{"id":30252,"date":"2024-11-01T09:39:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=30252"},"modified":"2024-11-01T09:39:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T13:39:15","slug":"on-stage-treading-the-boards-benefit-for-candlelight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=30252","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: ‘Treading The Boards’ benefit for Candlelight"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/div>\n
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Julia Kershetsky<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTreading the boards\u201d has been going on for decades at the Candlelight Theater. This weekend, it is the title of a presentation by the venue.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Candlelight Theatre (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org<\/a>) is presenting a very special event on November 2 \u2013 \u201cTreading the Boards \u2013 A Revitalize Candlelight Benefit.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Proceeds will benefit the Candlelight Capital Campaign. Renovations are set to begin in fall 2024 with completion by spring 2025. Work will be done to level and replace portions of the theater floor, update the public restrooms, and replace the aging fire escapes.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA Revitalize Candlelight Benefit\u201d is an evening of cocktails, hors d\u2019oeurvres, and songs benefiting the Capital Campaign.<\/div>\n

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Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with live entertainment starting at 7:30 p.m.<\/div>\n
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Dessert and coffee will be served after the performance. The offerings will feature heavy hors d\u2019oeuvres, coffee and dessert station.<\/div>\n
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Also featured will be wine and beer, bourbon tasting and a silent auction. Additionally, a cash bar for cocktails will be available.<\/div>\n
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The highlight of the evening will be the live entertainment provided by Julia Kershetsky, Anthony Connell and Tori Healy \u2013 a trio of Candlelight veterans who have been \u201ctreading the boards\u201d for years.<\/div>\n
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\"\"\u201cTread the boards\u201d means \u201cact on the stage,\u201d as in\u00a0\u201cHer main ambition was to tread the boards in a big city.\u201d<\/div>\n
This idiom uses\u00a0\u201cboards\u201d\u00a0in the sense of \u201ca theatrical stage,\u201d a usage dating from the mid-1700s. It dates from the mid-1800s but was preceded by the idiom \u201ctread the stage\u201d — first recorded in 1691.<\/div>\n
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Healy, Kershetsky, and Connell have appeared together in many shows at the Candlelight. In the venue\u2019s most recent show \u201c9 to 5 The Musical\u201d which closed last weekend, Healy played the role of Violet, Connell was Dwayne and Kershetsky was the Music Director.<\/div>\n
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Some of Healy\u2019s favorite roles from the long list of her performances at the dinner theater are Fanny Brice (\u201cFunny Girl\u201d), Baker\u2019s Wife (\u201cInto the Woods\u201d), Sister Mary Lazarus (\u201cSister Act\u201d), and Frau Blucher (\u201cFrankenstein\u201d).<\/div>\n
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Healy, who received her BFA from New York University\u2019s Tisch School, has an impressive \u201cday job.\u201d She is the Chair of the Theater Department at Tower Hill School in Delaware.<\/div>\n
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Kershetsky played the roles of Alice Nutting and Edwin Drood in \u201cThe Mystery of Edwin Drood,\u201d the show that preceded \u201c9 to 5 the Musical.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Unfortunately for Candlelight audiences, it will be her final show at Candlelight.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI turned Equity over the summer so now I can\u2019t perform at Candlelight anymore because it\u2019s Non-Equity,\u201d said Kershetsky during a phone interview Thursday afternoon. \u201cThe only time you can do something that is Non-Equity is if the show is a benefit.<\/div>\n
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\u201cSo, \u2018Drood\u2019 was my last show at Candlelight. I\u2019ll definitely miss performing there but I keep connected. I was the Music Director for \u201c9 to 5 the Musical\u201d and my husband (Max Redman) has been the Production Stage Manager for many, many Candlelight shows, including \u2018Drood.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
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Kershetsky graduated from Boyertown High School, where she was involved in theater productions as well as playing varsity field hockey and lacrosse. She then got a degree in classical vocal performance at Penn State University.<\/div>\n
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Kershetsy, who is one of the most talented performers from Berks County on a list featuring Taylor Swift, followed with a graduate degree from New York University in musical theater and vocal pedagogy.<\/div>\n
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She is currently a professor at Molloy University\u2019s CAP 21 in New York.<\/div>\n
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\u201cCandlelight is very excited about \u2018Treading the Boards,\u2019 said Kershetsky. \u201cThey reached out to me about the show a couple months ago.<\/div>\n
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\u201cNow, they have Tori Healy, Anthony Connell and me. I feel honored to be performing with these Candlelight favorites.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe were free to make our own set lists. Tori and I will be doing songs from the upcoming season including one of my favorites \u2018\u2019Back to Before\u2019 from \u2018Ragtime the Musical.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
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Connell, who had been performing at Candlelight for more than a dozen years, might hold the record for most shows. And lately he has added the role of Props Master when he hasn\u2019t been in the cast and even when he has a role in the show.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI enjoy being the props master,\u201d said Connell, a sculptor, miniaturist and painter whose painting \u201cOpening Night at the Candlelight\u201d hangs in the theater\u2019s lobby.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI have posters hung in Victorian style around the dining area. Some are authentic show posters from the era, and some are parodies like \u2018Rats\u2019 instead of \u2018Cats.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
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Connell is a true Candlelight veteran. He has performed in more than 50 shows at the comfortable dinner theater in Arden.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis is my 14th year doing shows at Candlelight,\u201d said Connell, from his home in Chichester.<\/div>\n
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Connell has returned to live in his childhood neighborhood \u2013 partly because of its proximity to the Candlelight Theater (five miles) and partly because it\u2019s his home turf.<\/div>\n
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He attended grade school at Holy Saviour in Marcus Hook (which closed in 2015) and high school at Cardinal O\u2019Hara in Springfield.<\/div>\n
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He attended DeSales University where he earned a BA in Acting, Directing and Musical Theatre.<\/div>\n
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Now, Connell has, for years, had a second home at the comfortable dinner theater in Arden.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMy first show at Candlelight was \u2018Miss Saigon\u2019 in 2012,\u201d said Connell. \u201cMy favorites are \u2018Young Frankenstein\u2019 and \u2018The Producers.\u2019 \u2018Into the Woods\u2019 is another big favorite of mine.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The event on Saturday night at the Candlelight Theater will start at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $65.<\/div>\n
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The Candlelight\u2019s next production will be Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cHoliday Inn.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The show will open on November 16 and run through December 22.<\/div>\n
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On November 21, it will be time for the latest edition of Candlelight Comedy Club will present Mike Yard.<\/div>\n
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Yard is a stand-up comedian and a contributor to Comedy Central\u2019s\u00a0The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.\u00a0\u00a0He is also the host of podcast\u00a0Yard Talk with Mike Yard. \u00a0Yard was previously the winner of Comedy Central\u2019s\u00a0Get Up, Stand Up\u00a0comedy competition.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s not unusual for people to boycott a product because the company’s policies differ from their own beliefs or for major firms to pull sponsorship because a client such as a pro basketball player made inflammatory statements.<\/div>\n
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Artist Mark Rothko took it to a whole other level in 1958 with a series of murals he had contracted to do for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York.<\/div>\n
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There is a play opening in Philadelphia this weekend that looks at Rothko and his decision to opt out of the deal.<\/div>\n
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South Philadelphia\u2019s premiere destination for arts & culture, Theatre Exile <\/a>(1340 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, www.theatreexile.org<\/a>), kicks\u00a0off its 28th season with John Logan\u2019s Tony Award-winning play\u00a0\u201cRED<\/a>\u201d starring six-time Barrymore Award-winner\u00a0Scott Greer\u00a0as iconic artist Mark Rothko and\u00a0Zach Valdez\u00a0as his young, challenging assistant.<\/div>\n
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Opening on Friday, November 1,\u00a0the\u00a0production promises a captivating dive into the world of art, ambition, and the struggle to be heard by emerging generations of creators.<\/div>\n
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\u201cRED\u201d\u00a0captures a volatile mentorship between the aging Rothko and his ambitious assistant, Ken, set against the backdrop of Rothko\u2019s largest commission, a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant. With themes that mirror generational and cultural shifts, the play is a powerful commentary on the cost of remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving world.<\/div>\n
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Scott Greer\u2019s commanding portrayal of Rothko, and the chemistry between him and Valdez creates an intense onstage dynamic that makes this production a gripping must-see experience for art lovers and theatergoers alike.<\/div>\n
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Mark Rothko\u00a0(Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz\u00a0until 1940). who lived from September 25, 1903\u00a0\u2013 February 25, 1970) was an American\u00a0abstract\u00a0painter. He is best known for his\u00a0color field\u00a0paintings that depicted irregular and\u00a0painterly\u00a0rectangular regions of color, which he produced from 1949-1970. Although Rothko did not personally subscribe to any one school, he is associated with the American\u00a0abstract expressionism\u00a0movement of modern art.<\/div>\n
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Born in\u00a0Daugavpils,\u00a0Latvia, then under the rule of the Russian Empire, Rothko and his family emigrated to the United States, arriving at\u00a0Ellis Island\u00a0in late 1913 and originally settling in\u00a0Portland, Oregon. He moved to\u00a0New York City\u00a0in 1923 where his youthful period of artistic production dealt primarily with urban scenery.<\/div>\n
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In response to\u00a0World War II, Rothko’s art entered a transitional phase during the 1940s, where he experimented with mythological themes and\u00a0Surrealism\u00a0to express tragedy.<\/div>\n
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Toward the end of the decade, Rothko painted canvases with regions of pure color which he further abstracted into rectangular color forms, the idiom he would use for the rest of his life.<\/div>\n
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In his later career, Rothko executed several canvases for three different mural projects. The\u00a0Seagram murals\u00a0were to have decorated the\u00a0Four Seasons Restaurant\u00a0in the\u00a0Seagram Building, but Rothko eventually grew disgusted with the idea that his paintings would be decorative objects for wealthy diners and refunded the lucrative commission, donating the paintings to museums including the\u00a0Tate Gallery.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI absolutely knew about Mark Rathko prior to this show,\u201d said Green. \u201cHe was an amazing abstract impressionist. I saw his works in New York at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).<\/div>\n
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\u201cAnd I saw the Seagram\u2019s murals. They are extraordinary \u2013 really profound and inspiring. And they are very large.\u201d<\/div>\n
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In 1958, Rothko was awarded the first of two major mural commissions, which proved both rewarding and frustrating. The beverage company\u00a0Joseph Seagram and Sons\u00a0had recently completed the new\u00a0Seagram Building\u00a0skyscraper on\u00a0Park Avenue. Rothko agreed to provide paintings for the building’s new luxury restaurant,\u00a0the Four Seasons.<\/div>\n
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For Rothko, this\u00a0Seagram murals\u00a0commission presented a new challenge, since it was the first time he was required not only to design a coordinated series of paintings but to produce an artwork space concept for a large, specific interior.<\/div>\n
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Over the following three months, Rothko completed 40 paintings, comprising three full series in dark red and brown. He altered his horizontal format to vertical, to complement the restaurant’s vertical features: columns, walls, doors, and windows.<\/div>\n
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The following June, Rothko and his family again traveled to Europe. While on the\u00a0SS\u00a0Independence\u00a0he disclosed to journalist John Fischer, who was publisher of\u00a0Harper’s Magazine, that his true intention for the Seagram murals was to paint \u201csomething that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room.\u201d<\/div>\n
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He hoped, he told Fischer, that his painting would make the restaurant’s patrons \u201cfeel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Green, an Atlanta native who has lived in Philadelphia the last 30 years, said, \u201cYou just can\u2019t look at them and move on.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Back in New York, Rothko and his wife Mell visited the nearly completed Four Seasons restaurant. Upset with the restaurant’s dining atmosphere, which he considered pretentious and inappropriate for the display of his works, Rothko refused to continue the project and returned his cash advance to the Seagram and Sons Company.<\/div>\n
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Rothko kept the commissioned paintings in storage until 1968. Given that Rothko had known in advance about the luxury decor of the restaurant, and the social class of its future patrons, the motives for his abrupt repudiation remain mysterious.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe started working on \u2018RED\u2019 in the first week of October,\u201d said Green.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve been at it a month. We had our first preview last Thursday and we open this Friday. The show runs 85-90 minutes with no intermission.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The play reveals a lot about Rothko but never answers the question \u201cwhy?\u201d \u2013 but that\u2019s not unusual.<\/div>\n
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A temperamental personality, Rothko never fully explained his conflicted emotions over the incident.<\/div>\n
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Although Rothko lived modestly for much of his life, the resale value of his paintings grew tremendously in the decades following his suicide in 1970. His painting\u00a0No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red)\u00a0sold in 2014 for $186 million.<\/div>\n
\u201cRED\u201d is running now through November 10 at Theatre Exile.<\/div>\n
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Ticket prices start at $40.<\/div>\n
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On November 1, Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http:\/\/www.kennettflash.org<\/a>) is presenting<\/div>\n
\u201cA Night of Rock\u201d with Silver Sonic, Impolite Society, World of Chaos.<\/div>\n
On November 3, the Flash will be feeling\u2019 the funk when it hosts the New Phunk Odyssey Tour with Melody Trucks and featuring The Fitzkee Brothers with Gordon Sterling & The People.<\/div>\n
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If the name \u201cTrucks\u201d sounds familiar, it should \u2013 especially to anyone familiar with Southern Rock.<\/div>\n
For decades, the nucleus of Southern Rock has been the Allman Brothers clan. With three generations of top-flight musicians, the ABB family has produced stellar guitarists, drummers, keyboardists and vocalists.<\/div>\n
This Sunday, the Flash will host one of the family members \u2013 Melody Trucks.<\/div>\n
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Melody Trucks, a talented percussionist and vocalist, has performed in front of thousands at major music festivals such as The Peach Music Festival, Suwannee Rising, and Hulaween.<\/div>\n
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As the daughter of the late Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, Melody has continued her family’s legacy in the world of Southern rock and jam band music.<\/div>\n
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Her skillful percussion work and dynamic stage presence have earned her a devoted following among music fans.<\/div>\n
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Video link for Melody Trucks — https:\/\/youtu.be\/P7mkamAzwew<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org<\/a>) is presenting \u201cYellow Brick Road \u2013 Tribute to Elton John\u201d on November 1, \u201cGreg Hawkes with Eddie Japan playing the music of the Cars\u201d on November 2, and \u201cOff Page Film Festival\u201d on November 3.<\/div>\n
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Jamey\u2019s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985,www.jameyshouseofmusic.com<\/a>) will have Stew Cutler & Friends with special guest Jesse Loewy on November 1 and The Empty Belly Blues Band featuring Alabama Sam on November 2.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times \u201cTreading the boards\u201d has been going on for decades at the Candlelight Theater. This weekend, it is the title of a presentation by the venue. The Candlelight Theatre (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org) is presenting a very special event on November 2 \u2013 \u201cTreading the Boards \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4357],"tags":[1663,6513,3162,11841],"class_list":["post-30252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-benefit","tag-candlelight-theatre","tag-featured","tag-treading-the-boards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30253,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252\/revisions\/30253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}