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WIZARD OF OZ - November 2009
Pantomime version by James Barry
It has been 70 years since the the original Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum delighted our screens. This pantomime version of the Wizard of Oz by James Barry, is delightful.
It takes its inspiration from Frank L. Baum’s book in which Dorothy and her dog Toto, set off to find the Wizard of Oz. After meeting the “Mudge-kins”, Dorothy sets off on the yellow brick road and on her way is joined by Scarecrow (who is looking for a new brain), Tinman (who wants a heart), and the Lion who is in need of courage. But, along the way, they cross paths with the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys!
This is a good family show with plenty of audience participation and you are sure to have lots of fun. What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season!
Programme (920 Kb Acrobat file) - wizard_of_oz_pgm.pdf
Performances
Friday - Sunday, November 27 - 29, 2009 - Gabriola Community Hall
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SQUABBLES - May 2009
A comedy in 2 acts, by Marshall Karp
Squabbles takes place in the eastern USA, Connecticut to be precise. This hilarious play features three generations (the 3rd just arriving at the end of the play!) but with a focus on the seniors – vital, still willing and able to direct their own lives, strong, and with sense of humour unimpaired. It also demonstrates how adult children - even though they have taken on much of the “parenting” in the traditional role-reversal sense - can still learn from their parents.
The play unfolds entirely in the home of Alice and Jerry Sloan, in Stamford, Connecticut.
Programme (338 Kb Acrobat file) - squ_pgm.pdf
Performances:
Thursday - Saturday, May 21 - 23, 2009 - Gabriola Community Hall
Friday & Saturday, June 5 & 6 - Nanaimo Centre Stage
Cast & Crew - see Programme
The Players were lucky to have a number of our stalwart regulars in the cast, a couple who performed for the first time last summer, and a couple of actors new to the game.
The cast: Jennifer Feenan as Mildred, Mark Smith as Abe, Christine McKim as Alice, Dean Clark as Jerry, Oscar Reeves as Hector, Steve O’Neill as Wasserman and Trudy Broadley as Nurse Fisher.
Jean Wyenberg directed and the usual doughty crew of willing and inventive locals got busy set designing, building furniture, props gathering, money raising, costume sourcing and serious lighting and sound engineering. Oh yes, and designing our new website!
Rehearsals went well and as always there was lots of laughter, learning for everyone and discovery of talents we never knew were out there!
The other big news is that Gabriola Players put Squabbles on at the new Nanaimo Centre Stage on the evenings of June 5th and 6th as part of the Theatre BC’s Community Theatre Touring program. The very first time we have taken a full production off Gabriola Island.
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RUMPLESTILTSKIN - November 2008
A Pantomime by Hilary Mackelden with permission of Limelight Scripts With a twist on the old children’s story the pantomime of Rumpelstiltskin was received by Gabriola audiences with great applause.
With an amazing cast of 17 and an artistic and skillful crew of 36 the play was sure to be a hit. Add to that the set design by Mary Gay Brooks and the carpentry skills of Don McLaughlin all the elements for a successful show were put into place.
This production saw the addition of singing by some cast member,a first for GP. You had to love King Clueless, Steve Smith, and even dastardly Queen Lottie, Jean Wyenberg, and roll with laughter at Snatch, Nancy Jenner, and Grab, BJ Godson. Rumpelstiltskin, Oscar Reeves, was a real trooper belting out “Spinning Wheel” and “My Name” and the duet of the King & Queen singing “Chu-Chi Face” was an audience pleaser. Not to be outdone in the singing department Celeste Mattes and Josh Jonas added to the musical enjoyment.
A traditional pantomime usually has a man playing the ‘dame’ and no one could have done it better than Nigel Hart as Bess Dress. Just look at those pictures! Klaus Horky, our float plane pilot, made his debut on our stage as Nico Tyme and showed his determination at acting and that he has skills other than as a pilot.
This panto had an elephant, Catherine Andersen, and a mouse, Jethro Nicholas and together they won the heart of our audience. No less important were Ruth O’Neill, Joy Reeves and Barb Russell as townsfolk and Nancy Nevison (gotta get that girl a big part as she steals the show) and Marlyn Farrell as Guards rounded out the cast.
Without our lighting & sound crew, and many more the show couldn’t go on. Thanks to everyone who help make it such a huge success.
Performance dates - Nov 27th - 30th, 2008
GREAT SLAVE LAKE & STRAWBERRY JAM - AUG 2008
Great Slave Lake is a mystical place: fog shrouds shapes and movements only dimly perceived, and commonplace things seem vaguely threatening.
In the one-act play named Great Slave Lake two brothers-in-law - both named Clyde - have left their Ohio home to fish on Great Slave Lake in autumn of 1938; but the date they said they would return has passed with no word from them. Margaret and Gretchen, their wives (also their respective sisters—uh oh!) are going on with their lives, dealing as best they can with not knowing what has happened. Their increasingly confrontational conversations are punctuated with brief flashback appearances by the Clydes - whose conversations also become progressively more…animated.
Meanwhile, Margaret and Gretchen are visited by a pretty 19 year-old blind girl named Betty who may have been impregnated by one of the Clydes. But are there really two men named Clyde? Is it significant that the name Gretchen is a diminutive of Margaret? Is long-dead brother Con reaching back into their lives to stir up trouble?
The actors, directed by Jean Wyenberg, bring to life a script that blends mysterious pasts, menacing presents, and uncertain futures with almost constant laughter – well almost. At the end, maybe, we’ll all know what really happened!
The cast includes two GP regulars: Doris McLaughlin and Mark Smith plus the equally welcome presence of 3 new actors: Steve O’Neill (of Dear Gord fame), Marlyn Farrell and Christine McKim.
“Strawberry Jam” is a British black comedy featuring two spinsters who attempt to conceal their father’s death for six months in order to avoid paying inheritance tax. Lots of laughs, confusion and mayhem to keep your funny bones oiled.
Performance dates - August 1st - 2nd, 2008
DINNER THEATRE - November 2006
Gabriola Island does not have a Dinner Theatre so Gabriola Players Theatre Society decided to make one by performing two ONE act plays at the Surf Lodge and the Golf Club along with full course dinner. Director, Dandelion and Producer, Doris McLaughlin met with staff at both facilities to work out menu items and to make the entire package, meal & dinner, affordable .. all for the price of $24.00 incl. all taxes! This was a major undertaking as the sets had to be set up at the Surf, then after 2 shows there it had to be taken down, transported to the Golf Club for another show and a matinee. No mean feat to say the least but with the many hands of cast & crew it was done efficiently and quickly but I suspect a few sore muscles were the result fo the heavy lifting. The two plays were “Accidental Death of a Salesman” by Nick Mitchell and “In The Desert of My Soul” by John Glines.
Performance dates - November 9-12 2006
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CINDERELLA - November 2007
Once upon a time there lived a little girl who was unhappy. Her mother was dead and she lived with her father, wicked stepmother and even nastier stepsisters .... and well you know the rest. But what you don’t know is that this pantomime emphasizes audience participation. The Fairy Godmother, played by Dandelion, needs help from the audience because she is out of practice and not at all certain her magic is going to work properly. Cinderella's slipper is tried on youngsters and adults in the audience. Cinderella, Celeste Mattes, is a natural, joyous girl with a bubbling sense of humour and great honesty. Of course, she and the Prince, Myles Black, live happily ever after. This is Gabriola Players first Pantomime and a good time is to be had by cast and audience alike.
Performance dates - November 30 to December 1, 2007
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LEND ME A TENOR - March 2007
Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig and directed by Dandelion. Set in 1934, the farce revolves around renowned tenor Tito Merelli, played by Lorenzo Bellavita, who is scheduled to sing the lead in Othello, produced as a gala fundraiser for the Cleveland Opera Company. Unfortunately, even before the star leaves his hotel room, everything begins to unravel. Chaos ensues when Merelli's wife, Jenn Feenan, who has mistaken an autograph-seeker hidden in his closet for a secret lover, leaves him a "Dear John" letter. The distraught Merelli accidentally is given a double dose of tranquilizers to calm him and passes out. Saunders, Mark Smith, the company's General Manager, is determined the show must go on (for his own financial sake), so he asks his assistant Max, Bob Brooks, to impersonate the opera star. Max puts on the blackface makeup required for the role of Otello, and his disguise succeeds admirably--until Merelli, also in blackface, wakes up and heads for the stage. What follows is a chain-reaction of mistaken identity, plot twists, double entendres, innuendoes, and constant entrances and exits through many doors. Rounding out the cast is Rose Topp as Maggie, Myles Black as the Bellhop, Tami Blazer as Diana and Nancy Jenner as Julia. A most ambitious production and up to the challenge of creating a stupendous set were Nigel Hart, Harvey Graham, Don McLaughlin, Hugh McLeod, Don Whitton, Harold Jenner, and Lance Homych. The creative genius of Darlene Yuile, Nancy Nevison, Catherine Anderson, Cindy Pellant, Val Walsh and many, many others could not be beat as they created a period setting with props and costumes.
Performance dates: March 15th to 18th
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7 STORIES - March 2006
Morris Panych's 7 Stories is the kind of play you just know began with the playwright waking up in the middle of the night with an inspiration. "Suppose this guy goes out on a ledge to kill himself and instead of the old cliché, the do-gooder (cop, counsellor, whatever) talking him back in, it turns out that the folks who talk to him are so preoccupied with their own trivial problems that they barely notice him. THE MAN played by Tony Gradanti, is put off course by the cast of wacky characters while he ponders his impending jump from 7 stories up. The cast includes first time performers as well as a few seasoned actors. With the brilliant set design by Nigel Hart and constructed under the guidance of Vic Fafard the story comes to life on the front of a building, with a ledge for the THE MAN to stand on, and seven windows for the various characters to deal with him through. This is the second offering from Gabriola Players Theatre Society and well worth the price of admission.
Performance dates - March 17th -19th 2006
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LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE WOMEN - March 2008
Dandelion had an idea to stage a local celebration of International Women's Day. She put together “Let’s Hear It For The Women" Selections from the drama of our lives: some poignant and lively theatrical vignettes to honour International Women’s Day and to entertain women and men alike. On the agenda was Juice of Wild Strawberries by Jean Lenox Toddie, The Drum Lesson, Landscape with Pigeons, an excerpt from The Doll’s House and ending with the song Modern Feminist.
Performance dates: March 7th, 8th & 9th
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SECOND SUMMER - July 2007
A good-natured, affable man, Reg (Mark Smith) embittered by the death of his beloved wife reluctantly sells his business and home in Brooklyn and moves to Florida. In what he thought would be ''God's waiting room,'' he finds a world of new possibilities as single women his age flock to charm the new, available man. This play by Gary Richards is about the rebirth of an elderly man who finds that the long dormant teenager in himself still exists. It celebrates the richness of the mature life experience in a warmhearted comedy that clearly demonstrates it's not how old you are, it's how your are old! SECOND SUMMER directed by Bob Brooks, is about a widower's peaceful Florida retirement which is interrupted by constant romantic advances from three very pushy and determined women: Helen Defosset, Jean Wyenberg, and BJ Godson. Don Whitton, who is used to designing sets takes the stage this time as Ernie.
Performance dates: July 27 & 28th
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VAGINA MONOLOGUES - August 2004
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler and directed by Dandelion. The Vagina Monologues" is made up of a varying number of monologues read by a varying number of women. Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality. This is the first play under the newly formed umbrella of Gabriola Players and what a ‘gutsy’ beginning. Dandelion gathered 9 women with vary degrees of acting experience from ‘none to plenty’ and started rehearsals. Both shows sold out and people were turned away at the door. A great beginning for the group and a great ‘hats off’ to Dandelion. The cast in no particular order: Jean Wyenberg, Carolyn Avery-Moore, Krysta Reed, Dale Stark, Ellen Clancy, Jennifer Langley, Cindy O’Dell, Robin Kelly and Carolyn Davey
Performance dates; August 6th & 7th
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