CHECK, PLEASE by Jonathan Rand – directed by Jeff Jackson

Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a schizophrenic, a bigamist, or a mime. CHECK, PLEASE follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse—until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE by Christopher Durang – directed by Steve Catron

Anyone who’s involved in theatre knows the dream:  you find yourself on-stage, ready to perform, only you don’t know what the play is – you’ve never rehearsed  - you don’t know the plot, let alone the lines!   George finds himself on stage, uncertain of where he is or how he got there – suddenly he’s thrust on stage, it’s HAMLET?!?– a glamorous actress appears to be doing PRIVATE LIVES by Noel Coward?!?  Shakespeare??  WAITING FOR GODOT??  A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS??   This hilarious spoof is a classic!

Auditions will be held on Sunday, 9/26/10, from 2:00-5:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, 9/28/10, from 7:00-9:30 p.m. at the theater which is located on the corners of Grove Street and Maple Avenue in Chester, NJ.  All readings will be from the script.  Since the show does involve light ballroom dancing, there will be a dance portion of the audition, so please be prepared to move.

Performances will begin on Friday, 11/19/10 and run Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. through Sunday, 12/5/10

Character Breakdown

Lilly Harrison – (range/late 50s to early 70s) – Conservative, attractive, minister’s wife, intelligent and cultured, retiree now living in St. Petersberg Beach, Florida.

Michael Minetti – (range/late 30s – late 50s) – Acerbic, attractive, rapier-witted, excitable, ex-broadway chorus boy now teaching ballroom dancing in Florida.

About The Play

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a touching and human comedy about  happens when an antagonistic relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship as the two characters from very different backgrounds reveal their secrets, fears, and joys while dancing the Swing, Tango, Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, and Contemporary Dance. A comedy with music and dance, the play also addresses the serious issues of ageism and intolerance.

Since its Los Angeles premiere and Broadway opening, Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks has been translated into 12 languages and has traversed the globe with productions in over 20 countries. With over 50 productions and two national tours in Germany alone, the play has established itself as an international hit and one of the most produced plays in the world.

CTG is proud to present, for one night only, a reading of The Ten Commandments, a comedy by Gary Hill and Perry Kroeger, based loosely on the Cecil B. DeMille movie of the same name.

In the cast (playing over 40 parts among them) are Barbara Haag, Steve Graham, Maggie Graham, Lori Lawrence, Stephen L. Fredericks, Danny Campos, Mark Happel, Steve Nitka, Perry Kroeger and Bob Jacobson as Moses.

The fun starts at 8:00, and reservations are recommended by calling 908.879.7304.

The play was originally done in New York at LaMama in 1995.

On August 15 and 17 at 7 PM, Stephen Catron and Jeff Jackson will be holding auditions for the one acts, “Check, Please” and “The Actor’s Nightmare”, at the Black River Playhouse.  Auditioners will be asked to read from the provided scripts.

The plays:

CHECK, PLEASE by Jonathan Rand – directed by Jeff Jackson

Cast Breakdown: 4-8 men, 4-8 women, all mid-20s to mid-40s

Synopsis: Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a schizophrenic, a bigamist, or a mime. CHECK, PLEASE follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse—until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

 An extremely funny collection of short, SNL-style skits that present a fantastic—and rare—opportunity for actors to really explore their comic chops with fun, smart, hip material. Each is only 2-3 minutes long, so for actors who only want to tackle one character in one vignette, it’s a very easy, manageable undertaking that still offers a great payoff. But we may also cast actors as multiple characters, so if you want to take on more, there’s an opportunity for that, too!

 THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE by Christopher Durang – directed by Steve Catron

 Cast Breakdown:  2 men, 3 women (ages mid-20s to 50s)

 Synopsis: Anyone who’s involved in theatre knows the dream:  you find yourself on-stage, ready to perform, only you don’t know what the play is – you’ve never rehearsed  - you don’t know the plot, let alone the lines!   George finds himself on stage, uncertain of where he is or how he got there – suddenly he’s thrust on stage, it’s HAMLET?!? – a glamorous actress appears to be doing PRIVATE LIVES by Noel Coward?!?  Shakespeare??WAITING FOR GODOT??  A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS??   This hilarious spoof is a classic!

The full list of nominees can be found at the NJACT site.

Our honors:

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A PLAY

Ellen Fraker-Glasscock, Hound of the Baskervilles

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN

Jeff Fiorello/Cliff Parish, NINE
Steve Gale,THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

OUTSTANDING PROPERTIES

Peg Hill, SHIRLEY VALENTINE

OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

Jeff Jackson,  SHIRLEY VALENTINE

Nanette Ratti,  THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Mark Happel, NINE

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Cindy Alexander, SHIRLEY VALENTINE

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF  A PLAY

Ellen Fraker-Glasscock, Producer / Chris Mortenson Director,  THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Gloria Lamoureux, SHIRLEY VALENTINE

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Tina Kaye, NINE

The Chester Theatre Group and director Jeff Knapp will hold auditions for a fall production of the play FICTION by Steven Dietz on Sunday, August 8th at 7pm and Tuesday, August 10th at 7pm at the Black River Playhouse, on the corner of Grove Street and Maple Avenue in Chester, New Jersey.  FICTION is a drama with much humor, but it’s not set-up/joke/joke humor…

The show runs Fridays and Saturdays, October 8-23, 2010 with a Sunday matinee performance on October 17.

All roles are open:

Linda Waterman: mid 40s-50s – her first book was a non-fiction best-seller; now a professor dying of brain cancer.  (Not not like Wit dying of brain cancer, she lives with it the best she can. No head shaving required. Maybe a bandana.)

Michael Waterman: mid 40s-50s – an author of pop-lit who had grander aspirations.  He’s dealing with his wife’s illness as best he can.  He’s maybe a little full of himself, takes himself a little too seriously.

Abby Drake,  late 20s-mid-30s – curator of “The Drake Colony”, a writer’s colony where Linda and Michael both wrote, at different times.  Abby knows both of them, separately.  She keeps secrets for both of them.

“The power to change one’s life comes from a paragraph, a lone remark.” – James Salter, Light Years

A bit about the play:  Linda, a successful author turned professor, is dying of cancer, and she asks her husband, Michael, to dispose of her diaries after she’s gone; but she invites him to read them after she’s gone before disposing or donating them.  Since she will be showing him hers, she says its only fair if he let her see his journals before she shuffles off the mortal coil.  He hesitates and then relents — what can he say?  What she reads is at times known to her, and at other times, a revelation.  When she reaches the volume about Michael’s time at The Drake Colony, a writer’s retreat, she recognizes a familiar face from her own time at The Drake.   The play dances around in time and place, so Linda is not always dying, Michael is not always 40ish, etc. But the one thing that endures is their love for one another, even through the dark times, their love binds them together.

For additional information, call the producer, Ellen Glasscock at 908-698-3678.

[UPDATE 8/5/10: Synopisis and character descriptions tweaked.]

Mainstage Productions

Fiction

by Steven Dietz, Directed by Jeff Knapp

Auditions: Aug 8 and 10, 2010
Performances: Oct 8-23, 2010

Linda and Michael are successful writers, a happily married couple who thrive on the give and take of their unusually honest and candid relationship. But when they decide to share their diaries with one another, the boundaries between past, present, fact, fiction, trust and betrayal begin to break down.  No life, as it turns out, is an open book.

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

by Richard Alfieri, Directed by Roseann Ruggiero

Auditions: September 26 & 28, 2010
Performances: Nov 19 – Dec 5, 2010

When a formidable retiree hires an acerbic dance instructor, antagonism and mistrust give way to civility, compatability, compassion and loyalty as they swing, tango, foxtrot and cha-cha together.

Urinetown

Music by Mark Hollmann, Lyrcs by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, Book by Greg Kotis; Directed by Clifford Parrish

Auditions: December 5 & 8, 2010
Performances: Feb 25-Mar 20, 2011

Don’t let the title keep you away from this hilatious musical comedy that satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement and municipal politics (just to name a few!) The unconventional plotline may surprise you, but the singing, dancing,  jokes and pokes will have you laughing in the aisles and humming the whole ride home!

Mauritius

by Theresa Rebek, Directed by JayMills

Auditions: March 6 & 8, 2011
Performances: May 6-21, 2011

After their mother’s death, two estranged helf-sisters discover a book of rare stamps that may include the holy grail of stamp collecting.  Philately proves to be more intriguing and far riskier than one might thing, as high-stakes collectors enter their world intent on making the rare find their own.

Grey Gardens

Music by Scott Frankel, Lyrics by Michael Korie, Book by Doug Wright; Directed by Mark Happel & Jeffrey Fiorello

Auditions: February 2011
Performances: July 1-24, 2011

The cult-classic turned smash Broadway musical recounts the story of the Bouvier Beales, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis — oncebrght names on the social register who became East Hampton’s most notorious recluses.

Special Events

Comedy Workshop

Saturday mornings TBA, 9:30 AM – Noon

Kate Lyn Reiter brings back her Comedy Workshoip for Adults and the Comically Curious for a series of Saturdays.

The Actor’s Nightmare

Performances: September 24-25, 2010

Steve Catron heads up Christopher Durang’s sly take on the nightmare that faces all thespians — what happens if you’re thrust onto a stage without knowing any of the lines?

 What do you get when you “marry” 25 glorious voices—each of them soloist quality—and terrific musical arrangements and accompaniment? Well, you get Songs of a Summer Night at the Chester Theatre Group’s Black River Playhouse. But don’t wait to get tickets; this blockbuster of a musical evening runs only through Sunday, July 25, and you’ll be sorry if you miss it.

[...]

All in all, Songs of a Summer Night is a show to lift your spirits, spirits that might be drooping under the summer heat and humidity outside. This refreshing show (performed in an air-conditioned theater, to boot) is not-to-be-missed!

Thanks, Ruth!

Songs of a Summer Night runs one more weekend, closing this coming Sunday.  Tickets are $20 and reservations (strongly recommended!) can be made by calling 908.879.7304.

See you there!

It’s back by popular demand!

Our popular  musical evening, Songs for a Summer Night, will include choral arrangements and group performances from such shows as Les Miserables, Porgy & Bess, Fiddler on The Roof, A New Brain and Songs of a New World and songs by George & Ira Gershwin, David Shire and Frank Loesser, all under the skilled direction of Perry Award winning musical director, Clifford Parrish.

The talented group of 26 performers includes: Karen Cantor, D’ani Dopson, Jeff Dopson, Jeffrey Fiorello, Michael Foley, Ellen Fraker-Glasscock, Barbara Haag, Mark Happel, Eric Harper, Lamont Hill, Robert Jacobson, Julie Jacoby, Scott Jacoby, Tina Kaye, Jodi Maloy, Rich Maloy, Claudia Metz, Alice Regan-Moynahan, Roseann Ruggiero, Christina Ryan, Stuart Scheer, Robert Stone, Ericka Traugh, Roxanna Wagner, Julie Waldman-Stiel, and Dave Villepique.

Performances are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays, July 16, 17, 23, 24 at 8pm and on Sundays July 18 and 25 at 2pm.  Tickets are $20.00.

For reservations please call 908-879-7304.

Kate Lyn Reiter’s Comedy Workshops comes to CTG for a one-night only comedy event!

Join CTG veteran Julie McCormick and her “Late Shift” colleagues, Fred Holzapfel and Phil Sweet  on June 12th at 8 PM as they’re joined by Dan Hoffman, Kris Swanson and Penny Rowe for an evening of laughs that can’t be beat.

Tickets are $15 and proceeds benefit CTG’s Capital Improvement Fund.

Reservations are recommended.  Call the box office at 908.8789.7304 to save your seat.