September Theatre Happenings on the California Central Coast!

As we flip the page on our calendars from August to September, a number of areas around the country are beginning to experience a change of seasons from summer to fall - kids are back in school, the temperatures are a bit cooler, and a few leaves are starting to show some autumn colors.  But here on the California Central Coast - temperatures are still warm, and several theatres' Fall Seasons are just heating up!

Up North County way in Paso Robles, the Pioneer Players (www.pioneerplayers.org) are gearing up for their next production - Oliver.  Stay tuned for details concerning audition and performance dates in the near future!

In Cambria, the Houselights Theatre (www.houselightstheatre.org) has just completed a remount run of their popular summer musical Always ... Patsy Cline at the Spanos Theatre (www.pacslo.org).  Stay tuned for details concerning their next show.

The Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org), also in Cambria, will be opening the first show of their fall season, The Mousetrap, on September 25, running through November 8.  Homeland Insecurity or How I Learned To Love The Patriot Act will be presented in a readers' theatre format on October 14.

The Brickyard Theatre (www.brickyardtheatre.com), located at 5529 Tunitas Ave in Atascadero, will present Humble Boy September 3-26.  On September 10, the proceeds from the performance will benefit ARTS Obispo (www.artsobispo.org) - a group dedicated to advancing the arts in San Luis Obispo County.  

Humble Boy, a dark comedy by Charlotte Jones, is about bee-keepers and dysfunctional families, set in a fictional village in England.  The story-line parallels Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The Brickyard Theatre is touted as "Atascadero's Best Kept Secret."  It was created in 1984 as a labor of love by Anet and Charley Carlin and is located at their home on Tunitas Avenue in Atascadero.  Past productions include Steve Martin's play Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Tickets can be purchased from the ARTS Obispo office in the SLO Creamery, M-F from 10 AM to 4 PM or during Art After Dark from 6 to 9  PM on the first Friday of September.  For tickets or more  info on ARTS Obispo call (805) 544-9251 or visit www.artsobispo.org. 

For more information on Brickyard Theatre call (805) 466-4653.

At the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre (www.slolittletheatre.org), the first production of their 2009/10 Season, The Clean House, will run through September 20.  Auditions for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying are September 9 & 10 with call-backs on the 11th; performances are November 20 - December 20.  The Man from Nebraska will be presented in a readers' theatre format on September 25, directed by Emmy award winning actress and founding director of the Studio at Actors Warehouse (www.studioatactorswarehouse.com), Rae Stone.  The second show of the season, Rumors, will be presented October 9 - November 1.

Also located in San Luis Obispo, Kelrik Productions (www.kelrikproductions.com) is currently in rehearsal for RENT, which will be presented at the Spanos Theatre (www.pacslo.org) October 15-18.

For a wider selection of live entertainment options, the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org), is pleased to present the Glenn Miller Orchestra on September 10, Glenn Yarbrough in Concert on September 18, Kathy Griffin on September 23, Bellydance Superstars on September 27, and Merle Haggard on September 30.

Sorcerer Productions' (check them out on Facebook) The Producers is currently playing at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) in Arroyo Grande through September 6.  I had an opportunity to catch the Sunday matinee performance of this show this past weekend - and it was INCREDIBLE!  So if you don't already have theatre-going plans for this coming weekend, I would highly recommend this production - complete with sets & costumes from the recent National Tour production, and recreation of a goodly amount of the choreography from the original Broadway production.

In addition to hosting Sorcerer's The Producers, the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) has a number of other entertainment opportunities in the weeks ahead, including the Count Basie Orchestra (September 12), Bearfoot (September 13), One Night in Andalucía with the Chris Burton Jácome Flamenco Ensemble (September 18), Gloriana (September 22), the San Francisco Stand-Up Comedy Competition (September 24), the Central Coast Follies "Love is in the Air!" October 1 - 4 to support Parkinson's Disease research, and Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys on October 7.

The Studio of Performing Arts (www.thestudioofperformingarts.com), also located in Arroyo Grande, will hold auditions for The Miracle Worker on September 17, with performances November 6-21.

Just south of Arroyo Grande in Oceano, The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville (www.americanmelodrama.com) is running 2 productions in an alternating format - Gold Fever at the Rough and Ready and Rip van Winkle through September 20.  Both shows are followed by a wonderful vaudeville song & dance review that highlights the individual and combined talents of the company - and is said by many a patron to be worth the price of admission in and of itself!

Across the SLO County line into Santa Barbara County, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (www.pcpa.org) is wrapping up their 2008/9 Season with The Spitfire Grill at the Festival Theatre in Solvang through September 13, and Distracted at the Severson Theatre in Santa Maria through September 20.  I had the opportunity to see The Spitfire Grill on its final weekend in Santa Maria before moving to Solvang, and it is a wonderful show that I would highly recommend with a powerful message of redemption and some musical harmonies that are absolutely amazing!

The Santa Maria Civic Theatre (www.smct.org) is currently in rehearsals for the first production of their 50th Anniversary Season - Love, Sex, and the I.R.S., which will run September 11 - October 3.

August may be over - but there's still a WHOLE lot of live theatre and entertainment going on here on the California Central Coast.  So put down the remote (or turn off your computer), get up out of your chair, and head on out for a quality LIVE performance at a venue near you!

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

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