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Contents
OCTA Begins Rural Theatre Initiative
Community Theatre Images from Across Oklahoma
A Resource That Serves Us All - A Message from Suzanne Boles
It It Worth It? By Tom Cowley
OCTA Forum Now on OCTA Website
Submission of Information for OCTA Monthly Newsletter
THE RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN ORGANIZATION and REALTIME MUSIC SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTS TO ENHANCE LIVE PERFORMANCES OF CLASSIC MUSICALS
Grove Community Playmakers sponsor Workshop on Physical Comedy
Audition for Film and Television 6-Week Class offered in OKC
The Stage Door, Inc. seeks Directors for 2007 Productions
OCTA Theatre Events for October, 2006
OCTA Membeship Directory On OCTA Website
OCTA Board of Directors
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A Resource That Serves Us All - A Message from Suzanne Boles
Most of us join professional associations because we want to stay up to date in our field, broaden our horizons, and maybe even meet people. Why else would you belong?
I heard about OCTA while attempting to raise money for a youth theatre production very soon after our theatre group in Grove was formed. I probably heard about it through the Oklahoma Arts Council with which I was very familiar from a previous career. We were awarded funds for the youth production from OCTA and Kay Armstrong attended the performance. That was my introduction to this professional association. Having been a member of other professional associations I knew how valuable they could be. I was intrigued by the fact that such an opportunity to connect with other community theatre groups even existed in Oklahoma. The possibilities for the exchange of ideas and resources should certainly benefit The Playmakers. Primarily, I looked hopefully at the chance to learn from others who have been successful at sowing the seeds, cultivating, and successfully producing community theatres. And such an inexpensive membership fee!
So I joined. I have never been disappointed in the benefits. But then, I have taken advantage of the talent and knowledge that exists in this state and the wide array of contacts nationally that the staff and Board have with regard to this, my avocation. These resources greatly helped our theatre become OCTA's Theatre of the Year. That award has already begun to pay off here at home!
I am only disappointed that other community theatre people don't take advantage of the many things this association has to offer. As I learned more about the membership, and then was elected to the Board of Directors, it was quite obvious that those who are active participants in the association--attending conferences, entering OCTAFest, and yes, even attending membership meetings-- were getting the most benefit from their membership.
If you want to see this association become more valued in your community through the continuing provision of skills, knowledge and other resources to help you and your community theatre, please help OCTA move forward with the exciting new programs and services that are in the works. It is a short-term gift with long-term benefits…a real return on your investment.
In the next few weeks OCTA Board members will be contacting each of OCTA's members and personally encouraging you to be active partners in the our future and in community theatre in Oklahoma. We need the support of each and every member to build an even stronger organization for the coming years.
Suzanne Boles
President
Is It Worth It?
Let's face it; theatre leadership can sometimes be a frustrating experience. A handful of people seem to carry the total burden when it comes to the care and feeding of the theatre organization itself. Oh sure, there is no shortage of people who want to strut their moment on the stage or "to only have time for one show a year". But when it comes to the boring and sometimes mundane tasks of taking responsibility for the things leaders do (fund raising, strategic planning, etc.) few are interested. Yet without such folks and their efforts, the strutters and "once a year" folks would have no place to do their stuff. And who is it that complains the loudest when things are not to their liking? Not the caretakers. It is a wonder that people will volunteer for such leadership at all much less put up with it for the years and years that many do. Why do they do it? Actually there are several reasons.
Recently, I was reminded about one of the "whys" by a couple of events. The first was a letter received by my local theatre board. It was from the grandfather of a young man who had just finished performing the lead role in the most recent production. It was his first major role. The letter was actually a thank you note. Grandpa pointed out that this would probably be his grandson's only stage experience. (Actually the young man is now a theatre major in college.) Yet, it was a valued experience not only for the young man but also for the entire family. Further the grandfather realized that the opportunity was only made possible by the enduring presence of our theatre group itself. The young man had gained in self-confidence and accomplishment and the family had their pride in him validated. This was all made possible by the fact that the theatre simply existed.
The second event was also in the form of a letter. My wife and I received this one. Many years ago (I won't say how many) a young man performed in a play with both of us. As far as we knew, it was his only stage experience. He grew up, of course, and went on to other things. He disappeared from our town and our lives. We hadn't heard for him in over fifteen years. Then comes this letter. He said that hardly a day went by that he didn't think of the play he did with us. He wanted us to be among the first to know that he had finally found another community theatre where he could participate. Despite his financial success, he said that his life had been lacking in some ways but that now he was realizing a certain sense of fulfillment that hadn't been there before. An experience from his youth was leading him to an enhanced adulthood.
In both cases, people's lives had been affected, perhaps profoundly, because our theatre was there for them at a particular moment in their lives. We had made positive changes in someone's life simply by "being there". Does this realization make all the efforts and frustrations over the years seem worthwhile? Is it sufficient? Does it validate the output in a leader's life? It does for me.
Anyhow, that's my view. What's yours?
Tom Cowley
thomascowley@sbcglobal.net
OCTA Forum Now on OCTA Website
Thanks to our wonderful Webmaster, Tony Batchelder, OCTA now has an online OCTA Forum on our OCTA website. You can access the OCTA Forum via the OCTA Website at www.oktheatre.org. You'll find it a great place to post details about your events and your thoughts on community theatre in Oklahoma. There are several Forum Topics where you can post, including Productions, Auditions, Season Schedules, and "People to People", where you can post notices, thoughts, comments, or questions for others visiting the OCTA Forum. Take advantage of this new and exciting communication tool. See you at the Forum!
OCTA Membeship Directory On OCTA Website
As of Monday, October 23, the OCTA Membership Directory will be available to members via a printable form on the OCTA Website at www.oktheatre.org. This will be kept current with the most up-to-date information available.
Please take a moment to view the directory and check that your information is listed correctly. Please email any corrections or comments to octa@oktheatre.org.
Webmaster
Anthony Batchelder
www.albcentral.com
OCTA Board of Directors
Suzanne Boles, Grove
President
Diane Chapel, Edmond
Vice President
Martha Cherbini, Muskogee
Treasurer
Vanessa Adams-Harris, Sand Springs
Secretary
Shonda Currell, Elk City
Immediate Past President
Mark Anderson, Oklahoma City
Phil Blender, Bartlesville
Sharon Burum, Duncan
Ruthie Carrico, Bartlesville
Fred Collins, Ardmore
Tim Duncan, Norman
Rob Friedberg, Broken Arrow
Merrisue Lucardeaux, Oklahoma City
Paula McGee, McAlester
Mary Patterson, Oklahoma City
Tom Pixton, Elk City
Doobie Potter, Oklahoma City
Tim Smith, Pauls Valley
Advisory Board
Tom Cowley, Ponca City
Jack Liggett, Bartlesville
Jimmy Vaughn, Oklahoma City
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| | COMING SOON!!! OCTA BEGINS RURAL THEATRE INITIATIVE!
The Oklahoma Community Theatre Association announces a new program aimed at creating theatre opportunities for areas of Oklahoma which do not have active community theatres. In an exciting move, OCTA, has decided to undertake what has been titled the Rural Theatre Initiative.
Essentially, OCTA has created a program which will assist interested individuals in communities which do not currently have an active theatre organization to create a plan to assess the local area for artistic potential and then create a community profile identifying strengths, resources and needs of the community. OCTA will then assist by providing technical assistance to create a theatre piece based upon the community itself. The program will allow the maximization of community assets and provide a learning experience to create additional theatre resources for use by the local community. The Rural Theatre Initiative is based in part on successful initiatives undertaken in other parts of the United States, including the now famous Cornerstone Theatre Company of Los Angeles, and the hugely successful Swamp Gravy project of Colquitt, Georgia.
With this program OCTA is pleased to offer the collaborative and inclusive experience of live theatre to communities throughout our state. Also, this effort will assist OCTA in fostering an awareness of the benefits arts programming provides to our state citizens and communities.
If your community or a community that you are aware of would like to take advantage of the newly created Rural Theatre Initiative, please contact OCTA's Executive Director Michael Jones in the OCTA office.
Fred Collins, Ardmore
Chair, Development Committee
OCTA Board of Directors
Community Theatre Images from Across Oklahoma
(left)The Board of OCTA at Grand Lake for August 2006 Meeting (right) "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Cry Wolf" at Grove Community Playmakers
(left) "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park, Edmond (center) "The Graduate" at Carpenter Square Theatre, OKC (right) "Titus Andronicus" at Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park, Edmond
Submission of Information for OCTA Monthly Newsletter
Dear Friends:
I need your help to make our OCTA Monthly Newsletter as exciting and as important as it possibly can be. I rely on you to send me information and images for inclusion in the newsletter. Here's the information you will need to submit your materials.
I NEED ALL MATERIALS BY THE 25TH OF THE MONTH FOR INCLUSION IN THE NEXT MONTH'S NEWSLETTER.
Pictures should ideally be sent electronically and must be in a .jpg or .gif format. If you don't have your pictures in an electronic format, I can scan them if you send me a hard copy. Please know that images might need to be edited for inclusion in our newsletter. Because of the size of the images posted, a shot of one or two people is always better than a full stage of people. SEND ME YOUR PICTURES. LET OTHERS IN THE STATE SEE WHAT KIND OF WORK YOU ARE DOING.
Text or copy should also ideally be sent electronically, as it will be easier for me to manipulate and include, rather than having to retype your information.
We will be posting the monthly Calendar of Events in each issue for the upcoming month. Therefore, you might want to wait and send me pictures and stories of your successes AFTER THE FACT, rather than before. However, if you are doing something wonderful or unusual and you have some strong publicity images that you think everyone will be interested in, send them on.
Remember, this doesn't have to be just about your productions. I would love to include information on events, workshops, other training opportunities, news of awards or recognition you receive, etc.
Okay, that's all for now. I'm hoping you will take advantage of this new information tool and let OCTA spread the word statewide about the wonderful things that are happening locally.
Any questions or comments please email me at octa@oktheatre.org.
THE RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN ORGANIZATION and REALTIME MUSIC SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTS TO ENHANCE LIVE PERFORMANCES OF CLASSIC MUSICALS
New York - The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and Realtime Music Solutions proudly announces the creation of two new products to enhance and support live performances of classic musicals, from rehearsal room to the theatre. AccompanEase and InstrumentalEase are two new groundbreaking computer based systems that will assist in the rehearsal and performance of great musicals from the R&H Theatricals catalogue.
AccompanEase is a rehearsal tool that allows for unlimited teaching, training, and practice of individual vocal parts and dance sequences. It gives performers constant access to a tireless 'coach' who will patiently review any and all musical parts on demand. InstrumentalEase is a performance tool that can supplement an orchestra of any size, offering a larger, fuller sound. Both products are based on Realtime Music Solutions' industry leading Sinfonia® technology, which allows a musician playing a standard musical keyboard to cover a multitude of individual parts.
R&H Theatricals, a division of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, will begin making these products available to its customers in early 2007. The first five titles in the R&H Theatricals catalogue to feature AccompanEase and InstrumentalEase are ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1999 version), CINDERELLA, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
"The classic musicals we represent were written for acoustic orchestras," says R&H President Ted Chapin. "The simple fact is that a 25+ piece orchestra is simply not always available today. At the same time that we are restoring the brilliant original orchestrations, we are using those restorations to inform these high quality performance tools. If community theaters, amateur and student productions, among others, can experience the musicality of these great shows through these modern techniques, then we are doing a service both to the composers and to modern productions."
Charlie Scatamacchia, Vice President for R&H Theatricals, points out that "our number one priority is to help our customers do our shows. Any tool we can provide that will help make the challenge easier is one we are proud to offer, and both of these products fit that bill." Adds Bruce Pomahac, R&H Director of Music, "I find these computer programs to be absolutely amazing. InstrumentalEase will make a contemporary orchestra of 18 sound like a grand orchestra of 35 from Broadway's Golden Era, and I know quite a few musical directors and choreographers out there who will be thrilled to have AccompanEase help them multi task!"
"We at Realtime Music Solutions are all musicians, and we are passionate about Musical Theatre," says Realtime Music Solutions' CEO, Jeff Lazarus. "So we are tremendously honored that, with AccompanEase and InstrumentalEase, we can help more organizations do more great musicals, inspiring ever more enthusiasm for the art form."
Grove Community Playmakers sponsor Workshop on Physical Comedy
Actors have all heard that one should be honest as a character, whether performing drama or comedy. Sara Romersberger, Professor in Theatre Movement at Southern Methodist University, taught thirty-one of the Grove Playmakers actors how to show honesty through the physical movement of a character. She encouraged, illustrated and provoked the actors to 'mine' the text of a farcical play or comedy for the ideas that can help develop the funny side to a character and the comic business.
For the volunteer actors in Grove, this was an undeveloped concept. The challenge for Ms. Romersberger was blending the physical strengths and weaknesses of young and older participants, since participants ranged in age from 10 years to over 70 years. She met this challenge by using improvisations and movement exercises that created honest physical responses to different situations, such as Mother/daughter, Father/son or simply young/old situations. She pointed out that an audience must be able to identify with characters, whether they recognize themselves in a character or people they know, and with situations common to much in our society. Once the participants understood how to move and react 'honestly,' Ms. Rombersberger showed them how to take the movement and characterizations to the next level—the exaggeration that is so apparent in Farce.
She enticed the participants to get a background in the history of comedy and it's development through the ages, so that they could begin to recognizes the 'types' of characters that still exist today. As examples, she discussed early Roman comedy, The Simpson's, and compared the natural fool of Commedia dell 'Arte with Red Skelton. No matter how wildly characters are drawn, she said, they are based on real, instantly recognizable types. To illustrate this and get the participants 'on their feet,' she asked the participants to identify the things that they though were funny about themselves, then, through an improvisation with a partner, what was funny about someone else. Some people were very surprised at the ways their partners saw them as funny!
Since "Timing is everything!" the participants worked on the mechanical patterns embedded in a script that can help develop a comic sense of timing, such as duplications, repetitions, sequences, delays, surprises, and interruptions or sudden breaks in the pattern. From showing characters through walks, body positions, and disabilities to learning to fall & fight safely but believably, the participants now have sacks full of skills and a lot more confidence to apply to upcoming Playmaker productions.
(left) Sara Romersberger (right) Workshop participants drill physical moves
Audition for Film and Television 6-Week Class offered in OKC
AUDITION FOR FILM AND TELEVISION
Six Week Class
Mondays, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Beginning November 13, 2006
Class Limit: 10
Beginners or Advanced
Ages 16 and Up
Oklahoma City Area
Cost: $195, all major credit cards accepted
Oklahoma Casting Director and professional actor Chris Freihofer will offer his very popular six-week class entitled "Audition for Film & Television" on Monday nights beginning November 13, 2006.
"There are big-budget feature films and two popular network television series shooting within a short drive from Oklahoma," Freihofer said. "There are smaller budget films shooting in very close proximity, and the Oklahoma Film and Music Office is working to bring more to the state. Now is the time for actors to be trained for auditioning and for improving their technique."
The class is designed for both the beginner and advanced actor to receive professional training and critique in their audition technique for film and television. It is led by a professional that currently works on both sides of the camera.
Class participants will be emailed audition material to prepare during the week prior to class. The audition material will be accompanied by an assignment involving an area of focus for the audition. Participants will be videotaped and evaluated during class time, with constructive criticism given to improve the actor's technique.
Cost for the class is $195. Payment is expected in advance to secure a slot in the class. To register for the class call 405-321-3660.
The Stage Door, Inc. seeks Directors for 2007 Productions
The Stage Door, located at 601 Oak in Yukon, OK is seeking directors for their 2007 productions of "The Women" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". Production dates are listed below:
"The Women" by Clare Booth Luce
Performance Dates - March 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 2007
"The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde
Performance Dates - May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 2007
These are paid positions. For consideration please send resume to:
Debra Stegall-Hill, President
The Stage Door, Inc.
PO Box 852133
Yukon, OK 73099
debrahill@cox.net
For additional information call Debbie at 405-620-6746.
OCTA Theatre Events for October, 2006
Sep. 28-Oct. 1 WATBANALAND, Cameron University, Lawton 580-581-2346
Sep. 22-Oct. 7 LEND ME A TENOR, Lawton Community Theatre 580-355-1600
Sep. 28-Oct. 1 STEPPING OUT, Ponca Playhouse, Ponca City 580-765-5360
Oct. 1-30 ANYBODY OUT THERE?, Lincoln County On-Stage, Chandler 405-258-6700
Oct. 5-7 KENNEDY CENTER AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATRE OKLAHOMA FESTIVAL Hosted by Cameron University, Lawton 580-581-2346
Oct. 5-8 NUNSENSE, Tulsa University 918-631-2566
Oct. 5-29 DARK OF THE MOON, Jewel Box Theatre, OKC 405-521-1786
Oct. 6-14 FOOLS, Clark Theatre, Tulsa 918-669-6455
Oct. 6-14 NEIL SIMON'S THE ODD COUPLE, Muskogee Little Theatre 918-816-0688
Oct. 7 AUDITIONS: BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, Clark Theatre, Tulsa
918-669-6455
Oct. 10-11 AUDITIONS: LEND ME A TENOR, Muskogee Little Theatre 918-816-0688
Oct. 13 LAUGHING MATTER PERFORMANCE, Clark Theatre, Tulsa 918-669-6455
Oct. 13-Nov. 4 BUG, Carpenter Square Theatre, OKC 405-232-6500
Oct. 14 AUDITIONS: CHRISMAST CAROL, Heller Theatre, Tulsa 918-746-5065
Oct. 15-16 AUDITIONS: A CHRISTMAS STORY, Muskogee Little Theatre 918-816-0688
Oct. 20-28 BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE, Gaslight Theatre, Enid 580-234-2307
Oct. 20-29 CARDS ON THE TABLE, Broken Arrow Community Playhouse 918-258-0077
Oct. 25-28 THE CRUCIBLE, Oklahoma Children's Theatre, OKC 405-951-0011
Oct. 26-Nov. 4 NO WIDER THAN THE HEART, Heller Theatre, Tulsa 918-746-5065
Oct. 28-Nov. 6 2ND CHANCE, Theater Bartlesville 918-336-1900
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