A Piece of My Heart Rehearsal Slideshow

Its been a while....

and we're back!!! We had a very successful summer production of The Andrews Brothers and we're in full swing rehearsals for A Piece of my Heart. In addition, auditions for Leading Ladies are tonight (Spet 28) and tomorrow (Sept 29) at 6pm in the JEAPAC at 6pm. We hope to see everyone down at the theatre for what will hopefully be our best season yet!

The Patrons of the Arts event

We are very lucky at ECC to have the support of a special group of people who go by the name of Patrons of the Arts. This group provides financail support for all of the arts programs at ECC and allows ud to produce outstanding work as well as providing support for students in need. Each year, this group gets together for an annual kick off event that starts the Fine and Performing Arts season and celebrates our achievements. This year (Friday, June 19th from 6-9pm at Oak Glenn Winery), the theme of the event is "A Night of Broadway" and the ECC Theatre Department will be performing as the after dinner entertainment. Students and community members will be participating in this event with songs from The Lion King, Song for a New World, Company, A New Brain, Ave Q and many more shows. Directed by Grace Austin with music direction by Paula Nolley, this is an event you don't want to miss! For more information on the Patrons of the Arts, call Shannon Gruss at 636 583 5195 ext 2210.

The Director's Showcase

On May 13th the Beginning Directing class presented a series of scenes from 6 different shows as a final class project. Below are some photos from that night- it was the first time directing for many of them and they did an outstanding job!

New Logo

We've decided to update our image a bit- we will be launching a new website this summer on the main ECC page and along with our new website we have decided to start using a new logo for our written correspondance. Here it is!

New Season!!

Well, its that time of year- we've wrapped our school season and its time to announce our shows for next year! I've gone back and forth on choosing scripts- looking at my original choices, I realized that the season was pretty fluffy- and I wanted to give our actors (and our audiences) more of a challenge.

Our Season:

A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro

The true stories of six courageous women sent to Vietnam and their struggle to make sense of a war that irrevocably changed them and a nation that shunned them. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
October 16 and 17 at 8pm. (Auditions August 24 and 25 at 6:30pm)

Leading Ladies by Ken Ludwig
This sidesplitting comedy features Leo and Jack - two down-on-their luck Shakespearean actors who are touring the Moose Lodge circuit. Penniless and desperate, they hatch a wild plot that leads them to play the roles of their lives. Filled with star crossed romance, mistaken identity and harebrained schemes. November 19, 20, 21 at 8pm, November 22 at 2pm.
(Auditions September 28 and 29 at 6pm.)

Crazy for You by Ken Ludwig, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin

Set in the 1930s, Crazy for You is the story of Bobby Child, the sweet son of a wealthy New York banking family, whose dream in life is to dance on Broadway. Despite protests from his battle-ax of a mother and wealthy soon-to-be-ex-fiancé, Bobby flees to Deadrock, Nevada where he falls in love with the only pretty girl within 50 miles and achieves his dream. Crazy for You is a high energy, screw-ball comedy complete with mistaken identity, plot twists, fabulous dance numbers and classic Gershwin music.
March 18, 19, 20 at 8pm, March 21st at 2pm.
(Auditions November 30 and December 1st at 6:30pm with callbacks December 3 at 6:30pm)

The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company
In October 1998 Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming.
The Laramie Project is the true story of the town of Laramie after the death of Matthew Shepherd.
In a small town after a murder…everyone has a story.
May 6, 7, 8 at 8pm
May 9 at 2pm
(Auditions March 29 and 30 at 6:30pm)

Choosing this season was hard...but I think its a perfect mix of comedy, drama, thought provoking subjects and fantastic music. We have so much talent here at the school and at the community level and I think that each script has something to offer our actors in terms of challenge. I am very much looking forward to working with our 'veterans' and new people- come join us at the theatre! If you are interested in reading any of the scripts, please let me know- we have copies in the Box Office.

BBB Slideshow of Production Photos

Below are some production photos from our last show if the season, Broadway and Beyond 3. The show sold out almost a month before opening night, so if you missed out on tickets, here's a look at what went on!

A change in me...

Carol told me last night that my post was incorrect- ECC Theatre did three shows a year before I showed up! That's one of the great things about having community members that have been with us for a long time- they have long memories! My apologies.

We are now one week and one day away from opening Broadway and Beyond 3 and things are heating up! We've been sold out for about a month now and we'll probably open our Monday and Wednesday dress rehearsals so that more people can get into see the show. The close of season makes me reflect back on what we've seen so far this year- its been a good season.

Tintypes: John's summer show was a fascinating mix of great classic songs with a wonderful cast. The story was humorous and poignant at the same time- lots of history and stories to tell.

The Cover of Life: I was in a production of TCOL in college and I loved it- I think I'm fascinated by stories about female relationships. I was blessed with six very strong women in my cast and a great set designer- Larry came up with an amazing concept (who knew that a moving set could be so easy?) I wanted to show people that staged readings don't have to be people with music stands and notebooks- staged readings are just another way to make theatre accessible to the audience.

Last Mass: The final play in the Over the Tavern trilogy. Vince has been interested in these shows for a long time. I know he was sad to see the trilogy come to an end- but the story was completed and we are left with an idea of the definition of family.

Once on This Island: People told me I was crazy. "I've never heard of that". "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "People won't come to that". I will admit, I doubted myself (that's what happens when I listen to other people too much!). It turned into the best experience I've had in five years. I asked more of my cast than I've asked before- very different and complicated choreography, almost 90 minutes straight on stage with no break...and they asked for more! It was an incredibly unique experience- I'd come into rehearsal early and see people already up onstage teaching others choreography, going over staging, etc. Watching the show end was very hard- but I think we all came out just a little different for having been part of that team.

B&B3- putting up a 23 song show in one month is CRAZY- but its also very gratifying to see everyone throw themselves into the work! Paula Nolley, my wonderful music director, has been playing her hands off- its a very demanding show for her and she charges ahead every night. Its interesting to see all the songs come together- we're doing songs from 18 different musicals (as well as some 'cabaret' songs) so if you were lucky enough to get a ticket to the show you'll be seeing very different styles of music and performance.

Next season is still being firmed up- We'll definately be doing Leading Ladies and Crazy for You...along with 2 other great shows!! Please stay tuned!

The countdown begins...

Well, we are coming up quickly on our last show of the 2008/2009 season and at the same time, my 5th year here at ECC. I feel like a lot has changed since I came here- in a good way!We have increased our audience dramatically- I remember looking at the houses for Forum and being SO excited that the front of the theatre was almost full. Now we have completely sold out Beauty and the Beast and Footloose and sold out 90% of the house for Once On This Island (a show w no name recognition. Heck, we had over 200 people each night for Cover of Life- and that was a no name stage reading!!!). It's a good feeling for me- I hope that we're bringing in new people and showing others the joy of theatre. I see new faces in the audience all the time- in fact, we ran a survey for Footloose and found out some very interesting things about our audience- and I think that's what my next post will be about! Following that, I'd like to talk about choosing the season for next year. I made some choices...and then I changed them (big surprise...)
Grace

Two weeks to go!

Today marks two weeks until we open the third Broadway and Beyond production. The first show I ever directed at ECC was the first B&B and I still remember bring afraid that no one would come and audition!! I got the idea from watching students at VCU (my graduate school) perform in the basement of the Theatre building- there was no musical theatre program at VCU (then) and we had quite a few very talented singers- so the students created their own show. The program was handwritten and xeroxed, the room was just a basement- but I still remember some of the performances (a students named Angel singing from Wild Party really sticks in my head). When i came to ECC, the season consisted of only 2 shows- one play and one musical. I wanted to increase that and I knew that a musical theatre cabaret was easier (and cheaper!) than a full musical, so I started out like that. Some of the folks that auditioned for that very first show of mine are still with me today (Patty, Keith, Cheryl, John Craig) and I'm so happy that they've stuck it out with me! I had never directed a musical before that show- it was my very first and I was TERRIFIED! We were going to try a totally different style (audience on the stage) and a little part of me thought that I would fall flat on my face and be run out of town. Turns out, we had a ton of people audition and we had a great time. Every time I start a show, I still feel a little bit of that fear- who will audition? What if it doesn't work? Will this be the time that I can't pull it off? Every time that voice in my head starts up though- I remind myself of what an amazing group of people always come to my rescue- the ECC Theatre family. Every show brings us new people- I'm always so excited to start auditions because I always make new 'finds' - people who often become permanent fixtures on our stage! Each new show is an adventure- who knows what will happen next?
The picture is from that very first show- who do you recognize?

A quick look at ECC Theatre

ECC Theatre takes off!

Okay all you theatre folks out there- I've decided to start a blog about the Theatre Dept!! I'm hoping that it will give some insight as to how things are run down here on the Theatre side of the building! I'll be using it to talk about casting, choosing a show, rehearsal process and other things-. If anyone has comments or ideas, please let me know- remember, this is an experiment for all of us!
Grace