PROOF Auditions!

Auditions for the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play PROOF,

directed by Barbara Roberts,

will be held at CLOTA's Center Stage

1425 N Inyo

Saturday, January 9 @ 7pm

Sunday, January 10 @ 2pm

Rehearsals will begin January 11

Performances dates are

March 5,6,12,13,14,19 & 20

The Cast includes 2 male & 2 female roles:

Catherine - 25 (with flashbacks to 21) intelligent, possibly genius, possibly delusional

Claire - late 20's-early 30's, Catherine's sister, a sophisticated New Yorker

Robert - 50's, the women's father, mathematical genius, delusional

Hal - a young math professor, Robert's former pupil

Copies of the script are available for perusing at

Kern County Library & Red Rock Books

Those interested in working behind the scenes are encouraged to come to auditions and fill out an expression-of-interest sheets.

The Return of the Grape Vine!

Have a bit of juicy theatre news you want to share? Leave it in a comment here, and we'll make sure it gets a big splashy post for all to see.

Thank you.

In Other News: Plaza Suite

Neil Simon's Plaza Suite

directed by Elena Vitale

at the USO Building

show times:

December 4 @ 7pm

December 5 @ 7pm

December 6 @ 2pm

Tickets are available at Red Rock Books & at the door.

CLOTA's 2010 Season Announced!

The Community Light Opera and Theatre Association is pleased to announce the plays to be produced in 2010 at the CLOTA Center Stage, 1425 N. Inyo. Anyone interested in participating should leave a message on the CLOTA hotline at 760-446-2411.

PROOF, a drama by David Auburn, directed by Barbara Roberts, will be the first CLOTA production of 2010. Auditions will be held January 9 & 10 at the CLOTA Center Stage. A perusal copy of the script will be at the Kern County Library by mid-December. There are roles for 2 men and 2 women. Production dates are March 5,6,12,13, 19,20 at 7:30 P.M. and Sunday, March 14, at 2 P.M.

The second production of the season will be the musical CABARET by Kander and Ebb, directed by Tristan Kratz. Auditions will be held May 21,22 & 23, 2010, with performances the first three weekends of August. There are numerous singing roles available and some non-singing.

The third production will be the comedy ARSENIC AND OLD LACE by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Elena Vitale. Auditions will be held August 27 & 28, 2010, with performances scheduled for the first three weekends of November. There are roles for 3 women (2 older and one early 20’s) and 11 men of varying ages.

Free readings by the CLOTA Center Stage Readers will be scheduled around these 3 major productions as time allows. Watch for more information about all these events in the local newspapers and on the CLOTA website, www.ridgecrest-arts.org/clota.

News Release: Bronte

THE MANY VOICES OF JANIS JAMISON

Though there’ll be only one person on stage, Readers Theatregoers will be treated to nearly twenty different characters the 14^th and 15^th of this month when Janis Jamison reads the challenging one-woman play “Brontë.” William Luce’s entertaining, thought-provoking script demands that—in addition to central figure Charlotte Brontë, renowned creator of the gothic masterpiece “Jane Eyre”—the actress bring to life the family and servant members of the 19^th-century Yorkshire household in which Charlotte grew up, plus a diverse score of colorful individuals who impacted her life at significant moments.

As she prepares this stimulating theater piece, Janis is drawing on the many lessons learned in her acquisition of two theater arts degrees from Cal State University Long Beach. Director Bill Blanc says that he’s “powerfully impressed by the performance skills this lady manifests in our rehearsals. ” Janis honed these skills in numerous professional stage, film and television appearances throughout the Southland in the 1960s and ‘70s before she came to the Indian Wells Valley and began starring in our musicals (including “Sweeney Todd” and “Gypsy”) and applying her teaching and acting skills in the Cerro Coso theater and English programs.

Bill also commends Greg Coté for “the masterful job he’s doing in compiling busy sound- and music-tracks, plus functioning as our pretty-busy Narrator.”

Play dates for “Brontë” are Saturday, November 14 (7:30) and Sunday afternoon, November 15 (2:00); doors open 30 minutes before show time. Admission is free; donations to help cover royalty and other expenses are welcome. For more information,leave a callback request on our hotline,1-760-446-2411.

In Other News: RCTT's Short Plays Festival

Ridgecrest Community Theatre Troupe

will be presenting

it's second Short Plays Festival

at the USO building

7pm

November 6, 7, 13 & 14.

Tickets are $5

available at Red Rock Books or at the door

The evening will include:

"Poppy"

written and directed by Greg Shlanta

Yesterday

Written by Colin Campbell Clements

Directed by Daryl A. Moline Jr.

The Sequel

Written by Percival Wilde

Directed by Katherine Fox

Helena's Husband

Written by Phillip Moeller

Directed by Anne Schreckengost

Porcelain and Pink

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Directed by Christian Sherman

The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World

Written by Jonathan Rand

Directed by Sarah Robinson

In Other News: BHS presents "Ring of Fire"

Burroughs High School Drama presents

Ring of Fire

featuring the music of Johnny Cash

directed by CLOTA Board nominee Tristan Kratz

November 6, 7, 13 & 14

It's Votin' Time!

Ballots for this year's Board of Directors have been mailed out.

Members have until November 30 to submit their votes for up to five new and incumbent candidates.

SPOOKHOUSE Fundraiser 2009

Vampires and Zombies and Ghouls! Oh MY!

CLOTA's Annual Spookhouse Fundraiser opened last weekend, and will continue this Friday & Saturday from 6pm-11pm, with a special Kids' Edition Saturday afternoon, before the trick-or-treating really gets started.

Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for children. Profits go to CLOTA, the USO & Cerro Coso Drama Club.

Spookhouse Set-Up

Only four days left until the annual Spookhouse Fundraiser opens!

Sunday, Larry Lier and his faithful crew began the daunting job of constructing the pathways and alcoves that make-up this Halloween favorite.

Work will continue Monday through Thursday, at the USO Building, beginning at 4pm. Once the maze is up, spooky decoration will begin.

Anyone interested in helping is welcome. Any time you can give will be appreciated.

An Inspector Calls - Performances

An Inspector Calls is up and running!

Last weekend's opening performances were a grand success.

It's not too late to see for yourself!

Remaining Performances:

October 9 @ 7:30

October 10 @ 7:30

October 11 @ 2pm

October 16 @ 7:30

October 17 @7:30

1425 N. Inyo

Tickets are on sale at Red Rock Books & at the door, for $10-12.

Get your tickets in advance, before the show sells out!

Dear Brutus - Readings this weekend only!

CLOTA presents

a reading of

J. M. Barrie's

Dear Brutus

Saturday @ 7:30

Sunday Matinee @ 2pm

1425 N Inyo

Admission is FREE

Donations are happily accepted.

An Inspector Calls - Set Construction

Set Construction schedule for this weekend:

Saturday 9/12 10am until finished (should not take long).

Sunday 9/13 1pm until finished. Volunteers will be moving in the furniture that has graciously been loaned to us. Trucks and old blankets are especially needed, but manpower is always welcome.

Dear Brutus - Cast List

The cast list for the September Readers Theatre, "Dear Brutus." has at last been finalized! ETA: And refinalized!

Jon Lewis - Narrator

Stacey Shoef - Alice Dearth

Becki Cornet - Mabel Purdie

Anne Schrekengost - Joanna Trout

Sarah Robinson - Lady Caroline

Richard MacNeill - Matey

Stephen Farris - Mr Coade

Ronnie Quintana - Jack Purdie

Rob Robinson - Lob

Daryl Moline Jr - Will Dearth

Catherine Duff - Mrs Coade & Margaret

Correction - An Inspector Calls Casting

The role of Inspector Goole in this fall's production of "An Inspector Calls" will now be played by Jon Lewis.

An Inspector Calls - Set Construction

Set Construction for An Inspector Calls continues apace! Future dates include:

Saturday August 29 from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Sunday, August 30 from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M.

Saturday, September 5 from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Sunday, September 6 from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M.

An Inspector Calls - Cast List

Congratulations to the cast of

An Inspector Calls

George Anderson

(Arthur Birling)

Heather Blanchard

(Sheila Birling)

Colin Harvey

(Eric Birling)

Jon Lewis

(the Inspector)

Desiree Trudy

(Edna)

Evan White

(Gerald Croft)

Pearl Woolam

(Sybil Birling)

Dear Brutus Reading - Auditions (now with more info!)

Dear Brutus Auditions

This Friday, August 28th

6-9pm

CLOTA Center Stage, 1425 N. Inyo St

there will be cold readings & a bit of silliness

there will be some movement in the production

Characters

5m, 6w, 1 either gender

Narrator, any age/gender, can handle long monologues and give them a Rod Serling/Twilight Zone feel.

Mrs Coade (Coady, ), 50+, "the nicest", "a rounded old lady with a beaming smile."

Mrs Dearth (Alice), late-20's-40's, "of the smouldering eye and fierce desires, most beautiful when she is sullen"; "first of all a whimperer"

Mrs Purdie (Mabel), 20's-40's, "soft and pleading"; "a charming confection."

Joanna Trout, 20's-40's, "a bright spirit… but at the word 'love' she quivers, her sense of humour ceases to beat"; "an unhappy lady who has got what she wanted."

Lady Caroline Laney, 20's-40's, "of the disdainful poise, lately from the enormously select school where they are taught to pronounce their r's as w's"; "The more happily married lady," is still firmly in possession of her r's.

Matey, 20's-30's the butler, "a man of brawn"; "exuding affluence"

Lob, 400+, their host, "rather like what Puck might have grown into if he had forgotten to die."

Mr Coade (Coady), 50+, "a sweet pippin of an old man with a gentle smile for all"; "seen pirouetting charmingly among the trees, his new occupation."

Mr Purdie, 20's-40's, "the most brilliant of our company," a passionate and earnest philanderer in either world.

Mr Dearth, 30's-40's, "Not so much a man… as the relic of what has been a good one"; "ablaze in happiness and health."

Margaret, 15-16, "She is as lovely as you think she is, and she is aged the moment when you like your daughter best"

ETA: Most of the characters have two distinct personalities, thus the copious abuse of the semi-colon in their discriptions.

the play can be found in its entirety by clicking

here.

An Inspector Calls - Auditions! (now with more info)

AUDITIONS

for

J.B. Priestly's

AN INSPECTOR CALLS

directed by Sue Roser

will be held

Friday, August 21, 6pm

&

Saturday, August 22. noon

@ CLOTA Center Stage

1425 N. Inyo St

Characters:

Mr Birling - mid-fifties, a self-made man of the upper-middle class

Mrs Birling - fifty, cold, her husband's social superior

Sheila Birling - early-twenties, pretty and pleased with life.

Eric Birling - early-twenties, "not quite at ease, half shy half assertive"

Gerald Croft - thirty, Sheila's fiance, "a well-bred young man-about-town"

Inspector Goole - from the police, mysterious and controlling.

Edna - the Birling's parlourmaid

*All characters require an English accent.

Auditions will consist of scenes read from the script & some movement.

Copies of the script are available for perusal at Red Rock Books and Ridgecrest Public Library.

Rehearsals will begin Monday, August 24 & will run Monday-Thursday evenings.

Performance Dates: October 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 (matinee), 16 & 17.

Dear Brutus Reading - Auditions

Auditions for Center Stage Reader's presentations of

J. M. Barrie's "Dear Brutus"

will be held @ CLOTA Center Stage

Friday, August 28 6-9pm

Set Construction Begins

Set Construction for "An Inspector Calls" will begin

Saturday, August 15, 10 A.M. til 1 P.M.

& Sunday, August 16, from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M.

Please come to help if you have time.

The Importance of Being Earnest - This Weekend ONLY

THIS WEEKEND ONLY

CLOTA's Center Stage Readers

Present

Oscar Wilde's

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

directed by Carrie Trickey

Saturday August 8 @ 7:30pm

&

Sunday August 9 @ 2pm

Admission is FREE

Donations are greatly appreciated.

The Grape Vine, August '09

Welcome to August'09's Grape Vine

Any CLOTA-related tidbits to share? Pictures, announcements, requests for info? Leave us a message here, and we'll see what we can do about getting it posted.

Picture This: The Importance of Earnest Rehearsal

Rehearsals continue apace, as CLOTA's Center Stage Readers prepare for their performances this weekend, August 8 @ 7:30 & August 9 @2pm

The Grape Vine!

If you have news, pictures, etc you'd like to share, but aren't on the administrative account, leave us a message here, or drop us a line at clota.news@gmail.com and will see about getting it posted.

A Grape Vine post will be made every month, so one will always be easily accessed through the monthly archive links in the right hand column.

In Other News: Shakespeare @ Kerr-McGee this Saturday!

William Shakespeare's

Two Gentlemen of Verona

will be performed

THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 1

@ Kerr McGee Center,

7:30 p.m.

Cost is $5 at door. Children 12 and younger free.

Dear Brutus Reading

CLOTA's Center Stage Readers

September offering will be

DEAR BRUTUS

by J.M. Barrie

(that's the chap wot wrote Peter Pan)

directed by Pearl Woolam

Performances September 19 @ 7:30 & 20th @ 2pm

The Plot?

On Midsummer's Eve 1905, the guests at an English house party are warned not to go into the wood, which is odd because there isn't a wood for miles. Should they venture, what terrible things will they find there? Second chances.

The Cast?

11 roles

ranges in age from "young" to "old",

there are more female than male roles,

one with a vewy funny, or possibly, annoying accent

& the narrator's got some of the best bits!

Information about auditions and rehearsals will be posted soon,

but for now, you can read the script online here

(Go ahead, click the link, it won't bite)

In Other News: Cerro Coso Woes.

Cerro Coso has removed all Theatre classes from its Fall '09 class schedule.

I Do! I Do! a Great Success!

Congratulations

to the cast & crew of

I Do! I Do!

on a

very successful run!

I Do I Do SOLD OUT!

Closing night of I Do! I Do!

(July 25th)

is

SOLD OUT!

Administrative stuff

Hi! Pearl here.

The is set up to be community run, anyone with information can post, you just need the password and email for the admin account, which I will provide to CLOTA board members, directors, publicity teams, etc.

If you are not familiar with a blog format, it is very easy to use, like an on-line diary. It will allow readers to leave questions, make suggestions, or otherwise give feedback. We can even post pictures. And each post will be labeled with things like "readers theatre" or a show title, so that by clicking on the label, all related posts will be provided.

And, it's completely free.

But it will only work if we spread the word and keep our lines of communication open.

Thank you!

I Do! I Do! Opening Night!

Opening Night for CLOTA's summer musical I DO! I DO! has SOLD OUT!!

Tickets for the remaining nights are available at Red Rock Books. Don't wait to buy them at the door, and find yourself out in the cold heat.

Correction

The post about An Inspector Calls auditions has been updated to correct the following:

The author's correct name: J.B. Priestly

Audition dates: 8/21 6pm & 8/22 noon @ CLOTA Center Stage

Performances: the first three weeks of October

PICTURES!

Just a few pictures of the cast taken during CLOTA's Readers Theater reading of "Hedda Gabler" courtesy of Liz Babcock.

An Inspector Calls - Auditions!

Auditions for CLOTA's fall production - An Inspector Calls directed by Sue Roser will be held August 21 @6pm & August 22 @ noon, CLOTA Center Stage - 1425 N Inyo.

Performances will be the first three weekends in October.

The play, written by J. B. Priestly, is set in 1912 London, where a mysterious inspector interrupts a family celebration to inquire into the suicide of a young servant girl.

Characters include:

Arthur Birling (50's)

Sybil Birling (50's)

Sheila Birling (20's)

Eric Birling (20's)

Gerald Croft ( 20-30's)

Inspector Goole (male)

All roles will require an English accent.

Perusal copies of the script can be found at the Library and Red Rock Books.

Spookhouse Meeting!

There will be a Spook House meeting July 19th 5pm at Matt & Carrie Trickey's house.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Cast Announced

CLOTA Reader's Theatre reading of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest has been cast! Director Carrie Trickey had to make some tough decisions, but thinks she's found the best folks for the parts.

Included in the cast are:

Algernon - Daryl A Moline jr.

Jack - Richard MacNeill

Gwendolyn - Annie Schrekengost

Cecily - Sarah Robinson

Chasuble - Bill Blanc

Prism - Pearl Woolam

Lady B - Robin Moen

Lane & Merriman - Josh Haefele

Narrator - Katherine Fox

The Importance of Being Earnest will be presented August 8 @ 7:30pm & August 9 @ 2pm. As with all Readers Theatre presentations, admission will be free, but donations are happily accepted.

I Do! I Do! Performance Dates

I Do! I Do!

A Matrimonial Musical

Directed by Elena Vitale

Starring Krysten Coursey & Kevin La Brie

Book & Lyrics by Tom Jones, Music by Harvey Schmidt

Showing July 17, 18, 23, 24 & 25 @ 7:30pm

and July 19 @ 2pm

Tickets are available at Red Rock Books