06/29/2007
Category: General
Wizard of Oz at the Shea
The Country Players will present the classic musical Wizard of Oz at the Shea Theater stage on July 6. 7. 13, 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for seniors and students under 18. Tickets are available at the World Eye Bookshop or by calling the Shea at 863-2281. For more information see the web site at www.countryplayers.org
Join Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion at the Shea Theater this summer as they follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. Watch as Dorothy finds herself somewhere over the rainbow and meets Glinda in her flying bubble, dances with the munchkins, overcomes her fears of lions, tigers, and bears, and escapes from the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys. Although she is only a young girl from Kansas, Dorothy endures all of this in an attempt to be granted a passage home from the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.
Dorothy_Cayla Plasse - Greenfield
Scarecrow - Kati Delaney - Ashfield
Lion - Theresa Chadwick - Belriccca
Tinman - Bob Delaney - Ashfield
Wicked Witch - Mo Hart - Brattleboro
Glinda - Sue MacDonald - Conway
Auntie Em - Sharon Wyers - Northfield
Uncle Henry - David Grout, Sr.- Keene
Toto - Makenzie Plasse - Greenfield
Producer - Amy Connelly - Turners Falls
Director - David Grout - Turners Falls
Choreographer - Sara Gibson - Greenfield
Music Director - Erin Richman - Westminster
Sets - Ryan Williams - Turners Falls
Could it be that the Wicked Witch of the West’s daughter is a munchkin? The scarecrow is actually the Tinman’s daughter?. Glenda’s daughter is a jitterbug? Toto is really Dorothy’s sister? Auntie Em has a munchkin in her family? They haven’t rewritten the plot lines, but when the Country Players cast their upcoming summer musical, the classic Wizard of Oz, it was clear that this is a way to combine togetherness with summer fun for many families in the area.
The next two weeks will be busy ones for the 72 member cast as they work toward the July 7 opening at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. The actors range in age from 3 to 53. The Wizard’s son hangs lights. The producer’s daughter paints sets. In all there are fourteen groups of two or more from the same family acting in OZ this summer. They represent 13 towns in Franklin County, as well as Keene, Brattleboro, Hadley, Athol and Royalston. The lion travels all the way from Nashua, NH.
The Country Players is a non-profit, volunteer group which has entertained Franklin County for 28 years. They are one of the three companies resident at the Shea Theater. That means that they have been on the calendar for 3 shows each year since the Shea opened in 1990. Typically, the summer musical brings in a wider audience and a larger cast, while the two dramatic plays in the Spring and Fall showcase a smaller group of actors and give new directors the chance to develop their talents. The Country Players depend on a wide variety of players, from families who return year after year, to first-time dancers, to friends who are recruited for a specific part. Two open audition dates in April brought in
"We are lucky to have many opportunities to participate in theater in our region, either on stage or behind the scenes" says somebody, "Performers flow between the various groups depending on their schedules and interest in the material.
Musical director Erin Richman, who made her Shea theater debut last summer as TCP’s Cinderella, teaches music in the Athol/ Royalston schools. She publicized the auditions among her students. Sara Gibson, a GCC student and Choreographer, recruited Mahar students from her recent experience directing Seusical there. And director David Grout brought his father in to play Uncle Henry, an understandable bit of nepotism.
Dorothy will be played by 14-year-old Kayla Plasse of Greenfield. She has been humming “over the rainbow” since her final performance as one of the not-very-ugly stepsisters last July, and she was very happy to be cast from a range of Dorothy hopefulls.
David got his theater credentials at Keene State College. The Country Players introduced him to his wife-to-be Maureen Connelly while both sang and danced their way through River City in The Music Man in 2005. Maureen started as one of the royal children in the King and I back in 1994 and has played everything from a nanny in Turn of the Screw to a military clerk in A Few Good Men. Next summer wedding bells will pre-empt theatrics. But they’re not the only ones, Jack Arnot of Orange met his wife Bonnie while acting in Godspell in 1984. He’s back this summer to play the Palace Guard with two sons in the Emerald City.
The Wizard of Oz will be presented at the Shea Theater on July 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, July 15 at 2 pm.
When the Wizard of Oz comes to the stage of the Shea Theater in July, some lesser-known characters will have their time in the spotlight. Amy Connelly of Turners Falls has fabricated a trio of singing crows that are bigger than life. They join Scarecrow in the cornfield as Dorothy starts out along the Yellow Brick Road to OZ.
The 3 foot tall puppets have wings that flap and eyes that blink. They have affectionately been named Larry, Lippy , and Leo as each one developed a unique personality as it emerged from wire and feathers.
Amy is a member of The Country Players Board of Directors, and veteran director and producer of many dramatic shows over the past 15 years. Anyone who saw TCP’s production of Cinderella last summer will remember the pumpkin carriage and its mouse-turned-carriagehorse. Amy was the mastermind behind the creation of the dancing, blinking horse, whose dancing to “Impossible” was a real crowd pleaser.
When the Tin Man squeaks and clangs onto the stage, he will be showing his “metal.” Bob Delaney‘s costume is being fabricated by JB Hebert of South Deerfield, whose business WRXtra makes performance car parts for Subarus and other vehicles. He may have a few imported parts, but this Tin Man is American made!
Bob is joined on the stage by his daughter Katie, a student at GCC, as Scarecrow. In all there are at least 14 family groups performing or helping to produce OZ. The Wicked Witch’s daughter is a munchkin; Auntie Em’s daughter is a jitterbug; the Emerald City Guard has a winkie and a munchkin in his family.
Set designers are also hard at work constructing the three-sided rotating periactoid which will change the scene from Kansas to the Emerald City to the Wicked Witch’s castle. As to how Glinda appears out of a bubble, we’re not sure how they are going to manage that.
The Country Players will present the classic musical Wizard of Oz at the Shea Theater stage on July 6. 7. 13, 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for seniors and students under 18. Tickets are available at the World Eye Bookshop or by calling the Shea at 863-2281. For more information see the web site at www.countryplayers.org
For a sneak preview, see Cayla Plasse, 14 year old Greenfield High School student, as Dorothy at the Carnegie Library’s summer reading program for children on June 28 at 2 p.m.
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