Weston is fortunate to host an amazing nonprofit youth summer theater organization, Weston Drama Workshop, which was founded in 1962 and incorporated in 1963. So yes, according to my acute mathy skills, that makes this their 60th Anniversary Season (fine, they also told me that). Just in case you are crazy about accuracy, WDW is allowed to celebrate twice because the 2020 season had to be canceled due to Covid.

If you are not familiar with Weston Drama Workshop, the Owl will presume you live under a rock or one of our many fine oak trees in town. WDW produces highly entertaining and sometimes provocative shows starring local youth performers, and is based out of Regis College’s Fine Arts Center. Last year, I caught three shows, each with a friend’s talented actor-student and wish I had seen them all.

This summer, the Morning Program musical will be Tuck Everlasting, based on the popular novel by Natalie Babbitt,and will feature actors entering 5th grade through 9th grade. Tuck Everlasting is the story of an eleven-year-old girl who becomes unexpectedly entwined with the immortal Tuck family, Tuck Everlasting features music and lyrics by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen, and will be directed by Aidan O’Hara. Some students in this same age range will also participate in the Afternoon Theatre Intensive program, which will stage the Theater for Young Audiences production Gooney Bird Greene and Her True Life Adventures, based on the book by Lois Lowry and directed by Callie Llewellyn. Fewer than ten spots currently remain in the Morning Program, and five remain in the Afternoon Program.

WDW will also have four productions as a part of their Evening Program, which serves participants entering 9th grade through age 23. This year’s shows are Something Rotten!, the outrageous musical farce that mashes up sixteenth-century Shakespeare and twenty-first-century Broadway, directed by Chris Brindley; Young Frankenstein, an adaptation of the monstrously funny Mel Brooks movie, directed by Skylar Grossman; Indecent, the powerful drama written by Paula Vogel and directed by Stephanie Manning; and Six Characters in Search of an Author, a play by Luigi
Pirandello which tests the boundaries of reality and illusion, directed by Tristan Burke.

Auditions for this summer’s season will occur in May, and are open to participants entering 5th grade through age 23. All shows will be performed July 21–30 at the Regis College Fine Arts Center. Tickets will go on sale to the public later this spring. For further information on these productions, and to register for the 60th season, visit http://www.westondramaworkshop.org.