Beliefs are fractured and marriages are put to the test when two couples, (one East coast, one West; one liberal, one born-again Christian) dig up unfinished business from a past romance prior to their twentieth high school reunion. A man's leather biker jacket and a woman's diary entry hold secrets about a past that demands reckoning. 

Dr. Richard Middling may know his way around a root canal, but he is totally out of his element as he tries to tell his wife of his decision to marry his secretary.  He thinks he is in control, having made a “date” to break the news at lunch at their private club. Miriam, his very capable wife, is not the least bit surprised, nor is she ready to fade into the background as a pitiful and pitiable first wife. Miriam has already heard about Richard's fling at every one of her numerous volunteer activities, and she is not about to give up on her considerable investment in Richard's security—and hers.  With a veneer of “caring for” Richard, she wipes up this mess on her comfortable life with as much effort as it would take to wipe a stain off  bathroom porcelain.  Richard, with a narrow focus on the technical aspects of his career, is totally outfoxed by the agile and all-encompassing tactics of his foxy wife.  With a little help from the Russian Mafia—or maybe just the hard-working immigrant working class (which Richard has never noticed was there), --Miriam secures her territory—and her man and meal ticket—with ruthless grace.

The Basil Pot is based on a Venetian folk tale about a rich merchant's daughter that fell in love with a man below her class to her family's horror. The play is set up in the style of a greek tradgedy using the device of a chrous that serve as creating the environment of the world around the main characters with their voices and bodies. The fascination of this mysterious tale have inspired artists such as poet, John Keats, and painter, John Alexander.

YELLOW TO LAVENDER is set in 1944 and centers around the late, great actress Laurette Taylor (1888-1946) as she struggles to make a comeback despite her alcoholism in the Chicago world premiere of Tennessee Williams' THE GLASS MENAGERIE.  The cast of real-life characters includes the young Tennessee Williams, fellow MENAGERIE actors Eddie Dowling, Julie Haydon and Tony Ross– and a most important dress.

Kelly DuMar: (Contributing Playwright "What We Save")
Kelly began writing plays just after publishing her non-fiction book, Before You Forget - The Wisdom of Writing Diaries for Your Children in 2001. As a psychotherapist for many years, Kelly expressed her passion for theater by directing psychodramas in therapeutic settings. Currently, she devotes her time to writing plays, facilitating writing workshops, and serving as Interim President of Playwrights' Platform, Boston

Selected Play Credits: Hothouse, a finalist for the Arts and Letters Prizes, The Robert Lehan Award, and the Nantucket Short Play Festival, was produced by the Hovey Summer Arts Festival, 2005, and is published by Heuer Publishing.  Hovey also produced Kelly's one-act play, What We Save, in July 2006 (developed in readings at Playwrights' Platform, Shadowboxing Theatre & Image Theatre). Kelly's full-length play, Weekend at the Dreaming Cloud , has been a finalist in The John Gassner New Play Festival, Stony Brook Univ., NY, The Boston Actors Theatre, and is one one of four finalists in the Yellow Taxi Productions Susan McIntyre New Play Festival, Nashua, NH.

She lives with her husband and three children in Sherborn, MA

Val Sullivan (Sharon – What We Save) has been acting in Boston for the past ten years. For SpeakEasy Stage Company: Rhoda in A New Brain , Princess Leonide in Triumph of Love , Beth in Merrily We Roll Along , Carly in A Fair Country. She has also performed in SpeakEasy's Songs for A New World , Putting It Together and A Grand Night for Singing. For The Publick Theater: Ophelia in Hamlet. For The Theater Cooperative: Isabella/Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure. In 2001, she received a fellowship from the NEH to study at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon . She is also a high school English and drama teacher.

Tyler Fischer (Randy Echols – Yellow to Lavender, Vic – What We Save) is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and has been performing in regional theatre around Connecticut and Massachusetts periodically for the last 15 years.  Most recently, he played Ben in The Junkyard Dog's Salem production of Lineage.

Nick Ronan (Director – What We Save) is a director and actor recently returned to the Boston area after a long stint in Washington , DC . Past directing credits include Nicky Silver's Pterodactyls , Seamus Heaney's The Burial at Thebes: Sophocle's Antigone , and Stone Cold Dead Serious by Adam Rapp. He is a graduate of the George Washington University , and studied classical acting at the London Dramatic Academy . Last summer, he was an acting apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Thanks to Kelly for her craft, and to a great cast for all their hard work and patience.

Ann Marie Shea: (Contributing Playwright "Members Only")
Is an actress/playwright working in the Boston area, having appeared most recently in And Then There Were None (Stoneham Theatre), By the Bog of Cats (Devanaughn), A Prayer for Own Meany (Stoneham), Red Elm (Boston Playwrights' Theatre), The Tempest (Redfeather Theatre), and The Glass Menagerie (Worcester State Col lege, where she taught theatre for many years).  She is appearing in Richard III (Redfeather) August 2007 at Green Hill Park , Worcester . Her one-act play, The M-Pill , was read at the 2004 Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez , AK , and produced at Redfeather Theatre. Power Lunch was read at Valdez in 2006.

She holds a Ph.D. ( New York University ),and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Jonathan Overby (Director: Member's Only) is thrilled to rejoin the Boston Actors Theater in this production. A graduate from Azusa Pacific University , Los Angeles , with degrees in Communication and Theatre Arts, he is excited to join Boston 's illustrious theatre scene. Previous credits include: Stephano in “The Tempest”, Puck in “Midsummer Nights Dream”, De Guishe in “Cyrano De Bergerac”, Ben in “Secret Garden”, John Allesandro in Boston Actors Theater's “Hence These Tears” (a role he will reprise for Paracelsus Films Project Nephilim Series), Bellow in “The Autumn Hours”, David Orland in “Gender Bender” and most recently Jonathan in The Makeshift Theatre Co. production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.” He would like to extend his gratitude to his family and friends for their support, and for teaching him to believe in himself.

Sally Nutt (Miriam Middling - Members Only ) was hit by the theater bug as a child, and has been a part of her life no matter where she's lived.  Since moving to New England eight years ago, she's worked with many groups around southern New Hampshire and Boston . Recent  favorite roles include Melissa in Love Letters at Boston's Devanaughn Theatre, Mae in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at The Actors Workshop in Boston, Maeve in Distant Music with Lowell's Image Theatre, and assorted shady characters in Nashua's Murder and Mayhem ongoing mystery dinner theatre.  She thanks Jonathan, Gary , Stephen and Toby for a wonderfully fun time with Members Only!

Gary Ciambrone (Richard Middling – Members Only) performed with the Boston Actors Theater last summer in Vincent Morreale's production of his play, Hence These Tears, a role he will be reprising for the Project Nephilim Series.  Gary calls Riverside Theatre Works his home base where he has been in  A Christmas Carol as Scrooge,  The Secret Garden , Mame, Company and Oklahoma . His favorite role however, was Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees in Hingham .  Gary is thrilled to be back with the Boston Actors Theater as a part of this festival working with such talented people again.  Thanks for the opportunity!

Joey Pelletier (Samuel – The Basil Pot) is very glad to be working with Boston Actors Theater again. He was previously in Polaroid Stories with Tinderbox Stage Company, Duplex: the Musical and the Elliot Award Winning P.S. Page Me Later with Alarm Clock Theater Company. He worked on Love: From Beginning to End and Everything In Between with BAT and four original Brian Tuttle plays with 11:11 Theatre.

David Lucas (Technical Director & Jonathan – The Basil Pot) is happy to be back on stage for his third round with the Boston Actors Theater.  He has primarily been focusing on lighting (no pun intended) and other backstage elements of BAT productions, but he is happy to be back in front of the curtain working with another great cast for The Basil Pot. He was last seen on stage with BAT as Dick in Play it Again Sam .

Stacy Polishook (Chorus – The Basil Pot) is thrilled to be joining the Boston Actors Theater for The Basil Pot . A recent graduate of Vassar College , with a BA in Theater, Stacy has spent the past year making her way around the Boston Theater scene. Her most recent productions include the Weston Friendly Society's Kiss Me Kate , a reading of Barry Browdskis' The Boys of Winter at the Jimmy Tingle's off Broadway Theater, and The Effects of Climate Change , a new musical performed as part of The Hump Improv program at Improv Boston. She is thrilled to be making her Boston Actors Theater debut.

Wendy Hall (Director – Yellow to Lavender) is excited to be making her debut at Boston Actors Theater. Her directing credits include Crazy For You (The Boston Conservatory), Moby Dick! the musical (UMASS Dartmouth), Chicago, West Side Story, Annie, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Music Man (New Bedford Festival Theatre). Choreography credits include Singing In The Rain (Fiddlehead Theatre), Oliver!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Peter Pan and Fiddler on the Roof (NBFT), Putting It Together ( Ohio premiere), Hans Christian Andersen (Weathervane Theatre). On stage Wendy has been seen in the national tour of Chicago as Hunyak. Regional Theatre – Diana in A Chorus Line, Anybodies in West Side Story and Jennyanydots in CATS. Wendy is the lead vocalist for the jazz band Knee Deep. She has also developed a choreography workshop that has been taught around the country. Wendy would like to dedicate this performance to her three biggest fans – Sam, Will and Charlie.

Julie Dapper (Laurette Taylor - Yellow to Lavender ) is honored to playing legendary actress Laurette Taylor. Julie just finished performing in both the English and Spanish versions of "The Visit" with TheatreZone in the Park. This fall she will play Elizabeth Proctor in the Roxbury Repertory Theatre production of "The Crucible." Other recent roles include  Mayella in "To Kill a Mockingbird", again with Roxbury Rep, Kate in "Dancing at Lughnasa" with the Natick Center for the Arts,  Kristine in “A Doll's House” with Small World Big Sky Productions, Amanda in “Private Lives” with Boston's Theatre on the Hill (for which she won an Addison Award), and Dervorgilla in W.B. Yeats' “The Dreaming of the Bones” at the Hawkswell Theatre in Sligo, Ireland .   She thanks playwright Carl A. Rossi, director Wendy Hall and a delightful cast and crew!  She dedicates this performance to her wonderful mom.

Debra Mein, (Julie Haydon– Yellow to Lavender) a native of “The Sunflower State”, has also spent time working in New York City for Literally Alive Childrens' Theatre, as well as touring with National Theatre of the Performing Arts and Missoula Children's Theatre. Since moving to Boston, she has acted with Riverside Theatre Works as little Gretl in Hans Brinker … and as Antipholous of Syracuse in Imaginary Beasts' production of Comedy of Errors . Deb is very pleased to be working with Boston Actors Theater.

Terrence P. Haddad (Louis Singer -Yellow to Lavender) Terrence has been acting a little over three years getting his start on the stage playing Randle P. McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.” He has acted in close to thirty student and independent films. One of these films, “The Daydream,” won best local short drama at the 2006 Rhode Island International Film Festival. Terrence was the lead in the piece. Recently, Terrence participated in the 48 hour Film Festival in Rhode Island . He mainly concentrates on theatre now having worked with The Contemporary Theatre of Boston, 11:11 Theatre Company, Zero Point Productions, and can be seen this fall in “The Kentucky Cycle” at the Boston Center for the Arts presented by the Zeitgeist Stage Company and Way Theater Artists.

Daniel Schuettinger (Tony Ross – Yellow to Lavender) is so excited to be making his Boston Actors Theater debut with Yellow to Lavender . He has been living and acting in the Boston area for almost two years now, and has worked with several Boston area theater companies, including Zeropoint Productions, Sporadic Evolution, and the Devanaughn Theatre. He will also be acting in the film Bystander later this summer with Burning Snowman Productions. He would like to thank Wendy for her strong direction, Carl for his beautiful words and the rest of the cast and crew. He would also like to thank Lou, Bobert, the Crew, my Wheaties, Mom, Dad, Johnny, Big Sis and the rest of his family and friends for their unending support.