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.

Mark your calendar! Dec 7th Comedy Show

Come see two great comedy acts 
Hartford’s Sea Tea Improv and Middletown’s own BenTopher and Friends entertain you with a wonderful night of comedy!

Our improv shows are different every time!

Friday, December 7th at 7:30PM

First Church of Christ Parish Hall, 190 Court Street, Middletown CT

Tickets $10 day of show, 2nd ticket $5

Click here to reserve discount tickets via Eventbrite 

Doors open at 7PM
RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED

Call 860-325-2386 or visit www.thediversion.com for more info.

Monthly Improv Show Delights Audiences

Each month, a group of talented comedians and performers take stage at First Church's Parish Hall. The shows are mixture of improvised comedy and fun. We've had shows featuring imaginary spaceships, pirate battles and the completely unexpected.

The next show on December 7th at 7:30PM will be a special treat. Hartford's Sea Tea Improv is coming down to Middletown to delight you! Also, the comedy of BenTopher and Friends will be opening up the night with more made-up fun.

The shows are funded through a grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts and sponsored through The Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center. Because of this, tickets are at a special, reduced price of $10 for one, and half off for your second ticket.

You can find out more by visiting www.thediversion.com.

Fun Comedy show this Friday

We have a fun event planned for this Friday, November 2nd at First Church's Parish Hall on 190 Court Street. 4 great comedy troupe unite for a wonderful evening of comedy. From East Hampton, The Sticks Improv will delight with their improvised one act plays. Tick... Tick... BOOM! provides a high energy dose of comedy. We are delighted to also have two troupes from Wesleyan University: Gag Reflex and Desparate Measures. Come see a great show. Tickets are $10. With Improvised comedy, the show is a once in a lifetime performance. No show is the same. Cupcakes on sale from NORA Cupcakes! The fun starts at 7:30PM

Laugh Yourself Silly

Touring Improv Troupe Presents Two Benefit Performances

Audiences of all ages will undoubtedly be in stitches during an evening of laughter when the improv touring troupe, Ever Chasing Alchemy takes the stage. The troupe, which has toured for the last two years, is under the direction of Peter Loffredo and consists of alumni’s from the Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) Educational Center for the Arts (ESCA). Actors will delight spectators through short form games heavily guided by audience participation and suggestions. The show is appropriate for teenagers and up.

Margery Dodge, a recent audience member at an Ever Chasing Alchemy show at the Whitney Center in Hamden, Connecticut exclaimed, “It was a treat to watch those young people and to enjoy all they communicated through body language and voice”. The first show launches on Thursday, August 4th at Oddfellows Playhouse; located at 128 Washington Street in Middletown, while the second will dazzle viewers on Friday, August 5th at the Arts Hall on 55 Audubon Street in New Haven. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m and $10 tickets are available at the door.

ACES ECA is the oldest of the four magnet schools and serves students from a diversity of cultural backgrounds, experiences and interests in the arts. Proceeds from both performances will benefit Oddfellows Playhouse and the ACES ESCA Director’s Scholarship Fund.

Parting Can Be So Poignantly Amusing

On Wednesday December 17, Oddfellows Playhouse presents an adult-only reading of "Over The River and Through The Woods", a 1994 comedy by Joe DiPietro that was performed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford before moving to Broadway in 1997. The 7 p.m. performance, a benefit for Oddfellows, has been arranged and directed by West Hartford resident Myron Gubitz, last seen on the OP stage in the role of The Ghost of Hamlet's father in the early October production of "Hamlet."

The story revolves Nick, a 29-year old New York City marketing executive who gets a big promotion and is scheduled to move to Seattle, Washington. His problem is how to tell his grandparents, all 4 of whom live in Hoboken, New Jersey and who he faithfully visits for dinner every Sunday night. Nick is the only member of his immediate family still living near them and the grandparents are very upset with his job decision. So, they try to entice to stay by hooking him up with Caitlin, the daughter of Grandmother Emma's canasta partner. Much hilarity ensues but there is also some sadness and plenty of references to food.

OP's Artistic Director Jeffery Allen stars as Nick while Gubitz and Barbara Gallow are the maternal grandparents with Naomi & Richard Kamins as the fraternal pair. Jaclynn Hart appears as Caitlin. Since this is a reading, the participants work at music stands and there is little movement so Erin Sullivan serves as the narrator. Yet, the emotion and humor comes shining through. The show is fine for ages 16 and older.

For more information, call 860-347-6143.

Another Opening, Not Just Another Show

If you've never seen nor read a play by David Ives, you have to know he is one of the funniest contemporary playwrights. One could easily describe his work as "absurd", "satirical" and "farcical" but the best adjective is "uproarious." Granted, there may be a moment or 2 to catch your breath and wipe away a tear but words and actions often fly by before one can comprehend the content or intent.

The Oddfellows Playhouse Teen Repertory Company presents Ives' "Mere Mortals" from Thursday November 13 through Saturday November 22. Like most of his works, this show is a series of short one-act plays that look at the human condition in ways most people would not. Directed by Joni Westfield, the cast of young actors (ages 14-20) grab ahold of the fast-paced material and doesn't let go until the last laugh.

Performances start tonight at 7 p.m. with the "pay-what-you-can preview" meaning you should bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to the Food Pantry and leave a monetary donation for Oddfellows. The rest of the schedule is this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., next Friday (11/21) at 7:30 and the final show Saturday (11/22) at 7 p.m. For more information, call 347-6143.

By the way, if you've not attended an OP production in the past decade (or ever), you'll be quite impressed by the quality of the work these young thespians and their accomplished directors (and crews) create. Give them a hand and support their efforts.