Kerrville to have Shakespeare in the Park

Playhouse 2000 and the City of Kerrville partner to bring local performance to Louise Hays Park

            The City of Kerrville has partnered with local community theater Playhouse 2000 to bring an exciting addition to the summer schedule in Louise Hays Park.  An outdoor performance of Shakespeare’s timeless comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be offered free to the public on June 1^st and 2^nd at 8:00 each night, with a possible Matinee performance at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 3^rd.

            City Manager Todd Parton and Playhouse 2000’s Executive Director Jeffrey Brown are finalizing plans to create this wonderful weekend on the river.

            Like many great outdoor Shakespeare events, this presentation will be inviting for whole families, who are encouraged to bring a blanket or chairs, share a picnic, and enjoy a timeless classic in a relaxed atmosphere.  This event offers pleasant evening entertainment on the refreshing banks of the Guadalupe River.  The evening shows will conclude by about 9:30 p.m.  No admission will be charged though voluntary contributions will be accepted to help defray costs and encourage further productions in later years.

            Directed by Heather Cunningham, the cast for this production is drawn from across the Hill Country, and includes many of the same talented actors who appeared in the Playhouse 2000 production of Much Ado About Nothing last season.  Among them are Ken DeZarn and Amelia Weatherford as Oberon and Titania, real-life couple Amy and Marcus Goodyear as Helena and Demetrius, and Kenzie Stewart as the mischievous Puck.

            A Midsummer Night’s Dream tells the story of four lovers who each want someone who they can’t have. The play includes two rulers from different worlds looking forward to their honeymoon; a group of clumsy actors, trying to put on a “tragic” play for their Duke’s upcoming wedding and the marital quarrels of two omnipotent beings, whose conflicts wreak havoc on the weather and those around them. All of this craziness is tied together by a mischievous imp. In one crazy night in the woods, Shakespeare teaches the audience about love, breakups, marriage, death, life, fairies, some odd plants and a donkey.

            Playhouse 2000 is Kerrville’s Community Theater, managing and performing in both the Kathleen C. Cailloux City Center for the Performing Arts and the VK Garage Theater, both on Main Street in Kerrville.  Details on this and other Playhouse 2000 events can be found on-line at www.CaillouxTheater.com or www.Playhouse2000.com, or by calling 896-9393.

Play2K to present ‘Do Not Go Gentle’

Playhouse 2000 will reopen the VK Garage Theater on the Washington Street side of the Cailloux Theater with “Do Not Go Gentle,” by Suzan L. Zeder. The blackbox theater will seat the audience on three sides of the stage, no one more than a few feet from the actors—a perfect venue for a play about resolving ragged relationships after a family’s matriarch has died.

The playwright is a professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Texas-Austin. She holds the endowed chair in Theatre for Youth/Playwriting at UT and her plays have been produced all over the world. “Do Not Go Gentle” was commissioned by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Play2K cast for “Do Not Go Gentle” includes Louise Leahy as Lillian Barron, recently deceased mother, grandmother and beloved aunt; Michael Stanard, as her son, Windsor; Mary Orms, as Kelly, Lillian’s adored granddaughter; Barbara French, playing Lillian’s niece Joanna; Sarah St. Clair, as the very funny Mildred Flumac, who is organizing the estate sale; and Christopher Lewis as Nobody, a 12-year-old neighborhood boy who became close to Lillian in the last year of her life.

“Do Not Go Gentle” examines the power of the written word and art to change lives. It also explores many of the issues connected to aging, as well as other family issues, such as the relationship between a mother who hates war and the military and a son who is a career Air Force officer. The play’s story is poignant, funny, and in many ways familiar to any parent or child. The interplay between Nobody, the “invisible” boy is alternately comic and heartrending, as he tells his story in flashbacks and works to establish himself as a member of Lillian’s family.

The elegant set, designed by director Jim Boman, hints at without actually revealing all the pictures Lillian painted in her last year or so—on the walls, ceilings, windows, furniture and bathroom fixtures. This delights the younger generation—Kelly calls it a house with tattoos. However, the older generation finds it disturbing—Windsor more than Joanna. Mrs. Flumac, who lives and dies by the cliché, is simply annoyed because it interferes with her setup for the estate sale.

The show will open on Friday, April 20, and will run at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings through May 5. There will be a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 29. Seating is limited and reservations are recommended. Call 830-896-9393 or go to the Cailloux Theater website to purchase tickets.

Rohe Series Concert to feature local student artists:

HCYO’s Animato Quartet will appear along with Esther Kim and Friends

In a cooperative venture bringing together international-class musicians and local talent, the upcoming concert by Esther Kim and Friends at the Cailloux Theater will feature an opening number by four members of the Hill Country Youth Orchestra.  Students will also take part in a Master Class and Open Rehearsal provided by members of the Kim trio the day before the concert.

“The Animato Quartet” includes violinists Eric Bowser, and Christopher Bowser, violist Kristoffer McElhaney , and cellist McKinley Glasser.  The four are long-time members of the Hill Country Youth Orchestra and have been playing together for about two years, performing in various special events throughout the Hill Country.

These four students will receive a special critique and practice session with internationally renowned violinist Esther Kim and the other members of her trio, national prize-winning cellist Joseph Kaizer and pianist Dr. Charles Webb, Dean Emeritus of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.  This Master Class, and the trio’s dress rehearsal for the Friday concert, will be seen by invited members of the Youth Orchestra.

On the night of the performance, The Animato Quartet will be featured in their performance of the first movement of the Beethoven String Quartet in F Major, Opus 18, No. 1, “Allegro con Brio,” before the balance of the evening’s concert featuring music by Haydn, Bach, Massenet, Mozart and more.

“Esther Kim and Friends” is presented in a single performance at the Kathleen C. Cailloux City Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, March 2 at 7:30 pm.  Tickets range from $10 to $25, and are available at the Cailloux Theater Box Office, by phone at (830) 896-9393, or online at www.CaillouxTheater.com.

The Kathleen C. Cailloux City Center for the Performing Arts – The Cailloux Theater -  is located at 910 Main Street in Downtown Kerrville, Texas, and is managed by Playhouse 2000, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

Playhouse 2000, Kerrville’s Community Theater, is hard at work rehearsing for the first play of its 2012 Season: Moon Over Buffalo, a laugh-out-loud comedy by Ken Ludwig.  The show will open in the beautiful Cailloux Theater on February 3 for a three-weekend run.

Like many plays by the American playwright Ludwig, Moon Over Buffalo is a fast-paced farce that will bring to mind the antics found in great old films such as Some Like It Hot and The Producers.  The story revolves around a pair of once-glamorous Broadway stars whose careers have fallen on hard times. When a phone call fom Hollywood director Frank Kapra offers an opportunity for international stardom they must pull off one great matinee – a cinch if their private problems don’t get in the way.

The cast features Playhouse veterans R Sheldon Boyce and Maggie Meek as faded actors George and Charlotte Hay, Amy Goodyear as their daughter Rosalind, Ken DeZarn as company manager Paul, Joan Bryson as Charlotte’s mother Ethel and Jerry Mertz as the Hay’s lawyer, Richard.  They are joined by newcomers Michael Stanard as the hapless weatherman engaged to Rosalind, and Animate Mazurek as the young starlet, Eileen.

All of these actors have been hard at work preparing for eight performances of Moon Over Buffalo on the stage of the Cailloux Theater – Fridays and Saturdays from February 3 through 18 at 7:30, plus a special Matinee performance on Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 and a “Pay What You Can” performance on Thursday, February 16 at 7:30.

Tickets range from $5 to $20, and as with all Playhouse performances, they are available at the Cailloux box office Monday through Friday 10am to 1pm or Saturday 10am to 3pm, by phone at (830) 896-9393, or online at ww.CaillouxTheater.com.  Season Passes for 2012 are still available at just $60 for all five Playhouse 2000 productions in Season 2012