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AUDITIONS: Columbus Children’s Theatre’s Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Adapted by Frank Gabrielson, Music by Arlen & Harburg

WHEN: Monday, August 10 and Tuesday, August 11 ; Youth 7:00PM Adults 8:00PM; Callbacks Wednesday, August 12 7:00PM

WHERE: Columbus Children’s Theatre, 512 N. Park Street, Columbus

PREP: Actors should come with a prepared song and music. An accompanist will be provided. NO TAPES. Actors should bring a current resume and a photo (snapshot is fine) and dress ready to dance. Readings will be from the script. Scripts are available at our offices (177 E. Naghten St., Columbus, OH) and may be checked out for 3 days with a $20 deposit.

ROLES: Adult (Ages 18 and up): Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Joe Ozmas, Scarecrow, Wicked Witch, Tin Man, Glenda, Cowardly Lion, 1st Witch, Wizard of Oz, 2nd Witch. Youth (Ages 9 - 17): Dorothy, Tin Man, Gloria, Scarecrow, Munchkins, Army of Oz, Attendants, Servants, Witch’s Monkey

INFO: Directed by William Goldsmith, Music Direction by Jeff Hamm. You know the movie! This script is based upon the original story. Sing the familiar tunes: “Over the Rainbow,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” “If I Only Had a Heart,” “Courage,” “Ding Dong The Witch is Dead,” and “We’re Off To See The Wizard” — to name a few. You’ll also find a couple songs and dances that were cut from the movie: “Jitterbug” and “Evening Star.” Join Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion in this wonderful adventure! This will be the FIRST FULL production at the newly restored LINCOLN THEATRE.

REHEARSALS: Sunday - Friday evenings 6:30 - 9:30pm (starting August 14, 2009)

PERFORMANCES: September 24 - October 4; Th-Sa @ 7:30p; Sa & Su @ 3p

CONTACT: Call 224-6673

AUDITIONS: Buckeye Youth Theatre’s first production, Marmalade Gumdrops. Buckeye Youth Theatre is a new program of Bread and Circus Theatre Company.

WHEN: AUGUST 16TH, 17TH, and 18TH- 6:30 pm to 8 pm

WHERE: Harmony Artistic Center, 3979 Parkway Lane, Hilliard.

DESCRIPTION: Explores the imaginative world of 10 year old Walter K. Hampton. The play is simply set with actors as furniture in Wally’s bedroom, yet moves swiftly through delightful experiences with wind up dolls, and old fashioned melodrama, a circus, story telling, and even a time machine. Led through fun filled antics by Governor Winthrop, his gumdrop popping desk, Libby Bibliophile, his instructive bookcase, Clair Beam, his not too bright lamp, Bedelia Cotter, his yawning bed, and Windsor, his stuffy chair, Wally concludes that, “Imagination is like a marmalade gumdrop; once you’ve tasted it, you’ll never settle for just plain.” (From Samuel French website).

ROLES: Ages 8-14 preferred, boys and girls

PREP: Resume and head shots requested.  Monologues not required.  Cold readings. Scripts not available prior to audition.

REHEARSALS: Beginning 8/30 and run 4 nights/week from 6:30-8:30.

PERFORMANCES: 8PM - 10/16, 10/17, 10/23, 10/24; Matinees at 3PM - 10/17, 10/18, 10/14, 10/25

CONTACT: Call director Carrie Hays 614-582-3679 for further info or email cellen78@aol.com

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), a major labor union that represents professional actors and stage managers, voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year League of Resident Theatres (LORT) contract.  The new contract maintains salaries at current levels for two years, a change from a one year extension of the earlier 2008-9 contract that would have shown significant increases in salaries, health rates and per diems.  Executive Director John P. Connolly attributes these changes to “greatly diminished corporate and foundation support and reduced government funding.”  The new contract does implement a 2% salary increase in the third year.  Other changes to the previous contract include adding more flexibility to the use of promotional clips in new media and a clause ensuring that members receive recognition for participation in such pieces.  A related media payment provides, for the first time, employer contributions toward member 401(K) plans, as well.

For more information, see this article from the AEA website.

This weekend offers a variety of theatre performances, so there’s no reason to be bored.  If the weather stays mild, bring your picnic and a blanket to check out The Tempest in Schiller Park or the family-friendly A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Groveport.  Should the weather turn, take a trip to Otterbein College’s and fight the blues with the energetic and hilarious take on religion Altar Boyz in Westerville.  For a more serious look at the same subject, venture to Dublin for ECP’s Doubt (read the full review here).  The hard-working folks at the Weathervane Playhouse, fresh off the successes of Into the Woods (review) and Cheaper By the Dozen (review) aim to create the perfect summer theatre trifecta with their newest production, Secret Garden.  (Keep an eye out for our upcoming review.)  Rounding out the weekend are two popular musicals: Sweet Charity at Centerstage Players and Little Shop of Horrors at Little Theatre Off Broadway.

For more information about any of the shows listed, visit our Columbus Theatre Calendar.

Both reviewers agree Doubt at Emerald City Players should make everyone’s weekend to-do list.  Note that this production is not recommended for younger or more sensitive audiences due to the adult themes explored.

No Doubt About It: Quality Drama in Dublin Father Flynn (Joe Dellacqua) and Sister James (Erin Fisher) by Krista Threadgill The Emerald City Players opened their latest production last night.  Doubt, the Pulizter-prize winning play by John Patrick Shanley, makes the audience think about the difference between certainty and the truth. The play is set late in 1963, shortly after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, at a Catholic school already starting to feel the shortage of nuns and priests willing to enter into a religious vocation.  During this time, the church has undergone a major reformation in the hopes of making Catholicism more accessible to the people of the parish by becoming less formal, less dour, less old school.  The conservative principal of the parish school, Sister Alyosius Beauvier (Suzanne Laird), strongly against these newfangled ideas coming from the patriarchal authority in Rome, continues to run her school more like a prison than a place of open learning.  A young teacher, Sister James (Erin Fisher), looking to the principal for guidance and assurance finds only criticism and the advice to “be suspicious.”  It soon becomes clear that Sister Alyosius’s suspicions fall on her nemesis, the new priest. Father Brenden Flynn (Joe Dallacqua), she believes, has becoming too interested and engaged with one particular student in the school.  Despite a complete lack of evidence—even after interviewing the student’s mother, Mrs. Muller (Tiffany Plummer)—Sister Alyosius makes it her personal vendetta to expose Father Flynn for the villain that she is sure that he is—no matter what the cost to herself, her school, her staff, her students, or the community at large. C. Austin Hill directs this wonderful troupe of actors through a superb production.   Dallacqua is completely convincing and a true pleasure to watch as he delivers sermons and pleads his case to the intractable Sister Alyosius.  Fisher’s performance as the ebullient Sister James is solid; the most unfortunate aspect of this character is the lack of joy we get to see her experience.  She spends most of the play looking worried or frightened.  Plummer’s performance as the supposed victim’s mother is spot on, as well.  She conveys the truth of a black woman’s situation in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement with honesty and dignity.  Laird gives Sister Alyosius a vitality all her own, but there is more of a choice toward madness than determination at the basis of her character.  One senses that she’s losing her mind as she builds her case against Father Flynn, and her final scene only serves to reinforce her madness rather than to affirm her conviction. Allison Hill’s sets and Natasha Cline’s costumes are nicely designed.  There is an ongoing palette of black, white, and grey throughout that mirrors the underlying themes of the play. Unfortunately, Jarod Wilson’s lighting design is a bit unattractive.  Part of the problem is the stage itself; it’s such a deep space that getting the lighting right is a challenge.  However, the lighting chosen for outdoor scenes made the actors look greenish, whereas the indoor lighting appeared too harsh and washed everyone out. Although this play is not for young audiences due to the mature nature of the material discussed, it is a great drama for adults.  Doubt asks the audience to consider the effects of gossip and jumping to conclusions can bring, not just to an individual, but to an entire community.  It’s well worth the price of admission. Doubt, presented by Emerald City Players, runs Fridays and Saturdays through August 8 with an 8pm curtain, Thursday August 6 at 8pm, and Sunday, August 2 at 2pm.  Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, and $4.50 for students from Columbus State with Live Performance Voucher.  Purchase is available online here (additional $0.75 service fee per ticket), or at the door.  Performances are held at 6799 Dublin Center Dr., Dublin.  For more information see the Columbus Theatre Calendar entry for the corresponding date, visit the Emerald City Players website or call 614-470-1525. ***** Krista Threadgill spent her childhood following her parents around the Actors Guild of Parkersburg. After that, she wiled away her summers at Jenny Wiley Amphitheater, and she has performed in two Neil Simon plays. She has an English degree from the Ohio State University.

Have Faith in This Doubt Mrs. Muller (Tiffany Plummer) and Sister Aloysius (Suzanne Laird) by Danielle Filas Fresh off the herculean task of hosting Central Ohio’s successful OCTAFest, the Emerald City Players yet again shows its ambitious spirit by tackling John Patrick Shanley’s parable, Doubt.  C. Austin Hill directs this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning script made famous by the film version, which garnered multiple nominations from the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, to name a few.  The plot of this four character drama focuses on a conservative Bronx Catholic School in the tumultuous dawn of the Civil Rights Era.  Principal of the school, Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Suzanne Laird), suspects the priest, Father Flynn (Joe Dalacqua), of improper relations with the school’s first black student.  Caught up in the principal’s dogged investigation are the young and idealistic Sister James (Erin Fisher) and the boy’s mother, Mrs. Muller (Tiffany Plummer).  The world presented in the script mirrors reality in that nothing is ever black and white.  And as Hill writes in his program notes, “…found in this realm of grey is the enemy of faith- doubt.” Hill presents a strongly unified production, neatly integrating the stage elements to reflect his stated central image, washing the stage and the actors in hues of black, white and grey.  Allison Hill’s set splits the space, with half the playing area devoted to Sister Aloysius’s white washed office; the other half in greys and black represents the courtyard.  Splitting the set sits a prominently colorful stained glass window, replete with the looming cross.  Although the black draping tends to swallow the black costumes of the nuns and priest, the smart concept works with C. Austin Hill’s directorial vision.  Further supporting the theme, costumer Natasha Cline spikes the dark hues of her convincing and pitch perfect clergy with contrasts. Father Flynn’s ornate ceremonial garb blasts in luscious gold, a beaming light of faith in the dark and doubtful gloom.  Mrs. Muller, too, contrasts the darkness in her stunning white dress and jacket, vaguely reminiscent of Jackie O.  Jarod Wilson’s lighting proves adequate, though somewhat flat and with a bizarre greenish hue in the courtyard. C. Austin Hill also assembles a strong cast, and each talented actor has at least one moment on stage that spotlights that talent.  Plummer brings to the role of Mrs. Muller a tightly coiled energy, playing her one scene with a combination of fear, anger, and dignity as she explains, “You accept what you’ve got to accept.”  Although Erin Fisher does play Sister James as a bit of a one note character, upset through the entire play, she plays with raw honesty the breakdown scene in which she admits to Father Flynn that her doubt of his integrity, of the principal’s accusation, and of her own worth has devastated her “joy of teaching.” As the icy Sister Aloysius, Laird does play the character’s brittleness convincingly.  Unfortunately, Laird does not mine from the character a genuine concern for and desire to protect the innocent child under her care.  Instead, Laird at times devolves Sister Aloysius into an eye rolling, mustache twirling villain- making it easy to doubt her conviction and hard to doubt Father Flynn, thereby missing the complexity of the script.  Fortunately, Dallacqua, in a truly seamless powerhouse performance, makes up for this in his subtly shaded portrayal of the at times gregarious, at times explosive Father Flynn.  Dallacqua first makes the audience wonder how anyone could suspect the charming priest of hurting a child, then makes the audience wonder if that charm might make him uniquely able to seduce a vulnerable, lonely boy. Emerald City’s latest production helps make the case that the term “community theatre” does not necessarily mean amateurish theatre.   Doubt runs through August 8, but promises to raise questions that will stay in the minds of audience members long after this busy company strikes the set.  The show runs 90 minutes and without intermission, so visit the concession stand before curtain time if you want a bottle of water.  Seating at ECP has now changed from assigned seating to general admission, so show up early to grab a front row or riser seat for the best view of the action. ***** Danielle Filas serves as a contributing editor to Theatre Vault. She recently moved from Chicago and holds Theatre degrees from Northwestern University and Knox College. You can visit her personal blog by clicking here.

Rosebriar Shakespeare Company offers a series of free actor workshops, open to all experience levels.  Danielle Mari, director of The Taming of the Shrew, Rosebriar’s next production, will host the next workshop on Satuday, August 15 at the Northside Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, 1423 N. High St,  from 1pm-4pm.  The workshop is open to all experience levels.  Experienced actors should bring a classic, short, comedic audition monologue to workshop.  Actors new to the experience may bring a monologue, or just show up and receive one.  The workshop will also include tips on working with Shakespearean language and strategies for cold readings.  This workshop is a great way to prepare for Shrew auditions (click here for more information), but does not require an audition.  Please email educationdirector@rosebriarshakespeare.org if you would like more information or plan to attend.

Danielle Mari earned her Masters degree in Theatre from Northwestern University and her BA in Theatre and Writing from Knox College.  She spent 15 years directing, acting, and stage managing with various Chicago theatres including the Second City, Vitalist Theatre, Infamous Commonwealth, and BackStage Theater Company.  Danielle also taught theatre and writing at the Chicago Academy for the Arts for seven years.  She now has settled in Ohio where shet eaches language arts at the Village Academy School  has acted with Raconteur Theatre Company, Bread & Circus Theatre Company, and has acted with and serves as Education Director for Rosebriar.

AUDITIONS: Emerald City Players’ JEKYLL & HYDE

WHEN: October 5 – 6 @ 7p; Callbacks: October 7th

WHERE: Emerald City Players Theatre, 6799 Dublin Center Dr. Dublin

INFO: Musical version of the Robert Louis Stevenson story about a doctor who conducts an experiment on himself that results in his bringing out the dark, murderous side of his inner self, “Mr. Hyde”. Rehearsals will be held Sunday-Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. beginning Monday, October 12. Not everyone will be called for each rehearsal. Director/Choreographer - Ryan Scarlata; Musical Director - Kristin Blascyk; Stage Manager - Terri Jones; Costume Designer - Lindsay Beery

CASTING: We will be looking for actors of all ages, possibly a couple children as well. All characters sing to some extent, although not necessarily solo. Female dancers are a must! MALE ROLES (approx 12 roles available): Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde; Gabriel John Utterson; Sir Danvers Carew; Poole; Lord Savage; General Lord Glossop; Simon Stride; The Bishop of Bsingstoke; The Right Honorable Archibald Proops; Spider, Bisset, Inmates, Orderlies, Customers, Townspeople; FEMALE ROLES (approx. 10 roles available): Emma Carew; Lucy Harris; Lady Beaconsfield; Nellie; Red Hat Dancers, Prostitutes, Nurses, Townspeople

PREP: Those auditioning should prepare a musical selection of approximately one minute in length. Preferred composers for style purposes are: Frank Wildhorn, Stephen Schwartz, Maury Yeston, Stephen Sondheim, Laurence O’Keefe. Please bring resume and headshot (snap shot is fine), and list of schedule conflicts.

PERFORMANCES: Nov 20 – Dec 5; F/Sa @ 8p, Su @ 2p

CONTACTS: Casting questions should be forwarded to ryanscarlata@hotmail.com

VOLUNTEER: Usher/ Sell at ECP’s Doubt

Emerald City Players needs volunteers for the production of Doubt. ECP needs volunteers to help usher patrons to their seats and to sell concessions before the show (possibly after, as well). Anyone helping with ushering and concessions gets a free ticket to see the show! What a great way to support local live theatre and enjoy a great show!!

Doubt runs July 24-August 8. For more information on the specific dates, visit the Emerald City Players website or click the appropriate date on the Theatre Vault Columbus Theatre Calendar.

Please contact Brian Cheslik  at actorboi1981@yahoo.com with dates you would like to volunteer or for more information.

Yesterday, President of the Curtain Players, James F. Petsche, announced the cancellation of the final weekend of The 2009 Curtain Players Playwrights Festival.   The Friday July 24 and Saturday July 25 presentations have been cancelled will not be rescheduled.

In a message posted to members of the company’s website and on its Facebook page, Petsche explains, “We are sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience. Faced with a situation beyond our control, Curtain Players leadership could not proceed with production and had to make this difficult decision, the second cancellation regarding this year’s festival.”

The same message goes on to announce a special reading of “Peaches en Regalia,” which will include a talkback discussion with California playwright, Steve Lyons.  The reading has been scheduled for Sunday, August 2.  Curtain Players also plant to announce our 2009-2010 lineup of plays at that same reading.

The August 2 event will begin at 7 PM in our Harlem Road playhouse. There is no admission charge and includes refreshments, announcements about the upcoming season, and a discussion about ways to become engaged with Curtain Players as it begins its 47th season of community theater.   For more information about the August 2 event, please click the corresponding entry on Theatre Vault’s Columbus Theatre Calendar.