Muskegon Civic Theatre to Celebrate The Holidays With CALENDAR GIRLS

Muskegon Civic Theatre is celebrating the holiday season with their production of Calendar Girls in the Beardsley Theater from November 17th through December 3rd. Calendar Girls is based on the film and the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukemia Research Fund. The news of the women's charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but Chris and Annie's friendship is put to the test under the strain of their newfound fame.

Written by Tim Firth Calendar Girls was inspired by the death of Angela Baker's husband John Richard Baker, an Assistant National Park Officer for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, who died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of blood cancer at the age of 54 in 1998. During his illness, Baker's friends began to raise money, initially to purchase a sofa for the visitors' lounge in the hospital where John was treated. Nothing could have prepared them for the way their original calendar took off. It was released in April 1999 and became a runaway success, selling out in the first week. 10,000 additional copies were printed, all of which were sold within three weeks. Nine months after its launch, the calendar had sold 88,000 copies. To date, they have raised over 5 million pounds for Leukemia & Lymphoma Research.

Muskegon Civic Theatre's production is led by Director, Penelope Notter and Assistant Director and Stage Manager, Tiffanie Miller, and has a cast that includes some of the legendary women of Muskegon Civic Theatre: Natalie Carmolli as Chris, Sheila Wahamaki as Annie, Cynthia Bates Twining as Cora, Judy Johnson as Jessie, Rene Schwartz as Celia, Robin Erdman as Ruth, Stacy Dawe as Marie, Ray Brazaski plays Annie's husband, John, Tim Salach plays Chris' husband, Rod, Thomas Goedert doubles as Lawrence and Liam, Leigh Levine doubles as Brenda & Lady Cravenshire and Jenny Reeths rounds out the cast as Elaine. Director Notter says of the cast, "Working with these legendary local talents to tell the story of these extraordinary women has been a pure joy, and the friendship and caring they have exhibited with all involved in telling this story has been a treat."

Calendar Girls is presented (with simulated nudity) in the Beardsley Theater from November 17th through December 3rd with 7:30 performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and 3:00 matinees on Sunday. All tickets for the performances are $30. Tickets are available online at www.muskegoncivictheatre.org, at the Frauenthal Box Office, or by calling (231) 727-8001. $15.00 student rush tickets are available an hour before each production and group rates are available.

Muskegon Civic Theatre is a nonprofit community theatre organization in its 39th year of producing exceptional and diverse theatre experiences for and by the Muskegon community.

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