Young director lives for theater
When Samantha Hammel was 14, she decided she wanted to star in a musical revue and that she might as well found a theater company to cast herself in one. And just like that, the Sudbury teen created and began directing the Friends of Broadway.
Eight years later, Hammel's can-do attitude has put countless local kids in the spotlight. Friends of Broadway has logged seven seasons. MetroWest Family Theater, which she founded in 2000, has staged numerous children's musicals. The Samantha Hammel Academy of Performing Arts, which she tacked on in 2004, has taught budding local talents everything from vocalization to what to wear for photo shoots. But that's not all.
Hammel, now 22, is also behind what could be the next big thing in kid's music: Girl Authority, a nine-member, G-rated Spice Girls redux made up of veterans of Hammel's programs. The singing troupe of 9- to 13-year-olds (most from Sudbury) released their first CD on Zoe, a Rounder Records imprint, in April.
They have since sold 30,000 copies, launched a commercial on the cable network Nickelodeon, and are gearing up for a national tour with a performance Saturday night in Framingham.
``It's really exciting. I still can't believe it's really happening," said Hammel.
Meanwhile, Hammel rattles off a list of other students she has helped into professional theater productions, bit roles in Hollywood films, and TV commercials. Most notably, Katherine Doherty of Dover will play Jane Banks in ``Mary Poppins" on Broadway this fall. ``Most of my students are more talented than I am," Hammel said.
But ponder this: Hammel works like someone who can crochet with one hand while shooting slam dunks with the other. She achieved all this as a part-timer.
First, she balanced her directing career with her classes at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School . For the last four years, she studied theater education at Wagner College in New York while running her Sudbury-based projects during school vacations.
``I was just brought up with the idea that you do what you love," she said. ``And I love theater and directing. So that's what I do."
Hammel graduated in May and now she's back in Sudbury. So, the big question is: What is she planning to pull off now that she's going full time? The big answer is: everything.
Currently, she's producing her first theater piece aimed at adult audiences. Neil LaBute's ``The Shape of Things" opens at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown tomorrow.
The show marks Hammel's return to the stage after a hiatus that lasted about six years.
``As I got older, it got a little weird for me to keep being in the kids' shows," she said.
Hammel will play a morally bankrupt artist, Evelyn, in this heady piece about relationships and the extremes of psychological manipulation.
``I really wanted to do this part and I didn't know anyone who was doing this play, so I decided to produce it myself," said Hammel, adding that she only recently realized that she's repeating her trick of founding a production to get a role.
``I'm basically going full circle, and it's kind of funny."
Her foray into adult theater will likely mushroom into more shows, just as her children's work did. ``We work with a wealth of children who all have parents. So, we're trying to expand to that adult age group," she said.
And it's less work. ``This is probably one of the easiest shows I've done. There's not a million costumes or an orchestra. It's just a small group of adults," she said.
That leaves Hammel more time for other projects.
She's busy serving as vocal coach and executive producer for Girl Authority, and the all-day summer classes at her academy start next month.
``I'm lucky I started all this so young. It's come a long way," she said.
``The Shape of Things" runs June 9-17 at Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown. $19. Call 617-923-8484 or visit www.sammonline.org.
Girl Authority performs June 10 at 2 p.m. at the Framingham Civic League, 214 Concord St. $9 in advance, $11 at door, under age 12 $6. Call 508-405-2787 or visit www.girlauthority.com.
GROUNDS FOR ARTISTIC LICENSE: As far as art fairs go, Artisans in Bloom in Bolton has no shortage of originality. It is set on the grounds and in the barn of the old Samuel Blood House (now home to Delta Equities Services ), and the late 1700s Federal-style estate creates a storied atmosphere (Blood was a Revolutionary War captain) for the juried show.
But the 14 town residents who make up the two-year-old Bolton Artisans Guild , as well as the dozen guest artists they've invited, offer some unusual items of particular interest as well.
Take member Paul Casco . When he was laid off five years ago, he did the logical thing. He borrowed a lathe.
``I was looking for something to do, and I happened to open a book and saw an ad about pens. And I'm a mechanical engineer and I love building things, so I borrowed a lathe, got some wood, and started to make them," said Casco.
His whim has blossomed into a business he calls Once Upon a Turn . So now, in this high-tech world of computer keyboards, and disposable pens, he spends his days crafting one-of-a-kind writing tools from fine wood (including apple wood from nearby Nashoba Valley Winery ). For the gadget-addicted, he'll even make, say, an African rosewood stylus for your PDA.
Even more interesting is his custom work. He's branched into creating keepsake pens from beloved trees, such as those from a customer's childhood home. Nearly any wood will do as long as it is dry.
Also on display will be Deborah Malone's funky ``va-va-va-brooms," with colorful hand-dyed bristles and hand-painted broomsticks with patterns inspired by calypso music.
Also look for Gayle Joseph's delicately patterned ceramics, Amy Crawley's pyramid-shaped vessels, Deb Small's hand-crafted soaps (including a whimsical hand soap shaped like a hand), as well as cards, jewelry, and Shaker-style furniture.
Artisans in Bloom runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 10 at 579 Main St., Bolton. Rain or shine. Admission free. Visit www.boltonartisansguild.com.
TUNEFUL TEENS: Four years ago, Holliston music teacher Barbara Stinson had a particularly talented and loyal graduating middle school class. ``They were kind of heartbroken about leaving me and looked at me and asked, `What are we going to do?' " she said. So they formed a singing group, Over the Top.
Stinson has since retired after teaching for 38 years. But she and the students have stuck with Over the Top. Their annual
On Saturday night, 38 fresh voices will join together for ``Hits of the '60s and '70s," and the group's four graduating seniors -- original members Rebecca Racine, Dan Bowler, Dan Brevik, and Colleen Mason -- will perform farewell solos.
Over the Top performs at 7:30 p.m. June 10 at Adams Middle School, 323 Woodland St., Holliston. $8, students/seniors $5. Nonperishable food items will be collected for the Holliston Food
A STROKE OF GENIUS: When advertising legend Dan Mountain suffered a massive stroke in 2004, he fell into a coma and no one expected him to survive.
``I shed my tears of goodbye, when I heard," said friend and musician Marc Black. ``But then I got this call that Dan was back. They took him off life support and he survived."
Black, a New York-based guitarist and singer/songwriter who has recorded with a slew of well-known musicians, then flew to California to visit his recovering friend.
``He was barely here. . . . He could hardly think at all. But the things he did manage to say were kind of metaphysical. So we got a notebook and I wrote them down," said Black.
Eight months later, after Mountain had more strength, Black flew back so they could write songs based on Mountain's poststroke poetry.
``We thought it would be something just for our friends. Something very therapeutic for him and very interesting for me," said Black.
But when others heard the music, the response was strong. Other musicians signing on to the project included Art Garfunkel, Steve Gadd, John Sebastian , and Steely Dan's music director, Warren Bernhardt.
The CD they created, ``A Stroke of Genius," sometimes eerily, sometimes giddily captures the life-altering experience of a brush with death and the struggle to come back from the ravages of a stroke. Or as Black puts it, Mountain's ``secret journey, walking the foggy coastline between life and death."
The mood shifts from hopeful honky-tonk to anxiety-ridden riffs. Stroke survivors have been so moved that the National Stroke Association sent out 10,000 copies of the CD's first song.
Black performs songs from ``Stroke of Genius" in an intimate setting Saturday night at Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham . Accompanying him on bass, theremin, and bicycle wheel will be Mike Esposito (formerly of the Blues Magoos).
Marc Black show 8 p.m. June 10 at Amazing Things, 55 Nicholas Road, Framingham. $12 advance, $14 at door, $1 off students/seniors. Call 508-405-2787 or visit www.marcblack.com.
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