Webb Tilney Looks Forward to Role in Boston Production

Most of the time, Bedford resident H. Webb Tilney is a software engineer.

But occasionally, you can find him acting on small area stages. “I tell people I like to work both sides of the brain,” he laughed.

Tilney has a lead role in the upcoming Moonbox Productions play, The Good Deli, written by Kevin Cirone of Woburn. The play opens at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre on Sept. 15 and runs each weekend through Oct. 2. Tickets are $35 and are available at www.bostontheatrescene.com or by calling 617-933-8600.  (Pay-what-you-can tickets are available through the box office.)

Tilney said he began acting more than 20 years ago. As a youngster, “I used to sing,” he said, and as an adult “I still wanted to perform.”

He has found his niche, mostly with community theater companies in the region – Concord, Burlington. “I like to stay pretty local – I’ve gone as far as Natick.” He said his last performance before the arrival of the pandemic was with the Savoyard Light Opera Company’s Carlisle production of the Music Man in 2019.

“I haven’t worked with Moonbox before,” he commented. “They’re pretty much established. I like their commitment to diversity and equity.”

“I’m pretty good at memorizing,” Tilney said. “I was a foreign language major at school. That part of it is not too difficult for me. I kind of rehearse it in my head. Once you actually get to the rehearsal space, it’s a different atmosphere.”

Tilney said he and his wife Kerrie met while working in theatre. Most of the time he acts as a volunteer. “It’s a small community of performers. We get to know each other at auditions.”

Regarding The Good Deli, Tilney said, “I love the script. It’s an original script with a local author, and there are opportunities for good moments for the actors, opportunities to interpret things.” He added, “I’ve done enough acting where if I don’t like what I see, I won’t be auditioning.”

Tilney said he also likes “the professionalism of the company – and they also have fun.” The script actually was formatted as a screenplay, he noted, and eventually it might become a film. “For now, it’s a black box production. It’s a funny script and it’s a good story,” he asserted.

The Good Deli centers on Julia, an up-and-coming Boston comedian who learns that her estranged father has become obsessed with the Italian deli the family used to visit when Julia was a child. As Julia searches for the delicatessen, her companions and supporters include her bother Max, played by Tilney.

“It all seemed like a great idea, but now her entire family is in tow, they’re running out of caffeine, and they’re hitting every red light from Maine to Boston, all while trying to reconnect to a deli – and a past – that may be lost forever,” says the play’s promotional material.

“This show has weathered not one, but two COVID-related cancellations, but this amazing team has endured it all, and are excited to finally bring this play to the stage,” said producer Sharman Altshuler of Cambridge, producing artistic director and founder of Moonbox Productions.

Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763