NO THEATRICAL 'DOG DAYS OF SUMMER' ON THE CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST!

As we enter the month of August, many places are experiencing the "dog days of summer" - those hot and sultry days where ya' just don't feel like doin' anything ... and there's not a whole lot to do.  Well - that is NOT the case here on the California Central Coast!  The weather is wonderful, the grape vines are green and heavy with fruit (and the tasting rooms are open for business), the beaches are beautiful, the shops and restaurants are ready to welcome you, and there's more theatre goin' on than you can shake a stick at!

In northern Santa Barbara County, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (www.pcpa.org) is into the final 3 shows of its 2008/9 season.  The Music Man will complete its run August 7-23 at the Festival Theater in Solvang (PCPA Voice & Speech instructor and resident Equity actor, Andrew Philpot, is pictured above as Professor Harold Hill).  The Spitfire Grill opens August 7 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria and runs through the 23rd, before moving to Solvang August 28 through September 13.  And then PCPA closes out its current season with Distracted August 28 through September 20 at the Severson Theatre in Santa Maria.

According to the PCPA website:

For more than 45 years PCPA Theaterfest has been presenting exemplary theatre and providing excellent training with a resident company of theatre professionals.  Begun in the summer of 1964, founder Donovan Marley laid the ground work for a year-round professional theatre company.  PCPA remains the only resident professional company on the Central Coast producing consistent quality entertainment for the community while training thousands of actors and theatre technicians for a career in theatre.  The first company consisted of twenty-one actors, calling themselves the Platform Players.  They converted an old barracks building into the Interim Theatre with seating for 100.  The first production was A Man for All Seasons and enthusiastic standing-room only audiences packed all 10 performances.

Today, PCPA continues its legacy as a professional conservatory theatre.  Nearly 100 students are trained each semester in acting and technical theatre.  The basic premise of training artists for the theatre -- as students of the craft and apprentices in a company of working practitioners -- is as vital today as it has been through history.  The tradition of the master craftsperson passing on their knowledge through daily practice of the art is as ancient as the arts themselves.  In this tradition we work from experience to knowledge, rather than just from knowledge to experience - following the observation that "in the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply" (Goethe).  We must do, so that we can know.  This learning relationship doesn't merely benefit the student.  When the master and the apprentice "practice" together, learning takes place for both and the art form is enhanced by their shared discovery.

Among the unique attributes of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts is the rich history from which it presses into the future.  PCPA's production and instructional legacy is borne most clearly in the commitment and passion of the artists who have created, served and grown here; artists who have gone on to national prominence and hundreds of others who have taken on roles of national significance in the American theater.  The most important legacy of PCPA is that which is not yet written, the new legends that are being built today on the shoulders of the tradition of great theater and great training.

On a personal note - my wife Linda and I recently attended a performance of PCPA's Music Man at their Marian Theatre in Santa Maria, and it was without a doubt the finest production of Music Man we've ever seen!  So, if you have an opportunity to catch this production during the Festival Theater portion of its run in Solvang over the next couple of weeks - GO! 

The Santa Maria Civic Theatre (www.smct.org) will open its 50th Anniversary Season on September 11 with a production of Love, Sex, and the I.R.S., running through October 3.

Coming up the coast, The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville (www.americanmelodrama.com) in Oceano is currently running 2 productions in an alternating performance format: Gold Fever at the Rough and Ready, and Rip van Winkle.  And, of course, whichever production you see, there is always the high energy vaudeville portion of the performance after intermission that showcases the singing & dancing talents of the entire company to finish off your afternoon or evening of rip roarin' entertainment!

In the Village of Arroyo Grande, Sorcerer Productions (check them out on Facebook) is putting the finishing touches on The Producers, which will be presented at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) August 21 - September 6 with Dana Shaheen as the money driven Max Bialystock, and Jeff Salsbury as the bean counting Leo Bloom.  And then on September 11, the world famous Count Basie Orchestra with multi-Grammy nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon will play at the Clark Center for one night only - so get your tickets early!  The following evening, September 12, the up-and-coming bluegrass group Bearfoot will be performing - another musical presentation you will not want to miss!

The Studio of Performing Arts (www.thestudioofperformingarts.com) in Arroyo Grande is currently starting its summer schedule of intensives and workshops, with student drama productions of 42nd Street and Alice & Wonderland scheduled, as well as the first full season of their community theater company The Studio Players.  They will soon announce their 2009/10 Season - which will include a musical, a play, and a Broadway review.

Broadway actor, singer and dancer, Gale McNeeley, brings his hit show, "Over the Rainbow" to Arroyo Grande on Saturday, August 8, at 2 PM at Dave's Art Farm, 1451 Branch Mill Rd.  He will be accompanied on piano by his musical partner Betty Faas.  "Over the Rainbow" is appropriate for all ages.  There is a suggested donation at the door of $10.  For directions and reservations please call 925-1882, or email Gale at gmcneeley@yahoo.com

Up the road in San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre (www.slolittletheatre.org) has just closed its VERY successful summer theatre fundraiser song & dance review Vegas, Baby!, and next on the schedule is a readers' theatre presentation of The Year of Magical Thinking on August 14, starring Susan Merson.  The 2009/10 season begins with The Clean House, which runs August 28 - September 20.  Auditions for the second show of the season, Rumors, are on August 24.

At the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org), the August performance fare ranges from Lyle Lovett (Aug 8), to Summer Comedy Jam (Aug 15), to the SLO Academy of Dance's "Just Dance!" revue (Aug 16), to Karla Bonoff (Aug 22), to Cambria's Houselights Theatre's (www.houselightstheatre.org) remount production of Always ... Patsy Cline (Aug 29 & 30).

Speaking of Cambria, the Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org) is currently running the romantic comedy Same Time, Next Year through August 15, and are in rehearsals for Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap which opens September 11.

At the northern edge of SLO County in Paso Robles, the Pioneer Players (www.pioneerplayers.org) are sad to announce that their CIRQUE DU PIONEER summer theatre camp for kids has been cancelled.  However, they are excited over the fact that they will soon be announcing audition and performance dates for the first play of their 2009/10 season, Oliver - so stay tuned!

And then finally, the Central Coast Shakespeare Festival (www.centralcoastshakespeare.org), which calls the Outdoor Amphitheatre at the River Oaks Hot Springs in Paso Robles their summer home, are currently running Treasure Island (closes August 7) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (closes August 15) - so grab a blanket, a picnic basket, and a bottle of wine and head to Paso Robles for an evening of theatre watching under some starry Central Coast skies!

August is a month of transition, as the summer begins to wind down, and we start gearing up for fall programs and activities - with some schools even starting classes before month's end!  So, whether it's a last family summer getaway, or a weekend away while the kids stay with friends or relatives, or a local trip to see some live theatre in our own backyard - ENJOY these performance opportunities before they bring the curtain down!

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

 

 

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