Jared Reed performs in the fourth annual reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with original music by Drew Petersen. Originally produced by Curio Theatre Company in West Philadelphia, Jared has crafted the piece from the reading version enacted by Dickens himself.

• Saturday, December 21, 2024
• 7-8:30 PM
• Tickets: $20 at Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Dramatic Reading — Media Arts Council

Location: Delaware County Institute of Science, 11 Veterans Square, Media, PA,

Walnut Street Theatre (WST) continues their 216th Season with the charming story of Buddy the elf. Travel with Buddy from the North Pole all the way to New York City in ELF The Broadway Musical. The show begins previews on Nov. 19, opens Nov. 27, and runs through Dec. 29. 

Nic Rouleau as Buddy the Elf in “Elf The Broadway Musical” at Walnut Street Theatre.

Based on one of the most beloved holiday films and top streamed films of all time, ELF The Broadway Musical is the story of Buddy, who mistakenly crawled into Santa’s bag as a baby and was raised as an elf! Buddy is unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, he embarks on a journey to New York City with dreams to find his birth father and discover his true identity. What’s an adopted elf to do when he realizes his father is on Santa’s ‘naughty’ list and his half-brother doesn’t believe that there is a Santa Claus? It’s up to Buddy to save Christmas in this hilarious and charming Broadway musical! 

Based on the New Line Cinema film by David Berenbaum and with a book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, music by Matthew Sklar, and lyrics by Chad Beguelin. The  show premiered on Broadway in 2010, where it was embraced as a hilarious, charming adaptation of a holiday classic. The show features a selection of original songs infused with holiday cheer, including “Happy All The Time,” “Sparklejollytwinklejingley,” and “Nobody Cares About Santa.” This holiday season, it’s up to one very tall elf to save Christmas. 

Making his Walnut debut is Broadway and West End star Nic Rouleau as Buddy the Elf, a human who’s been raised at the North Pole since infancy.  

If You Go:

Nov. 19 – Dec. 29, 2024 

Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

Tickets:  215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org/season/show/elf-the-broadway-musical

Susan will be teaching an Acting Fundamentals for Adults class in January 2025. This class will follow the Hedgerow Theatre training of “humility, industry and an aptitude for learning.” This class offers collaboration, confidence building, improvisation, and some scene study for a showcase of scenes of classics by various playwriters: Neil Simon, A.R. Gurney, David Ives, and Thornton Wilder. Click on the link for details.

There are no new updates on Susan Wefel’s possible eviction from Hedgerow House. Susan was recently seen on stage in “The Homecoming” at Colonial Playhouse in December 2024.

In the fall, an article was published in the Philadelphia area about the situation with Susan Wefel and Hedgerow Theatre. It’s available at this link:

Home No More: Hedgerow’s last company member must leave Hedgerow House – phindie

On Oct. 9, Susan, with a lot of support from generations of Hedgerow theatre alumni and friends, attended a court-ordered eviction hearing. The judge ruled that, because there was no lease agreement, the case was brought to the wrong court. So, for now, Susan remains in residence at Hedgerow House.

Also on this page, you’ll find the previous Delco Culture Vultures features that the Phindie article references. Lastly, if you want to help Susan, at the very bottom of this page, you’ll find the link to the Go Fund Me for Susan which is still active.

Opinion: The Art of Kindness

By Betty Lou Roselle

I was first introduced to Hedgerow Theatre in the 80s. I had just gone through a divorce, and I would use my sense of humor to help get through it. A shy sweet girl named Kathy said, “Betty Lou, you should look into classes at Hedgerow,” where she was currently studying. It was just minutes from my home and the rest is history.

Susan Wefel and Carl Smith in ‘Corpse.’

It was wonderful back in those days. You had a core of resident actors who lived in the house at the top of Rose Valley Road. They were involved in all aspects of theater, building sets, making costumes, learning lighting, etc. Those of us who were novice actors just taking classes could look to them for examples of where we would hopefully be some day. One of those residents is Susan Wefel. She has a wonderful vulnerability that serves her chosen career well and makes her liked by all who know her.

She teases that I was the salt (blond) and she was the pepper (brunette). Janet Kelsey, my favorite teacher and mentor seemed to take turns casting us. As the years went by, I continued acting as my hobby but was lucky enough to enjoy creating ads for the newspaper which is how I make my living.

The resident members came and went but Susie remained. A lovely writer I worked with named John Dubois would ask me to set up interviews with Wefel whenever he was doing a piece about the theatre. He told me, “She knows everything about that theater.”

Susan Wefel as Grandma in “The Addams Family.” Musical” at the Media Theatre in 2014.

Unfortunately, about three years ago Susie was told that she would have to leave in 2024. I am not criticizing the theatre. I still write reviews of shows in the area and can see how hard it is for theatres to stay afloat. Plus being in the publishing business, I have seen many friends let go from their jobs. I thank God for my bosses, owners of the Delaware County Magazine and Main Line Chronicles, they work hard to keep us going.

But what I would love to see especially from a company that is part of the Arts, is the art of kindness. Show Susan the respect she deserves. Members of the Board may not realize that she followed her teacher from Boston University to this little theatre right out of college. This has been her home all those years and she has stuck by the theatre in good times and bad.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at Hedgerow Theatre, 1992, with (l-r) John Barrett, Aetna Gallagher, Ken Opdenaker and Susan Wefel as Martha.  

To all the patrons who loved seeing her on the boards, stop in to see Susan at the Hedgerow House, 146 Rose Valley Road, Wallingford, PA 19086 or send a card to tell her much you enjoyed her work over the years. And to those of us who had the honor of working with her, drop by to give her a hug and let her know how appreciated she is.

Readers share their thoughts about Susan Wefel’s dismissal from Hedgerow Theatre along with memories of seeing her perform.

Susan Wefel in the one woman show “Shirley Valentine.” Photo by Rick Prieur

Susan Wefel is amazing! I have lost count of the terrific performances we’ve seen with her as the shining star. When we moved to PA just after 9-11, we soon found our way to Hedgerow. For us, Susan Wefel IS Hedgerow. I can’t imagine a finer teacher, performer, or coach for those interested in trying out new adventures. Susan is a gem of an actress, but infinitely more: the heart and soul of what good community theatre is supposed to be.

-Pam Poe

I am utterly disgusted about what Hedgerow is doing to Susan after she gave her all to this theater for literally decades! It needs to be pointed out that she didn’t decide to leave on her own for other ventures, she is literally being banned from performing there ever again. They took her keys to the theater as another slap in the face. And to top it off she is being evicted from the only home she has known since graduating college! How is this allowed to happen to someone who gave her all and only wanted to do what she loved for the rest of her life at her home – Hedgerow.

– Cory Solar

 

“I’ve seen Susie countless times on stage in Hedgerow productions, the first time being when she played the title role in their kids’ theatre production of ‘Puss ‘n’ Boots’, in which my wife, Gwen, also appeared. Gwen and I started dating on that same day, so, oddly enough, I’ve known Susie exactly as long as I’ve been in a relationship with Gwen (36 years and counting!). The first time I auditioned at Hedgerow, shortly after that, I read opposite Susie in a scene from Terence Rattigan’s “The Deep Blue Sea”. I could tell right away that she was a great scene partner, but the theater opted to do Rattigan’s “The Winslow Boy” instead, so unfortunately I never got to play opposite her Hester. It wasn’t until years later that I had any appreciable stage time opposite her, when she and I played Cookie and Ernie in ‘Rumors’. She was marvelous in the role, of course, but my strongest memory of her performance—other than her line about cooking for her dogs—is of her delivery of a pretty innocuous line: ‘Okay.’ She managed to draw the word out so that it more closely resembled ‘Ohhhkaaaay.” People in the cast started to imitate her doing the line, and in turn she started to do an imitation of their imitations, and by the end of the run it had turned into something like “Ohhhhhhhhkaaaaaay!!!” That was twenty-five years ago, and I’ve regretted that I haven’t had the opportunity to do a scene with her since then…but hope springs eternal.”

-John Barker

I met Susie when I first became a resident at Hedgerow many years ago. She was (and is) a gifted and versatile actress; going from kid’s theater troll queens to tennis playing ingenues on any given day.  I particularly loved watching her in the “Out out Damned Spot” scene of the Scottish play.  Aside from being a gifted actress that I learned so much from, she guided so much of resident life, creating the weekly schedule for cleaning, rehearsals and meals, doing the shopping and driving the van that took us on children’s theater tours.  She quite literally kept chaos at bay in the house.  She was the backbone of the resident company.   Susie, Janet Kelsey and Moira Rankin are the only reason Hedgerow survived the fire.

-Gwen Armstrong Barker

An arson fire destroyed the interior of Hedgerow Theatre in 1985. Susan Wefel was one of the company members that helped the theater survive and open its doors again in 1991.

I had the pleasure of seeing Susan Wefel perform in several of the plays I wrote which were performed at Hedgerow Theatre. It was so much fun to see her bring to life many of the characters I wrote: Grandmother /The Lady of Summer in The Snow Queen; aristocrats and common folk in The Scarlet Pimpernel and many characters in Tales From Poe. I was also the stage manager for many shows that she was cast in – she was always a true professional, performing just for the love of it and doing whatever was needed to keep her beloved Hedgerow Theatre afloat.

-Margie Royal

My first memories of Susie were meeting her offstage during AS YOU LIKE IT while I was assistant stage Manager backstage and I remember how welcoming she was, explaining a bit about Hedgerow Theatre.  Shortly after Susan appeared in ‘THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL while I was doing wigs for a few of the cast.  She was really wonderful. in that and we got to know each other a bit more.

Susan Wefel (front right) in the opening scene of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” at Hedgerow Theatre, 1995.

Next, I was cast in TALES FROM POE.  We had some really good laughs during that time while rehearsing. And I will never forget Arasapha Farms Night. A group of us set out on Halloween Weekend to enjoy all the “scares” of the night at the Farm. Next thing I knew I was leading a Conga line at the entrance of the Haunted House with a CERTAIN PARTY wrapped around my neck and holding on for dear life. I kept saying “Susan, I can’t see with your hands in front of my face!”  Everyone was laughing and we had a really FUN night.   GOOD MEMORIES and such a MAGICAL time at Hedgerow Theatre – always in my !

I always felt that Susie had an easy manner and poise while on stage or making announcements to the audience. (especially when I became “THE VAMPIRESS” on Halloween Weekends each year.

Susie is a NATURAL in Theatre!

– Marilyn Brown

“This was a wonderful story. She seems like an amazing person!” – K.P

 

“So here I was thirty years old in therapy trying to figure out why I didn’t feel good about anything in my life. I found Hedgerow theater. I was with a friend and asked if he wanted to take classes with me and he didn’t show up – but I did. And then my life began…

Hedgerow was everything to me and one of the main reasons that it worked was Susie. She showed me a lot pretty much everything I know and she was just always there for me just like this wonderful theater that she supported. I spent many a Christmas with her family at the Hedgerow house because that was her home. She didn’t get to go anywhere else for Christmas because she was in “A Christmas Carol”.

She was Shirley Valentine… she was/is the show at Hedgerow… all the time…every time…

I love you Susie and I am so sorry that your legacy is being treated like it meant nothing And shame on you Hedgerow….I don’t know what happened, but you used to be a place of magic and ghosts….and firepits and fresh talent bright eyed coming together…

I hope the big business turn you took is worth it.”

-Jess Bye Stinson

“Whether you have performed alongside her, taken one of her adult classes, or grown up in one of the countless camps and children’s shows she’s been associated with, it is impossible to cross paths with Susan Wefel without leaving the interaction a fuller person than you were before.”

-Robert Gene Pellechio

Want to help Susan?

Ari Baker and Sammy Hurley have started a GoFundMe page for Susan Wefel. It’s available at this link.