PHS students compete in national competition
Portsmouth High School theater students have again taken part in the national Musical Theater Competitions Of America (MTCA). This year, the troupe of 25 kids participated in three ensemble, 16 solo, 8 duet and one monologue competition.
They departed for California on Thursday, and returned on Monday with 11 awards: Freshman Duet: First Place, Ella Jorgensen and Sophie Tombarelli; Second place, Nick Tavares and Scarlett Graham; Sophomore Solo (Emerald), Second Place, Ryan Scarlotto; Sophomore Solo (Ruby), First Place, Caraline Shaheen; Second Place, Analise Marin; Sophomore Duet, First Place, Analise Marin and Caraline Shaheen; Junior Solo, Fourth Place, Ryan Behan; Advanced Ensemble, Third Place, Once On This Island; Advanced Musical Revue, First Place, Laurence O’Keefe, Third Place, Jeanine Tesori, and Judge’s Award for Excellence to Liam Ellis.
“I think these students are ready for anything and definitely think they’ll hold their own,” PHS and Middle School Theater Director Alden Caple said before departing.
“We started working on it in December, so about two months. It’s definitely one of our most ambitious endeavors, just with the amount of material,” he says. “But it’s honestly my favorite part of the year, because we really get to focus on real musical theater skills, vocal technique, moment-to-moment acting and storytelling.”
On Sunday, after the competition ended, Caple wrote, “Well, I hope we made Portsmouth proud!”
The teens were accompanied by Caple, Portsmouth School District Performing Arts Coordinator Steve Cirillo, music director Miles Burns, rehearsal coach Seraphina Caligiure and Gina Connolly, Little Harbor Elementary School music teacher.
“We are extremely proud of our PHS Drama Students and their Director, Alden Caple on their wonderful performances and recognition at the MTCA Festival in California this weekend,” Cirillo said.
Adapting Frost for the stage
Pontine Theatre co-Artistic Directors Greg Gathers and Marguerite Mathews have selected the works of poet Robert Frost for their next stage adaptation.
“Robert Frost’s New Hampshire” will premier on March 27 and run through April 11 (www.pontine.org).
“We’ve selected the poems we want to use and so now we’re beginning to look at how we want to treat them,” Gathers says. “A lot of Frost’s early work is dramatic in form, character sketches of New England types.”
Some poems will be presented in a “straight-forward” manner, at least one will interpreted with toy theater, “and one, we’re going to do one as cranky,” he says.
A cranky – as he explains – is a rolling scroll of imagery that goes by as the poem is told. The art, more common to the nineteenth century, is popular with modern puppeteers, “very avant garde lately.”
Gathers and Mathews have been interested in Frost for quite some time. Only recently Frost’s early work came into public domain, “so that’s why we decided to do the work now.”
Dinner theater at the Governor’s Inn
“Saturday Night Cleaver, At the Hard Roch Cafe” is the latest supercilious, irreverent dinner theater murder mystery at the Governor’s Inn in Rochester.
“Cleaver” marks the eleventh script by Todd Fernald, who has penned gems such as “Real Desperate Housewives of Rochester,” and “Mystery of the Murder at the Cirque de Roch.” Sam Bennet produced the lyrics for the sixth time.
“Saturday Night Cleaver” also marks the return of four characters introduced in last year’s “The Murder Of The Mystery On The Muppet Show.”
“Back – the Lilac City Angels – the notorious Rochester-based biker gang,” Innkeeper, producer and actor Anthony Ejarque says. “There’s Dixon DaCooter (Ejarque character), Heidi Gagnon, Todd Fernald and Chris Bradley. … They had to come back.”
Also back is actor Scott McLaughlin after more than a year absent from the area theater scene.
“We also have two newbies, Zackary Speigel from Concord, and Jared Lucier – he’s a Portsmouth guy,” Ejarque adds.
Jennifer “Jenry” Towle takes the director’s seat for the first time, and will also handles choreography and costuming. Towle, an actress, director, producer and theater instructor, is currently Rochester Performing Arts Center’s education director.
“It feels exciting, and I feel very, very responsible,” Towle says. “I’ve been an actor in the mystery for a few years … so being part of the murder mystery family-team I want to make sure I”m setting them up for success.”
“I’m so thrilled to be able to bring a little more choreography and some of my … clowning training. It’s so funny as it is, but to really dive into characters is fun,” she said.
The play is up through April 11. More at www.governorsinn.com/Murdermysterytheater.cfm.
Faria to begin ukulele club
Actress, singer and musician Michelle Faria is just getting her footing steady – along with a new project- after a national tour of “The Christmas Carol” with PerSeverance Productions, and some time off.
“We just got back in mid-January. After the (tour), we took a mini-vacation,” she says. “Since we landed, I was in the band with ‘Illuminating Tail’ with Upside Arts (at the Players’ Ring). I played ukulele, yes I did …, and now I’m just getting things started with Curtain Call Performing Arts Academy owned by Emily Rose Reardon.”
That “thing” is “Ukulele Club.” The project will run on Mondays. It’s a drop-in, pay what you can, all-levels class for ages 7 and up.
Reardon and Faria met while attending Salem State College in Massachusetts.
“So, long story short … we both ended up relocating here at different times, and found out a few years ago. She’d approached me about starting a ukulele club back in November, but it wasn’t a good time,” Faria says. “We reconnected on the topic about two weeks ago and decided we would start the club.”
The basic idea is to get people interested in music, so all ages are invited, she says. The ukulele is an easier instrument to play, but still teaches chord progression and playing different melodies, she says. A great starter.
Faria, who is currently learning guitar, attempted the instrument in high school, “and struggled.” While studying classical music, she took piano, “and had a lot of trouble.”
Five years ago, she picked up the uke. “It’s a lot simpler,” she says. “It makes playing an instrument a lot less intimidating.”
The class is geared toward kids and adolescents, but adults are welcome, she says. “We’ve had a lot of interested adults. We’re thinking of having a separate adult club at some point if there is enough interest.”
As for her own work, Faria is foregoing theater for awhile, to concentrate on composing, “something else I’ve always done,” she says.
“It’s something I really enjoy, but it takes a lot of time. So, I’m taking a break from performing. It’s hard, but I think it’s the right time right now,” she says. “I was tempted by some auditions, but I promised myself I’d take a break.”
You can catch Faria in the band for the next production of “Illuminating,” again on ukulele, at the Masonic Temple, Portsmouth, on Feb. 16 (www.theupsideartscompany.org).
Auditions for ‘A Doll’s House’ March 2
Threshold Stage Productions will bring Jerome Davis, the artistic director of Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh, NC, to direct its production of Lucas Hnath’s “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” co-founder Heather Glenn Wixson says.
“We advertised in a number of places including Playbill and received over 50 submissions, many with excellent resumes,” she says. “We also reached out to a few colleagues who have well established careers.”
Davis and Glenn Wixson worked together years back. She reached out to Davis for suggestions, “never dreaming he would be available.”
“I sent him a message … at which point he expressed an interest in coming up to do it,” Glenn Wixson says. “Jerome will bring a lot to the table!”
Auditions for the show are March 2, at Threshold Stage Studio in Kittery, Maine. Callbacks are March 8. Local union and non-union actors, any ethnicity are sought for two paid roles: Emmy, early twenties, and Anne Marie, mid-sixties/early seventies. Show runs Sept. 25 to Oct. 11 at The Star Theatre. For audition info, write [email protected].
Jeanné McCartin keeps her eyes and ears open for gossip at [email protected].
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
