Bay Area Children's Theatre Opens CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG in Berkeley Today

Chitty Chitty Bang, Bang, TYA-a lively new child-friendly stage version of the popular book, movie and Broadway show about the adventures of the Potts family and their flying car-opens today, November 14, at the Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley 94703, at 11 a.m.

Presented by the Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT), Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang, TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences version) tells the story of young Jeremy and Jemima and their inventor father, as they take on the Vulgarians, who have kidnapped their Grandpa and want Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the Baron's birthday.

The show includes the beloved songs from the movie and the Broadway show in a streamlined, 90-minute performance for children ages 4 and up. It will play weekends at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., through Sunday, December 13.

Directed by Karen Altree Piemme, the story has been adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams, based on the MGM motion picture, with a licensed script adapted by Ray Roderick. The production features the music and lyrics of Richard and Robert Sherman. Stage and screen versions are inspired by the stories of

Ian Fleming.

TICKETS: $22 adults, $20 seniors, $18 children, $13 groups (minimum 15)

BOX OFFICE: www.bactheatre.org or call (510) 296-4433.

The Freight & Salvage is just steps away from the downtown Berkeley BART station. BART is a BACT community partner.

Run Continues in San Ramon

For families who miss the performances of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, TYA, in Berkeley, there is one more chance to catch the show for the holidays. The musical moves to the Dougherty Performing Arts Center, 10550 Albion Road, San Ramon 94582, Saturday, December 19, and Sunday, December 20 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

((2 high-res .jpgs attached -

1. l. to r., Anthony Rollins-Mullens as Caracatus Potts and Rachel Seele as Truly Scrumptious in Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. Photo Credit: Joshua Posamentier.

2. l.to r., Brett Jones as the Baron and Amanda Maxwell as the Baroness, with telephone. Photo credit: Joshua Posamentier.))

Artists

Karen Altree Piemme (Director) returns to BACT after directing last season's production of Five Little Monkeys. An accomplished director, actor, dramaturg, workshop facilitator and acting instructor, specializing in social justice theatre and youth and community access to the arts, Piemme directs the Red Ladder Theatre Company, a nationally-acclaimed, award-winning company that empowers marginalized populations by helping them develop positive life skills through improvisational theatre. Piemme has directed productions for both youth and adults, taught classes and conducted workshops locally, nationally and internationally for nearly 30 years. She serves on the Theatre Services Committee (the advisory council) for Theatre Bay Area. She received the 2011 Champion of Arts Education Award, awarded by the Mayor/City of San Jose and the San Jose Arts Commission, and, in 2012, she was named one of the 35 Faces of Theatre Bay Area. A member of Actors' Equity Association, she was educated in both New York and London, and received her degree in acting and directing (graduating magna cum laude) from Syracuse University.

Tierra Allen (Jemima) has performed with Broadway By the Bay (Dreamgirls, Theatre Bay Area Awards Nominee for Outstanding Ensemble and Musical), Berkeley Playhouse (Mary Poppins - regional premiere, The Wiz, A Little Princess), Woodminster Summer Musicals (Aida), Lyricabella Productions (Whiskers!), New Conservatory Theatre Center (Dear Harvey), and at the One Minute Play Festival at Z Space. She recently worked as part of The Bonfiremakers to devise WE GO BOOM!, an ensemble-created exploration of the impact of the tech industry on Oakland, and performed in the original choreopoem An OPEN LOVE LETTER to Black Fathers at the Flight Deck and the Black Choreographers Festival. Allen makes her BACT debut with this production.

Megan Bartlett (Goran) makes her BACT debut in this production. Some of her favorite past roles include Jo in Little Women (nominated for Best Leading Actress- BroadwayWorld), Lydia in Big Love, Berthe in The Sound of Music, Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, Violet Beauregaude in Willy Wonka, and Maid by the Fire in Jesus Christ Superstar. Bartlett holds a BFA in Music from Notre Dame de Namur University. When not on stage, she teaches gymnastics at MyGym and works at Theatreworks.

Gemma Bulos (Junkman/Childcatcher), hailed by Dramalogue Magazine LA as a "chunky little dazzler . . . who can do anything, be anything," is a multi-award winning musician, humanitarian and international speaker. In New York, she wrote, directed and performed interactive shows as the resident musician for the Children's Museum of Manhattan by day, and performed as a professional jazz singer by night. Bulos recently relocated to the Bay Area, having traveled around the globe for 10 years, building an unprecedented Million Voice Choir for Peace, then winning an award from Queen Latifah and CoverGirl for Women Changing the World Through Music, which resulted in bringing clean water to over 225,000 people in Asia and Africa. She has threeTEDx talks, and can be seen performing all around the Bay Area in concerts, musicals and improv shows. Bulos makes her BACT debut in this production. gemmabulos.com

Brett Jones (Baron/Scrumptious) was last seen on stage for BACT as Pink/Beige/Peach in The Day the Crayons Quit, The Musical, for which he was nominated as a 2015 Theatre Bay Area Award finalist in the Principal Actor category. Previously, he played Mr. Watson in Mercy Watson and Boy in The Cat in the Hat. He will be seen again this season at BACT as Strange Kitty in Bad Kitty On Stage. Jones is also a costume designer and teacher, and he works with such companies as the California Shakespeare Theater and Aurora Theatre Company. He is the apprentice advisor at BACT, and will be designing the costumes for Elephant & Piggie's WE ARE IN A PLAY! this spring.

Christopher Juan (Jeremy) recently performed in the ensemble of Flower Drum Song at Woodminster Amphitheatre and originated the role of Long in Min Kahng's The Song of the Nightingale at Altarena Playhouse. Credits include: Pirates of Penzance (Berkeley Playhouse); All Shook Up (Tri-Valley Rep); A Chorus Line and Urinetown (Douglas Morrisson Theatre); Into the Woods (CCPA); Love Edition 2 (Bindlestiff Studio); Godspell (A Dramatic Cure) and the Rice Rockettes. He makes his BACT debut in this production.

Amanda Maxwell (Miss Phillips/Baroness), BACT's Education Program coordinator, recently moved to the Bay Area, after working as a teaching artist and performer in New York and South Florida for four years. Maxwell holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Central Florida. She attributes her love for both theatre and education to her childhood experience at the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre.

Neal Pascua (Boris) makes his BACT debut in this production. A Bay Area native, Pascua has performed with theatre companies throughout the Bay Area, including Berkeley Playhouse, Broadway by the Bay, Center Rep, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, Diablo Theatre Company, Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble, and Woodminster. Some favorite productions include: West Side Story (Luis), Anything Goes (John), Mary Poppins (Park Keeper), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Chip Tolentino/Leaf Coneybear), The Wiz (Yellow Brick Road/Lord High Underling), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Asher), Rent (Mark), Disney's Tarzan, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, and In The Heights. Pascua holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Notre Dame de Namur University.

Tom Reilly (Grandpa) recently appeared with Curtain Theatre in Mill Valley (The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It), Town Hall Theatre (Moon Over Buffalo), Ross Valley Players (Impressionism, November, The Miracle Worker, Sabrina Fair), the New Conservatory Theatre Center (The Paris Letter), and the Douglas Morrisson Theatre (Candide, Eurydice, Grey Gardens). He makes his BACT debut with this production.

Anthony Rollins-Mullens returns to BACT after playing Duppy in Three Little Birds, a New Reggae Children's Musical and Toad in A Year With Frog and Toad. Rollins-Mullens has also been seen as Louis Armstrong in Ella, the Musical, Tom Collins in Rent, Fred in Smokey Joe's Cafe, Willie in Master Harold...and the Boys, Jafar in Disney's Alladin, Aslan in Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Waymon as Hunter Priestess in the West Coast premier of Good Goods, Eddie Mackrel in the West Coast premier of LaChuisa's The Wild Party, and Belize in the 20th Anniversary production of Angels in America. www.rollinsmullens.com

Rachel Seele (Truly Scrumptious) most recently appeared as Spider in BACT's production of a new musical version of James and the Giant Peach, here in the Bay Area and in Shanghai. Seele teaches in BACT's theatre education program and is a third grade teacher at St. John the Baptist School, where she runs her own theater arts program, "Seele Stars."

Bob Stratton (Coggins/Toymaker) returns to BACT after having portrayed Charles Ingles (Pa) in Little House on the Prairie. He has performed in dozens of theater productions around the area, most recently as Yussel in Fiddler on the Roof (Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre) and as Admiral von Schreiber in The Sound of Music (Contra Costa Civic Theatre).

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