Players Workshop offers spirited re-run
That’s the path being followed this weekend at the Little Theatre on Grove Street as Players Workshop presents its third run at Noel Coward’s comedy masterpiece, “Blithe Spirit.”
PW already has two smash productions of Coward’s 1941 gem to its credit — 1947 and 1980 — but is rolling out a third as part of its Diamond Jubilee season of revivals.
The farce about husbands, wives, mediums and mischievous spirits starts its seven-performance two-weekend run at 8 p.m. Friday at the amateur theater group’s home at 1431 Grove St. Shows are scheduled Feb. 15 to 17 and 21 to 24. Curtain for evening performances is 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees Feb. 17 and 24.
Director Eric Smith encourages patrons to show up early to ensure they get seated on time. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens.
Smith has selected the following cast: Charles, David Beckman; Ruth, Beth Cox; Elvira, Jennifer Glendening; Madam Arcat, Libba Flores; Dr. Bradman, Jim Beres; Mrs. Bradman, Sally Price; and Edith, Dawn Linneman.
Suzie Bray is acting as assistant director. Others on the production staff: Linda Garwood, stage manager; Mel Bray, set designer; Carol Rutenbeck, set decorator; and Kent Lewis, producer.
I’m currently reading “The Letters of Noel Coward,” edited by Barry Day. Day reports that Coward wrote the farce in 1941, fulfilling a promise to himself to write a play, film, and song that “would help his fellow countrymen get through the war.”
The play opened at the St. James Theatre in London’s West End on July 2, 1941. It ran for 1,997 performances.
Art, music program rescheduled
What was to have been a Fat Tuesday Photographic Celebration program last week at Two Twelve Jefferson Contemporary Fine Art Gallery in downtown Burlington has been rescheduled for this weekend.
The program, which will feature the work of seven area artists, will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday in conjunction with the gallery’s monthly Club SEISO (Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra) music event.
Featured will be photos by Jerry Granaman, Mhel Granaman, Mike Hamma, Cindy Larson, George Gaudette, Fritz Goeckner, and Susan Munroe. There also will be a slide show featuring New Orleans photography by Jerry Granaman and Mike Hamma, and Burlington photography by Cindy Larson, displayed through a slide show on a high definition television and sound system provided by Chuck Siekman of Camera Land.
The program will include food, wine and music by 12 to 15 string players from the symphony and the Burlington High School orchestra. Mardi Gras music will be played during a break in live music.
Admission is a $10 donation, which is dedicated to assisting the symphony.
For more information, call (319) 754-0373 or visit www.seiso.us.
Black History music
Jazz artist Semenya McCord and the Knox College-based Umoja Community Gospel Choir will be featured in the first of two free concerts scheduled at Monmouth College celebrating February as Black History Month.
McCord, who teaches jazz voice and related classes at Knox and Carl Sandburg colleges in Galesburg, Ill., will perform gospel and spiritual music at a 6:30 p.m. program Saturday in the Kasch Performance Hall of the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium at Monmouth, Ill.
On Tuesday, Feb. 19, hip-hop and R%26amp;B will be on tap, led by MC senior Emmanuel Minter of Park Forest, Ill.
SEISO to perform ‘Titan’
What will be the largest orchestra in the history of the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra will perform Gustav Mahler’s monumental “Titan Symphony” (No. 1 in D Major) this weekend in honor of the late James Dixon.
In a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in Burlington’s Memorial Auditorium, the orchestra under the direction of Robert McConnell will pay tribute to the man who conducted the University of Iowa Orchestra for two terms, beginning in 1954 and ending with his retirement in 1997. Dixon also served 29 years as Music Director of the Quad City Symphony. Dixon influenced thousands of performers, mentored more than 30 conducting students and conducted world premieres of more than 40 works.
Many past and present members of the SEISO were either directly or indirectly influenced by his work.
In addition, the concert program will include the solo debut of Paul Collier, winner of the 2007 Marilyn Minford McCoid Young Artist Competition. Collier, a Fort Madison High School senior, will perform the last two movements of David’s “Concertino for Trombone in E-Flat Major.”
Collier has participated in band since middle school and studied trombone for the past three years with Jim Priebe, SEISO’s principal trombonist. He lives in Fort Madison with his grandmother, Mary Mason.
Two additional performances will be given Sunday: 2 p.m. in Ottumwa’s Bridge View Center and 7 p.m. in the Chapel Auditorium at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant.
Admission to the winter concerts in Burlington, Ottumwa and Mount Pleasant is by season ticket or $12 for adults and $6 for students at the door. Reservations are not required.
Tags: cate, farce, Food, ford, indy, world premiere