By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD—By definition, North Shore Music Theatre’s General Manager Karen Nascembeni is the embodiment of what every woman would want in a friend. She’s a joy to know, a joy to hear.
On Wednesday, December 20, Nascembeni gave an inspiring talk to a group of about 25 women at the Wakefield Lynnfield Women in Business luncheon held at the Albion Cultural Exchange on Albion St. In March 2020, Nascembeni, her husband Steven T. Richard and father-in-law Earl L. Richard were all diagnosed with COVID-19. First, she lost Steven at age 58 on March 24. Earl then died five days later, on March 29. He was 99 years old.
“The last time I saw Steven was in the parking lot of Winchester Hospital,” she said. “As his medical team was taking him inside for treatment, he blew me a kiss.” He was later transferred to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington where he died.
Nascembeni was the only one to survive after spending 31 days in the hospital. Many of those days she spent lying in a coma while intubated, unaware that the two men she had loved dearly were now gone from her life. While these tragic facts play a large role in Nascembeni’s story, she does not dwell on what she no longer has but on what she does have. She has chosen to be grateful for the life she has today, even though she continues to experience some residual effects of COVID-19. “I had to learn how to walk again,” she said.
The “voice of North Shore Music Theatre” also spoke about growing up in Agawam and her early career in radio. “I could sell ice to an Eskimo,” she said, in reference to her broadcasting talents. Fate stepped in one night while she was dining at Chianti, a restaurant on Cabot Street in Beverly. North Shore Music Theatre owner Bill Hanney happened to be there and he told Nascembeni he needed a “voice for the theater.” Not long after their chance meeting she became that voice.
During her talk, she spoke about Hanney’s CapeLive Concert Series in Hyannis and the potential for even more expansion. COVID-19, said Nascembeni, produced many negative effects, including rising production costs and ticket scalping, but that North Shore Music Theatre is “trying to keep a balance.” Plans are currently in the works to hold a Chamber of Commerce night in 2024 to support the theater.
Nascembeni also announced that one of the 2024 shows that has had to be kept secret will be revealed on Monday, January 15. Over the past few months, Hanney has told theater-goers that this show has tremendous crowd appeal, a show that everyone will love.