New Shows Prepare to Open as Month Ends on the California Central Coast

As we come to the final week of October, the temperatures may be cooling down on the California Central Coast - but things are heating up in our theatres and live performance venues!

SLO Little Theatre (www.slolittletheatre.org) will hold auditions for This Is Rock 'N Roll: The Alan Freed Story November 2 & 3, 6-9 PM (performances February 18 - March 20, 2011). 

A readers' theatre production of Boy Gets Girl will be presented for one performance only on November 5.  According to director, Ginny Anderson, when asked what the show is about:

"Boy Gets Girl, the title kind of tells you quite a bit.  On a certain level, it's a very simple love story, but it calls to question what is it that we call love?  What is it that we call courtship?  And ultimately it's a case, it's a story that follows a stalking case, and one wouldn't think that that would be a particularly pleasant evening at the theater - but to be honest with you, it's a very fast piece; it's a very funny piece.  It has everything to do with the way that we put expectations on other people and on relationships that men place on women; that women place on men.  It asks a lot of questions about the way that we relate to one another today.  It goes from a blind date to what happens when it goes awry and really how one needs to ask for help and to be on the lookout to help others who might be in similarly quite frankly dangerous situations" (interview by Victoria Billings, http://slotheater.wordpress.com).

Nuncrackers: the Christmas Musical will run November 19 - December 19.

The God Is Still Speaking Players recently closed their production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.  Next up is a staged reading of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, directed by Chrys Barnes in collaboration with Bent Angel Productions, with performances on November 20 & 21.

Murder in Mind Productions (http://murderinmind.com) presents Pirates of Pirates Cove, a parody by John Logue, directed by Ron Kewish, at the Spyglass Inn, located at 2703 Spyglass Dr in Shell Beach, through November 7.  

Upcoming performances at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) in Arroyo Grande include Masters of the Fiddle with Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy November 4, Opera San Luis Obispo's One Quarter, One Love: 25th Anniversary Gala Celebration on November 5, Everybody Can Dance Ballet's Nutcracker November 27 & 28, and A Rita Coolidge Christmas on December 12.

Ryan Cordero (rccor385@gmail.com) and Sorcerer Productions (check them out on Facebook) recently closed their very successful production of Forever Plaid, directed by Natalia Berryman, with Musical Direction by Mark Robertshaw and Choreography by Stacy Estrada at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) in Arroyo Grande as part of their inaugural season of shows.  Next up is Drowsy Chaperone in Feb/March of 2011, and Crazy for You in August 2011.

The Great American Melodrama (www.americanmelodrama.com) in Oceano is proud to present its annual Fall/Halloween show, which this year is Trudy and the Beast ... or The Creature from the Black Lagoon, through November 14, with each performance followed by the "Zombie Vaudeville Review."

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 open its 2010/11 season with a production of Peter Pan November 4 - December 23 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria.

The Santa Maria Civic Theatre (www.smct.org) will present Wait Until Dark November 19 - December 11.

Upcoming performances at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) include Imago Theatre: ZooZoo November 4, Theatre Works USA's Click Clack Moo on November 7, The 5 Browns on November 10, Cal Poly Theatre & Dance Department's Antigone and Letters to Soldiers Lost November 11-13 & 18-19, and the MET's Live in HD Verdi's Don Carlo on November 14.

The Atascadero High School Drama Department (www.ahstheatre.info), one of the Central Coast's premier high school theatre programs, will present Scheherazade and 15 Minute Hamlet November 4-14.

The Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org) in Cambria has announced that their next production will be The Glass Menagerie, directed by Nehemiah Persoff, with rehearsals beginning in November and performances in January and February.  Contact Mr Persoff at (805) 927-3877 (leave a message) or email the theatre at audition@pewterploughplayhouse.org to schedule an audition.

The Theatre at the Old Grammar School (TOGS), also located in Cambria, closed Rosann Balbontin's Bridging the Gap in September.  Contact Theatre Director, Jeff Mar, at KRKJFRZ@aol.com to find out what their next project will be.

The Pioneer Players (www.pioneerplayers.org) presented a "special project."  Always ... Patsy Cline, at Centennial Park in Paso Robles for 2 performances on September 17 & 18 with Amanda Baker as Patsy and Jill Turnbow as her friend Louise.  Stay tuned for what they'll be doing next! 

The Houselights Theatre (www.houselightstheatre.org) is looking for a new place to call home ... got any suggestions?  Details concerning their next show are TBD (and where it will be held).

How can you support the performing arts here on the California Central Coast?  Well ... by going to see a play of course - so what are ya' waitin' for?!

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

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