theater

Although tonight is the opening night for the Batavia Rotary's 62nd annual musical production, Director Patrick Burk is no stranger to this year's beloved selection.

"I was in 'Oliver' when I was very young, and I've directed it before," Burk says. "It's great for families and it's a classic story by Charles Dickens. A lot of people with young families will be able to connect to it, and that's the audience that we want to appeal to."

Burk, who lives in Batavia, is also accustomed to working with children, as he annually directs the GoArt! Summer Youth Theater productions, which have had as many as 80-plus children in their casts. However, this show is unique in its mix of young and old actors alike.

"Working with a combination of young kids and older adults is amazing," he says. "The way that the older people pick things up from the younger people, and vice versa, is very interesting to me."

One of the younger people is Jordan McNees, who has the title role of Oliver Twist. The 11-year-old from Brockport, who has previously appeared as Ralphie in Geva Theatre's production of "A Christmas Story," says that he has enjoyed working with the other kids.

"It's a lot of fun. They're all really nice, and they're all great influences on me," he says. "They give me tips and advice."

One thing that he needed no advice on was his British accent, which he picked up with little difficulty.

"I watched a lot of British movies, so it was actually pretty easy to get it," he says.

Burk says that vocal director Deanna Spiotta played a large role in helping the cast master their accents.

"Deanna is very good with accents and vocals," he says. "A lot of people ended up learning relatively quickly. The accents were especially important because the show has a lot of strong characters that call for strong vocalization."

Paul Spiotta, who has the role of Fagan, agrees that his daughter has done an impressive job.

"If I'm going to be completely honest, with all due respect to all the past vocal directors for Rotary shows I've been in, she's the best so far," he says. "She's really done a thorough job in preparing everyone."

The elder Spiotta says he has enjoyed getting into his villainous role.

"There are a couple of scenes where I have to be really mean, and I try to get better at those every night," he said.

The combination of young and old does not end on stage; there is a wide range of ages working behind the scenes as well. Jonathan Adams, who is around the age of many of the children in the show, is working as a stagehand while his brother and sister portray orphans.

"I basically help out and get props ready and make sure the actors aren't missing anything, and lift boxes and stuff," he explains. "I like helping so the actors won't have to do as much work, since they're already working a lot on stage. And so that Mr. Burk won't have to do as much."

No matter what age, everyone interviewed agrees that they are ready for opening night.

"I think it's going to be great," says McNees. "The cast has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the show, and there's so many fun and exciting parts. It'll make you laugh and cry."

Performances are tonight, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Batavia High School auditorium. Tickets are $16 and can be purchased in advance at www.bataviarotary.com or at the door.

The search is on for Oliver! The 2010 Batavia Rotary Club Production of "Oliver!" is calling all actors and actresses between age 6 and 14 to audition for the title role and 35 other roles, which portray orphans and/or pickpockets.

Throughout August, Laurie Mastin, show chair, and Director Patrick Burk, will scout Western New York for 36 young thespians for the 62nd Rotary Show Musical Production.

"Oliver!" will be performed Nov. 4 – 7, with rehearsals starting Sept. 13.

Auditions will take place at Batavia High School, 260 State St., at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.

All young people will learn a song, sing in small groups, work on choreography and present a monologue from the show. No experience is necessary.

Batavia Rotary is looking for a great cross section of young actors and actresses to be a part of the largest Rotary Show in recent memory. Joining in the selection process will be past cast members of "Oliver!" and a long list of guest judges in the areas of dance, music and acting.

At the conclusion of the Oliver Search 2010 evening, the top 36 -- who will be cast in the show -- will be announced, along with several runners-up.

The announcement of who will play the title role will happen after the adult and ensemble auditions. These will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 and 8 at Batavia High School. All 36 youngsters will be asked to attend those evenings as well.

Parents of young actors and actresses interested in Oliver Search 2010 are asked to call and register their Oliver hopefuls with Mr. Burk at his office, 1 (585) 343 9721.

All pre-registered actors and actresses will be given audition numbers and be asked to show up at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.

Walk-in auditions that have not pre-registered are also welcome. They will be added to the audition process on a first-come-first-serve basis and will receive audition numbers upon arrival.

For more information, please call Patrick Burk at 1 (585) 343-9721 or Laurie Mastin at 1 (585) 344-5880.

In the June 6 article, "Batavia native brings fresh creative energy to local theater," Heather Ackerman was quoted as saying that the East Bethany Old Town Hall (her theater company's venue) has seating for 100 people.

The East Bethany town supervisor has since stated that the venue can really only seat 50 people. Because of the building's age, town officials do not feel comfortable with it being advertised for too large a crowd.

Televisions and cameras surround the action, and music thumps out of the huge speakers. People saunter by in black leather and chains, brandishing signs and video cameras. Has Judas Priest come to town? No, it's the Batavia Players' 'Shakespeare in Springtime' production of Richard III this weekend at Batavia High School. 

"It's very contemporary," says director Jane Burk. "The show goes to a very dark place, and I wanted to take advantage of that."

The show is very dark, indeed. It follows Richard, the younger brother of King Edward IV of England, and his plot to become king -- even if it means killing whoever gets in his way. 

"The play is called 'The Tragedy of Richard III' but it is not actually a true Shakespeare tragedy," Burk explains. "It was part of a series he wrote about that specific time period in English history. It's a historical play."

"[Richard III is] pretty much a guy who's really upset because he's deformed physically, and his family has rejected him," says Anthony Giambrone of his title role, which has the second-largest number of lines of any Shakespearean character. "He basically wants to become king to make people love him."

Aside from the setting and costumes, there is another unexpected twist to the show: the performance takes place behind the curtains, in the center of a ring of chairs on stage. The audience members will be sitting in these chairs, only feet away from the action, mimicking the feel of a black-box theater.

"The Batavia Players are in the process of building a black-box theater, and we had originally hoped that this would be the first show performed there," says Burk. "So when we began rehearsals, we blocked everything in this style. Once we found out that we were going to be performing here at Batavia High instead, we decided we still wanted to keep the intimacy of a black box and not just do it straight out to the audience."

"I think it's really, really cool," says Giambrone, who has previously performed in a black-box setup. "But it's a lot harder because you have the people right there in front of you, watching you really closely." 

"It's the first show I've done like this, so it's been a challenge," says Rachel Oshlag, who has the role of Queen Elizabeth. 

Although Oshlag may be inexperienced when it comes to the setup of the stage, she is no stranger to the stage itself. This is her seventh Shakespeare show, and her twenty-first year of doing theater. 

"It becomes easier each year," she says of performing Shakespeare, "but each show is its own challenge. You have to be careful how you say the lines and make it sound as close to (real) people speaking as possible." 

"Shakespeare is poetry. There's a rhythm to it that helps a lot," says Jesse Conklin, who plays Buckingham, one of Richard's right-hand men. This is Conklin's fifth 'Shakespeare in Springtime' production.

James Earl, an Elba High School senior portraying Lord William Hastings, says that for him, the highlight of the show hasn't been the costumes or the dialogue. 

"The best part about it is that I get beheaded, and then I come on carrying my head later.  The head is a cabbage in a bag," laughs Earl. "It's a lot of fun."

Performances of Richard III are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at BHS.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.bataviaplayers.org or at the door, and are $10 general admission and $8 for students and seniors.

For 45 years, the Batavia Players have had to do without a place to call their own. Now, at last, they will have their own theater in the historic Batavia Industrial Center on Harvester Avenue.

According to board member Michelle Stamp, BP president Patrick Burk "put a lot of legwork into finding a physical space for us."

"It always helps the actors when they have a space to call their own," she adds.

"This is a really exciting thing for us to be doing," said Matt Mayne, BP board member and actor. "Hopefully, it will help to draw more attention to the building, which is definitely historic."

The location of the new theater is BIC's new Artisan Center, which the Mancuso Business Development Group wanted to establish in order to increase their own business activity.

The Artisan Center not only helps foster a relationship between business and the arts locally, but also affords artists of various stripes the chance to support each other.

"We will be doing things to encourage other artists," Burk said. "There will be areas in the Artisan Center in which they can work. And we'll also have people who come in regularly for BP events and shows, and we'll allow people to display their artwork for people to see."

Burk, Stamp and Mayne all believe that the coming change will prove beneficial to actors and their performances as well. One of the greatest challenges they have dealt with in the past was that of finding, in Mayne's words, "readily available space."

"Before, we would be in situations where we weren't sure what venue we'd be performing in," Stamp said. "Now we'll have our own space we can become accustomed to, we'll know what we have to work with, and we'll have all the materials at hand."

"Our types of performances will change," Burk said, "because we'll experience greater flexibility in terms of what we can do and when. We've had shows that we've wanted to do for quite some time that we'll now be able to fit into this venue."

The new theater's black-box format, which will have audience members seated to the right and left of the stage as well as in front, also offers fresh creative challenges and opportunities.

"This type of set up requires actors to do a little bit more, because people will be watching them from three sides instead of just one," Mayne said.

All BP performances -- beginning with the Spring 2010 show -- will be held in the Artisan Center except for the Summer Youth Theatre performances, which tend to require greater stage space. Please contact the Batavia Players for more information.

The following video was taken at Batavia High School on Friday, Jan. 8, before and after the Encore Theatre Arts performance of Disney's "High School Musical." There is another performance tonight at 7:30 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the BHS auditorium.

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvrrisCIuSs

The Disney Channel's immensely popular "High School Musical" franchise comes to the local stage!

The cast of Encore! Theatre Arts' production of "High School Musical" at the Richmond Memorial Library - left to right: Alex Grayson (Chad), Brian Bogdan (Troy), Samara Brown (Gabriella), Justin Ryan (Ryan), Cara Ferraro (Kelsi), Kiera Davis (Taylor) and Tara Kaczorowski (Sharpay).

Performances aren't until January, but fans young and old got a sneak peak Tuesday night at the Richmond Memorial Library. The show's seven main cast members came running into the library's Gallery Room -- each fully in character -- to perform some of the play's songs, including "We're All in This Together."

Children and their families who attended could buy advance tickets to the show, and anyone who did so was rewarded with free HSM gift items.

"The kids love [HSM]," said Sandra Gillard, RML children's librarian and coordinator of the event, "so this seemed like a great cooperative venture."

The library has done similar preview programs with other groups in the past (see, for example, article on RML's "Cinderella" program at http://preview.tinyurl.com/ye5kecg), and Encore! Theatre Arts, being a fairly new organization, was interested in a similar collaborative effort.

ETA was founded in June by Eric Traugott, who is also producer and musical director for HSM.

"I wanted to make sure that there continued to be quality theater in Batavia and Rochester," Traugott said. "We have a lot of great groups already, but I still wanted to fill in the gaps and make sure there's always something available."

ETA has put on many performances in Batavia and in Rochester since its inception, but arguably none are comparable to HSM in popularity. The kids who came on Tuesday knew all of the words to the songs, and one young girl even commented that her basketball coach uses HSM lyrics to motivate his team.

Traugott and Director Lynda Hodgins hope people will be happy to see this nationwide phenomenon in the hands of local talent.

Performances of HSM will take place at Batavia High School from Jan. 7-10. For information on times, tickets sales and other details, please visit www.encoretheatrearts.com.

On Tuesday, December 1, tickets for Encore! Theatre Arts’ January production of Disney’s High School Musical will be on sale to the general public. Whether you’re buying a holiday gift for theatre goers or the East High “wildcat” in your life, tickets to Disney’s High School Musical are a perfect choice.

Tickets are available for $10 advanced sale at Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle (located at 8 Center St., Batavia) during regular business hours. After 3 p.m. on show dates, tickets will be available for $12 at the venue door.

The show premieres January 7-10, 2010 at Batavia High School (260 State St., Batavia).

For more information, hours or phone orders, call Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle at (585) 343-0548 or visit http://adammillertoyandbicycle.com.