The Ring’s Late Night Series kicks off with ‘Evening Broadcasts’

“Evening Broadcasts,” the opening offering of The Players’ Ring Late Night Summer Series, is a collection of three one-act plays, all set in different time periods with some sort of fantasy or sci-fi twist.

In “Death and the 1889 Colombian Herpetological Expedition,” a pair of Victorian graduate students find themselves trapped in a cabin in a South American jungle with an organ-specific-eating zombie. Needless to say, this one’s a comedy. “The Shores of Lake Parima” strikes a far more serious note, as Sir Walter Raleigh is visited on the night of his execution by his oldest friend, Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland. Percy might be able to save Raleigh’s life, but only at a devastating price. Finally, in “And the Angels Sing,” five men in a factory in Naples on the eve of World War II are given a glimpse of a coming apocalypse and realize they are the only ones with the power to prevent it.

“The whole ensemble of  ‘Evening Broadcasts’ is in honor of stories I heard as a child, staying up late to watch reruns of ‘The Twilight Zone’ or ‘The Outer Limits,’” says Portsmouth playwright Jacquelyn Benson. “I wanted to take that experience and translate it onto the stage, get back to that classic style of storytelling. That’s part of why the Late Night Series works so well for this. Now the audience gets to have that scary but fun ‘up past bedtime’ feeling from childhood, as well.”

Benson’s enthusiasm for the project is contagious. Her description and tone conjure up images of reading scary books under the covers at night with a flashlight, or sneaking downstairs and turning on the TV, keeping it so low that you have to practically sit on top of the set to hear it, which is exactly the sensation Benson hopes to recreate.

This time, though, her role isn’t confined to sitting behind the keyboard. In addition to writing the play, she’s taken the directorial reins in her hands.

“It’s been terrifying and wonderful. This is my first time directing, so there are definitely times where I feel like I’m flying blindfolded, but in the end the story is what guides you,” Benson said. “And these are my stories. I know them inside-out. It also helps that I was lucky enough to get this absolutely spectacular cast and crew, every one of whom is a dream to work with.”

“Evening Broadcasts” will run from Friday, June 27 to Sunday, July 6 at The Players’ Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, 603-436-8123. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. and Sundays at 9:30 p.m.

theater romance in the park

Everyone knows the story of “Beauty and the Beast.” The book, film and Broadway musical’s title has become an allegorical catch phrase in pop culture, perhaps most recently used to describe the touring collaboration between singers Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

The play will soon take on new meaning for Seacoast residents, as the Prescott Park Arts Festival presents “Beauty and the Beast,” four nights per week, all summer long in Portsmouth. The event kicks off with an 8 p.m. show on Prescott Park’s outdoor stage on Friday, June 29. From then on, performances will take place every Thursday and Sunday at 7 p.m., and every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., through Aug. 24. (There will be no performances on Thursday, July 3, or Saturday, July 19.)

The play is based on the animated 1991 Disney film of the same name, which was later turned into a Broadway musical directed by Robert Jess Roth. Filled with music by Alan Menken, it tells the tale of a cursed beast who is condemned to live in a lonely castle in the woods, accompanied only by his former staff members, who have been turned into animate household objects. When an inventor named Maurice is taken prisoner by the beast, his fair daughter, Belle, traces him to the castle and trades herself to the monster in exchange for her father’s freedom. The beast’s only hope for being transformed back into the prince he once was is for Belle to fall in love with him.

The play stars Katelyn Ward as Belle and Jamie Bradley as the beast, as well as Tim Allen as Belle’s father, Maurice, and Dan Beaulier as the nefarious Gaston. Shows are free, with a $5 suggested donation. Concessions will be available at The Piscataqua Grill at Prescott Park, and seating is spread across the park’s lawn.

Since 1974, the Prescott Park Arts Festival has shown thousands of productions to more than 3 million people. Last year, the Main Stage production was “The Sound of Music,” which followed “Oliver!” in 2006, and “Into the Woods” and “The Wizard of Oz” in 2005.