A Message from Kevin Harnisch Board of Directors President
Brr, it’s cold outside! Time to come to the theater and ‘escape the past to seize the future.’
There is a lot to celebrate and look forward to, as you’ll see within this WebLetter.
We were honored with nine Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH) Award nominations for our production of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, including Outstanding Play! We open this new year with Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley, a comedy that follows the story of three sisters as they “escape the past to seize the future.” This dark yet hilarious Pulitzer prize-winning play is about a quirky trio of sisters who are forced to reunite during a family emergency. We are sure this play will be a crowd-pleaser.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we share a bit of our history. Providence Players of Fairfax (PPF) is honored to perform in the theater located within the James Lee Community Center, which has been an integral part of the Black community since its founding in Falls Church. The center is named for James Edward Lee, a Black man born free in 1839, who purchased the land. During segregation, James Lee’s son Edward sold a portion of the original property to the Fairfax County School Board in order to build a school for Black children. With desegregation in the 1960s, the school closed and has served as a recreation center since the 1970s. In 2002, Providence Players worked with Fairfax County to design and renovate the auditorium into the theater where we perform today. Our first show in the theater, The Man Who Came to Dinner, opened May 2004 and audiences have come to see us here ever since.
So, come join us at the James Lee Theater for another terrific show!
Kevin Harnisch
President, Board of Directors
Congratulations to our WATCH Award Nominees!
For those who are unfamiliar, the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors, better known as the WATCH Awards, are theater awards recognizing excellence in community theater in the Washington, D.C. area. Member companies supply judges to attend and to review plays throughout the year. We want to thank our PPF WATCH judges Sarah Baczewski, Mario Font, Elizabeth Keith and Ward Kay for their service.
This past year (2025), 94 productions (37 musicals and 57 plays) were adjudicated by WATCH judges. Twenty-eight community theaters participated. Congratulations to our production of The Mousetrap which was honored with nine nominations:
- Outstanding Costume Design in a Play: Farrell Hartigan, The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Direction of a Play: Eleanore Tapscott, The Mousetrap
- Leta Hall Outstanding Ensemble in a Play: The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: Joshua Mutterperl as “Christopher Wren”, The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: Bruce Alan Rauscher as “Sgt. Trotter”, The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Play: The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Set Construction in a Play: David Whitehead, The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Set Decoration in a Play: Matt Liptak, The Mousetrap
- Outstanding Set Painting in a Play: Brian O’Connor, Beth Whitehead, David Whitehead, The Mousetrap
The 2025 WATCH Awards Ceremony will be held at 7:00 pm on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia.
Opening Soon!
Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley
Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart is a darkly funny tragicomedy that follows the deeply dysfunctional Magrath sisters as they gather at Old Granddaddy’s home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Brought together by a family crisis, the sisters rehash past injuries, rise to the occasion and may even find some space for healing. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the characters’ situations are sharp, heartfelt, and hilarious. The play explores love, resentment, and the complicated bonds of family in a way that keeps audiences laughing even as the truth cuts deep.
Performance Dates and Times
Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances: March 13 – 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday Matinees: March 15 and March 22 at 2:00 p.m.
James Lee Community Center Theater: 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, VA, 22042
Spotlight on the Director: Sophia Menconi
by Tina Thronson
Sophia (she/her) fell in love with the script for Crimes of the Heart in high school. Even as a young woman, she says she recognized that this play was special. She told me that she loved the way that it revealed “the rich inner lives of women. Granted, these are some challenging personalities, but I know women like these”. My eyes grew wide, but she nodded with a smile.
Bitten with the theater bug in high school, she earned a B.A. in Theater from Denison University and an M.A. in New Play Development from the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University. She also attended The Kennedy Center Directing Intensive. Sophia is currently a freelance stage manager and director based in Washington, D.C. and the associate producer, and the company manager, for the District Fringe Festival.
When not busy preparing for this play, she has been busy preparing for her wedding to her boyfriend of seven years, Sam Milligan.
Sophia, here’s wishing both you and Sam a very Happy Valentine’s Day! And a fantastic production in March!
Behind the Scenes
This season we have made extra efforts to recruit new volunteers, while remaining ever grateful for our veteran production teams, actors and stage crews. As with our production of The Mousetrap, with Crimes of the Heart we are excited to welcome more new talent to the Providence Players. Cast members are:
Sara Joy Lebowitz – Lenny Magrath
Jennie Murdock* – Meg Magrath
Kelly Farmar* – Babe Botrelle
Raeanna Larson* – Chick Boyle
Meighan Hogate* – Doc Porter
Belol Nessar* – Barnette Loyd
(*Denotes Providence Players debut)
If you would like to volunteer, we would love to hear from you!
We love our actors, but we could also use help with lights and sound, box office management, marketing, house management and ushering.
We are happy to train you. Come volunteer!
To let us know your interests:
Please email directly to info@providenceplayers.org to share a bit about your theater experience and how you would like to volunteer. We will review your comments, pass along your interest to Producers and Directors, and reach out to you when opportunities present themselves. Join us!
Community Outreach
PPF Board Members have been busy engaging in community outreach. We do this not only to support our community but also to support a multitude of artistic initiatives. Recent activities have included the following:
Mason District Arts Council ‘Night Out’
Members of the independent Mason District Arts Council had a joy filled time celebrating the holidays by attending our last production of 2025, A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan. The Council is comprised of citizens interested in promoting all forms of art created or performed in greater Fairfax including: the Annual Arts Festival; multiple art shows; music concerts; and the creation of murals and sculptures for public places.
Providence Players of Fairfax was a founding member, but membership to the council remains open to any interested persons. Currently the council is planning activities to celebrate our country’s 250 anniversary!
The Gerry Connolly Scholarship for the Performing Arts
In honor of longtime member and ardent supporter of the Providence Players, Gerry Connolly, the Providence Players of Fairfax has established The Gerry Connolly Scholarship for the Performing Arts that provides scholarships to college-bound students from area high schools. To nurture future theater artists and recognize the contributions of graduating high school seniors to the arts community, we anticipate offering two $2,000 scholarships this year. Each scholarship will be awarded to 2026 graduating seniors with a demonstrated commitment to theater arts and who have been accepted to a U.S. accredited college, university or conservatory program with an intent to further contribute to theater arts.
Eligible graduating seniors must (1) reside within the school boundaries of Annandale, Fairfax, Falls Church OR (2) have been a member of PPF for at least one year. It is not required that applicants commit to a theater arts major in college, only that they plan on continuing their involvement and contribution to theater arts in the future. Download the 2026 Scholarship Application Form (in Word or PDF formats). Applications must be completed and emailed to info@providenceplayers.org Supplementary materials, listed on the application form, must be emailed to info@providenceplayers.org or mailed to Providence Players at the address shown on the application. Providence Players must receive these supplementary materials by the end of May 2026. Applications will be reviewed by a committee appointed by the Providence Players of Fairfax Board of Directors. The criteria for the awards and additional information can be found on our website. Decisions on the scholarship awards will be announced in June 2026.
Member Update: In Memoriam
We mourn the passing of Kathy White, longtime member of PPF.
After years abroad for John’s work with Exxon, the Whites moved (back) to Fairfax, VA. They attended our production of Arsenic and Old Lace and, as Kathy shared, they were hooked by the fact that “That play was so funny, and the acting was so good.” Once she and John joined PPF, they tried to volunteer in some capacity at least once every season. Kathy played the piano for Let me Sing, an original one act and our first musical. She later oversaw the music for To Kill a Mockingbird and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. She also had roles in Waiting in the Wings, and The Phantom Tollbooth, and produced All My Sons. She did set decoration for Big Tree Falls, Red Herring, and Snow White and the Family Dwarf.
When John was not traveling for Exxon, he was a skilled and ever-reliable presence to help build many of our sets and he even renovated the make-up room to improve the lighting. John also used his talents to “engineer” a functional, 12-sided head for his lovely wife for her role in The Phantom Tollbooth. She was such a good sport!
Kathy was talented, unpretentious, and unfailingly kind. In recent years, she and John had moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to be near their family, and it was there that she succumbed to cancer in January. Rest in peace lovely lady.
Our Members are the “Heart” of our Theater Community
To all our members, longstanding and new, we extend a message of gratitude for your participation in our theater community. We are nothing without the people who bring our productions to life, onstage and off, and the people who come to see the shows we work so hard to produce!
- If your membership has lapsed and you wish to renew, you can click here.
- Have an update you would like to share with your fellow members? Please send an email to info@providenceplayers.org with the subject line “Member Update” and we will include it.
- Are you in a show with another company? Join our Facebook Group and share the news!
- Click here to see a list of previous WEBLetters.
Thanks for reading the WEBLetter!
Editor: Tina Hodge Thronson