March 2012 - Mid March Theatre Happenings on the Central Coast of California

As we come to the middle of March, I trust you will want to include going to at least a show or two at any one of the several live performance and theatre venues that make their home here on the Central Coast of California!

The God Is Still Speaking Players (https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/92718528887), in collaboration with Bent Angel Productions, is proud to present a readers’ theatre production of Our Town, with performances March 16-18 (Fri a t7:30, Sat & Sun at 2 PM).  Performances will be held at the SLO UCC (11245 Los Osos Valley Rd). 

Winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the story follows the small town of Grover’s Corners through three acts: “Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage,” and “Death and Eternity.”  Narrated by a stage manager and performed with minimal props and sets, the audience follows the Webb and Gibbs families as their children fall in love, marry, and eventually - in one of the most famous scenes in American theatre, die.

General admission is $10.  Presale tickets may be purchased at Boo Boo Records (SLO), Coalesce Bookstore (Morro Bay), or online at www.brownpapertickets.com.  Tickets will also be available at the door on the day of the performance.  For additional information, call 805-544-1373.

Kelrik Productions' (www.kelrikproductions.com) Theatre After Dark Series will present The Rocky Horror Show March 30 - April 14.  Next up in their Family Theatre Series is Willy Wonka (auditions March 21; performances May 12 – June 3).     

SLO Little Theatre's (www.slolittletheatre.org) current mainstage theatrical offering is My Generation, running through March 25 [NOTE - Attended a Saturday matinee of this production, and this is one show you do NOT want to miss ... especially if you were a pat of the 60s!].  Next on the mainstage will be Dinner With Friends April 13 - May 6, followed by The House of Blue Leaves May 25 - June 17.  In SLOLT's Ubu's Other Shoe readers' theatre series, next up is Dollhouse, March 30 & 31.

Upcoming performances at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) include Drew Silvaggio’s Alice in Wonderland featuring Lisa Deyo’s Blue March 16 & 18, Savion Glover: Bare Sounds on March 21, SFJAZZ Collective: Plays the Music of Stevie Wonder on March 22, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood: The Two Man Group on March 24, CORE Dance Company’s Love … Dance … Shine March 24 & 25, and Aquila Theatre's Macbeth on March 29.

The Cuesta College Performing Arts Center (http://academic.cuesta.edu/performingarts/) will present the Cuesta Wind Ensemble/SLO Wind Orchestra on March 24, the High School Honor Jazz Band on March 31, and the Spring Drama Production, Three Musketeers, April 27 – May 6.

Espressivo! Chamber Theatre (http://espressivotheatre.com/) will present The Botanical Engineers May 12 – June 10 at various locations on the Central Coast – stay tuned for locations & times.

Murder In Mind Productions (www.murderinmind.com) will present SLO Legal, April 1 - May 6 at Spyglass Inn in Shell Beach.

The Spot (https://www.facebook.com/#!/hit.the.spot) in Arroyo Grande will present HAPPY on March 22, and Spinning the Globe & A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Foreclosure March 30 – April 1.

Upcoming performances at the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org) include the SLO Youth Symphony on March 18, Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School's The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jr March 23 & 24, I’ve Got A Little Twist on March 25, CHARO on March 31, and Four Sides of 40 on April 14.

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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