by Carlene Phillips ·
Friday, May 1, 2026
Claire Kinton plays Sally Talley and Jason Norman is Matt Friedman in Fivesparks Theater’s spring play, “Talley’s Folly.” (Courtesy photo)
A year ago this month marked the debut of the Fivesparks Theater with a two-person play, “Constellations,” followed last fall by “2-Across.” Both shows were directed and produced by Harvard resident Bob Eiland, the force behind the establishment of the theater program. It was always Eiland’s intention to have a community theater with different guest directors. The first of these is Kathleen Sills, with a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lanford Wilson called “Talley’s Folly,” which will run the third and fourth weekends in May.
The board of Fivesparks was amenable when Eiland approached them with the idea of a theater, feeling it would, as board president Cary Browse said, “round out the arts.” A moveable stage, purchased through a grant, makes a huge difference in the audience’s ability to readily see the performers. For previous productions, lighting stands were rented, but through a grant from a private foundation, Fivesparks now has its own newly installed theatrical lighting. And the upcoming show will be the first with a lighting design—lighting changes operated through a stage lighting program on Fivesparks’ new Windows computer.
In a phone conversation, Sills said she met Eiland years ago, and they bonded around their love of theater. He has kept her apprised of the productions of Fivesparks Theater. Sills started out acting and established a theater company in Chicago. She moved back east, now living in Concord; and for the past 25 years she has been a professor of theater at Merrimack College, continuing to direct plays. She said she was delighted to be invited to direct “Talley’s Folly” because, while she loves working with students, she is “so excited to be working with grown-ups.”
Eiland sent Sills a couple of scripts he had selected as possibilities in his search for two- to four-character plays that would work with the constraints of the Fivesparks performance space. Sills said she immediately loved “Talley’s Folly,” but she and Eiland, as producer of the show, had to resolve some technical issues before they could commit to it. For example, the play calls for a scene “offstage,” which is a challenge at Fivesparks. And, as with any two-person show (in this case with no intermission), it might be difficult to maintain the dramatic tension between the characters for the duration of the play. But they decided it was “doable.” Sills said the play, which she calls a romantic drama, “has the depth and realism I had hoped to be working with.”
The male character is Matt Friedman, an intelligent, defensively witty, Jewish man, an immigrant outsider, who feels rootless and isolated. Sally Talley, in her early 30s and unmarried, with progressive political views that isolate her from her wealthy, conservative family, is wracked with insecurities. They met when Matt was on vacation in Lebanon, Missouri, and became romantically involved. When he returned home, he wrote a letter to Sally every day of their separation; she answered once. Now, a year later, on the Fourth of July, 1944, Matt has come back to Lebanon, determined to propose, though he suspects it is a fool’s errand. Sally agrees to meet him at a dilapidated boathouse on the family property, an overly decorative Victorian structure built by Sally’s uncle, which, in the current time, is something of a misfit itself.
The audience will wonder what happened a year ago to cause them to break up. Why did Sally not keep up a correspondence with Matt? Did their behaviors have anything to do with that challenging time in our country’s history? Sills said part of the fun—and poignancy—of the play is putting together the pieces as the conversation slowly reveals what happened in the past, and Matt and Sally each become more vulnerable, exposing their deep, personal secrets and challenges.
Sills said part of the appeal of the play for her was the connection she felt with both characters. She had empathy for Sally because of societal pressures on women and the few options available to them in the 1940s. Although her own family was not directly impacted by the Holocaust, they were definitely affected by it. She said she was “so taken by both of their stories” as they are revealed. “I’m a sucker for stories of people affected by WWII.”
Eiland and Sills began publicizing auditions in January because finding actors is so competitive. They did some recruiting on their own. At the audition, Eiland gave Sills feedback, but as director, the final casting choice was hers. “We did agree though,” said Sills. Claire Kinton will play the part of Sally, and Jason Norman will be Matt. Both are new to theater productions in Harvard. As producer, Eiland recruited most of the crew and is responsible for set design and production. Sills found the lighting designer and a movement coordinator.
The performance dates are May 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, and 24. Friday and Saturday evenings are at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays are at 2 p.m. Doors open a half hour before start time. Tickets are $25 apiece and can be purchased at fivesparks.org/talleys-folly/.