Marietta Lunceford - Page 2

This weekend the Montevallo Main Street Players present A 1940's RADIO VARIETY SHOW, featuring CASABLANCA. With only two more chances to see this show, August 13 at 7:30 and August 14 at 2, I would say if you want to step back to a simpler time call 665-9207, extension 6 for reservations. Although there was a good crowd Friday night, I would think you could take the chance and just head to Montevallo for a fun night out.

On Thursday, August 4 I was excited to be a judge for a new fundraising event for The Overflow Foundation. The Overflow Foundation is a non-profit that strives to teach students to flow past their limits by bringing the arts to areas that lack these subjects in their schools. With classes in acting, music, visual arts and reading, The Overflow Foundation has been working in the East Lake area of Birmingham for two years and hopes to expand to include Tarrant this coming school year. Their dream is to encourage students to step outside of their box and try new things that will make them better students and better people.

Central Alabama Theatre has a new home, at Steeple Arts Academy in the Crestline Village area of Mountain Brook. The space actually helped to inspire the first show there- SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN. With its church pews and the pitched ceiling, the building actually becomes part of the pretty, well built set. I am not sure if there are any tickets left, the theatre was filled to overflowing last night. And rightly so- it was a great night of fun. I was actually disappointed when the show ended, I would have loved more stories and more music from this outstanding cast. Go to www.centralalabamatheatre.org or call 888-870-2477.  SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN runs this weekend and next, August 5-7 and 12-14.

South City Theatre's production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is silly and campy, but a great escape. It gives you the opportunity to dance, laugh out loud, and forget your humdrum life for a couple of hours. As usual with SCT these days, some shows are sold out already, so go to www.southcitytheatre.com or call 205-621-2128 as soon as you can to get reservations. Then get out your bell bottoms and get ready to have a blast!

Being uplifting and supportive is what Kyle Bass is all about and his new venture proves just that.On August 19 and 20 at 7:30 the new Homewood Theatre will present a NIGHT OF MUSIC at the Dance Foundation in Homewood. Featuring the incomparable Amy Johnson, Kyle Bass and Dana Porter singing some of our favorite standards and show tunes, it promises to be a great kick off for the newly formed Homewood Theatre. With tickets only $15 and very limited, it promises to be a night of excellent entertainment you don't want to miss. Go to www.homewoodtheatre.com or call 205-873-1816 for tickets and information.

ACTA theatre is presenting SEUSSICAL, THE MUSICAL now through July 31. A mixture of characters from several different stories by Dr. Seuss, with a through line that involves Horton the Elephant, the Cat in the Hat and JoJo, a small boy from Whoville, SEUSSICAL is fast paced and fun. Running July 21, 22, 23 and 28, 29 and 30 at 7:00pm and July 24 and 31 at 2:30, contact the theatre at 205-655-3902 or go to www.actatheater.com for more information. Last night's audience was full, but with such a large cast that is to be expected. If you want to see SEUSSICAL you need to call asap!

While some of the subjects of my 'Actors Around Town' series have been performing since they were kids, others decided to step out of the box and try their hand at acting later on in life. This is the story of someone who was a little later than some to the realization of her dreams to perform.

After a traumatic few weeks for our nation and around the world, it was a delight to escape into the world of make believe watching Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID, presented by Red Mountain Theatre Company. I was thrilled to be able to forget the horrors of the real world for a couple of hours and see a show where good triumphs over evil, where families from different worlds can accept their differences, put them aside and focus on love, and where everyone lives happily ever after. THE LITTLE MERMAID runs through July 31. For more information and tickets go to www.redmountaintheatre.org or call 205-324-2424.

After interviewing Carron Clem, I wasn't sure if I was more inspired or exhausted. Having lived an extraordinary life, Carron now does more in a day than most of us do in a week. Committed to her family and to the theatre, Carron is passionate about everything she does.

There are those people that just get your attention when they are on stage. Katie Milligan has done that every time I have seen her perform.

It is always interesting to hear how people first get involved in the theatre. Many feel that pull as children, others discover it in high school. Still others try it as adults and get "the bug." Howard Green had his opportunity in high school, but said, "No, thank you!" Green made up for that 'error' later on in his life and now enjoys every opportunity he gets to be a part of of the theatre community.

There is so much talent in the Birmingham area and I would like to take the summer to highlight some of the people we look forward to seeing regularly on our stages. They might not be the people you already know, but ones you would recognize if you saw them. They might be someone you see in the crowd of show after show, they might be up and comers that you have noticed and want to get to know better or they might be like our first actress, Amy Johnson.

When people in the community try their hand at theatre, including people with no experience and do so with fun and love while raising money for a good cause, I think we are all winners. And to quote THE RED VELVET CAKE WARS , 'you can agree with me, or you can be wrong!' Kudos to the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany for helping us to put the world outside away for a couple of hours and  making us all laugh. This fun show will be performed again this coming weekend, Friday & Saturday: June 17 & 18, at 7:30 PM and Sunday: June 19, at 2:30PM.

If laughter is the best medicine, then I will not be sick for the rest of the year. Between the hilarious plays I have seen recently and last night's DIE FLEDERMAUS (The Bat), I have certainly had a couple of weeks full of chuckles. Birmingham is certainly the place to be if you need a laugh this weekend.So go to www.BhamMusicClub.org or call 205-253-1313 for more information about DIE FLEDERMAUS. Or better yet, just head on down to ASFA tonight or tomorrow afternoon and get a ticket at the door. But hurry- this delight will only be presented this weekend, June 10-12.

THE EXPLORERS CLUB at Theatre Downtown is an Alabama premiere that takes you away from the ordinary and whisks you to 1879 London. Set in the bar and meeting room of an all male club, you quickly forget the world you live in and are transported away.

PALS, an original work written by nine students from Spain Park High School and drama teacher Eric Reid St. John, is based on letters from and some of the events of World War I. When the British joined the war, Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of War decided to make brigades out of groups of young men from the same communities, same churches, schools and factories. These PALS brigades would train and fight together. The town of Leeds, England was one of those communities who sent most of their young men into battle together and it is from their stories that SPHS created this piece of art.

What can an actor do when his series is cancelled and he isn't sure where to go from there? Head to NYC and perform Shakespeare in the park, of course. But what if that actor is scared of playing Hamlet and not sure of his own abilities? And what if he finds himself in John Barrymore's old apartment and Barrymore's ghost shows up? And what if his girlfriend is pushing him towards Hamlet and away from the bedroom? Throw in a crazy, psychic realtor and a stern German agent with the hots for Barrymore and you have the makings of I HATE HAMLET, the latest offering from South City Theatre in Pelham.

Terrific New Theatre near Pepper Place in Birmingham has had a long and interesting history. With all that Carl Stewart and his late partner Steve Stella dreamed for their new venture in 1986, I wonder if they could have imagined that 30 years later, TNT would still be going strong. As Stewart retires, we see a new day dawning when Tam DeBolt takes the reins as artistic director of Terrific New Theatre on August 1, 2016.

With all of the great shows there are to see this summer, there are just as many theatre camps for your kids. Workshops, intensives and camps cover the full range from getting kids ready for a professional career to just having a good time and learning some important life lessons. Offered by some of the top theatre companies and taught by some of the industry's best, these camps are a great way to keep active and keep those minds working over the hot summer weeks.

School is out and the fun days of summer are upon us. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of great theatre still available.All of this and there is more coming soon about summer camps and their productions. I know I have a summer full of shows I am seeing. I hope you do, too! As one friend put it, 'If you are ever bored in Birmingham, it is your own fault!' Amen.