Great voices, great show... don't let it sneak by!

4/5-4/7  - A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC -  music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by Hugh Wheeler
8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3:00 p.m. Sunday

DIRECTOR Melanie Helton; CONDUCTOR Kevin Noe, with MSU Symphony Orchestra
Join us for a whirling evening of mismatched lovers, old flames and wise old women in Stephen Sondheim’s Tony-award winning A Little Night Music. Based upon Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, the musical unfolds completely in three-quarter time as it tells the story of an aging actress who longs to rekindle a long-lost romance. Recently both Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bernadette Peters revived the role on Broadway, singing the beloved hit, “Send in the Clowns.” Waltz away with us for a magical night where the sun never sets in the summer. Sung in English. A preview lecture will be held 45 minutes before each performance.

Venue: Pasant Theatre, Wharton Center
Reserved seating. $20 for adults; $18 for seniors; $5 for students. TICKETS available from Wharton Center Box Office only, (517) 432-2000, (800) WHARTON.

This is not exactly "theatre" - but I'm hoping some semi-employed positive theatrical spirits in the community may be interested in helping our remarkable friend, Craig, who has survived 19 years with ALS. (Learn more about him at www.HealingWithDrCraig.com)

Dear Friends in the Greater Lansing Area,

I wish you peace. I am hoping that you may be willing to reflect upon whether any person(s) in your network of friends, family, and acquaintances who might be interested in filling one of the two home helper positions I am needing to fill:

1.      The Friday overnight position (10:30pm to 8:30am, can sleep on sofa bed and wakes up a few times to help me use a urinal, turn over and drink water) is urgent to fill soon because the woman currently working Friday overnight has family obligations that will not allow her to continue.

2.      The Monday through Friday morning position (7:30am-1:30pm, juicing, laundry, keeping my household organized, feeding, grooming, helping me with some phone calls and typing, dressing) must be filled before the end of May.

I would be so grateful if you will consider helping me spread the word to help me have the security of having a continuity of care, with reliable, honest and positive people. Experience with caregiving is not mandatory; some of my best caregivers have not had experience, but have had it in their hearts to help me. Please email drcraigoster@comcast.net

Gratefully,
Craig 
Craig Oster, Ph.D.
drcraigoster@comcast.net

ADDITION to the last e-mail, the Craig Oster caregiver positions ARE paid. Contact Craig for details - drcraigoster@comcast.net
Friday overnight position (10:30pm to 8:30am)
Monday through Friday morning position (7:30am-1:30pm)

From Teresa Hurd - Please pass onto my theater family that my son Chuck, (who loved theater) passed over into eternal life suddenly this week.  I have to believe that God was preparing me for this devastating loss by leading me to the role of Aunt Patty in"Getting Near to Baby." (This show last summer dealt with children's grieving and the loss of a child and was sponsored by Ele's Place here in Lansing) Arrangements are through Shelly-Odell Funeral Home in Eaton Rapids.  I ask for your prayers to help carry us through this difficult time. God bless you and yours.

Sherry Callaway has passed away on March 29 from complications following a stroke. She joins her longtime partner Sue Callaway, former president of Riverwalk Theatre from 1992-95, who died September 18 from cancer. Sherry was a Riverwalk behind-the-scenes helper, supporting President Sue. In recent years they had lived in Wilmington, NC. Riverwalk volunteer Karleen Witherall (517-441-9320) was their "adopted family" since they had no biological family left. She's authorized memorial donations in their memory to Riverwalk. (Names of all memorial donors are listed in RWT programs for a year.)

Here's Ripples from Riverwalk Theatre. LOTS of stuff going on in this issue! Arts & Entertainment Auction - where SEASON 25 will be unveiled. Singers on the Grand "American Classics" concert. The Beatles Slept Here - All-of-us Express show at RWT directed by Rick Dethlefsen. The Beauty Queen of Leenane - at RWT's Black Box directed by John Roche....and more...

Here's a little HINT at the hilarity that is The 39 Steps at Riverwalk Theatre - the handiwork of the wonderful Matt Ottinger, whose sound track is one of the many superlative features of this highly entertaining show. (I don't really know how to do "links" so just copy and paste this into your browser.) Do not miss this show! Loads of fun.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v05H5fPP5oM&feature=share

THREE MORE PERFORMANCES 8pm Fri/Sat, 2pm Sun $14/$12 www. riverwalktheatre.com - 482-5700

…is shaping up to be quite the event April 12 at 8pm at Riverwalk -- Dress up, Eat up, Drink Up and bid up on an impressive list of items - AND be among the first to know Riverwalk's 25th Season of shows, with a chance to bid on Season Tickets.

The auction is raising funds for RWT's campaign for a new roof, furnace and an upgrade of the electrical system. We're over halfway to the $150,000 goal and hope to start on the roof this spring. Have fun and invest in the future of community theatre in our city!
"Family" items up for bid include a family season pass to the Zoo with gift shop items and a certificate for a behind-the-scenes zoo tour, a Firefly Farm barn tour with three hand-led pony rides, Jumpin' Jax, passes, and tickets to the Impression 5 Science Museum.

More "adult" items include a wine tasting at Burdorf's Winery in Haslett, Craig Mitchell Smith "Disney Poppies" glass art, and a Masterworks Symphony package. Check out more items up for bid at www.riverwalktheatre.com.

Your $20 admission includes two tickets for beer and wine - with a wide array of fancy desserts from Grand Traverse Pie, Iced and Spiced Cupcakes, cheesecakes and more - with emcee and auctioneer, Evan Pinsonnault, and the music of Jerry Sprague, this is sure to be a fun and festive event.

Tickets are available from Board Members, at the Riverwalk office, and at the door.

...with Pay-What-You-Can on Thursday, March 21.
Call for reservations!

Shirley Valentine By Willy Russell
Directed by Lynn Lammers
Featuring Julia Glander
March 21 – April 21, 2013


What can you do when you realize that you’ve hit middle age, and your life has been shaped by choices made by everyone except you?  The heroine in this actor’s tour-de-force is an ordinary middle class English housewife. As she prepares chips and egg for dinner, she ruminates on her life and tells the wall about her husband, her children, her past, and an invitation from a girlfriend to join her on holiday in Greece to search for romance and adventure. Ultimately, Shirley goes … and begins the process of shaping her life into something wonderful. This one-woman play became an instant classic the minute it premiered! Contains mature themes.
 
Williamston Theatre
122 S. Putnam Street
Williamston, MI 48895
Tel: (517) 655-SHOW (7469)
Fax: (517) 655-1112
Email: info@williamstontheatre.org

The Renegade Theatre Festival, held in Lansing, Michigan, is seeking new plays for our annual festival held in August. Going into its eighth year in the festival-rich Old Town district, Renegade is a free, completely volunteer festival that gives theaters and independent producer/writer/directors an opportunity to present works that they might not normally stage. This summer marks the fourth year of the festival portion featuring new, original works – Renegade N.O.W.!

This summer we are adding a new, exciting element for Renegade N.O.W. and will be accepting plays in two separate categories. We will be accepting new, original works that meet the following guidelines:

New Plays #1:
Plays should be no longer than 90 minutes in length. 
Never been produced.
Can be any style/genre.

New Plays #2:
Plays are written on the theme of “Redemption.” 
Are not longer than 15 minutes in length.
Have a cast of no more than three characters.
Have never been produced.
Can be any style/genre.
Can be fully produced using minimal setting/props/costumes.

...is directed by Chad Badgero at LCC's Dart Auditorium is in much the same episodic, interview patchwork style as the original script, which paints a picture of the gay-hate-crime murder of Matthew Shephard in Laramie, Wyoming. The original script has more drama and momentum with the description of the crime and the trial. The first act of the sequel lacked that momentum, but did illustrate how the event had "weathered" with people, how "facts" became twisted, and how some were fighting for gay rights, others were twisting the facts to fit their beliefs and rumors, while others just wanted to "let it go." 

The second act picked up the momentum and intensity, however, and the interviews with the murderers in jail were moving and dramatic. I felt as if Russell Henderson (Brennan Hattaway) was yet another victim of this crime. Juan (J. Othen) Lerma was unnerving as Aaron McKinney; it was spooky how he could switch from playing the kind priest to playing this hardened  murderer. Jackie Payne was convincing and memorable both as state representative Catharine Connolly and as Matthew Shepherd's mother. 

A film at the beginning and some "updates" to this 2008 script at the end do give us hope that the tide is turning in favor of gay rights. I like to think we're near a sort of "tipping point" where enough gays are "out" and "known" that seeing them as "alien others" to be persecuted will become passé. As we've seen with racial prejudice, change is a process and doesn't come as easily or quickly as we'd like.

Continues Fri/Sat 8 pm through March 23. One Sunday Only, 2pm March 17. http://www.lcc.edu/cma/events/

3/19 - 24 - Michigan State University Department of Theatre presents
The World Premiere of SWEET MERCY by Melody Cooper
Directed by Tony Caselli
Michigan State University Department of Theatre

In this world-premiere work, chosen as the winner of Michigan State University’s 2012 International Playwriting Competition, playwright Melody Cooper examines the moral responsibility of “First-World” bystanders to international conflicts.  It is 2006, and Rachel, a young woman from a military family, is giving up a life of humanitarian work abroad to marry an officer.  Carl, a former U.N. Peacekeeping Officer and a friend of Rachel from her days working in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, unexpectedly turns up before the wedding.  The desperate Carl reaches out to Rachel, begging her to remember the village massacre that they both witnessed and urging her to continue aid work in Darfur—causing tensions within Rachel’s family to boil over.  This haunting story is theatrically told, with flashbacks and visions of Carl’s young friend Kigeri woven into the stage action, and sections from Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus serving as chilling parallels to the conflicts in Rwanda and Darfur.