Actors who are Bucks County, Pa., natives discover they can go home again – and find a place in Bucks County Playhouse’s challenging summer season.
By: Anthony Stoeckert
Last fall, Scott Laska and his fiancée drove from New York City to spend a day in New Hope, Pa. His fiancée had never been there, and Mr. Laska, an actor who grew up in Warrington, Pa., figured she’d like the town’s shops and restaurants.
While there, they came across the Bucks County Playhouse, where Mr. Laska got his start in theater. His first role was playing the Woodsman and the voice of the mirror in a production of Snow White for the Playhouse’s children’s theater. That led to some childhood roles in Camelot, The King and I and others. Mr. Laska’s family moved to Maryland while he was in high school and he went to college in New York and pursued an acting career.
"We walked around the playhouse and I told her how I used to (perform) there," Mr. Laska says of the day he and his fiancée visited New Hope. "She said, ‘Maybe you should try to audition for them this summer.’ And I said, ‘We’ll see.’ "
A few months later, Mr. Laska found himself trying out for Bucks County Playhouse. He’ll return to the stage this summer in The Full Monty and The Music Man.
Mr. Laska is one of several performers who either live in Bucks County or have ties to Bucks and are drawn to the playhouse for the work, the reputation and its ambitious schedule of shows. This summer will include productions of such works as Into the Woods, Ragtime and Miss Saigon, among others.
"It’s pushing the limit," says Jared Mancuso, who grew up in New Hope and is currently studying theater performance and musical theater at Marymount Manhattan College in New York. "’Ragtime’ for summer stock is a difficult show. It’s very emotional and I’m assuming the people who are in it are going to be pretty talented."
Mr. Mancuso also started with Bucks’ children’s theater and made his main stage debut in 42nd Street (a show he loves and hopes to be in again). This summer he’ll be in the ensemble in Aida and Miss Saigon and will play Harry Houdini in Ragtime. That’s a busy schedule, but Mr. Mancuso is happy with his summer job. "It beats working behind a counter," he says.
"This year they’re really doing a beefy season for musicals," says Brad Ross, who is playing Prince Charming to Cinderella and the Wolf in Bucks Playhouse’s upcoming production of Into the Woods.
"(It’s impressive that) the technical staff and the artistic staff can put together these shows, but the real impressive thing is that they do it in 10 days or less."
The Playhouse’s schedule is jam-packed through the end of the year. Into the Woods started May 24 after 15 days of rehearsal, just three days after Seussical closed.
Something else Mr. Ross appreciates is the independence Bucks Playhouse affords its performers.
"It allows a lot of artistic freedom in terms of your choices on stage as an actor, as a performer," Mr. Ross says. "It’s not regimented. They give you guidelines, a basic road map, then you can give your character the life that you believe he or she should have."
Mr. Ross explored the full effects of this when he played Judas in Godspell and was told to provide his own costume.
"I got dressed up as a soccer player with a big bright blue shirt and big soccer pads, it was hysterical," Mr. Ross says. "I had safety glasses, three or four arm guards and wrist bands, it was great. They let me do it and bring some of that into the production… This is the first place that’s ever allowed that, and I’ve grown tremendously from that experience."
Mr. Ross is fairly new to Bucks, having moved to New Hope about a year ago. He grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and attended Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. He worked at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins, sang with the Baltimore Opera Company and was on the staff of the Kennedy Center. He decided to go back to musical theater and moved to New Hope, performing in The Shape of Things during the New Hope Theatre Festival last August.
Then came a fateful encounter while he was celebrating his birthday in a restaurant. While everyone in the place sang "Happy Birthday," he heard some female voices that stood out in the crowd. It turned out they were with Bucks County Playhouse.
"My interest was piqued, and lo and behold I became friends with a bunch of them and they got me an audition, so that was my road to Bucks County Playhouse." Mr. Ross landed the title role in last season’s performance of The Phantom of the Opera.
"It was a big leap of faith for them," Mr. Ross says of being cast in such an important role in his first show with Bucks, "but it worked out for everyone." Something else that worked is that one of those voices he heard during that rendition of "Happy Birthday" belongs to Kaitlin Manca, who’s appearing in Into the Woods and is now Mr. Ross’ girlfriend.
Mr. Laska says he hasn’t been to Bucks County Playhouse in 11 years (he tried out for this season at the Playhouse’s New York auditions). Since graduating college, he’s done television and film work and even ran a theater company with friends for a while. For a period of time, he didn’t consider trying out for musicals.
"I used to love musicals and then I went to college, and when you go to college you get that sense of self-importance and I wanted to do important theater, theater that had a message," he says. "I realized about a year ago that I used to like musicals and I used to be fairly confident with them and I felt like I was kind of selling myself short in terms of making money and forging a career if I didn’t do them. So I made an effort this year to try to get my equity card and start auditioning for musicals again."
All three of these actors who call (or have called) Bucks County home would love to hit Broadway or movies or television. But when Mr. Mancuso is asked what he wants in a career, he answers with what’s really important, which is, quite simply, to work as an actor.
"It would be great to get on Broadway, but just to be working in general would be enough," he says. "I know a lot of people who aren’t on Broadway, but are content because they’re working… When it stops being fun, that’s my cue."
SUMMER STAGES IN BUCKS COUNTY:
Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, Pa., will present Into the Woods, through June 4; Urinetown, June 7-18; The Graduate, June 21-25; Miss Saigon, June 28-July 9; Aida, July 12-23; Ragtime, July 26-Aug. 6; The Music Man, Aug. 9-20; The Full Monty, Aug. 23-Sept. 17. Performances: Wed., Sat. 2, 8 p.m.; Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. Tickets cost $17-$24. For information, call (215) 364-4999. On the Web: www.buckscountyplayhouse.com
Langhorne Players, Tyler State Park, Newtown, Pa., will present Collected Stories, June 2-17; Anton in Show Business, July 7-22 and Rodney’s Wife, Aug. 11-26. Tickets cost $10-$12. For information, call (215) 860-0818. On the Web: www.langhorneplayers.org
Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol, Pa., will present its Summer Musical Series June 8-Aug. 13; For Sentimental Reasons, June 8-18; War Songs, July 6-16 and Broadway Rhapsody, Aug. 3-13. Performances: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Wed., Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets cost $27. For information, call (215) 785-0100. On the Web: www.brtstage.org