I was unaware that the 1st in the series, "Sweepers" after winding up its stint in NYC, went on the road, broke box office records in Albany, N.Y., had a brief stop in Waterbury, Conn., arrived in Stoneham, leaving April 18, going to Ohio in May. Seventeen theaters across the country are interested in producing it next year.

''The Sweepers" tells the story of three women living next to each other in the North End in the final months of World War II. With their husbands and sons off at war, they spend their days sweeping their front steps, supporting the war effort, and fighting to keep their Italian heritage alive.

"Sweeper's is one of the most successful in the Stoneham theater's three-year history, and has had the highest ticket sales of any show this year.

For those local Italian American community, or groups that would be interested in sponsoring or working in cooperation in bringing the production to their community, they may want to contact John Picardi at JohnPicardi@aol,com.
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SWEPT OFF THEIR FEET
Play, set in North End, resonates with Italians
Boston Globe
By Christine McConville
Globe Staff,
April 8, 2004

Francine Partridge of Belmont is telling everyone she knows about the play she saw this past weekend. At her next Sons of Italy meeting, she's going to encourage everyone there to see it.

''It was just superb," said Partridge, talking about ''The Sweepers," which is set in Boston's North End and is showing at the Stoneham Theatre. ''The scenery was the best I've ever seen, and the stories were like the stories I heard when I was a little girl."

Here in Boston's north and northwest suburbs, where many Italian-Americans settled after leaving the old neighborhood in the city, Partridge is hardly alone in her enthusiasm.

Word-of-mouth support has made the play one of the most successful in the theater's three-year history.

''Ticket sales have been tremendous," said Jeremy Allen Thompson, the theater's director of marketing and public relations.

''We've had the highest ticket sales of any show this year, and most of it has been word of mouth."

''The Sweepers" tells the story of three women living next to each other in the North End in the final months of World War II. With their husbands and sons off at war, they spend their days sweeping their front steps, supporting the war effort, and fighting to keep their Italian heritage alive.

The conflicts and down-to-earth concerns embodied in the play draw from a time when ethnic allegiance and family ties were central to life in Italian-American neighborhoods.

For example, when one woman's son, who is kept from the war by a heart murmur, marries an Italian-American girl whose parents have embraced mainstream American culture, they debate whether the man's mother needs to move with them to the suburbs. They talk of lessening the strong extended-family bonds that so typified Italian-American life at the time.

The play has plenty of local references. One woman is chided for hopping a bus to South Boston because she likes Irish men. Her friends and neighbors are suspicious of a young man's bride because the young woman graduated from Wellesley College and might get caught up in middle class ways and forget her Italian roots. And there is talk of the old boys' club at the State House, Yankees (the ethnic group, not the baseball team), and shops on Washington Street.

The play has become a favorite among Italian-Americans. The New England chapter of Sons of Italy has bought blocks of tickets, and their members nearly filled the 350-seat theater last Saturday afternoon. Other Italian-American fraternal groups have been supporting the play, too.

Many of the theatergoers have been coming from the North End.

''A lot of them are saying they've never seen themselves in a play before," Thompson said.

Jeanne Duonolo Craigie, 53, of Stoneham, who has been volunteering at the theater for three years, said she's seen all the major plays the theater has put on, but none struck as deep a personal chord as this one.

''It really did resonate," she said. ''There are so many people here with roots to the North End, and they brought this Old World culture to Stoneham Theatre and put it on the stage. It sounded like three of my aunts talking."

Cosmo Ciccarello, a Stoneham selectman who was up for reelection on Tuesday, said it's been the talk of the town. ''I was on a bus last week, and people were talking about it," he said.

Playwright John C. Picardi wrote it as the first in a series of plays designed to reflect a positive image of Italian-Americans...

Picardi, 41, grew up in Quincy and lived in the North End in his 20s. His 10 plays will be set in each decade from 1900 to 2000. ''The Sweepers" is the first in the series. It debuted in New York in 2002.

Before coming to Stoneham Theatre, it broke box office records in Albany, N.Y. After a brief stop in Waterbury, Conn., it arrived in Stoneham. It leaves Stoneham on April 18 and goes to Ohio in May. Seventeen theaters across the country are interested in producing it next year, Picardi said.

Picardi said the personal response he sees in people watching the play is what he is looking for.

''I want all my plays to do that to people," he said.

Christine McConville's e-mail is cmcconville@globe.com.

Boston.com / News / Local / Swept off their feet
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