June 2012 - Mid Month Matinees and SO Much More on the California Central Coast!

As we come to the middle of June and continue to move ever closer to the OFFICIAL beginning of summer, I trust your plans will include attending some productions at any of the several theatre and live performance establishments that make their home here on the California Central Coast!

The Great American Melodrama (www.americanmelodrama.com) in Oceano is proud to present Gunsmokin’ or, All Riot’s on the Western Front.  Written by Ben Millet and adapted by Jordan Richardson, this rootin’, tootin’ musical spoof is set in the wild, frontier American West, during a time of strong, fearless, courageous men.  However ... this is not the story of those men.

When New York journalist Nathaniel J. Wilson (Steven Freitas), stumbles into the small town of Rooster Punch in search of a story on the Wild West, he finds two local ladies, Kit (Molly Laurel) and her feisty sidekick, Patty Poundcake (Crystal Davidson), desperately trying to figure out how to save their town.  Local saloon owner Perky LaPett (Kat Endsley) is conspiring with her bartender and whipping boy, Jimmy (Alex Sheets) and the unscrupulous gunslinger, Owen Caldwell (Philip David Black) to buy up the town and sell it for big money to the railroad company.  At the town meeting held by the easily swayed Mayor Maynot (Kraig Kelsey) and dimwit Deputy Laverl Kimball (Von Cleve Lewis), the townsfolk are surprised when a new sheriff, “Slim Jim Coltrane,” unexpectedly arrives in town to save the day.  Who is this stranger?  Will he succeed or will the villains win out?  Under the direction of Adrian Balbotin, with set design by Brian Williams, costume design by Renee Van Niel, and lighting design by Tim Seawell, Gunsmokin’ is loaded with laughter and full of opportunities to boo and hiss the villains and cheer the heroes as they attempt to save the town of Rooster Punch!

Following Gunsmokin’ at each performance is the TGAM Wide World of Sports Vaudeville Revue.  Are you looking for high flying acrobats, javelin throws and 400 yard dashes?  Well, you won’t find them in this group of “athletes!”  But what you will find is a grandstand full of song, dance and comedy in a hilarious look at the world of good, old All-American sports, directed by Jake McGuire, with musical direction and accompaniment by Mark Pietri.

This evening (or afternoon matinee) of comedy, music and dance opens June 14 and plays through September 15.  Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4 and 8pm, and Sundays at 6pm.  Beginning July 12 this show will run on alternate performances with the Melodrama’s second summer production, From Rags to Riches. 

The Melodrama’s in-house snack bar features great food and drinks served before the show and during intermissions.  Tickets are $18 to $22, with discounts available for groups, seniors, students, active military, and children.  For more information or to make reservations call the Melodrama Box Office at 805-489-2499.  The Great American Melodrama is located on Highway 1 in Oceano, just three miles south of Pismo Beach.  The Melodrama has been providing professional family entertainment on the Central Coast since 1975.

The Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org) in Cambria will present Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks June 22 – July 29.

The Theatre at the Cambria Centerfor the Arts (http://artistsofcambria.com/cambriapac/index.html) will present DRAMARAMA - Youth Acting Classes June 4-28.

The REC Foundation in Paso Robles is sponsoring a production of Man of La Mancha, directed by Cynthia Anthony and Jacob Shearer - auditions on June 19 & 20 [NOTE: leading roles of Aldonza, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have already been cast] at the Centennial Park Live Oak Room, 6-9 PM (rehearsals start in August, performances September 21 & 22).  Call Jacob at 805-975-5023 for more information. 

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."

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