On Golden Pond Playing at Curtis Middle School

The Sudbury Savoyards opened its summer production of Ernest Thompson's "On Golden Pond" Friday, June 23, to at Ephraim Curtis Middle School. All proceeds from the show, as it is for all Sudbury Savoyard productions, will be donated to the United Methodist Committee on Relief in support of alleviating world hunger.

The play—originally debuted on Broadway in 1979 and made particularly famous by the 1981 film adaptation starring Henry and Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn—tells the story of an elderly couple, Ethel and Norman Thayer, returning to their lake house in Maine for their 48^th year.

This production is being directed by Mary Spinosa-Wilson, who is making her Savoyards debut but has more than 30 years of experience both directing and producing theater.

Spinosa-Wilson describes the play as "a rite-of-passage story," and as having something for all types of audience members.

"This is one of those plays that really makes you think," she says. "Every character is in a different phase of their life. Everyone in the audience can relate to someone on that stage, whether they are remembering what it was like to be 14 or 40, or looking at Ethel or Norman and seeing a parent or grandparent."

Cliff Baker, who plays Charlie, the mail carrier with a crush on the Thayer's daughter, says this is a play about the importance of family.

"It's easy for people ignore their family, because of work or anything else," he says. This play shows that family should be your priority."

Andrea Roessler, who is the Savoyards archivist, publicity chief, playbill chief and set director, says she is hoping whole families will come to see the show. According to her, this production will be the Savoyards' must expensive summer show ever, running at about $8,200. The goal, she says is to bring in between $13,000-$14,000 to add to the ever-growing amount of money the company has donated to charity.

Roessler says since becoming a formal organization in the late 1970s the Savoyards have raised $185,000 to help relieve world hunger, including $4,000 from its recent winter production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida."