Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RLT ANNOUNCES 2008-09 SEASONS!
Rogers Little Theater has announced its 2008-09 MainStage season. In addition, RLT announces the creation of SecondStage--producing contemporary, thought provoking works for adults--and a KidWorks season bringing the best in education and entertainment for the entire family.
The 2008-09 MainStage season is:
Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon, directed by Rick Pierson with auditions July 28-29, 2008 at 7 p.m. and performances September 19-20, 26-28, October 2-5, 2008.
Winner of the Best Play 1985 Tony Award, this is Chapter Two in the continuing saga of Eugene Morris Jerome, alter ego of the youthful Neil Simon. When we last met Eugene, he was coping with adolescence in the 1930's in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn (Brighton Beach Memoirs). Here, he is young army recruit during the Second World War, going through his basic training, learning more about life, and generally developing his writer's sensibility at boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943. Still jotting down his memoirs, Eugene and five other assorted enlisted men suffer under a hard nosed D.I., confront the daily "mess" served up in the mess hall, join together in a visit to a local prostitute and, generally, become adults. For the first time, Eugene confronts the degradation of anti Semitism; and, for the first time, he falls in love.
You Can't Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, directed by Jim Olmstead, with auditions on September 22-23, 2008 at 7 p.m. and performances November 7-8, 14-16, 20-23, 2008.
At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder. In contrast to these delightful people are the unhappy Kirbys. The plot shows how Tony, attractive young son of the Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore home on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by the Kirbys, who are invited to eat cheap food, shows Alice that marriage with Tony is out of the question. The Sycamores, however, though sympathetic to Alice, find it hard to realize her point of view. Meantime, Tony, who knows the Sycamores are right and his own people wrong, will not give her up, and in the end Mr. Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores, particularly since he happens in during a visit by an ex-Grand Duchess, earning her living as a waitress. No mention has as yet been made of the strange activities of certain members of the household engaged in the manufacture of fireworks; nor of the printing press set up in the parlor; nor of Rheba the maid and her friend Donald; nor of Grandpa's interview with the tax collector when he tells him he doesn't believe in the income tax.
Kiss Me Kate music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Bella and Samuel Spewack, directed by Ed McClure, musical direction by Lisa Welty Auten, choreography by Martina Peacock and Dru Wiser, technical direction by Mike Manning with auditions January 5-6, 2009 at 7 p.m. and performances February 13, 15, 19-22, 26-March 1, 2009 and the Valentine's Spectacular February 14, 2009.
Combine Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew with Porter's music and lyrics to get Kiss Me, Kate an instant success with every cast and audience. This is a play within-a-play where each cast member's on-stage life is complicated by what is happening offstage. Kiss Me, Kate is fun, melodious and sophisticated.
Rumors by Neil Simon, directed by Charlie Riedmueller with auditions February 16-17, 2009 at 7 p.m. and performances April 17-18, 24-26, April 30-May 3, 2009.
America's premier comic playwright delighted audiences with this out and out funny offering. Four couples are at the townhouse of a deputy New York City mayor and his wife to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. The party never begins because the host has shot himself in the head (it's only a flesh wound) and his wife is missing. His lawyer's cover up, gets progressively more difficult to sustain as the other guests arrive and nobody can remember who has been told what about whom. Doors slam and hilarity abounds as the couples get more and more crazed.
Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, directed by Jan Hanson with performances June 5-6, 12-14, 18-21, 2009.
What do Arles Struvie, Thurston Wheelis, Aunt Pearl, Petey Fisk, Phineas Blye and Rev. Spikes have in common? In this hilarious send-up of small town morals and mores, they are all among the upstanding citizens of Tuna, Texas' third smallest town. The long-running Off Broadway hit features Mike Maloney and Ed McClure (RLT's original cast of Greater Tuna and Tuna Christmas) creating the entire population of Tuna in a tour de farce of quick change artistry, changing costumes and characterizations faster than a jack rabbit runs from a coyote. Two actors, twenty characters and a barrel of laughs, ya'll.
The Music Man book, music and lyrics by Meredith Wilson based upon a story by Franklin Lacey, directed by Ed McClure, musical direction by Lisa Welty Auten, choreography by Martina Peacock and Dru Wiser, technical direction by Mike Manning with auditions June 8-9, 2009 at 7 p.m. and performances July 24, 26, 30-August 2, 6-9, 2009 and the annual Blue Jean Ball on July 25, 2009.
An affectionate paean to Smalltown, U.S.A. of a bygone era, Meredith Willson's The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill as he cons the people of River City, Iowa into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize - this despite the fact he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain's fall. This award-winning, critically acclaimed Broadway classic is an all-American institution, thanks to is quirky characters, charmingly predictable dramatic situations, and one-of-a-kind, nostalgic score of rousing marches, barbershop quartets and sentimental ballads which have become popular standards.
Exciting and new, full of intense drama and tour de force performances, the newly created SecondStage will offer lesser known, more adult themed scripts performed in studio theater style. The inaugural SecondStage season is:
Medal of Honor RAG directed by Tom Pyron with performances August 15-17, 2008.
A Medal of Honor recipient returns home from Vietnam. He has been decorated and promoted to Sergeant, given a parade at home and been to Washington for the award ceremony, but something is wrong. This intense drama explores what it was like to return from the "Police action" in Vietnam for this decorated soldier and many others of his generation.
'Night, Mother directed by Landon Carpenter on January 2-4, 2009.
A middle aged woman who lives with her aging mother tries to prepare her mother for living alone. But it's soon revealed that she is preparing her not because she plans to get married or move out on her own. She has decided to commit suicide. The drama unfolds as we see a mother desperate to talk her daughter out of killing herself while the daughter continues to instruct the mother in living alone. Why does she want to commit suicide? Will the mother be able to sway her? Or, is she truly set on killing herself?
Grace and Glorie directed by Lonna Arbuthnot, Jan Hanson and Brenda Nemec on May 8-10, 2009.
Grace is an elderly woman that has just been sent home from the hospital to die. Gloria has been sent by Hospice to offer support. Gloria has recently moved to Virginia from New York City and Grace has lived her whole life in the country never having traveled more than fifty miles from home. Grace does not receive Gloria and her offer of help easily. Gloria hangs in but in the end, who helps who?
Misery directed by Rick Pierson on June 26-28, 2009.
From the academy award winning movie staring Kathy Bates and James Caan, a romance novelist goes to Colorado for seclusion to write his latest novel. He slides off the road and has a terrible car accident in the snow. He is pulled from the wreck by a recluse woman and nursed back to health, sort of. She as it turns out is a huge fan until she discovers he has killed off the main character "Misery" of his novels and has written a novel she considers garbage. She holds him captive and forces him to bring "Misery" back to life.
KidWorks will consist of two major events this year. The first event will be a summer camp culminating in an outstanding production of The Tale of Snow White. Rounding out the season, Daisy Outdoor Products will celebrate its 50 years in Rogers by sponsoring the holiday classic, The Christmas Story.
The Tale of Snow White by Barbara Lennon, directed by Jenee Grassle August 23-24, 2008.
This fresh and funny adaptation will make even the most jaded folks laugh out loud as it expands the Brothers Grimm tale with new characters who have always lived between the lines of the classic fairy tale. This version, using a fun frame story of a contemporary mom reading to her bickering children, is loaded with bright new faces and comedic twists. We meet a gaggle of forest animals, friendly Dwarf Villagers, a troupe of ladies-in-waiting with a penchant for limericks, the Huntsman's squabbling conscience and even a nerdy governmental representative from the Department of Natural Resources trying to keep the forest dwellers from ruining the environment. With an incredibly flexible "cast of thousands," this production gives scores of young thespians of all ages the joy of being onstage.
This production will be the culmination of a two week camp August 4-15, 2008, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn about theater in a hands-on, creative way which will include developing acting skills, set and costume design and construction, stage make-up, etc. All camp members are guaranteed to be cast. Cost is $100 for both weeks. For ages 8-14, space is limited so register today by calling the RLT at 479/631-8988.
The Christmas Story adapted by Philip Grecian, based on the motion picture "A Christmas Story", copyright 1983 Turner Entertainment Co., distributed by Warner Bros., written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark; and on the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd; directed by Ed McClure with auditions on September 29-30, 2008 at 7 p.m. and performances December 5-7, 12-14, 2008.
Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself, at Goldblatt's Department Store. The consistent response: "You'll shoot your eye out." All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family's temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys' experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin; Ralphie's father winning a lamp shaped like a woman's leg in a net stocking; Ralphie's fantasy scenarios and more. A Christmas Story is destined to become a theatrical holiday perennial.
|
SERIES |
TITLE |
AUDITIONS |
PERFORMANCES |
|
MainStage |
Biloxi Blues |
July 28-29, 2008 |
September 19-20, 26-28, October 2-5, 2008 |
|
|
You Can't Take it With You |
September 22-23, 2008 |
November 7-8, 14-16, 20-23, 2008 |
|
|
Kiss Me, Kate |
January 5-6, 2009 |
February 13, 15, 19-22, 26-March 1, Valentine's Dinner February 14, 2009 |
|
|
Rumors |
February 16-17, 2009 |
April 17-18, 24-26, April 30-May 3, 2009 |
|
|
Greater Tuna |
|
June 5-6, 12-14, 18-21, 2009 |
|
|
The Music Man |
June 8-9, 2009 |
July 24, 26, 30-August 2, 6-9, Blue Jean Ball July 25, 2009 |
|
SecondStage |
Medal of Honor Rag |
|
August 15-17, 2008 |
|
|
'night Mother |
|
January 2-4, 2009 |
|
|
Grace and Glorie |
|
May 8-10, 2009 |
|
|
Misery |
|
June 26-28, 2009 |
|
KidWorks |
The Tale of Snow White |
Two Week Camp August 4-15, 2008 |
August 23-24, 2008 |
|
|
A Christmas Story |
September 29-30, 2008 |
December 5-7, 12-14, 2008 |
|
Family Fun |
Rogers Little Theater/Frisco Festival Youth Talent Competition |
|
August 23, 2008 |
|
|
Rogers Little Theater/Benton County Fair Youth Talent Contest |
|
September 20, 2008 |
|
|
Holiday Celebration |
|
December 11, 2008 |
|
|
Miss Lakes of the Northwest Scholarship Pageant |
|
March 14, 2009 |
For more information, please contact the RLT at 479/631-8988 or visit the website at www.rogerslittletheater.org.
###
Editor: Contact Danette at boxoffice@rogerslittletheater.org for more information.