Malvern

The resident ensemble at The People's Light and Theater Company will showcase more than acting and directing talents during "The Short Stuff Festival," which begins Wednesday and continues through Aug. 4. The actors chose the 14 one-act plays that will be presented on both the Steinbright and Main stages at the Malvern theater. Theatergoers will be able to mix and match play selections, which are arranged in 10 different programs. The play mix includes drama, farce and comedy, with a couple of pay-what- you-can Saturday matinees for children tossed in. Tickets range from $5 to $8 per program, with a minimum purchase of two programs required.

The Malvern Borough Council plans to apply for studies of the traffic at two busy intersections. The council will vote Tuesday night on asking the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to conduct the studies at Sugartown and King Roads and at Sugartown Road and Monument Avenue. The council's interest in the intersections arose in February when Councilman Charles R. Whitehorne said motorists were having trouble driving from Sugartown to King Roads because of a blind curve and traffic to and from the business district traffic.

The difference between this year's Malvern Prep boys' basketball team and last year's Friars club? Malvern is finding ways to win this season, after finding ways to lose in 1998-99. "It's not the coaching," Malvern coach Bud Tosti said. "These kids are doing the little things. They're keeping their poise. They believe in each other. " The Friars (10-3) needed all the belief they could muster in a 66-62 overtime win over West Chester East in the opening round of the Ardmore Rotary Tournament on Monday.

This annual Thanksgiving Day football game could have more meaning for Malvern Prep than for Archbishop Carroll when the two local powers meet on Thursday. The Friars are 8-1 overall and Carroll is undefeated at 11-0, after its 28-7 victory over Cardinal Dougherty in the semifinals of the Catholic League Blue Division playoffs on Friday night. While Carroll still has the Catholic Blue Division championship game with Bishop McDevitt to play on Dec. 3, Malvern is looking at this game like a championship game.

Downingtown earned a 5-3 victory over Malvern Prep at the Skatium in Havertown Friday night to stay within two points of Monsignor Bonner in the Eastern League. It was an educational victory. The Whippets found out that they must solidify their defense if they are to find success down the road. They let a 4-1 lead slide to 4-3 late in the game, before Ed Klimas' second goal of the night gave them some much-needed insurance. Downingtown (8-1-1) remained a point behind Bonner (9-0)

After his young team turned in a 6-4 overall record, but finished unbeaten at 4-0 to win the Inter-Academic League championship, Malvern Prep coach Gamp Pellegrini referred to the 2000 season as the "year of the good bounces. " With just about everybody back from that team, the Friars are considered the favorites to win their third straight crown. They tied for the title in 1999. And even Pellegrini, who at 63 is beginning his 24th season at Malvern, has to admit the favorite role is well-deserved.

The "Greatest Malvern Team of All Time" talk has ended. Germantown Academy quashed it by thrashing Malvern Prep, 49-14, last Saturday. Now, head coach Gaspare "Gamp" Pellegrini and his team can focus on the only thing that meant anything to them in the first place: beating Penn Charter today to earn a share of the Inter-Academic League title. "It's the season for us," Pellegrini said. A victory over the defending league champions in today's 2:30 p.m. contest would assure Pellegrini of his 14th Inter-Ac title in 22 years as head coach.

When the lacrosse season began six weeks ago, Malvern Prep had high hopes of making an impact on the Inter-Ac League race after losing only three starters and returning 10 seniors from last year. But as the Friars slowly found out over the course of April and early May, numbers can be deceiving. Last week, Malvern was handed a pair of league losses from Penn Charter and Episcopal Academy, leaving the Friars still searching for a league win after six games. On Friday, Episcopal (5-1 in the Inter-Ac)

Strolling carolers in Victorian attire, brass bands, string quartets and old-fashioned entertainers will provide sounds of the season as visitors step back in time and enjoy horse-drawn carriage rides and roasted chestnuts as part of this town's Victorian Christmas celebration. Festivities start at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, with the lighting of the town's Christmas tree at Burke Park, and continue through the night with international folk dancing, musical events and a Nativity performance at venues in town.

Parents are not as dumb as they seem to their teenaged sons. Every so often, the old man says something to the young kid that, over time, proves wise. Check with Angelo Vicoli. In what must seem like a former life, he was a grade-school basketball star at St. Timothy in Mayfair, and he wanted no parts of abandoning the diocesan system for what he considered a less-prestigious option: private school. Now - drum roll, please - he's a football star at Penn Charter. "I first heard of Penn Charter when I was in sixth grade," Vicoli said.