Theatre Works is about to enter its final season at the Masonic Lodge on Clinton Street and the small, but dedicated cast and crew will end their reign in style with a musical comedy, an alternative holiday play and an X-rated puppet show.

The company’s humble beginnings date back to 1983, when a group of parishioners performing minstrels in Our Lady of Victories church basement got the notion to take their skills a step further. “A lot of the parishioners were always doing shows together, so she gleaned from that group people who really wanted to get involved in acting,” Theater Works Executive Producer Connie Anderson said of the company’s founder, Evelyn Zifcak.

Zifcak, then 86, grew up above the Western Hotel in Nasonville and had started acting as a child. Her grandfather ran the hotel and saloon, and nearly every member of the family brought some talent to the job, from piano-players to singers. “We had a hall and a little stage, and I used to perform there,” Zifcak said. “When you’re brought up in that kind of atmosphere, you get a bend toward it.”

Zifcak became one of the founding members of the Assembly Players in Harrisville before moving to Woonsocket, where she was shocked to learn there were no community theater groups. She began the minstrel shows as a church fundraiser, and the rest was history. Theatre Works’ first production was “A Night of Carol Burnett’s Skits.”

The roughly two dozen cast members would stay in the church’s basement, building a base of faithful patrons and recruiting actors from Woonsocket and the surrounding area, for the next six years. In 1991, Howard Holt, a friend of Zifcak’s who was an active board member at the First Universalist Church on Earle Street, offered the theater company rental space on the top floor of its building. “It was a huge space with high ceilings and a balcony for our lighting and sound,” said Anderson.

Theatre Works would produce 56 shows in that space from 1991 to 2006, including large-scale musicals like their most successful production: “Nunsense.” “We were the first community theater in Rhode Island to get the rights to the show,” said Mark Anderson, Connie’s husband and the president of the Theatre Works board of directors. “People came from all over Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut to see the show,” Connie added. The production was so successful that they increased its run from four to six weeks, and sold out nearly every performance.

The company attracted young talent, including Woonsocket’s own Emily Luther, who auditioned for “Annie” at the age of nine and landed a role as one of the orphans. Kaleidoscope Children’s Theatre soon called the company looking for young talent, and they sent Luther over. Luther was signed to Ellen DeGeneres’s record label, eleveneleven, in 2011.

Mark joined the company in 1992, some ten years after Connie, and it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. “I made a lot of great friends,” Mark said. “She wasn’t one of them.” “I didn’t like him,” Connie admitted with a laugh. “He was being very quiet and I mistook it for being cocky.” The pair eventually became friends, and friendship turned to affection. They were married nearly a decade later.

New state fire codes, updated after the Station Nightclub fire of 2003, meant the church would no longer make a suitable venue. Zifcak, then president of Theatre Works, was looking for someone else to take over the leadership role. The Andersons accepted the challenge, and, along with Sharon Charette, Paul Adam, Deb Fahrenholtz, and several other volunteers, spent the entire summer dismantling and relocating the theater. In the fall of 2006, Theatre Works opened the smaller space, owned by the Woonsocket Masonic Temple Corporation, with a capacity of 125 — down from the 225 they’d entertained in the church.

Hawkridge is dean of the arts at Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, and April and May are when things start getting busy. “But I really like the text (of the play) a lot, and I thought, this will be nice. So I said yes.”

“Lost in Yonkers” is part of a semi-autobiographical trilogy about Simon’s childhood. Set at the beginning of World War II, it focuses on a dysfunctional family with Grandma Kurnitz as the matriarch.

“She doesn’t have a first name,” says Connie Anderson, who’s playing the role, “but if she did, it would be Brunhilda.” Her son, Eddie, is forced to leave his two teenaged sons, Jay and Artie, with his mother while he goes off for work. While Eddie’s away, the boys are treated to the rest of the family, each with a little something different wrong with them.

Hawkridge really likes the show because it’s family-oriented. “It’s one of Neil Simon’s more profound texts in terms of his family, and his feeling of what can happen if a person does not experience love. It says love is all you need, and that appealed to me. I like stories about family, about characters interacting honestly and authentically. And I enjoy the humor.”

Anderson has performed in “Lost in Yonkers” before, in 1995, as Eddie’s sister, Bella. “I think having done the show before gave me more insight on how I wanted to play Grandma. I wanted the character to be depicted as someone who’s really hiding the pain. Her emotion is squelched.”

The play marks a transition for Anderson, as she shuts down Theatre Works and hands the space over to RISE. “I wanted to be part of this transition from one theater company to another. It’s like letting go of my baby, and I wanted to let it go gently.”

Even though it’s a new company, “technically, it’s still our space,” said Anderson, “but it’s not my company producing the show, so I have to remain an actor.”

That’s not necessarily easy, and Anderson and her husband Mark have been available to RISE to answer questions and to help with some of the production elements. “I’m respecting what they’re doing. It’s their baby now. I just let them find their way, and I’m available if they need me.”

Hawkridge is mindful of the emotions Anderson is experiencing. “The opportunity to see the passing of the baton from one company to the next. That’s a rare thing.”

And Hawkridge is no stranger to Theatre Works. She appeared in a few shows there, including “The Female Odd Couple,” “A Christmas Carol” and “The Boys Next Door.” She remembers reading about the audition for “The Boys Next Door,” and taking a chance. “It’s one of my favorites. I walked in the door to audition, and they welcomed me with open arms. I thoroughly enjoyed working with them.”

As the show enters its tech week, Hawkridge likes how everything is coming together. “When we try to put the very last scene together, we all just laugh. Full-bodied, huge laughs. That’s a high point for me. The environment of putting this show together is open and loving and fun.”

Having Anderson in the first show with the new group is important to Hawkridge. “People have seen her in other incarnations in this space, and that’s good. And this play for me is Neil Simon’s best. It’s a perfect blend of his humor and his observations, kind of a no-holds-barred thing. These people are who they are, they are very real.”

The transition is bittersweet for Anderson. She’s been part of Theatre Works since it started 32 years ago. She even designed the logo. “We’re so happy that the space is being used by a new theater company, and that community theater will live on in this space.”

“It’s a new beginning,” she said, “not a finale.”

Rhode Island Stage Ensemble presents Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers,” May 29 through June 7 at the Theatre Works space in the Masonic Temple on Clinton Street in Woonsocket. Tickets are $19, and can be purchased online at www.ristage.org or by calling 800-838-3006. Other local actors featured in the show include Tim Ferron of Smithfield, Mark Tiberiis of Pawtucket, and Brenda Chiavarini of Burrilville.

Theatre Works, a Woonsocket community theatre company with a history of productions dating from 1983, has closed its doors. Today, judging from news articles and enthusiasm of the general public there seems to be a greater interest in theatre arts than there was 32 years ago. But back then when I came to Woonsocket toting a long history of involvement in community theater I felt the urge to test the waters and hopefully find audiences in this city. So after producing and directing three minstrel style variety shows at Our Lady of Victories church I gathered a group together with the help of a newspaper article by supporter/writer Pat Gratton. A name was selected, bylaws drawn, a non-profit established and we were on our way. From the beginning we staged four plays and musicals a year and we drew in a fine following of loyal subscribers.

In the way of a history, my husband Tony and I purchased a church building on Blackstone Street with the intention of gifting it to Theatre Works. However, a Reverend Lewis came to town with a tale of being referred to Woonsocket by the Lord who told him there was a church waiting for him there. Tony, of course, chose not to compete with such reference so sold the building to him and the reverend soon established a congregation there. Later on, we purchased another church building on Greene Street and donated it to Theatre Works. Alas, there was much work to be done to make it usable as a theater, so our dedicated members launched a fund raiser. Alas — again — our endeavor failed. However, Rev. Michael Kropman came to town. (Yes, we were still in competition with the Higher Up!) A mortgage was arranged and I have to say the reverend paid Theatre Works religiously. The monies we did receive from our short-lived fund raiser purchased lighting and other production equipment and helped to sustain our group for many years.

We found a home in The First Universalist, a church on Earle Street, and we produced there for many years before a rigid fire code forced us to relocate to the Masonic Temple on Clinton Street where we remained until the end of our long 32-year journey.

I would like to acknowledge those who, beside me, were the Charter members and launched this organization into legitimacy: the late Edward O. Boucher, late Dr. Ernest E. Dupre and late Brad Dorval; also Elaine DelSesto, Janet Cournoyer, Gloria Saillant and Judith Pouliot.

Other members whose talents and hard work in our very early years kept our group a reality include the late Auria Bacon, late John Kelly, and the late Lou and Eleanor Lavallee. Also, Connie Smith (Anderson), Maurice Cournoyer, Raymond DelSesto, John Beattie, Robert St. George, Raymond Lanowy, Richard Corriveau, Louise Tetreault, and Louis Lamoureux.

Over the years many others, too many to name, joined this core group and with their hard work and dedication kept Theatre Works alive and well during its long tenure. My heartfelt thanks to all of them. They gave the gift of time and talent, enriching my life and hopefully their own also. If so, that is my reward. My memory is short but my memories are long. So I will long remember them all and be forever grateful for their devotion to a great community theatre company.

Farewell, Theatre Works.

— Evelyn Zifcak, Woonsocket
Founder of Theatre Works

Luther’s connection to Woonsocket’s theater community began at Theatre Works, where she auditioned for the company’s production of “Annie” at the age of nine and landed a role as one of the orphans. Kaleidoscope Children’s Theatre later recruited her through Theatre Works. She was signed to Ellen DeGeneres’s record label, eleveneleven, in 2011.

Note: The full article is available at The Valley Breeze.

“I was at the French Heritage Festival in September,” Anderson said. “A friend who volunteers at the Stadium asked if I was auditioning for ‘Sister Act.’ She said, ‘You’d be so good in that.’ I just looked at her. I said I wasn’t sure.” But that put the bug in Anderson’s ear.

For better than 30 years, the Andersons ran Theatre Works in the shadow of the Stadium, and that kept them from doing other shows. Anderson decided to give it a shot. “I did my go-to audition song, ‘I Just Want to Be a Star’ from ‘Nunsense.'” Anderson plays Sister Mary Lazarus, the nun in charge of the choir.

“I love the character, and I love playing her,” Anderson says, laughing about being cast as a nun again. When Theatre Works did “Nunsense,” Anderson played Sister Robert Anne. “It just kind of happened, playing a nun again,” she said. “I’m Catholic, what can I tell you?”

“I’ve never been a trained singer, I was always a comedic singer. I do love to dance, and the rhythm came naturally to me. But learning the numbers and incorporating the singing and the music and the lyrics has been an unbelievable challenge.” She says she’s never studied so hard for a show. “I have headphones on at work, at night. I study the videos. Study, study, study.”

“I feel [badly] we’re only doing three shows,” says Anderson. “People say it all the time: ‘You’re doing all this for three shows?’ When you love what you’re doing, you just do it.”