ActorsNET Unwraps a Holiday Treat
A Free Online Offering of Dear Brutus
ActorsNET celebrates the holidays by premiering a free online video presentation of Dear Brutus - a fantasy drama for grownups by J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.
The play's title comes from a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves..." Almost all the characters are at crossroads in their lives. "Who hasn't wondered how his or her life might be different if they had made different choices along the way?" asked ActorsNET Artistic Director Cheryl Doyle. "Who hasn't wondered how their careers or love lives might benefit from a second chance? Who hasn't pondered what might have been?"
Available starting December 23, 2020 on the ActorsNET YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ActorsNETofBucksCounty
Dear Brutus was adapted by Board President Maryalice Rubins-Topoleski and Charlotte Kirkby. Actors and crew observed all precautions necessary during the pandemic. The first and third acts were recorded via Zoom and the second act was shot outdoors at Ridgeview Woods in Princeton, NJ.
Dear Brutus is the fanciful tale of an eccentric British horticulturalist named Lob, who invites five women and three of their spouses for a stay at his mansion, culminating on Midsummer's Eve. The guests don't know why they've been invited, and get no useful information from Lob's evasive butler, Matey. As night falls, their impish host challenges them to walk outside into his garden where, just beyond, a woodland magically appears. Uncertain but curious, the guests enter the wood, where each is shown how "a second chance" could change the course of their lives. Upon return to Lob's drawing room, each confronts the possibility of change.
The ensemble cast consists of (alphabetically) Ken Ammerman, Cheryl and Joe Doyle, Matt Duchnowski, Mary Kierst, Charlotte Kirkby, Michael Krahel, Nyiema Lunsford, Cat Miller, Nicholas Pecht, and Maryalice Rubins-Topoleski.
THE DEAR BRUTUS CAST
Cast members of ActorsNET's film of Dear Brutus react to the appearance of a magical wood beyond the garden. The film, adapted from the play by J.M. Barrie, combines Zoom-style scenes with outdoor filming to create a quarantine-adherent holiday present.
(Top row, L to R): Cat Miller, Nyiema Lunsford, Mary Kierst; (second row): Maryalice Rubins-Topoleski, Nicholas Pecht, Cheryl Doyle; (third row): Michael Krahel, Joe Doyle, Matt Duchnowski
Cast members Ken Ammerman and Nyiema Lunsford bask in the midsummer moonlight in ActorsNET's film of Dear Brutus.
Cast membersMaryalice Rubins-Topoleski, Ken Ammerman, Nyiema Lunsford, and Joe Doyle meet in a magical wood by the moonlight of Midsummer Eve..
Cast members Matt Duchnowski and Charlotte Kirkby enjoy a magical moment by moonlight on Midsummer Eve.
