Update Haiku

So, I promise we’ve done a few shows since the last blog update.  Let it suffice to say it’s been a wild summer and fall in Spartanburg Little Theatre and Spartanburg Youth Theatre-Land.  Very talented and dedicated staff members have left to explore new frontiers and new very talented and dedicated staff members have already joined the SLT/SYT family and will soon undoubtedly make their mark on an organization that is (this year) 65 years strong.

So right smack dab in the middle of our 65 year anniversary season, I thought I’d give you a quick update on what we’ve been doing since last ….ahem…June.  And in the interest of brevity (not usually one of my strong suits), I thought we could do this in the form of Haiku.  As you will see, my Haiku skills are severely lacking:

GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!

June 10-12, 2010

 

Twenty-four ball caps

Roof is made of dirty thatch

Unexpected hit

 

HELLO, DOLLY!

September 10-19, 2010

Costumes to die for

Elegahhhnce and Sunday Clothes

Standing room only

 

THE SOMEWHAT TRUE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD

October 6-9, 2010

Robin Hood in Converse

Bowling Tourney, Wooden Spoons

Python meets Sherwood

 

PERFECT WEDDING

November 5-14, 2010

Lies beget more lies

Bridezilla wields toilet brush

Perfect comedy

 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

December 1-4, 2010

Cast of fifty youth

Ghosts, carols, Big Ben keeps time

Classic comes to life

 

THE EIGHT:  REINDEER MONOLOGUES

December 16-18, 2010

Santa’s been naughty

Press descends on the North Pole

Reindeer are talking

 

So, I guess you can’t say we haven’t been busy….

Next up: “Always…Patsy Cline” opens January 14th and runs for 6 performances, closing on January 23.  Get your tickets at www.chapmanculturalcenter.org or call 542-ARTS.

 

Special thanks to Melissa Pesaro and Tim Kimzey for the photographs.

And for our final bow of 2009-2010: Steve Martin’s “The Underpants”

Tickets are on sale now for SLT’s final production of the Season:

“The Underpants “  - Comedian Steve Martin's hilarious farce!

 

In The Underpants, a housewife becomes an overnight celebrity when she accidentally loses her underpants in public, much to the dismay of her conservative bureaucrat husband. When potential boarders start showing up at the door with hopes of renting their spare room, chaos ensues in this witty comedy that explores ambition, desire, and the fleeting nature of fame.
SLT’s Executive Artistic Director Jay E. Coffman says, “Steve Martin is certainly one of the comic geniuses of our time. Many people don’t know that he’s also a talented author, screenwriter and playwright.”
A seriously funny adult comedy with some suggestive situations and mild language, The Underpants is not meant for those under high school age.
“This one’s definitely for the adults,” Coffman says. “But for those who like a furiously paced, flat out side-splittingly funny comedy, The Underpants is going to be the place to be.”
The Underpants is supported, in part, by the The Arkwright Foundation.

What they’re saying about “The Underpants”:

“A brilliant, hilarious, mad adaption of an old play.”—New York Post

“Martin’s words are sharp, funny and fast:  What’s not to love?....Bravo, Steve Martin!”—The Journal News

“Hilarious and bawdy!”—The Village Voice

“Bad funs, goofy pratfalls, intellectual name-dropping and an endless stream of hilariously daffy lines creates a momentum that rolls…”—Time Out New York

Directed by Rick Connor

Featuring:

Louise:  Alaina Steading

Theo:  Andy Croston

Versati:  Peyton Hray

Cohen:  Steven Shuler

Gertrude:  Elizabeth King

Klinglehoff:  Jim Harrison

Youth Theatre says “Fudge”

No.  It’s not what you’re thinking. 

The Spartanburg Youth Theatre just wrapped up their season with a hilarious and inventive production of the Judy Blume classic “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”. 

Everybody remembers the antics of the little three year old terror known affectionately as FUDGE.  But getting a three year old to act can be just as terrifying….  So director Matt Giles cast the biggest high school kids as the three year olds.  Hilarious.  Even more hilarious is that someone actually thought the play dealt with a family’s struggle to raise a full grown autistic teenager.  They must have missed the part where they said he was three.

Photo courtesy of Mike Bonner  at The Spartanburg Herald Journal

Here’s a picture of the set—taken on my Blackberry:

And of course a shot of the audience—area elementary school students on their school field trip:

Congratulations Spartanburg Youth Theatre on a record breaking season!

 

Seussical: The Show that Ate Spartanburg

Every now and again, you put on a production that grows and grows and eventually eats and/or destroys everything in its path.  What starts out as a sweet little confection of a musical grows into a seething stomping behemoth intent on world domination. 

That production is called “Seussical”. 

Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret…..”Seussical” did not win a Pulitzer Prize.  It did not win any Tony’s.  It was on Broadway for like 5 minutes and then quickly disappeared onto the community theatre circuit, where it has achieved a great deal of success.  It’s a show that if done badly, can be really bad.  But if you put all your creative effort into it, assemble a great team and work every last artistic angle of every living breathing thing associated with the show, then it  can be really really good. 

So that’s what we decided to do.  And what came out of all the hard work, was something spectacular—an absolutely stunning visual treat, loaded with incomparable talent, designed beautifully and with a huge heart. 

What started out as just another show, became a community event of sorts.  It seems everyone knew someone who had seen “Seussical”.  Almost 3,000 audience members later, a library performance, a book drive, a poetry contest, story time with the characters in various elementary schools, a huge Dr. Seuss character party and a special performance for the South Carolina  School for the Deaf and the Blind, “Seussical” was finally one for the record  books.

And we loved every minute of it…Well almost every minute.

And one pic from the SCSDB show, with the Interpreter on the Left.

Thanks Altrusa International! Yours, SLT

The fine ladies from Altrusa International came by the Seussical set today to pick up the almost 2,000 children’s books the Spartanburg Little Theatre is donating as part of our Seuss Literacy project.

(Pictured are the members of Altrusa International Spartanburg, Jay E. Coffman, Executive Artistic Director of SLT and the Cat in the Hat, aka Matt Giles, Artistic Director of SYT)

For those of you who don’t know the good things Altrusa does, here’s a blurb from their website www.altrusaspartanburg.org:

Altrusa International, Inc. of Spartanburg, established in 1961, is an organization for professional women and men with a common goal to provide service to our local and global community with emphasis on the family, education, and the environment.

The organization also promotes personal and professional growth for its members.

Thanks to Altrusa and their members for the willingness to collaborate.  Can’t wait to hear where these books are donated.  Bravo!

Come see Seussical this weekend.  Shows are selling fast! www.chapmanculturalcenter.org or 542-ARTS.

Spartanburg Little Theatre announces Seussical contest winners!

In conjunction with our mammoth production of the hit Broadway musical Seussical, we held two contests promoting literacy in Spartanburg County.

Our first contest encouraged school classes to donate new or gently loved children’s books, with the winning class promised a visit and story hour by the Cat in the Hat from Seussical. 

All in all, almost 2,000 books were donated to The Spartanburg Little Theatre.  We in turn will donate these books to Altrusa International, a service club for women, who will donate them to area nonprofits and needy children.

Congratulations to Giada Parris’ class at Woodruff Primary School! (pictured above with the Cat in the Hat).  Thank you so much for your generous gift.  And many thanks to all the other schools in Spartanburg County who contributed.

Our second venture was a poetry contest.  Children were asked to submit poems in the style of Dr. Seuss with the winners receiving two free tickets to Seussical and the opportunity to read their poem to the audience at intermission.

The poems were awesome and the readings have been a lot of fun.  We’ll have three more readings at this upcoming weekend’s productions.

Congratulations to:

Shane Rice—Monarch Elementary School

Rebekah Nelson—Abner Creek Elementary School

Braeden Mull—Boiling Springs Elementary School

Iman Qatawi and Maggie Wrinkle---Berry Shoals Intermediate School

Kyle Henderson—Berry Shoals Intermediate School.

The spirit of Seuss lives on!!!!

Come see Seussical this weekend.  Tickets are going fast!  www.chapmanculturalcenter.org or 542-ARTS

2200+: Well that’s a whole lot of kids…

Almost everyone who has lived in Spartanburg for any length of time knows someone who has been to one of The Spartanburg Youth Theatre’s productions.  Always an hour long, always cast with area youth and always entertaining, these shows have been a staple field trip destination for many of Spartanburg’s school children and teachers for over 30 years.

This week it’s no different.  Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30, 11:00 and 12:30, the Chapman Cultural Center will see a steady stream of school busses dropping off and picking up eager and excited children, all anticipating SYT’s latest production:  a modern adaption of the classic fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.

Here’s how it works:

1.  The production schedule is sent out to all districts in Spartanburg, Union and Cherokee counties, as well as latchkey programs and Homeschoolers at the beginning of the year.

2.  Teachers start calling in with their reservations for one of the six performances.  Tickets are $5 per student and accompanying parents and free for teachers.

3.  Educational materials for the productions are provided online on our website at no charge.  Teachers are encouraged to use these as a preview activity or a follow up.

4.  Deposits are made, confirmations and invoices are exchanged until the day of the performances when….

5.  The production magic begins.  A cast of youth, a backstage crew of youth, and a lighting/sound/tech both staffed completely with youth.  That’s what makes us unique.

Then on the Friday and Saturday, the public is invited to see the show.  Fridays at 4:30 and 7:00 pm and Saturday at 2:00 pm.  This year the Boys and Girls Club are bringing 250+ children to every Friday 4:30 performance!

So, this week, it’s all about the Pea…and the 2200+ children, teachers and parents on fieldtrips waiting to see if that Princess is going to able to catch some zzzzZZZZZZZ’s.

You can come too:  www.chapmanculturalcenter.org or (864) 542-ARTS.  February 12 and 13.  And don’t forget the Royal Tea Party on February 13.  Call our office at 585-8278 for reservations.