Pioneer Valley Theatre News May 31, 2018

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Pioneer Valley Theatre Newsletter View this email in your browser  May 31 - June 20, 2018 Pauline Production's I AM MY OWN WIFE opens tonight. It's an incredible story and Rylan Morsbach's performance really knocks it out of the park - plus it's a great excuse for a day at the DAR or a dinner at the Ashfield Lake House. Also, this weekend: Laurie McCants presents a lecture/demonstration and excerpts from her show INDUSTRIOUS ANGELS at Laurel Park. You can see the whole performance as part of this year's Ko Festival of Performance. Mark your calendars! The next issue will include events through June 27. Submit upcoming events via the link below or by emailing me before Tuesday at midnight. Any questions, comments or feedback? Email me at pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com Submit Your Theatre Event THIS WEEK IN THEATRE NEWS: from Howlround Decolonizing Theatre: An Introduction by Annalisa Dias, Madeline Sayet From the article:  Over the last year, the American theatre, like many other fields, has been looking at its roots and raising difficult questions. How could we as a field be guilty of so many instances of oppression, sexual harassment, and other forms of dehumanization despite increasing understanding of “equity, diversity, and inclusion” principles? What problematic systems did we step into and support that we may not even be aware of? Is there some invisible structure currently embedded in our institutions and the (inter)national theatre ecology? Have you read an interesting article about theatre recently? Send it to me! pioneervalleytheatre@gmail.com Want to know even more about events in the Pioneer Valley and beyond, including reviews, interviews, and previews? Check out In the Spotlight, Inc. PERFORMANCES Pauline Productions Presents  I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright Thurs. May 31 at 7pm  Opening Night All Tickets $18 Friday June 1 at 8pm Sat  June 2 at 8pm Sun June 3 Matinee at 4pm (Discussion to follow) Wed.   June  6 at 7pm  Wed. Night All Tickets $18 Thurs.  June 7 at 7pm Fri.       June 8 at 8pm Sat       June 9 at 8pm First Congregational Church of Ashfield 429 main St. (Route 116) Rylan Morsbach who wowed audiences with his one-man performance of Scaramouche  Jones (2010) returns to Ashfield to perform in Pauline Productions’ (PaulineLive.com) I Am My Own Wife by playwright Doug Wright.  This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winning modern classic tells the fascinating true life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde, who remarkably survived both Nazi Germany and Soviet controlled Berlin as a transgender woman. Actor Rylan Morsbach portrays over 30 characters in this tour-de-force performance as we follow the many threads that make up Charlotte's life.  “An experience that is intellectual, theatrical, funny, and poignant…without forgiveness and sentiment [it] unravels the story of one life."  NYTheatre.com. Tickets:  BrownPaperTickets.com (until 2 hrs before show) $18 Student, $22 General and At Door ($3 more, cash or check). Three Fundraising Performances for: Serious Play / Edinburgh Fringe Performance Exchange An international exchange of compelling performances. Taking work of inspiring Valley performers to the Fringe festival every August, and bringing back bold and authentic work for local audiences. When & Where: Friday June 1 st, 8PM, Hallie Flanagan Theater, Smith College in Northampton Tickets: In advance at www.brownpapertickets.com ($15 Seniors & Students / $18 General Public, $20 at the door ) Time: Each show is 50 mins with an intermission in between Additional information: email or call 413-588-7439 Serious Play Theatre Ensemble presents the two shows going to the August 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival:  John Sheldon’s The Red Guitar directed by Sheryl Stoodley A virtuoso guitarist, a red Stratocaster, a life in sound In 2016, The Red Guitar struck the right chord in Scotland, earning a coveted 5-star review with The Herald’s highly respected music reviewer Rob Adams and has been invited to return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. His candy apple red Fender Stratocaster in hand, John takes us on a trip, careening through the rise of guitar music in the nuclear age, from Folk through Blues and Rock, to a vision of the future in which the past is vibrantly alive, a heartfelt yet unsentimental performance. Just when you think you are seeing a deconstruction of popular music, you sense something else taking place, a quickening, an awakening of senses long lost, a reclaiming of sounds you thought were consigned to history. Something unexpected is being made right in front of you, a sound loop sculpture plucking chords of your memory. John, a master guitarist who played lead in Van Morrison's band at the age of 17, wrote songs for James Taylor, unknowingly drew praise from Jimi Hendrix, and whom Ed Ward of National Public Radio called "One of the great guitarists of our time," uses a unique blend of storytelling, unearthly sounds, and wicked, layered guitar licks, to send us zipping through the folds of time and space, emerging into the light of a simple, transformative melody. John's ironclad belief in the power of sound pervades the whole performance, the conviction that music is not just entertainment, but a soul saving enterprise, worthy of the lifelong commitment he has made to it. His technical skill never overwhelms the story, the poignant, the humorous, the moments of connection, of illumination. The journey continues, setting a course to the center of who we truly are: vibration. In the same evening, Serious Play also presents: DO IT NOW: Manual Override directed by Sheryl Stoodley Three master artists collaborating with a mutual message for change Danger!! Danger!! Systems are being corrupted or broken. A crash surely lies ahead. No time to waste. We must take back control! Do It Now. Manual Override. Pulling the controls together are John Sheldon on electric guitar, Tony Vacca on all things percussion, and Paul Richmond’s beguiling William S. Burroughs-like spoken word. The trio takes on anything from the mundane envy for a neighbor’s dog to nuclear power posturing to interracial tension, turning them into poetic flashes of text that erupt from a hotbed of music. Non-verbal communications on stage, based in trust and intuition between masters at their craft, creates theatrical moments with authentic music interwoven with Richmond’s text. An evening of food for the mind as well as the soul. Josie's Magical Flute with Special Guests the Ha-Ha's Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 PM Saturday, July 28, 2018  7:30 PM The Shea Theater, Turners Falls, MA This performance is one of four scheduled for Josie’s, recently appointed the “house improv team” for the Shea Theater by Linda Tardif, Managing Director of the Shea. The troupe had a remarkable opening show on March 23rd and great Thursday night showing on April 29. Josie's is a long form improv troupe comprised of Julie Waggoner, Sally Ekus, and Mandy Anderson. The three women have been playing together since 2016, and have recently performed at the Happier Valley Comedy Show in Northampton. Julie Waggoner is a Valley comedy veteran who performed standup comedy for 10 years, and then played with the Villa Jidiots for another 10 years. She’s a member of The Majesters Comedy Troupe, a frequent guest performer with The Ha-Ha’s, and a long-time actress with Pauline Productions of Ashfield. Sally Ekus is the producer as well as a cast member of the Happier Family Comedy Show, and both she and Mandy are guest performers with The Ha-Ha’s. All three Josie’s members are also cast members of the troupe Not in Charge. Special guests, The Ha-Ha's, are a bombastic bouquet of actors from the Happy Valley (Western Massachusetts) who have been performing the brave art of improv comedy since 2003. The troupe members are Pam Victor, Laura Patrick, Christine Stevens, Moe McElligott, and Maile Shoul. TICKETS are $7 at the door only More information. Ko Festival of Performance presents Industrious Angels: Female Inspirations Sunday, June 3 at 2:00 PM 2 The Circle, Laurel Park, Northampton MA 01060; look for “Event Parking” signs along route 5/10, 1 mile north of River Valley Market. For more information and updates, visit laurelparkarts.org . A lecture/demo by Ko Festival performer Laurie McCants who will present excerpts from Industrious Angels, her solo “handcrafted-story-spinning-shadow-puppet-memory-play-with-music" evoking the secret creative lives of women, mother/daughter bloodlines, and the ghost of Emily Dickinson. She will reveal her process, illuminating how she kindled her creative fire by collaging together inspirations from the female artists, past and present, who are her spiritual nurturers. Taking inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s line “God permits Industrious Angels— Afternoons— to play—“ you are invited to stay for a hands-on workshop that will use simple materials and tools (scissors, paper, flashlights), to explore how handicrafts can create theatrical magic. Suggested donation $10.  $5 suggested materials fee for workshop participants. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.   Stageloft Repertory Theater,  450A Main Street, Sturbridge MA presents THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.   Based on the Victor Hugo novel and songs from the Disney animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame showcases the film’s Academy Award-nominated score, as well as new songs by Menken and Schwartz. Peter Parnell’s new book embraces story theatre and features verbatim passages from Hugo’s gothic novel.   Performances are June 8 through June 24, Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 2PM.  This production is directed by Kevin McGerigle, music direction by Virginia Bailey, choreography by Jackie McGerigle. Tickets are $20 adults, $17 seniors/students/military, $10 youth.  Groups rates available. For tickets call 508-347-9005 or visit www.stageloft.org. The musical begins as the bells of Notre Dame sound through the famed cathedral in fifteenth-century Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer who longs to be "Out There," observes all of Paris reveling in the Feast of Fools. Held captive by his devious caretaker, the archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo, he escapes for the day and joins the boisterous crowd, only to be treated cruelly by all but the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda. Quasimodo isn’t the only one captivated by her free spirit, though – the handsome Captain Phoebus and Frollo are equally enthralled. As the three vie for her attention, Frollo embarks on a mission to destroy the gypsies – and it’s up to Quasimodo to save them all. Wilbraham United Players presents BEAUTY AND THE BEAST June 15, 16, 22, 23 at 7:30PM, June 23 at 10:30AM also, June 24 at 2:30PM Minnechaug Regional High School Auditorium, 621 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA 01095 Wilbraham United Players Production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast will be held in the Auditorium at Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham. MA. Tickets are $25 for premium seats, $20 for regular seating. ALL SEATS ARE RESERVED. $5.00 discount for Students and Seniors. Tickets can be purchased through players website. Facebook event can be found here. Eggtooth Productions is proud to remount their sold out immersive theater production of:  Deus Ex Machina by John Bechtold  June 20-24th  at the Shea Theatre in Turners Falls, MA  We offer two shows each night at 7 pm and 8:30 pm for five nights only with a limit of 250 participants total. Tickets are $25: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3427029 SPONSORED BY TEDDY BEAR POOLS AND COHN AND COMPANY REAL ESTATE! For the uninitiated, what is immersive theater? Immersive theater is a brand of performance that puts the audience directly into the world of the show, often in non-traditional spaces and with a higher level of agency than a conventional performance. Unlike "audience participation" moments in more traditional theater, immersive theater audiences are not put on the spot for entertainment purposes so much as invited into the show's universe, where meaningful connections between characters and audience begin to take form.  In Deus Ex Machina, audience members will be invited to explore the many corners of the historic Shea Theater, which has been a home for 1920's vaudeville troupes, a controversial 1970's commune called the Renaissance Community, and much more. Though a carefully-curated experience, they will get the chance to play with the ghosts of the building in exciting and sometimes unexpected ways.  Indeed, the star of the show is the Shea Theatre, a venue with a long and wondrously checkered past. Denis Shea opened the theatre on Valentines Day 1927. The stage was the home for amateur theater productions put on by such groups as the American Legion Auxiliary, the Rotary Club, and the Turners High School. Mr. Shea also brought in occasional vaudeville shows. He died in 1945 and his family sold the theatre two years later. It continued to operate under various owners until 1956. The Shea then remained dark except for a short time in 1963-64. In 1973, the Renaissance Community bought the Shea and used it as a recording studio and site for their religious activities under the leadership of Michael “Rapunzel” Metelica. In 1986, they sold it to the Franklin County Community Development Corp, who launched the restoration project whereupon the town of Montague bought the property. Most recently, in 2015, a new board of directors took on the lease and restored the building to once again become an active and vibrant community cultural center. The cast of Deus Ex Machina includes Eggtooth regulars and a few new performers: Linda Tardif, Marina Goldman, Reynolds Whalen, Katie Spurgin, Atticus Belmonte, Enzo Belmonte, Pax Belmonte, Amelia Chalfant, Jack Golden, Katherine Adler, Monte Belmonte, Lindel Hart, Lori Holmes Clark, Michayla Robertson-Pine, Emma Ayres, Troy Mercier, Emily Pritchard, Matt Ferrari, Joe Dulude, Deb Banks, and Julia Whalen. AUDITIONS & OPPORTUNITIES Pioneer Valley Theatre Companies Is your theatre company missing? Email me! Academy of Music Theatre Arena Civic Theatre Black Cat Theater Chester Theatre Company The Country Players Eggtooth Productions Exit 7 Players Ghost Light Theater Hampshire Shakespeare Company Happier Valley Comedy Ja'Duke Center for the Performing Arts Ko Theater Works/Ko Festival of Performance Majestic Theater New Century Theatre PaintBox Theatre Pauline Productions Real Live Theatre Red Thread Theater Serious Play Theatre Ensemble Silverthorne Theater Smith College Department of Theatre St. Michael's Players TheatreTruck Turbulent Times Theater Westfield Theatre Group Wilbraham United Players CALL FOR STAGE MANAGER   (South Hadley, MA) Black Cat Theater is seeking letters of interest and resumes for the position of Stage Manager for their Fall musical The Wizard of Oz. Rehearsals begin in September and show dates will be in November. Email letter of interest and resume to blackcattheater@gmail.com by Saturday, June 2. MAJESTIC THEATER ANNOUNCES JUNE AUDITION SCHEDULE FOR 2018-2019 SEASON West Springfield, MA (4/30/18) – Auditions for both Equity and non-Equity performers for roles in the upcoming 2018-2019 Season will be held at West Springfield’s Majestic Theater in June according to Producing Director Danny Eaton.  This will be the 22th Season since the Majestic was re-opened for live theater in March 1997. Equity performers will be scheduled to audition June 4 & 5; non-Equity performers will be scheduled to audition June 6, 7, 8 & 9. Both Equity and non-Equity performers are encouraged to apply. The specific hours are: Equity: Monday, June 4: 10am – 6pm Tuesday, June 5: 10am - 6pm Non-Equity: Wednesday, June 6: 6-10:30pm Thursday, June 7: 6-10:30pm Friday, June 8: 6-10:30pm Saturday, June 9: 10am - 3pm Actors will be auditioned for parts in the following productions: “Johnny Guitar” (September 6 – October 21, 2018), “The War and Walt Whipple” (November 1 – December 9, 2018), “The Mountaintop” (January 3 – February 10, 2019), “Boeing-Boeing” (February 21 – March 31, 2019) and “The Marvelous Wonderettes” (April 11 – May 26, 2019). Equity auditions are scheduled in five minute time slots and participants must prepare a monologue. If auditioning for a musical, performers must bring sheet music of their choice. An accompanist will be present. Equity performers may be asked to stay longer, if time permits, and read from prepared script selections. Non-Equity auditions are scheduled in 10 minute time slots. Non-Equity performers new to the Majestic should prepare a monologue of their choice and, if singing, bring an instrumental CD accompaniment as well as a picture and resume. They will also be asked to read from prepared script selections. To book an audition, call the Majestic Theater at 413.747.7797. St. Michael's Players of East Longmeadow Auditions for A Christmas Story, the Musical June 6 and 7 at 6:00 PM St. Michaels' Community Center, 53 Somers Road East Longmeadow Auditions for ages 7-12 begin at 6PM; ages 13-adult at 7:30PM.Please choose ONE night to attend. Tap experience is a plus! Callbacks June 13th. Show runs November 15-18. Please use this link for further information and printable audition forms.   Springfield College Theater hiring a Technical Direction/Scenic Designer Springfield College Fuller Arts Center and scenic shop Beginning Fall 2018 Provide technical direction and scenic design for Springfield College Theater, supervised and directed by Prof. Martin Shell.  We produce one play each semester. Fee per show. Applicants with an MA or MFA may also apply to instruct a stage production course as an adjunct. TD does not require the grad degree, but please provide your resume of experience. Contact mshell@springfieldcollege.edu The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation is accepting applications from emerging directors and choreographers for paid opportunities to observe the work of master directors and choreographers as they create productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at leading regional theaters across the country. Through the program, SDCF Observers may have access to the entire rehearsal process, from first rehearsal through opening night. Observers also will have the invaluable opportunity to observe first-hand the techniques, disciplines, approaches, and insights of master artists as they create new productions and revive classics.  Each observer receives a weekly stipend of at least $250 as well as a project travel stipend.  Anyone with serious interest in pursuing a career in directing and/or choreography may apply to the Observership program. A $25 application fee is required to apply for those unaffiliated with SDC. Any observer who is not already a member of SDC will be awarded a free, one-year SDC associate membership. See the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation website for complete program guidelines and application instructions. Link to Complete RFP WORKSHOPS & CLASSES 3 unique workshops as part of the 27th Annual KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE, held each summer on the beautiful Amherst College campus in Amherst, Massachusetts. Join us for one or more of our 6-day intensives, led by expert teachers, who are adept at gearing their classes for multiple levels of experience.  July 9 - 14, 2018 SOUND AND FURY An Embodied Approach to Voice, Text & Sound Design for the Theatre with RICHARD NEWMAN, Co-Artistic Director of The Hinterlands (Detroit) July 16 - 21, 2018 FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance with Gerard Stropnicky, Co-Founder Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble (PA) July 30 - August 4, 2018 THEATRE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT with Helen Stoltzfus of Black Swan Arts & Media (San Francisco) All classes meet from 10 am - 4 pm on the Amherst College campus. More information. MAKE LEARNING WITH REAL LIVE THEATRE THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR SUMMER! We are psyched to launch five brand new summer workshops for theatre makers of all backgrounds, interests, and levels of experience. All workshops are led by RLT members and educators and will take place at the North Star Building on Route 116 in Sunderland, MA. Join us for any or all of these fabulous afternoons - discounts are available for those interested in more than one! Saturday July 21st 1-4 PM: Theater Making with a Conscience with Ellen Morbyrne Saturday July 28th 1-4 PM: Rooting and Rising: Cultivating Community and Championing the Creative Spirit with Angelica Polk and Julissa Rodriguez Saturday August 4th 1-4 PM: The Art of the Director with Toby Vera Bercovici Saturday August 11th 12-4 PM: Choreographing Intimacy with Toby Vera Bercovici and Ellen Morbyrne Saturday August 25th 1-4 PM: Instigating Hope and Change Through Theater with Ezekiel Baskin and Trenda Loftin CLICK HERE for more information on each workshop, our educators, and how to register! Feel free to email reallivetheatre@gmail.com with any questions. Submit your workshop or class or audition or performance or job or any other theatre opportunity here! Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences  *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*