At Open Jar Studios, Nate Bertone's new play The SeaView Nursing Home for the Newly Deceased will receive its New York premiere with private industry readings set for May 9 at 3 PM and May 10 at 11 AM.
Six souls have woken up after recently passing in the abandoned SeaView Nursing Home. After coming to terms with being deceased and where they are, they encounter a real estate agent determined to sell the property—and the souls must figure out how to finish crossing over before she sells. Co-produced by North Shore Music Theatre, the play was inspired by the life of North Shore's General Manager Karen Nascembeni.
Directed by Bertone, the cast will star Jared Reinfeldt (American Horror Story, Gossip Girl), Ebony Marshall-Oliver (Ain’t No Mo’, Chicken and Biscuits), Kyra Kennedy (Waitress National Tour), Kathy Fitzgerald (Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Mia Matthews (Single Drunk Female, American Soul), Heath Saunders (Alice by Heart, Jesus Christ Superstar: Live), Alex Branton (Water for Elephants Lab, Son of a Gun), and Tarra Connor Jones (From Birmingham to Broadway, White Girl in Danger).
Bertone said in a statement, “SeaView is a piece that I began as part of my grieving process when my beloved friend Steven Richard lost his life to COVID-19. His wife and my best friend, Karen, was equally as ill in the ICU, and much like the rest of the world, I was struggling to process the situation we were in. In a time of isolation and loss, I was driving through the North Shore of Massachusetts in hopes of finding some peace. As I drove through Danvers, MA, I passed a sign that appeared to say ‘The New England Home for the Dead.’ I looked at it, said to myself, ‘Huh, how strange. That must be like a home for souls that are stuck since we can’t grieve them properly right now,’ and kept driving. Later, I learned that I had driven past a home for the deaf and it was my grief-stricken mind that changed a letter. In those moments, a new play was born about life, loss, and the gray area in between.”
Casting is by Benton Whitley of Whitley Theatrical, with general management by ShowTown Theatricals. It is produced by Karen Nascembeni, a long time mentor of Bertone, with the support of Haley Swindal, Bill Hanney/North Shore Music Theatre, Proof Productions, Greg DeLuca, Laura and Marc Freedman, and Greg and Jean Chastain.
Visit SeaviewNursingHome.com.
