Friendly Society celebrates 141 years of community theater

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this autumn, music has wafted through Town Hall.

Rehearsals are underway on the second floor in the Sears Auditorium, where cast and crew for the Weston Friendly Society have put on productions for decades.

The Friendly, as its members call it, begins its 141st season later this month. “She Loves Me,” a musical about two store clerks at odds with each other at work, who fall in love with each other as pen pals, is set to open on Nov. 22.

Founded in 1885 by members of the First Parish Church to help raise money to build a new church, the Weston Friendly Society has hosted hundreds of shows. Board president Sarah McGowan said the group continues to focus on building community through art over a century later.

“We all value the history that we have in Weston,” McGowan said. “We want to keep building on this tradition. We love performing in Town Hall, being in town center and being that kind of presence.”

Holly Sullivan sat at the piano working through the show’s score during a recent rehearsal. She is the music director for “She Loves Me” and has been involved with the group for 50 years, first backstage when her parents were in a production. When she went to college, she considered working with the school’s theater department, but other groups were less welcoming than the Friendly. She has continued to work with the Friendly because of the sense of community.

“When you’re working on something that intensely, you start to feel like family,” she said. “If we’re going to work this hard, we might as well have fun.”

This spring, Sullivan’s daughter will choreograph “Mary Poppins” and Sullivan will direct.

“It’s not just my family,” Sullivan said. “Generations have done the shows, and often together.”

The Dillaways have also made the Friendly into a family tradition. Lance Dillaway grew up around the group because his parents were involved and he started participating in high school as a member of the orchestra.

“I grew up with the Friendly. I remember sitting on the banister up at the Town Hall when I was 6 watching them rehearse for ‘Where’s Charley?,’” he said.

He met his wife, Beverly Dillaway, at auditions for the show “Carousel,” produced by the Weston Drama Workshop. The two have worked on a number of productions together. Their daughters also grew up doing shows, and Beverly says the two apply the skills they learned in theater into their careers as a litigation attorney and a teacher.

“They really understand that these theater skills are lifelong. They really translate into another way,” she said.

She added that under the tutelage of Sullivan and the late director John Barclay, who was a mainstay of Weston theater, her daughters learned that there are no small parts in a production.

In addition to having a place that nurtured her children, she said that she enjoyed being able to see quality theater in town instead of having to make the trek to Boston.

A long tradition as a social organization

The Weston Friendly Society, originally named The First Parish Friendly Society of Weston, was formed as a social organization, according to the Weston Historical Society. It organized theatrical shows, holiday events and suppers. They were a success – a show in 1907 had so many audience members that three special railroad cars had to be added to a train coming from Boston.

In 1915, the society began to shift, according to the Weston Historical Society, when it staged its first musical, “A Nautical Knot.” The musical “The Red Mill” followed, shifting the society’s focus from bimonthly social events to productions of large musicals to raise money for charitable organizations.

During the Great Depression, society members saved money by writing original shows instead of paying for production rights. According to a 1943 letter from society president Herbert Crouch, rationing of gasoline and tires made it difficult to continue programming during World War II.

Still, the shows went on, albeit restricted.

In the 1990s, the group changed its name to Weston Friendly Society. Interest has expanded from the Boston area, with actors coming from Worcester and Rhode Island to participate in shows, according to Sullivan.

In the current day, the group does two musical productions each season and a show with fourth and fifth graders. This spring, they are introducing a program where children will be able to create and perform their own plays.

Through set changes and new shifts in leadership, the Weston Friendly Society’s goal to create a welcoming space and good art remains the same.

“The key word is friendly,” Beverly Dillaway said. “Every time they’ve changed the name, they’ve never changed the mission.”

“She Loves Me” will play at Town Hall the weekends of Nov. 22 and Nov. 29. For tickets and more information, visit westonfriendly.org.