Member WEBLetter, September 2025

Message from Kevin Harnisch the PPF Board President

We kick off our exciting new season with a time-honored gem, The Mousetrap, by the Queen of Mystery Writers, Agatha Christie. This classic play is set in Monkswell Manor, a remote country guesthouse where a snowstorm has trapped a group of strangers, one of whom is a murderer! Switching gears, our next show, for the holidays, is A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan. This quirky combo of Conan Doyle and Dickens characters is a heartwarming and highly theatrical holiday treat for all ages! After this, warm up a bit with our winter production Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. This dark yet hilarious Pulitzer prize-winning comedy follows the lives of three flawed yet endearing sisters as they try to escape the past in order to seize a happier future. We close out the season with a charming musical called I Love You Because, music by Joshua Salzman, book and lyrics by Ryan Cunningham. This is a modern-day reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that is set against the backdrop of a bustling New York City.

As we celebrate our 28th season, PPF is pleased to announce some good news. Below we have articles regarding a grant that we received from ArtsFairfax.

We also continue our outreach to our community by co-sponsoring the Mason District Art Festival on October 11, at the Eileen Garnett Civic Space in downtown Annandale and “artoberVA” a monthlong celebration of local arts in and around Fairfax which runs from October 1 – 31.  See below for additional information.

Finally, we are dedicating this season to our good friend and fellow thespian, Gerry Connolly, who has taken his final curtain call. An original Providence Player member, Gerry graced our stage in several shows, to the delight of our audiences. He was also instrumental to our growth and success in providing an entertaining and affordable quality theater experience in the greater Fairfax community. 

We miss him and include a tribute In Memoriam below.

Kevin Harnisch
President, Board of Directors

Coming Attraction: The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie

In this famous mystery, a group of strangers are snowed in at a remote country guesthouse called Monkswell Manor. News of a recent murder in London and a policeman’s arrival further heighten the tension when it’s revealed that the killer might be among them. As the guests and guesthouse owners share their secrets and alibis, suspicions grow, and a second murder occurs, leading to a thrilling whodunit where everyone becomes a suspect.

Performance Dates and Times:

Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances, October 10 – 25, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday Matinees, October 12 and 19, at 2:00 p.m.

We Welcome Back Season Tickets!

We are excited to be preparing an especially entertaining 2025 – 2026 season, and we are happy to announce the return of season tickets. 

Two packages are available. 

• One package includes tickets for all four productions.
• The second package includes three main-stage productions but excludes the holiday show. 

Pricing for each package reflects an approximately 15% discount from the cost of purchasing tickets for each show individually. Seats are reserved at all shows, including the holiday show. Subscribers will be able to make their own reservations online, or, if they prefer, may request assistance from the box office at tickets@providenceplayers.org. 

We look forward to welcoming you back to the James Lee Community Center Theater!

Community Outreach: welcome to a new partner – and a new offer!

Fall into the Arts

Fall is upon us and ArtsFairfax invites you to “fall into the arts” with artoberVA, the inaugural, month-long celebration of local arts in Fairfax! From October 1-31, 2025, ArtsFairfax will showcase free events, and discount offers from dozens of local artists and arts organizations in the Fairfax region.   

Presented in collaboration with CultureWorks, which serves Richmond and the Tri-Cities region, artoberVA wants Virginia residents to experience and support local arts for National Arts & Humanities Month this October.

Providence Players is thrilled to partner with ArtsFairfax in celebrating artoberVA and is offering a special artoberVA ticket discount to our upcoming production The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. The coupon code is ARTS15 to be used on our website ticket page. It will take 15% off the entire order. It can be used only once per customer. 

Good only on tickets to The Mousetrap, not season tickets. 

In the Spotlight: Eleanore Tapscott, Director

by Tina Thronson

Eleanore Tapscott is a fixture in local community theater. Over the last few years, she has directed productions for Little Theatre of Alexandria, the Colonial Players, Dominion Stage, the Port Tobacco Players, the McLean Community Players, and the Sterling Playmakers. She even directed Playing Juliet/Casting Othello for the Providence Players in 2022.

To our delight, she has returned to PPF for the opportunity to direct an Agatha Christie classic The Mousetrap. I caught up with her at the recent set build. When asked what appealed to her about directing our production she replied, “I really want to work with this very British language and this very clever plot”.  She went on to say that she has a passion for murder mysteries.

I love a puzzle, you know, the Rubik’s cube. I can name every episode of Murder She Wrote and am working my way through my BritBox subscription! The puzzle challenge is the same with a great play. A good mystery writer slips in red herrings as well as a plausible plot. Agatha Christie was one of the best. She has done most of the work for me. As the Director, I want to honor the clever twists and turns that get us to the answer but without giving anything away too soon.

Monkswell Manor, in England, is old and has been “updated” at various times over the centuries. Its latest style is shabby-Victorian with a few efforts at some updates to the true period of the play, 1952.  Eleanore pointed out that “The biggest challenge for the actors in a period-piece is to truly understand the time and place in which the story occurs and to understand what genuinely motivates the characters.”  The actors will need to inhabit a time in which England was still suffering from the psychological and economic hardships of a terrible war. They were still experiencing rationing! 

To get the actors on the right track, Eleanore assigned a topic for each actor to research and then to share with the rest of the cast. The topic list included rationing in post-war England, the importance of radio, how would one become a police officer in post-war England, English attitudes about mental health, the cost of daily goods in 1952, typical English meals, and in what way is the movie See How They Run related to The Mousetrap?   (Note: The Christie estate has abided by her wishes and has never allowed The Mousetrap to be filmed. However, this recent film uses a murder during a production of The Mousetrap to have a mystery within a mystery. Unfortunately – that’s as close as the film gets in revealing details of our play!)

Eleanore ended our chat by saying that she was also intrigued by the theme of isolation that runs through the script. 

The characters have been forced into an isolated situation by the sudden impact of a storm. We all have recently been forced into an isolated situation by the impact of a pandemic. That level of isolation causes stress on those who experience it. In the play, do the lodgers know who they are sharing the Manor with? The characters have secrets. Will their pasts catch up with them? Will they crack under the strain – or will they overcome their past experiences and prevail?

Come see the play to find out.

Behind the Scenes

Building the set and planning the production: Volunteers came together to build The Mousetrap set.

The production meeting

Set build weekend gave the team a chance to review plans with the Director. 

Lots of details. Serious business.

Community Outreach: Mason District Art Festival

Providence Players is a proud member of the Mason District Arts Council and a co-sponsor of the Mason District Art Festival. Through the Art Festival, we, the members of the Mason District Art Festival Committee, hope to bring beauty and a stronger sense of neighborliness to our community.

We look forward to seeing you at our inaugural 2025 Mason District Art Festival.

October 11, 2025 | 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Rain or shine

Eileen Garnett Civic Space in downtown Annandale

7200 Columbia Pike, Annandale VA

You can contact us at masondistrictarts@gmail.com

The arts matter because they help us see the world from different perspectives. They give us empathy and help us understand people, places, periods of history, and issues with which we may otherwise be unfamiliar … The arts ignite something in our brains that I can’t explain, but I know it’s essential for life.
– Jennie Terman

Community Outreach: The Gerry Connolly Scholarship for the Performing Arts

Fifteen years ago, Providence Players launched a scholarship program to recognize graduating seniors from the community who demonstrated a commitment to theater arts and showed strong potential for further contributions to the arts.  The grant we receive from ArtsFairfax helps support this and other Providence Players community outreach initiatives. As part of our 25th-year anniversary celebration, the Players recognized a long-time member and ardent supporter – Gerry Connolly – by renaming the scholarship program The Gerry Connolly Scholarship for the Performing Arts. Gerry, one of our original members, appeared in the Players very first production, You Can’t Take it With You, in 1998. Since then he appeared in numerous shows – to the delight (and at times surprise) of our audience.  He and his wife Smitty have supported this troupe in countless ways, for which we will be forever grateful.  

 

Each year since the inception of the scholarship program, Providence Players has awarded stipends to amazing young people in our community – and this year is no exception. This year we honored Han Nguyen, a recent graduate of George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church.  Han joined the Players four years ago as a ninth grader when she delighted audiences as Karen in The Beatle Club.  Since then, she has performed numerous onstage and offstage roles for Providence Players as well as at Marshall. During high school, Han wrote and starred in an autobiographical play, It Doesn’t End in Nebraska, which was entered into the Virginia High School League One-Act competition.  Han won the District round, the Northern Virginia Regional round, and the State Finals in Charlottesville!  As her former Literature teacher remarked, “Han is a student that embodies what our school’s values are: Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, Spirit, and Community. Han’s commitment to her craft shines through her dedication to school, passion for theater, and love for people.”

 

This year we were honored to have Congressman Connolly’s wife Smitty Connolly and Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez on stage with us to make the scholarship presentation prior to one of our performances.  It was a particularly poignant reminder of the recent loss of Gerry Connolly, a true champion of the arts for northern Virginia and particularly for Fairfax County.

Grant Awarded to Providence Players

Providence Players is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a 2026 ArtsFairfax Operating Support Grant to further its mission to bring quality community theater to our area.  PPF is among 56 ArtsFairfax Operating Support Grant recipients based in Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church.   

PPF President Kevin Harnisch said, “We are grateful to Fairfax County, the Board of Supervisors, especially Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, and ArtsFairfax for supporting PPF. The ArtsFairfax Operating Support Grant is an important representation of local leadership’s investment in the work we do to make theater come alive and involve community members in this effort.” 

Operating Support Grants are foundational to the stability of local nonprofit arts and culture organizations. By distributing Fairfax County funds for the basic operation of arts and culture programs, services, and facilities (to local nonprofits in Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church), ArtsFairfax ensures the vitality of the arts in our community.  

ArtsFairfax is the nonprofit designated as Fairfax County’s local arts agency. Dedicated to the belief that arts are essential to a thriving community, the ArtsFairfax mission is to expand support for, and access to, arts and culture opportunities for the more than 1.2 million residents across Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church. By offering informational, financial, and programmatic services, ArtsFairfax promotes the role of arts and culture to deepen social engagement, create a sense of place, and fuel economic growth. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) since 1964, ArtsFairfax provides these services to all who contribute to, and experience, arts in Fairfax County. It is funded, in part, by the County, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Save the Date

• October 11, 2025: Opening night party for The Mousetrap will take place on Saturday, October 11 at Clare and Don’s Beach Shack which is located at 130 N. Washington Street, Falls Church, VA. It will begin when the Saturday performance ends (approximately 9:30).The charge for both members and non-members will be $15 per person and will include one beverage ticket for wine, beer, or a soft drink. Heavy hors d’oeuvres will also be served.Street parking is limited but there is public parking across the street on Level 2 of the Kaiser Permanente Falls Church Medical Center (201 N Washington St). Please come and join us to celebrate another terrific production!

• Reminder October 11, 2025: Mason District Art Festival
  10 a.m.-3 p.m. Eileen Garnett Civic Space,7200 Columbia Pike, Annandale

In Memoriam: A Tribute to Congressman Gerry Connolly

by Tina Thronson

In dedicating this space to acknowledge the passing of Congressman Gerry Connolly, I took a moment to read his Wikipedia page. His was an astonishing life in public service. As Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, he “managed a county that would be the nation’s 13th-largest city, 12th-largest school district, and sixth-largest office market.“  As a member of Congress in the House of Representatives, there is what amounts to page after page of entries describing legislation he sponsored and numerous committees and subcommittees he participated on. Among all his activities and accomplishments there is this entry:

Connolly was also a company member of The Providence Players of Fairfax, a community theatre in Fairfax County, having acted in several of their plays.

Our connection with Gerry ran deep. He lived in, and represented, the district which was home to the fledgling Providence Players. In our earliest days he and his wife Smitty were unfailingly cheerful, active members. 

When there was an opportunity to find us a place to hang our hats, after performing in school lunchrooms, Gerry was our advocate in our partnership with The James Lee Center in Falls Church.

Lucky for us, Gerry clearly loved the limelight – however modest an amount of limelight was provided by our little company. If there was a play with a good role that he could slot into his schedule, or a fun walk-on, he was there! Over time he played a hilarious Irish cop in Harvey, delivered a scorching speech as the Judge in The Laramie Project and even appeared onstage in our version of the oval office in November. He and Smitty (another Laramie Project alum) participated in social gatherings as well where one could find Gerry either in deep conversation with members, discussing some major issue of the day, or bringing others to tears of laughter with a hilarious anecdote. 

It was this years-long dedication to the Providence Players that moved the Board to rename our scholarship program after Gerry. It is his longtime dedication to us, his advocacy, and his friendship that we will miss.

If You Love This Company, We Need Your Help!

We love our auditioners, but this season it looks like we will also need help with box office, marketing, productions (backstage crew, lighting design, props and stage management), house management, and ushers. 

We are happy to train you. Come Volunteer! 

Let us know your interests:

Since our Member Interest Survey remains under re-construction, 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.

We look forward to working and playing with you!

Welcome to New and Renewing Members

• 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 page.  Share the news!
• Click here to see a list of previous WEBLetters.

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