Venice Little Theatre NEWS
June 27, 2006 visit us at www.venicestage.com
July and August are ‘a poppin’ . . .
. . . with a busy schedule here at VLT. Summer sure doesn’t stop us anymore. First up will be our Summer Rep Series, which opens on July 11. Everybody’s favorite band, Bandana hits the MainStage on July 15. And the first Cabaret of the 06-07 season - I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change - opens August 4 (this is the first of four cabarets show of the new subscription
Something WONDERFUL . . . something NEW . . .
. . . how about a first-ever subscription to VLT’s Cabaret series? That’s the NEW part. How about only $70 per subscription? And only $66 for first Friday subscriptions? That’s the WONDERFUL part. Since individual tickets are $22, subscribers save a full 20% on all four shows and First Friday subscribers save 25%.
That’s a great deal for those of you who’ve been filling the Pinkerton Theatre for the last few years. Here’s how it works.
A four cabaret season, beginning in August and concluding in February, to include:
AUGUST 4-20, 2006: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
SEPTEMBER 1-17, 2006: Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!
DECEMBER 1-29, 2006: Always, Patsy Cline
FEBRUARY 13 - MARCH 11, 2007: Golf, The Musical
So, to recap, it’s MUSIC, LAUGHTER (and maybe even a few tears), plus savings of up to 25% over regular single ticket prices. That’s what we’re offering in this first ever Cabaret Subscription series. This is quality entertainment, suitable for the whole family and the shows are proven crowd pleasers. Because we’ve had to turn so many people away last time, we’re encoring both Patsy Cline and Golf.
Summer Rep opens July 11 . . .
. . . and we’ve got some powerful new plays for you. Here’s the line-up:
July 11, 8:00 p.m. For Summer Rep subscribers only.
We’ll lead off with a brief discussion of the series and the plays, then present a non-staged reading of the Irish play By The Bog of Cats.
July 12 at 8:00, July 16 at 2:00, July 20 at 8:00
Staged reading of The Judas Kiss by David Hare
July 13, 17, and 21 at 8:00
Staged reading of Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsey-Abaire
July 14, 18, and 22 at 8:00
Staged reading of Frozen by Bryony Lavery
July 15 and 19 at 8:00, July 22 at 4:00
Staged reading of Hollywood Arms by Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton.
July 23 at 2:00
For Summer Rep subscribers only. Non-staged reading of VLT’s festival version of Moliere’s The School For Wives.
We’ll hold a talkback after each performance to solicit audience comments about the plays and whether you’d like to see them fully produced. All performances are held in The Pinkerton Theatre (Stage II) at Venice Little Theatre. All are professionally-directed and will be rehearsed (albeit script-in-hand) and staged.
The cost is only $30 for the series, including the bonus events. Individual show tickets are $10.
If it’s summer, it must be time for . . .
. . . the Theatre Guild’s Annual Oldies Concert. And this year, by overwhelming audience demand, we’re bringing Bandana back to the MainStage. This is their third year here. Already favorites in the local music scene, they are rapidly becoming very much favorites with our VLT audience. Their rockin’ show is on the MainStage July 15 at 8:00 p.m. and tickets are $20.00. Featured are lead vocalist (and Venice resident!) Tony "Butch" Gerace, as well as Larry Kuran, Gary Arnold, Steven Shower and Bill "Del Ray" Smith, local lads all. Warming up for Bandana will be "The Boyds (and a Brennan)", featuring Preston, Priscilla, Dorian and Colin Boyd joined by Jason Brennan. This is going to be a great show.
VLT has a staff position open . .
Want to be a part of our family? We need a part-time Box Office Manager for nights and weekends. Position to be filled by September 1. Approximately 30 hours per week. Ideal candidate will have experience in customer service, sales, money handling, managing volunteers, Microsoft Office (Excel and Word), and answering phones. We are searching for an individual who enjoys a creative environment, has patience, organization and can handle the fast paced box office at VLT. Contact Sara Trembly at 488-1115 or at saratrembly@venicestage.com
. . . and has filled another one!
Linda Mounce
joins VLT this week as our first ever Volunteer Coordinator. This is the position that was recently funded by a lovely grants from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. They will fund the first three years of this new staff position. So now, years after the board identified the need for a coordinator, VLT has finally been able to fill that spot. One of those who will welcome Linda with the widest arms and biggest smiles is certainly Yvonne Pinkerton! Pinky has been dealing with the minutiae of volunteer records for years. As Linda gets settled in here, Pinky says she’s going to be delighted to become Linda’s "institutional memory".Silver Foxes News from Fred Duda
The Silver Foxes celebrated the end of their box-office breaking 14th Annual Showcase at a picnic hosted by Ruth and Dick Muller on April 6. Silver Fox Ruth, who has also performed on MainStage and Stage II, is completing physical therapy following a fractured hip earlier this year.
Fred Duda, whose latest PSA results are .01, and octogenarian B.S. Bunny Shirley Gawne co-hosted the Foxes Annual Achievement Awards ceremony. Among those recognized for contributions above and beyond the call of duty was Irene Bette for proving that there is life after the convent. Frances DeYoung and Dawn Hale received awards for falling gracefully on their arses in Movin’ On.
William the Magnificent Pacelli was totally ignored by the awards committee and advised that he will be so treated next season. Pacelli only stopped whining when he was reluctantly given permission to do his Schultzie bit. Duda and Gawne snored through the performance, but Silver Fox Artistic Director Joe Simmons was wide awake (too much caffeine?). The Foxes continue to attract new talent and gave the Rod Steiger Underacting Award this year to newcomer Ted DeVirgilis. Gil Weidemiller, who had to drop out of Singin’ in the Rain after chipping a bone in his foot, was among those celebrating the close of another fabulous season.
Broken bones, fractured and replaced hips, cancer, and the loss of loved ones don’t’ stop the Silver Foxes. Bless them for coming back stronger than
ever.And some tidbits for you VLTers:
Jack Haney
stopped by - visiting from Missouri - where he’s already involved with a theatre there. Wants to help them grow. Took an old VLT grant application back to Missouri with him to inspire his co-theatricians.The staff of VLT has its Annual Retreat - yeah, we really do this - on July 6 and 7. It’s very valuable to us and ultimately to you! And we’re telling you about it so you know those are not the days to stop by and see a staff member. The box office will be open with volunteers from 10am to 2pm. The rest of us will be hiding in the tower.
Murray Chase and his lovely Lori recently returned from "the longest vacation of their lives". For 16 days, they explored the Western and Southwestern US by car, loving every minute of it.
Allan Kollar just returned from a month in Elkhorn City, Kentucky, where - for the second summer - he has been directing and teaching directing for the "Artists Collaborative Theatre". This is a VLT outreach project. Allan filed a report from KY before he left:
"ACT was subsidized by the Univ. of Kentucky, and is run by the Pike County arts extension agent, Stephanie Richards (the first such position in the nation). After two weeks of in-depth instruction on script analysis, blocking, production and actor coaching, the new "directors" each cast and directed a 10-minute play. These were presented last weekend to much acclaim and the process was a great success. The class was created by Stephanie and I to grow a crop of local directors, many of whom will indeed direct full productions as ACT grows.
Elkhorn City is a very small town of about 1700 people, in the process of recovering from the loss of income and jobs caused by a coal boom . . . and bust. A tight knit community, they have enthusiastically bought into Stephanie’s concept of growth through the arts. State, local and national governments have also seen the potential for this, and are supporting the building of a new theatre in downtown. . . the support of the citizenry is amazing, considering that they simply have no money to spare; still, an auction held while I was there made $4500.
We, from the safety of our very rich and arts abundant established area, preach about the importance of the arts. We have no idea. To see firsthand, the difference that the arts is making in the middle of Appalachia is one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. Kids are staying in school because of the arts. Young people are turning away from the pervasive drug culture because of the arts. Folks who could never see past working in the coal mines see new possibilities because of the arts. A community is gaining pride, and fighting back because of the tireless efforts of Stephanie and her community."
May your editor add to that a thanks to Allan, for representing us so well.
and some sad tidings:
Betty Ennis
, longtime volunteer and board member of The Theatre Guild, head of the mailing and calling committees, passed away in California last week. We’ll miss her greatly. Funeral services for Betty were held here at Our Lady of Lourdes. Her family encourages donations to the theatre in Betty’s name.Murray and Allan onstage in Delaware . . .
. . . reprising their roles in the VLT production of Greater Tuna! That’s right. A theatre executive from Rehoboth Beach, DE visited friends in Venice in April, saw our production and was - ahem - impressed. After much discussion and negotiation, VLT is taking Greater Tuna north for three performances in August. We’ll be bringing all the original costumes, all six of our stalwart "dressers" and some tech folk. How about that, eh? For those of you who missed it the first time around, you will have one more chance - we’ll do a single performance on the MainStage here on August 12. Tickets are only just $10.00.
See you at the theatre!
Okay, here’s what’s coming up:
JULY 11-23 - Summer Rep Series
JULY 15 - OLDIES CONCERT with Bandana and The Boyds
JULY 21-22 - TheatreFest performances at 7pm on Friday and 1pm on Saturday. Tickets are only $6.00. Come see VLT’s kids light up the MainStage.
JULY 23-24 - AUDITIONS for School for Wives
JULY 29-30 - AUDITIONS for Seussical, the Musical
AUGUST 4-20 - CABARET: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
AUGUST 13-14 - AUDITIONS for Fools
AUGUST 27-28 - AUDITIONS for Gypsy
For more info and to buy tickets, get thee to:
w w w . v e n i c e s t a g e . c o m