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| | WAITING FOR GODOT
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Bretton Reis
A bold new staging of a play that has challenged and delighted audiences for over seventy years.
The season opens with one of the most iconic—and unexpectedly hilarious—plays of the 20th century. In Waiting for Godot, two weary wanderers meet under a barren tree to await a mysterious figure, certain that he will change their lives for the better. As they pass the time, their conversations unravel into absurdity, poetry, and deeply human comedy. Samuel Beckett’s landmark tragicomedy has been hailed as a masterpiece of existential theatre—but don’t let that scare you. With its sharp wit, physical humor, and touching portrayal of friendship in a chaotic world, Godot remains as funny and relevant as ever. | Buy tickets |
| | MOMS THE MUSICAL
Concert Reading
In partnership with the Ring Works New Play Lab, you’re invited to a developmental concert reading of Moms: The Musical, a heartfelt and hilarious dramedy written by local mom and Seacoast artist Jennifer Lake.
What to expect:
Professional actors will bring the story to life through a staged reading, performing selections from the show’s 17 original songs. With live accompaniment on select numbers, the score blends Jazz, Rockabilly, and Contemporary Musical Theatre/Pop with a playful twist.
This is a unique chance to witness the creative journey of a new musical in development — from page to stage. Stay after for an exclusive talkback, where you’ll have the opportunity to share feedback and engage directly with the playwright and cast.
Synopsis:
Imagine a world that has outlawed ART.
Where being a corporate drone is celebrated and wavering from the status quo is brutally judged.
This is where a struggling single mother, a “successful” corporate boss and her closeted husband and their renegade artist daughter are trapped, in a world that only values “the order of the system set to rule”. Three spirit guides on a mission of their own join the troubled world in
order to tell the tale of the journey of motherhood through the ages, help them break free and
follow the truth in their hearts.
For more information about the show visit: www.momsthemusical.com | Buy tickets |
| | DARWIN'S WAITING ROOM
DARWiN’S WAiTiNG ROOM is back—and they’re bringing their signature brand of strange, hysterical, and totally surprising sketch comedy to the Players’ Ring for a full weekend takeover.
Originally born on the Seacoast, this ever-evolving troupe of writers and performers kicked off their return with a mini-summer tour across New England.
Now, they’re back home and ready to perplex and delight local audiences with a fresh lineup of comic shorts that range from the curiously relatable to the gloriously absurd.
Expect the unexpected: a restaurant with no tables or food, a meeting entirely about meetings, and dramatic tributes to the illustrious Emperor Kestro Delipantsia by the ambassadors of the Silly Provinces. Yes, really.
ABOUT DWR: Produced by Eric Doucet and Julia Doucett, DARWiN’S WAiTiNG ROOM features a cast of seasoned comedic performers dedicated to building a creative, laughter-filled community. Whether you’re a longtime Darwinite or a curious newcomer, you’ll be welcomed into a world that’s equal parts quirky, clever, and joyously weird.
Step inside DARWiN’S WAiTiNG ROOM—we promise you’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Learn more about the group at www.dwrcomedy.com
| Buy tickets |
| | IMPROVISATION FOR ACTORS
A Workshop in Spontaneity, Creativity & Connection
with Harry Prichett
How many times—in the middle of a film, theater, or commercial audition—have you heard the words: “Just improvise”? This high-energy workshop is designed to sharpen the essential skills every actor needs: spontaneity, creativity, and quick, intuitive thinking. Whether you’re crafting a scene, responding to a director’s last-minute note, or navigating a cold read, improv helps you meet the moment with confidence, clarity, and boldness.
What to expect
Through theater games, scene work, and character-based exercises, you’ll build presence, deepen responsiveness, and strengthen your creative instincts. You’ll learn to trust your impulses, listen fully, and collaborate with immediacy and authenticity.
Workshop Highlights
- Spontaneity & Risk-Taking – Let go of getting it “right” and make original, instinctive choices.
- Active Listening & Reactivity – Sharpen your awareness, pick up cues, and respond with commitment.
What You’ll Explore
- Improv Foundation
- Warm-Ups & Games
- Scene Work
What You’ll Gain
- Confidence in auditions and live performance
- A practical improv toolkit
- Stronger listening, collaboration, and communication skills
- Comfort with the unexpected—and the ability to thrive in it
About the instructor
Harry Prichett is a veteran performer, teacher, and improviser with deep roots in comedy and improvisation. He was a member of the touring and main-stage companies of Chicago City Limits, one of New York’s longest-running improv shows, and co-founded Radio-Active Theatre, an innovative, interactive comedy show performed live and broadcast on radio.
Harry’s work spans film, television, and stage. As a teacher, he’s introduced the art of improvisation to a wide range of students—from children and adults to corporate professionals—creating supportive, risk-taking environments that inspire creativity, collaboration, and authentic expression. He has trained and performed with The Groundlings, UCB, The PIT, The Magnet Theater, Manhattan Punchline, First Amendment, and Aretha Sills. | Buy tickets |
| | THE PERFECT SCENE
A 6-Week Scene Study Intensive
with Constance Witman
Over six weeks, actors will work in pairs or small groups to analyze, rehearse, and fully inhabit a single scene. You’ll explore every layer of your text — from script analysis to emotional truth — and bring it to life for a public performance on the Players’ Ring stage.
WEEK 1: Introduction & Scene Assignments
- Overview of the workshop structure and goals
- Pairing actors into scene partners or small ensembles
- First read-through and initial impressions
- Discussion: what makes a scene compelling?
WEEKS 2–5: (10/18, 10/25, 11/01, 11/08) Deep Dive into Your Scene
Each week, participants will refine their work through a combination of rehearsal, coaching, and targeted exercises:
- Script Analysis – understanding plot, theme, and context
- Character Development – exploring backstory, objectives, and relationships
- Objectives & Tactics – defining what your character wants and how they pursue it
- Subtext – discovering the unspoken layers beneath the dialogue
- Emotional Truth – connecting to the scene’s core with authenticity
- Physical & Vocal Choices – embodying your character fully
- Spontaneity & Reactivity – staying present and responsive in the moment
Participants will be encouraged to do independent work and meet with their scene partners outside of class to rehearse and study, building rapport and deepening their work between sessions.
WEEK 6 (11/15): Polish & Performance Prep
- Final run-throughs with coaching and adjustments
- Building confidence and ensemble trust
- Technical considerations for performance in the Players’ Ring space
FINAL PERFORMANCE (Tuesday November 18th at 7 PM) At the end of the six weeks, participants will perform their scenes in a showcase open to the public at the Players’ Ring — a celebration of process, growth, and craft. | Buy tickets |
| | THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
Adapted by the ensemble from "The Man Who Laughs" by Victor Hugo
With inspiration from the film directed by Paul Leni
Directed by Peter Josephson
A collaboration with Glass Dove Productions
A spine tingling, one-act romantic horror that speaks volumes—without saying a word.
Just in time for Halloween, the Players’ Ring presents a haunting new original work: The Man Who Laughs: get ready to be transported back to the silent film era, when actors told stories without uttering a single word. Set during the shadowy reign of Queen Anne, this gothic horror-romance follows Gwynplaine, the most famous clown in England. His acrobatic talents and broad, omnipresent grin delight peasants and noblemen alike. But this clown can never remove his makeup. His crowd pleasing grin is a curse, carved into his face when he was a child at the behest of a cruel, vindictive king. When a beautiful dutchess attends his show, a secret from Gwynpalin's past is revealed, a secret that threatens to destroy everything he has built, and everyone he holds dear. | Buy tickets |
| | BEAST OF EDEN
Staged Reading and Discussion
By Will Saxe Directed by Leslie Pasternack
When Adam and Eve are unceremoniously "fired," Eden HR scrambles to fill the positions. Four unlikely candidates are promoted: a loyal Dog, a haughty Cat, a timid Sheep, and the very Snake who caused all the trouble in the first place.
Thrust into the role of “human,” these animals must navigate their new responsibilities—dominion, reason, and free will—armed only with instincts from their old lives. As they bicker, backstab, and brainstorm, Eden begins to look suspiciously like a toxic workplace.
Part biblical parody, part corporate satire, Beast of Eden skewers our endless struggle for power, identity, and purpose. In the end, the play asks: what does it really mean to be human—and why would anyone want the job?
THIS READING IS PART OF THE RING-WORKS NEW PLAY LAB, A PROGRAM AIMED AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PLAYS AND EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS. | Buy tickets |
| | YE MERRY GENTLEMEN
By G Matthew Gaskell
Directed by Sam Smith
The whole family is trying to convince George that there's no Santa Claus, but he has some surprises up his sleeve... | Buy tickets |
| | Charles Dickens'
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Adapted and Directed by Ben Bagley
By popular demand, this show returns after last year's sold-out (but cut short!) run!
An adaptation true to Dickens' charming, chucklesome, yet unforgettably haunting tale. Tailor-made for the Players Ring’s intimate setting, this holiday production embraces theatricality, a bit of sleight-of-hand, and narration by a pair of unlikely (and sometimes unwilling) fools. | Buy tickets |
| | SEEING VIOLET
By Peter Snoad
Directed by Sandi Clark Kaddy
A collaboration with The Seacoast African American Culture Center, Black Heritage Trail and Strawbery Banke Museum
Spanning centuries and peeling back layers of denial, Seeing Violet is a gripping new drama about memory, reckoning, and the cost of looking away.
A house steeped in history. A ghost in a servant's dress. And the unsettling truths that rise from the walls. When Betsy and John inherit an 18th-century New England home, a series of discoveries—including a manumission paper for an enslaved woman named Violet—shatter their understanding of the past. As Betsy begins to “see” Violet, she’s drawn into a relentless quest to uncover her story—and confront the painful legacy their family and community tried to forget. | Buy tickets |
| | THINGS GET UGLY
Staged Reading and Discussion
By Doug Brendel Directed by Lydia Charlotte Brendel
Two beautiful actors — newly married and starring together in the same show — prepare backstage before curtain. As makeup and costuming transform one into a grotesque stage character, the other begins to reveal an ugliness that runs deeper than appearances. Their banter, sparkling with Noel Coward–style wit, is as funny as it is uncomfortable, peeling back layers of charm to expose long-buried truths about their relationship.
Add the looming arrival of an old lover, now a theatre critic, and a devastating secret that could unravel their future together — and suddenly the dressing room becomes a crucible for trust, love, and survival.
Playful in form and daring in content, Things Get Ugly explores marriage, performance, and the roles we play onstage and off. With both parts open to any gender — and the possibility of actors swapping roles from performance to performance — this modern chamber piece offers audiences humor, tension, and a bracing look at beauty, betrayal, and the bargains we make to stay together.
THIS READING IS PART OF THE RING-WORKS NEW PLAY LAB, A PROGRAM AIMED AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PLAYS AND EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS. | Buy tickets |
| | JULIUS CAESAR
By William Shakespeare
Facilitated by Andrew Codispoti and Glenn Provost
In a fraught landscape where rhetoric is a precursor to violence and civic duty is often a cover for naked ambition, alliances are forged as quickly as they are broken and lifelong friendships are sacrificed on the altar of power.
Inspired by actual historical records and figures, Shakespeare's classic Roman tragedy of political intrigue, murder, and civil wars is presented with modern staging featuring a tight ensemble and audience interaction that is guaranteed to satisfy newcomers and purists alike.
Fresh off his victory in a military conflict against the great Pompey, Julius Caesar seeks to capitalize on his popularity by crowning himself a dictator of Rome. One of Caesar's most feared political enemies in the senate, the wily and unscrupulous Cassius, seeks to sway the heart of the noble and popular Brutus to join him in a conspiracy to assassinate Caesar before his power grows beyond all bounds of control. High-minded ideals and survival itself clash as the affair unravels, and the fate of the known world will rest on the ability of a few to sway the citizenry. | Buy tickets |
| | ENID'S MILL
By Martha Douglas-Osmundson
Directed by Leslie Pasternack
A tender, richly human story about resilience, memory, and what it means to come home.
In 1979 upstate New York, a quiet house tucked beside an old mill holds decades of silence, grief—and possibility. Enid’s Mill is a poignant new family drama about the healing power of time, love, and art. When Cassie returns home after a ten-year absence, she must confront the tragedy that tore her family apart and the brilliant, neurodiverse sister she left behind. With painter’s brushes and unspoken truths, the sisters navigate a stormy reunion that could transform them both. | Buy tickets |
| | GIRLS AND BOYS
By Dennis Kelly
Performed by Constance Witman
It started as a chance encounter in an airport line. A funny, flirty spark. A love story. But in Girls & Boys, that story takes a stunning, harrowing turn.
In this gripping one-woman show by Olivier Award-winner Dennis Kelly, we meet a sharp, ambitious woman whose life is upended by an unimaginable act. With biting humor, brutal honesty, and breathtaking emotional range, Girls & Boys is both a searing personal narrative and a powerful indictment of gendered violence. Seacoast favorite and award-winning actor Constance Witman delivers a tour-de-force performance in this unforgettable theatrical event. | Buy tickets |
| | THE CHILDREN
By Lucy Kirkwood
A riveting exploration of our responsibility to each other—and the planet.
In the wake of a nuclear disaster, two retired nuclear scientists visit a former colleague, asking her to make a life-altering decision. The Children is a taut, thought-provoking drama that explores the ethical and personal consequences of the choices we make for the next generation. Award-winning playwright Lucy Kirkwood delves into the intersection of personal responsibility and global catastrophe, examining how the actions of one generation impact those that follow. With biting wit, searing tension, and poignant humanity, The Children is a play about aging, legacy, and the terrifying burden of a broken world. | Buy tickets |
| | EMMA
Adapted by Kate Hamill from the novel by Jane Austen
Directed by Ro Gavin
In collaboration with RGC Theatre
A lively reimagining of Jane Austen's classic.
Emma Woodhouse is a clever, ambitious young woman who, despite her vow never to marry, becomes the self-appointed matchmaker of Highbury. Kate Hamill's adaptation infuses the original with sharp wit and contemporary flair, capturing the essence of Austen's social commentary while introducing modern sensibilities. Under Ro Gavin's direction, this production promises a dynamic and fresh perspective on a beloved tale. | Buy tickets |
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