BWW Review: HIGH SOCIETY at SBCC Theatre Group
While concepts in High Society may have been viewed as 'kitschy' when the play premiered two decades ago, in the age of Instagram stars and The Real Housewives, these characters, who are charming in their relative innocence as compared to the shameless celebrities of the information age (even our president is a faux-lebrity real estate mogul-turned-reality show host), seem tame. High Society is a pleasant enough way to spend an evening, but it doesn't really go anywhere. There are no risks, no extraordinary thrills: just a very safe presentation of feel-good music from a bygone era.
BWW Feature: GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Meet Your BroadwayWorld Award Winners in Santa Barbara!
Last year, Santa Barbara theatrical artists presented projects ranging from kitschy, hilarious renderings of cult-classics to sweeping epics that inspired the community to #SeeMoreTheatre. Your click-votes have been processed! Santa Barbara audiences loved Heathers: The Musical, Out of the Box's irreverent teen-angst murder musical, and Death of Kings, Irwin Appel's comprehensive showcase of Shakespeare's history canon that utilized all the performance and production talent UCSB has to offer.
BWW Interview: Katherine Bottoms of PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at Actors' Repertory Theatre Of Simi
Today we meet Katherine Bottoms, a young actress who we hope you will be able to see on stage some day before fame and fortune takes her away from us. Katherine was born in Palm Springs but has lived in Santa Barbara most of her life. Her father and three uncles were actors so it was only natural that Katherine would become one as well. She performed in musical theater at Santa Barbara High School and was attending Santa Barbara City College when she decided acting was what she was going to do with her life. While in high school, she got a manager and was driving to auditions in Los Angeles so often, she was missing class, so she put off her career until later. Now, at 23, she feels she is ready, and has been making solid appearances in a number of local productions. Her life has been a procession of one show after another ('my longest break was maybe a month'), with her latest being the ARTS production of Peter and the Starcatcher (see our review in this week's Simi Valley Acorn). In the show, she plays Molly, a wide-eyed, independent 13-year-old girl who embarks on an adventure with her father to deliver a trunk of magic star dust to a far-off island. Katherine's bubbly personality and infectious giggle make it easy to accept her as a teenager, but this is only one aspect of her versatility as an actress.
The Theatre Group at SBCC Presents PROOF, Beginning Tonight
The Theatre Group at SBCC will present David Auburn's Tony Award-winning play, PROOF, directed by R. Michael Gros, as the final production of its 70th Anniversary Season, tonight, April 13, through April 30, 2016 in the Jurkowitz Theatre.
The Theatre Group at SBCC to Present PROOF This April
The Theatre Group at SBCC will present David Auburn's Tony Award-winning play, PROOF, directed by R. Michael Gros, as the final production of its 70th Anniversary Season, April 13-30, 2016 in the Jurkowitz Theatre.