Mid-June Theatre Opportunities on the California Central Coast

As we move toward the middle of June (and beyond 2 days of rain - what was THAT all about?!), I hope you will be making plans to attend a couple of the theatre and live performance productions that are currently being presented here on our beautiful California Central Coast!

SLO Little Theatre's (www.slolittletheatre.org) current mainstage production, Spinning Into Butter, runs through June 12.

Set on a small college campus in Vermont, Spinning Into Butter explores the dangers of both racism and political correctness in America today.  When one of the few African American students at liberal Belmont College begins receiving hate mail, the campus erupts, first with shock, then with mutual recrimination as faculty and students alike try to prove their own tolerance by condemning one another.  As the administration sponsors public "race forums" and the students start their activist groups, Sarah Daniels, the Dean of Students, is forced to explore her own feelings of racism.  Her self-examination leads to some surprising discoveries and painful insights, the consequences of which even she can't predict [NOTE: Saw the June 10 performance - and this is one VERY good and WELL done drama ... the best I've seen in a LONG time!].  

Be sure to also check out SLOLT's children's summer theatre program classes and productions at act@slolittletheatre.org.  Readers' Theatre productions of No Exit and Krapp's Last Tape will perform one night only on June 17.  The next mainstage production will be The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkpr (Abridged) June 24 - July 7.  And ACT's summer youth production of Ann of Green Gables will be presented July 29 - August 7.

Kelrik Productions' (www.kelrikproductions.com) current show, Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp, runs through June 12 at Unity, 1490 Southwood Drive, in San Luis Obispo!  [NOTE: saw the June 5 performance of this show and it was, well ... MAGICAL!]  I also understand it will be presented for ONE performance only at the Spanos Theatre on Cal Poly campus in collaboration with the Pacific Dance Center.

Kelrik's summer production of Seussical the Musical will be presented July 16-24 at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus.  Also - be sure to check out their acting classes for kids & youth!

The God Is Still Speaking Players (follow them on Facebook) next show will be Nunsense Jamboree September 2-5 & 9-11 (auditions July 9 & 10). 

Upcoming performances at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) include the California International Choir Festival & Competition June 24-26, and Summer Drama Workshop for Children's King Arthur's Quest July 5-9.

Murder In Mind Productions (www.murderinmind.com) will present The Beverly Hillbillies Murder Mystery, July 3 - September 4 (auditions for the part of Jane Hathaway being held the week of June 13). 

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 Mother Goose, presented by Everybody Can Dance & the Santa Maria Civic Ballet, on June 11 & 12, the Gold Coast Chorus' "Songs We All Know" on June 18, and "Live, Breathe, Dance" by Coastal Dance & Music Academy on June 26.

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 to run every Saturday at 2PM throughout the summer.

"Young Clara"  
Born 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.   

Performances Saturdays at 2PM, June 18 & 25

"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
    
The Great American Melodrama's (www.americanmelodrama.com) current production, Soup du Jour, will run through June 12, followed by yet another Vaudeville Revue to tickle your musical senses.  Next up is Butch Cassidy and the Sunburnt Kid June 16 - Septemmebr 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.

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...