UNKY SEAN’S FIVE REASONS TO WATCH REGIONALS

     So you’re finding yourself in the Tri-Cities this weekend, (or like me, crossing mountains to get there) and may be wondering, what’s the AACTFest’s National One-Act Play Competition Region IX Festival in Richland WA got to offer you?  After all, life’s short and the DVR’s not gonna watch itself, right?

      Well, lemme give you five reasons.

(1)   You only want to see good plays?  Well, guess what?  Adjudicators from Oregon and Washington, in separate state competitions, chose four of these plays to send forward.  Speaking as someone who saw one of those festivals:  you missed some good stuff already.  Now you have the chance to see what evolution has wrought.

(2)  Economic incentive:  FIVE plays from THREE STATES over TWO DAYS for the low low price of $20.  At these prices, you can’t afford to miss ‘em.  The most plays we’ve had at a Region IX Festival EVER!  (Unless I’m wrong, which has happened before, but I’m out on this limb anyway, so I’m just gonna dangle with purpose.)

(3)  Bonus material:  on Saturday, before the Festival kicks off the final leg, there’s a Troupe performance from ACT/Richland at 11am.  Like, just so you could watch more stuff.

(4)  Adjudicators step it up for the Regional – only one show goes to national, and there’s some seriously scrutiny brought to bear.  And you get to watch that scrutiny.

(5)   Scenic amazement:  10x10 box; 10 minutes set-up; 60 minutes (or less) show; 10-minute take down – and the word is every single show does something INCREDIBLE with these limitations. 

And that’s if you just like shows and adjudicating.  Washington’s got a serious streak going on – can either Oregon or Idaho break through to Nationals?  Who picks up other awards at the dessert Saturday night?  And when are you gonna get the chance to see the National champion without a ticket to Carmel IN, hmm? 

   

     So click on the helpful links to the Richland Players all over this site for the show times (mainly Friday starting at 6pm and Saturday starting at 12:30pm), and make the effort this weekend.  Lotta sweet hard work ramped up for the big-time.

       And who wants to miss the big time when the artists from Beaverton, Lake City, Spokane, Tualatin, and Bremerton come to Richland to unfurl their magicks?

       Not me, that’s who.   

UNKY SEAN REVEALS KALEIDOSCOPE ’13 BEST MOMENTS: IT’S LIKE BEING THERE, UNLESS YOU WERE THERE, WHICH MAKES THIS A REMINDER OF GoooooooooD TIMES!

    So there was this state theater festival, really, no foolin’, Washington state, in Bremerton, a fabled land strewn with festive naval ship parts and (I kid you not) street-corner art of a fish fly-catching a fisherman.  And a puppet museum near my hotel.  It’s like the gods saw me coming, grabbed me by the ankles, dangled me upside down, and took all my discretionary cash.

    But mainly there was a theater festival that was so good, we mispronounce words to indicate how good it was – it was UH-mazing; it was fan-TAS-tic; it was HUH-larious; it was Rana-lana-drama-ding-dong-diddly-well done.  (Y’see Rana Tan ran the festival; that’s why that’s funny.  Oops – explaining my jokes, that’s not a good thing.  Forget I did that – move it along, nothing to see here folks . . .)

     So on WSCTA’s fb page and other places you can find the Plays Going to Regional (Bremerton Community Theater’s The Thread Men and Spokane Civic Theatre’s The Turn of the Screw) and the winners of the Adjudicator awards (do you expect facts in every parenthetical statement?  Disappointed much?) and the member-voted WSCTA Betty Wills Treasure Award (Bremerton Community Theater’s The Thread Men) and the Ralph Eaton New Horizon Award for First Time Entry to the Kaleidoscope Festival (which went to The Changing Scene Theatre Northwest, which previously went to the festival ten years ago . . . yes, there’s a future board meeting where I have some ‘xplainin’ to do . . .), so I won’t waste any time going into details about this, except to give you the FULL SKINNY (just noticed that’s an oxymoron) on the results of my favorite award:  the WSCTA Magic Moment Award.

      Pretend (it’s a theater association- you should be familiar with the concept of pretend) you didn’t go to the festival.  OK, maybe less crying.  Hey, don’t rend that shirt, you’re gonna need that – not the LAMP, it’s part of a set!  Not a theatrical set, I mean it matches the other lamps.  ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT, stop pretending.  Yeesh, last time I use that “pretend” set-up.  So listen to me explain to you, who didn’t attend, what theater is. 

     We create memories.  We pour hours of time into creating for audiences moments that will become memories.  To the band of happy few who were at Bremerton last weekend, we share these memories, and as we reconnect over time, we vibrate with the special friction that is common experience.  For those who were not there, we have a record of amazing moments.

       The WSCTA members get to vote for the Magic Moment award, where each member chooses their favorite moment from the festival.  We handed an award to the one that got the most votes (that’s the one in bold below), but to give you the slightest inkling how SPEC-TAC-U-LAR (whoops, that’s how that’s actually pronounced) this festival was, here’s a list of EVERY MAGIC MOMENT in our vote box.

    Because I think our members captured the event better than I could (and you can find me trying in whimsical synopsizes on fB.)

    So without further ado, THE MAGIC MOMENTS of KALEIDOSCOPE ‘13, according to those who were there and voted, alphabetically-ish, with (shows in parantheses), unless the whole dang show’s a moment (happened twice!) and (no-duh) SPOILER ALERT:

Adolfo (The Drowsy Chaperone)

Death by Chopstick in Neck; “Misfortune” (Didn’t See That Coming)

Death of Miles (The Turn of the Screw)

Dropping the Cell Phone in the Flower Vase (God of Carnage)

Elevator Drop (The Thread Men)

Eric Spenser, actor (The Thread Men)

Exercise/Gym/Treadmill Segment (Seriously Menopausal)

God of Carnage

John Collins Breaking Down (The Thread Men)

Man in Chair’s Delight in Sharing Music (The Drowsy Chaperone)

Monkeys! (The Drowsy Chaperone)

Nurse Carrying the Baby Stage Left (The Long Christmas Dinner)

Opening the Elevator That Was Not Supposed to Work (The Thread Men)

Telegram Revealed When Sam Dies (The Long Christmas Dinner)

This Property is Condemned

Wrong Record Played/The Emperor’s Nightingale (The Drowsy Chaperone)

Shoulda been there.

    Unless you were.  Remember all that?  Yeah, me too.

VOTING THE WSCTA WAY: CORRUPT AND FUN!

     So the main reason you can find Unky Sean at a table all during this Kaleidoscope Festival at the Bremerton Community Theater is so he can shake money out of your pocket and into the next festival. 

      Oh, yeah, I like getting to meet you all, and chatting and swapping info about the various theaters doings, but mainly, it’s money.  And not just the obvious showy raffle baskets filled with goodies and high-class knick-knackery.  (But we got those – so don’t forget to buy a ticket, cuz we totally got those.

     Y’see, we got a high-class scheme to get your money.  It’s all called “membership” and it comes in two forms - $20 individual member or $50 organizational.  To compete at Kaleidoscope, you need the organizational, but why do you need it as an individual?  So you can vote.

     Yeah, yeah, poll taxes are unconstitutional (wink!) but there’s voting and then there is voting.  And after you watch your heart-sweepingly favorite show, so clearly perfect the world should know of it’s powers, you’re gonna wanna vote it a big award.  And then you’ll hear those adjudicators, who will not sing the praises of that complete work of art, and what do you know – you’re in the lobby giving me $20 so you can say Blah Blah Theater Company is a Washington Treasure.

     That’s right – adjudicators may pick what moves on to regionals, but WSCTA members choose who is the Betty Wills Washington Treasure Award, given to the theater company at the festival that best personifies the qualities and organization of Washington State Community Theater.  And how did they prove that they deserve that award?  They put on a show that told us they deserved it and we voted for them.

     We meaning those who are members. 

     There’s also the Ralph Eaton New Horizon Award, for a first-time participant who exemplifies the entire point to being at a theater conference, sharing their work and doing it swell.  (The Jewel Box Theater of Poulsbo and The Changing Scene Theater Northwest were the two candidates for this at press time.)     

     And then there’s the Best Moment.  Now this one rocks, and you never know what it’s gonna be – one year it was a Snicker-chewing boy kissing a girl who was bawling her out (ACT Richland!).  At the last Kaleidoscope, it was the “I Love You” number from Spokane Civic Theater’s The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  The first year I went to Kaleidoscope, it was two people in a shared spotlight on opposite sides of the same door (and I think that was a Bremerton area theater).  And that had a serious challenge from a working screen-door in Proof (Walla Walla Little Theater).  And when you’re there with your group, and you all find you like something, that may be just the right number of votes to make a Best Moment happen.

     Well, that and $20 each.  And we announce the winners at the Brunch, just like the adjudicators do, so they’re like, indisputably real awards.

     Sure, that’s completely corrupt.  I’m ashamed sometimes that to fund these Festivals, I have to reduce my ethics to the level where I have to convince nice people like you to do something you would enjoy doing, just to make other people feel good about themselves.  What kind of inhuman monster am I? 

     But while I sweat out my shame behind a table this weekend, y’all can have a good time, kick some money toward the WSCTA (which supports the adjudicators, the festival participants, and that keeps proving Washington State as one of the most active community theater communities in the world), and do what you are already doing:  supporting local theater that your neighbors put on to amaze you.

    See ya Bremerton – I’ll be the one in the clip-on tie.

Unky Sean

SCRIPT SWAP at KALEIDOSCOPE ’13 - an Unky Sean Ideer

There comes a time in the life of every great person where they just have to take stock of what they have, assess that stock, keep what they want, and get what they can for the rest.  And that time is now.

As dyed-in-the-previously-worn-by-other-actors wool as we theater folks can be, we ALL OF US amass buttloads of scripts, sometimes in multiple quantities.  And still, we want more. 

So why don’t you bring your extra copies of something and I bring my extra copies of something and, uh, swap ‘em? 

I know – it’s just crazy enough to work.  That’s I got baseball cards of athletes who weren’t fortunate enough to arrive at random with my bubble gum purchase, and gosh-darn-it, why can’t we do that with scripts?  Because this extra copy of The Sisters Rosenzweig I got is not gonna suddenly become a two-person production with puppets and shadow voices.  Right?  And I’m sure that three of those things you really really meant to send back to MTI are just burning a hole in your metaphorical pockets. 

So let’s get together, around the WSCTA table on Friday March 1^st, from 2pm ‘til we get bored socializing and swapping, and see what kinda new libraries we can build. 

Some simple guidelines, since swapping is sorta below “rules”:

- Don’t bring more books than you can carry.  That’s how many you’re leaving with, remember?

- Single editions for single editions; anthologies for anthologies.  “An anthology equals five scripts” is the kind of math that starts haggling, and let’s not be those people, all right?

- No money – just swapping.  And no judgments either.  Sure, Tams-Witmark probably wanted that piano score to No No Nannette returned thrity years ago, but that fine has been paid, and as long as you’re not selling it . . . let’s just say what happens at Script Swap goes home with someone who can keep a secret.

- Nobody has to take your Friedrich Hebbel plays (although Maria Magdalena rocks! . . . jes’ sayin’ . . .), so if you go home with what you already had, that’s fine, dig?

- Bring stuff to share, not just get rid of.  If you were in a totally amazing play you have three copies of, share THAT, not the extra copy of Timon of Athens your aunt got you cuz “yer so dramatic.”  If we all bring enough cool stuff, we get cool stuff when we trade.

Now maybe you won’t be there on Friday afternoon.  Who knows, maybe it’s only me at the WSCTA table swapping stories to passing strangers about all the great scripts nobody brought.  Well, during the festival, while I’m at the WSCTA table, I’ll always have my box of scripts.  So check in and maybe some Friday night or Saturday-between-show-swapping will happen. 

Either way, Rana said we could, we’re doin’ it on Friday at 2 pm in the lobby of the Bremerton Community Theater around the WSCTA table.  It’ll be nice to see y’all, and your scripts, and hang for a bit.

Unky Sean Walbeck

2/20/2013

KALEIDOSCOPE ‘13 IN BREMERTON: WHADDYA WAITING FOR?

Hey cats and kittens, friends and neighbors, and all our localized kit-n-kaboodlin’ theater rat packs, it’s time to think real hard and get your keisters to the hip-happening folderol that is Kaleidoscope ’13 at the Bremerton Community Theater February 28 to March 2^nd.  (And if you’re hungry and like award ceremonies, there’s a brunch on Sunday, March 3^rd.)

Our hostess with the mostest (duties to perform to see this happen), Rana Tan is shepherding eight (count ‘em - EIGHT!) plays brought from EVERY CORNER OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON.  Okay, maybe not Pend Oreille or Wahkiakum or Point Roberts – but it’s a pretty dang near comprehensive collection of Eastside and Westside offerings from some of your favorite community theaters.

What’s that – you don’t have a favorite?  Well, that’s why it’s a competition, so you can see all this hot stuff from everywhere and then choose your favorite and be ticked off at the adjudicators for not picking your favorite as the Best of Everything That’s Cool and Mighty.

What’s that – there’s knowledgeable adjudicators, who give short pithy evaluations on the fly and hand out awards and then send a couple of worthy productions onto the Regional IX Festival in Richland WA on March 29-30, so they might possibly move on to the *gasp* AACTFest ’13 National One-Act Theatre Festival in CARMEL, INDIANA?!  Yes, yes there are adjudicators, who speak in run-on sentences JUST LIKE THAT LAST ONE!

But surely, there’s more to this event than just fantastic theater and ALL-CAPS HYPERBOLE?  Well, yeah.  There’s voting, there’s raffle baskets (don’t scoff – many children today are the direct result of somebody winning a raffle basket filled with chocolate and wine #ka-wink#), and we’re trying to pull off the First EVER Kaleidoscope Script Swap.  (Details later – same Bat-Internet, same bat-URL . . .)

So get your twitchy fingers a-clicking those keys so you’re at the Bremerton CommunityTheater Kaleidoscope website (Google it, Bing it, it’s out there I’m telling ya) where you can find out the plays, the companies, the low-low prices for tickets, the proper hotels (first choice hotel FULL - second choice hotel FILLING – hupshaw, hupshaw, reserve them suites now!), and the order of the shows.  Shows on Thursday evening (the 28^th), Friday evening (the 1^st – no 29^th this year!), Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening (coincidentally, both the 2^nd).  And on Sunday WE BRUNCH!  And award.

And did you know if you’re a WSCTA member, you get to vote on WSCTA awards?  And there’s gonna be a table at the event covered in raffle baskets and ballots with a smiling happy me to explain what a cool thing the WSCTA is?  No foolin’!  I’m like totally there for you!

Well, and cuz I wanna see all these shows. 

My hope Ted (our Prez) slips in some links to give you direct access (note from Ted:  yes, I added the BCT link), but I just wanna say I ordered my tickets on the phone from 360-373-5152, because, dang-it (honest, Microsoft Word thinks dang-it is misspelled without the hyphen), community theater is about volunteers taking your ticket orders.  And, oh, the um, theater the community puts together to AMAZE THEIR NEIGHBORS!

Ready to be amazed?  Get clickin’. 

More details later, but not much later because this event is nippin’ at our heels.

“Unky” Sean Walbeck

 . . . geez, where’s that guy been hiding? . . .

 2/15/2013

UNKY SEAN’s OSCAR GUIDE FOR THEATER FANS

     Yeah, y’all may save it up for the Tony Awards in June, but while I’m crappy-food snacking in my relaxed-fit pants criticizing that hideous dress (what was she thinking?) during Oscars, I’m rooting for the theater folk to take home a few trophies.  Hollywood may groom its own high-cheekboned photogenic stunners in speaking like a human and turn a few TV writers into screenplay creators, but I’m honking my horn for the stage-burnished talents of the stage-worthy.  Those eight-day-a-weekers deserve awards more than the 6-pages-a-day (tops!) in my book, and Oscar is the biggest party in the world (that doesn’t include tackling or red cards) they get invited to.  So here’s your guide to Oscar subtext:  theater rules!

     Let’s start with acting:  Meryl Steep and Glenn Close, to no one’s surprise, came to prominence in the New York theater scene, and make regular returns to those stages.  Streep’s last trip was at the Public Theater in Mother Courage and Her Children and Close is nominated for a role she played in New York in 1982.  But less well known, Viola Davis (Fences) and Janet McTeer (A Doll’s House) both have a Tony for Lead Actress in a Drama, and a long list of stage credits in their respective countries (McTeer is British).  Christopher Plummer was a star of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in his native Canada early in his career, and makes regular returns to its stages (last time in 2010), and also has a few Broadway credits to his name (since 1954), such as playing in the one-man show Barrymore and, if I’m not mistaken, receiving the Tony for his lead performance in the musical of Cyrano.  And then you’ve got Kenneth Branagh, a RADA graduate who worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn.  You know Larry Olivier:  lord, important British actor, and first artistic director of the National Theatre.  Oh, and the only other guy to direct himself performing Hamlet on film other than Branagh.  Theater guy playing a theater guy, who professionally share another theater guy?  In a movie that probably has Method acting guru Lee Strasburg, playwright Arthur Miller, and Olivier’s wife and star actress Vivian Leigh as characters as well? (I’m guessing; haven’t seen it, but all those folks were there that particular week).  Theater buzz points:  a bazillion.

     But big whoop, right?  Even film actors spent some time on a stage somewhere.  Out of twenty nominees, I named six and at least four have Tony awards.  And I’m not counting Jonah Hill’s comedy and improv work on LA stages or what Max von Sydow was doing on Swedish stages before Bergman made him walk a beach in chain mail or his two Broadway appearances (Duet for One; The Night of the Tribades) that, combined, didn’t run a month.  Or Tony winners Vincent Garber (Kung Fu Panda 2) and Antonia Banderas (Puss in Boots) whose voices you hear in Best Animated Film nominees.  Actors act anywhere – I hear you, I hear you.  So let’s go to Documentary Feature. 

      The first ever 3-D film nominated as a feature was . . . Toy Story 3 in Best Picture and Animated Feature last year, so I don’t get why a couple of websites keep saying it’s Pina, which is the first 3-D documentary feature nominee and that’s cool enough.  Pina Bausch Wuppertal Danztheater has been touring the world with her blend of theater & dance exploring the internal awkwardness of man/woman relationships, and even though she died just before the filming was to commence (in 2009), her dancers (who also committed to performing the rest of her scheduled dates before disbanding the company sometime this year) convinced director Wim Wenders to go on with the film project to preserve her legacy.  That’s where my Oscar pool vote is going.  In Documentary Short Subject, the subject of God is the Bigger Elvis is Dolores Hart, who not only gave Elvis Presley his first screen kiss AND appeared on Broadway in The Pleasure of His Company (1958-1959), but is now a nun.  I assume she no longer cares Where the Boys Are.

                And Best Costumes.  Frankly, I have no idea whether any of the nominees have theater credits (sue me- how much research did you do on this?), but I do know Anonymous is a thriller about the ridiculous notion that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays, directed by the “let’s blow up iconic stuff in this movie too” director Roland Emmerich.  So, yeah, bad movie, but nominated for Best Costumes (Lisy Christl), meaning you get to see high levels of Elizabethan period garb and stagings of “Shakespeare” in his own time, surrounded by crappy storytelling.  And I just loves me some well-researched expensive Hollywood money on period costumes when it’s about a key time in theater history.

     So let’s talk about the writers now:  first, the ones who are nominated.  Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) and Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball) both have won Oscars for their writing, and both have full-length Broadway successes on their resumes (Don’t Drink the Water and A Few Good Men, respectively).  Woody even acted on-stage in Play It Again, Sam and was a stand-up comic before film-making.  (Sorkin claims some acting in his background, but even he’s fuzzy on details.)  John Logan (Hugo) won a Tony last year for Best Play for Red, playing at the Seattle Rep later this season and available at Samuel French.  Beau Willimon wrote a play about his experiences on the Howard Dean presidential campaign called Farragut North (published by Dramatists Play Service) which George Clooney and Grant Heslov bought and adapted to the screen with him as The Ides of March. And Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumalo, writers of Bridesmaids, originally worked together at the LA improv/comedy training ground that is The Groundlings.

      And now the playwrights who weren’t nominated, but whose work appears in other categories.  Like Best Actress and Supporting Actress – the late French playwright and director Simone Benmussa wrote The Secret Life of Albert Nobbs, for which I can still only find French language references or the $250-$500 copies in English listed on alibris (so anyone who wants to buy me a present – just send me the cash; I’ll get it on my own, honest.)  And Best Picture nominee War Horse claims in its credits it is based on Michael Morpurgo’s book and Nick Stafford’s script of the amazing stage play (on Broadway as we speak).  The screenplay by Lee Hall (who also wrote the book for the musical Billy Elliott) and Richard Curtis (who I’m sure has stage credits writing for Rowan Atkinson at the very least, but I’m just gonna say Blackadder anyway).  In Best Foreign Film, Canada’s nominee Monsieur Lazhar is based on the Francophone play of the same name by Evelyne de la Cheneliere.

     And I count the Flight of the Conchords as a comedy-folk music stage act, since I first saw them live at Bumbershoot before their BBC radio series or HBO comedy show.  And Bret MacKenzie (he plays Bret) is nominated in Best Song for writing “Man or Muppet?” for The Muppets.  (Hey, is that movie about re-opening a theater?)  Bret’s competing in this category with Sergio Mendes’ “Real in Rio” from Rio, an nominated Animated Feature which included voice acting and a song from the other Conchord, Jemaine Clement (he plays Jemaine).  Jemaine’s song didn’t get nominated, though; I sense a band meeting to hash that out.

     Speaking of music, composer Howard Shore (nominated for Best Score in War Horse) was the Musical Director (and a performer in the Candy Slice Band) for Gilda Radner –Live from New York in 1979.  This means that the swelling music surrounding the harrowing story of Joey the Horse is from the same guy who orchestrated the song “Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals” on Broadway.  Gotta love history, baby.

     Oh, and it just so happens your host, Billy Crystal, who moans about not having an Oscar for any of his film work, has a Tony for his solo show 700 Sundays.  Must be rough, Billy.   

     So, now that you have some blood in the game, which one of you theater junkies is gonna miss the Oscars?  Sunday February 26, 5:30pm.  Earlier if you wanna see the red carpet nonsense, cuz I’m telling you, that dress is just totally wrong for her – could you hand me those jalapeno poppers, thanks.

UNKY SEAN’S POST-KALEIDOSCOPE GRAB-BAG SUMMARY

So here I am, back to my real life, and I says to myself – “Self, you gotta process this experience. If not for yourself, Self, then for those who was there and those who weren’t.” And I said to myself, ”Or I just gotta clarify and pontificate.” Self interrupted, “You did that already; you were an adjudicator.” “Don’t say it like that, like I was a mean, lowly, heart-breakin’ rat.” “Well, then don’t adjudicate next time.” And then I took a swing at myself, and Self dodged and countered with a jab to the place that makes me exhale really quickly, and so here I’m at, still trying to figure out what to say about Kaleidoscope ’11 at the Spokane Civic Theatre while I catch my breath.

The WSCTA awards. Also known as the “member awards”, those are the distinctions bestowed from the WSCTA members unto the festival participants. The adjudicators don’t give them and they are my favorite thing about the festival. The Ralph Eaton New Horizons Award wasn’t given this time – this award is given to a first-time participant at Kaleidoscope that most exemplifies the values of high quality community theater. The “Magic Moment” is a vote for that one special thing that festival-goers most loved about the plays this weekend. This year, it went to the character Olive Ostrovsky singing “The I Love You Song” from The 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The Betty Wills Washington Treasure Award goes to the theatre that most exemplifies . . . oh, cut to the chase, it’s the member’s choice for best show. The plaque stays at the theatre awarded until the next Kaleidoscope sends it along to the next festival. This year, it went to the Bremerton Community Theater’s production of All My Sons.

These are my favorite awards cuz they almost always come from the heart of the festival and rarely match the adjudicated awards. Which makes them feel good.

Read more about them. Four plays of four differing styles, modes, and genres. So rather than detail what was good about ‘em (you either went or you didn’t – next time GO!), here’s where you can follow up on your favorites.

Dan Zolidis wrote !Artistic Inspiration, a wacky farce intended for high school-aged performers. It’s a specialty of Zolidis who has around 50 other plays like it available through Playscripts.com. (In fact, it’s a specialty of Playscripts.com, the wacky high-school farce. Through direct marketing and making samples of scripts readable on-line, high school students don’t have to go through teacher to find what plays they like.) If you liked this play, you might try Zolidis’ adaptation of Bobby Wilson Can Eat His Own Face; Stephen Gregg’s S.P.A.R (Dramatic Publishing); and Christopher Durang’s The Actor’s Nightmare (Dramatists Play Service).

Doug Wright wrote Wildwood Park, a daring psychological chiller. Included as part of a creepy evening of one-acts titled Unwrap Your Candy (all Wright’s plays are at Dramatists), which made my must-order pile. Doug Wright’s a Pulitzer Prize winner (for I Am My Own Wife) who focuses on the psychological need, maybe even drive, for transgressive self-delusion. His most well-known work is arguably Quills (stage play made into a feature film with Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine) about the power struggle between an asylum “warden” and his most outrageous and famous patient, the Marquis de Sade. How exactly can you punish a man who enjoys punishment? My personal favorite is The Stonewater Rapture, a heart-breaking two-hander about high school love gone wrong. David Harrower’s Blackbird (Dramatists) is recent full-length play of macabre re-connections, not dissimiliar to Wildwood Park. (Thanks for the suggestion, Sandy.)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was written by Rachel Sheinkin (sp?), who I don’t know much about, with music and lyrics by William Finn. Super mondo musical theater geeks would be very familiar with Finn’s “Marvin” trilogy, three small musicals that focus on the foibles of, well, Marvin, a man who leapt out of the closet and struggles to be a good father, ex-husband, and lover. The short sung-through musicals (so more like operettas) include In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. (MTI.) Fans of Putnam would like Marvin.

All My Sons by some guy. Some guy who wrote Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, and Resurrection Blues. Arthur Miller’s that guy, and three of those titles are regular combatants in the Greatest American Play arguments. Miller’s tragedies of the common man are arguably his stronger works, and my heart’s fondest of Sons (and Bremerton showed great plays are their own best argument for doing them). That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy re-reading or seeing Salesman, Crucible, and Bridge. (Dramatists AND Samuel French AND lotsa used copies out there – check your used bookstores.) And if Miller gets to you too, try some Lillian Hellman and Robert E. Sherwood.

Join us. The board of the WSCTA could use a few more bodies, especially a treasurer. And it’d be nice if a Westside theatre stepped up to host Kaleidoscope ’13. (We’re looking at you, Bremerton and Tacoma . . .). But mainly, if you’re reading this, we need you. Put up a show, bring in one of us for a workshop or presentation, let us know what you’re doing. I’ll dribble out some more festival-related discoveries (what? You thought I’d blow it all in one blogpost? ) and news as we go along, but the main virtue of this medium is the two-way communication. Tell me what you wanna know.

Thanks to ACT Richland, Richland Players, Spokane Civic and Bremerton Community Theatre for the above plays and the great weekend. And thanks to Civic’s wonderful hosting – and rock the folks in Rochester, Bee’s! (Thanks for the Bee tiara, too. All my wife is jealous.)

Kaleidoscope 2011 Results

We just completed a wonderful festival hosted by Spokane Civic Theatre! The following awards were presented:

WSCTA MEMBER AWARDS:

These are voted by ballot by WSCTA members present for the festival:

WSCTA Magic Moment Award - "The I Love You Song" - Lacey Bohnet as Olive Ostrovsky - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Betty Wills Washington Treasure Award - All My Sons - Bremerton Community Theatre

ADJUDICATOR AWARDS:

These are selected by the adjudicators:

Outstanding Performance - Mark Pleasant -The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Set Design - Eric Wise-All My Sons

Outstanding Costume Design - Jan Wanless - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Lighting Design - Bret Parker - Wildwood Park

Outstanding Sound Design - Jan Goolsbey -Wildwood Park

Outstanding Ensemble Performance - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Direction - Joyce Bean - Wildwood Park

Outstanding Choreography - Kathie Doyle-Lipe - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Design & Production Team - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Excellence in Company Creativity - ACT Richland !Artistic Inspiration

ADVANCING COMPANIES:

Alternate Company Advancing to the National Festival – Richland Players – Wildwood Park

Company Advancing to the National Festival – Spokane Civic Theatre - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

UNKY SEAN’S PRE-CONVENTION HIT REVIEW

So, for those of you who don’t know,

{And that’s assuming anyone’s out there reading these. Taptaptap –heeeeh-looooo, anybody on the other side of this screen? Other than you, Ted.}

Unky Sean is an adjudicator for this upcoming Kaleidoscope. And the rules of adjudicating are constrictive, folks. I can’t talk about any of the plays at the festival, for one. No, not even that one. Not a jot or a tittle. I said NO, so kwit askin’! And all forms of theatre are legitimate. Seriously, it’s a rule, I have to swear that I respect all theatrical genres as legitimate expressions deserving their moment on stage.

. . .

Fortunately, I do believe that. Not that everything’s automatically a good example of said theatrical expression, but that at heart, there’s nothing wrong with a pirate story. Or restoration comedy. Or children’s musicals based on gothic literature. Or neo-futuristic political sketch comedy. Or even Christmas plays, despite what you may have read in this blog before, assuming you exist.

So I’m not going to come outta the adjudicator’s gate fish-slapping some hard-working theatrons for heartfelt sincerity. That’s not why I’m there. I’m there to reflect and advise. No fish-slapping required for that, right?

Cue the violins.

Usually I’m at these conventions to talk about plays and theater. I’m a big ol’ script geek, and I’m so busy reading & seeing 120 scripts a year, I barely get a chance to talk plays with like minded folk. So here I come to the big city of Spokane, not for the St. Paddy’s parade (although I’m half-Irish), but for rubbing shoulders with y’all like-minded script geeks, only you’re all warned not to talk about plays and theater with me. (Yeah, it’s a rule.) It’s like a very cruel version of Keep-A-Way where no amount of Free Brunch will ameliorate the pain.

OK, stop the violins, they’re bugging me.

So I know you exist, and also so I don’t feel like John Travolta in a plastic bubble, come up and ask me for a guide to quality playscripts. I will then hand you a single sheet of helpful playscript resources. That will not violate any rules and we don’t talk about the plays we’re watching.
And enjoy this recap of the good plays I’ve read or seen during the first two months of this year. I read and saw more than these, but I’m just talking about the good ones, just for practice.

Six Degrees of Seperation (John Guare). Dramatists Play Service. Always surprised how much I enjoy this work (arguably Guare’s most accessible) and this time struck by how well this would play in a community theatre. Big multi-generational cast, each character distinct, simple and theatrical set demands, fast-moving.

Love Letters (A.R. Gurney). A life-long relationship in letter form. Gurney’s continuing explorations of fading WASP culture sometimes get too Manhattan-centric for me, but the two voices here are dynamic and well-pitched and their journey plays like a rediscovered story shared with friends.

Further Than The Furthest Thing (Zinnie Harris). Dramatists. Loosely based on the evacuation of the entire population of the isolated island Tristan de Cuhna to Southhampton, England, we watch a small family struggle with issues of assimilation and self-definition. Are we defined by our acts, our passions, our successes, our tragedies, or where we’re from? Beautiful language, heart-breaking drama.

The Zoo Story (Edward Albee). Dramatists. Yeah, I’ve read it before. In fact, last year when I read Albee’s At Home at the Zoo, which combined Homelife (about what Peter was doing before Zoo Story) with TZS. Yeah, while it birthed a million bench plays afterward (and there’s nothing wrong with a bench play), it still lands its punches squarely. Jerry’s not going to be comfortable in this world and Peter’s steadfast complacency places him on the wrong bench at the wrong time. Hard to believe, over fifty years later, this was viewed as absurdist, when it sounds like everything now.

7 (x1) Samurai. iDiOM Theatre. David Gaines performs in this one-man retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. I saw it twice. An award-winning solo performance tour-de-force in clowning and physical performance, if you find him (check his website) performing near you, go see him. Understanding Japanese film theory or reading subtitles not required.
I always thought if I was gonna blog, this was what I’d blog about – plays out there, old and new. Anything to recommend? Just to prove you exist?

See you in Spokane, or we will talk about you behind your back. No rule against that.

UNKY SEAN’s THREE THINGS YOU NEED AT KALEIDOSCOPE

OK, at this point you’re bringing the show of your dreams or you’re just coming to attend. Either way, it’s vital you get this advice under your belt. Whether you’ve never gone to a state festival or gone to every state festival since Nero staged “A Funny Thing Happened When I Burned Rome in a Day – Kill That Guy For Not Laughing”, there’s three essentials to enhance your experience.

(1) Bring cash. Yeah, yeah, it’s a credit/debit card world and you can pay for your tickets ahead of time. (And you should pay for your tickets ahead of time.) But you’re at a theater for an extended period of time and you’re gonna get noshy, maybe thirsty, maybe see candy and where’s your cash? Yeah, see? Lobbies work by cash, folks, so bring some. As well, there’s usually someone raffling something snazzy as a fundraiser for the event or the adjudicators or the something-official-don’t-ask-so-many-questions. And I see there’s a karaoke event scheduled. You think that’s not gonna suck up some singles? So hit an ATM, and have a little sumthin’ on hand.

(2) Pen/pencil and paper. Back in the olden days, before phones did your taxes while you played Tetris, people took notes on little pieces of paper, sometimes collected for that purpose in what was an actual notepad. So, you’ll be chatting with Suzy Seatmate in-between shows and Roger InFrontofYou mentions a show he liked at his theatre, which reminds Suzy of this great play and Trudy BehindYou loved this delightful musical which would be perfect for this actress you all like and you go to type this all into your phone only it’s turned off cuz you’re polite and in a theater and know better and then the show starts and you forget all that stuff. No rules against Pen and Paper, people. Good for recording phone numbers, e-mail addresses, vendor information, restaurant recommendations and directions too. Conveniently available in pocket or purse sizes. (And if you’re in a hotel, a part of the room you get to keep.) Part of the fun of the festival is the stuff you discover – take notes.

(3) Brunch. Yeah, cuz you gotta pay up front, you don’t think you’ll do brunch. But then, at the festival, you make friends, find out that’s where the awards will be and remember you’re not leaving til later so you try to buy a brunch at the last minute. After the people running the thing have already been told how many to prepare for. If you’re gonna checkout Sunday, buy the brunch now. It’s a great schmooze time, the food is gonna be better nutritionally than anything you’re finding on the road home, and you see the awards given. -- And as further incentive, any bacon you eat at a hotel is fat-free and vegan. (According to the Tranportational Food Ethics Act of 2000-sumthin’, google it, you’ll find it.)

Trust me, these three things are vital to enjoying your festival experience. The shows are pretty good too, but lobby snacks, accurate notation, and pre-purchased hotel bacon will kick it up to turbo. And you want turbo.
See ya there.

Tickets for Kaleidoscope Sessions

Tickets for the Kaleidoscope Sessions and for the Awards Brunch are now availalbe from our host theatre, Spokane Civic Theatre.

Here's the breakdown:

See both Kaleidoscope sessions (5 plays) and attend the awards brunch for just $50. Or choose one or both sessions. Order form at this link. Or you may call the Spokane Civic Theatre box office at (509-325-2507) Monday-Friday 10-5:30. We'll see you there!

Here's a reminder of the plays in each session:

Session I Friday evening:
Tacoma Musical Playhouse – Drowsy Chaperone
ACT Richland – Artistic Inspiration

Session II Saturday afternoon:
Richland Players – Wildwood Park
Spokane Civic Theatre – 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Bremerton Community Theatre – All My Sons

Sunday morning Awards Brunch at the Red Lion.

Kaleidscope 2011 Schedule

The entries are in and the schedule is out! Don't miss seeing these great shows from across the state! Audiences may listen to the adjudication for each show immediately following each performance.

More info on accomodations and our host theatre, Spokane Civic Theatre, at the link on the right.

Friday, March 11

Session I - 7:00 P.M. - $15.00 (includes two shows)

Tacoma Musical Playhouse – Drowsy Chaperone
ACT Richland – Artistic Inspiration

**Post-show opening night reception sponsored by Clinkerdagger’s in the Civic Main Stage lobby**

Saturday, March 12

Session II - 2:00 P.M. - $20.00 (includes three shows)

Richland Players – Wildwood Park
Spokane Civic Theatre – 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Bremerton Community Theatre – All My Sons

Dinner on your own in Spokane.

Post-show karaoke party sponsored by Charley’s on Monroe 9:00 P.M. -?

Awards Brunch at Red Lion Hotel – 10:00 A.M.

TICKET TO BOTH SESSIONS - $30.00
AWARDS BRUNCH - $20.00

UNKY SEAN’S NO-MONEY BUDGET FOR AACTFest’11

In the summer of 2008, at the SHINDIG the WSCTA held at the Bellingham Theatre Guild hosted, I wrote up a no-money budget for attending Kaleidoscope ’09, and with only two additions, it holds up for those thinking about presenting their work at Kaleidoscope ’11 (and beyond). So here it be –some exciting budget structure.

Whoo hoo!

AACTFest’11 BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS

Usual Production Expenses
Royalties, Licenses, and Scripts
Set
Costumes
Sound
FX/Lights?
Props
Admin/House
Fundraising Expenses

Kaleidoscope Expenses
Organization Memberships (WSCTA,AACT)
Scripts for Adjudicators
Convention Memberships
Convention Banquet*
Hotel/Housing
Transportation (Company)
Transportation (Set)

Region IX Festival Expenses (for those that get to go on from Kaleidoscope)
Convention memberships
Convention banquet*
Hotel/Housing
Transportation (Company)
Transportation (Set)

AACTFest ’11 Expenses (for the lucky/talented regional winner)
Convention memberships
Convention banquet*
Hotel/Housing
Transportation (Company)
Transportation (Set)

And briefly, to explain some things.

The asterisk. You don’t have to attend the banquet, but as that’s usually where they announce the awards, almost everyone goes. So technically an optional expense, but budget with the sense that someone’s gonna be there.

Musicals. Bringing a musical? So add instruments, stands, and/or sound equipment fall into the production expenses and musicians to the housing and transportation costs. All has to fit in the pre-show/post-show box, too.

Programs? Some shows supply programs of their show for each venue. Not required, but if you need to thanks lots of people, there’s only so much room the event program supplies.

Adjudicator Scripts. (Your script including your cuts.) They’re usually forwarded for each level and then returned, but you may be asked for additional (or downloadable, if not previously published) copies to accommodate adjudicator training at the National convention.

Organization memberships. You’ve likely already paid them and are finally using those dues for something, but it doesn’t hurt to check.

Consider this no-number budget as way to talk to your board about participating. It shows the general expense layout, and you can look like a hero when you cross off or minimize costs. If I was, oh, say, Spokane Children’s Theatre, for example, and could ignore housing/hotel and transportation costs, I’d look like a genius who got us into the Kaleidoscope for less than $500.

So, hope this is helpful, and have fun writing numbers in! Ka-ching!

Sean Walbeck
Veep

UNKY SEAN’S SHAMEFUL HOLIDAY CONFESSION

(the first in a series blog by Sean Walbeck, WSCTA Vice President)

So even though I should more specifically focus my first blog entry towards the upcoming Spokane Kaleidoscope of 2011, I find myself distracted by my niece Brydian’s first community theater foray in A Christmas Carol at the Valley Center Stage in North Bend. The distraction comes in two forms, the first that although I want to support the kind of misspent life playing the boards encourages, I may not be able to attend, and the second, I wouldn’t 100% be sad about missing the joyous event in my niece’s creative life.

Supporting our friends and family by attending their plays is a genre of community theatre, after all. While the rest of the theatrical world has realized more actors cost more money and has whittled their cast sizes down to accommodate that economic reality, community theater’s bottom line understands that you cast an actor’s family and friends as audience, so the more the merrier. Anyone of us who has filled their Wizard of Oz munchkin chorus with every auditioning child who mastered the art of simultaneously walking and smiling has embraced this genre, and were it not for the slight hint of impropriety it suggested, the Cratchits could easily be the proud parents of 24 precocious little ones, a full half of them tiny with little crutches god-blessing us, everyone.

Who am I kidding? There’s dozens of versions of A Christmas Carol, some of which are written specifically to pad the cast. Am I right in remembering an orphan chorus more suited for an Oliver Twist musical thanking Mr. Scrooge sarcastically? And how about the version that decided Hunger and Poverty should be a stream of walking-and-smiling kids in rags, marching out of the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robes like clowns out of a car? How many Fezziwig’s parties have you seen expanded from its office party roots to an all-ages event with girls, girls, and more girls showing off the hoofing skills of those rakes of accounting, Young Scrooge and Young Marley? Find me a play publisher catalog, I’ll find you at least three versions of Scrooge’s Nightmare on Undigested Beef with cast size from 10 to a jillion (flexible) available for affordable royalty and a “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy on “script alterations.” You know what version you don’t find at a community theater? Patrick Stewart’s solo performance of all the roles. Why? Cuz Patrick Stewart’s family’s not big enough to fill your house, and the little darlings you didn’t cast are pretending to dance in The Nutcracker down the street and guess who’s in that audience?

The truth is –Christmas pays the bills. Listening to Seattle public radio recently, I heard the Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director speak openly about their Nutcracker representing 25% of their organization’s number of tickets sold and 50% of their income through ticket sales (i.e. more full-price tickets to non-subscribers). Two out of the Big Three in Seattle have “annual holiday traditions” (ACT-A Christmas Carol; Intiman-Black Nativity) and the third wrote a satire about having such a potboiler (Inspecting Carol) that’s performing at a college near me (Western Washington University). When American Theatre annually lists their most produced plays of the non-profit professional theater, you know what they don’t count? Count with me here - (1) adaptations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and (2) The Chimes (Dickens’ own attempt to cash in on this Xmas gravy train he started); (3)adaptations of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. Then (4) A Tuna Christmas (after one year on the list); (5) The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (after several appearances). and (6) The Santaland Diaries (after eight years on the list). (7) Inspecting Carol and variations of (8) It’s a Wonderful Life have also made the list (though not specifically proscribed) so that makes EIGHT titles the pro’s don’t think should count anywhere but the box office. The pro’s learned from us and we learned early in our community theater work – counter programming a non-holiday play in December just reminds you to do a Christmas play next season.

So all that snark indicates why I won’t exactly miss another production of this holiday redemption, but doesn’t alter the fact that my niece and her mother Robin are performing together for the first time a ninety minute drive away. Another descendent dabbling in this art form I’ve dedicated my life to: learning to be comfortable in false clothes and a fake name and repeating everything exactly every time –the frustrating pursuit of perfection that fills your body with adrenalin and your mind with self-doubt. And she’s doing it in a cozy space, with laughably affordable ticket prices to a crowd that’s on her side.

And don’t we go to the theater to have an emotional experience?

Next posts, I talk more about Kaleidoscope and picking scripts, and all sorts of stuff, but to start, I write where I’m at. But while I’m here, don’t take a Christmas show to competition, no matter how good your production is. Adjudicators are at their best when they’ve never seen the play you’re doing before, and frankly, visions of Alistair Sim/Jimmy Stewart/Ralphie/themselves “when I was in” will be dancing in their heads. Hundreds of plays out there without a bathrobe pointing at a tombstone – choose one of those.

Grammercies,

Sean Walbeck, VEEP, WSCTA

Theaters mentioned: Valley Centre Stage (North Bend); Pacific Northwest Ballet (Seattle); ACT (Seattle); Intiman (Seattle); Western Washington University (Bellingham)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily anyone else's, particularly not of anyone else on the WSCTA board (even though they might secretly agree).

Kaleidoscope 2011

Kaleidoscope is coming! Spokane Civic Theatre will be the host for this cycle. This State Festival is the first in a series of AACTFest competitions, followed by the Regional and National competitions. Over twelve community theatre companies from Washington are expected to participate.

Festival Participant Information available online (includes registration, handbook, stage specs and lodging information).

Don't miss this outstanding opportunity to learn, share, laugh and enjoy all that is community theatre!

New Contact Information for WSCTA

The WSCTA as new contact information. We understand that some are having trouble contacting us and we apologize for that. Our website will be updated soon. In the meantime, here is the correct contact information:

WSCTA
c/o Tacoma Musical Playhouse
7116 Sixth Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98406

info@wscta.org

You can also catch us on facebook at facebook.com/wscta

Member individuals and organizations should be receiving their annual flyer and dues letter in the regular mail very soon.

Thanks for your patience as we update all our information.

PLAYING IN SEPTEMBER

Plan on visiting these excellent member companies around the State. Click on the website URLS to go directly to the member company's website for more...

Thanks!
Wsctaorg

BRILLIANT TRACES at Actors Theater of Orcas Island, September 4 - 13 www.orcasactors.com

AH! WILDERNESS at Richland Players, September 11 - 26 www.richlandplayers.com

ZOMBIES FROM BEYOND at Whidbey Playhouse - Oak Harbor, September 11 - October 3 www.whidbeyplayhouse.com

THE SEVEN YEARS ITCH at Bremerton Community Theatre, September 11 - October 4 www.bremertoncommunitytheatre.org

THE SECRET GARDEN at Edmonds Driftwood Players, September 11 - October 4 www.driftwoodplayers.com

REHEARSAL FOR MURDER at Port Angeles Community Players, September 18 - October 4 www.pacommunityplayers.com

LITTLE WOMEN at CSTOCK, September 18 - October 11, www.cstock.org

THE MOUSETRAP at Lakewood Playhouse, September 18 - October 11, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at Olympia Little Theater, September 18 - October 11, www.olympialittletheater.org

CRIMES OF THE HEART at Poulsbo Players @ the Jewel Box Theatre, September 18 - October 11, www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org

LEND ME A TENOR at Little Theatre of Walla Walla, September 25 - October 10, www.ltww.org

BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS at Bellingham Theatre Guild, September 25 - October 11, www.bellinghamtheatreguild.com

A...MY NAME IS ALICE at Encore! Theater, September 25 - October 11, www.encoretheater.org

CAUGHT IN A NET at Anacortes Community Theatre, September 25 - October 17, www.acttheatre.com

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Spokane Civic Theatre, September 25 - October 25, www.spokanecivictheatre.com

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOMICIDE at Edmonds Driftwood Players - Alternative Stages, September 27 - October 5, www.driftwoodplayers.com

PLAYING IN OCTOBER

Spooky theatrical doings around the state this month


NIGHTFALL WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE at Cascade Community Theatre - Duvall, all Month, call 425.884.0907

WIZARD OF OZ at Academy of Children's Theatre - Richland, October 2 - 11, call 509.943.6027

CURTAINS at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, October 2 - 25, www.tmp.org

DISNEY'S HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 at Spokane Children's Theatre, October 9 -25, www.spokanechildrenstheatre.org

THE RELATIVITY OF ALBERT EINSTEIN at Edmonds Drfitwood Players - Alternate Stages. October 15 only, www.driftwoodplayers.com

GREAT EXPECTATIONS at Orcas Theatre and Community Center, October 15 - 24, www.orcascenter.org

STEPPING OUT at Music Theatre of Wenatchee, October 15 -24, www.mtow.org

EDGAR ALLAN POE at Edmonds Driftwood Players - Alternative Stages, October 16 & 17, www.driftwoodplayers.com

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS at Masquers Theatre - Soap Lake, October 16 - November 4, www.masquers.com

VAMPIRE DREAMS at Blaine Community Theatre , October 17 - November 2, www.blainecommunitytheater.org

THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS: THE MUSICAL at CSTOCK, October 23 - 25, www.cstock.org

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD at Port Angeles Community Players, October 23 - 25, www.pacommunityplayers.com

THE ODD COUPLE (female version) at The Evergreen Playhouse - Centralia, October 23 - November 11, www.evergreenplayhouse.org

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at Lakewood Playhouse, October 23 - November 8, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

STRING OF PEARLS at Spokane Civic Theatre - Firth Chew, October 23 - November 15, www.spokanecivictheatre.com

CHESS, at Spokane Civic Theatre, October 30 & 31, www.spokanecivictheatre.com

PLAYING IN NOVEMBER

Give thanks for all these great theatres in Washington State:

WILLY WONKA at Regional Theatre of the Palouse - Pullman, November 5 - 14, www.rtoptheatre.org

THE NERD at Olympia Little Theater, November 5 - 29, www.olympialittletheater.org

LEADING LADIES at Richland Players, November 6 - 21, www.richlandplayers.com

MURDER ON THE NILE at Bremerton Community Theatre, November 6 - 29, www.bremertoncommunitytheatre.org

MY THREE ANGELS at Whidbey Playhouse - Oak Harbor, November 6 - 29, www.whidbeyplayhouse.com

JUNIE B. JONES AND A LITTLE MONKEY BUSINESS, Tacoma Children's Musical Theatre @ TMP, November 7 - 15, www.tmp.org

MY FAIR LADY at Richland Light Opera Company, November 13 - 22, www.rloc.org

SWEET CHARITY at Poulsbo Players at the Jewel Box Theatre, November 13 - December 13, www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org

THE MIRACLE WORKER at Little Theatre of Walla Walla, November 20 - December 5, www.ltww.org

OLIVER! at Encore! Theater - Gig Harbor, November 20 - December 6, www.encoretheater.org

THE MATCHMAKER at Port Angeles Community Players, November 20 - December 10, www.pacommunityplayers.com

HONK! at Anacortes Community Theatre, November 20 - December 19, www.acttheatre.com

A TUNA CHRISTMAS at Spokane Civic Theatre, November 27 - December 6, www.spokanecivictheatre.com

A TUNA CHRISTMAS at Lakewood Playhouse, November 27 - December 13, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

BUNNICULA at Bellingham Theatre Guild, November 27 - December 13, www.bellinghamtheatreguild.com

BABES IN TOYLAND at Spokane Children's Theatre, November 27 - December 13, www.spokanechildrenstheatre.org

A CHRISTMAS STORY at Edmonds Driftwood Players, November 27 - December 20, www.driftwoodplayers.com

SCROOGE: THE MUSICAL at Key City Public Theatre - Port Townsend, November 27 - December 20, www.keycitypublictheatre.org

GUYS AND DOLLS at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, November 27 - December 20, www.tmp.org

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER at Spokane Civic Theatre, November 28 - December 20, www.spokanecivictheatre.com

PLAYING IN MAY:

Note: We're trying a new format to see if we can make it easier to access the shows that are currently open and playing by WSCTA member companies. Please be sure and click on the Links for each company to go directly to their website and learn more.

Thanks!
Wsctaorg

HEAVEN CAN WAIT at Olympia Little Theater, April 24 to May 17 www.olympialittletheatre.org


THE MIKADO at Central Stage Theater of County Kitsap (CSTOCK), April 24 to May 17 www.cstock.org


THE PRODUCERS at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, April 24 to May 17 www.tmp.org

THE FANTASTICKS at Little Theatre of Walla Walla, April 25 to May 16 www.ltww.org

DO BUDDHISTS DRINK BEER at Edmonds Driftwood Players, April 26 to May 4 www.driftwoodplayers.com

STORY THEATRE at Port Angeles Community Playhouse, May 1 to 31 www.pacommunityplayers.com

THE AFFECTIONS OF MAY at Spokane Civic Theatre (Firth Chew Studio Theatre) May 8 to 31 www.spokanecivictheatre.com

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at Spokane Civic Theatre, May 15 to June 14 www.spokanecivictheatre.com

TRIPLE PLAY at Port Angeles Community Playhouse (Second Stage) May 22 to 24 www.pacommunityplayers.com

HEIDI at Tacoma Children's Musical Theatre (@TMP) May 23 to 31 www.tmp.org

TROUBLE WITH ANGELS at Regional Theatre of the Palouse (Pullman) May 28 to 30 www.rtoptheatre.org

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE at Bellingham Theatre Guild, May 29 to June 14 www.bellinghamtheatreguild.com

ONCE IN A LIFETIME at Lakewood Playhouse, May 29 to June 28 www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL at Poulsbo Players, May 29 to June 28 www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org

REGION IX FESTIVAL in Couer d'Alene, ID

CONGRATULATIONS TO EDMONDS DRIFTWOOD PLAYERS who were chosen to represent Region IX at AACTFest '09, and to all the productions that participated in the Region IX Competition. Awards Presented included:

Supporting Actor: David Fox, "Crazy Eights," CAST, Hood River, OR
Actress: Janie Sexton, "The Cemetery Club," Coaster Theatre Playhouse,
Cannon Beach, OR
Actress: Pia Shepherd, "The Cemetery Club," Coaster Theatre Playhouse,

Actor: Shay Carlucci, "Minnesota Moon, " Edmonds Driftwood Players, Edmonds, WA
Direction: Zanne Gerrard, "Minnesota Moon," Edmonds Driftwood Players
Outstanding Ensemble - "The Cemetery Club" Coaster Theatre Playhouse

Runner Up: "The Cemetery Club," Coaster Theatre Playhouse
Outstanding Production: "Minnesota Moon: Edmonds Driftwood Players

ON GOLDEN POND at Masquers Theater

April 10 - May 5
www.masquers.com

BIRNHAM WOODS at Key City Public Theatre

April 10 - May 2
www.keycitypublictheatre.org