"Lend Me a Tenor" cast announcement!

Congrats to the new cast of "Lend Me a Tenor"!

Max - Michael Glover
Saunders - Henry Wihnyk
Maggie - Laura Jackson
Tito - Esteban Alvarez
Maria - Katelin Hall
Bellhop - Ian Isom
Diana - Kristin Mercer
Julia - Jan Cohen

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" cast profile: Brittany Bennett

Brittany Bennett chases boys as Amy Lawrence in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

GCP Girl: Tell me a bit about your character or characters
Brittany: Amy is one of the girls, who is a good friend of Becky Thatcher. Poor Amy seems to like boys a lot more than they like her!

GCP Girl: Tell me about some of your previous shows
Brittany: This is my second show here at GCP, my first being "Oliver!" in 2007, in which I was a part of Fagin's Gang. I've participated in many different shows at my school, Eastside, including "Mulan Jr.", "Zombie Prom", "The Dining Room", "Schoolhouse Rock Live!", and "RENT: School Edition", in which I was Mimi Marquez. I've participated in many shows throughout the community since elementary school.

GCP Girl: Why did you audition for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"?
Brittany: I've been wanting to get back into GCP shows for a while because I had so much fun in "Oliver!". This is the first summer in a few years that I've been in town and available to be in a show, so I was really excited to audition for it.

GCP Girl: What is your favorite musical number or scene in the show?:
Brittany: In The Bible! It's really fun and campy; its easily the most high energy number in the whole show.

GCP Girl: What are you looking forward to the most about performing in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"?
Brittany: I'm really looking forward to the audience's reactions throughout the show. There are so many moments when the ensemble's reactions are hilarious and over the top, not to mention a bunch of really funny dialogue between various characters. I'm really excited to see how the audience reacts to everything.

GCP Girl: Why should people see this show?
Brittany: It's a blast! Many people are familiar with the story of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and it's exciting to see it come to life through musical numbers and witty dialogue. Its a great show that's suitable for the whole family and will leave every audience member feeling light and happy by the time it ends.

GCP Girl: Mark Twain's book has been a favorite for generations. What is one of your favorite summer reads?
Brittany: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read it last summer, but its one of my favorites.

GCP Girl: Tell me something you'd like everyone to know:
Brittany: GCP has some of the most talented, funny, and welcoming people I know. If you're interested in getting involved, audition! You never know until you put yourself out there.

Thanks, Brittany!

You can catch Brittany and the rest of the amazing cast in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" until August 4. Please visit the Event Page on Facebook for more information.

xoxo GCP Girl

Carlos Asse on Auditioning for "Lend Me a Tenor"

Carlos Asse directs "Lend Me a Tenor" at the Gainesville Community Playhouse. The show will run from September 13 - 29, 2013. Auditions will be held July 14 and 15 and 7:00 at the Vam York Theatre. I sat down with Carlos to get the scoop.

GCP Girl: Why do you want to direct LMAT?
Carlos: It is always a challenge to direct a farce. It is twice the challenge to do it well. I have directed LMAT twice before and whenever one has the opportunity to direct this play, especially in a different venue with a new cast, one should never hesitate to jump at the chance to do so.

GCP Girl:What do you like about it, both as a director and as a theatre patron?

Carlos: LMAT is one of the funniest bedroom farces to come along to the modern stage. Ken Ludwig, the playwright, has given us all the elements of the classic farce: mistaken identities, improbable situations, great misunderstandings and huge meltdowns, taken to the extreme when they combine with quirky characters that introduce love, admiration, romance, anger, jealousy, liquor, pills and sex. Herein, lies the challenge I spoke about in the prior question, because a director, like a juggler, must keep all these elements floating like pins in the air. It is also an audience pleaser, because it keeps them laughing throughout and at its conclusion we see Max’s transformation and how young love has triumphed.

GCP Girl:What is your vision for this show?

Carlos: The environment which surrounds these exuberant characters I envisioned as a realistic one. One in which the scenery, the costumes, the sound and the lights are based in reality; thus, they help to keep all its absurd chaos and comedic action grounded. Since all of this action occurs in the mid-1930s at a high-class hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, there is a certain element in the milieu of period style and architectural elegance.

GCP Girl:What are you looking for in those who audition? If someone wants to impress you what should he/she do?

Carlos: As a director, one is always looking for someone that can handle the material, talent that has good comedic timing and stage presence. These actors must also be directable, easy with which to work and get along with others. Anyone who auditions should come prepared and be acquainted with the play, know what roles they would like to play, but be flexible enough that if offered another role, they shouldn't turn it down. Sometimes what the director sees in the talent matches his vision, not theirs.

GCP Girl:Why should people audition for LMAT?

Carlos: Because they get to work with me. No, I’m kidding! LMAT will give them a great opportunity to hone their comedic timing skills. This type of ensemble play where all parts are so important to the whole, will develop a sharp sense in their acting ability.

Thanks, Carlos!


Please visit the Event Page on Facebook for more information on auditioning for "Lend Me a Tenor".

xoxo GCP Girl

GCP 2013-2014 Season announced!

And now for the news everyone has been waiting for – the official announcement of the 2013-14 season! Drum roll, please…

“Lend Me a Tenor”
Written by Ken Ludwig
Directed by Carlos Francisco Asse
Auditions: July 14-15, 2013
Show Dates: Sept. 13-29, 2013
On a historic night at the Cleveland Opera Company, world-famous tenor Tito Morelli is to perform in Otello. Through a series of mishaps, Tito receives a double dose of tranquilizers, causing the house manager to believe he is dead and setting off a chain reaction of slapstick and mistaken identity.

“Seussical”
Book by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Directed by Rhonda Wilson
Auditions: Aug. 25-26, 2013
Show Dates: Nov. 29-Dec. 22, 2013
Horton the Elephant, the Cat in the Hat and other characters from the whimsical imagination of Dr. Seuss come together in this musical featuring a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

“Aida”
Book by David Henry Hwang, Linda Woolverton & Robert Falls
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Elton John
Directed by Dan Christophy
Auditions: Nov. 10-11, 2013
Show Dates: Jan. 31-Feb. 23, 2014
This Elton John-Tim Rice pop opera, inspired by Verdi's classic opera, tells the story of enslaved Nubian princess Aida, who falls for captain of the guard Radames, who is betrothed to the Egyptian princess who is Aida's mistress.

“Noises Off”
Written by Michael Frayn
Directed by Erin Kleim
Auditions: Jan. 12-13, 2014
Show Dates: Mar. 28-Apr. 13, 2014
In Act I of Michael Frayn's farce, a second-rate company of British actors is rehearsing a touring company of a terrible sex farce. Act II reveals the backstage chaos that takes place during a performance, and Act III follows the onstage performance in which everything goes wrong.

"Into the Woods”
Book by James Lapine
Lyrics & Music by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Margery Pierson
Auditions: Mar. 9-10, 2014
Show Dates: May 23-Jun. 15, 2014
A childless baker and his wife endeavor to lift their family curse by journeying into the woods, where they encounter Rapunzel (and her witchy "mother"), Cinderella, Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Little Red Riding Hood and other classic fairy tale characters, and they all must learn the responsibility that comes with getting what you want.

“A Chorus Line”
Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante
Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Directed by Susan Christophy
Auditions: May 4-5, 2014
Show Dates: July 18-Aug. 10, 2014
Broadway gypsies bare their souls and put their lives "on the line" as they audition for an unnamed Broadway musical. The 1975 show won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Musical.


There also will be a change in performance days next season. Attendance at Wednesday night performances has been low the past few years, so the GCP is replacing that time slot with Saturday matinees to make it more convenient for patrons to attend.

If you want to learn more about the upcoming season, how to audition and what volunteer opportunities are available, don’t miss our first-ever Director’s Showcase this Saturday, June 8 at 6 p.m.! More event details can be found on our Facebook event page. See you there!

xo xo GCP Girl

"Moonlight & Magnolias" character profile: Miss Poppenghul

The Character

Miss Poppenghul

Secretary to David O. Selznick,

Motion Picture Producer

Age: Perpetually 39 (or so she says)

Miss California Orange Festival 19—

(We’re pretty sure the character of Miss Poppenghul is fictional. If she is not, there is no biographical information readily available, so we made some up.)

Miss Poppenghul was the capable and long-suffering secretary to movie producer David O. Selznick, catering to his various whims with good grace and humor. A California native, she witnessed the movie industry grow from its early years into the all-powerful studio systems of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She liked to think she might have been a starlet herself if movies had been around when she was footloose and fancy-free.

After a whirlwind romance that ended tragically in a story much too long to be told here, Miss Poppenghul sold perfume at a posh department store until she went to work at MGM Studios when it opened in 1924. When Louis B. Mayer's son-in-law David O. Selznick started his own studio, she went with him and became his personal secretary. Miss Poppenghul was a tremendous fan of "Gone of With the Wind" and read it several times. She could not wait to see Clark Gable take on the role of Rhett Butler.

In "Moonlight & Magnolias," Miss Poppenghul keeps the screenwriting team supplied with nourishment (well, peanuts and bananas) and keeps the world at bay while they complete their task...with the possible exception of Louis B. Mayer.

The Actress
Jennie Stringfellow
Jennie Stringfellow is a favorite with GCP audiences, playing such roles as Myrtle Brown in "Mornings at Seven," Eunice Hubbell in "A Streetcar Named Desire," Amanda in "Private Lives," and Carrie Watts in "Trip to Bountiful." She also directed many popular productions, including "Driving Miss Daisy," "The Sugar Bean Sisters," "Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will?" and "45 Seconds from Broadway."

"Moonlight & Magnolias" character profile: Ben Hecht

The Character
Ben Hecht
Screenwriter
1894-1964
Oscars for Best Screenplay for "Underworld" (1927) and "The Scoundrel" (1935)

Ben Hecht was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. His family moved to Racine, Wisconsin; when he graduated high school at 16, he moved to Chicago and began a career in journalism. After World War I, the Chicago Daily News sent him to cover Berlin, where he wrote his first and most successful novel, Erik Dorn, in 1921.

Hecht also had a successful career as a playwright, penning productions like "The Egotist" and "The Front Page," which ran for 281 performances on Broadway. He moved on to Hollywood and won an Oscar for his first screenplay, which was for Josef von Sternberg's "Underworld" (1927). Soon after, he became the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, earning enough to spend most of the year in New York doing what he considered "serious writing." Hecht never thought of the movies as serious art, partly because of the limitations imposed by finances and censorship.

He worked on screenplays for some of Hollywood's most successful films: "Scarface" (1932), "Gunga Din" (1939), "Wuthering Heights" (1939), "Spellbound" (1945), "Notorious" (1946), and "Monkey Business" (1952). Hecht also was uncredited on many other projects, notably "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940), "His Girl Friday" (1940), "The Sun Also Rises" (1957), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), and of course, "Gone With the Wind" (1939). Sidney Howard, the original screenwriter for "Gone With the Wind," received final screen credit and the Oscar; it was to have been credited to a team, but Howard died in an accident in 1939 and the studio honored him with the credit.

Hecht was known for being a civil rights activist, fighting against discrimination against African-Americans and Jews. He was a proponent of the United States entering World War II and worked to rescue Jews from Eastern Europe. He also tried to publicize the truth about the Holocaust during a time when news on the issue was scarce.

In "Moonlight & Magnolias," Hecht has just been called in by producer David O. Selznick to rewrite the original screenplay for "Gone With the Wind." Despite not having read the book, he agrees to bang out a new script in five days with the help of Selznick and director Victor Fleming. The atmosphere gets more and more tense as the three battle hunger, fatigue and differing worldviews, but in the end, the finished product is worth the wait.


The Actor
Adam Lishawa
Adam Lishawa last graced the stage of the GCP as Vic Johnson in "Funny Money" and Grown-up Ralphie in "A Christmas Story." He has also been seen at UF and the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre in "Bug," "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Hunter Gatherers."

"Moonlight & Magnolias" character profile: Victor Fleming

The Character
Victor Fleming
Motion Picture Director
1889-1949
Oscar for Best Director, "Gone With the Wind" (1939)

Victor Fleming, a California native, met a film director while working as a mechanic, and worked his way from camera assistant to cinematographer. Fleming directed his first film, "When the Clouds Roll By," in 1919. He directed stars like Douglas Fairbanks in silent action films, and eventually received a reputation as a "man's director."

Fleming joined MGM in 1932 and directed some of the studio's most famous films: "Bombshell" (1933), "Treasure Island" (1934), "Captains Courageous" (1937), "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), "Gone With the Wind" (1939), "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1941) and "Joan of Arc" (1948).

Despite his reputation for directing men, Fleming had great success directing women: both Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel won Academy Awards for 'Gone With the Wind," and Ingrid Bergman was nominated for "Joan of Arc."

Fleming is the only director to have two films ("Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz") in the top 10 of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be seen on Vine Street.

In "Moonlight & Magnolias," Fleming has just been pulled from the set of "The Wizard of Oz" to replace George Cukor as the director of "Gone With the Wind." Since Fleming is dissatisfied with the script, producer David O. Selznick calls in screenwriter Ben Hecht. There is one problem - Hecht has not read the book. Over the next five days, Selznick and Fleming read and act out the parts while Hecht works furiously to produce a script worthy of the most famous movie in Hollywood history.

The Actor 
Doug Diekow
Doug Diekow will be recognized by GCP audiences for lending his comic timing to roles like Reverend David Marshall Lee in "The Foreigner," George Hay in "Moon Over Buffalo," Charles Condomine in "Blithe Spirit," Jack Warner in "Shakespeare in Hollywood," Harmony in "Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will?," and Edgar Hollister in "The Murder Room."

"Moonlight & Magnolias" character profile: David O. Selznick

The Character

David O. Selznick
Motion Picture Producer
1902-1965
Oscars for Best Picture for "Gone With the Wind" (1939) and "Rebecca" (1940)
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, 1939

David O. Selznick, son of a Pittsburgh movie producer, worked at MGM and Paramount in the late 1920s before joining RKO as head of production, working on movies like "King Kong." He moved back to MGM in 1933 and began its second production unit, which yielded classics like Dinner at Eight (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Anna Karenina (1935) and A Tale of Two Cities (1935). He began his own studio in 1935 and produced The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Intermezzo (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939), which remains the highest grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation). It also won seven additional Oscars and two special awards. Selznick also launched the American film career of Alfred Hitchcock, who won his only Best Picture Oscar for "Rebecca" in 1940.

Selznick closed his studio in the early 1940s, but returned to producing later in the decade. His first marriage, to Louis B. Mayer's daughter Irene, ended in 1948; he married actress Jennifer Jones in 1949 and spent much of the 1950s nurturing her career. He died in 1965 after several heart attacks. Selznick's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located outside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

"Moonlight & Magnolias" takes place in Selznick's office in 1939, after he fired director George Cukor from "Gone With the Wind" and halted production to rewrite the script. He and the replacement director, Victor Fleming, have one week to bring screenwriter Ben Hecht up to speed and produce the script for the most anticipated film in Hollywood history.

The Actor
Henry Wihnyk
Henry Wihnyk is a fixture on the GCP stage. Over the past 20 years, he has delighted audiences as Billis in "South Pacific," Alfred P. Doolittle in "My Fair Lady," Mayor Shinn in "The Music Man," the Angel in "The Sugar Bean Sisters," Henry Perkins in "Funny Money," and most recently, Wilbur Turnblad in "Hairspray."

"Tom Sawyer" cast list announced!

Congrats to the new cast of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"!

Tom Sawyer - Alex Christophy
Huck Finn - Chris Shaw
Sidney Sawyer - Liam McKay
Ben Rogers - Patrick Mann
Joe Harper - Zach Bennett
George Bellamy - Spenser Dalrymple
Lyke Peters - Brandon McKenzie
Alfred Temple - Camden Foote
Becky Thatcher - Marissa Vairo
Amy Lawrence - Brittany Bennett
Lucy Harper/Swing - Madison Wyatt
Sabina Temple - Emily Garcia
Susie Rogers - Amanda Gramig
Judge Thatcher - Steven Griffin
Gideon Wain - Josh Edwards
Lanyard Bellamy - Yancey Cook
Lemuel Dobbins - Thomas Sanders
Reverend Sprague - George Zinger
Injun Joe - Ed McKay
Muff Potter/Swing - Mike Tremaine
Doc Robinson - Nathaniel VonDoHeren
Pap/Sheriff - Andy Hunn
Aunt Polly - Susan Christophy
Widow Douglas - Lauren Robinson
Sereny Harper - Alex Sherman
Jessica Rogers - Patricia Kee
Naomi Hollis - Mia Frattino
Sally Bellamy - Bridget Siegel
Ensemble:
Fiona McKay
Brianna Gardener
Daniela Ifju

"Tom Sawyer" auditions are this weekend!

Dan Christophy, director of the upcoming musical "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," talks about the auditions taking place Sunday, May 19 and Monday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at the GCP!
 
GCP Girl: Why did you want to direct "Tom Sawyer"?
DC: I really enjoy the story of Tom Sawyer and enjoy the opportunity to direct a fun family musical.

GCP Girl: What is your vision for the production?
DC: I want people to come and see a show that is as close to a professional production as you can get at a community theater. I want to create a different world on stage that brings the audience in and takes them on a journey.

GCP Girl: What are you looking for in those who audition? If someone wants to really impress you, what should he or she do?
DC: I am looking for people who are not afraid to take a chance with their characterizations and people willing to learn and adapt.

GCP Girl: Any special instructions for auditions?
DC: Come prepared with your sheet music and some shoes to dance in.

GCP Girl: Anything else you'd like to add for the good of the order?
DC: Come out and have a good time. Relax and just be yourself, or your character if asked!

Thanks, Dan! See more details about auditions on our Facebook event page. Break a leg, everyone!

xo xo GCP Girl