California Central Coast Late May Matinees and More!

As we move toward Memorial Day and beyond, I hope your holiday weekend plans include taking in a couple of theatre and/or live performance productions that are playing in various and assorted venues here on our beautiful California Central Coast!

Paradise Productions (www.paradisetheatrecompany.com) will present Yours, Anne - the musical version of the story of Anne Frank, June 2-4, at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atascadero.

The idea of a musical based on the tragic story of Anne Frank sounds almost like an oxymoron, but Yours, Anne is not a typical musical.  It is a play that, like an opera, is enhanced by its passionate and powerful songs.  The lyrics are inspired by the writings from Anne Frank's diaries, which the young girl wrote while hidden in the attic of rescuers shielding her from the doom of the Holocaust.

Yours, Anne, written by Enid Futterman and Michael Cohen, uses quotes from Anne's diaries more than the Pulitzer and Tony award-winning 1955 play, The Diary of Anne Frank, did.  This musical version blends material from that play with the diaries.

SLO Little Theatre's (www.slolittletheatre.org) current mainstage production, Spinning Into Butter, runs through June 12.  And be sure to check out their children's summer theatre program classes and productions at act@slolittletheatre.org.  Auditions for ACT's summer youth production of Ann of Green Gables will be May 27 & 28 (by appointment), with callbacks on May 29; rehearsals June 19-July 22; performances July 29 - August 7.

Kelrik Productions' (www.kelrikproductions.com) current show, Aladdin, runs through June 12.  Auditions for Seussical the Musical will be held on June 1 (performances July 16-24 at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus).  Also - be sure to check out their acting classes for kids & youth!

The God Is Still Speaking Players (follow them on Facebook) next show will be Nunsense Jamboree September 2-5 & 9-11 (auditions July 10-12). 

Upcoming performances at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) include RSVP XVI: Duende on May 31 & June 2, and Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble Spring Concert on June 3.

Murder In Mind Productions (www.murderinmind.com) will present their interactive murder mystery, The Altos - Blood Is Thicker Than Wine, on Sundays at The Spyglass Inn in Shell Beach through June 5.

Sorcerer Productions (check them out on Facebook) recently closed a VERY successful run of the Tony Award winning The Drowsy Chaperone in the Clark Center Studio Theatre.  Next Up?  Little Shop of Horrors - auditions June 5 & 6, performances August 12-28 on the Clark Center main stage.

Other upcoming performances at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) include Mother Goose, presented by Everybody Can Dance & the Santa Maria Civic Ballet, on June 11 & 12.

To help celebrate Arroyo Grande's Centennial, South County Historical Society (SCHS) is producing "100 Years of People - Stories from our Past," a series of Readers' Theatre programs, each an hour long, adapted from historic writings to run every Saturday at 2PM throughout the summer.

"Young Clara"  
Born 1855 to missionary parents in Indian Territory, Clara's childhood years turn her into an educated and adventurous woman, who arrives in Arroyo Grande in 1883.   

Performances Saturdays at 2PM, June 4, 11, 18, 25

"Life in the New City"
Clara's continuing adventures in Arroyo Grande as a pioneer teacher and wife of the city's first permanent doctor, Edwin Paulding.

Performances Saturdays at 2PM, July 2, 9, 16, 23
    
The Great American Melodrama's (www.americanmelodrama.com) current production, Soup du Jour, will run through June 12, followed by yet another Vaudeville Revue to tickle your musical senses.  And be sure to check out Camp Melodrama for young people ages 7-17 which runs July 18 - August 15.

Santa Maria Civic Theatre's (www.smct.org) next production, The Frog Prince of Spamalot, will  be presented July 15-24.   

The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (www.pcpa.org), the Central Coast's Resident Professional Theatre Company, located on the Allan Hancock College Campus in Santa Maria, will present its first summer production, Hairspray, June 16 - July 2 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria, and July 8-31 at the Solvang Festival Theater.  A reprise of this past season's The 39 Steps will perform at the Solvang Festival Theater June 16 - July 3.  And be sure to check out their Summer Acting Camp for Young Actors (July 10-16 for ages 7-12, July 23-30 for ages 13-18).  [NOTE: Housing needed for summer theatre interns.   Contact PCPA's Company Manager, Amy Barrick at (805) 928-7731 ext. 3153 for more information].

The Pewter Plough Playhouse's (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org) next production, Playhouse Creatures, will be presented June 3 - July 17.  HOWEVER, before that - Delilah Shank will bring her bawdy, romantic, passionate, and intense cabaret act to the Pewter Plough Café May 28 (7:30 PM) & 29 (3 PM)!

The Theatre at the Old Grammar School (TOGS) (http://artistsofcambria.com/cambriapac/id4.html) is pleased to announce that Allied Arts Theatre has been revived and will be presenting The Octette Bridge Club July 29 - August 21, and Dearly Departed October 21 - November 20.

So, whatever you may have planned over the next week or so, I trust you will want to consider supporting a couple of the various performing arts organizations' here on the Central Coast ... you'll be lad you did - and so will they!

Curt Miner ... your BroadwayWorld.com guy on the ground with the California Central Coast theatre "news & views" 

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