Waterworks Players
Craig Challender, Author at Waterworks Players
2023
A Man for all Theatrical Seasons
Same Time, Next Year, The Waterworks Players’ current production opening this week, is a first-time directorial experience for Billy Tucker. But it’s far from his first time being involved with Waterworks.
2022
Cast Chosen for Twelfth Night
“If music be the food of love, play on . . .” This well-known line opens William Shakespeare’s mellow comedy Twelfth Night, now fully cast, for The Waterworks Players’ first production of 2022-23.
2021
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Panto A Review
Sometimes it takes an absence to remind us just how special homegrown talent can be. That’s especially true for this year’s Panto, which has been one of the Waterworks Players’ most popular productions for almost 15 years.
2019
The Mousetrap: A Review
“There are six of you standing here before me. One of you is the killer. And one of you is the victim.” This pronouncement by Detective Sergeant Trotter, midway through Act Two of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, fixes the inhabitants of Monkswell Manor as precisely as butterflies pinned to the board of a science fair […]
2019
It’s Your Move: A Review of Chess
“Each game of chess / Means there’s one less / Variation left to be played; // Each day got through / Means one or two / Less mistakes remain to be made.” These opening lines from “Prologue”/”The Story of Chess” point us to the inevitable—but not predictable—conclusion of Chess, the 1988 American version of Tim Rice, Benny […]
2018
New Director/Classic Play
When asked, “Why Gaslight?”, director Don Blaheta had a ready answer. “Well, there’s the current political environment. And I don’t mean just in the last year or two. Years ago Jon Stewart was showing clips of politicians blatantly lying paired with clips that proved the lies. It’s getting worse, though: and when someone repeatedly and […]
2018
Once More, with Feeling
Please note that the playwright, Bo Wilson, will now be attending the Saturday, February 18th performance. It was initially advertised that he would attend Friday, February 16th performance. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you would like to switch your tickets, please email info@waterworksplayers.org or call 434-392-3452. The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Victory Church, […]
2017
Shrek the Musical: A Review
Most of us are familiar with Shrek the movie, Mike Meyers’s 2001 smash (complete with Smashmouth’s cover of “I’m a Believer” as the credits roll). Some of us are familiar with Shrek the book, William Steig’s 1990 children’s tale that features a much more repulsive, cruder ogre who saves, then marries his equally repulsive bride […]
2017
Scott Chapman: He Got His Wish
A foreboding retired judge. A gullible, slightly timid doctor. A dignified parlor man. An old, ruthlessly religious woman. These are only a few of the ten strangers dining in an island mansion, all of them invited there by a mysterious U.N. Owen. A record begins to play, and the unseen host begins to accuse each […]
2016
Mason and Womack: A Classy Reunion
Daphne Mason and Martha Womack, two of The Waterworks Players’ longest-running troupers, are happy when they’re in the same play together—Fiddler on the Roof, Big River and Mame come to mind—and happier still when they’re playing opposite each other. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the debut Waterworks production this season, allows them to […]