Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Auditions’

I just couldn’t stop thinking about al those shining young faces at auditions and all the disappointment they registered at the knowledge that the show was not going on.  So I thought instead perhaps to do a musical revue type of show, and the idea engendered a great deal of positive response!  Luckily a wonderful mom of one of the kids is a voice teacher and she has agreed to help out, and so now we are on a completely different kind of journey.  I hope this idea allows the kids to build their skills and their confidence and to revel in the experience of singing and dancing onstage. Here we go!

Here’s what Center Stage is offering from now until the end of the summer!

Acting Class:

Scene Study for Grades 3-8
March 28 – May 5
Mondays and Thursdays
4:00 – 5:30
Fee – $75.00
Limit 15 students

Students will have the opportunity to study purposeful listening, characterization and intent among other fun and relevant acting skills as they enjoy choosing, rehearsing and finally presenting a fully staged, age appropriate scene with their partner in performance on the last day of class.

Auditions and performances

Auditions for Annie – Saturday March 13 – Girls ages 5-14 from 1:00 – 3:00
All others from  3:00 – 5:00
Sunday March 14 – Girls ages 5-14 from 1:00 – 3:00
All others from 1:00 – 3:00
Rehearsals Monday and Thursday evenings, weekend afternoons

Rehearsals become more frequent during the last two weeks

Performances – Friday May 13 at 7:00
Sunday May 15 at 3:00
Sunday May 15 at 7:00

Auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Monday June 20 – 7:00 – 9:00
Tuesday June 21 – 7:00 – 9:00

Rehearsals Monday and Thursday evenings, weekend afternoons
Rehearsals become more frequent during the last two weeks

Performances – Friday August 12 at 7:30
Sunday August 14 at 3:00
Sunday August 14 at 7:30

Summer Camps –

Coyote Steals the Summer
Monday, June 20 – Friday, July 1 for grades K-2
Session 1- 9:00 – 11:30
Session 2 – 12:30 – 3:00
Fees – $150.00
Once it was winter all of the time…Summer was trapped in a bag inside a tipi at the snow’s edge (a very, very long long way from here). This Native American tale tells how Coyote brings summer to the world and earns his famous gift of trickery as a reward. Our fifteen minute musical version of this delightful story from the Crow Nation is designed especially for K-third grade.

A Year With Frog and Toad
Tuesday, July5th through Friday, July 15 for grades 3-6
Session 1 – 9:00 – 11:30
Session 2 – 12:30 – 3:00
Fee – 150.00
Arnold Lobel’s well loved characters hop from page to stage in this musical adaptation, which remains true to the sprit of the original books as it  follows the great friends, the cheerful and popular frog and the rather grumpy frog, through four fun filled seasons!

Acting Camp for Middle and High Schoolers!
Fables and Folk Tales
Monday July 18 – Friday July 29
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Limit 15
Fee – $300.00

This summer come and spend two weeks with Center Stage and work with us creating a production of Fables and Folk Tales from around the world.  Students will choose their favorite scripts from American and International traditional tales, and then design and create scenery, costumes and props, as we turn our studio classroom into a fully functional studio theatre, with the entire production rehearsed, designed, and finally performed on the last day of camp by our students for the public.  For more information or to register either call Center Stage Director Susan Scaccia at 803-206-4924 or email her at rssb1228@yahoo.com.

This week I started gearing up for the next show, Annie.  We’ll be using the Broadway Jr. version, which I am very pleased with for the most part, though the Hoovervillers are not in it.  Sigh – that is such a big part of the history lesson of the show that I was a bit disappointed the first time we used that version, but FDR still makes his appearance and it is possible to squish in the story of the culture of the time through the other songs and plot details.

Some folks may worry that there are  fewer boy’s parts than they might have hoped for, but there is room in the charming chorus for all the young gentlemen we can fine, as well as the absolutely charming Daddy Warbucks, the crazy and tricky Rooster and the stodgy but playful butler, whose names escapes me.

Many of my little guys came in to auditions last time asking to be considered for the part of Punjab. Punjab, I am sorry to say, is nowhere to be seen in this version.  The movie featured him, but even though he was a big part of the original comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie” he does not appear in any of the stage versions.

But no matter -  there are parts for everybody!  A big chorus, some wonderful character parts for boys and girls, and of course… lots of little girls everywhere.

Center Stage Youth Theatre announces Auditions for Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Saturday October 16 and Sunday October 17 from 2:00 – 5:00 at Glenforest School on Harbor Drive in West Rutland.  There are parts for up to 50 children and teenagers ages 5 – 18, and no preparation or experience is necessary to audition.  Performances will be held in the Glenforest School Auditorium December 9, 10 and 12.  If cast, there is a $35 .00 fee per cast member or a $60.00 fee per family to help cover productions costs such as sets, costumes and script royaties.  For more information call Center Stage director Susan Scaccia at 803-206-4924, or email her at rssb1228@yahoo.com.

I am hoping to get the rights for Barbara Robinson’s hilarious play about the true meaning of Christmas, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Center Stage’s first show this December.  I need to get the go ahead from Glenforest School and work out the scheduling for the auditorium, and then we can get started on this project with auditions in
October.

I have directed this show many times and it has become something of a tradition in the Vermont town I’m from.  I would love to see the same tradition started here.  It’s so much fun to see many of the same kids year after year in the show, playing different parts as they grow up into different roles and helping the new actors out with their parts.

To keep the show fresh I always added something new each year.  The challenge was a sweet one and we had some wonderful times making sometimes silly and sometimes poignant changes to the action.

It’s a great starter show too, as the costumes and set are very simple, and we can use 50 or more kids of all different ages.  And the messages the show tells are timeless and beautiful.   And so funny.

I am this week going to be submitting a proposal to Chris Winkler, the headmaster of Glenforest, concerning my vision of the opportunities I would like to be able to provide beginning this fall to the community through my work with Center Stage Youth Theatre.

Chris has asked me to plan on the Glenforest kids doing a production mid fall and mid spring, which i think will work out really well.   That leaves me with spaces for Center Stage productions at the holidays in early December, and later spring.  I would also like to do a Summer production.

The programs will be designed to overlap a good bit; the kids from Glenforest will receive a reduced rate for the community programs and production, and as it is likely we will not be able to completely cast the Glenforest Shows completely with Glenforest students, we will hold auditions first for the students and then for community kids on the second day.

We want the Glenforest kids to develop a sense of ownership for both programs, and this will help instill even more pride in them, both for their school and for themselves.

I am very much looking forward to beginning the new program at Glenforest – what an opportunity!

Charlotte’s Web

January 11, 2010

Auditions

December 28, 2009