OKTC  STAGEDOOR JUNE 2011

Editor: Art Fidler art@oktc.ca

“Building character for 20 years.”

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the things that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

“One hundred percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.” –Wayne Gretsky

EVERYBODY LOVES OUR GRAD GALA!

With encore numbers and moments from all of our Season 2 shows, with the honouring of our Grade 8 Grads moving on to Company leadership, with valedictory speeches from our senior Grads, with preview glimpses of our June, July & August shows, with a video of the OK New York Trip, with the unveiling of shows under negotiation for next year, with friendship, good feelings, hope  and optimism…and…WITHOUT any admission fee…

Yep! Our Grad Gala and Yearly Celebration has it all, and it is for everyone! Here’s the one chance of the year for everybody to cheer for everybody else, to demonstrate and feel that support and encouragement that we hold so dear. So pack the family car, hop on your bikes, hire a limo or a helicopter, fill the city bus, or stroll down to the Wolf Performance Hall. THIS IS FOR YOU!

Monday, June 6, 6:30pm until 8:15pm.

**All performers should arrive at 5:30 for a quick rehearsal!

JUNE OK SHOWS ARE BUSTIN’ OUT ALL OVER!

I LOVE A PIANO: The Music of Irving Berlin. June 1 to 5. If this show causes you to feel like “stepping out with your baby” and “dancing cheek to cheek”, telling him or her, “I’ll be loving you always, with a love that’s true always”, and asking “How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?”, because “blue skies are smiling on you”, then you should know that “You’re not sick, you’re just in love”! In love with this classy show that brings alive the immortal popular songs of America’s greatest songwriter, Irving Berlin! Maybe “Anything I can do, you can do better”, but nobody can do better than this, because “there’s no business like show business”! And you’ll fall for this very show biz-y PIANO.

ASSASSINS: The controversial Stephen Sondheim musical. An Original Kids Theatre Alumni and Staff production at the London Fringe Festival!

“This is what they always wanted isn’t it? Their own clear shot at the big time and everyone paying attention to them. Their own Presidential Assassins’ Reality show! Isn’t that one of the amendments to the Constitution of the USA? “Everybody’s got a right to their dreams?-and their guns?

“Why would someone do that?” many of us ask when we confront shocking, irrational crimes and those who commit them. This is the question Assassins asks, through Stephen Sondheim’s astonishing score that turns traditional American folk, pop, ceremonial and Broadway music inside-out.

Like its characters, Assassins is a musical that demands your attention!”

At Rumrunners above Tequilla Rose Bar. June 17 to 26. See www.londonfringe.ca or Fringe program for details. $10. Tickets at www.londonfringe.ca or at the door. Fringe button required.

NEW FOR JULY! SUMMER DREAMS - UNDER THE TREES!

We are thrilled to announce an exciting new project- SUMMER DREAMS. We’ve had a cast working all this season with mentor Jim Schaefer, during which time they have workshopped and written their own play, and named it Summer Dreams. At first they thought that they would use existing music and songs in it, but then made the bold decision to compose all their own songs. And to extend the originality even further, they decided to perform it in various places around the grounds of Huron University College in July evenings where Camp OK will be during the days.  If we’ve ever lived up to the “Original” in our name, this is it!! None of us can wait to see and hear this completely original play with music about young people falling in and out of love. Bring your lawn chairs to this extremely hip roam-around experience, destined to be an OK legend! (Family appropriate)

Tickets at www.oktc.ca / 510-672-8800. Or just come up to Huron. Free Parking on site (don’t you love it!).

July 6 to 7, 13 to 15, 20 to 22 at 7pm.

HONK! BECAUSE YOU LOVE US!

The Central Library’s Rotary Reading Garden will echo with songs and laughter again this summer, when OK presents its annual outdoor musical. This year, we announce the British Award-winning musical based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Ducks are supposed to “Quack” but this odd duck seems to “Honk” instead. Who does this ugly duck think she is, already?? A SWAN, for goodness’ sake?? That’s the idea of the musical HONK!, and a lovely musical comedy it is for all of you, coming to the lovely garden setting and paying what you can.

July 29 to Aug. 7. Full schedule on www.oktc.ca . Rotary Reading Garden, Central London Public Library. Performance inside the Library if weather demands.

MIGHTY MAY SHOWS SHINE!

As I composed the May Stagedoor, ahead of us, before June would begin, were Romeo and Juliet, 13: the Musical, Guys and Dolls Jr. and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. And now those excellent shows are all honoured entries in our OK history.

We’ve been swamped with feed-back on the May productions, of which I’ve chosen the sampling below:

“I was at the opening night..and was awe-struck by the high quality of the work…”

“Working on this show was the best experience yet for our daughter. Actually for our whole family.”

“…a very entertaining afternoon…wonderful from start to finish.”

“I have been to community performances in Toronto, and must say that London’s OKTC deserves a huge commendation for their spectacular show.”

“We enjoyed the singing, and great acting skills…a very talented group of young performers.”

“Congratulations from my class and our parent volunteers to the cast, directors and your volunteers behind the scenes at Original Kids!”

“I love to see young actors understand and bring alive a whole world other than the one they live in. So imagination-expanding.”

“It touched me to see kids this age face so honestly and bravely the problems of being a kid growing up in our own challenging world.”

VOLUNTEERS  ARISE AND….PARTAAAAAY!

A recent note from an OK Volunteer: “I really enjoy volunteering for Original Kids. If there is ever anything else you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Well, YES! Volunteers! There is something else we NEED! We NEED you to come to our Volunteer-Staff BBQ at Georgina’s house on June11 from 5 to 9pm. Email the people you worked with on our shows this year, and make this a mini-reunion! If you volunteered for us or are company or show creative staff and didn’t get info on this from Georgina, email her at georgina@oktc.ca . All we bring is a lawn chair and a sweater.

(PS: We not only NEED you there; we WANT you there!)

MAKE CAMP OK YOUR FAMILY DESTINATION!

Camp OK is only a month away! Hard to believe! Registration is going well, but it is still possible to get great choices for Camp, as you’ll see on www.oktc.ca. This is the perfect time to alert your Facebook and Twitter friends to our Camp, or even to email them (even though I’m told that’s “So 90’s”).

KIDBITS

1. It will soon be time to watch the mail for your invitation back to OK’s 21^st. year!
2. OK Sydney Harvey, her mom Tania (a keen OK volunteer) and their whole family will all appear in a special production of a new epic historical play called Narcisse which will take place (July 19 to 30) outdoors in the grounds of St. Peter’s Catholic Church 1.6 K. north of St. Joseph on Hwy 21. Drive to Grand Bend and then north on 21. This sounds really good! Check it out at http://narcissetheplay.com
3. OK Peter Nye recently won St. Mary’s  So You Think You Have Talent show in competition with performers aged 9 to 30. Congrats, Peter!
4. Plans are well along for next March Break in NYC for Senior OK’s, and an interest list has formed. It makes sense to get on it now, as space is limited. art@oktc.ca
5. Concrete benefits from our highly successful Sounds of Love fund-raiser in February continue. Most recent purchases :

-The Universal Studios Sound Effects Library ($1450). This 120 CD library with 10,000 digitally mastered tracks of every sound effect you can imagine is the state-of-the art source for theatre and film professionals.

-Furman Power Conditioners ($450). These are the world’s most advanced transient voltage and surge suppressors, which will keep all of our new wireless equipment and speakers safe and sounding clean.

-Roland Cube Monitors (500). These monitors have the most advanced features in the sound market, and will be used in the Spriet as both band and stage monitors.

So you can see that we are putting the funds raised and donated right back into the shows that your kids do, and the theatre that is dedicated to them and to you.

-For all you Gleeks: Matthew Morrison ( Mr. Shuster) will be appearing with the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys at the JLC on August 7. Tickets now on sale: www.johnlabattcentre.com .

BYE BYE!

This is the last Stagedoor until September. It is an honour to do my best to keep our amazing company informed about all that goes on at OKTC. As we say, “It never stops at Original Kids!”

My final insight for our 20th Season: “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle and the life of that candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” –Buddha, The Enlightened One.

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