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92nd season, Issue 5 January 2015
PREZ SAYS New Year’s Greetings
This edition of The Prompter was created and compiled by your
new newsletter team Randy Gilchrist, Michael A. Gravame & Tania
L. Velinsky. Please send all newsworthy articles, pictures and
items to anyone in the new team.
Randy—[email protected] ◊ Michael—
[email protected] ◊ Tania—[email protected]
Happy New Year, all! I'm wondering if you do what I do at this
time of year; recall last year, smiling about all the good times
and bemoaning all the misses. We've been debating why our first two
shows, which were so wonderfully loaded with talent, just didn't
get the audiences. Was it because they're new and people weren't
ready to take a chance? Was it because there is so much competition
for our entertainment dollars? Was it because we aren't hitting
enough people with all our marketing? Or was it a combination of
all those things.
As we get ready to give the play reading committee our direction
for 2016-2017, we would love to hear from you. What would you like
to see on the stage? What would entice you to buy tickets for your
friends to join you? What promotions do you think would work to
grow our audiences?
I'd love to hear from you so send me an email with your
suggestions. I promise we'll discuss all ideas in our board
meetings and report back. Write to [email protected].
I wish all of you a healthy, happy, safe, and prosperous 2015.
We're looking forward to an exciting second half. Get your tickets
for Brighton Beach Memoirs now as we expect a sell out!
The Prompter
mailto:[email protected]
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2 The Prompter January 2015
Preparing for Brighton Beach Memoirs
The cast and crew of Brighton Beach Memoirs have been hard at
work over this holiday season preparing
for their premiere on January 16. The cast has been rehearsing
since the middle of November, not only
learning their lines and their blocking, but also working on
their Brooklyn accents and developing their
relationships as an extended family. The semi-autobiographical
play by Neil Simon revolves around the
Jerome family; a Jewish-American family as seen through the eyes
of a 15-year-old boy, Eugene Morris
Jerome. All the characters in the play are related, so director
Michael A. Gravame has spent time during
the rehearsal period helping the actors develop a family
relationship and familiarity. Assistant Director
Sue Chekaway has also worked with the actors helping them
develop authentic Brooklyn accents, and
making sure they all sound as if they belong to the same
family.
The set crew has been hard at work for the past few weeks
creating the two-story Jerome house. Mike
Dundas has utilized every single platform at Village Players,
filling the entire stage with the Jerome’s
living and dining room, as well as two upstairs bedrooms and a
bathroom. The painters have blitz-
painted the set, and Leo Babcock is turning the painted walls
into period wallpaper with the use of sten-
cils. Michael Gravame himself has been working on the show
intensely for over a year, visiting antiques
stores and fairs all over Michigan as well as in Ohio and
Illinois, to find authentic furniture, set dressing,
and props. He has also visited costume departments, vintage
clothing stores and rental companies
throughout the state to clothe the Jerome's in appropriate
period attire. Tania Velinsky is preparing for
marathon cooking and dishwashing sessions as properties master
for this show that contains two full
family dinners for seven that are eaten every performance.
Excitement is building among the entire cast and crew as opening
night approaches. Each new set piece,
costume, and prop is greeted with enthusiasm as the show is
taking shape, and promises to be a very spe-
cial experience for all those involved, as well as the audience
who will share in this funny, yet touching,
portrait of a family and their relationships.
Starring in the show are Antonia Cipriano as Eugene, Janie
Minchella as Kate, Salvatore Sbrocca as
Stanley, Cathie Badalamenti as Blanche, Tony Amato as Jack, Kate
Dickinson as Nora, and Noel Stanley
as Laurie.
Brighton Beach Memoirs opens January 16 and runs through
February 1. Curtain time for Friday and
Saturday performances is 8:00 p.m. Sunday performances begin at
2:00 p.m. Tickets are available now
at www.birminghamvillageplayers.com or at the box office. Call
248.644.2075.
http://www.birminghamvillageplayers.com
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Celebrating the Holidays in Song…and Dance
Village Players hosted “Sing in the Season” on December 21. This
is the second year in which such an event took place. There was a
lot of variety, including dancers, youth singers, solos, and choral
music. The Village Player Youth Singers, along with some of their
alumnae, serenaded the audience. The Twelfth night singers, several
of whom are also Village Players members, also sang. Member Sofia
Malynowskyj and others from the Arthur Murray studio entertained
with some ballroom dancing. According to Jude Purcell, “the event
went exceptionally well. Diane D'Agostino kept the flow of the
event very skillfully and was hilarious as the emcee.” Audience
member were each given a raffle ticket and throughout the event
donated items were raffled. Special thanks for the donations goes
to the Village Players, Kathleen Leitz, St. Dunstan’s Theatre
Guild, and Jude Purcell.
The event would not have been possible without the efforts of
Cathie Badalamenti, the Village Youth Singers, Susie Gardiner,
Kathleen Leitz, Deb Dworkin, Rudy Vuckov, Bryan Conroy, Kevin
Cristbrook, Diane D'Agostino, and Jude Purcell.
Sometime Village Player actor Tom Arwady had this to say about
the event: “Thanks for the wonderful show today! I brought my mom
and she loved it. Since my dad died in 2002, she misses him more
around the holidays. She said this helped cheer her up and put us
in the Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”
The Prompter January 2015
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The Prompter January 2015
Looking Back: The History of Village Players By Tania
Velinsky
When I became a member of The Prompter editing team, my
first
idea was to begin a regular column delving into the 90-plus
year
history of The Village Players, the members, and the
community
at large. As a theatre family as well as an organization, I
think it
is important for us to know where we come from, and who and
what contributed to allowing us to become the group that we
are
today.
To start, I am reprinting the story of the founding of The
Village
Players and the original building of the playhouse that was
written
by Bill Haycook for the 90th anniversary memory book. Here
is
the story of how it all began…
According to local lore, Jack Gafill, a recent Birmingham High
School graduate, suggested the idea of a local
drama club in 1923. His parents, along with eight others, met,
sketched out the idea of a private drama club,
wrote a set of bylaws and adopted a constitution – all in a
matter of a few months.
The Village Players staged their first production in early 1924
at the original Birmingham Community
House, an old farmhouse located at the corner of Maple and
Bates, two blocks north of the current
Community House location. They moved the pool table, strung a
wire on which to hang a curtain, and built
sets consisting of wood frames covered in paper and then
painted. Footlights were fashioned from metal
wash tubs. There was no room for dressing rooms or makeup tables
so these were housed across the street at
a member’s house.
The first ever Village Players production was a melodrama called
The Maker of Dreams and it was
performed for one night only. A framed copy of the script from
this show hangs in our front lobby near the
front door.
From this point things moved even faster. The growing membership
signed pledges to guarantee a bank loan
from the First National Bank, property was purchased for $1800
at the corner of Chestnut and Woodward,
the world-famous architect Wallace Frost produced design plans,
and just two years after their first
production, The Village Players opened their new theatre on
November 27, 1926. It is disappointing to note
that an original program does not exist for this premier
occasion, but a newsletter in our archives confirms
that it was a double bill featuring Booth Tarkington’s The
Travelers and The Camberley Triangle by A.A.
Milne.
In keeping with the volunteer notion of The Village Players, a
hallmark of our continuing success, members
contributed much more than financial pledges. Members donated
the maple wood floor of the auditorium,
the stage rigging, and the original grand curtain that remained
in place until 1958, to name a few. Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Shain, Village Players members and leading citizens
of Birmingham, contributed the large
fireplace on the west wall around which endless hours of
conversation took place, holiday carols were sung,
rivers of alcohol were consumed, and countless dreams were
hatched.
This unique architectural feature and the many times members
gathered around it reflect another hallmark of
The Village Players; a sense that we are all family. This
feeling of family is ever-present and remains an
essential part of the heart and soul of The Village Players.
The front entrance to the original theatre, the only remaining
part of the original playhouse, serves as the
current entrance from the lobby into the auditorium. This
original entrance wall is also a reminder that over
the years many changes have been made to our beloved theatre,
but the doors still welcome us in to our
theatre home.
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Virginia Woolf Cast and Crew Announced
The cast and crew for the Village Players’ production of Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf have been announced. Alan Canning and Sue
Chekaway will play George and Martha. Nick and Honey will be
portrayed by Ross Grossman and Erica Shubin.
Rehearsals have begun on Edward Albee’s classic award-wining
masterpiece “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” which portrays one
man’s struggle to avoid living his marriage in a world of illusion,
and his efforts to bring some sense of reality back into that
marriage. Albee notes that to some extent, we all live with “the
big bad wolf,” representing our private illusions (allowing us to
cope with the realities of our own lives), and the anguish which is
caused by our efforts to move beyond illusion to reality. Strong
words as well as material objects are flung at each other, as
George and Martha go to war over the conflict between illusion and
reality.
Tim Wittlinger will direct the show, assisted by Kathleen Duffy.
The show will be produced by Bryan Conroy and Carol Aaron will be
the stage manager.
The show opens on March 6, running through March 22. Tickets are
on sale now.
A New Stage Door
If you attended the 2014 Annual meeting of the Board of Trustees
this past October, or read the minutes of that meeting, you know
that, although we are pledged to operate on a balanced budget, we
started 2014 nearly $10,000 in the red.
As building owners we are faced with the continual duty to
maintain and upgrade our facilities and equipment. We remember how
brutal winter 2013-2014 was. Our roof sprung multiple leaks on
several occasions. The double stage door near the backstage
restrooms as well as the gutters and fascia on the north edge of
the building needed to be replaced.
For these needs we are, in a very real sense and to paraphrase
Tennessee Williams, “dependent on the kindness of members”. The
Trustees depend on donations to our capital reserve fund to keep up
with building maintenance needs. When the Board of Trustees
prepared to send out the year end request for donations, Tim
Wittlinger stepped forward and volunteered to "sponsor" the
replacement of the stage door.
Many thanks to Tim and Diane Wittlinger for their generous
donation. The new door has been installed and dedicated. It shall
forever be known as the Wittlinger Stage Door.
Not to worry; there is much more to be done and your generous
contributions are most welcome.
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VP Members on Other Stages
Several Village Players members will lend their talents to the
Ridgedale Players One
-Act Festival, taking place later this month. Art Tucker, Steve
Sussman, and
Laura Bradshaw are directing, and Diane D'Agostino will be an
assistant director
for the event. Works by Art Tucker, Barbara Schmitt, Laura
Bradshaw, and Ann
Forsaith are on the bill. The event takes place on January 30
and 31. A free-will
donation of $10 per person is suggested.
http://www.ridgedaleplayers.com/
Jude Purcell appears as Professor Bhear in the Grosse Pointe
Theatre’s production
of the musical, Little Women, January 18-31. This show is based
on the beloved
1869 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott, and tells the
story of the Marsh
sisters.
Marcus Laban is in rehearsal for the Tony Award Winning Musical
Spring
Awakening playing Georg on Stagecrafters 2nd Stage. The show
runs February 13 through March 1, 2015.
STAGECRAFTERS.ORG
Randy Gilchrist takes the role of Captain Delaunay in the Comic
Opera Guild’s production of Erminie. February 28-
March 1Washtenaw Community College — Towsley Auditorium. Erminie
was a huge hit in its day, eclipsing the
initial run of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. Tickets:
http://comicoperaguild.org/PAGES/UPCOMING-
Building Bridges Hosts Fundraising Performance at Village
Players
The mission of Building Bridges is to inspire children to
believe in themselves by connecting them with caring adults. One
way in which they do this is to provide scholarships to promising
students.
The non-profit organization held a fundraiser at the Village
Players of Birmingham on November 28, 2014. Paul Housey, the
founder of Building Bridges, performed a one-man show, This
Wonderful Life, based on the classic movie, Its a Wonderful Life.
Vonnie Miller directed rehearsals for the show and Amy Schell ran
sound.
Village Players’ Nicole Jones, who produced the show, reports:
“This event was a very positive experience for everyone involved;
the theater was full of people from the area who were eager to
support Paul Housey…he did an outstanding job performing and
organizing the event.” The performance also brought a lot of people
into our building that live in the area, but had never been to
Village Players before.
Tim Wittlinger represented Village Players in addition to
designing and running the lights for the show. Ever the numbers
man, Tim reports: “There were 172 seats filled and the audience
loved the show and the afterglow at The Stand. [Village Players]
received rental fees of $1,732.
The rental fees are a welcome addition to our bottom line. And
the presence of new people attending the event is good news for our
audience-building efforts.
http://www.ridgedaleplayers.com/http://comicoperaguild.org/PAGES/UPCOMING-SHOWS.html
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P@W Collaborates with Ridgedale Players
Playwrights @ Work (P@W)and the Ridgedale Players are taking the
idea of
community theater to a new level. On January 30 and 31,
Ridgedale presents its
One Act Festival, featuring original works by four P@W members
and one of
Ridgedale’s own, and starring actors from Village Players, Avon
Players,
Ridgedale and St. Dunstan’s. The works are under the direction
of VP and
Ridgedale members. Playwrights @ Work is a unique group within
The Village
Players that promotes playwriting among its members. The group
meets
monthly to provide support, feedback, encouragement, and
direction to fellow
playwrights.
The idea for the theatrical collaboration stems from the success
of Ridgedale’s One Act festival last year,
which featured plays by Stephen Sussman, Laura Bradshaw, and
Arthur Tucker, and which drew a record
crowd. P @ W’s involvement, though, can be attributed to Tucker,
whose comedy, The Package, formed
part of the Ridgedale One Act Festival in 2013. When he was
invited to participate the following year, he
asked Ridgedale producer Sandra Deering if she might like to
look at plays from other members of the P@W
group. The 2014 festival attracted so many people that Deering
and her co-producer, Tony Kruzman,
decided to invite P@W to participate this year.
―This is a lot of fun all around,‖ said P@W’s Laura Bradshaw.
―We get to see our works performed as
something other than staged readings, and there’s a real sense
of community – we have people from lots of
the local theater groups involved as actors and directors, and
some very talented actors who are taking a part
for pure enjoyment.‖ Unlike the Village Player’s One Act
Festival, scheduled the last weekend in July every
year, the Ridgedale production showcases short plays – 10 to 15
minutes. ―This is sort of like [VP’s] Shorts
and Sweets,‖ said Bradshaw, ―but with better production values,
and everything memorized!‖
The comedy-laden lineup includes a new version of Barb Schmitt’s
A Slight Case of Paranoia, in which a
wife becomes unnerved when her newly-retired husband starts
behaving strangely – and unexpected
consequences follow. A longer version of the dark comedy was
presented at VP’s own One Act Festival last
summer. VP’s Paul Gillin and Joyce McGookey reprise their roles
as husband and wife; Stephen Sussman
returns as director with Diane D’Agostino as his assistant.
Paul Lang, who has several film and commercial credits under his
belt, will appear with Rob Grodin in
Arthur E. Tucker’s One and the Same. The play, which was first
performed as a staged reading at VP
several years ago, deals with a man’s comedic struggle to come
to terms with his dominating alter ego. This
will be the second time Lang and Grodin have shared the stage;
the two met when performing in VP’s One
Act Festival in 2011. Arthur Tucker will direct.
P @ W’s Ann Forsaith recruited Ridgedale’s Eileen White to
direct her 10-minute dramedy Busting Myths,
in which a teenager discovers a surprise in her family history,
and seeks confirmation in an unusual way.
White, who is also a VP member, appeared in last season’s Come
Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean,
Jimmy Dean, and is directing Ridgedale’s upcoming Out of
Order.
Laura Bradshaw’s comedy Zeugma, a play about word play, will
feature the talents of Joy Oetjens, who lists
the Avon Players as her home theater, and Ridgedale’s Tom
Arwady. Both Arwady and Oetjens have
performed at St. Dunstan’s recently – Arwady lent his talents
with accents to multiple roles in St. Dunstan’s
version of Spamalot in 2013, while Oetjens appeared in St. D’s
Guys and Dolls and, more recently, Dial M
for Murder. Zeugma, which was first performed at VP’s Shorts
& Sweets, has also been presented as part of
Drama West Fest in Los Angeles. Bradshaw directs the Ridgedale
production of the play.
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8 The Prompter January 2015
Rounding out the program are Mirror, Mirror, a new take on the
story of Sleeping Beauty by writer Bruce
Kane, and The Edge, a short play by Ridgedale actor/director
Mike Jeffries. Veteran Ridgedale director and
actor Pamela Shaw Heath helms Mirror, Mirror; Jeffries will
direct his own work. Heath said all members
of her cast are affiliated with Ridgedale, but several also work
with Avon Players, St. Dunstan’s,
Stagecrafters, and Village Players. Appearing in Mirror, Mirror
are Jeannine Thompson, Greg Ruvalo,
Sandra Deering, Kaitlin Steer, Scott Welborn, Michelle Renaud,
Aaron Filipski, and Tom Arwady.
The Ridgedale One Act Festival begins at 8:00 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, January 30 and 31. Hors
d’oeuvres will be served beginning at 7:30. Seating is general
admission; a goodwill donation of $10 is
suggested.
Mark your calendars for 7:00 PM the evening of Saturday,
February 21, 2015, at which time the Village
Players will be hosting the second movie premiere of a play
written by a member of
Playwrights@Work. This comedy, "Matzoh Brei", is based on the
one-act play by Stephen Sussman, which
was performed on our stage in 2011. This film is once again
directed and produced by Alan Canning, of A2
Creative (who also directed "On the Line").
The plot focuses on two adult daughters who come from out of
town to
visit their divorced college professor father and meet his
latest (non-
Jewish) girlfriend over brunch during Passover, featuring their
father's
signature holiday dish of matzoh brei. Antics ensue as the
characters all
get more than they bargained for.
A number of talented actors who have graced the VP stage are
featured
in this film. The premiere will once again be a benefit both for
Village
Players and Playwrights@Work.
Our last Benefit Premiere was a smashing success, and we hope
you join us for this one which should prove
to be lots and lots of fun!
Tickets are $10 for general admission and are available on our
website, www.birminghamvillageplayers.com
or at the box office, 248-644-2075.
MATZOH BREI - The Movie
Director •Alan Canning • Written by Stephen Sussman Screenplay
by Denver Rochon & Alan Canning
Cast Mitch - Paul Lang Extras Talent
Liz - Rachel Biber Kathryn Sussman
Carey - Amy Lauter Jackie and Ron Lorfel
Nicole - Colleen Gentry Maryanna Lauter
Ellen - Kim Cruchon
Doug - Jason Dilly
Son - Caleb Biber
Jonah (VO) - Alan Canning
Victor - Stephen Sussman
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Auditions Elsewhere
Stagecrafters, Royal Oak MI
Rumors
Audition date: January 10, 9:00AM registration
Performances: March 13-29
http://www.stagecrafters.org/auditions.html#rumors
Farmington Players, Farmington Hills MI
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Audition date: January 18, 11:00AM registration
Performances: April 24-May 16
http://www.gpt.org/auditions/
St. Dunstan’s, Bloomfield Hills MI
Love, Sex, and the IRS
Audition dates: January 21-22, 6:30PM registration
Performances: March 13-28
http://stdunstanstheatre.com/auditions.php
Avon Players, Rochester Hills MI
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Audition dates: January 25, 5:30PM registration; January 26,
6:30PM registration
Performances: March 13-28
http://www.avonplayers.org/site/current/1415/Cat/index.htm
Grosse Pointe Players, Grosse Pointe MI
The Producers
Audition dates: February 6, 7:00-10:00PM; February 7,
1:00-5:00PM
Performances: May 10-23
http://www.gpt.org/auditions/
The Prompter January 2015
http://www.stagecrafters.org/auditions.html#rumorshttp://www.gpt.org/auditions/http://stdunstanstheatre.com/auditions.phphttp://www.avonplayers.org/site/current/1415/Cat/index.htmhttp://www.gpt.org/auditions/
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10 The Prompter January 2015
Upcoming Events
Prompter deadline January 20, 2014 View the VP online calendar
at www.calendar.yahoo.com/vp_calendar
January 11 Brighton Beach Memoirs Long Sunday – 1PM Board of
Director’s Meeting – 7PM
January 14 Board of Trustees Meeting – 6:30 PM
January 15 Brighton Beach Memoirs Preview Performance – 8PM
January 16 Brighton Beach Memoirs Opening Night and Afterglow –
8PM
34660 Woodward Ave. Birmingham, MI 48009
