Left to right: Pat Ingalls, Bill Barnard, Kathy Mitchell, Jack Sarsam, Traci Baker
Resident performers rock the Renaissance Theater
Kathy Mitchell
The season is in full swing at the Renaissance Theater. PebbleCreek residents are delighted to attend a variety of shows by visiting artists. In addition, the local productions presented by PC Players, ShowTime, Big Band, and PC Singers are underway. The expansion of the backstage and theater upgrade continues to emphasize the value that Robson places on the quality of the performing arts in PebbleCreek. In addition to bringing in visiting artists, the Renaissance Theater has hosted quality performances presented by resident performers. Over the past 10 years, thousands of our residents have enjoyed the performances of the PebbleCreek performers and consider the PC performing arts a very special feature of living in this community.
Recently, to show that appreciation, the residents of PebbleCreek wanted to reinforce their support for locally presented shows and did so by circulating and signing a special letter and presented the results to the HOA and RCI. The residents who signed the letter represented audience goers who have enjoyed a wide variety of shows at PebbleCreek. Over half the signers have lived in PebbleCreek more than 10 years – a real testament to the support for the performing arts. Present to receive the letter of appreciation was Jack Sarsam, President and Treasurer PCHOA, Bill Barnard, General Manager and Traci Baker, Director of Community Activities and Communications. (Also attending: Pat Ingalls, representing PC Singers ShowTime and Big Band and Kathy Mitchell representing PC Players, ShowTime, and Big Band)
It’s exciting that we have a facility that can support so much in bringing quality entertainment to PebbleCreek. The residents who signed the letter were eager to share their appreciation and thanks! Hoping that that HOA will continue to recognize the value of homeowner-based performances and what they add to making PebbleCreek Resort the first class community that it has become.
PC Players open auditions
Melissa Kallett
The PC Players will hold Open Auditions for their fall production, The Game’s Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays) on Tuesday/Wednesday, April 11 and 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Renaissance Theater. Acting experience isn’t required, but you do need to be enthusiastic about performing in this comedy! Named the Best Mystery Play of 2012 by The Mystery Writers of America, The Game’s Afoot (or Holmes for The Holidays) is a fast-paced ensemble piece filled with great roles and keeps everyone guessing “who done it?” right up to the very end of the show!
Set in December, 1936, Broadway star William Gillette, acclaimed the world over for his portrayal of The Great Detective in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast-members to spend the holiday weekend at his mansion. Things start off well enough, but quickly turn sour when one of the guests winds up dead! Who did it? Hard to say since everyone there has motive, means and plenty of opportunity! Isolated and unsure who he can trust, Gillette must don his Holmes persona to try and solve the mystery. Accusations abound! Alibis crumble! Secrets are revealed! Murderous pandemonium prevails! And then a real detective shows up!
Cast requires three men and five women:
William Gillette – Should display both Holmes like look and ego. He is tall, slender in figure, aquiline in feature, self-contained and forceful in stage presence.
Martha Gillette – William’s mother, a somewhat vague and dithering woman.
Felix Geisel – He is histrionic and arch in a Lionel (or John) Barrymore sort of way.
Marde Geisel – She is flamboyant and wry in a Rosalind Russell smart-mouthed-gal-about-town sort of way.
Simon Bright – Sweet, good-natured and enthusiastic. He is innately affectionate towards Aggie.
Aggie Wheeler – Beautiful, bright-eyed and full of spunk. She is innately affectionate towards Simon.
Inspector Goring – She is eccentric and one of a kind. One minute she seems wry and clever, the next she’s off in a world of her own.
Daria Chase – She is gorgeous, glamorous, someone you can’t take your eye off; you can’t help liking her, despite all of her show-biz cattiness.
Production dates for the show are October 18 through 21 with full up rehearsals starting August 1 and continuing on Tuesday and Thursday nights until the performance. Rehearsals will be held over the summer for cast members that remain in the area.
Audition information, along with copies of the script, are available by contacting Patti Wegehaupt (the Producer) at 623-536-7233.
If you want to be involved with the show, but aren’t keen about performing on the stage, there are many other ways to get involved—set design/construction, costumes, props, special effects, stage crew—to name a few. We’d love to have you as part of the team.
Questions about the show or how to get involved? Contact the Director, Melissa Kallett, at 623-882-6170. Don’t be bashful—audition and become part of The Games Afoot mayhem.
Spamalot is here
Laurie Farquhar
Those crazy knights from Camelot are almost here. Do you have your ticket for ShowTime’s production of Spamalot?
Spamalot opens in just a few days on Monday, April 3 and runs through Saturday, April 8. Tickets are only $15 and are available at the Eagle’s Nest kiosk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to noon.
So come see one of the funniest, most colorful, over-the-top shows to ever hit the Renaissance Theater stage. But be forewarned; you will never think of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in the same way again!
Auditions for Back to Nashville
Laurie Farquhar
Put on your cowboy boots and grab your diamonds because the Nashville-to-Vegas bus is making a return trip and you are invited to be a part of the journey.
In 2012, ShowTime’s hit musical revue, Nashville to Vegas, explored how country music has evolved over the years to become one of the most popular music styles in the United States. This November, Director Chanca Morrell will continue the story with Back to Nashville. There will be new songs, dances and comedy routines that will have PebbleCreek audiences laughing and dancing in the aisles.
Back to Nashville will run six nights from Monday, November 13 to Saturday, November 18, but auditions will be held this month on Monday, April 17, Tuesday, April 18 and Tuesday, April 25, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., in the Renaissance Theater. For more information about what songs to prepare and other audition material, please contact Chanca at [email protected] or 602-321-4020. To book an audition time, please contact Assistant Director Louise Dick at [email protected] or 623-536-9643.
The Roving Readers traveled to three schools in the Dysart School District to perform for kindergarten through second graders.
PC Players and Readers Theater celebrate Dr. Seuss
KT Tanner
Teachers in tutus and children in colorful combinations all came together to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Several students wore Cat in the Hat hats; some put wire in their braids to make them curl up or plastic cupcake baking cups to hold their pigtails in place. Seven animated Roving Readers, a reader’s theater group within The PC Players, recently traveled to three schools in the Dysart School District to perform for kindergarten through second graders attending Western Peaks, Canyon Ridge and Marley Park in Surprise.
Young Theodor Seuss Geisel liked to read comic strips, write funny poems and draw his own cartoons. He loved to go to the zoo with his Dad who worked there and always brought his sketch pad along to draw the animals. Once his first book was published his writing career developed quickly. Whenever he had writers block he’d take a hat out of his secret closet full of 100 hats, put on the hat and eventually he’d be inspired to continue writing.
The first book performed, Come Over to My House by Dr. Seuss, describes the way children in other countries eat, sleep, live and play. The best house has a wide open door welcoming family and friends. The second book, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut, also by Dr. Seuss, is a fun and fanciful book that describes the wonders of using your imagination when you read and discover the world around you.
Dr. Seuss wrote 46 books translated into 30 languages. These books have found their way into millions of hearts and homes. Roving Readers participants were Barb Risden, Sandy Mesnick, John Gimon, Bobbie Harris, Di Week, KT Tanner and Ann Silverstein.
Opportunity knocks: April
PC Players
Tuesday/Wednesday, April 11 and 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Renaissance Theater
PC Players is holding auditions for their October, 2017 production of the The Game’s Afoot, a very funny who-done-it. The cast needs three men and five women who are enthusiastic about performing in this very lively, fast-paced comical show. Audition information, along with copies of the script, is available by contacting Patti Wegehaupt (the producer) at 623-536-7233. Questions on the details? Contact Melissa Kallett, the show’s director, at 623-882-6170. (See our article for the descriptions of each character.)
ShowTime
Monday April 17, Tuesday April 18 and Tuesday April 25, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., in the Renaissance Theater
ShowTime is holding auditions for Back to Nashville. For more information about audition material, please contact Chanca at [email protected] or 602-321-4020. To book an audition time, please contact Assistant Director Louise Dick at [email protected] or 623-536-9643.
Musician of the month: Bruce Birnel
Norma Whitley
Each month the PebbleCreek Musicians Club will highlight the lives of members of the various instrumental groups that have been formed as a result of their association with our club. This month we are pleased to feature Bruce Birnel, director of the PebbleCreek Big Band.
Bruce was born in Brooklyn, New York and started piano lessons at the age of eight. Upon receiving his baccalaureate degree in piano from the Juilliard School of Music he entered Teachers College at Columbia University in New York where he earned his Master of Arts degree in education.
In 1963 Bruce began his first teaching assignment in Brooklyn, New York. It was during these years that he expanded his involvement in the wedding band business and for 25 years ran one of the more successful musical organizations performing in and supplying bands for social functions throughout the New York City metropolitan area.
In 1971, following a change in teaching assignments to middle school in Flushing, New York, he helped organize the music program at the school. As choral director he achieved city-wide recognition for establishing one of the city’s finest music curriculums and in 1991, his school’s chorus was chosen to represent the New York City borough of Queens where he conducted them in concert at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan as part of the city’s Salute to Music Program.
Bruce was one of the founding members of the Music Educators Association of New York City, an arts advocacy group, which was instrumental in getting both the fine arts and performing arts programs restored to the city’s schools just prior to his retirement.
Following his retirement from the New York City School System in 1995, Bruce moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1997 where he resumed a relationship began in 1964 when he first met an English/Drama teacher by the name of Mimi. In 2000 he and Mimi were married and moved to PebbleCreek in June of that year.
Bruce is a former member of the board of directors for the West Valley Youth Orchestra, as well as a former member of the Goodyear Arts and Culture Commission. He is also a member of the PebbleCreek Shalom Club and a former member of both the PebbleCreek Singers and PebbleCreek Computer Club.
Bruce may be found on Tuesdays with his fellow PebbleCreek Musicians at the Renaissance Theater enjoying their music. The PebbleCreek Big Band, under the direction of Bruce Birnel, performs each year in the spring in the Burst of Music, which celebrated its tenth anniversary just last month.
When asked what he enjoys most about the PebbleCreek community, Bruce shared, “I love the diversity of people here at PebbleCreek. Meeting people from all across these United States each with their own subcultures and values.”