Here’s a look at what’s opening this week:
’9 Parts of Desire,’ Empty Spaces:
The Empty Spaces Theatre Co is extremely proud to present the Central Florida premiere of Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts Of Desire.
Empty Spaces Theatre Co – recently named “Best Cutting-Edge Productions” by Orlando Home and Leisure Magazine – brings Raffo’s heart rending and provocative work to the stage from June 17–27 at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park.
“A portrait of the extraordinary (and ordinary) lives of a whole cross-section of Iraqi women: a sexy painter, a radical Communist, doctors, exiles, wives and lovers. This work delves into the many conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone that is Iraq. An unusually timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by war.” – Heather Raffo
This powerful work reaches across religious and political borders, and across genders and age to reach the heart of all who have experienced love and life, loss and tragedy, and shows us a world so far from our own yet so close and vital to our lives.
The work – originally envisioned as a one woman solo show – can be performed with up to 9 women. Empty Spaces fills these amazing roles with some of Central Florida’s best with an ensemble featuring (in alphabetical order) Stasha Boyd, Heather Godwin, Leesa Halstead, Olivia Horn, Emily Killian, Mikki Scanlon Kriekard, Marcie Schwalm, Leander Suleiman and Sarah Villegas. The work will be directed by John DiDonna.
WHAT: Central Florida Premiere of Heather Raffo’s
9 Parts of Desire
WHO: The Empty Spaces Theatre Co
WHEN: June 17 – June 27
Performances:
June 17 – 20th / June 25 – 27 @ 8pm
Special Monday night Industry night @ 8pm
One Sunday matinée – Sun June 27 @ 2pm
WHERE: Mandell Theatre – Lowndes Shakespeare Center
812 E Rollins Street, Orlando Florida 32803
Located in Loch Haven Park, corner of 1792 and Princeton
TICKETS: $20 general / $15 student/senior. Additional discounts may be available.
(Note: Group rates also available – please leave message at 407.328.9005)
Reservations available by calling 407.328.9005 (cash only at door)
Credit Card pre-orders through www.redchairproject.org.
(Note, all reservations and walk ups are cash only at the door)
‘Shipwrecked!’, Mad Cow:
‘Shipwrecked!’ opens June 18
An adventure for the entire family!
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself) is a fantastical romp of good old-fashioned story telling. We sail off to the far side of the world with Louis and relive his amazing adventures with him. Embracing theatricality in its truest and purest form, Shipwrecked! weaves its magical spell as Louis retells stories of adventure, daring, intrigue, and dissolution, filling our hearts with joy and laughter along the way. We are left to wonder if imagination holds more genuine value than truth. Continuing Mad Cow Theatre’s Stage Right season, Shipwrecked! is good, old-fashioned storytelling sure to thrill audiences at all ages.
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment is directed by Rob Anderson, featuring Eric Pinder as Louis de Rougemont with Trenell Mooring and Eric Fagan. Lighting design is by Erin Miner, costumes by Rob Anderson and sound by Kurt Wagner.
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment runs June 18 – July 11, 2010 at Mad Cow Theatre, 105 South Magnolia Avenue in downtown Orlando.
‘Reincarnation Soup,’Viet Nguyen
‘Reincarnation’ is making a comeback
Mandell Theater at Lowndes Shakespeare Center
812 E. Rollins St
At the border between birth and death, a mysterious, old blind woman serves mind-cleansing soup. What happens when the soup doesn’t work?
After a successful run at the Orlando Fringe, Reincarnation Soup comes to the Mandell Studio Theater in association with Empty Spaces Theatre Company. Viet Nguyen’s solo show explores memory, mythology, and the Vietnamese experience.
Where: Mandell Studio Theater at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center
When:
Sunday, June 20, 2pm
Wednesday, June 23, 8pm
Thursday, June 24, 8pm
Saturday, June 26, 2pm
Tickets: $10 at the door, cash only
‘Riff,’ Drip:
Licking cinnamon edible ink, watching dancers under raining paint or crawl out of a 15 foot wide coffee mound are just a few things you might experience at a Drip event.
Drip, an Orlando-based performance art company, is currently creating their next big production; a rock show called Riff. Consistent with the trademark audience-centric Drip experience, this show puts the audience in the middle from the minute guests arrive. The more adventurous audience members may check their shoes at the door and experience the show barefoot. All guests will be in splash zones and refreshing puddles of water throughout the show.
“Drip’s new show, Riff, is a wet, raw, sexy rock ‘n’ roll experience. The sneak peek has a live rock band, contemporary sensual dance, splashing water, black light guitar strings and emotional stories told through moments in time that are caught with a strobe light.” explains Drip’s CEO and Creative Director, Jessica Mariko.
There are over 25 artists involved with the creation of Riff. The music is composed and directed by David Traver (Blue Man Group Orlando Music Director and Musician), a portion of the choreography is by Ferdinand DeJesus (Associate Artistic Director and Choreographer for Florida Dance Theatre), art direction by Jaime Weeg (Visual Stylist for Bloomingdales, former Visual Stylist for Saks Fifth Ave. and Founder of Venus & Mars Boutique), Creative Engineering/Production Design by Beth Ziegler (Prop construction for Blue Man Group, Former Scenic Art Lead at Universal Studios), and dancing by Kassi Abreu (as seen on So You Think You Can Dance and a member of Florida Dance Theatre), just to name a handful.
Drip has performed alongside acts such as Blue Man Group and Cirque de Soleil and specializes in creating theatrical experiences that seamlessly combine performing and visual arts. The audience is often right in the middle of the highly visual performances, making them very intimate, sensual and full sensory.
For two weekends in June (10-12 and 17-19), the public and booking representatives are invited to Drip’s design studio (4502 Old Winter Garden Rd #E2, Orlando, FL 32811), a warehouse just 8 minutes from downtown Orlando, to enjoy a 20 minute sneak peek of Riff, followed by a talkback and after party. Capacity is limited.
If you miss Drip’s Riff showcase in Orlando, you’ll have one more chance to see it in Miami, July 22 and 23 at Eazy Street Gallery (3501 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33127).
Quick information:
A 20 minute sneak peek of Riff & Warehouse Party Fundraiser
Orlando, FL
June 10-12 & June 17-19
Time: 8 PM – 10 PM
Location: Drip’s Design Studio, 4502 Old Winter Garden Rd #E2, Orlando, FL 32811 (8 minutes from downtown Orlando)
Miami, FL
July 22 & 23
Time: 8 PM – Midnight
Location: Eazy Street Gallery, 3501 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33127
No Admission Fee (Donations appreciated)
View a list of the Riff Creators, Cast and Crew: http://www.ilovedrip.com/riff/riffcast.html
(Photo by John Deeb. Drip performer pictured: Nikki Serra.)
‘Wonderland,’ Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center
The Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center announces ‘Wonderland’
The musical children’s play production of Wonderland is coming June 17 @ 7:30 PM, June 18 @ 7:30 PM, June 19 @ 7:30 PM & June 20 @ 2:00 PM to the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center. The Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center is located in downtown historic Sanford, FL at 201-203 South Magnolia Avenue. Wonderland is being generously sponsored by Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Wonderland is an unabashedly silly adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass. With hip-hopping music, it is an upbeat, coming-of-age story that audiences of all ages will adore! An eclectic mix of music that ranges from gypsy swing to doo-wop to bluegrass will have audiences grinning like a Cheshire cat!
Tickets now available on the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center website by visiting www.WDPAC.com and by calling box office at 407-321-8111. Tickets also available on show dates.
Ticket Prices:
VIP Seating (Rows A – E) $18
Orchestra (Rows F – R) $18
Balcony (Upstairs) $15
Students $10
Group Rates:
10-29 in a Group - $2 off each ticket
30 or more in a Group – $5 off each ticket
Additional Ticket Discounts ($5 off each ticket):
Darden Restaurant Employees
Public School Employees
Hospital Employees
H2U Members
Walt Disney World Employees
AAA Employees
AAA Members
‘Red, White and Tuna,’ Show Palace Dinner Theatre
Independence Day comes early as the hilarious, ‘Red, White and Tuna’ opens at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre
Comedians Matthew McGee* and Candler Budd* return to the Show Palace Dinner Theater for a limited engagement of Red, White and Tuna, by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard. These two actors will portray all the quirky citizens in the tiny Texas town of Tuna in this hilarious send-up of rural America. McGee and Budd have performed in the other Tuna installments Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas at the Show Palace and American Stage in St. Petersburg. Both productions broke attendance records.
It’s been several years since we left Bertha and Arles dancing at the end of A Tuna Christmas. Did the romance blossom? Has Didi Snavley received any “cosmic” communications from R.R.’s UFO? Did Stanley make his fortune in the Albuquerque taxidermy business? These and other burning questions will be asked and answered in the side-splitting spoof of life in rural America.
Matthew McGee* and Candler Budd* take the stage once more as the sole performers playing all of Tuna’s inhabitants including men, women, children and animals (thanks to 40 lightning-quick costume changes). In this latest saga, all of our favorites return as the Prayer Posse led by Vera Carp and Reverend Spikes take on church hymns while Petey Fisk continues his off-beat pleas for a more humane Tuan. The flirtatious Tastee Kreme gals have a food booth at the Reunion serving Aunt Pearl’s prize-winning potato salad that may have been in the heat too long. You’ll laugh till it hurts when you find out who the mystery write-in winner of the Homecoming Queen Contest is.
The production will be directed by Susan Haldeman* with wig, costume and scenic designs by Show Palace resident designers Scott Daniel and Tom Hansen.
Audiences who love the antics of Blue Collar Comedy TV and Saturday Night Live will love this classic play.
The show opens on June 18 and runs through July 18 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson, Fl, 34667. Doors open two hours before each show for dinner and cocktails. On Sundays, the doors open at 1 p.m. and show starts at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday night performances begin at 8 p.m., and doors open for dinner and cocktails at 6 p.m. Matinees are available on select Thursdays and some Saturdays and doors open for dinner and cocktails at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $48, plus tax, for dinner and show. Show only is $36.95 plus tax. Call 727-863-7949 or 888-655-7469 to reserve tickets.
*Indicates member of ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
‘Our Town,’ Osceola Center for the Arts
Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town will be presented in the Edward A. Moore Studio Theatre at the Osceola Center for the Arts in Kissimmee from June 18 – 27, 2010.
Our Town takes place in the early 1900’s in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, where the Gibbs family and the Webb family live next door to each other. A Stage Manager serves as narrator of this touching show, taking the audience through three acts: Daily Life; Love & Marriage and Death & Eternity.
Directed by Ron Colburn, Our Town features a cast of over 15 local actors who make up the townspeople of Grover’s Corners.
Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2pm. General admission tickets are $15 and can be purchased in person at the Center office or by calling 407.846.6257 x 0 Monday thru Friday from 9am until 5pm.
The Osceola Center for the Arts is located at 2411 E. Highway 192 between Kissimmee and St. Cloud. For directions and more information, please visit www.ocfta.com.
