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Staples Players present "DON'T DRINK THE WATER"

Staples Players present "Don’t Drink The Water"

Staples Players proudly presents Woody Allen’s “Dont Drink The Water”   Performances will take place at Toquet Hall in Westport at 8pm on February 28th and March 1st and at 4:30pm on March 2nd.

This production of “Don’t Drink The Water” is directed, produced and performed by students from Staples High School.  Director, Nathan Francis, ’14,  is grateful to have put together such a strong team of actors and crew. “ I absolutely love my cast.  They are wonderful people who are dedicated and hard working.  My technical team has been putting in a ton of time to get everything to run smoothly, and although we are working with a very tight schedule, everyone is coming together to make this show the best it can be.”


Francis chose this play as the Winter Studio production because “Don't Drink the Water is an absolutely hilarious play written by Woody Allen- his very first to be professionally produced on a Broadway stage back in 1966.  The play follows the tale of the Hollander family, who on a harmless vacation to Europe, get falsely accused of spying by the communist police and are forced to seek asylum in the American embassy of a nameless Eastern European country.  The play itself can be characterized mainly as farcical, containing hilarious and classic Woody Allen one liners, as well as a lot of physical comedy and crazy characters.  There are elements of romance and family as well, which keep the play grounded and give the story a life of its own.”

Nick Ribolla, ’16 who plays the male lead, Walter Hollander thinks that audiences will love the show for its humor.  “The writing is honestly just too hilarious. Even at the first read through we were bursting out into laughter.  Some jokes everyone will get and some only the adults will understand, since there's a good amount of pop culture references from the 60's and 70's”


Cast member Rachel Beck ’16 agrees “There are a lot of quirky and quick bits of humor. There are also scenes that become really crazy that I think the audiences will really love”  Rachel plays Susan Hollander who is the daughter of Walter - played by Ribolla and Marion Hollander played by Sophie De Bruijn ’14.


Student produced studio productions typically have a short rehearsal period before being staged, and this one was wrought with lost rehearsal time due to snow storms.  But, the cast still finds the process very worthwhile.  Katelyn Farnen ’14 plays Sister Drobney, an insane nun who lives in the US Embassy.  Katelyn took on the challenge of the role in the Studio show for its perks compared to main stage productions.   “Studios are a lot more intimate. Between practicing at Toquet, long hours and the small casts, we all get to know each other really well. They’re an awesome experience”   


Nick Ribolla compares acting in a main stage and studio.   “It's a very different experience. Don't get me wrong, the studio production is still taken very seriously, but it's often a much more friendly and casual environment since a lot of people in the cast are good friends with our directors, Nathan and Kelly.”


Dont Drink the Water’s assistant director is Kelly Gore, ’14 and Julia Greene ’15 is the producer.  Nicole Waibel ’15 is the Stage Manager for the production.


Tickets are available for $10 Staplesplayers.com, or at the door 20 minutes prior to curtain.


Please visit staplesplayers.com or call 203-341-1310 for more information and double cast performance schedules.
















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