Director’s Notes
Gail Kennedy
For the last four years I’ve had the privilege of directing a very talented group of people, the PebbleCreek Singers, and I have come to value them both musically and personally. I’ve discovered that the members of the chorus are in harmony whether they are singing or just enjoying each other’s fellowship.
The PC Singers is made up of seventy-seven people from many diverse backgrounds whose common denominator is the love of music and singing. The choristers range in age from fifty-eight to eighty-eight years old, the median age being seventy-three. The chorus has six married couples: Edna and Ken DeFord, Ingrid and Mike Grippando, Rita and Les Lindenmuth, Faith and Walt Kalback, Bev and Gary Griggs and Carol and Bill Palmer. We have a pair of sisters as well, Joyce and Monica Rozwadowski.
Members have come from all over the United States and have various career experiences. We have former doctors, lawyers, military personnel, professors and teachers, nurses, managers, executives, engineers, secretaries, social workers, decorators, bakers, homemakers, mathematicians, piano teachers, etc.
Musical experiences are as varied as vocations. Chorus members have participated in high school and college choruses, community choirs, church choirs, community theater, bands and orchestras. A few of the members are singing in a chorus for the first time, something they have always wanted to do but had no time to do previously. We have pianists, organists, a trumpet player, a percussionist and a harpist. Most members can read music, but a few cannot. Taking our varied musical skills into account, I select some challenging octavos for the concerts that are balanced with some less difficult pieces.
When I became the choral director in 2010 the PC Singers were already performing at a high level of proficiency. I am committed to guiding and helping the singers to continue to grow and improve their musical skills. Currently we are focusing on enunciation of words, using various musical exercises to develop vocal clarity. We are also working on blending our sound. We listen to each other as we are singing, striving to sound as one with many parts. Our a cappella numbers contribute to our attaining a good blend as well. Sound projection is another area that we are cultivating, improving our posture and our breathing to produce a fuller sound. Memorizing four numbers for each concert has made us more aware of the importance of projecting our voices to provide better sound for our audiences. We continually work on all these things, and others, so that the PC Singers can reach their fullest potential.
What a time we live in; what a community we live in. I am truly blessed to be the director of these wonderful, talented people who give so much of their time and energy to the PebbleCreek Singers.
Save the Date
Rehearsals for Mama Won’t Fly start the week of July 14, 2014.
PC Players Membership Meeting: September 30, 2014
PC Players’ October production is comedy Mama Won’t Fly
Judi Blankenship
An outrageously funny race against the clock begins in Mama Won’t Fly when Savannah Sprunt Fairchild Honeycutt agrees to get her feisty mother all the way from Alabama to California in time for her brother’s wedding. Savannah’s problem: Mama will not fly, by airplane, that is. With only four days to make it to the ceremony, this determined daughter has no choice but to drive cross-country with her equally willful mother, Norleen Sprunt, in Mama’s vintage sedan. If that isn’t enough, the bubbly, over eager bride to be arrives unannounced to go with them. Haley Quinn, delighted to finally meet her future in-laws, is convinced that traveling together to her wedding is the perfect way to bond. The folly of her decision becomes apparent as soon as the journey begins. Chaos ensues in an underwear museum while visiting Texas relatives along the way, after meeting up with a high-jacked eighteen wheeler and during a riotous detour to Vegas. As the misadventures multiply, the beleaguered trio rapidly develops the urge to ditch each other anyplace along the way.
The 24 characters in the play will be played by 14 cast members. That number may be a record for Players’ productions. Some of the cast will be playing multiple roles. The cast includes a combination of veteran actors returning to the stage, new members with previous acting experience and budding thespians ready to try out their talents.
The actors are Kathryn Brill, Barbara Faler, Patrice Cole, Ann Silverstein, Rita Longley, KT Tanner, Sheila Jacobson, Carolynn Campbell, Arnold Reed, Bob Lang, Jim Greer, Karl Schmit, Michael Scherer and Steffen Jacobson.
This funny, family friendly Jones-Hope-Wooten comedy will have you chuckling your way across the country and the aisle so mark your calendars for October. We will announce ticket sale dates later this summer.