAMELOT, John Wilkes Booth in ASSASSINS, and Pilate in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. In 2018, Mr. Terhune was inducted into the “Hall of Legends” for his performances with the Lincoln Community Playhouse in his native state of Nebraska.

​OLIVIA WADSWORTH (Susan/Melody/Laura) is happy to be acting with the  Warner Stage Company once again. Favorite past roles included Susan Hendrix in WAIT UNTIL DARK (WSC) and Cecily in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Goshen Players). She can currently be heard playing a myriad of roles on the radio show Nutmeg Junction, an originally scripted audio theatre program. Thanks to Sharon, Wes, and everyone in the cast for putting this show together.

​This year marks WES BALDWIN’s 40th year in community theater! Having done every job but 2 (sound and production), he serves this staged reading as director.  He was the lighting designer for another community theatre group that presented this play and fell in love with it! “Seeing this piece again on stage is such a joy for me. Thanks to Sharon, Frank, Olivia, Dick, Colleen, and Matt for bringing it to life!”

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NORM FOSTER has been the most produced playwright in Canada every year for the past twenty years. His plays receive an average of one hundred and fifty productions annually making him, by far, the most produced playwright in the history of his country.

Born in Newmarket, Ontario on St. Valentine's Day and raised in Toronto, Norm attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and then went on to study Radio & Television Arts at Centennial College in Toronto and then Confederation College in Thunder Bay. Upon completion of his studies, he began a radio career that would span 25 years and which would take him from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg to Kingston and finally to Fredericton, New Brunswick. It was in Fredericton in 1980 that Norm was introduced to the world of theatre.

"A friend of mine was going to audition for a community theatre production of 'Harvey' and he asked me to go along. I went, just to see what this theatre thing was all about, and I ended up getting the part of Elwood P. Dowd. I had never even seen a play in my life before this."

Foster fell in love with the theatre right then and there, and two years later he penned his first professionally produced play, Sinners. It was produced by Theatre New Brunswick and directed by Malcolm Black, who would also direct Foster's next effort, the highly successful, The Melville Boys. The Melville Boys would go on to be produced across Canada and in the United States, including a well-received run off-Broadway in New York. It would become Foster's signature play, and the one which would bring his name to the forefront of Canadian theatre. Since then, Norm Foster has produced an astonishing output of work. Over fifty-five plays in all, including The Affections of May, the most produced play in Canada in 1991.

" One of the curses of being a playwright is that you're never ever completely satisfied with your finished product. There is always that one line which you think you could improve. And when you improve that line, you find another. You must know when to stop."
Foster's plays are known mainly for their comedic qualities, but they are not without their serious moments as well. "I find it far more satisfying if I can make an audience laugh and feel a little heartache within the same story. The farces (Sinners, Self-Help) are a lot of fun to write but it's the stories that touch an audience's heart as well as it's funnybone that are the most rewarding."

Foster has had several plays published by Playwright's Union Press. They are; Sinners, The Melville Boys, The Affections of May, The Motor Trade, Wrong For Each Other, Office Hours, Opening Night, The Long Weekend, Old Love, Skin Flick, Mending Fences, The Foursome, The Ladies Foursome, The Gentleman Clothier, On a First Name Basis and Ethan Claymore. He has also had his work published in various compilation volumes such as 'Vintage Foster', 'One Act-manship', 'Triple Play', and 'The Foster Season'. Looking and The Love List are published by Samuel French.
Norm Foster does not limit his efforts to writing though. He also appears on stage as an actor several times each year.

"Acting is great fun, but writing is my first love. A lot of people out there like the 'idea' of being a writer. The romance of it. The notion that we all sit around in cafes and talk about our writing with other writers. Personally, I would rather do it than talk about it. The actual process of writing is what excites me. Creating a world from the ground up and populating it with characters I've pulled out of my head. "

When asked to try and pin down a common theme that runs through his plays, Foster says, "I think for the most part, they're about ordinary people just trying to get by in life. I never set out with a monumental purpose in mind. I'm not trying to teach an audience a lesson or pass along some profound message, because I don't think I'm qualified. What I am trying to do is make them feel a little better about this world, and that's not easy these days."