A different kind of church – going experience
Lance Motta-Vilensky
You may recall, as reported in the PebbleCreek Post in October exclusive Who are they now? it was revealed that the shadowy group known as PebbleCreek Players Community Theater wanted you to audition for their spring production of The Hallelujah Girls; a play that, despite the title, was guaranteed not to be a religious experience. Director Lee Vilensky and Assistant Director Shirley Robinson were seeking six female and two male cast members. It’s been disclosed by sources close to Vilensky and Robinson that, apparently, there was no shortage of PebbleCreekers interested in not having a religious experience!
The cast members, aka players, have been selected. So who are these people now, and who will they be come spring? Unfortunately details concerning both their nonfictional and fictional lives are yet to be sorted out. Look for those details in a future PebbleCreek Post exclusive.
What is known at this time is that The Hallelujah Girls is a side splitting comedy written by one of the most successful collaboration teams in the theater world, the playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. With thousands of productions of their plays around the country, they are among the most popular and widely produced playwrights in community theater. The Hallelujah Girls has been compared to Steel Magnolias and The Golden Girls, the latter of which Jamie Wooten was a writer and producer.
Take six women of a certain age, add a couple of men to the mix, and you have a recipe for uncertainty. The setting of The Hallelujah Girls is a previously abandoned church and, while not exactly creating a religious experience, it may reveal the most sacrosanct notion of all – that of living life to the fullest with a sense of humor and perhaps a little lust as well.
It just so happens that the most important detail, the dates of the performances here in PebbleCreek’s own Renaissance Theater, are known at this time: March 11, 12, 13 and 14. So mark your calendars! On one of those evenings you’ll be at the theater shouting Hallelujah!
Walmart Manager Irma Weaver (right) helps Donna Swagger and Ray Hadden select the Christmas trees that Walmart will loan PC Singers to decorate the theater for the upcoming concert.
We need a little Christmas
Donna Swagger
“We need a little music, need a little laughter; Need a little singin’, ringing through the rafter.” The PebbleCreek Singers’ Christmas concert has it all! The full chorus, sectional groups, ensembles and soloists will fill the Renaissance Theatre with a wide variety of festive music that is certain to put concert goers in the holiday mood. Dates for the 2014 Christmas concert are Tuesday, December 2 through Sunday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m.
Director Gail Kennedy has chosen an array of seasonal songs that are sure to delight audiences. The concert opener, We Need a Little Christmas, sets the tone for a spectacular program that is the biggest and best in the history of the PC Singers! The spirit of the season will be reflected in nineteen full chorus numbers that include some old familiar holiday songs intermingled with some new melodies. The sopranos and altos will be featured in a lighthearted, high spirited, sleigh ride number entitled Jing-a-Ling, Jing-a-Ling, that was recorded by the Andrew Sisters back in the 1950s. Our multi-talented tenors, baritones and basses show us that they not only can sing, but they also can imitate several musical instruments as they perform Listen to the Sounds in Heaven, a joyous celebration of the birth of the newborn King! A beautiful Hanukkah number Ose Shalom will be sung in Hebrew. Rounding out the program will be an expressive and richly harmonic acappella piece. The program closes with a powerful, majestic Christmas masterwork that brilliantly combines two popular choruses by George Frederic Handel.
First day of public ticket sales is Saturday, November 1 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. in the Renaissance Theatre. Tickets are $15 each and individuals may purchase up to six tickets per person. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the kiosk in the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse. Kiosk sales dates are Tuesday, November 4, Thursday, November 6 and Saturday, November 8 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. Kiosk sales will continue Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, November 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25 and 29 while tickets are available.
Director Kennedy and the PC Singers invite you to get into the holiday spirit with this wonderful event.