Emergent Ensemble Theatre Company
YOU ARE NOT ALONE is an original play about a group of addicts in recovery, written and directed by Patrick J. Toole and produced by a cadre of local actors and musicians. Our premiere performance happened in Spring of 2019 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Housatonic, MA. We set up a seating area 3/4s in the round with lights and sound in this intimate space, and performed 6 COMPLETELY SOLD-OUT SHOWS for the community of Housie. We intend to perform the show again in the future.
One audience member said: "I WAS SO TAKEN, time and again at the close of each scene, with the poignancy and urgency of each story as it folded into the next. How each characters’ journey to just stay standing on their own two feet held such relate-ability that I sometimes forgot their common affliction. Yes, of course, I knew what the play had been written about, and that it centered on addiction, but to me what bled through the most from the stories was just the struggle to keep on keeping-on as a human. The beautifully arranged music, the choices in movement and dance, the transitions both between narratives and the passage of time… all woven together so well it was striking. For me, THE SHOW WAS A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE about the web of our lives and how often we can get things so tangled. And how the very best thing we can do for each other, and ourselves, is to love. BECAUSE WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER."
One audience member said: "I WAS SO TAKEN, time and again at the close of each scene, with the poignancy and urgency of each story as it folded into the next. How each characters’ journey to just stay standing on their own two feet held such relate-ability that I sometimes forgot their common affliction. Yes, of course, I knew what the play had been written about, and that it centered on addiction, but to me what bled through the most from the stories was just the struggle to keep on keeping-on as a human. The beautifully arranged music, the choices in movement and dance, the transitions both between narratives and the passage of time… all woven together so well it was striking. For me, THE SHOW WAS A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE about the web of our lives and how often we can get things so tangled. And how the very best thing we can do for each other, and ourselves, is to love. BECAUSE WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER."
Emergent Ensemble's first production in Spring of 2015, THE ALIENS, by Pulitzer prize winning playwright Annie Baker, took place in a run-down, graffiti painted tunnel attached to the old Monument Mill in Housatonic. It was met with a wildly positive response from the local populace and the Berkshire theatre community.
THE BERKSHIRE EDGE SAID: "I didn’t anticipate enjoying a play in a tunnel. I certainly had no idea what I would be finding in three actors I don’t know. Even without the offered brownies I would have been compelled to praise the work done by Emergent Ensemble in Housatonic. I have to wonder how they will follow the success of this VERY STRANGE, BUT WONDERFUL PLAY."
THE BERKSHIRE EDGE SAID: "I didn’t anticipate enjoying a play in a tunnel. I certainly had no idea what I would be finding in three actors I don’t know. Even without the offered brownies I would have been compelled to praise the work done by Emergent Ensemble in Housatonic. I have to wonder how they will follow the success of this VERY STRANGE, BUT WONDERFUL PLAY."
The Whitdiots
THE WHITDIOTS were an improv troupe who for several years performed monthly shows at the Whitney Center for the Arts in Pittsfield, MA. We've been told by our lively audiences that their faces and sides are sore after our shows. The troupe was disbanded in 2017 when one of us got herself pregnant.
Photos from other shows
Pictured:
Benedick, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, 2019
Scene Sharing, SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY MONTH-LONG INTENSIVE, 2018
Janitor/Public Speaker, MIDDLETOWN, The Lavender Door, 2016
Stefano, THE TEMPEST, Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, 2016
Duane, DEAD MAN'S CELL-PHONE, Homespun Theatre Company
Shultz, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, Independent Production
Benedick, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, 2019
Scene Sharing, SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY MONTH-LONG INTENSIVE, 2018
Janitor/Public Speaker, MIDDLETOWN, The Lavender Door, 2016
Stefano, THE TEMPEST, Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, 2016
Duane, DEAD MAN'S CELL-PHONE, Homespun Theatre Company
Shultz, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, Independent Production