Fall Classes Starting at Connecticut's Best Children's Theater

Oddfellows Playhouse Fall 2013 Theater classes start Oct 14th!. 

The Fall Session runs for 8 weeks, with programs beginning the week of October 14 and concluding the week of December 9.  There are no classes held the week of Thanksgiving.

Fall Theater Class Registration is Open

Oddfellows Playhouse is pleased to announce its Fall 2013 Programming.  The youth theater, which provides afterschool and weekend theatrical programming, is excited to unveil its programmatic offerings under the guidance and direction of Artistic Director Kristen Palmer.  Oddfellows’ programs use theatre as a vehicle to build essential life skills, while exploring highly educational and creative themes and plays.

Comedy, Drama - All in One Evening

Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater's 
Teen Repertory Company presents

Nightmares & Streetscapes:

An Evening of One-Act Student Directed Plays

The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang

Friday May 3
Saturday May 4
Thursday May 9
Friday May 10
Saturday May 11

All performances at 7:30pm

Call 860-347-6143 for tickets or purchase online.

Pillow Talk by Peter Tolan

Luis Serazo in The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

“Nightmares & Streetscapes: An Evening of One Act Plays”

Oddfellows Playhouse’s Teen Repertory Company
presents Nightmares & Streetscapes: An Evening of One Act Plays

Middletown, Conn. –  Oddfellows Playhouse’s Teen Repertory Company will present Nightmares & Streetscapes: An Evening of One Act Plays.   The evening features comedies and dramas by Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, Eric Lane and Peter Tolan and runs May 3-4, 9-11 at 7:30pm.

The evening consists of four student directed one-act plays, including the dark comedies “The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang, “Dancing on Checker’s Grave” by Eric Lane and the light hearted “Pillow Talk” by Peter Tolan.  The evening is appropriate for high school students and older, with some of the plays touching on mature themes and humor.  The project is the first time in several years that members of the Teen Repertory Company have had the opportunity to direct.  The process has been guided by director Ken O’Brien.

The Teen Repertory Company is comprised of students in grades 9-12, from 10 different towns throughout central Connecticut.  The Teen Repertory Company brings to life challenging and fun theatrical productions appropriate for audiences of all ages.  

The production runs Friday and Saturday May 3 and 4, 2013 and Thursday through Saturday May 9-11.  All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for Adults and $8 for Students/Seniors.  Anyone brining a canned food item for Amazing Grace Food Pantry will receive a $2 discount on their ticket.  Tickets are available online at www.oddfellows.org or by calling 860-347-6143.  

The production is made possible by major support from CT State Department of Education, Middlesex United Way, The Stare Fund, Pratt & Whitney, the Middletown Commission on the Arts and Daphne Sebolt Culpeper Foundation.   Media support is provided by WESU 88.1FM.

Alice Threw the Looking Glass - It's Not a Typo

Oddfellows Playhouse’s Junior Repertory Company will present Alice Threw The Looking Glass: A Parody of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style by John Walch.  The comedic combination of the world of Alice in Wonderland and grammar rules will run April 4-6 at 7:30pm. 

First-year college student Alice is in serious danger of failing her English course when she follows her composition paper into the trash -- and ends up in a hallucinatory world where the rules of grammar are turned upside-down.  If she wants to pass, she'll need to deal with gunslinging run-on sentences, thugs hawking colloquialisms, fearsome Modifier Leeches, and more.  Inspired by Lewis Carroll and parodying the grammar and writing style bible The Elements of Style by Strunk & White, this witty comedy explores the fantasy world of language in all its grotesque mutations.

The Junior Repertory Company is comprised of students in grades 5-8, from 10 different towns throughout central Connecticut.  The Junior Repertory company brings to life challenging and fun theatrical productions appropriate for audiences of all ages. 

The production runs Thursday thru Saturday, April 4 through April 6.  All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for Adults and $8 for Students/Seniors.  Anyone bringing a canned food item for Amazing Grace Food Pantry will receive a $2 discount on their ticket.  Tickets are available online at www.oddfellows.org or by calling 860-347-6143. 

The production is made possible by major support from CT State Department of Education, Middlesex United Way, The Stare Fund, Pratt & Whitney, the Middletown Commission on the Arts and Daphne Sebolt Culpeper Foundation.   Media support is provided by WESU 88.1FM. 

Spring Theater Classes Enrolling at Oddfellows

Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater is pleased to announce its Spring 2013 Session will begin the week of April 1.  Oddfellows’ programs use theatre as a vehicle to build essential life skills, while exploring highly educational and artistic themes and plays.  There are a variety of performance options and technique based classes for students ages 3-18.

Steven Scionti Brings Middletown to Oddfellows

Middletown native and actor Steve Scionti will bring his one man show, Hear What’s in the Heart: A Shoemaker’s Tale to Middletown’s Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, for an extended engagement.  The new draft of the play is co-written and directed by Tony Award -winner Anthony Crivello, who recently completed a run on Broadway of Clifford Odet’s Golden Boy. Scionti will also be leading a workshop in Meisner technique for the Teen Repertory Company this April. 

 Hear What’s in the Heart is set against the backdrop of a post-funeral gathering to celebrate the life of Scionti’s grandfather, Angelo Morello (who owned Angelo’s Shoe Repair on Main Street in Middletown.)  Taking us through the funeral day’s events, Scionti paints a theatrical family portrait in a series of humorous and poignant vignettes, transforming himself into various family members and friends.

 
 Steve Scionti grew up in Middletown, CT.  He attended Xavier High School.  But his heart yearned for something other than the family business.  He wanted to sing.  He wanted to dance.  With the guidance and support of his grandfather, Hear What’s in the Heart tells the auto-biographical tale of Scionti’s youth and journey to performances on stage and films in Los Angeles and New York. 
This family tale begins a six week run on Thursday May 16, 2013.  The show will continue weekly on Thursday nights through June 20, 2013.  All performances are set for 7:30pm.  

“We are excited to have Steve here to tell his story.  It is an important story for our young people to experience.  This is a story about family, about Middletown and about growing up to pursue your dreams,” said Executive Director Matt Pugliese.

The show, which has played to sold-out houses at the Zephyr Theater in Los Angeles, as well as shows in Westchester and New York City.  It was selected to be in the 2009 NY Fringe Festival.  The show played two nights at the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts in the summer of 2012.

New, Exciting Teen Repertory Experience

This season adventurous, committed teenagers can experience cutting-edge theater in a challenging, new way.  The winter/spring Teen Repertory Company will be not be approaching theater in the same old way.  Students in grades 9-12 will have the unique opportunity to expand not only their acting skills, but their directing, designing and producing skills as well.  

Theater Master Class Series Announced

 Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater announces a Master Class series that will take place beginning in February for middle school, high school students and adults.   Additional Master Classes will also be announced shortly for the spring. 

The series begins with The Art of the Monologue on Saturday February 2 from 11am-2pm, with guest artist Emily Hope Webster.  This class will allow middle and high school students to explore opportunities for storytelling and character development in this classic theatrical device.  The class will cover aspects of the monologue from selection of the piece to analyzing text to performance.  Participants should prepare a classic or contemporary monologue to work with.  The cost of the master class is $50.

 Emily Hope Webster is a thirty-year veteran of the entertinament world, finding her earliest success in front of the camera.  As a child actress her television credits include a five year run on the FOX hit Small Wonder, starring roles in such films as Troop Beverly Hills and Caddie Woodlawn and the Emmy-award winning series Christy.  She also worked on the New York City stage at WPA and with playwright John Guare at Lincoln Center. 

The series will continue with Improv Bootcamp on Saturday February 16 and Sunday February 17 from 12-4pm.  This two day bootcamp is led by Sam Shaw, founder of the San Francisco Improv Festival.  A alumnus of Middletown High School, Wesleyan University, and Oddfellows Playhouse, Sam has a 25+ year career in improvisational theater, performing and leading dozens of comedy troupes. 

In this two day multi-generational improv boot camp, actors will throw the script out the window, set the improve games aside, and teach students how to improvise truthful scenes from their own experiences and to collaborate effectively as an ensemble.  Learn how to say “yes-and”, “play to the top of your intelligence” and most importantly, “play hard!”.   The cost of the workshop is $90, and it will end with a performance for friends and families at 7pm on Sunday February 17, joined by some of central CT and Wesleyan’s finest improv groups. 

Interested students should visit www.oddfellows.org to sign up for the Master Class.  The Master Classes are limited to 20 students.  Call 860-347-6143 to register or to find out more information. 

Winter Drama Programs - Now Enrolling

Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater is pleased to announce that its Winter 2013 Session will begin the week of January 28.  Oddfellows’ programs use theater as a vehicle to build essential life skills, while exploring highly educational and artistic themes and plays.  There are a variety of performance options and technique based classes for students ages 3-18.

Classes for the Little Fellows (ages 3-4) include Around the World and Animal Adventures. Classes are offered on Saturday mornings.  Looking for something to do during the week with your little one?  Participatory classes include Parents & Tots and Arts Explosion on Thursday mornings at 10am. 

First Act (Grades K-1) offers Creative Drama courses themed around children’s books and adventures such as Fractured Fairytales and Jungle Safari.  Story Starters (Grades 2-3) encourage creative expression and promote confidence, self-esteem, and communication.  Once a week classes focus on skill building, while classes that meet twice a week short productions put those skills into action.  Classes include Peter and the Wolf and Create Your Own Story and a mini-production of Grimm Fairytales.  The Kids Company (Grades 4-5) is the stage that students begin to focus more on skills and techniques.  These courses help develop the next set of vocal, physical and emotional skills.  Technique classes include Fundamentals of Acting, Create a Character and Fundamentals of Musical Theater. An original comedic mini-production is also on tap, called More Rubber Chickens.

The Junior Repertory Company (grades 6-8) offers a full production of Alice Threw the Looking Glass, a parody of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style by John Walch.  In this comedy, First-year college student Alice is in serious danger of failing her English course when she follows her composition paper into the trash -- and ends up in a hallucinatory world where the rules of grammar are turned upside-down. If she wants to pass, she'll need to deal with gunslinging run-on sentences, thugs hawking colloquialisms, fearsome Modifier Leeches, and more. 

The Teen Repertory Company (grades 9-12) will be holding auditions on Tuesday January 29 from 7-9pm.

There are also private lessons, stagecraft, directing and playwrighting classes available for middle and high school students.  A full list of program offerings and public performances can be found online at www.oddfellows.org.

Oddfellows programming is made possible through the generous support of the CDBG Scholarship Program, Citizens Bank, the CT Department of Economic and Community Development, the CT Department of Education, Daphne Seybolt Culpeper Memorial Fund, Elizabeth Carse Foundation, the Fund for Greater Hartford, the George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation, the Irving Kohn Foundation, the J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Liberty Bank Foundation, Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Middlesex County Community Foundation, Middlesex United Way, the Middletown Commission on the Arts, Middletown YSB, the National Endowment for the Arts, Pratt & Whitney, Price Chopper Golub Foundation, the Stare Fund, Stop and Shop Foundation, Thomas J. Atkins Foundation, Triple Frog, LLC and WESU (88.1FM).

Teen Rep Season Comes to Life...or Death

To Be or Not To Be...Eaten Alive by Zombies.  That is the question!

Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater will open William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead: A True and Accurate Account of the 1599 Zombie Plague by John Heimbuch on Friday November 9 at 7:30pm  The talented Teen Repertory Company under the direction of Hannah Simms, brings this frightful and enjoyable play to life for two weekends.  The play is appropriate for students 13 and older. 

The production runs November 9, 10, 15, 16, 17.  All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for Adults and $8 for Students/Seniors.  Anyone bringing a canned food item for Amazing Grace Food Pantry will receive a $2 discount on their ticket.  Tickets are available online or by calling 860-347-6143. 

This production is being produced by the generous support of Beverley and Tony Bellisio and Eli Cannon’s Tap Room. The production is made possible by major support from CT State Department of Education, Middlesex United Way, The Stare Fund, Pratt & Whitney, the Middletown Commission on the Arts, and Daphne Sebolt Culpeper Foundation.   Media support provided by Comcast and WESU 88.1FM.

About Oddfellows Playhouse:

Oddfellows Playhouse is located at 128 Washington Street, Middletown.   For more than 35 years Oddfellows Playhouse has been more than just a performing arts program.  It aims to make a positive difference in the lives of 1,500 young people each year by using the arts as tools to build self-confidence, communication skills, a sense of responsibility, and an appreciation for the richness and diversity of the world in which we live. 

Theater Opportunities for Children of All Ages

Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater is pleased to announce its second Fall 2012 Session will begin the week of October 29.  The youth theater, which provides afterschool and weekend theatrical programming, is excited about the overhaul in program offerings and expansion of the second fall session.  Oddfellows’ programs use theatre as a vehicle to build essential life skills, while exploring highly educational and artistic themes and plays. 

Tribute to “Silent Spring” author, Rachel Carson

50 years ago, government scientist Rachel Carson recognized that widespread pesticide use on crops and in back yards was causing devastation in some biological communities.  She wrote about this scientific finding in a compelling book, “Silent Spring”, published in 1962.  It was a turning point in environmental awareness, and environmental regulation, but it did not happen easily.

Thursday night, September 27, 2012, acclaimed actress Kaiulani Lee brings Rachel Carson to life in “A Sense of Wonder” at Oddfellows Playhouse.  “A Sense of Wonder”, a one-person play written by Ms. Lee, has been performed by her at venues across the country and abroad, including at the United Nations, Congress, and The Smithsonian.  The play celebrates Rachel Carson and her work, and reveals a strength of character that allowed Ms. Carson to defend her science against an onslaught of opposition mounted by a chemicals industry fearful of the business consequences of her revelation – an onslaught attempting to discredit Ms. Carson personally, and the quality of her scientific studies.

The play is sponsored jointly by the Connecticut Groundwater Association and the Connecticut Society of Women Environmental Professionals.  Many of the members of these two organizations owe their profession and environmental awareness to Rachel Carson.

“To me, Silent Spring’s  legacy is the realization that environmental science and business were, and often still are, uncomfortable bedfellows.  There are ongoing efforts by business to weaken the environmental scientist’s ability to discover and investigate pollution, and the environmental scientist must have the perseverance and backbone of Rachel Carson to not give in to special interests” said Dennis Waslenchuk, CGA President and organizer of the tribute. 

The production runs one night only, Thursday, September 27, 2012 beginning at 8:00 p.m.  Limited general public tickets are available at $20.  Tickets can be reserved for “Will Call” by calling 860-443-7638.  Please do not call Oddfellows, as we are not handling the reservations.