A Special Christmas Card

Each year my cousin, Artwork by Sarah Hoyle, sends a Christmas card from her original painting. I love this year’s Christmas card with her special greeting: “Warm wishes for a Christmas Season filled with Love, Joy. and Peace.”

Little Theatre’s ‘Young Frankenstein’ adds song and dance to classic comedy By Bill Cissna Special Correspondent Oct 27, 2018

    

     In terms of movies and comedies in general, 1974 was something of a watershed year. From movie director Mel Brooks came not one but two films destined for classic status: “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.”

     More recently, Brooks converted two of his movies to Broadway musicals. For “Young Frankenstein: The Mel Brooks Musical,” Brooks wrote the music, lyrics and, with Thomas Meehan, the show’s book.
     The musical spent over a year on Broadway, followed by national tours and a London remount.
The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem will bring the singing, dancing and comical “drama” of Brooks’ invention to the Dunn Auditorium at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, starting Friday night.
     “Young Frankenstein” follows the American grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, who created a monster from dead body parts in his Transylvania castle.
     Frederick, the grandson (played by Lane Fields), is pursuing a career as a scientist — until he inherits the creepy castle and must visit it. He leaves behind his fiancée, Elizabeth (Amber Engel), and encounters an eccentric group of “assistants” at the castle: the hunchback Igor (Seph Schonekas), the flirtatious lab assistant Inga (Kayla Guffey), and the housekeeper Frau Blücher (Katie Jo Icenhower).
When he finds his grandfather’s research and the old laboratory, he abandons reason and becomes the mad scientist he was meant to be.
     The cast includes Mike Burke, Matthew Cravey, Troy Hurst, Jim McKeny and Jeffrey Payton. The ensemble is made up of Roberts Bass, Shelly Beard, Elissa Brannan, McAyla Butler, James Crowe, Kaelyn Fansler, Charity Hampton, Isaac Hampton, Angela Hodges, Matthew Monroe and Tenesia Turner.
     Philip Powell is in charge of putting all this energy and classic comic lines on the stage, with the aid of music director Dan Dodson and choreographer Becky Koza.
      “It’s fun to take on this show that I was totally unfamiliar with, because I didn’t know the music,” Powell said. “It’s faithful to all the madcap comedy that’s in the original. To see all that played out on stage is fantastic and fun.”
     Powell finds that it reminds him of “Rocky Horror,” which was both a movie and a stage play as well.
     “I think there’s at least a 50 percent chance,” as with “Rocky Horror,” that “the audience will be mouthing the lines before the actors get done with them,” he said.
     One aspect that differentiates the musical from the movie, Powell noted, is that there are multiple big dance numbers. “We’re bringing a lot of production values to it.”
     Lane Fields, Little Theatre’s executive director, added that “audiences are in for a real treat with the choreography. It’s just so energetic and fun.”  “I think ‘Young Frankenstein’ might have been the first Mel Brooks movie I saw, and that was when I fell in love with Mel Brooks,” Fields said about his role as Frederick. “It’s such a great character, and of course, it’s Gene Wilder,” he said. “Any time you can step into his shoes, it’s incredibly daunting, but also a lot of fun, because he leaves you so much”
     Schonekas is taking on another indelible character in the not-always-useful Igor, played in the movie by Marty Feldman. that’s weird is that I’m a 6-foot-3 Igor. I don’t think that’s entirely best suited to the character.”
     But bringing in the laughs remains the top priority. “It’s fun because everything I get to do in this show is just to make people have a good time,” Schonekas said.
     Guffey, as Inga, said, “I come from a place where I really like to feel out the character and dig for myself before watching how others might have played her. Things such as how sentimental is she, how much does she just like attention, how does she feel about each person in this story.”
     Eventually, part of the cast watched the film, with Teri Garr in the Inga role. “I think I just found that I already had some similar tendencies to what I saw in the movie,” Guffey said.
     “Our challenge with this show,” Fields said, “is staying truthful to the movie and its well-known lines,” while also accommodating the song and dance additions.
     Fields has no worries, though.
     “What I have found the case to be ever since I moved here,” he said, “is how hard casts work in this town, how they will give everything to make sure that the production comes off. This cast is no exception. They raise the bar for everybody. It is a great ensemble.”

The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem Young Frankenstein Cast

It's alive!!! The cast for Young Frankenstein, that is! Here's who will be entertaining you this November:

Jeffrey Payton, - Ziggy
Mike Burke – Inspector Hans Kemp
Matthew Cravy – The Monster
Amber Engel – Elizabeth Benning
Lane Fields – Frederick Frankenstein
Kayla Guffey – Inga
Troy Hurst – Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Katie Jo Icenhower – Frau Blucher
Jim McKeny – The Hermit
Seph Schonekas – Igor
Roberts Bass, Shelley Beard, Elissa Brannan, Macayla Butler, James Crowe, Kaelyn Fansler, Charity Hampton, Isaac Hampton, Angela Hodges, Matthew Monroe, Jeffrey Payton, Tenesia Turner - Ensemble

Tickets go on sale Wednesday: https://www.thelittletheatreofws.org/young-frankenstein

The Wiz LMC Summer Theatre 2018 Cast

Dorothy - Lamani Sequra
The Scarecrow/Neighbor - Kim Krege Florio
The Tin Man/Neighbor - Thao Nguyen
The Lion/Neighbor - Timothe Bittle
Uncle Henry/the Wiz -  Treven Harrington
Aunt Em/Glenda -  Sheena Murray
Addapearl - Stacie Alston
Evaline/Neighbor - Sarah Gracel
Gatekeeper/neighbor  - Bob Haas
Lord High Underling  - Calvin Keener
Toto - Gogh Kimmel
Ensemble:  Alexander Domingue, Michael Jackson, Leon Ray, Tyrell Ruffin, Athena Ackerman, Nina Allbert, Beth Allison, Geana Anderson Welter , Burlene Franklin, Angela Hodges, Taylor Noll, Bryce Palmyra, Kaila Crowder, Burlene Franklin, Peyton Franklin, Alice Gomez, Paris Santiago

Fairy Godmother

What fun I had playing the fairy godmother in Sharon's School of Dance "A Cinderella Story" in their 43rd Annual Recital on June 3, 2018. The dress was amazing and I added the lighted wand and wig. Thanks again for choosing me to be the fairy godmother and selecting the wonderful dress.

Adventures in Beekeeping - Year Six

Starting over again in year six with the bees absconding late last fall. Changed bee yard location and have installed a nuc of bees. Beekeeping is always an adventure with lessons to be learned.

Apple Blossoms and Honeybees

On what a beautiful first day of May in the mountains. The apple trees are beginning to blossom and the honey bees have been busy. Honey bees are attracted to the smell and the color of the apple blossoms. Honey bees collect nectar and pollen on their legs then carry it to another apple blossom. This process is called pollination and must happen for an apple tree to bear fruit. Looks like a good year for apples!

 

Dixie Swim Club Ends This Weekend

The Dixie Swim Club Cast

Vernadette tells things the way they are. No filters.

And when Lynn Vogler went to auditions for The Dixie Swim Club, the newest production from the Brock Players, she went home not only hoping she would be cast in her first play – but she would earn the role of Vernadette.
She did.

Vogler said she had thought about auditioning for a production in the past, but put it off. Then a girl in her church was cast in “Oliver!”

So she went to the audition for The Dixie Swim Club. “I looked it up and said Vernadettte, that would be perfect.”

At times, it is hard to tell if she’s portraying Vernadette or if she’s just being Lynn. “There’s one part when I go off on biscuits … and I couldn’t help but think of my momma.”

The play, which will be at the Brock Performing Arts Center in Mocksville Friday-Sunday, features five Southern women, once college swim teammates, who visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina together every summer. They catch up on – and meddle in – each other’s lives.
The play covers some 33 years of the womens’ lives.

“Expect a lot of laughs,” said Director Donna Bissette. “It’s very sweet, give women who meet together for their annual beach trip. They share everything.”

She said the play is not recommended for younger children because of language and mature topics.
“They fight, yet they stay together throughout it all. It’s about women, but men can appreciate it, too. It’s a reminder about how friendships are fragile, and become more important the older we get.
“One thing that makes this show is that the cast members are friends. They didn’t know each other – but have developed great friendships,” Bissette said.
“You will see that reflected on the stage. That makes a real difference.”

The cast includes stage veterans as well as rookies like Vogler.
Also in the cast are Bobbi Eschenbach, who portrays Sheree; Robin Ball as Dinah; Angela Hodges as Lexie; and Vickie Smitherman as Jeri Neal.

“They really support each other,” Bissette said. It is her first time directing a play at the Brock, although she has appeared on stage here. Bissette said the venue and people are superb.
“They (Davie County Arts Council) make it so easy, it truly is a delightful experience. They leave the joy of directing to me. Davie County is full of talented women.”

Show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

By Mike Barnhardt (Davie County Enterprise Record)

DCAC's Dixie Swim Club Poster

 

THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB, a Jones, Hope, & Wooten comedy, produced by the DCAC’s Brock Players is the story of five Southern women who through hilarious adventures prove that friendships last forever.  These five unforgettable Southern women, whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every August to recharge those relationships. Free from husbands, kids, and jobs, they meet at the same beach cottage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks to catch up, laugh and meddle in each other’s lives. These women increasingly rely on one another, through advice and raucous repartee, to get through the challenges (men, sex, marriage, parenting, divorce, aging) that life flings at them, including some hilarious and unexpected twists and turns.

Brock Players' "Dixie Swim Club" Cast List

The Brock Players are happy to announce the following cast members for the upcoming production of "Dixie Swim Club" - a hilarious and touching comedy about five North Carolina women, who prove that friendships can last forever. 

CAST LIST FOR "DIXIE SWIM CLUB":

"SHEREE" - Bobbi Eschenbach
"DINAH" - Robin Ball
"LEXIE "- Angela Hodges
"JERI NEAL" - Vickie Smitherman
"VERNADETTE" - Lynn Vogler

Get ready for a play full of laughs, love and Southern charm. It’s a story of five unforgettable women, who return to the same beach house every summer in the Outer Banks. Their lives are full of ups and downs, just like the waves of the Carolina beaches.  

Performances are: Fridays & Saturdays, March 9, 10, 16, & 17 @ 7 pm; Sundays, March 11 & 18 @ 3 pm. 

Tickets will go on sale January 29. Ticket prices:  Adult–$15; Senior (65+)–$13; Youth (12-18)–$10; Children (under 12)–$7. For information call 336.751.3112 .