photographs by Barry Wisdom Summertime, and the theater-goin’ is cheesy … at least that’s the goal of Fair Oaks Theatre Festival Director Bob Irvin, who heads back to Armadillo Acres for a reprise of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical.” A big hit in its 2011 festival debut, the David Nehls and Betsy Kelso musical, which continues through Sept. 9, has been variously described as: “Joyful and unashamedly vulgar … more fun than a chair-throwing episode of ‘Jerry Springer’ set to music” (The New Yorker); “(A) wheel-spinning, mud-splattering good time of a show” (“Talkin’ Broadway”); and “’South Park’ meets ‘Desperate Housewives’” (New York Sun). “We made some nice money, so we thought

Auditions for the Falcon’s Eye Theatre production of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 4, 2012, in the Drama Lab (PAC-1170) of the Three Stages Performing Arts Center on the campus of Folsom Lake College, 10 College Parkway, Folsom. One-dollar parking permits are available at kiosks found throughout the parking lots. Those auditioning must prepare a monologue that is no more than 90-seconds-long from any play written by William Shakespeare. Monologues from published or unpublished teleplays, screenplays, novels, essays, song lyrics, etc., are not acceptable. The prepared monologue should best portray the actor's strengths and can be of any genre, b

The thing that was running through my mind as I left the Green Valley Theatre Company production of Cabaret was this: Who is Joseph Boyette and how can we get one of him for every theater company in town?! He was mesmerizing. To his credit, he was also a consummate professional, giving an amazing performance, but drawing focus only when and how it was appropriate, supporting the other cast members, in an overall very impressive showing of musical theater. And I’m not easily impressed. The choreography alone, in such a small space as The Grange, is a feat worth applauding! Lindsay Grimes did Sally Bowles proud, belting out strong renditions of the shows signature tunes with passion and

  Growing up, Patrick Cassidy certainly had successful role models to emulate. Mom Shirley Jones was an Academy Award-winning movie star ("Elmer Gantry"), and celebrated musical theater and television star. Dad Jack Cassidy was a similarly lauded, multi-media actor with a Tony Award ("She Loves Me") and a pair of Emmy nominations to his credit. Stepbrother David Cassidy was a talented musician and actor who co-starred with Jones in TV's "The Partridge Family" and became an über-successful (if reluctant) teen idol. Older brother Shaun Cassidy followed in stepbrother's shoes as an actor ("The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries") and pop star. But while the teenage Cassidy had brief flirtat

Now in its’ final run at the tiny Celebration Arts theater is Voice of Good Hope, portraying the life of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Barbara Jordan was the first Black female elected to the U. S. Congress, a feisty and spirited orator of impressive skill and powers of persuasion. Congresswoman Jordan was born in 1936 in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas, long before desegregation and the civil rights awakenings of the 1960’s. Her skin, darker than anyone in her family, set her on a path of self-identity and courage. She learned much of her courage and ethnic pride from her maternal grandfather, John Ed Patten. She attended Texas Southern University, where she became a champion debater

I go into every production with an open mind — given that we all have biases of some kind, regardless of how we try to tamp them down. I go into every situation with the intention of assessing its overall quality, and taking back to readers enough of an overview to let them make up their own minds about whether or not the event might appeal to them. But I would be lying if I said that when I entered the lobby of Cosmopolitan Cabaret and read the words “comedy,” “farce,” “magic” and “music” in the promotional material for “Triple Espresso,” my first reaction wasn’t dread. I was not much encouraged when, immediately upon opening, the audience was included in the show. Audience participati

About $30,000 in high-tech equipment was stolen from the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival’s booths at William Land Park, officials said Thursday. “Tuesday night, some thieves broke into our booth at the top of the hill,” said Lori Ann Delappe-Grondin, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival. “They ripped out a window of one of the booths and busted in doors of two others.” Delappe-Grondin said the stolen equipment included a sound board, a light board, a generator, tools and lighting fixtures. A replacement sound system is being brought in and taken out daily now, and the show start times have been moved back to 6 p.m., since the sun sets late enough to allow the plays to r

photographs by Barry Wisdom /   Sacramento residents seem as hungry for all things zombie, as zombies are for delectable “brain food.” One of the latest additions to the Slow Food menu of zombie delights is Big Idea Theatre’s “The Life and Undead of King Henry V,” Brian Harrower’s post-apocalyptic adaptation of Shakespeare’s historical works, combining elements of “Richard II,” “King Henry IV” (Parts I and II), and “King Henry V.” Running July 6-28, 2012, at the company’s Del Paso Boulevard playhouse, “The Life and Undead of King Henry V” is an action-packed exercise in iambic pentameter terror that surprises in its easy, seamless transition from traditional heroic drama to “Omega Ma

photographs by Barry Wisdom / “My approach when directing Shakespeare is making it an accessible and fun evening,” said David Harris, lead director of the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival’s current production of “The Comedy of Errors.” Now in his 14th year with the Sacramento City College/City Theatre tradition, the 46-year-old Harris said his day job as an educator takes a back seat to his festival role as a people-pleaser when it comes to summertime mountings on the William A. Carroll Amphitheatre stage in William Land Park. “If people want to bring picnics and wine and hang out at the park, that’s great,” said Harris, a former SCC faculty member now on staff at Folsom Lake College. “

photographs by Barry Wisdom /   In early 1990, I wasn't under the sea, but sailing through foamy ocean waves topside in my first contract with a cruise line catering to the über-rich. As an onboard public relations representative whose duties included writing and editing a daily newsletter, I enjoyed non-uniformed “officer” status that allowed me full access to crew and passenger areas. Among the passenger entertainment venues I frequented was the ship’s cinema. One of the then-recent releases I recall being screened was the Walt Disney Pictures adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” A comeback of sorts for Disney’s animated feature film division, the 1989 mu

The Elly Award-winning Fairytale Town Troupers continue their fifth season with "Sinbad and Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!," an epic adventure filled with thrilling swordplay, monsters, mischief and magic. The show will be presented on Saturdays and Sundays, Jul. 14, 15, 21 and 22, at 12 and 1 p.m. “Sinbad & Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!” tells the lost tale of the heroic Captain Sinbad and his quest to free the beautiful Princess Scheherazade from the evil Sultan Natazz and his monstrous minions. Sinbad is joined by another famous hero—Aladdin—and together they search for a magical lamp to aide them in their adventure. "Sinbad and Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!" stars Elliott Herzer as Si

photographs by Barry Wisdom / Add the Alternative Arts Collective to the list of Sacramento-based theater companies presenting stylish, thought-provoking twists on classic works from the Shakespeare canon this summer. In David Blue Garrison and Christopher DeVore's new adaptation of "The Tempest," playing July 12-29, 2012, at the Blue Box Theatre, the time is 1940, the place is New York City, and the bulk of the action is confined to the imagination of a renowned theater director-playwright-producer suffering from dementia. "The play begins in a seemingly simple bedroom," said AAC Artistic Director and founder Garrison, who helms the production. "A few hours from the end of his life, t

rehearsal photographs by Barry Wisdom /   If she wanted to, Jessica Grové – who has the title role in the current Music Circus production of “The Little Mermaid” – could name drop with the best of them. In the 15 years that the Hilliard, Ohio, native has been working professionally on stage, Grové has appeared in Broadway and Off Broadway shows, in national tours, as well as in regional theater and one-night-only concert events in collaboration with such Playbill cover girls (and boys) as Stephen Sondheim, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Mickey Rooney, Jim Dale, Glenn Close, Eartha Kitt, James Barbour and Robert Cuccioli. But the name that most often comes to mind these days is no

Welcome to another edition of the "Wake-Up Call," a rundown of items that we're working on, found interesting, or otherwise thought you might want to know about today. As is always the case here at Sac Press, suggestions are welcome. THINGS WE’RE WORKING ON SACTOMOFO 5: According to the SactoMoFo Facebook Page, July 21 will be the biggst mobile food festival the group has yet hosted, with more than 30 Northern California food trucks, live music and, yes, beer. It's going to be held at Sixth and X streets under the freeway again from noon - 7 p.m. We'll have an article next week telling you who's going to be there and what you can look forward to. If you're looking for more mobile food n

For the third consecutive summer and to the delight of guests near and far, the popular “Time Travel Weekends” program will resume in Old Sacramento on Saturday, July 7, 2012.  Designed to entertain and engage Old Sacramento visitors with good, old-fashioned fun reminiscent of the Gold Rush era, the free “Time Travel Weekends” street theater program first debuted in 2010 and will be offered again on weekends from July 7 through August 26, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The “Time Travel Weekends” program is presented by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation (HOSF) in partnership with the City of Sacramento, California State Parks, Old Sacramento Business Association and participating merchants an

photographs by Barry Wisdom /   Iambic pentameter. The very words strike fear in those who equate classic Shakespearean verse with a foreign language. Luther Hanson, a Sacramento City College professor who also serves as the coordinator for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, hopes to change the common perception that the Bard is for Brainiacs. His newly reworked play, "King Arthur," which kicks off the 2012 Sacramento Shakespeare Festival season June 29, is not part of the Shakespeare canon, but is an homage to the playwright (1564-1616) whose legacy has tormented more high schoolers than Columbus, Susan B. Anthony, and FDR combined. Written in Shakespeare's familiar style of verse

When the popular Broadway musical “Grease” rolled into Sacramento’s Music Circus for opening night Tuesday, the costumes were spot-on and the music was right, but it was the supporting cast that revved up the audience and stole the show. The ensemble cast of 15 veteran stage actors, whose collective credits include everything from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in regional theater to “Book of Mormon" on Broadway, took full advantage of every inch of the stage and walkways leading to and from the wings. Scenes were played in a variety of places in the theater – sometimes all at once. For those unfamiliar with the Music Circus, it is a stage “in the round,” which means the audience encircles t

photographs by Barry Wisdom /   Jason Hammond, like many men who are a few follicles short of a pompadour, doesn't need to spend a whole lot of time with the Dapper Dan pomade to get his look "just right." But when it came to the 40 wigs he painstakingly assembled for Davis Musical Theatre Company's current production of "Hairspray," the 37-year-old Jack of all theater trades started weaving and teasing, coloring and clipping a full year in advance of the show's June 22-July 15 run. "When they approached me to direct, I knew that wigs were going to be a factor in the show," said Hammond, "so I immediately started thinking about it." Saying "wigs were going to be a factor" in putting

photographs by Barry Wisdom / Some were born to direct. Some have had directing thrust upon them. For Kristine David, it’s been a bit of both. David, who helms Teatro Nagual’s current production of “Anna in the Tropics” at Coloma Community Center, is the daughter of longtime Sacramento actor-producer-director (and Teatro Nagual founder/creative director) Richard Falcon, and Barbara Falcon, an event planner-turned-theater administrator. For David, greasepaint was part of her DNA makeup. But David, like her father, began her career on the boards as an actor with no set plan to one day sit out front and call the shots. “In the earliest stages of ‘Anna,’ I was simply going to stage manag

Just Be Theatre Company has announced that Sacramento's Artisan Theatre will host a trio of encore performances for the Anthony D'Juan play "3," conceived and performed by Danielle Moné Truitt, June 29-July 1, 2012. The one-woman show, which had its Sacramento premiere June 7-10, is the first in a proposed trilogy ("Nappy Hair and Other Black Girl Blues") that examines "the lives of three women connected by friendship and history, while delving into the social and cultural issues rooted in misconceptions of race and beauty." Tickets, priced at $20, are available at the door (1901 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento), or online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Read more about the play's genesis by c