Batavia Players

Batavia Society of Artists and Batavia Players teamed up Tuesday night for a unique arts event in Jackson Square. The artists made art, the players were the models, in character for an upcoming performance of "Alice in Wonderland." Artists were encouraged to paint or draw in whatever medium they preferred. Some sketched, some used acrylics and others put chalk to cement. The players also rehearsed their parts for the show. There was also a wine tasting featuring Midgard Winery, of Corfu.

Batavia Players just finished their third production this year directed by Anthony Giambrone. This past weekend, five performances were held at the Harvester 56 theater. Each performance had five sections of range from different types of broadway theater.  

We have a family friendly show, "Annie," that will make your heart melt when hearing the song "Tomorrow." Then we have a wild story of "Kinky Boots" where the challenge of singing modern pop music and still try to get the message across to the audience.  

"Wicked" has a reputation of being a showstopper and the cast had to live up to that. A challenge of women in "Leading Ladies" had a task of singing five different songs from five different musicals and had to find a way to make them flow together nicely.

The last section, "Hairspray," proved to be the largest section for both cast and director and it was the longest section in the show that called for the most dancing. The directing and choreographing of this show took a bit of extra time needed but was aimed to have the audience leave with smiling faces.

Batavia Players next show is "Xanadu" and runs from May 14-16th. For more upcoming events go to: http://www.bataviaplayers.org/

Sponsored Post: Donated to the Holland Land Office Museum by The Batavian.

Batavia Players sponsored a Mother's Day Madness Shopping Spree & Flower Fundraiser outside their playhouse at 56 Harvester Avenue this afternoon.

Batavia Players opened "On Broadway IV" tonight with a dinner theater production at Terry Hills.

The show offers selections from several Broadway musical hits, such as "The Heights," "Footloose," "Jersey Boys" and "Mamma Mia!"

The show continues this week at the 56 Theater, 56 Harvester Ave., Batavia, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday.

"On Broadway IV" is directed by Scott Laird and choreographed by Nikki Lanich.

The cast includes Brenda Andrews, Shellene Bailey, Alex Balbi, Aryn Bielski, Gabrielle Henry, Teressa Hirsch, Nash Johns, Kim Laird, Scott Laird, Nikki Lanich, Trevor Lee, Andrew Magin, Amy Martin, Paul Spiotta, Erin Stamp, Brianna Strassner, Anita Strollo, Serena Strollo-Dicenso, Amanda Melissa Taylor and Keara Zerillo.

Back in the spring of 2003, an ambitious group of local thespians decided to take a risk by boldly staging in Genesee County what no local troupe had staged here before: Shakespeare. Nine years later, "Shakespeare in Springtime" is thriving. This weekend the group is celebrating its 10th springtime with a repeat production of its first show, "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."

“Shakespeare wrote so many plays, and we wanted to choose something familiar that we could do justice to,” Director E. Jane Burk says of the group’s original decision to perform the show nine years ago. “It was very well-received. It showed us that there really are some people out there who are willing to come see Shakespeare.”

The characters, comedy, and iambic pentameter may be the same as it was a decade ago, but make no mistake — this show is “entirely different” and definitely “not a repeat of last time.” Whereas the pioneer effort took place in a Midwestern 1950s carnival, this time around the show has a San Francisco setting circa the 1960s. The traditional fairy characters have been changed to hippies, demonstrating, Burk explains, “the difference between establishment and anti-establishment.”

Cast members agree that despite the large gap in time periods, the play translates easily from the intended Shakespearean setting to the more contemporary backdrop.

“The characters are universal,” says Malloryann Flanagan, who has the role of Puck. “A lot of the themes are still prevalent in society and are still relevant today.”

Flanagan and her sister, Caryn Burk, are the only two cast members who also appeared in the original production. But although the majority of the ensemble did not take part in the first “Shakespeare in Springtime” show, many of them have been seen in at least one other production put on by the group. One such actor is Paul Judkins, who has the part of Egeus.

“It’s always a challenge,” says Judkins, who cites his favorite previous Shakespearean role as the title character in "Julius Caesar." “You can’t use your natural language — you have to find the meaning behind the words. At first it was mystifying.”

Derrick Pechie, who has the role of Oberon, the fairy king, agrees that understanding the language gets easier with time:

“My first lead role in a Shakespeare play was in 'Richard III' two years ago. I did not know what I was saying. But now I can read the script and right away I know what it’s talking about.”

The difficult language and seemingly hidden meanings are exactly what makes Shakespeare so attractive to cast member Shellene Bailey, however.

“The language is sneaky,” she declares. “It’s very in-depth and very funny. There are lots of jokes and innuendos. It's very beautiful.” 

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. March 22-24 and at 2 p.m. March 25 at the Harvester 56 Theater (located at 56 Harvester Ave. in Batavia). There will also be a dinner theater performance at Terry Hills on the 31st.  

A fast-paced performance entitled "Therapy" opens tonight in the Harvester 56 Theater on Harvester Avenue, Batavia.

The performance consists of various dances set to pop and rock songs that many members of the audience may identify. 

Genesee County natives Tara Pocock and Trent Jeffords came up with the concept and choreographed the production. In addition to the two choreographers, the cast includes Amanda Crowley, Zack Durkin and Erin Dunham.

The show, which lasts approximately one hour, is composed of numerous dances and a few spoken lines that tell the stories of fictional characters who take part in a group-therapy session. 

Due to the adult themes depicted in the dances, the production is recommended for teenagers and adults. 

Each of the characters has a specific personality and unique problems, which are more fully developed in the second act. The performers make good use of the black box stage, which allows audience members to have a good view of the dancers from three sides of the stage in this intimate setting.

"Sometimes we discover that what seems like the smallest of problems actually have an enormous effect on our lives, Jeffords said. "This show is the embodiment of this concept."

"Therapy" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The proceeds collected from audience members' suggested donation of $5 will be used to support community theater through the Batavia Players.

What the Dickens are the Batavia Players up to now?

According to Patrick Burk, the popular local theater group's president, they "wanted to do a wonderful Christmas gift to the community for the support of our new Harvester 56 Theater" this holiday season.

So they're putting on their own rendition of Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol," the story of Ebenezer Scrooge -- a greedy, bitter, lonely old miser whose whole way of looking at the world gets turned upside down by a series of ghostly visitations on Christmas Eve.

Burk described the show as "bright and colorful as well as technically magical."

"It has a classic storyline and has always been one of my favorites," he said. "I could never find where an original version had been done (in Batavia, at least). A couple of contemporary versions with modern day spins were done in the '70s and early '80s."

The Players, on the other hand, will be giving folks pure Dickens, without any modern spin. All costumes and sets are going to be traditional. The music will be "contemporary for the time (the early 1840s, to be precise)," but with a few newer carols, according to Burk.

Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in addition to a matinée performance at 2 o'clock on Sunday. All performances will be at the Harvester 56 Theatre, at 56 Harvester Ave. in Batavia.

Sunday's performance will be held for the benefit of the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation.

"Many of (the foundation's) members have been very supportive of us," Burk said, "I am so happy to be able to do this for them."

For those who are not familiar with Dickens' story, one of its most well-known and endearing characters is a sick child named Tiny Tim. Burk felt the Napoleone Foundation would be a "good fit" for this story.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children and seniors. They can be purchased through www.showtix4u.com.

WHAT: Batavia Players Summer Youth Theater production of CATS

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18-20th at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Batavia High School auditorium, 260 State St., Batavia

For most musical theater productions, the actors prepare by learning their lines, listening to show tunes, and practicing choreography. However, this year's Batavia Players Summer Youth Theater production of CATS required some slightly unorthodox preparation: the 64 young people who make up the cast got into character by watching their pets.

"Since I have three cats at home, it was easy to observe their movements and their habits and to draw from that to create my character," said Maryssa Peirick, who has the role of Victoria. This is not Peirick's first time playing a feline on stage: "I played the Cat in the Hat in "Seussical the Musical," though he's a very different kind of cat, and the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland," who actually does have catlike mannerisms."

Those cast members who live in cat-less homes, such as Batavia High senior Melzie Case, were forced to draw their inspiration from "cat lessons" and multiple viewings of the 1998 movie.

"It was rather challenging at first to act like a cat," said Case, who portrays "motherly" cat Jellyrolum. "The arm and leg movements are obviously much more different than those of humans. You also have to crawl on the ground instead of simply walking, and it's also good to scratch your 'fleas' every now and then." 

CATS, which opens tonight, is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that is based on T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." The show first opened in the West End in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982. Its 18-year run made it the second-longest running show in Broadway history, and it has won numerous awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Peirick, a recent Batavia High grad who is headed to Fredonia in the fall to major in vocal performance, said she was not immediately thrilled when she heard CATS had been chosen as the summer show despite its popularity.

"Initially I was completely repelled by it, but as auditions neared and I watched more, I became slowly interested in the characters, who seem to have quite extensive back stories -- even if not all of them are known," she said. "Though it is seriously lacking in plot, it makes up for it in creativity and visual entertainment, so there really is no such thing as a boring moment."

Director Pat Burk said he chose the show because of its uniqueness.

"It is a dream show that needs to be done correctly in order to be effective on stage," he explained. "It also allows for a large cast and you can do a tremendous amount with dance and music because it is an all-dance, all-music show. It is more like a modern opera."

The extensive dancing could easily have been a problem, but the young actors handled it like pros.

"It's so different from conventional theater, and because we're a community theater youth production, we simply don't have professional dancers to fill up the stage," Peirick said. "However, long hours of intense dance rehearsals have caused everyone to really come together and make the choreography come to life. I'm constantly impressed with my fellow cast members' progress."

Burk says he has been very impressed with the young actors' hard work and character interpretations, and is confident that the production will be a success.

"Judging from pre-sale tickets, which are more than double of last year's show, it will be well-received. The dress rehearsal went extremely well and it is quite a magical show."

The only downside to the experience?

"Now that we've been acting like cats for so long, we're starting to act like cats in real life!" Case said.

Tickets for CATS can be purchased online at www.showtix4u.com or by calling 1-866-967-8167.

The Batavia Players present:

...an original play, written and directed by Patrick D. Burk. 

Starring:

Nikki Lanich as the Young Girl

Nick Russo as the Southern Preacher

Brittaney Lang as the Emily Bronte Girl

E. Jane Burk as Mrs. Davenport

Shellene Bailey as the Jane Austen Girl

Norm Argulsky as Mr. Fisher

Caryn Burk as Honourine

Tiffany Widrick as Nancy Reagan

Ben Liebrand as the Young Boy

Matthew Mayne as Russell

Amanda Taylor as the Dance Hall Girl

Burk as the Older Man

Jeffrey Fischer as the Movie Man and Pianist

and David Porter as Robert

See Gretel Kauffman's article, "A romantic debut for the Harvester Theater," for background.

This first Batavia Players performance at the new Harvester 56 Theater kicked off Valentine's Day weekend with a series of monologues on a variety of experiences with love and infatuation.

With memorable dialogue and well-developed characters, "Love Lines" takes a look at ideas about and experiences with love and lust across time -- from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, love letters from the 1940s and modern day text-messaging.

It also spans the age spectrum, from a teenage boy and girl -- who attend an all boys' and all girls' school, respectively, of course -- meeting on a bus to an old man whose marriage is "not the same anymore...but what the heck? It's still love."

As the play opens, all of the characters gather on the set, each taking a seat. As the show progresses, relationships among the characters are revealed, attesting to Burk's talent as an imaginative playwright.

The actors did a superb job, especially considering the short time they had to memorize lines and rehearse.

Just a couple caveats:

• The theater's three-quarter round space and black-box format require some getting used to, depending on where you're sitting. It isn't like the typical theater experience, where everything is laid out before your eyes no matter where you're sitting.
• As can happen with plays for adults, there are some moments, words and opinions (expressed by characters) in the show that might upset people's moral sensibilities. 

All in all, "Love Lines" was a pretty impressive freshmen effort on the part of the Players as they settle into their new home.

With mere days until Cupid shoots his arrow, it's only natural that love is in the air in even the most unlikely places -- including Harvester Avenue. "Love Lines," an original Batavia Players' production written and directed by Patrick Burk, will honor St. Valentine through a series of monologues about romantic correspondence before cell phones. 

Although love is a familiar theme for a show, the venue is anything but old.  "Love Lines" will mark the debut of the Batavia Players' new black box theater on Harvester Avenue.  Burk says that the actors have found the small, intimate setting to be very comfortable: 

"It's been wonderful. It's great having our own theater space, and having all of our costumes right here. People are getting very excited. It feels like home."

Rather than having a plot, the show is made up of monologues by 15 different characters. Most of the monologues -- with the exception of one, which is about love through modern technology -- consist of, you guessed it, love lines.

A few classic love songs are mixed in throughout the show, as well as ongoing piano accompaniment by Jeffrey Fischer (pictured above). The show doesn't need a plot to convey its message, which is that love can take on many different forms, and can affect everyone.

Burk gives the example of a friend's parents who shared their first names with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Like the presidential couple, the other Ronald and Nancy had a relationship in which letters played a role.

"It shows the juxtaposition of how an unknown subway conductor and the most powerful man in the world can experience the same thing," he says.

Although all of the monologues are about love, not all of them center around traditional infatuation. The objects of affection featured range from Jane Austen to the aforementioned Reagans to the novel "Wuthering Heights."

A large part of the show is autobiographical: Burk's parents only met twice before marrying, resulting in over 150 love letters exchanged throughout their six-month engagement. These letters were the inspiration for the show, which Burk has been piecing together over the past several years. 

The actual rehearsals took no time, compared to the effort of putting the material together. The actors first saw their scripts less than three weeks ago. They rehearsed through a workshop-style format, a style that Burk says he would like to try again.

"It's been an interesting experience," he says. "I've enjoyed it immensely."

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 and 12 at the Harvester 56 Theater on Harvester Avenue. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at the door or at www.showtix4u.com.

Some of our readers had questions after reading Thursday's, "Opening gala showcases Batavia players' new theater on Harvester."

Here's some more information:

• Seating/Capacity: The new theater seats between 100-140 people.
• Ticket prices: These will vary depending on the show. The first play to be performed in the Harvester location will be an Honesty Theatre performance (click here for more information on this group) on Jan. 22; admission will be $10 per adult, $8 for children and seniors.
• Theater hours: At this time, according to Batavia Players' Board President Patrick Burk, the space is only open for rehearsals and performances. Burk hopes, eventually, to have people working there "around the clock" on various projects. 
• To read more about the new theater space, visit www.bataviaplayers.org/new-theater-space.

• To see the lineup for the 2011 Season -- including descriptions of each show -- visit www.bataviaplayers.org/2011-season.

(Please note additional information added on Jan. 10 below the story and pictures.)

Ever since he was a 10-year-old boy putting on plays with his friends in the basement of a church -- with no audience but themselves -- Patrick Burk dreamed of having his own theater.

"I asked my grandpa for $500 to set up a theater in Mumford," Burk said. "Because for some reason I thought that was how much it would cost."

Grandpa said no, so he had to wait 44 years.

Fast forward to the present day: Burk is board president for the Batavia Players, which are 95 percent finished establishing their new theater in the historic Batavia Industrial Center on Harvester Avenue (see last year's story for background information).

An opening gala was held at the new theater last night. Attendees got to tour the grounds, listen to some music, and enjoy some refreshments. 

Burk is pictured above, addressing those in attendance from the stage of the three-quarter round theater. He said that while there is still work to be done, "we did pass inspection (which is a big deal in Batavia)."

This met with laughter and applause.

The following are pictures of the new theater space, including the black-box stage, the costume storage room, meeting room (where actors can gather to rehearse) and refreshment room.

There is also a box office at the front of the building.

By all accounts, this was (and still is) a labor of love. A total of roughly 30 volunteers spent, according to Burk, "literally hundreds of hours" -- sometimes working from 8 a.m. until midnight -- to convert this industrial space into what it is now.

Just to give you an idea of how much work was required in this endeavor, here are a couple pictures of a part of the building resembling what the space looked like before:

The first performance set to take place at the new theater is "Love Lines," a play that Burk wrote himself. 

"It consists of a series of vignettes dealing with how different people have experienced falling in love," Burk said.

Characters range from Nancy Reagan to Burk's own parents, and from couples who write love letters to one another for years to couple's who don't even know one another until they've gotten married.

Performances are set for Feb. 11-14.

"Love Lines" will be followed by:

• Shakespeare's "The Tempest," set to be performed March 17-19
• "Rent," May 19-21
• "On Broadway" -- featuring music from "The Lion King," "Aida," "Sweeney Todd" and "Spring Awakenings" -- June 23-25
• "Cats" Aug. 18-20
• "Three from Tennessee" Sept. 15-17
• Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" Dec. 14-16.

APPENDIX: The Artisan Center

The new theater is part of Harvester's Artisan Center, which is home to others with similarly artistic interests. Some of them were at the gala last night, including:

Susan Meir, of Susan Meier Photography

Colin Dentino, of En Garde Fencing.

(UPDATE Jan. 10): Some of our readers had questions after reading Thursday's, "Opening gala showcases Batavia players' new theater on Harvester."

Here's some more information:

• Seating/Capacity: The new theater seats between 100-140 people.
• Ticket prices: These will vary depending on the show. The first play to be performed in the Harvester location will be an Honesty Theatre performance (click here for more information on this group) on Jan. 22; admission will be $10 per adult, $8 for children and seniors.
• Theater hours: At this time, according to Batavia Players' Board President Patrick Burk, the space is only open for rehearsals and performances. Burk hopes, eventually, to have people working there "around the clock" on various projects. 
• To read more about the new theater space, visit www.bataviaplayers.org/new-theater-space.

• To see the lineup for the 2011 Season -- including descriptions of each show -- visit www.bataviaplayers.org/2011-season.

Two years ago onstage at the annual Batavia Players holiday show, Malloryann Burk accepted the marriage proposal of her now-husband, Peter Flanagan. In this year's show, titled "A Traditional Christmas," Peter is still a central theme in her performance.

The first show is tonight at 7:30 at St. James Episcopal Church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia. Tickets are $10 and will be sold at the door. The other show is the same time Saturday.

But in the new production, Malloryann's focus will be on her husband's  absence rather than his presence.

She will be singing "Sending you a Little Christmas" to Peter, who has been in Afghanistan since September and will most likely be there until May. The song is one of four that are dedicated to Flanagan, a Marine corporal and the father of their 5-month-old son, Gabriel.

"When we were planning the show, we knew we wanted to do something for the troops overseas, and that we wanted to send that message of love and support for them," director Pat Burk, father of Malloryann, explains.  "So much of our family is in the show, and once we started rehearsing it hit us that we're sort the poster family for the cause."

There are a total of 21 songs in the show, most of which are traditional Christmas tunes.  The selections were made by Burk and Mary Brenner in an effort to create a mix of "traditional carols, religious, and well-known songs."

"When we sat down to decide on the songs, there were some that we knew right away had to be in it," says Burk. "Then there were some others, newer songs that aren't as well known but fit well in the expressed area of tradition."

Scattered between some of the songs is Yuletide-themed narration written by Mary Brenner, which discusses everything from the original Christmas story to modern-day Santa Claus. 

In addition to directing, Burk will also lend his voice to the show, performing such songs as a duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." He sings the Bing Crosby part of "Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy" -- along with Paul Spiotta's David Bowie. The musical director and piano accompianist is Kathy White.

Half of this year's show's profit will go toward the St. James Restoration Fund.  

"They've been very good to us in the past, allowing us to perform here, and this is such a beautiful church," Burk explains. "It fits a more traditional type of show."

When the overture began and the curtains opened, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I had seen the 1954 film "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" years and years ago but didn’t remember it at all.

(My mother reminded me that it was the movie with the extremely agile male dancers; surprisingly, that didn’t help.)

The show takes place in an Oregon fur-trapping town circa 1850, and tells the story of the seven Pontipee brothers, who all live together without parents or wives.

Because they have no women around to do the housework, the oldest brother, Adam, goes into town -- where the Pontipees are not welcome due to their rowdy behavior-- and quickly proposes to Milly, a waitress.

The two get married and Milly takes on the seemingly impossible task of training Adam’s brothers to be gentlemen. But when the brothers fall in love with girls from the town, they abandon all they’ve learned from their sister-in-law and mayhem ensues.

It’s a cute, fun story with a happy ending and upbeat songs and the actors all seemed to be enjoying themselves while telling it.

Retired schoolteacher Carol Smith said she came because she likes to follow some of her former students in the cast.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said at intermission. “I’m really enjoying it. The leads especially are doing amazing.”

I agreed. Brittany Mruczek and Justin Soble were outstanding as Milly and Adam; both of them were believable as their characters and they have fantastic singing voices. The rest of the ensemble provided solid backing.

Nicholas Dunn, Kraig Marsh, Casimir Mruczek, Adam Secor, Matthew Smith and Eric Waples were audience favorites as the other six brothers, entertaining the crowd with their boisterous antics and impressive harmonizing.

Their brides -- played by Melzie Case, Rachel Fischer, Erin Kruppner, Kaitlin Logsdon, Maryssa Peirick, and Katelyn Rogers -- were equally entertaining as they giggled and flitted around the stage, becoming more and more bold as the show went on.

Even many of the smaller characters who only had a few lines, such as James Barcomb and Alyssa Buckley as Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and Charles Smith as the Preacher, were memorable.

And of course everyone knows that a cluster of dancing 5-year-olds in 19th Century attire just cannot be beaten.

Sixteen-year-old Rosalie Mortellaro is a veteran of the Summer Youth Theatre program but was unable to participate this year because of family plans this weekend (a wedding, coincidentally). However, that didn’t stop her from coming to support her friends from shows past.

"It’s excellent,” Rosalie declared. “I’m surprised to see some new faces and it’s nice to see old faces.”

The show at Batavia High School seemed to go off without a hitch, earning a standing ovation early into the bows.

As I walked out, people all around me were raving about the performance, using words like “incredible” and “phenomenal.”

All in all, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” is great entertainment for the whole family. (The only glitch was the venue's ridiculously long line spilling out of the ladies' room at intermission.)

Editor's Note: Video submitted by Penguin Multimedia.