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ABOUT THE BURLINGTON PLAYERS

The Park Playhouse is home to three theater groups, The Burlington  Players, Winnmere Family Theater, and Children’s Theater Workshop. 

The Burlington Players (BP) is an all volunteer, adult theater group open to  those ages 18 and over, and happily accepts new members. Experience in  performing or technical theater is certainly welcome, but not necessary. We will  mentor anyone who wants to learn any aspect of theater. The Burlington Players  usually produce a four-show season each year.  

Winnmere Family Theater (WFT) is open to ages 18 and above. Members get  hands-on experience in all aspects of theater, including performance, stage  management, lighting and sound design and operation, and set construction —  everything to get a show up and running. Winnmere Family Theater produces up  to three shows per year, dedicated to audiences of families and children.  

The Children’s Theater Workshop (CTW) has run continuously since 1973.  The CTW season begins in September with theater classes for ages 7 –17. CTW helps develop  imagination, voice, body movement, storytelling, and other performance skills. 

BURLINGTON PLAYERS 2026-2027 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

THE FULL TEAM

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Special Thanks to...

Robert and Maureen Lundergan 

Mike McTeague

Darren Evans

The Mosesian Center of the Arts

Brendan Egan & Kelly Lehman
Burlington Recreation Department 
Chris Cardoni

Support Sandy Hook Promise

As part of this production, Burlington Players is offering audiences an opportunity to support Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit working to prevent gun violence and protect children through violence prevention programs, education, and community action.

If you'd like to contribute, donations can be made directly through

Sandy Hook Promise Donation Page

Or through Burlington Players' Venmo:

@BurlingtonPlayers

Please include “Sandy Hook Promise” in the Venmo note so we can track donations designated for this effort.

Learn more about Sandy Hook Promise and its work at sandyhookpromise.org.

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Bringing The Amish Project to the stage for its New England premiere felt important to me from the moment I encountered the play.

Jessica Dickey’s extraordinary work begins with an unimaginable act of violence, but that is not ultimately what the play is about. It is about what comes after. It asks us to consider grief, forgiveness, faith, anger, compassion, and the ways a community responds when something happens that cannot be undone.

I have always believed that theatre has a responsibility not only to entertain, but also to educate—to introduce us to lives and experiences beyond our own, to challenge what we think we know, and sometimes to leave us with questions that do not have easy answers. The Amish Project does all of those things. It does not tell us what to think about forgiveness. Instead, it asks us to sit with its complexity.

This company has approached that responsibility with extraordinary commitment. Our actors and production team have treated this material with thoughtfulness, respect, and great care, understanding that we are telling a story rooted in the experiences of real people and a real community.

I want to offer a special thank you to the young people in our cast. They have approached difficult and often painful subject matter with a maturity, sensitivity, and generosity far beyond their years.

My hope is that you leave the theatre tonight not simply having watched a story, but having been invited to think, to question, and perhaps to see something—or someone—a little differently.

Thank you for joining us.

Celia Couture
Director

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Jessica Dickey is an award-winning playwright whose writing was hailed by the New York Times as having “freshness, economy, cheeky vulgarity, with a fine measure of poetic insight.” New Yorker magazine described her writing as “funny, smart, deep and sad.”

Jessie is most known for her play The Amish Project, which premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival, transferred to the Cherry Lane, officially premiered off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and has since been produced around the country. Other theatrical premieres have included Galileo’s Daughter (Remy Bumppo, Chicago), Nan and the Lower Body (TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA), The Convent (Rising Phoenix and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City), The Rembrandt (Steppenwolf, Chicago), Charles Ives Take Me Home (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City) and Row After Row (Women’s Project, New York City).

She’s won some prizes for her plays (including the Stavis Award, the Los Angeles Ovation Award, the Barrymore, the Helen Hayes, the CAPPIE) and she’s been nominated for a few more (including a finalist for the Weissberger Award, a couple Susan Blackburns and the Playwrights of New York Fellowship, among others). She was also listed by nytheatre.com as a playwright who should have been nominated for the Pulitzer, which wasn’t an award but really felt like one. She is a proud alum of the prestigious New Dramatists.

Jessie co-wrote a book with her sister Danielle Neff called Sistering: The Art of Holding Close and Letting Go (published by Pilgrim Press). In television and film, Jessie has written or developed for Apple TV, Netflix, ABC, Searchlight and Paramount TV.

Jessie currently divides her time between Brooklyn, Los Angeles and the south of France. 

Meet the Company

Norman Bendroth

Aaron

"Norman is pleased to be in his second show with the Burlington Players, the first being Romeo Rules one of ten new scripts chosen. He has also played the Judge in Harveyat the Marblehead Little Theater (MLT), Old Dogsborough in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the MLT, and The Professor in Love in an Elevator at the Calderwood. Norman has been in fourteen short films playing a range of roles and characters, commercials, and a voice over in two films. He also studied at Improv Asylum in Boston. His wife Peggy gave him acting lessons for Christmas in 2018 and he has studied with Rachel Ballit at the Lee Strasberg Institute for Film and Theater, James DuMont of On Camera Workout, and Steve Blackwood who acted on Days of our Lives for 10 years. Norman is grateful for all the support he has received from family, fellow thespians, and acting teachers.

Miranda Cashman

Reporter 3 / Ensemble

Miranda is thrilled to be making her Burlington Players debut! Most recently she performed as Nina in Losing Patients (Acme Theater). Other notable acting credits include Meiko in Eureka Day (WCLOC), Marvelyn and Deena in Almost, Maine (Belmont Dramatic Club), Ensemble in Radium Girls (Theatre III), Vivie Warren in Mrs. Warren's Profession (Nashoba Players), and Caliban in The Tempest (Concord Players). This fall she will be making her directorial and playwriting debut in Belmont Dramatic Club's short plays festival The Show Must Go On. She would like to thank the entire cast and crew for bringing this emotionally nuanced story to life, and her partner Vince for holding down the fort at home.

Derek Clark

Bill North / Ensemble

Derek first appeared with the Burlington Players as Hysterium (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). Other BP roles include The Cat in the Hat (Suessical Jr.) and John (Circle Mirror Transformation). This journey has reminded him of certain past "projects", most notably The Laramie Project (twice, at Winthrop and Saugus) and Jesus Christ Superstar (thrice, most recently at the Vokes Theatre in Wayland). Thanks to Monica and the kids for their love and support.

Emma Coit

Velda / Ensemble

Emma Coit Emma is an 8th grader at McCarthy Middle School in Chelmsford and has loved performing for as long as she can remember. She has had so much fun bringing different characters to life, including Karen in Mean Girls Jr., and performing in The Wizard of Oz and Annie Jr. Emma loves the excitement of being on stage, but especially enjoys the friendships, laughter, and memories she makes with her castmates along the way. When she’s not performing, Emma can usually be found playing softball, skiing, or golfing. She is thrilled to be playing Velda in The Amish Project and grateful for the opportunity to take on a new kind of role. She would like to thank her family and friends for always encouraging her, supporting her, and cheering her on every step of the way.

Allie Collins

Ensemble

Allie has been acting in children's theater productions for several years and is now excited for this opportunity to grow as a performer with The Amish Project. Some favorite roles have been with the Burlington Players Children's Theater including Mother Hubbard (Jack and the Beanstalk), Louise the Gym Teacher (3 Sideways Stories from Wayside School), and Tonk (Alien Halloween). While not performing, Allie loves to spend time with her brother Grant and her friends outdoors, swimming, bicycling, and playing sports like basketball and volleyball.

Nancy Finn

Sherry Local

This is Nancy’s first play with The Burlington Players. Favorite roles include Marie Antoinette in The Revolutionists and Williamina in Silent Sky at Quannapowitt Players (DASH award Special Recognition), Louise Peakes in The Outsider at Vokes Players (DASH award nominee Best Performer in a Comedy), Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa at AFD (DASH award winner Best Special Ensemble), Ellen in The Waverly Gallery and Liz in Handbagged at Hovey Players (DASH award nominee Best Actress in a Play), Mrs. Dashwood/Anne Steele in Sense and Sensibility at Concord Players, Judy in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at Concord Umbrella, Paulinka in A Bright Room Called Day at Flat Earth Theatre Company, Anne Hutchinson in Goodly Creatures at HUB Theatre Company, and Ruth Condomine in Blithe Spirit at The Company Theatre. Nancy earned her Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from UC Santa Barbara. She is a professor of Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, and Playwriting at UMass Boston and Bunker Hill Community College, and she serves as the Education Director for EMACT. Love and kisses to Chris and Lila.

Ivy Ho

Ensemble

Ivy has been acting for three-and-a-half years. Some favorite roles include Georgia Parker (Time of Death), Sister James (Doubt: A Parable), and Magda Berelzheimer (Don't Tell Mother). This is her second time working with Burlington Players, having previously played Elizabeth Condell in Book of Will. Being a part of The Amish Project has helped her become a slightly less cynical misanthrope. Ivy would like to thank her parents for everything, and her siblings for being her favorite people.

Olivia Knickerbocker

Anna / Ensemble

Olivia is excited to make her Burlington Players debut in The Amish Project. Some of her favorite past roles include Evil Gabbi (She Kills Monsters), Brooke Wyndham (Legally Blonde), Karen Smith (Mean Girls), and Gynecia (Head Over Heels). Olivia also loves to dance and works as a dance teacher at Step by Step Dance Studio in Waltham. Olivia is thankful for the opportunity to be part of this amazing cast and crew. She is so thankful for all the hard work that made this show possible.

Rose Lovett

Velda / Ensemble

Rose is very grateful to have the opportunity to be apart of one of Burlington Players productions. This past year she was apart of her high schools musical of Oklahoma playing Ado Annie, as well as competing in the METG Festival play where she received an award for her performance. Rose enjoys choreographing and competing with her high schools accapella group, where this past year she received two “Outstanding Soloist” Awards. Rose is so grateful to have been eligible to audition for the Jimmy Award auditions this year making it as a finalist through METG. She would like to thank her family for their endless support and the entire production team of The Amish Project.

June Maguire

America's Mom / Ensemble

This is June's second show with Burlington Players. She is known for her performances in Into The Breeches (Footlight Club), Court-Martial at Fort Devens (AFD Theatre), The Revolutionists (Quannapowitt Players), and Doubt, A Parable (Studio Theatre Worcester). She is a IT Project Manager at Harvard Business School.In her spare time, she teaches Zumba and has been an instructor for 9 years. A special thank you to Darin Maguire for being her number one fan.

Kate Mahoney

Anna & Velda's Mom / Ensemble

Kate Mahoney (Ensemble) has previously performed with the Burlington Players as Lizette in The Farnsworth Invention, Omaha in Second Samuel, ensemble in Radium Girls (Best Production, AACT national festival) and Maggie in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Kate has also appeared in various community theater productions over the years, with the Post Meridian Radio Players, Georgetown Theater Workshop, Hovey Players, Vokes Players, Concord Players, Quannapowitt Players, Acme Theater, Arlington Friends of the Drama, Framingham Community Theater Radio Troupe, and Curtain Call Theater. She is also a professional voice actor.

Liora Meehan

Anna / Ensemble

Liora is honored to be part of The Amish Project team. Some favorite past roles include Amaryllis (The Music Man), Patrice (13), Fate 2 (Hadestown Teen), Cady (Mean Girls Jr.), and Grace (Annie Kids). Liora also performs with Voices of Hope, raising funds for cancer research through performance. She is grateful to her parents, acting coach Jamie Cook, voice teacher Laura Altenor, and VOH directors Jon, Ryan, Amy, Bea, and Dana for their encouragement and support throughout her theater journey.

Lea Oppedisano

Carol Stuckey

"Lea is happy to be making her debut with The Burlington Players. Other roles include: at Vokes Players: The Lifespan of a Fact (Emily Penrose) Fun Home (Helen Bechdel), Silent Sky (Annie Cannon), Wings (Amy), Rapture, Blister, Burn (Catherine Croll), Next to Normal (Diana); at The Treehouse Collective: The Mad Ones (Beverly); at O4fxsake Productions: The Elephant Man (Mrs.Kendal); at Hovey Players: Looking For Normal (Irma); at Concord Players: Follies (Phyllis) DASH Award, Sense and Sensibility (Mrs. Jennings/Mrs. Ferrars/Gossip) DASH Award - Critics Choice; at Arlington Friends of the Drama: Nine (Luisa Contini), Blood Brothers (Linda); at Needham Community Theater: Chess (Florence); at Opera House Players: Nunsense (Sister Robert Anne); at Exit 7 Players: The Rocky Horror Show (Janet), Cabaret (Sally Bowles), The Goodbye Girl (Paula), All My Sons (Anne Deever); at Actors Company: Boston Marriage (Claire) at Majestic Theater: Proof (Claire), Golf: The Musical (Woman), The Full Monty (Georgie Bukatinsky). Lea has a BFA degree in Musical Theater from SUNY Fredonia. Very special thank you to my loving family, Frank, Sophia, Frankie and fur baby Bodie. Your constant love, support and encouragement mean the world to me."

Carla Perrotta

Reporter 2 / Ensemble

Carla Perrotta is thrilled to be performing for the first time with The Burlington Players. Carla is an attorney and activist, and has been performing in local theaters for over 15 years. Favorite past roles include Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men (HCA), the Actress/Lizzie Borden in Blood Relations (Theatre III, DASH nominee), Betty Dullfoot/Wounded Woman in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (MLT), and the Narrator in She Kills Monsters (Concord - recent winner of Best Ensemble and Best Play at the 2026 DASH ceremony). Earlier this year she played Jo in A Few Good Men (MLT), Mother Celine in Mariette in Ecstasy (Treehouse), and Abigail Adams (TTT). Thanks to Celia and team for this opportunity to perform such a profound piece of theater. All my love to Pete and our family for their constant love and support.

Owen Piccini

Ensemble

Owen is delighted to be taking the stage with the Burlington Players. This is his debut with the company. He previously worked with the Burlington Players Childrens Theater in a performance of The Pied Piper. Many thanks to his family for their support through throughout this program!

Madeline "Maddie" Rossi

Ensemble

Maddie has always felt at home onstage and has been finding her way into the spotlight since she was in the womb! She has been performing with Kids Curtain Call since 2020, taking on lots of fun roles along the way! In 2024, she made her Burlington Players debut as the kidnapped child in Midnight and Moll Flanders, earning a DASH Award for Best Youth Performer. Last year, she joined Quannapowitt Players as Young Rebecca in The House on Haunted Hill. Maddie is excited to be back onstage and is so happy to be part of this special production. She sends a big thank-you to the Burlington Players for welcoming her back and giving her the chance to be part of such a meaningful show!

Adam Sell

Eddie Stuckey

Adam returns to Burlington (well, Watertown) after his 2025 appearance as Bruce in Fun Home. Since then, he's appeared as Miss Trunchbull in the Footlight Club's Matilda the Musical (for which he won a DASH Award) and as Doug Panch in Colonial Chorus' 25th...Spelling Bee. He'd like to thank Conor for indulging him in doing back to back shows and the Burlington Players team for finding a venue for this show.

Shelley Wood

Reporter 1 / Ensemble

Shelley Wood (Ensemble): Shelley is thrilled to be working with Celia once again, after the 2010 production of Fiddler on the Roof. Previous Burlington Players roles include: George/AC Repair Woman - Working for Crumbs, Elizabeth Condell/Sir Edward Dering - The Book of Will, Danny - 20th Century Blues. Acme Theater roles include: Annie - Losing Patients, Ensemble - The Squirrels, Aunt Margie - The O’Conner Girls, Mrs. Winsley - Stop Kiss, Ensemble - Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Ruby Delvecchio - Self-Help, Daphne Waters - Skin Flick, Wolf Moon Dance - Escanaba in da Moonlight, Sister Mary Germaine - Catholic School Girls, and Daphne - Perfect Wedding. Other roles include, Mrs. Roeder, Mme Curie, and Ensemble - Radium Girls, (Walpole Footlighters), Nurse - Wings (Vokes Players), The Fiddler - Fiddler on the Roof – DASH Award: Best Supporting Actress – (Wellesley Players), and The Dreamer - Almost Asleep – New Hampshire Festival Best Ensemble Award (Atlantis Playmakers). “If we don’t forgive, we won’t be forgiven.”

Sarah Wolman

America & Production Costume Designer

Sarah is excited to take part in their second Burlington Players production, the first being last year’s production of Fun Home where they provided Hair and Makeup Design. Other recent productions include Chorus Girl (Nice Work If You Can Get It - Theatre III), Costume Design (Dance Nation - Brandeis University), Costume Design (A Christmas Carol - Black Dog Theatre) and Stage Manager (Lucky Stiff - Theatre III). Additionally, Sarah was presented with a Dash Award for their costume design of Colonial Chorus Players production of Assassins. Sarah would like to thank their parents, boyfriend Sam, and friends for their continued love and support.

Celia Couture

Director

Celia is an award-winning director whose work has been recognized with Moss Hart and Boston Critics Awards. Her directing credits include M. Butterfly, Wit, Grand Hotel, How I Learned to Drive, Graceland, and the AACTFest national award-winning production of Radium Girls. She has directed professionally at Gloucester Stage Company and has worked with Cookeville Theatre Company and Venice Theatre. She is the founder and former Artistic Director of Woburn Repertory Company and the author of The Art of Directing Community Theater. Celia believes The Amish Project asks questions that feel particularly urgent today—about violence, grief, community, forgiveness, and what it means to see the humanity in people whose lives and beliefs may be very different from our own. She is grateful for the opportunity to tell this extraordinary story with this company.

J. Mark Baumhardt

Sound Designer

Mark is thrilled to be working with the Burlington Players again. Previous BP credits include: Schultz in Circle Mirror Transformation and assistant director for Mornings at Seven and Extremities. Previous sound design credits elsewhere include: Over the River and Through the Woods, Communicating Doors, Rapture, Blister, Burn (Vokes), Dry Land, Handbagged, The Revolutionists, Rabbit Hole, A Girl’s Guide to Chaos (Hovey), Silent Sky, Mothers and Sons, Prelude to a Kiss, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Quannapowitt Players). Direction and sound design credits elsewhere include: Rabbit Hole, Time Stands Still, Mauritius, Becky’s New Car, and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Quannapowitt Players), The Lifespan of a Fact (Vokes), How I Learned to Drive (Concord Players), Becky Shaw (Hovey).

Karen Burum

Hair and Makeup Designer

Karen is a Boston-based theater artist specializing in hair, wigs, and makeup. She previously worked on Ada and the Engine at Burlington Players, and The Amish Project marks her 44th production across New England, where her work has received multiple nominations and awards. Her hair and makeup designs draw upon her educational background in Fine and Studio Arts, professional training in hairstyling and makeup artistry, and her work as a licensed esthetician. Karen appreciates the opportunity to work on such a resonant and impactful play with this talented ensemble, and extends special thanks to Director Celia Couture and The Burlington Players.

Shawna Ciampa

Producer

Becki Greene

Doll Construction

This is Becki's first time working with Burlington Players, though she's enjoyed every show she's seen here! Becki serves on the Board of Directors at Georgetown Theatre Workshop and is currently performing as Hermia in their upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Favorite past roles include Nina from Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, (Quannapowitt Players), Emily Webb from Our Town by Thornton Wilder, (Georgetown Theatre Workshop), and Judith in Bill Cain's Equivocation (Marblehead Little Theatre). She is thrilled to be a part of The Amish Project's extremely talented team!

Kristin Hughes

Producer

Eric Jacobsen

Lighting Designer

Eric is excited to help bring this play to life. Eric’s prior lighting work with Burlington includes The Savannah Disposition, Fun Home, Midnight & Moll Flanders and was nominated for Burlington Player’s production of The Bridges of Madison County. Eric was also the lighting designer for Burlington’s award-winning “Radium Girls” at the AACT National Theater Festival in 2013. Outside of Burlington, he is the primary lighting designer for Voices of Hope, and has recently lit the stages of Quannapowitt Players, Hovey Players, Vokes Players, and Arlington Friends of the Drama.

Matthew Lundergan

Set Builder

This is Matthew's first time working with Burlington Players! Recent credits include Matthew in The Chesapeake Chicks and directing The Seagull by Anton Chekov, both with Quannapowitt Players.

Margaret McCarty

Properties

Margaret McCarty (properties) has previously gathered props for the Vokes Players (The Lifespan of a Fact) and Quannapowitt Players (Time Stands Still and Rabbit Hole). She has also worked on set dressing (Vokes Players, The Lifespan of a Fact) and wrangled costumes (Quannapowitt Players, Mauritius).

Alissa Palange

Stage Manager

Jenn Shea

Set Designer / Set Dressing

Sarah Wolman

Costume Designer

Sarah is excited to take part in their second Burlington Players production, the first being last year’s production of Fun Home where they provided Hair and Makeup Design. Other recent productions include Chorus Girl (Nice Work If You Can Get It - Theatre III), Costume Design (Dance Nation - Brandeis University), Costume Design (A Christmas Carol - Black Dog Theatre) and Stage Manager (Lucky Stiff - Theatre III). Additionally, Sarah was presented with a Dash Award for their costume design of Colonial Chorus Players production of Assassins. Sarah would like to thank their parents, boyfriend Sam, and friends for their continued love and support.

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