Romance, war, duels, poetry, sacrifice...and an enormous SCHNOZ

The Academy of Creative Theatre will take on a staged reading of the classic tale of CYRANO de BERGERAC this Friday and Saturday at 7 pm, right here on the Little Theatre stage. From Parisian balconies to bloody battlefields, tongue-tied Christian borrows Cyrano's words to woo beautiful Roxane-- but is she falling for Christian's looks or Cyrano's soul?  A cast of three student actors triangulates this classic into a lightning-paced romance of duels, panache, sacrifice-- and an enormous schnoz.

The ACT Staged Reading offers our more advanced student actors a place to "flex their acting muscles" in a more intimate, challenging environment. This production of CYRANO features three experienced ACT actors on stage and one behind the scenes as Assistant Director. All four are under the experienced direction of Kerry DiMaggio, Education Director.

Jed Authier (Cyrano):   This is Jed's 11th show at the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre. Previous roles include: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo) and The Little Prince (Fox).  He has also been in all 3 of ACT's staged readings so far!

Penny Della Pelle (Roxanne): This is Penny's fifth show with ACT.  Previous shows include: Cinderella, The Secret Garden, Pinocchio, Shakespeare Shorts

Trevyn Wong (De Guiche, Christian, and several other characters): Trevyn has been involved in countless ACT productions along with two mainstage shows at the Little Theatre (A Christmas Story, The Sound of Music.) This is his second ACT staged reading and you can also see Trevyn in this spring's production of The Music Man as well!

Elizabeth Tharp (Assistant Director): Elizabeth has performed in ten ACT productions, including Shakespeare Shorts (Mustardseed), Cinderella (stepsister) and  last year's reading of Sarah, Plain and Tall.  

The annual ACT Staged Reading is sponsored by Rhonda O'Dell and is produced as a benefit for the ACT Scholarship Fund, which exists so that any student- regardless of their financial background- may participate in ACT's classes and programs. To find out more about what ACT has to offer, including classes, camps and full mainstage productions, contact Kerry DiMaggio or visit our website right HERE.

Hope to see you at CYRANO this weekend.  Training and encouraging young theatre artists is a big part of what we do here at the Little Theatre and besides that... it's gonna be a great show. You can get your tickets right HERE.

“A great nose may be an index of a great soul” 

~Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

Are you ready to ROCK 'N ROLL?! (PLUS...have you seen THE DUELING CAVALIER?!)

Tom Stoppard's explosive masterwork about love, politics and rock 'n roll takes the stage this weekend as the sixth show in our Ubu's Other Shoe Staged Reading series. ROCK 'N ROLL is directed by Leticia Velez Ericson and features 13 exceptional local actors: Robin Kirk Wolf, Creston Cooper, Micaela Morgan, Gregory Gorrindo, Michael Siebrass, Rosh Wright, Katherine Blauvelt, Gerald Manata, Jonathan Shadrach, Frank Moe, Tony Taylor, Debora Schwartz and Kate Kravets. If you love ROCK 'N ROLL, history, comedy, drama and great theatre, don't miss this one. Besides it's only $10!  Friday is currently sold-out, but tickets are still available for two shows on Saturday, March 21st at 2 pm and 7 pm. But I'd act quickly if I were you! Click HERE to get your tickets today.

Director John Battalino is looking for three, just three, very talented actors to take on the challenge of COPENHAGEN, Michael Frayn's Tony Award winning play about an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the famous physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. The third character in this intimate drama is that of Bohr's wife Margrethe Norlund, who was a very important part of his life and work. Auditions will take place on Sunday, March 22nd at 6 pm. Actors will be asked to read from the script. The show will run May 1 and 2, 2015. Find out more about auditions HERE.

And don't miss this Academy of Creative Theatre student-acted staged reading of CYRANO on March 27 & 28 at 7 pm right here at the Little Theatre. The classic tale has been adapted into an engaging three-person staged reading for young actors, and our young ACT actors -- Jed Authier, Penny DellaPelle and Trevyn Wong -- are awesome!  The reading is directed by Kerry DiMaggio, ably assisted by student director Elizabeth Tharp. Tickets are just $10 and benefit the scholarship fund for the Academy of Creative Theatre. Get your tickets HERE!

And if you're having withdrawal pangs, since the closing performance of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN last weekend, have I got a treat for you! Ryan Loyd of RyLo Media Design has made the brilliant films he created for our popular production available on YouTube!  Both The Royal Rascal and The Dueling Cavalier can now be enjoyed by all, in the comfort of your own office or living room. Ain't it awesome?! 

So, I will leave you now to enjoy the silliness of these films --- one silent, one...not so much --- and I hope to see you this weekend for ROCK 'N ROLL!

Click HERE for THE ROYAL RASCAL

Click HERE for THE DUELING CAVALIER

"Yes, Yes, Yes!  No, No, No!"

Enjoy!

~Patty

Happy Closing Weekend to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN! That's 16 shows down, 9 more to go before we're done with the 2014/2015 Season!

What a glorious feelin'! It's been an amazing run for the cast and crew of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and we are going to be so sorry to see it go. Just five more performances and this singing and dancing spectacular will be gone forever - but certainly not forgotten! All seats are currently SOLD-OUT, but if you haven't yet seen this lovely show, we encourage you to give our waiting list a shot. Arrive one hour early, give your name to box office staff and we'll do our best to seat you at show time! Our remaining shows are Thursday (tonight) at 7 pm, Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.

Get ready to ROCK 'N ROLL for three shows only on Friday, March 20th at 7 pm (followed by a talk-back with the director and cast) and Saturday, March 21st at 2 pm and 7 pm. Tickets are only $10 for a fully-rehearsed staged reading of this electrifying show by Tom Stoppard. Director Leticia Velez has assembled an awesome cast for this decades-spanning tale of love, revolution and music. Looking forward to getting my monthly "Ubu-Fix" next weekend and if you've never dipped your theatrical toes into our staged reading series, this one's a great place to start. Get your tickets HERE and I'll see you at the show.

Speaking of staged readings....our Academy of Creative Theatre students will be taking the stage the weekend after Rock 'n Roll in an adaptation of CYRANO designed for young student actors. Jed Authier will portray the legendary large-nosed poet Cyrano de Bergerac, Penny Della Pelle will play Roxanne and Trevyn Wong will take on the role of lovestruck Christian (along with many other characters!) The staged reading is directed by Kerry DiMaggio, assisted by student director Elizabeth Tharp. We invite everyone to come and enjoy this timeless story performed as in intimate and engaging staged reading by the talented young members of our ACT educational program. The annual ACT Staged Reading is produced as a benefit for the ACT Scholarship Fund, which exists so that any student with a desire to learn, may participate in ACT's classes and programs.Click HERE for more information and to purchase your tickets today.

The fourth season show in our 2014/15 Season -- TIME STANDS STILL -- will take the stage on April 10th.  Award-winning director Teresa Thuman has assembled an amazing ensemble cast for this intimate and engaging contemporary drama by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies.  Margulies is well known for his tightly constructed contemporary dramas, laced with humor and featuring realistic relationships and situations. Many of you may remember our production of Margulies' DINNER WITH FRIENDS, directed by Lisa Woske, which enjoyed a very successful run here at the Little Theatre in 2012.

Margulies says: "There's a lot of humour in Time Stands Still that leavens its intensity. Audiences laugh in recognition of truths large and small."  You can read more about TIME STANDS STILL, the original Broadway production and Margulies' process in writing the play, in an article from The Economist HERE.  And you can get your tickets for our production of this thought-provoking drama right HERE.

Last, but most certainly not least, mark your calendars for the fourth show in our new After Hours @slotheatre late night comedy series!  Actress Suzy Newman will be taking on the amazing one-woman show THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. Written by Jane Wagner, and famously performed on Broadway by Lily Tomlin, this is the show that proves "there is life, there is hope and there is certainly comedy."  Opening on Saturday, April 11th and running for eight shows only, we recommend making your reservations early to ensure your seats. SEARCH FOR SIGNS will take place at 9:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 7 pm on Sundays, following performances of Time Stands Still. Get your tickets HERE!

Phew!  Never a dull moment in the land of live theatre. There's another new show around each and every corner. Happy closing weekend to the cast and crew of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN!  And to the rest of you:  come on out to a show at the Little Theatre soon. It's live, it's local and you'll LOVE it!

Cheers!
~Patty

New Show Added for SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, Tom Stoppard's ROCK 'N ROLL is up next and VOTE FOR US!

There are just two more weekends of shows left for our wildly successful gala musical SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. If you haven't seen it yet, you may be in luck! We've just added one additional performance on THURSDAY, MARCH 12TH at 7 PM. Seats are going fast, but if you hurry, you just might make it. Click HERE for reservations. Ready...set...GO! And if you can't make it next Thursday, our wait list is your best bet to get your foot in the door. Arrive one hour early, tell the box office, have a glass of wine and 9 out of 10 times...you're in!

The next Ubu's Other Shoe Staged Reading will take the stage March 20-21 for 3 Shows Only: Friday at 7 pm and Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm. We are extremely proud to present Tom Stoppard's groundbreaking, mind-blowing drama ROCK 'N ROLL. It is 1968 and the world is ablaze with rebellion, accompanied by a sound track of the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Clutching his prized collection of rock albums, Jan, a Cambridge graduate student, returns to his homeland of Czechoslovakia just as Soviet tanks roll into Prague. When security forces tighten their grip on artistic expression, Jan is inexorably drawn toward a dangerous act of dissent. Back in England, Jan's volcanic mentor, Max, faces a war of his own as his free-spirited daughter and his cancer-stricken wife attempt to break through his walls of academic and emotional obstinacy. Over the next twenty years of love, espionage, chance, and loss, the extraordinary lives of Jan and Max spin and intersect until an unexpected reunion forces them to see what is truly worth the fight.

If you love Stoppard, get your tickets now- this is going to be an amazing staged reading of an absolutely brilliant play. Click HERE to reserve your seats today.

Let's do it again! The Little Theatre has been voted the BEST LOCAL THEATER GROUP in the annual New Times Readers Poll every year since 2010 and BEST PLACE TO SEE A PLAY at least three times over the past ten years.  If you've enjoyed a show here in the past year, or two, or three, and if you LOVE our intimate downtown space in downtown SLO as much as we do, then take a minute and let New Times know! Pick up a copy of this week's New Times or click HERE to fill out this year's poll online. The deadline is March 16th at 5 pm.

We just finished three full nights of auditions and call backs for our season finale musical THE MUSIC MAN!  Stay tuned to this page and we'll let you know the latest news on director Zach Johnson's fabulous cast as soon as the list is posted!  In the meantime, here's another taste of this classic show - just to whet your appetite!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
~Patty