QVAA to stage summer double feature

QUINCY — Quincy Valley Allied Arts is offering a two-fer this weekend, with a pair of short plays for the whole family. 

“Last summer (QVAA) … posted on Facebook, ‘We don’t have enough volunteers to have a summer production,” said director Emily Ellis. “And my heart is really in theater … so I wrote them and said I would volunteer. And they wrote back and said, ‘So you want to direct.’ I said I haven’t directed a whole lot, just my second year of college. And they were like, ‘That’s fine. You’ll be great.’ So here I am.” 

There will be three performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

The first play is “In Grandma’s Basement,” written by Ellis herself. 

“It was inspired by Arleta Richardson’s ‘In Grandma’s Attic,’ a novel I read a decade ago, but also by my own grandma Evelyn,” Ellis said at rehearsal Wednesday. “She shared a small box of mementos with me and some stories. That was very special.” 

Ellis was filling in Wednesday for Alicia Lasley Pineda, who plays the titular grandma, telling her grandchildren Elota (Avery Wittenbern), Fiona (Finley Wittenbern) and Josiah (Sawyer Goley) about the items in a little box they unearthed in her house, and the childhood memories they represent. 

“(They’re) things that maybe Grandma would just toss into a box and be like, this is a good memory, but I don't really need it right at this moment and she just puts it away,” Avery Wittenbern said. “And then her grandkids come around later. They see it and they're like, this is so magical, and it's so full of memories. And then as Grandma's telling her grandkids about (each) object, it brings back all of these memories and all of these life lessons.” 

The second feature is “The Cupcake Caper,” a mini-mystery written by Nancy Bond. In this play, Logan (Juan Ferreyra) plans to surprise his girlfriend Jessie (Finley Wittenbern) with a proposal, but the ring has disappeared. The family drama that follows involves lots of finger-pointing for the cast and a challenge for the audience. 

“It’s trying to figure out who in the family ended up stealing the ring,” Ferreyra said. “It (involves) audience participation, where you vote on who you think stole the ring, which will happen in the intermission.” 

Each audience member will get to cast a vote, and those who get it right will be entered in a drawing for a prize, Bunsch said.  And of course, cupcakes will be involved. 

“The Cupcake Caper” actually has three different endings scripted, so each performance will resolve the mystery differently. 

Most of the cast are new to acting, although Bethany Gregg, who plays Chelsea in “In Grandma’s Basement,” had directed a couple of plays at New Life Christian School, where she works, she said. 

“I get really nervous,” Gregg said. “I think I’m a lot more comfortable being on the other side. This is so hard, and I think I’ll maybe go a little easier on (the cast) next time.” 

Performances 

Aug. 15, White Heron Cellars, 23832 Fine Wine Road NW 

Aug. 16, George Community Park 

Aug. 17, Lauzier Park 

All performances start at 6 p.m. 

Bring lawn chairs or blankets 

‘In Grandma’s Basement’ 

Grandma: Alicia Lasley Pineda 

Elota/Young Grandma: Avery Wittenbern 

Fiona: Finley Wittenbern 

Mom: Maddie Riggan 

Chelsea: Bethany Gregg 

Dad:  James Bensch 

Josiah: Sawyer Goley 

‘The Cupcake Caper’ 

Logan: Juan Ferreyra 

Jessie: Finley Wittenbern 

Emily: Avery Wittenbern 

Mom: Maddie Riggan 

Seth: Sawyer Goley 

Grandma: Alicia Lasley Pineda 

    Grandma (Emily Ellis, filling in for Alicia Laskey Pineda), recounts memories to her grandchildren Fiona (Finley Wittenbern, left), Elota (Averywittenbern) and Logan (Juan Ferreyra, filling in for Sawyer Goley) in the Quincy Valley Allied Arts rehearsal of “In Grandma’s Basement.”
  

    Grandma (Avery Wittenbern) relives a memory of meeting a talkative cousin (Finley Wittenbern) in “In Grandma’s Basement.”