Co-Op Updates – August 2009

Tree addendum
August 26th, 2009
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*From Jen Lonsway:* “This is the final push for *Wild Boy.* Company members
can get in for free. Bring your friends (or just have them mention your
name) and they can get 1/2 price tickets.” *Wild Boy’s* last two
performances are on August 29th at 8PM and August 30th at 3PM. Call the box
office for reservations; the number is 310 822 8392.

Co-op: I used to post regular informational updates on the co-op. I’m going to start doing that again. In the meanwhile, a reminder. If you are producing a show in the co-op, send me a breakdown of your show’s characters at rfancy@verizon.net a couple of weeks before you hold auditions and I’ll run it for both weeks before. After those postings in the tree, it is the responsibility of company members to show up for auditions. (It is not the responsibility of producers to call members to audition.)

annagarduno@gmail.com. (She won’t be back in L.A. till next year.)

Co-op: The next co-op series show, Our Town, will hold auditions on Saturday, August 15th, at 1PM (after the co-op meeting in the morning). Call-backs will be the next Wednesday night, August 19th. Bill Lithgow will be directing, Ann Bronston co-directing, Nancy Linehan Charles and Traci Lockwood are producing. Our Town will open at the end of October and run for three weeks. Sides will be available online in the next couple of days and scripts will be available at Staples. The cast breakdown follows. George Gibbs – Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs’s son. All-American boy. Local baseball star, president of senior class. Possesses innocence and sensitivity. Falls in love with and marries Emily and they have two children. Plans on going to Agricultural School, but marries Emily instead. The play follows George over course of 10 years; Emily Webb – Mr. and Mrs. Webb’s daughter; Wally’s older sister. Emily is George’s schoolmate and next-door neighbor., then his fiancée, then his wife. An excellent student. Helps George with his homework in high school, they fall in love and marry and have two children, although Emily dies giving birth. From high school girl to woman;.Stage Manager – The narrator of the play, also takes on several parts during the course of the play (i.e., the drugstore owner who serves sodas to Emily and George). Philosopher, poet, wise, sensitive. During the play he frequently interrupts the action commenting on what just happened or what is about to happen. Through the stage manager, there is an interaction between the audience and the content of the play that becomes part of the play itself..;Dr. Gibbs – George’s father and the town doctor. Dr. Gibbs is also a Civil War expert. His delivery of twins just before the play opens establishes the themes of birth, life, and daily activity. Throughout play, has great scene giving George marital advice before the wedding.;Mrs. Gibbs – George’s mother and Dr. Gibbs’s wife.; Mr. Webb – Emily’s father and the publisher and editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel. Mr. Webb’s report to the audience in Act I draws the audience physically into the action of the play;Mrs. Webb – Emily’s mother and Mr. Webb’s wife. At first a no-nonsense woman who does not cry on the morning of her daughter’s marriage, Mrs. Webb later shows her innocent and caring nature, worrying during the wedding that she has not taught her daughter enough about marriage.;Mrs. Soames – A gossipy woman who sings in the choir along with Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs;.Simon Stimson – The choirmaster, whose alcoholism and undisclosed “troubles” have been the subject of gossip in Grover’s Corners for quite some time. He appears in Act III, having committed suicide by hanging himself in his attic. He says that human existence is nothing but “ignorance and blindness.” A famous role; Rebecca Gibbs – George’s younger sister. Rebecca’s role is minor, but she does have one very significant scene with her brother. Famous speech about where we are in the universe. Will double in Act III in the cemetery scene;Wally Webb – Emily’s younger brother. Wally is a minor figure, but he turns up in Act III among the group of dead souls. Wally dies young, the result of a burst appendix on a Boy Scout trip; Howie Newsome – The local milkman who delivers the milk with his trusty horse Bessie. Howie’s reappearance during in each act highlights the continuity of life in Grover’s Corners and in the general human experience; Joe Crowell, Jr. – The paperboy. Joe’s routine of delivering papers to the same people each morning emphasizes the sameness of daily life in Grover’s Corners. We see this sameness continue when Joe’s younger brother, Si, takes over the route for him. Same actor will play both roles; Si Crowell – Joe’s younger brother, also a paperboy. ; Professor Willard – A professor at the State University who gives the audience a report on Grover’s Corners. Professor Willard appears once and then disappears. His role in the play is to interact with the audience and to inform theatergoers of the specifics of life in Grover’s Corners. Comedic possibilities; Constable Warren – A local policeman. Constable Warren keeps a watchful eye over the community. His personal knowledge of and favor with the town’s citizens bespeaks the close-knit nature of the town.; Joe Stoddard – The town undertaker. Joe prepares Emily’s grave and remarks on how sad it is to bury young people.Same actor will play Professor Willard, Constable Warren and Joe Stoddard; Sam Craig – Emily Webb’s cousin, who has left Grover’s Corners to travel west, but returns for her funeral in Act III. Though originally from the town, Sam has the air of an outsider. (Might double with Joe and Si Crowell.)

Website: Judy Trest, our webmaster, asks “all of you out there who have new headshots and bios and/or contact information, please get me some updates.” You can e mail her the information at judyprt@pacificresidenttheatre.com or you can send it snail mail to her home address. (You can get that by emailing her.) She reminds members”not only within PRT are people looking at your information but other directors/producers, casting agents, etcetera.”

PRT Conservatory: Melissa Bales wants to members to know that PRT’s three week summer conservatory program began last Monday with seventeen students ranging from 11 to 15 years old. Marilyn Fox, Chris Shaw, Elina de Santos, Nancy Linehan Charles, Sarah Zinsser,Thea Lucia, Carolyn Mignini, Brad Greenquist, Matt McKenzie and Melissa “have combined our efforts and imaginations to make this happen,” says Melissa. “It’s exciting to see the theatre come to life during the day with students taking acting, movement, voice and singing, storytelling and filmmaking, Shakespeare, and stage combat.”

Mary Jane reminds us that her Venice California Photography show, featuring the work of Charles Brittin, Rodrick Bradley, Anthony Friedkin and Frank Talbott and celebrating the 100th anniversary of Venice, will take place at PRT on Wednesday September 30th at 8PM.. Tickets will be $15 each or 2 for $25 (or pay what you can for us since it benefits PRT). For more information, Tania Getty will email you the flyer if you e mail her at tsparkly@aol.com .