CLOTA banquet

CLOTA's annual banquet will be held January 22, 6pm, at Victoria's at the Heritage (1050 N Norma St). Tickets are $20.

This year's theme is "All the World's a Stage," and guests are encouraged to dress in the style of their favorite CLOTA production.

In Other News: RCTT Auditions

What: Auditions for Lee Blesing's Patient A

Who: actors and techies alike

When:January 7 & 8, 7pm

Where: 1420 W St. George.

Why: roles for 2 men (30s & 40s) & 1 woman (20s), as well as tech work.

A Streetcar Named Desire Auditions

What: Auditions for Tennesee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

Who: Actors & Techies alike

When: January 14 from 6-9pm

January 15 from 3-6pm

Where: CLOTA Center Stage, 1425 N Inyo

Why: The chance to be a part of CLOTA's production of Williams' classic play.

This "highly emotional, very intense" play,

directed by Larry Lier,

has roles for 5 men and 5 women.

Performance added

One extra performance of Arsenic & Old Lace has been added:

Thursday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 P.M.

Tickets are now on sale at Red Rock Books.

All other performances are sold out.

Tickets on Sale

Tickets for Arsenic & Old Lace are now on sale at Red Rock Books!

In other News

IWV baritone signed for Santa Monica Opera

Once again local voice teacher David Hodgson is prepping for a stint on a prominent Southern California opera stage. Next month he will sing the role of villainous Baron Scarpia in the Los AngelesMetropolitan Opera company’s staging of one of the most popular operas of all time, Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca.”

A major player on the local musical scene since his arrival on the Upper Mojave in 1988, Hodgson has starred in Community Light Opera and Theater Association productions of “West Side Story” and “South Pacific,” and is also well-known for solo appearances with the Desert Community Orchestra.

Despite the time demands of his teaching career here, Hodgson considers himself fortunate to be able to respond occasionally to requests for his participation on a professional opera stage, building on his advanced music studies at California State University Northridge.

“These professional appearances are enjoyable and instructive for me,” the gifted baritone says, “and they enrich my capability for meaningful teaching of my students.”

Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera was founded in 2008 with the mission of providing top-quality, affordable opera performances by the area's best professional singers, directors, designers and musicians. In the company’s presentation of Puccini's timeless story of passion, betrayal, and sacrifice at Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica, Hodgson will appear Friday evening, October 15, and Sunday afternoon, October 24. He invites persons desiring more information to contact him at 760-371-4276.

Readers' Theater

On September 18^th and 19^th, CLOTA's Center Stage Readers will proudly present a free staged reading of Shirley Lauro's "A Piece of My Heart."

This powerful and compelling play was adapted from a collection of stories of the same name, written by Keith Walker. Walker's book, which was also the inspiration for tv's China Beach, is succinctly subtitled "The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam." Lauro's play compiles those stories and narrows the scope down to focus on 6 fictional women - three nurses (Anne Schreckengost, Mahealani Taaga, Katherine Fox), an army intelligence officer (Arcee Duag), a Red Cross "Donut Dolly" (Dianna Taylor) and the lead singer of an all-girl band touring with the USO (Mackenzie Lucas).

The play offers a particular challenge for actors – everyone plays multiple roles. As the stories weave in and out of each other, each woman steps into the others' stories, representing instructors and officers, mothers and daughters. One male actor (Evan White) plays all of the American men the women meet along the way. And since a reading is done without the technical aspects of a full production, even the narrator (Ellen Bryant) will be pulling extra duty, creating a myriad of sound effects.

Live readings of "A Piece of My Heart" will be presented at 7:30pm, September 18, & 2pm, September 19, at CLOTA Center Stage, 1425 N Inyo St. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. This play contains adult content and language.

For further information please call CLOTA at 760-446-2411

Arsenic and Old Lace: Cast List

Abby Brewster – Dorothy Saitz

understudy Heather Blanchard

Martha Brewster – Annie Blanc

understudy Anne Schreckengost

Mortimer Brewster – Daryl Moline

understudy - Evan White

Jonathan Brewster – Evan White

understudy – Peter Konopak

Teddy Brewster – Steve Slay

Elaine – Kathleen Nicole

understudy - Krysten Coursey

Dr. Einstein – Aaron Wesley

Dr. Harper – John Slate

Officer Brophy – Brian Cosner

understudy – Heather Boster

Officer Klein – Eric Yeager

understudy - Adam Evereett

Officer O'Hara – Kevin Anderson

understudy – Curt Danhauser

Lieutenant Rooney – Andy Konopak

understudy – George "Andy" Anderson

Mr. Gibbs – George "Andy" Anderson

understudy – Adam Everett

Mr. Witherspoon – Curt Danhauser

understudy – Richard Jackson

Dead Bodies – Adam Everett, Krysten Coursey

Police Officers – Richard Jackson, Heather Boster

Arsenic and Old Lace: Audition Notice Press Release 2

CLOTA COSTUMES GET AUDITIONED, TOO.

“Arsenic and Old Lace” costumer Judy Ditzler, right., gets approval from Production Director Elena Vitale, far left, and Assistant Director K. Pearl Woolam for a late-Victorian, lace-collared gown to be worn in the Community Light Opera and Theater Association's next production.

Actors’ tryouts for the classic comedy’s 11 male and 3 female roles will take place this Friday, August 27 beginning at 6:00 p.m. An afternoon session will start at noon the next day—all at Center Stage, 1425 N. Inyo.

Red Rock Books and the Kern County Library have perusal script copies.

For more information, call the CLOTA hotline: 1+760-446-2411.

Arsenic and Old Lace: Audition Notice Press Release

CLASSIC COMEDY AUDITIONS

With the floorboards still sizzling from the completely sold-out three-week run of “Cabaret,” veteran Production Director Elena Vitale is preparing auditions for the Community Light Opera and Theater Association's next production, “Arsenic And Old Lace.” Vitale promises that this memorable American farce, a perennial favorite since its record-breaking Broadway début in 1941, will keep Center Stage’s roof beams bouncing with uproarious audience laughter as a pre-Thanksgiving holiday treat.

Friday, August 27 tryouts for 11 male and 3 female roles will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by a Saturday, August 28 session starting at noon—all at Center Stage, 1425 N. Inyo.

Male actors will be vying to play Mortimer Brewster, a hilarious leading-man role that Cary Grant made famous in the 1944 film adaptation. Mortimer has family problems, including two spinster aunts who feel sorry for lonely old men and have taken to easing them out of their solitude by serving them home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide.

Mortimer’s murderous brother, who resembles horror film actor Boris Karloff, and another brother who believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt illustrate the peculiarity that runs rampant in the Brewster clan. “Is it any wonder,” Vitale asks, “that Mortimer questions whether he should marry his lovely fiancée and start his own family?”

Rounding out the cast are a maniacal plastic surgeon, a quartet of not-too-competent policemen, and an assortment of lovable old geezers with a hankering for elderberry wine.

Vitale and Assistant Director K. Pearl Woolam (fresh from her knockout performance as Fräulein Schneider in “Cabaret) say the characters range in age from the 20s into the 70s. Performance dates are November 5, 6, 12, 13, 14,19 and 20. For more information, leave a call-back request at the CLOTA hotline, 760-446-2411.

Cabaret is sold out!

Tickets for all performances of CABARET - including the recently added 8/22 matinee - are sold out!

One more chance to see Cabaret!

"Because of public demand, there will be one final performance of CABARET on Sunday, August 22, at 2 P.M.

Ticket sign ups start this morning at Red Rock Books.

TICKET PRICES WILL BE $12 GENERAL AND $10 DISCOUNT since this is a special extra performance.

All other performances, including the previously added Thursday performances, are already sold out.

Tickets for this one will go fast."

Cabaret Tickets Selling Fast!

Opening Night of CLOTA's summer production, "Cabaret", is already SOLD OUT!

Tickets for all the other performances are going fast, so buy yours as soon as possible.

Performances run August 6 (sold out!), 7, 13, 14, 15 (matinee), 20 & 21.

Tickets are available at Red Rock Books for $12.

Better Late Than Never...

The Cabaret Cast List!

Emcee…Kevin LaBrie

Sally Bowels… Krysten Coursey

Cliff Bradshaw…Richard MacNeill

Frau. Schneider…Pearl Woolam

Herr Schultz…Bill Blanc

Frau. Kost…Trish Modlinski

Ernst Ludwig…Brandon McGinnis

Kit Kat Girls…Sarah Robinson

Diana taylor

Christa Krugman

Cassie Johnson

Carrie McNatt

Sam Harrison

Sharon Cardoza

Kit Kat Boys…Ala Tiatia

Damon Modlinski

Maitre’d/Customs Officer…Nate Clair

In Other News: Auditions for Escanaba!

Ridgecrest Community Theater Troupe will be holding auditions for their production of "Escanaba in da Moonlight" Friday, July 2, from 7pm-9pm at the USO Building on Ridgecrest Blvd.

"Come and audition for one of the five male and one female role. The more the merrier!"

In Other News: Star-Spangled Girl

The High Desert Players

in association with the Historical Society of Upper Mojave Desert

present

Neil Simon’s “Star-Spangled Girl,”

directed by Elena Vitale

June 4, 5,11 and 12

7 p.m. at the Historic USO Building.

Tickets are $6 presale at Red Rock Books, or $7 at the door.

The Next Readers' Theater: Charlotte's Web

The next Readers' Theater production will be the children's classic CHARLOTTE'S WEB, directed by Anne Schreckengost, with performances on June 26 at 7:30pm & 27 at 2pm.

The Cast:

Narrator - Heather Cornett
Chorus - Catherine Duff, Sarah Robinson, & Janice Baldorado
Fern - Mackenzie Lucas
Avery - CJ Sigman
John Arable - Ronnie Quintana
Martha Arable - Theresa Jones
Homer Zuckerman - Gary Schreckengost
Edith Zuckerman - Trish Modlinski
Lurvy - Krysten Coursey
Wilbur - Calvin Johnson
Templeton - Larry Lier
Charlotte - Pearl Woolam
Goose - Stacey Shoaf
Gander - Damen Modlinski
Sheep - Kathryn Garcia
Lamb - Lena Pokol

As always with Readers' Theater, admission is free & donations are greatly appreciated.

Cabaret Auditions!

Final Weekend for Triple Threat Workshops

CLOTA'S series of triple threat workshops comes to a close this weekend with the Acting workshop (Saturday 10-2 & Sun 1-5) and the final Movement workshop (Sat 3-5).

The Acting workshop with cover basics of acting technique, with a focus on cold reading auditions.

The Movement workshops will move from the dance studio to the theater this week, with dances from the past three weeks reviewed and reworked for the stage.

Both workshops will be taught by K. Pearl Woolam, at CLOTA Center Stage (1425 N Inyo St). Comfortable clothes (including shoes or socks for Movement), a bottle of water and an open mind are recommended.

Participants who haven't registered yet should arrive 10-15 minutes early.

In Other News: Burroughs & Cerro Coso Shows THIS WEEKEND!

This weekend may be our last chance to see productions by the talented students at Burroughs High School & Cerro Coso Community College for quite some time. So let's get out there and support the programs!

Burroughs High School presents

ANTIGONE

by Sophocles

May 7 & 8 7pm

$10 @ the door, $8 in advance @ Red Rock Books

Cerro Coso presents

Rhinoceros

by Eugene Ionesco

May 7 & 8 7pm, May 9 2pm

$6 @ the door

Readers' Theater: Tartuffe

THIS WEEKEND ONLY

CLOTA's Center Stage Readers

Present

Moliere's

Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite

Saturday April 17 @ 7:30pm

&

Sunday April 18 @ 2pm

Admission is FREE

Donations are greatly appreciated.

CLOTA's Triple Threat Workshop

To help members of the community gain the skills and confidence needed to audition for the plays and musicals put on by the various theater groups in Ridgecrest, the Community Light Opera and Theater Association (CLOTA) will be offering its Triple Threat Workshops this spring. Brainchild of CLOTA board member K. Pearl Woolam, the workshops will be professionally taught and will be staggered in schedule to allow participants to take any and all sessions that appeal to them. Ms Woolam stated that the idea for the workshops came from CLOTA’s constant need for talented and enthusiastic performers for their various productions each year. A need which peaks each summer when CLOTA puts on its musical. “This year is no exception.” Ms Woolam said. “We’re putting on Cabaret this summer which will require several actors who can sing and dance. A lot of potential performers in town might be interested in a part in a CLOTA production but may feel intimidated by the audition process." A “triple threat” is an entertainment industry term for someone who is proficient at acting, singing and dancing and there will be workshops covering each of these disciplines. The first workshop: Movement, taught by Ms Woolam, will be held each Saturday April 24 through May 15 from 3 PM to 5 PM at Hi-Desert Dance Center and it will teach the basics of movement, moving in unison and to music, picking up and remembering choreography and voice projection while moving. Ms is a 30-year theater veteran of over 40 plays and musicals. She is a graduate of American Academy of Dramatic Arts and San Francisco State University's Theater Department, as well as studying acting and movement with Studio A.C.T. and Shakespeare & Company. She studied a broad range of dance, both locally and in San Francisco, focusing primarily on ballet and ethnic dance. Ms Woolam has put in time behind the scenes, as well, directing and choreographing a number of shows. In addition to teaching the movement workshops, Woolam will also teach the acting workshop to be held from 10 AM to 2 PM Saturday May 15th and Sunday May 16th from 1 PM to 5 PM. The acting sessions will focus on cold reading for auditions but will also include characterization and projection. Singing is covered by two workshops in May, one for group singing and another for individual singing. The group singing workshop will include basic vocal instruction, and two songs suitable for auditions will be taught each day. It will be heldfrom 10 AM to 2 PM Saturday May 1st and Sunday May 2nd from 1 PM to 5 PM, taught by Dr. Christine Lee Gengaro. Dr. Gengaro is a full–time Assistant Professor of Music at Los Angeles City College where she teaches voice, music theory and music education. She is a graduate of the Ph.D. program in music history at the University of Southern California, and holds a Masters degree in vocal performance from Hunter College, New York City.

The individual singing workshop will be held May 8th with a possible extra day on May 9th and will allow those who wish to audition with a specific song the chance to work with an accompanist before auditioning. These individual half-hour sessions will be taught by Lauren Loewen, a private voice and piano instructor who has a Bachelors of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from Point Loma Nazarene University. Persons interested in registration and fees for any of these workshops may leave a request for a return call on the CLOTA hotline 446-2411, or leave a comment on this post.

Readers' Theater: Actors needed for Tartuffe

CLOTA is scouting for actors for the next Readers' Theater - Tartuffe by Moliere.

The cast is large, the style is over the top comedy, and the text is in rhymed couplets, so it will be a challenge, but should also be a load of fun.

Initial read-thru will be at 5pm (after the Proof matinee) on March 14. After that, actors will have four weeks to familiarize themselves with the script and their character. Rehearsals will be April 12-15 (Monday-Thursday) in the evening. The performances are April 17 & 18 (matinee).

I have a .pdf of the translation we will be using, which I am willing to email to anyone. Questions can be directed to Pearl at pearlwoolam @ gmail.com.

PROOF!

CLOTA's production of David Auburn's PROOF opens this weekend!

Starring
Rachel Schmalenberger
Andrew Grey
John Slate
K Pearl Woolam

directed by Barbara Roberts

Dates
March 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20 @7:30pm
March 14 @ 2pm

Tickets
$8 Opening Night & Matinee Special
$12 general admission
$10 seniors/ students/ active-duty military

This show contains adult language and situations.

In Other News: Cyrano de Bergerac at Burroughs

Burroughs High School Drama Departments

production of Edmund Rostand's

"Cyrano de Bergerac"

opens this weekend!

Dates: February 19, 20, 26 & 27

Curtain time: 7pm

Tickets: $7 pre-sale (available at Red Rock Books), $10 at the door

In Other News: David Hodgson in "Der Freischütz."

IWV BARITONE REIGNS ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA OPERA STAGE

David Hodgson, local voice teacher and frequent performer in concerts and other musical presentations throughout our valley, is currently appearing as Prince Ottokar in the West Bay Opera Company’s production of the landmark German Romantic opera “Der Freischütz” in Palo Alto.

Hodgson, who first came to Ridgecrest in 1988, has been applauded by local audiences for his acting and singing performances in such CLOTA hits as “South Pacific,” “West Side Story” and “Amadeus.” He has been featured soloist on a number of Desert Community Orchestra programs, and at the DCO’s recent holiday gala, “A Christmas in Ridgecrest,” he also led an ensemble of his voice students in a group of crowd-pleasing holiday favorites.

Hodgson’s acting, singing and teaching skills were honed through his years in a performing arts high school in Houston, as an undergraduate at the University of Texas in Austin, and at California State University, Northridge.

It was in Northridge that he undertook private study with master vocal coach Gabriel Reoyo-Pazos, an association that continues—“to my enormous benefit!” Hodgson says—to the present. Reoyo-Pazos was instrumental in booking some of Hodgson’s earliest engagements with professional opera companies. In addition to the Palo Alto organization, these have included Pacific Repertory Opera in San Luis Obispo and Pasadena’s Euterpa Opera Company.

The Ridgecrest baritone says he especially values the opportunities he has had to work with composers and librettists in premiering new operas. These have included John Biggs’ adaptation of the literary classic “Hobson’s Choice,” and “Serafina y Arcángela” by Enrique Gonzales-Medina.

He points out that his collaboration on new works actually originated here in Ridgecrest when he joined playwright-composer Bill Blanc’s team to premiere “The Bungling Ballerinas” for CLOTA on the BHS stage in 1990. “To be there as a new work becomes realized on stage,” he says, “to be a part of that process is fascinating.”

“I do enjoy performing,” Hodgson muses, “but I think my first love is teaching voice. I miss my students when I’m away, but keeping active in the profession allows me to bring a perspective to my lessons that’s invaluable to students.”

Hodgson has been singing with the West Bay Opera for the past several seasons. He has been featured in “Cavelleria Rusticana” and “I Pagliacci,” among others, and this past October his interpretation of Marcello, male second-lead in “La Bohème,” drew praise from the Bay Area arts publication The San Francisco Classical Voice for his “secure, chocolate-y baritone voice.”

His run as the benevolently clever prince in “Der Freischütz” ends within the next two weeks, and Hodgson expects to resume his teaching activities in Ridgecrest in early March. He urges anyone desiring more information about West Bay Opera to visit the company’s website at http://www.wbopera.org/ or to contact him at 1+760-371-4276.

"PROOF" PRIZES ADD UP TO PRIME ENTERTAINMENT

The Community Light Opera and Theater Association's upcoming stage offering, “Proof”—opening March 5 at Center Stage—swept the 2001 Broadway season’s awards for best play. Judges for the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Lucille Lortel Award all chose playwright David Auburn’s fascinating exploration of the questionable line between intellectual virtuosity and delusional folly.

New York Magazine compared Auburn to “Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill and Lillian Hellman, in earlier generations … always writing about big ideas and wrapping them in family squabbles that get us where we live.” The New York Daily News critic noted that the play “combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling to provide a compelling evening of theatre.”

The often-humorously squabbling family in "Proof" consists of a brilliant but unstable University of Chicago math professor (played by John Slate) and his two daughters. One of these young women (K. Pearl Woolam) is a no-nonsense Manhattan currency analyst who finds herself estranged from her younger sister (Rachel Schmalenberger.) The latter has remained on home ground to nurse their father through lengthy periods of mental illness. An ex-graduate student (Andrew Gray) triggers complex results—some droll, some daunting—when he discovers a paradigm-shifting proof of advanced theoretical mathematics among the professor’s notes and raises the question of its authorship: is it the work of the virtuoso mathematician himself or of his stay-at-home daughter?

CLOTA Director Barbara Roberts thinks “the audience will enjoy seeing how this all works out as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it all together.” Because of the nature of the play’s subject matter and contemporary language CLOTA recommends this production for mature audiences.

Following its March 5 début, "Proof" will play 7:30 evening performances March 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20. A Sunday matinee begins at 2:00 on the 14^th. Doors open 30 minutes before lights-up time. Center Stage is at 1425 N. Inyo.

Tickets are available at Red Rock Books: $12 general admission, $10 for seniors, students, enlisted active-duty military and CLOTA members; all tickets for opening night and the Sunday matinee are special-priced at $8.00. For more information, please leave a callback request on the CLOTA hotline: 1+760-446-2411.

Proof Cast Update

The role of Hal in CLOTA's production of "Proof" will now be played by Andrew Gray.

A Retraction

It is not now, nor has it ever been official CLOTA policy to edit out any "offensive" language in a script. The question is considered on an individual basis for each show.

My apologies for not having my facts straight before posting.

CLOTA Policy

As many of you know, it is presently CLOTA policy to edit out any "offensive" language in a script. This ranges from "f*ck" to taking the Lord's name in vain. It is a controversial policy, and debate about it has begun again with this spring's production of "Proof."

For: Ridgecrest is a conservative town, and we would lose audience members if we included this language. It is important to note that the audience we would lose come to every show, become members every year, and otherwise support CLOTA.

Against: This practice infringes copyright law, and is the first step of censorship. It is disrespectful to the playwright and the art form. CLOTA is losing a new audience, and a large part of its talent pool by catering to only the conservative side of the Community.

Whichever side you agree with, please leave a (polite and respectful) comment here so the board can read it.

Thank you.

The Grape Vine, January '10

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.

Proof Cast List

PROOF has been cast!

Catherine - Rachel Schmalenberger

Robert - John Slate

Hal - Chad Terry

Claire - K Pearl Woolam

More "Proof"

Auditions for CLOTA's production of "Proof" begin tonight (Saturday January 9) at 7pm and continue tomorrow (Sunday January 10) at 2pm.

Set construction for "Proof" begins the following weekend, and continues with the following schedule for January:

1/16 10am-2pm

1/17 1pm-4pm

1/23 10am-2pm

1/24 1pm-4pm

1/30 10am-2pm

1/31 construction preempted by CLOTA Readers' Theater Production of "The Real Inspector Hound"

In Other News: RCTT's Variety Show

Ridgecrest Community Theater Troupe will be holding auditions for it's Variety Show

January 15, 6pm at the USO building

actors (monologues/scenes)

singers

dancers

comedians

musicians

& anyone with a talent they'd like to share

are encouraged to bring a prepared act to auditions.

Rehearsals will be January 27 & 28

Performances will be held January 29 & 30 at 7pm

Cash prizes will be awarded based on audience votes!

CLOTA Banquet Tickets!

Tickets for CLOTA's 2010 Banquet

STARLIT DREAMS

Are NOW ON SALE!

They may be purchased

for $20

@ Red Rock Books

The Banquet will be held January 23

@ Victoria's at the Heritage

Social (half)Hour at 6:00

Buffet Dinner at 6:30

Entertainment begins at 7:30

Elegance is encouraged

Directors of the 2010 will be available to talk about their productions.

CLOTA awards will be presented.