Omak Small Town Players

So.. now it looks like winter 2011??

It is ridiculous to me that the performing arts center can call itself community theater when on top of all the other mounds of fees I am supposed to have, they require a half million dollars worth of insurance. The only other stage anywhere near here is Tonasket and now it appears that they will be ready by winter 2011. This is truly a sad state of affairs for theater

John Hughes

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Thanks for a part of my childhood. A part I actually still remember.

alrighty then

So.. the CCC building’s stage wont be ready until next spring and the PAC is NOT a community theater theater. Stefani has done great work trying to find a place for us. That is good. The bad is that at this point it seems that only the Riverside Grange hall is available. It is a pretty neat hall. Old and full of history. Lots of dark wood. It is also between Tonasket and Omak in a very small town. If we were to do a show there after we did a show in a bigger place I think it would work. If we were known I think it would work. As it is I don’t think we would be a draw at all not to mention the only stage lighting is a single bare bulb. I have spoken to two of the actors and they are not interested at this time. The consensus is Spring which is when the CCC is supposed to be done. I can go along with that.
On another note. I am thinking about doing the Halloween radio reenactment I have been talking about all these years. Ask me about it and I will fill you in :)

progress!

As we near the end of July we have finally had our first read through. After going over calendar dates we have decided that we are going to do this show in November. Probably the second weekend. I am very nervous but the actors and producer are very competent so I will be riding their coat tails to theater education land! Yay! I was concerned about what Mike would think about some of the bits in this show. About everyone ends up in a dress at some point and their is plenty of spanking but like a true professional his read through was awesome. Everyone is enjoying the material so far though this play (all the great books by the Reduced Shakespeare Company) is a bit less.. um… jokey then the Compleat Shakespeare. Not to say it’s not good, it’s very funny and wierd, but it is different. One of the really great things for me is the fact that each person in this show, Shannon, Ian and Mike, are all really different people with different styles. This leads to a much funnier production in my opinion.
We have a website which is most likely how you got here. The hosting is awful and that is why all the pictures break all the time. I will attempt to get some better hosting soon.
Stefani (our producer) is very excited. this is very helpful to me as I am generally so laid back you have to shake me to see if i am awake. If anyone is going to make this stuff happen on a larger scale then my living room, it is going to be her. Thanks!
I consider myself lucky for the experience involved in this silly show

What the hell??

Okay.. as hard is this is to believe. Washington State University, home of the cougars, has officially cut the Drama and Dance department. No major or minor. This is absolutely nuts to me! How about no new uniforms for the football team. Thats an idea! This is especially difficult as Ray Pritchard left us to take a job in that very department. Its not every day someone you know gets there dreams to come true.. but it does seem all to common to have them ripped away. We are here for you Ray and we all love you. Anything you need you let us know.

On a nicer note, we have selected a cast for All The Great Books. I hope to do this in the fall. We have Shannon and Ian returning from the last play and have invited Mike Lynch to join us. Mike has been in a lot of plays around here including lead roles so we are excited to have him take part in this bit of slapstick silliness. I have also asked his wife, Stefani Lynch to produce. She is very experienced in this area and I hope to learn a lot since I seem to think I should direct. I who have never been in a play or directed or produced ANYTHING. My credits are that I make posters and an occasional prop. What could possibly go wrong?
Our first read through will be in July. Wish me luck :)

Well.. It appears that Ian will still be with us for awhile. Ray is gone and we are all very sad. Erin is back and we are all very happy. Sara has decided to direct a play as her senior project and so.. Shannon and Ian have started studying all the great books abridged. Since we dont have Ray Danielle Connelly is stepping in. Them is some big shoes to fill but people are still commmenting on the last play in a positive way so obviously there is a niche needs filling! We shall see. I wanted to do the Xmas show but since Shannon, Ian, Sara and Danielle are all tied up and will be performing in December.. odds are good it is a next year show. I have asked Mike Lynch to direct a show and if we ever get this group off the ground… :)

Yeah.. I know

Okay.. so yesterday i was quit. Today I am not quit but I am taking very tentative small steps. Our live are quite tumultuous right now. Work, friends, kids.. lots of stuff that has made something as simple as leisure seem right out. BUT, on the good side, Sunshine has finished the draft of our bylaws. That is awesome and much appreciated by moi. Depending upon Ian’s timeline he might still be interested in taking part in the next show so I am hoping. Allen also wants to be in this show bad. Shannon is supporting this crazy thing which inspires me all the time. I honestly feel the community needs this group so I guess I will do what I can. The way things are going it does appear we will be doing most of our shows at the CCC in Tonasket because it is far more affordable..at least until we raise enough funds to do bigger venues as well. I fully intend on making sure the CCC gets any show we do though. I was hoping we would do something at art in the park but everyone went different ways for the moment.. it happens :)

Oh well..

Well then..

So it now appears that another board member will be leaving. We haven’t even started this group. I am pretty sure I know a sign when it slaps me in the face..

Well then...

Well, a lot of people have been complimenting the actors on Allens show which is great. I think we need to do a Reduced Shakespeare play and keep the momentum going. I have just ordered All the great books (abridged) and Shannon and Ian have already said they want to be in it!

Also.. I have a script for a Holiday play I would like to do.. I have been pre-casting which is bad.. BAD I SAY.. but I am new and the group is new and so I can use that as an excuse.. I think I have a line on costumes as well thanks to Ray..  have I said yet that I am going to miss him? Well I am.

Good Job Allen! Now the bad news...

Well.. Allen’s show has come and gone and it was absolutely amazing. The people who attended had nothing but good things to say and many have said they wish they would have came to all three shows. It was that funny. I was very proud of everyone in it but especially proud of my wife, Shannon. She hasn’t been in a show for a long time but did an awesome job. The show was very well attended and brought in around $200 dollars in donations which Allen donated to the Small Town Players. Not a bad start. I was a little disappointed at a lot of people in this community… mostly the THEATER people in this community. Very few came and that makes me sad. But that’s okay. One of the reasons I wanted to start this group was to give the other guys a chance and I think this was a great jumping off point. I had originally planned to direct the first show but Ian Arbuckle wants to and I am totally behind that. He is working on an original script but that will come later. For now we STILL have to decide what show to do. We are going to try to suggest one of the Reduced Shakespeare Companies play as they are very funny and inexpensive to perform. More on that later. On to the bad bad news.

Well..actually it is very good news but it makes us all sad. Founding member Ray Pritchard has been offered a job teaching theater at WSU. I give him a lot of crap but we are all very excited for him. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Imagine being offered the job of Disneyland ride and peanut butter cup tester and that is what it is like for him. We all love you and I was hoping to mooch off of your experience so expect a lot of emails J He has told me he was going to be in my Holiday play and I am going to hold him to it

More later and on with the show

Phil