California Central Coast Late June Theatre Opportunities - and MORE!

As we move into the latter portion of June, I really hope you've made your reservations to see some of the GREAT shows that are presently running (or soon will be) at the various live theatre and performance venues that we have here on our beautiful California Central Coast!

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, is proud to present its first summer production, Hairspray, through July 2 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria, and July 8-31 at the Solvang Festival Theater.

Say good morning to 1962 Baltimore where everything is bigger than life!  Tracy Turnblad (played by the effervescent Bree Murphy McLane) may not have a Barbie-doll figure, but the size of her irrepressible heart is matched only by the volume of her irresistible hair. She's just the girl to twist and turn the teenage television dance program, The Corny Collins Show, on its ear.  This plus-size musical features fan favorites like "Good Morning Baltimore," "I'm a Big Girl Now" and "You Can't Stop the Beat."  You'll laugh your socks off when Tracy and friends dance rings around the establishment and bring color to TV's age of black and white.  With her one-of-a-kind mom Edna (portrayed by the over-the-top talented Sam Zeller) as her agent, she finds a no-tease way to make a Link with love and be crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray! [NOTE: Saw the official opening night of this show on Saturday, June 18, and it was AMAZING ... I don't remember the last time the ENTIRE audience erupted into an IMMEDIATE standing ovation as curtain call began - but that's exactly what happened at this production, and it was WELL deserved!]   

In addition, a reprise of this past season's The 39 Steps is at the Solvang Festival Theater through July 3.  Shortly after Hairspray moves to Solvang, Shakespeare's The Two Gentleman of Verona opens in Santa Maria, running July 15-30 (August 5-21 in Solvang).  And be sure to check out PCPA's Summer Acting Camp for Young Actors (July 10-16 for ages 7-12, July 23-30 for ages 13-18).  [NOTE: Housing needed for summer theatre interns.   Contact PCPA's Company Manager, Amy Barrick at (805) 928-7731 ext. 3153 for more information].

Santa Maria Civic Theatre's (www.smct.org) next production, The Frog Prince of Spamalot, will be presented July 15-24.

The Great American Melodrama's (www.americanmelodrama.com) current production is Butch Cassidy and the Sunburnt Kid through September 17, which will run in repertory with Lost At Sea July 14 - September 18.  And be sure to check out Camp Melodrama for young people ages 7-17 which runs July 18 - August 15.

To help celebrate Arroyo Grande's Centennial, South County Historical Society (SCHS) is producing "100 Years of People - Stories from our Past," a series of Readers' Theatre programs, each an hour long, adapted from historic writings about the life of Clara Edwards, born in 1855 to missionary parents in Indian Territory.  Clara's childhood years turn her into an educated and adventurous woman, who arrives in Arroyo Grande in 1883. 

"Life in the New City"

Clara's continuing adventures in Arroyo Grande as a pioneer teacher and wife of the city's first permanent doctor, Edwin Paulding.

Performances: Saturdays at 2PM, July 2, 9, 16, 23.

Sorcerer Productions (check them out on Facebook) recently closed a VERY successful run of the Tony Award winning The Drowsy Chaperone in the Clark Center Studio Theatre.  Next Up?  Little Shop of Horrors - performances August 12-28 on the Clark Center main stage.

Other upcoming performances at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) include "Live, Breathe, Dance" by Coastal Dance & Music Academy on June 26, "Pink Champagne" by the Central Coast Celebration Chorus on July 9, and Mary Meserve-Miller's LEGENDS Viva La Diva July 15-31.

Murder In Mind Productions (www.murderinmind.com) will present The Beverly Hillbillies Murder Mystery, July 3 - September 4, at the Spyglass Inn in Shell Beach. 

Curt Miner received his degree in theatre from Northern Arizona University and has been involved in theatre, educationally and professionally, for nearly 40 years now. He is currently Pastor of the United Church of Christ in San Luis Obispo, CA (www.sloucc.org), where he founded a theatre outreach ministry known as The God Is Still Speaking Players (check them out on Facebook). Their first production was the West Coast Premiere of a new play by Gordon Greene (one of Curt's former theatre professors from back at NAU) entitled "The Scopes Monkey Trial: What Really Happened" in October of 2008. Curt and his wife of 35 years, Linda, worked together as Director and Music Director on a production of "Godspell" June 2009. The group presented a readers' theatre production of Archibald MacLeish's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play "J.B." November 2009, participated in a collaborative effort with Bent Angel Productions in a staged reading of "12 Angry Men" in February 2010, presented "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" the first 2 weekends of September 2010, embarked upon another collaborative effort with Bent Angel Productions of a staged reading of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood" in November 2010, presented a readers' theatre production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" the first weekend this past March, mounted a production of "Sister Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree" the first 2 weekends of September, and presented "Celebration In Song" - a musical variety show to benefit the work of GALA and PFLAG in November. A readers' theatre presentation (possibly "Our Town") or another musical revue will be presented this coming March, with "Snoopy" (sequel to YAGMCB) on the schedule for the first 2 weekends in September. When people ask him "Why a theatre outreach ministry?" Curt tells them "I have found that theatre is sometimes able to touch a person's heart and soul more deeply than the best crafted worship experience ... that's why."

More Articles by This Author...