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New Kensington Civic theatre |
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" Entertaining the A-K Valley for over 60 years" |
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OF THE NEW KENSINGTON (PA) CIVIC THEATER OUR 64th SEASON April 2010 724 339 3140 P.O. BOX 202, New Kensington, Pa 15068 www.nkct.org
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CALLBOARD |
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CALLBOARD October 2009 |
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Richard Devlin Editor, Prevaricator, and Embellisher of this rag |
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You’ll remember that Oklahoma begins on a beautiful morning with Curley singing “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow”? Well, it’s golden because it’s Oklahoma and that means corn – the state. OK, the musical too, a little. But here we have golden, lilac, whites and greens, all shades and colors and they are glorious as the mornings are beautiful. Sitting on the patio it’s difficult to think that about a month ago the snow would actually be over our head, point included.
So spring has sprung, bright, balmy all embracing spring. It comes on the heels of one play closing and another deep in rehearsals. But more of those later.
THE MEETING… That’s this Thursday, April 9, eight o’clock at the workshop, corner of Carl and - wait a minute, it’ll come – yes, Carl and George Streets, that solid gray building that we call home, among other things. Following the meeting some lovely refreshments are displayed and corks are popped signaling the social part of the evening. That’s when we begin talking about you if you’re not there.
THE PLAY… That would be Wait Until Dark which ran one month ago. At first we were a bit anxious for there were only 54 people in the audience on opening night. However our fears were dispelled for the following performances had nice crowds, nice and enthusiastic crowds. It was a difficult show with inordinate obstacles to overcome such as record snowstorms and working on a darkened stage yet allowing the audience to follow the action. So it turned out to be a cliffhanger in many respects. But in the end it all came together giving that feeling of relief that comes from a well crafted thriller. ON THE BOARDS…. The current play in rehearsal is an English farce directed by Ron Ferrara and written by Ray Cooney. What we are saying here is all a repeat of what’s on our web site nkct.info but here it is anyway to save you the trouble – and not all have access to the web site.
In brief, it seems that Richard Whiley, a government junior minister, plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the opposition’s typist and well, all that can go wrong does go wrong to the delight of the audience.
THE CAST… The Manager………………Tom Abbott Richard Wiley, M.P. ………..Bob Capanna The Waiter……………………John Lutman The Maid……………………..Carla Ann Guzzo Jane Worthington…………..Meghan O’Halloran A Body………………………..Mike Crosby George Pidgon…………….. Chris Pastrick Ronnie Worthington……….Justin Mohr Pamala Wiley………………..Pam Farneth Nurse…………………………Laura Wurzell
That’s a good mixture of old hands and new faces. It plays at Penn State on May 13 through 15 at 8 PM and Sunday the 16th at 2, just about a month from now. Not all the crew is in place as yet. Susan Shirey sends out a request for people to work on props – contact her at jakesis@hotmail.com. We’ll need ushers too, of course, and help in the lobby. We passed the workshop one evening last week at dusk and rehearsals were in full swing. Just a reminder: it’s no fun being left on the outside when you could easily be part of the production.
Tribute will run this week, Thursday Friday and Saturday, 8 PM at Penn State. This is one of two of Penn State’s production under Bill Mitas. Along with Penn State students the cast features Jennifer DiBlasio and Denny Suluva. Friday conflicts with our meeting but it would be nice to take it in say, Saturday, and round out the evening at McKenses. Just a thought.
RANDOM NOTES…… We had word from Helena Fee who is down in Florida swaying with the palm trees, she says, and loving it. Almost as warm there as it is here for now.
Tom L. has a new dog, Andi. Now that may not sound too masculine but his middle name is Wolfgang. That puts things right. He’s a white little Bichon Frise and delighted to become part of the Woodmont Ave. scene.
George Pecoraro announces a concert by the newly formed Westmoreland County Choir of New Kensington. They will perform their first time on Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 PM in St. Mary’s Church, 857 Kenneth Ave. The choir is under the direction of Sandra Rubright.
Again with the standing in the lobby after the play forcing the audience to go through a kind of reception line? Gee-whiz! Sometimes, you know, they’d rather not.
Whatever happened to the The Black Box Theater idea? We had done this before, a play performed at our workshop for the public. We recall Steve Pastrick doing Krapp’s Last Tape at our Leishman Ave. site years ago and the audience was impressed. There is talk of doing play readings, rehearsed play readings, sometime in the summer for whoever wants to come. Plays like Dancing At Lughnasa or something else of substance.
We understand that one of the plays under strong consideration for next season is Underpants. Underpants? Good grief! We can understand Apple Hill’s choosing it. It sounds like light summer fare and besides they do seven major productions plus four children’s shows, some of which are musicals. Since we only do three, shouldn’t we do something than a rehash of what they did? Underpants? Who needs them!
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