GTC - rockin it in Albany

Sumter Players is submitting not one, but TWO plays to this year's Georgia Theater Conference! The 2008 GTC is this week, October 15-18, and is taking place in Albany.

The Sumter Players submission was originally produced as part of our KidsWeek program - the children (20 1st-5th graders) will be re-staging their production of Percival the Performing Pig. The second play is also a re-staging: Becoming Memories, which was produced this fall at GSW. The general public is encouraged to attend both performances:

Percival the Performing Pig (children's theater competition)
Friday, October 17

9:00 am

Lake Park Elementary School

Becoming Memories

Saturday, October 18

10:00 am

Theater Albany

The winner at this conference will move on to the Southeastern Theater Conference in Birmingham next March. Come out and support Sumter Players!!

Other 2008 GTC entires include:

Colquitt County Arts Center, California Suite, 8:30 am, Saturday

Lion Heart, Controlling Interests, 11:30 am, Saturday

Take the Sumter Players 2008 Audience Survey!!

We need your help!

The Sumter Players Board of Directors has put together a short survey, and we're looking for your feedback. Your responses will help us in our decision-making, including helping us choose the shows for our upcoming season.

If you have attended a Sumter Players performance, please take 5 minutes to fill out the survey; you can access this survey by clicking on the link below.

Take the Sumter Players 2008 Audience Survey

This survey will close on Saturday, November 1, so be sure to get your responses in soon. Thanks for your feedback!!

Told you it was haunted

Take the tour...if you dare...

GSW Dramatic Arts Honorary, Alphi Phi Omega and The Windsor Hotel present...The Haunted Hotel!!

October 30-Nov 1,
5:00-10:00 pm
Admittions $5.00

Let them entertain us

I have not posted recently because my mind has been full of decidedly non-theater related subjects - i.e., the economy, the presidential election, the general state of the world, etc. But this blog is not a forum for such things, so I have abstained from making comments here. (But I couldn't hold back on my Facebook page.)

But what has society always turned to in order to forget our woes? The art of play-acting. Whether with actors on stage, a voice coming out of a box, or moving pictures, mankind has always been able to relax for a few hours, forget the troubles and imagine themselves in another time - and nothing can compares with the sheer captivation of live theater. Even during the Great Depression, the federal government recognized the need for people to lose themselves in a show and started the Federal Theater Project to keep actors employed and keep audiences' morale up.

So I encourage us all to indulge in a little reprieve. Take in a show - for those in Georgia, the Fabulous Fox theater in Altanta has some gems playing this season. Don't want to splurge on gas money? Take a look a bit closer to home. Theater Albany is currently running The Woman in Black. And, of course, Sumter Players presents The Gift of the Magi next month. Don't live in southwest Georgia? A quick search at www.citysearch.com should fill you in on the theater offerings in your area. Check it out - if it doesn't relieve your stress, I'll give you your money back!*

*I will not actually give you your money back, but I will send you a sincere letter of apology.

Save the date: Becoming Memories

Back by popular demand! GSW did a production of Becoming Memories in August. They decided to re-run it now that students are back on campus - which means you have another chance to see it!

Here's how Samuel French describes the show:

This haunting, unusual play was created with members of the Illusion Theatre of Minneapolis, using their real life stories and those of their families to create a richly textured portrait of small town America from 1911 to the present. The play follows five families through three generations.

The show runs October 3-5 and it's free! Come out to support GSW's fine arts program and see a great show!

The hip-hooray and ballyhoo

Did anyone watch the Emmy's last night? Aside from the LAMEST HOSTS IN THE HISTORY OF AWARDS SHOWS, I was struck by something in the program - how many awesome TV shows there were to honor. As many presenters and winners point out, so much great writing is being done for TV these days. Which got me thinking...

Remember the Tony's? Why is it that, with few exceptions, all the awesome shows were revivals? Why is Broadway so scared to do something different? And even when they do - like with In the Heights, it's still a relatively safe bet, something that still follows the proven formular and is easy to market. Broadway has been invaded by - though it pains me to admit it, for I still love them - Disney and their ilk, running amuck and bringing the Broadway equivalent of blockbusters to bear. How's a new show to get ahead? How can we find the next Sondheim or Larson if the producers are all sitting around trying to figure out how to make Sex and the City into a musical (from what I hear, Candace Bushnell is waiting for the call)?

Broadway producers, please, listen and answer my plea: BRING CREATIVITY BACK TO BROADWAY! Make it, once again, a place where dreams come true for poor, penniless musicians, composing music in their tiny cupboard-sized apartments. We all will win.

How to Succeed (if you're a dude)

Last night I watched "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" for the first time. Man...what a show to watch in an election year in which we almost had our first woman presidential nominee and do have the first female Republican VP nominee. Ladies, if you're wondering just how far we've come in the workplace since the 1960s, have a listen to "A Secretary is Not a Toy" and watch the "Hard at Work" scene in which the ladies of the office spend all morning primping. Yeesh.

All that aside, it's a very fun show and a clever lampoon of Big Business that's scarily accurate today. Too bad there's only one female who sings in the "Brotherhood of Men" number - it's one of the best showtunes of all time.

Looking at the archives, it appears Sumter Players has never done "How to Succeed..." It might be cool to do it in an ironic, not-so-nostalgic way, kind of like the TV show Mad Men. What do you say, Sumter County? Should we bring it to the Rylander?