FALL 2024 FREELANCE PLAYERS PROGRAMMING
Brookline Troupe (Ages 8-12)
Fridays 3:30-5:45pm
Rehearsals & Performances @ Driscoll School, Brookline
Start Date: 9/6/24
Production Week: January 18, 2025, 9am-12pm. January 20-24, 3:30-5:45pm.
Performances Dates: January 24, 2025 @ 6pm. January 25, 2025 @ 2pm
Show: “Something Good” by Alissa Darsa and Ian Lao
Director – Alissa Darsa, adarsa@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Ian Lao
Choreographer – Taylor Paine
JP Troupe (Ages 8-12)
Tuesdays 4:30-6:45pm
Rehearsals @ Hope Central Church, JP
Performances @ Eliot Hall, JP
Start Date: 9/3/24
Production Week: December 8-13, 2024, 4:30-6:45pm
Performance Dates: December 13, 2024, 6:30pm & December 14, 2024, 2:00pm
Show: “Rolla The Dice” Based on the musical “Monopoly” by Toby Dewey, Jack Megan and Tommy Megan
Director – Mike Casey, mcasey@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Cooper Evello
Choreographer – Elle Jansen
Needham Troupe (Ages 8-12)
Fridays 3:30-5:45pm
Rehearsals & Performances @ Congregational Church of Needham, Needham
Start Date: 9/6/24
Weekend Rehearsal: November 10, 2024, 2:00-5:00pm
Production Week: January 26, 2025, 2:00-5:00pm. January 27-January 31, 3:30-5:45pm.
Performance Dates: January 31, 2025, 6:00pm. February 1, 2025, 2:00pm and 6:00pm
Show: “Realms Collide” A new student work
Director – Mary Torpey, mtorpey@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Kelvyn Koning
Choreographer – Mike Healey
Players Troupe (Ages 12-16)
Wednesdays 4:30-6:45pm
Rehearsals @ Eliot Hall, JP
Performances @ Eliot Hall, JP
Start Date: 9/4/24
Production Week: January 5-January 10, 2025, 4:30-6:45pm
Performance Dates: January 10, 2025, 7:00pm. January 11, 2025, 2:00pm.
Show: “Norbert Beany is Action Man” by Tom Evans and Faith Soloway
Director – Mary Torpey, mtorpey@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Cooper Evello
Choreographer – Amaal Ladha
Newton Troupe (Ages 8-12)
Mondays 3:30-5:45pm
Rehearsals @ St. Paul Church, Newton
Performances @ Lasalle University, Yamawaki Art and Cultural Center
Start Date: 9/9/24
Production Week: Sunday, January 5, 2025: 9am-12pm, Monday-Wed, January 6-8 2025: 3:30-5:45, Thurs – Fri, January 9-10: 3:30-5:45
Performance Dates: Thursday, January 9 @ 4:00pm (Open Dress Rehearsal) & Friday, January 10 @ 5:30pm
Show: “Mything Links” by Sam Abel and Narcissa Campion
Director – Mike Casey, mcasey@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Ian Lao
Choreographer – Amaal Ladha
Spotlight Troupe (Ages 12-16)
Thursdays 5:30-7:45pm
Rehearsals & Performances @ Congregational Church of Needham, Needham
Start Date: 9/5/24
Weekend Rehearsal: November 17, 2024, 1:00-5:00pm
Production Week: January 12, 2025, 1:00-5:00pm. January 13-17, 2025, 5:30-8:30pm
Performance Dates: January 17, 2025, 7:30pm. January 18, 2025, 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Show: “Hamletta” by Tom Evans and Faith Soloway
Director – Mary Torpey, mtorpey@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – Cooper Evello
Choreographer – Katy Harnish
*NEW* Bellforge Troupe (Ages 8-12)
Mondays 3:30-5:45pm
Rehearsals @ UCC Church in Medfield
Performances @ UCC Church in Medfield
Start Date: 9/16/24
Production Week: February 2-7, 2025, 3:30-5:45pm
Performance Dates: February 7, 2025, 6:30pm. February 8, 2025, 2:00pm
Show: “Shakespeare’s Daughters” by Tom Evans and Cooper Evello
Director – Max Moline, mmoline@rehearsalforlife.org
Music Director – David Girardin
Choreographer – Katy Harnish
WINTER FEST
January 4, 2025
6:00-8:00pm
Congregational Church of Needham
Tuition is $650 per student for our Bellforge (Medfield), Brookline, JP, Needham and Newton troupes & $725 for our Spotlight and Players troupe.
FALL 2024 STORY THEATER REGISTRATION HERE!
*Rehearsal for Life aims to be an equitable and inclusive community and believes all students have a right to access theater education programs. Reduced tuition is available on the registration page. We are proud to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) nutrition program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming. See the full list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and Connectorcare discounts.
What is Freelance?
Story Theater
Calling all of our littlest theater artists! Join the play based program that introduces our youngest theater enthusiasts to the basics of improvisation, storytelling and stage technique. Over the course of 8 weeks, participants will explore, act out and finally perform a favorite children’s book.
Story Theater is back this fall for ages 6-8 in Jamaica Plain, directed by Teaching Artist and JP Troupe Director Mike Casey.
Join us Saturdays Sept. 7th – Nov. 16th @ Hope Central Church in JP.
“Even though it wasn’t a traditional class, Freelance was the most influential learning experience I’ve ever had. Through the program, I learned not only how to act, improvise, and sing, but also how to manage stress, navigate social conflict, and make friends.”
Liam, Former Freelance Player
About The Freelance Players
The Freelance Players engages youth in the creation and performance of original, issue-oriented musical theater performed for audiences of all ages. Participants gain skills in acting, singing, dance and improvisation while working collaboratively and discovering empowered self-expression. Five Freelance Troupes each produce two original musicals a year, performed throughout Greater Boston.
Our ensemble-approach fosters imagination, artistic growth and self-confidence. Freelance programs uphold our organizational values of social justice, creativity, respect, cooperation, empathy and positive social change. Students leave the program with a greater knowledge and practiced skill in the holistic study of theater, performing arts and drama. They will have exercised their social-emotional muscles through collaboration, discussion and exploration of the play’s story and characters, which results in a greater awareness of the self, their community and beyond.
Since 1974, The Freelance Players teaching artists, music directors and directors have been writing and publishing original musical theater shows – many of which are available for purchase and licensing for teaching artists and educators everywhere. Themes include climate crisis, gender identity, self-esteem, othering, power dynamics and capitalism. The Freelance Players original musicals are appropriate for ages 8-16, can accommodate large or small casts of any ability, are gender and color-conscious, and explore issues relevant to school-age students and their communities.
For more information about The Freelance Players – including volunteer, internship opportunities and our catalog of available plays – contact Mary Torpey, Head of Program and Creative Director: Freelance Players.
The Freelance Players are supported in part by grants from local agencies, including the Boston Cultural Council, Brookline Commission for Arts and Culture, the Dover Cultural Council, the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, and the Newton Cultural Council which are supported by their respective towns and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
The Ramsey McCluskey Family Foundation
Freelance Players Tuition Refund Policy
100% refund up until the first day or rehearsals
50% once the session starts
0% once the show has been cast
*In all cases, Rehearsal for Life will retain the $50 registration fee