{"id":27796,"date":"2018-05-08T14:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2018\/05\/08\/from-top-notch-stage-to-bostons-huntington-theater\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:21:02","slug":"from-top-notch-stage-to-bostons-huntington-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/05\/08\/from-top-notch-stage-to-bostons-huntington-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"From Top Notch Stage to Boston\u2019s Huntington Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/05\/Kiara.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-17719 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/05\/Kiara-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>Three years ago, Kiara Pichardo of Lawrence was performing on the stage of NECC\u2019s Top Notch Theater, and now, she has a role in \u201cTop Girls\u201d, on stage now through May 20 at Boston\u2019s Huntington Theater.<\/p>\n<p>Pichardo, who received a Liberal Arts Degree: Theater Option from Northern Essex in 2015 with honors, transferred to Fitchburg State College and graduated last spring with honors and a bachelor\u2019s in communications media and a concentration in theater.<\/p>\n<p>She is the only non-equity actor in the cast of seven women in the Huntington Production of \u201cTop Girls\u201d, which was written by Caryl Churchill in 1982.\u00a0 The performance is directed by Liesl Tommy, an award-winning stage director, who Pichardo calls \u201camazing\u201d and \u201cdown to earth\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Pichardo landed the role after three auditions.\u00a0 She plays the waiter, Kitty, and Shona, all with a British accent, which she first experimented with on stage at Northern Essex in the 2013 performance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/2013\/03\/12\/timeless-play-presented-by-top-notch-players\/\">\u201cThe Beaux Stratagem\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While at Northern Essex, she also performed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/03\/24\/farce-featured-on-necc-stage\/\">\u201cHow the Other Half Loves\u201d<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/09\/10\/necc-top-notch-players-to-present-staged-readings-of-real-women-have-curves-in-haverhill-and-lawrence\/\">\u201cReal Women Have Curves\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/10\/30\/necc-play-explores-london-during-the-blitz\/\">\u201cFront\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pichardo came to Northern Essex after graduating from Lawrence High School\u2019s Performing &amp; Fine Arts Academy in 2012.\u00a0 She was interested in photography, not theater, but tagged along while her cousin was auditioning for \u201cThe Beaux Stratagem\u201d.\u00a0 No one was more surprised than she was when she walked away with the role of Cherry and the knowledge that \u201cthis was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was consecutively nominated for the Irene Ryan scholarship at The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for her performances as Teresa in \u201cHow the Other Half Loves, Cherry in \u201cThe Beaux Stratagem\u201d, and Lila in \u201cLate Arrival\u201d (The Top Notch Players). Film credits include Katherine, \u201cPolite Police\u201d, and \u201cKnock Knock\u201d (2017 Revolution Me Film Festival Best Actor award).<\/p>\n<p>For information about theater opportunities at Northern Essex, contact Bri Beatrice, <a href=\"mailto:bribeats@gmail.com\">bribeats@gmail.com.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three years ago, Kiara Pichardo of Lawrence was performing on the stage of NECC\u2019s Top Notch Theater, and now, she has a role in \u201cTop Girls\u201d, on stage now through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":27798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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