For Immediate Release:
Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Phone: (508) 428-0669
Email: David@cotuitcenterforthearts.org
Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org
“Three Viewings” at Cotuit Center for the Arts’s Black Box Theater
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Jerry Hatcher’s dark comedy, “Three Viewings” in the Black Box
Theater January 8 to 25. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 2
PM.
“Three Viewings” explores love, money, secrets, and loss in three stories that take place in during
viewings at a funeral home in the Midwest. The stories are told in three monologues by characters
who never interact, though their stories do.
“It’s one of the most exciting and imaginative plays I have seen in years,” said director Garry Mitchell.
“It’s not about funerals; it is very funny, up-tempo, and enjoyable, as it pokes fun at conventions. At
the same time, it is poignant, and a little Grand Guignol—meaning gruesome humor.”
A M Dolan plays Emil, a mild-mannered undertaker in love in the first story, “Tell-Tale.” Emil’s secret
and unrequited love for a beautiful real estate agent leads him in an unexpected direction.
“Dolan is wonderful in this role,” said Mitchell. “He brings out Emil’s passion and desperation.”
Dolan, who is also a playwright, won the Eventide Arts competition for Best Play with “This Verse
Business,” a one-man show about Robert Frost, and Mitchell played the role of Frost for the first few
performances.
Sarah Walsh is Mac in “The Thief of Tears.” Mac is a jewel thief who makes a living stealing from
corpses at viewings. She has returned to her home town to attend the funeral of her 103-year-old
grandmother.
Walsh is returning to acting after several years on active duty in the U.S. Army. She has worked
recently with the Buzzards Play Productions, but this is her first acting role on Cape Cod.
“The role of Mac requires the actor to be one tough broad on the outside and a tender little girl on
the inside,” said Mitchell, “and Sarah does this very well. She has the range to be very credible as a
street-smart woman, but there is that softness too.”
“The jewel thief is going to make some people wince,” said Mitchell, “but Sarah is very funny, very
convincing. Like the other characters, she comes across as a real person, and the audience is going to
feel a lot of sympathy and empathy for them. They are every man. We all have these feelings within
us, but we don’t always go around stealing from corpses.”
In the final play, “Thirteen Things about Ed Carpolotti,” Jane Taylor plays an affluent woman named
Virginia, whose wheeler-dealer husband has recently died. She finds out, after his death, that their
business is deeply in debt, and Ed owed money to the bank, the Mafia, and to his brother. She didn’t
expect any of this and she doesn’t know what to do.
“She’s very vulnerable, yet she’s tough,” said Mitchell. “I don’t want to give away the plot, but the
ending is delightful, the resolution of all her problems. Jane projects just the right feeling for this
woman. There won’t be a dry eye in the house—and the audience will be laughing all the way.”
Taylor has acted at theaters throughout the Cape for years, including several with Mitchell. When
Mitchell played Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman,” in Chatham about ten years ago, Taylor played
his wife. She also performed the role of Virginia in a Chatham production of “Three Viewings” a few
years ago.
Mitchell was born in Canada and immigrated to New York to be on Broadway, where he worked for
ten years. He was in two Broadway shows, including one in which he co-starred with James Earl
Jones---until the show closed two weeks later.
He went on to earn masters and doctorate degrees, taught college and eventually became an
independent management trainer and contractor, teaching people in industry how to teach, and
writing six books. He retired in 1999 after 38 years and returned to his first love, the theater.
Mitchell has acted or directed at most theaters on the Cape and served as the president of the
Chatham Drama Guild for six years. He recently appeared in a staged reading of Charles Dickens’ “A
Christmas Carol” at Cotuit Center for the Arts. His other roles at CCftA include Ben Franklin in “1776,”
Darwin in “Darwin and Malibu,” Schuppanzigh in “Black Comedy,” and, as he puts it, “the loud,
outspoken bigot” in “Twelve Angry Men.”
Jeffrey Hatcher wrote “Three Viewings” in 1994. Hatcher also wrote the play and screenplays for
“Stage Beauty” (2004) and co-wrote the stage adaptation for “Tuesdays with Morrie” (2002) with
author Mitch Albom, as well as other screenplays and television shows.
Tickets are $15, $12 for members. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28, in Cotuit. For more
information, visit artsonthecape.org, or call 508-428-0669.
# # #
What:
“Three Viewings,” by Jeffrey Hatcher
Where:
Black Box Theater, Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit
When:
January 8 to 25, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 2 PM
Admission:
$15, $12 for members
END