Free Event: August Wilson Day at the Playhouse

In celebration of Fences and playwright August Wilson, Pasadena Playhouse Community Outreach Program presents AUGUST WILSON DAY, Saturday September 2, 2006 – an inspired cultural afternoon to recognize the esteemed playwright and one of his most acclaimed works, Fences.

At 1:00 p.m. enjoy the sounds of acclaimed jazz singer Patrice Quinn and her fabulous trio -- Peter Smith (piano), Pablo Mota (bass), Lorca Hart (drums) on the patio. The Gourmet Cobbler Factory will be selling cobbler and ice cream, Pasadena Playhouse Concessions stand will be open. In addition, August Wilson Cultural Arts and Community Row will feature various arts and community organizations, as well as vintage Negro and Cuban Baseball League apparel. Dana Rebecca Woods (costume designer) will display her Fences costume designs in the Friendship Center. The temperature for Saturday will be 81 degrees – an ideal afternoon to join us on the patio!

At 2:00 p.m., the speaker mainstage event: Building Fences: An Actor’s Perspective will feature actors who have performed in various productions of Fences, including Pasadena Playhouse Fences cast members Wendell Pierce and Bryan Clark, and Odyssey Theatre’s Fences cast member Elayne Taylor. Artistic Director Sheldon Epps (Director, Fences) will join them. Dr. Melvin Donalson, Associate Professor in the English Department at California State University, Los Angeles) will moderate.

HOW TO ORDER YOUR FREE SPEAKER EVENT TICKETS
Just email the box office at boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org or FAX your request to (626)792-7343. Include your name, number of tickets you want, address, phone and email address.

Your free tickets will be held at the will call table on Saturday! For more information you can email gparker@pasadenaplayhouse.org.

Please note: that afternoon's performance of Fences has been sold out, though stand-by passes may be available. You can still get tickets for other performances of Fences by calling the Box Office at (626)356-7529 or by ordering on-line here.

[Photo credit: Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, photo by Craig Schwartz]

Playhouse friends Daniel Tatar and David Lee to take part in one-night-only concert.

Daniel Tatar, recent star of the Pasadena Playhouse production of The Last 5 Years, will co-star in a wonderful event hosted by Reprise! Broadway's Best on campus at UCLA.

On Monday, September 11, 2006 Reprise! will present a one-night-only concert of William Finn's ELEGIES: A Song Cycle. The first of their Marvelous Musical Mondays ELEGIES is an uplifting evening of witty and moving songs that serve as musical love letters, remembering the lives of those we've lost.

This one-night concert will also feature the extraordinary talents of Tony Award winner Randy Graffand Tony nominee Liz Callaway. The concert will be directed by the incomparable David Lee (recent Pasadena Playhouse credits include Diva and 110 in the Shade).

For tickets and info call 310-825-2101 or visit www.Reprise.org.

Photo - Daniel Tatar and Misty Cotton in The Last Five Years.

Best Seats for Fences

The landmark Playhouse production of Fences is looking more like a smash hit every day, and we're still just in previews!

After a record setting sales weekend tickets are going fast and several shows have already sold out.

But not to worry.

We still have great seats available, especially for weeknights (Tue-Thu at 8:00 PM) and on Saturdays at 9:00 PM.

And of course, being just a 600 seat house, Pasadena Playhouse is an intimate theatrical setting wherever you sit.

P.s. You can order tickets by calling (626)356-7529, or save time waiting in a phone queue by ordering tickets here.

Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett
FENCES
also starring
Bryan Clark, Kadeem Hardison, Orlando Jones, Wendell Pierce
with
Victoria Matthews

Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize!
Tony Award Winner

August 25 - October 1
Five Weeks Only!

Related Posts:

• Backstage at the Playhouse: Building Fences


• The Best Fences Seats! New Performances Added!


• Orlando Jones, Kadeem Hardison join the cast of Fences
  


• A LANDMARK EVENT IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE
  

Dressing Room Refurbishment

Emily Ware, who has virtually grown up backstage at the Pasadena Playhouse, recently took it upon herself to initiate a revitalization of the Dressing Rooms for our actors.

16 year-old Emily is the daughter of Tom Ware (Producing Director) & Lea Chazin Ware (Stage Manager). She began her project, which will enable her to earn a Girl Scout Gold Award (the pinnacle achievement of Girl Scouting), by researching painting techniques, materials and costs with trips to book stores, hardware and paint supply shops.

Next, she created and presented a proposal and detailed plan to Managing Director Brian Colburn and Friend Bridget Furiga, as well as the Girl Scout Gold Award Committee, where it was met with enthusiastic support. As soon as our productions of the

Marriage Musicals closed on August 6, the dressing rooms were scrubbed, plastered and prepared for a coat of primer and two coats of beautiful new paint colors.
Narrowing the choice of colors was the most difficult part of the painstaking process, but finally with a crew of volunteers from the administration, production and marketing staff ready to go, a decision had to be made! With 9 dressing rooms to be painted, Emily chose a beautiful light blue, a pale green and a deeper green as her final choices.

Each room was assigned a color, with a lighter shade of that color for the ceilings and pipes. If you passed through the Green Room over the past two weeks you may have been snagged into grabbing a brush!

The black trim around the mirrors, and shelving was tackled next. Emily put the final touches on with some beautiful fabrics to cover the chairs in each room. Penn Genthner, who volunteered on the project, pulled out some Playhouse archive photographs that had been stored away to hang on the freshly painted walls and give them a cozy look. With a lot of help from many people, some with elbow grease and some with moral support; the project was completed just in time for the cast of Fences to move in on August 19.

Completion was celebrated with a small but heartfelt “wrap” party for everyone who helped. All nine rooms were open and on display. Emily was presented with beautiful flowers and many congratulations by all who attended. Stop by, next time you are at the Playhouse to check out this fabulous new look!


Other Playhouse staff who took part in the project were Kappy Kilburn, Kevin Cordova, Brian Colburn, Lesley Brander, Brad Price, Amanda Diamond, Carol Ann Sparks, Dan Healey and board member Peggy Ebright. Girl Scouts Rachel McLaughlin, Rachel Hogue and Lauren Hogue also assisted with the project.

Audition Announcements

In addition to the regular Pasadena Playhouse audition announcements published in BackStage West and the AEA website, opportunities will now regularly be posted here on the Playhouse Blog.

Title: SISTER ACT: The Musical
Type: Equity Chorus
Audition City and State: Pasadena, California
Producer: Pasadena Playhouse/Pasadena/CA - Alliance Theatre/Atlanta/GA
Artistic team attending and title:
Kevin Cordova - Company Manager
Kappy Kilburn - Artistic Associate
Dean Mora - Accompanist
Contract Type: LORT B
Seeking: Chorus Only
Date(s) of Audition: Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Place: Pasadena Playhouse - Rehearsal Room
39 S. El Molino Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101-5220
Appointments: Are on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Chorus Singer auditions are from 10am to 2:30 pm
Chorus Dancer auditions are from 3:30 pm to 6pm
Preparation: Please prepare 16 bars of a Disco Song and a Standard Broadway musical song. Bring music in proper key. Accompanist will be provided. Please be prepared to learn and present a short dance piece.

For more information, please contact Kevin Cordova at (626) 792-8672 ext. 217

Production Reveiws from Pasadena Youth Center

Originally printed in Volume: Expressions of Youth, issue 4, Summer 2006
Pasadena Youth Center is a partner of the Pasadena Playhouse through the New Generations program, which offers at-risk youth from the greater LA area mentorship and live theatre experiences.

The Fair Maid of the West, parts I and II (Furious Theatre Company)
I think that Fair Maid was a really good play for those who like action and suspense. The fighting scenes were intense and was literally inches away from the front row, where I was sitting. The 1800s were very well depicted by the drunken men in the tavern, the clothing and the sea battles between the English and Spanish. I really enjoyed the play and it helped me in my AP U.S. History class, because it allowed me to create a better mental image of what the people in American revolutionary times were like. Not to forget that the play itself took place in Pasadena Playhouse’s Balcony Theater, which provided a smaller setting and gave the audience a better view and a sense of importance. The play was great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked “Pirates of the Caribbean” as well as “Master and Commander.”

As You Like It: A California Concoction
A mixture of love, hatred, deceit and companionship formed this masterpiece, “As You Like It,” written by William Shakespeare. This play was shaped into a modern day love maze, produced by Alison Carey. When I went to the Pasadena Playhouse I thought it would be another boring Shakespeare play. However, I was surprised to see a hilarious and unique comedy of love. It seemed that everyone had found their soul mates.”
Gay and straight marriages are what made this play unique, as well as the different personalities of the actors and actresses. Their performance was fantastic. I absolutely loved the play and I wish that I could see it every day. “As U Lyk It” is a great play with humor, politics and confusion. I hope that everyone who reads this tries to experience the same magic I did while watching this brilliant play.

Open Window
Open Window was quite a different play, since there were deaf actors with translators involved. The end of the story was not revealed, so no one knows if the deaf man really did kill his father, if he ever learned sign language, or what the outcome was of his trial. Instead, it was more focused on the importance of language in our society today, and how it is expressed. The woman who was trying to teach Cal two signs, believed that language could be taught to anyone at any age, and that it was a basic means of communicating and without it, interaction is useless. The young psychologist, on the other hand, believed that language could be expressed in any way; there is no need for words, actions are enough.
This was a very moving play, with a deep meaning and the use of American Sign Language was brilliant. The translations weren’t distracting at all, because the ASL flowed so beautifully. I recommend this play for those who wish to see something new.

Reviews by Elizabeth Hawkins, age 14

And speaking of HOTHOUSE...

We've just confirmed the HOTHOUSE production for December 12th and 13th:

Madagascar by J.T. Rogers
Directed by Art Manke

Madagascar is the haunting story of a mysterious and unsolved disappearance that changes three lives forever. At three different periods of time, three Americans find themselves, alone, in the same hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome. Madagascar is about the elusive nature of memory, and how the consequences of the actions we take ripple out in ways unforseen.

Related Posts:

• You Are Invited to an Exciting New Play Reading
  
• Hothouse at the Playhouse

You Are Invited to an Exciting New Play Reading

August 22nd and 23rd at 8:00pm
I FOUND BABY JESUS
IN THE CAT BOX
By Melanie Ewbank
Directed by Kappy Kilburn

A bitter feline, a dead grandmother, and the annual Chase family reunion have driven Mollie right to the edge. Fending off salvos from all sides, she struggles to maintain her sanity. As her brother, Keith, with whom she shares a mutual adoration, jokingly badgers her about her extreme lack of childhood memories, he unwittingly unleashes them.

The HOTHOUSE readings are at 8:00PM in the newly renamed Carrie Hamilton Theatre, an intimate 99-seat performance space located on the second floor of the theatre complex (39 South El Molino Avenue). Readings are FREE to the public but reservations should be made by calling the Box Office at 626-356-PLAY.

Backstage at the Playhouse: Building Fences

Well, it's been a couple months since I've posted anything in my critically acclaimed 'Backstage at the Playhouse' series, and I'm getting tired of all the letters asking for another amazing and insightful look into the magic of theatre. So, here is part 2 of my continuing series, 'Backstage at the Playhouse.'

In theatre terminology, right now the Playhouse is 'dark.' We closed the Marriage Musicals on August 6th, and we don't have any performances scheduled until our first preview of Fences on August 25th. While it may seem from the outside that nothing is happening, we're all pretty busy back here. Here are a few pictures taken by Fluffy (the Playhouse Prop Master) with his phone:

That's the bare stage of the Playhouse. (Hey, it's a picture taken with a phone. Squint if you have to.) It's pretty rare for us to have an empty stage, and it's already starting to fill up with the set of Fences.

Speaking of the set, that's a picture of part of it in our shop. The brickwork you see is actually a plastic mold of a brick wall - samples can be found here. It shows up a boring grey color, and our scenic artists paint the plastic to give the illusion of actual bricks. On the right, you can see our paint frame. It's basically a big frame you can attach a drop or large scenic piece to, and then move the whole frame up and down so the scenic artist can stand on the floor and paint the whole piece, instead of having to use ladders or scaffolding to reach the top. It's a nice thing to have.

I guess that's it for now. Any spelling or grammatical errors are the fault of, oh, I don't know, Conwell. Definitely not me.

The Best Fences Seats! New Performances Added!

Tickets for Fences have been selling extraordinarily well. I've worked at Pasadena Playhouse for six years and I've never seen our box office so busy!

We've just added a couple of new performances on:

Tuesday, September 5th at 8pm
Wednesday, September 13th at 8pm

Great seats are available right now for either of these performances - especially for Tuesday, September 5th.

Due to a scheduling conflict the August 27th at 2pm performance was cancelled. Patrons previously booked into that date have been notified by mail.

If you want my advice as a box office insider, I recommend buying your tickets as soon as possible - but definitely before the reviews start coming in for this show - tickets are going to be impossible to get after that.

I recommend our subscribers check their calendars to make sure to block out their performance time. If they must, our subscribers should exchange their tickets soon. To buy tickets, click here. To exchange tickets send an email to boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org and be sure to include relevant contact and performance information.

Joseph Yoshitomi
Customer Experience Manager

P.S. We've been so busy that I'm hiring a few new staff members for the box office and concessions areas. If you're a Playhouse regular and you see a new face, feel free to say hello!

Related Posts:

• Orlando Jones, Kadeem Hardison join the cast of Fences
  


• A LANDMARK EVENT IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE
  

[Photo credit: Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. Photo by Ondrej Rudavsky.]