LAUREL TREE Players
The game is afoot and so is laughter - lots of laughter! Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s ridiculously funny send-up of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novella, The Hound of the Baskervilles, which first played in England in 2007 to rave reviews and sell out performances, makes its South Coast premiere with the Laurel Tree Players in a non-equity production. Just how much audiences love the show is clear when you consider that Shakespeare & Company in Lenox produced the American premiere in 2009 and brought the show back in 2011, and Central Square Theater in Cambridge staged the show in 2010 and they brought it back in 2011. Now the Laurel Tree Players is excited and proud to be the third American company to produce The Hound of the Baskervilles in its South Coast premiere. For 22 years The Laurel Tree Players has been delighting and entertaining audiences. Their productions have been heralded by critics as "exemplary illustrations of well wrought theatre," and lauded as "stylish" and "sassy" with "the best comic acting in the area." Under the direction of Maurice Ouellette, this talented troupe of performers will present The Hound of the Baskervilles on Friday, March 23rd, Saturday, March 24th at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, March 25th at 2:00 PM at Holy Family Holy Name School.

Steve Canny and John Nicholson have created a madcap adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story which is Part Monty Python, part Marx Brothers, and totally screwy. It takes the audience on a wonderful wild and wooly romp through one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes tales. This freight train of howls and laughs carries everyone in its path along for a high speed ride of brilliant, witty dialogue which sparkles and fizzes, visual gags, and endless physical comedy as it barrels forward at a breakneck pace. Audience members are warned to hold on tight. Sherlock Holmes novices will certainly love it, and hardcore purists may be owed an apology . . . or not. Whatever the case the critics have been effusive: "This Hound of the Baskervilles is a howl. If your idea of fun is two hours  

of laugh upon laugh, you're guaranteed a good time. It’s a smart joke, and one that both children and adults can enjoy. …The game is afoot, and what a game it is!” The Boston Globe; "Seamless...funny and smart." The Berkshire Eagle; "Slapstick theatre that makes the audience hungry for more. ...Two hours of absolute joy in the theatre." Chris High.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the tale about an aristocratic British family which is terrorized, generation upon generation, by a spectral hound intent on killing all the male heirs. The great de­tective Sherlock Holmes sends his trusted sidekick Watson to the appropriately eerie countryside to investigate, while he observes in disguise. Together they             

By Roger H. Allen, Special Correspondent
NEW BEDFORD, MA --- As a special February attraction in its current 65th season, Your Theatre, Inc. will present the highly acclaimed actor and storyteller Bern Winslow Budd in a production of the award-winning show Mark Twain Talks.

In character and costume, Mr. Budd will appear as Samuel Clemens, world-famous American author of 28 books including The Innocents Abroad, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The show features stories, advice, anecdotes and, as Mr. Budd says with Mark Twain humor, “as much truth as we feel it is safe to include.”
Illinois College critic Ken Bradbury says, “It's an evening with Twain himself. The characterization seems almost non-performance in its ease and naturalness.”

Free-lance drama critic Pam Butler calls Mark Twain Talks “a terrific program. Mr. Budd is the consummate professional who has a knack for engaging the audience”.

A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, Mr. Budd has performed with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge as well as on Boston and New York stages.

Among other plays, Mr. Budd has appeared in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Edward II as well as in Moliere’s The Miser.

Mr. Budd has been a member of The National Storytelling Network and The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. He is featured on the touring roster of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday February 17 and 18, 2012, at 8 p.m. and Sunday February 19, 2012 at 2:30 p.m. in the Your Theatre complex at St. Martin’s Church, 136 Rivet St. at County St.

To reserve seats call 508-993-0772 or e-mail ytinc@verizon.net. Tickets for subscribers cost $10.00. Non-subscriber tickets are $12.00 with discounts for seniors, students, and military personnel.
Free off-street parking is available in the church lot on County St., and Your Theatre, Inc. is wheelchair and handicapped accessible.