Who lives behind the gates of the active adult community known as Clo-Achers? Step beyond the security gates and observe the interactions and chicanery among the mature — and not so mature — residents who reside there. Witness the on-going social experiments by the dedicated scientists who are trying to prevent the dreaded onset of mind decay known as disorientia, a disorder that is just not good for anybody.
Benji Sills, a 2013 graduate of High School North, and his mother, Debbie, will be on stage together for the first time in “Calamities at Clo-Achers,” being staged by Berdanhand Productions at the Hightstown Elks, weekends, July 11 to 27. “It’s nice to finally be able to be in a theater with my mum where one of us isn’t just an audience member,” he says.
“The play is a comedy, which looks at the sometimes hilarious aspects of living in a 55 plus active adult community, which in this instance is run by a group of very suspect scientists,” says Debbie, who plays the role of Babs, a naive, ditsy woman. “Babs is one of the ‘good’ ladies — as opposed to the ‘bad’ lady group who are far less well-behaved — who spend an inordinate amount of time gossiping and playing mahjong,” she says.
“Debbie is one of the residents who plays canasta and mahjong with three other women, all of whom dish the dirt about their neighbors, gossip about family members, their family members, and other subjects in general in a complaining way (achers and whiners), and Benji plays one of the doctors who diagnose and observe the residents’ illness throughout the play, and attempt to cure them of their disease by unorthodox methods,” says Myra Danon, one of the playwrights.
Benji, born in Plainsboro, has enjoyed performing since he was young and is leaning towards a major involving some type of marketing in the arts. “I will be taking a theater arts minor and the Rutgers Digital Film Certificate though, as acting and filmmaking are two of my strongest passions,” he says. He lives in a shared house in New Brunswick.
“I started performing at a very young age with improv classes for kids,” he says. “Since then I’ve always had a passion for being on stage and performing that has only grown stronger with each show.”
He studied improv and attended programs that worked on scenes and monologues. He also did a masters class at Mercer College the summer before he entered high school. “It was the first intensive program I took,” he says. He studied voice with Paul Chapin through much of high school. “He was an exceptional vocal coach,” he says.
He has participated in a variety of school and community productions. His favorite roles, both in his senior year at North, were the Stage Manager in “Our Town” and Conrad Birdie in “Bye, Bye Birdie!” He has also been on stage at Kelsey Theater in “Oklahoma!” and “Urinetown.” In his first college production he played the role of Wes Warnicker in “Footloose” with the Livingston Theater Company at Rutgers.
He studied ballet at the Princeton Ballet School and played the role of the Prince in the Dance Corner’s production of “The Nutcracker.” Though Benji never studied at the Dance Corner, he knew Roni Wiltyer and Amy DeCesare through his mother.
Debbie Sills was born in London, England, and raised first in a suburb south of London and then a small village in Sussex, 40 miles south of London. She has lived in the United States for 20 years, the first 18 in Plainsboro and in Monroe the past two years.
She has a degree in developmental psychology from the University of Sussex (UK), a master’s degree in information technology from the University of Brighton (UK), a certificate to teach nursery through eighth grade from Rider University, and a certificate of eligibility to teach special education from Rutgers.
Debbie became certified as a teacher during her years working as a teaching assistant for WW-P school district. Until she finds a full-time teaching position, she teaches home-based instruction for students with special needs with East Windsor school district, and does individual tutoring for students of all ages through a tutoring agency.
“My son has been involved in theater since he was small and he was the reason I volunteered to use my sewing skills in costume production,” she says. She has sewed many costumes for high school and community theater productions — and was part of a team of costume designers from Kelsey Theater’s “Drowsy Chaperone” recently nominated for a Perry Award.
She also created costumes for High School North productions including “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” where she worked on costumes for the brothers and ensemble and also the special coat. For “Bye Bye Birdie” she created poodle skirts, blouses, and men’s vests. “There are always a loyal group of helpers for the school shows, but every year the number who actually sew seems to decline,” she says.
Her past stage credits include playing a tree in “Hiawatha” when she was seven and a character who screams hysterically in college. “My involvement in this play is as accidental as my involvement in acting,” says Debbie. “I have never studied theater arts. However I think I may have learned some skills by helping Benji prepare for auditions and performances, listening in on his singing classes, and watching him perform,” she says.
Calamities at Clo-Achers, Berdanhand Productions, Hightstown Elks Lodge, 110 Hickory Corner Road, East Windsor. Fridays through Sundays, July 11 to 27. $16. 609-619-3934. berdanhand@gmail.com.
