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 […]
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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 […]
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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 ticket discount. Tickets are $17 in advance, $22 at the door. Simply click here to […]
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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 words sting Sonny, oldest son of an immigrant Italian mother. “The crap I took. ‘Hay […]
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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 […]
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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 part and more have been contacted to participate in the discussions which will follow shows […]
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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 […]
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New Year’s Eve was perhaps the biggest feast of all because it was not unusual to have several meals over the course of the party, the first before midnight, a second after midnight and a third in the wee hours of the morning.
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When you come to see New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House Nov. 3-18, you’re going to be hearing about the Waldorf. Specifically, you’ll hear about dancing in a Waldorf ballroom. What’s that all about? The Waldorf Astoria Hotel is a well-established New York City landmark which now has locations in other cities as well, including […]
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Stickball was a quintessential New York City street game in the 1950s and 1960s. A version of baseball, it’s played with a skinny bat and a rubber ball. In the Depression of the 1930s, talked about in the nd Act Players’ November show, New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House, bats were often broom or mop […]
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2ND ACT Players 