World's Greatest Hamburgers:  Our next general meeting is planned for Monday 28 April 2008, starting at 7:30 PM.  The location will be Fuddruckers restaurant, on Route 1 North in Saugus.  20% of the value of all purchases on that day from 4 to 8 PM will be donated to the Theatre Company.   You will need to present the couple on this flyer.  Come for dinner, a prize raffle, and join us for the meeting. 

For our February meeting, we were treated to the delightful student adaptation of Goldoni's A Servant of Two Masters, which is being entered by the Saugus High Drama Club in the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival competition.  For our March meeting we listened to the Girls and Boys Quartets at Saugus High.

Elections:  We welcome new members to the Board of Directors:  Amanda Allen, Mary Moffett, and Stephen Russo.  Also, Carolina Lanney, who was elected to a new term.  We thank retiring members for their service over the past few years:  Jean Amorosi, Maria Elena Gouveia, and Leo Nickole.  See the Reference page for officers.

Score:  We presented the comedy-drama The Marriage of Bette and Boo, by Christopher Durang,  at the EMACT Festival in June 2007, and we were lauded.  Be sure to attend the next EMACT Festival during 12-15 June 2008.

Playbill:  Our summer 2007 workshop was on the American Musical Theatre.  This was followed up by our musical revue in January 2008, called From Broadway to Hollywood.  Most of the revue was reprised on March 7 at the fundraiser in support of the Saugus Cultural Arts Center, to be developed at the old Marleah Graves school building in Cliftondale.  We were joined by many Saugus friends and supporters.

In spring 2008 we will present the Gilbert and Sullivan musical Pirates of Penzance.  The summer 2008 workshops will be on Paving the Way to Realism, including the dramatists of the Edwardian era.  In the fall of 2008 we will present Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the Saugus Town Hall.  In the spring of 2009 we plan to present the musical Guys and Dolls.  We are currently searching for directors for these two shows.

In the summer of 2006 we presented a series of free workshops on the neo-classic historic styles of comedy, such as Commedia del Arte.  In November we presented the romantic comedy Sabrina Fair.  In February 2007 we presented two one-act comedies by Moliere.   

Entertaining Meetings:  Every month the Theatre Company of Saugus holds a General Meeting, open to the public.  This is where we inform our members about our activities, ask for volunteers to help with productions and events, and vote on company policies.  There is also entertainment at every meeting.  For example, we have had a workshop on Stage Movement, a fascinating presentation on commercial theatrical production by the programming director of Clear Channel Entertainment, a tap dancing lesson, seen performances by the comedy improvisation troupes Needs Improvement and Comedie du Jour, seen a world premier staged reading/singing of a new musical Where Are You Going?, and the always amusing stories of our own multi-talented stand-up comedienne, Barbara Hunt.  And every December we hold our annual Holiday Party.

General Meetings are usually held on the last Thursday of every month (except July and August) at 7:30 PM.    (This month, however, we meet on Wednesday.)  The board of directors meets usually on the first Monday of every month at 7:30 PM.  For the complete schedule of meetings during 2008, please see the Reference page.   All meetings will now be held at the Cliftondale Congregational Church.  We are no longer meeting on Wednesdays at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Volunteers:  We always can use more help behind the scenes, or at the back of the house, in addition to needed actors when we have auditions.  Often people tell us they would like to help, but don't know what to do.  The American Association of Community Theatres (AACT) has provided a set of useful job descriptions for actors, directors, playwrights, set designers, lighting designer, costume designer, sound designer, stage manager, marketing/publicity manager, production manager/producer, etc.  Check out this link:  http://www.aact.org/people