East Williston church troupe revives director’s play

Richard Tedesco

Louis Fucillo wrote “Once Upon A Happy Time” in 1970 but the playwright believes the play will be just as relevant to people attending this weekend’s production by the Billboard Players of the Community Church of East Williston as when he wrote it.

Fucillo, who is the director of the East Williston amateur theater company, said on the surface “Once Upon A Happy Time”  is a play about a couple facing the prospect of divorce. But, he said, the underlying theme addresses is people communicating – something he considers a serious problem in contemporary society, 

“People don’t understand what open communication is all about. Open communication is not only hearing – it’s listening,” he said.

Fucillo, 76, said he wrote the play in the 1970s –  a time when he felt social values in the country were deteriorating. 

The central characters are Richard Fenwyck and his wife, Eleanor, whose marriage is dissolving as Eleanor thinks they have a conflict of values. 

Richard’s best friend, Calvin Marshall, refuses to take life seriously and thinks there nothing around with stepping out on his wife, Rita – who knows what he’s doing, but hopes he’ll eventually grow up. A third conflict exists in the relationship between Eleanor’s mother, Monica, and her father, Henry Valentine, who has begun to see younger women in an attempt to recapture his youth.

“The values we grew up with, I think people have forgotten what they’re for,” Fucillo said. “It’s important to remember who you are and where you come from.”

He said he drew the material for his play from what he observed of people he has known whose marriages didn’t last.

“A lot of it came from friends and family who went through divorces. They got into an argument and they wanted a divorce,” he said. “Sometimes people who ask for a divorce don’t know what love is all about.”

He said the theme of the play is stated plainly in its dialogue, as when Monica says to her daughter, “People today don’t talk, they shout. They don’t listen…they hear, and only what they want to hear.”

Fucillo said he espouses the traditional Judeo-Christian values about the sanctity of marriage. But he doesn’t intend the play as a protracted sermon.

“I just felt there’s value to it. I’m not moralizing. I just want people to understand,” he said.

Fucillo, who is retired, spent much of his professional life as a training consultant with JP Morgan Chase, teaching communication styles to managers and supervisors. He said he applies some of his communication training techniques in helping his actors understand their characters. He said he exhorts his actors to “actively listen” when they are onstage.

He describes himself as a “liberal director” who doesn’t stifle his cast’s creativity.  

The last time Fucillo produced the play was in 2002 at the Christ Lutheran Church in New Hyde Park. He has done some editing since then, but he said the essential story remains the same.

“The characters didn’t change. The dialogue did,” he said.

The curtain goes up on “Once Upon A Happy Time” on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. It will also be presented at the Community Church of East Williston at 45 Williston Road on Nov. 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 8 p.m. and at matinees on Nov. 10, 17 and 24 at 3 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 16, an optional dinner package is included in the church’s dining room for $25.

Tickets are $15 and $12 for seniors. Group rates are also available for 10 or more people. For reservations and information, call 516-860-4424.

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