Author Archives: backalleynh

Meet the Cast: Diane Ficarra

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Diane Ficarra

Diane Ficarra is joining us for her first V-Day performance, which we find surprising considering her wonderfully prolific theatrical career! We are so lucky that she is sharing her talents with our audiences, and we can’t wait for you to see her on the stage!

Q – How long have you been involved in theater?

“Lets just say I’ve been involved in theater since high school, so it’s been a long time. I’m trying not to make myself look too old. I’ve taken really long breaks here and there, but I’ve been acting since I was 17.”

Q – What are some of your favorite recent productions?

“Favorite recent roles: Maria in ‘Lend Me a Tenor’, Mrs. Stevenson in ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ (which was a radio performance), Nora in ‘The Thin Man’ and Lenore Helms in ‘The Man with the Plastic Sandwich’”

Q – What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“I have never performed in Vagina Monologues and I saw that you were auditioning for it and I thought that it would be fun. I just finished Lend Me A Tenor last month and was looking for the next project. I felt this would be interesting.”

Q – Who is the most influential woman in your life?

“Certainly my mother has been very influential in my life. That would probably be true for most women.”

Q – What or who inspires you?

“I am inspired by people who are passionate about what they do and live life with purpose.”

Meet the Cast: Mike Robida

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Mike Robida

Mike Robida is a writer, filmmaker, actor and film critic from South Berwick, ME. You can read about his film Vanilla here. It was chosen for the 2013 New England Film Festival. He will be joining us onstage for his firstV-Day this year, and we are delighted to have him as part of our cast!

Q – How long have you been involved in theater?

“I’ve been involved in various theatrical productions, off and on, since grade school. But I didn’t really take a vested interest in theatre until the 11th grade when I transferred to Marshwood High School and got a taste of what real theatrical production value was like.”

Q – What are some of your favorite recent roles/productions?

“The last play I was in was Abe Burrows’ ‘Cactus Flower’ for the Surrey Little Theatre in British Columbia. I played an unshaven, slacker, writer-type- a role I’d been rehearsing for since puberty.”

Q – Have you performed in the Vagina Monologues before?

“I didn’t even know that there were male roles in the Vagina Monologues until after my girlfriend was cast.”

Q – What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“‘The Vagina Monologues’ contains a lot of important material that should be embraced by both genders. But I think that the material can also be a little intimidating for men. There’s a sort of stigma that surrounds ‘The Vagina Monologues’, labeling it as the kind of play that angry women go to see so that they can be in a room full of other angry women so they can all be angry and seethe and hate men together. This, of course, isn’t the case at all. And I hope that my presence in the cast (as well as the other male cast members) will help alleviate some of the anxieties that male audience members might have walking in.”

Q – Who is the most influential woman in your life?

“It’s impossible to narrow down a single, most important woman in my life. My mom, my sister, my girlfriend, my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins, my friends… I am surrounded by a great number of women who encourage and inspire me every day.”

Meet the cast: Debra Altschiller

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Debra Altschiller

Debra is stepping back into the spotlight for the first time in twenty years. She has been joyfully back-lighting her children’s theatre and athletic pursuits, and now she is excited to step out of the green room and onto the stage this February. Debra has been a member of the team at Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) for the past year as their Community Relations Coordinator. She is also a volunteer with the GFWC in Exeter and her children’s schools.

Q: How long have you been involved with theatre?

“More years than I care to enumerate. I have performed, stage managed and been a stage mom for a long time. It feels like home to me.”

Q: What are some of your favorite recent productions?

“Lately my performances have been public speaking telling people about the Safe Kids Strong Teens program run by SASS. Talking about the great prevention education work that SASS does has been a joy. Theatrically this past year I have been a stage mom for ‘RENT’, Miles Burn’s ‘Whimsey the Musical’ both at Seacoast Repertory Theatre and Emerson’s ‘A Cappa-looza’. Seeing my children enjoy the exhilaration of performing is the best!”

Q: Have you performed in The Vagina Monologues before?

“ I have been an audience member for six different versions of The Vagina Monologues, this my first time performing in it. The first time I went to a V-Day show was in Providence Rhode Island with a group of fourteen women, we were so moved, shocked and entertained, it was an incredible experience! I’m excited and nervous to now be a part of this show that has made such an impression on my life and outlook on women. ”

Q: What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“For the past year I have been privileged to be a part of the team at Sexual Assault Support Services. Sexual violence is a plague and blight on our communities. Every word spoken, dollar spent and testimony given to remove this horror from our lives is valuable and well placed. I believe deeply in the power of bearing witness. Being a part of The Vagina Monologues is my chance to honor these stories, let my voice join the chorus of truth, its joyous celebration and horrible pain.”

Q: Who is the most influential/important woman in your life?

“The most influential woman in my life is my daughter, Marina. When you meet her you know you have met someone special and that this next generation has got our backs. She is an extremely talented theatre student at Emerson College. She inspires me. She is driven, sharp, focused and kind. If know Marina you know she is a musical bad ass, fiercely loyal and the best person to have on your side. The experience of being her mother has been positively transformative for me. ”

Q: What or who inspires you?

“My family inspires me, they are a really interesting bunch. We have celebrated some incredible victories and faced some frightening demons together. I will be celebrating my twentieth wedding anniversary this month with my husband Howard. He inspires my love. My son Connell inspires my bravery. My son Brady inspires my good humor. Marina inspires my confidence. My parents, Nancy & Frank inspire my loyalty. For all of this I am grateful.”

Meet the Cast: Genevieve Witman

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Genevieve Witman Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Genevieve Witman
Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Genevieve Witman is a freshman at Exeter High School and a passionate V-Day activist. She joined us last year for not only her V-Day debut, but also for a solo performance at One Billion Rising: Seacoast Rising. We are continually inspired by this extraordinary and talented young woman!

Q – How long have you been involved in theater?

“10 years.”

Q – Have you performed in the Vagina Monologues before?

“Yes, once. It was last year and I loved every second of it!”

Q – What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“I think the cause is great as well as the people who do it each and every year.”

Q – Who is the most influential woman in your life?

“All of the women in my life are important and extremely influential because they each have different stories and experiences to learn from.”

Q – What or who inspires you?

“I find a little piece of inspiration in everything I see or do.”

Genevieve Witman Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Genevieve Witman
Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Meet the Cast: Nikole Rene Souza

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Nikole Souza Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Nikole Souza
Photo by Mat Kingsbury/2046

Nikole Rene Souza is a world traveler and global humanitarian which speaks to the very essence of what V-Day is all about. We are so lucky to have this extraordinary young woman join us on stage before embarking on yet another exciting adventure abroad!

Q – How long have you been involved in theater?

“I have been doing theater since I was 7 years old!”

Q – What are some of your favorite recent productions?

“Some of my more recent favorites haven’t been for full productions, actually. While studying abroad on “Semester at Sea”, I performed the song “Come to Kofifi” from the Mandela Trilogy, written by one of our professors on the ship. After the performance he informed the two of us that we were only the second people to ever perform the song live. I thought that was pretty neat.”

Q – Have you performed in the Vagina Monologues before?

“I have! I was apart of The Sextet at The Academy of Art University”

Q – What made you want to be involved in V-Day this year?

“It’s such a powerful production, I love to be involved any year that I can!”

Q – Who is the most influential woman in your life?

“I met a woman in Ghana who was leaving the next day for Niger, her home country where she hadn’t been in 25 years. She told us she would be walking. When we asked her if she was sad or worried about her journey, she said “What’s there to be sad about? I am alive and that is all that matters” I never learned her name, but that one sentence influenced me and continues to make an impression.”

Q – What or who inspires you?

“Travel and the people I meet in my travels inspires me! There’s nothing better than meeting someone on the road and having a good chat with them. Travelers will never bore you with small talk!”

Nikole Rene Souza