SHOWCASING NEW ACTING AND WRITING TALENT FOR THE STAGE
Immigrants traditionally have come to the United States in search of a better life. And they've brought with them their old-world ways as they try to fit into this very new world. Arriving immigrants have taken on the lowliest jobs, ...
AN IMMIGRANT FAMILY IN 1960 -- TWO GENERATIONS -- CLASHING DREAMS. Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd Act Players' fall show, New Year's Eve at Grandma's House. Buy tickets in advance to secure the online $5 per ...
Whop, guinea, daggo, greaseball – you’ll hear those derogatory terms and more In New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House, a poignant drama about the immigrant experience produced by Evanston’s own 2nd Act Players, November 3-18. In the play, those horrible ...
The 2nd Act Players will host discussions on immigration issues following the first two Sunday matinée performances of its fall play, New Year's Eve at Grandma's House. Three speakers active in the immigrant rights arena already have agreed to take ...
Sal, like so many men of his generation, went off to fight in World War II and came backed changed forever because of the horrors he saw. Also like his peers, he keeps those horrors bottled up inside, trying to spare his wife and family what he had seen and experienced. But a crisis that ...
She brought light back into his world and so he is devoted to her. She in turn loves him passionately because he is a kind and gentle man who can live with her foibles which sometimes drive her brothers and sisters a bit batty.
Sonny (Phil Troyk) is one of two Smaldone brothers. He has endured much discrimination and taunting because of his Italian roots and now wants desperately to fit into the American landscape. New Year's Eve at Grandma's House traces Sonny's journey, and the perils he faces in his quest for the American dream. Sonny is very much ...
Stella (portrayed by Liz Lauren), Sonny's wife, is an outsider in a world of Italian-Americans. She grew up in an orphanage in Pennsylvania with one sister. In search of a better life, she came to New York as a young woman to live on her own during the depths of the Great Depression. With jobs ...
Julianna's Irish boyfriend, Bill (portrayed by Jeff Watkins) grew up in the exclusive Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn,a world away from the hard-scrabble Italian neighborhood he now finds himself about to visit with Julianna. His father had been a long-time Naval officer before starting his civilian law career, so Bill came from a professional family, ...
Julianna (portrayed by Olivia Cinquepalmi) is the youngest of the Smaldone sisters and brothers, the family baby who came along long after momma and poppa thought they were done growing their already large family. She represents another generation from most of her siblings, having been only a child during the Great Depression and a young ...
New Year's Eve at Grandma's House marks a major first for the 2nd Act Players -- we are making costumes for all the female actors in our play for the first time. 2nd Act cofounder Carolyn Calzavara is designing and sewing dresses, based on 1950s and 1960s patterns and some she designed herself. Act One takes ...
Sonny is the oldest Smaldone son in New Year's Eve at Grandma's House. The party can't start until Sonny arrives, momma tells her somewhat jealous daughters as they wait for him on New Year's Eve 1960. Come see our show Nov. 3-18, and you'll hear Sonny get kidded repeatedly about the bottle caps he had ...
New Year's Eve at Grandma's House is inspired by parties that took place every New Year's Eve at playwright John Frank's grandmother's house in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Park Slope in 1960 wasn't the trendy young family mecca it is today. Rather, it was a typical New York melting pot neighborhood where established ...
Dave's Italian Kitchen, which has evolved into Dave's New Kitchen, was the first sponsor for the first show the 2nd Act Players ever did in 2013. And he's back with us again this year for New Year's Eve at Grandma's House Nov. 3-18. In fact, we just recently had Dave's pizza to help us celebrate ...
