THE RED VELVET CAKE WAR by Jones, Hope and Wooten, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, September 27 - October 19, 2013

presents

The Red Velvet Cake War

by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten

directed by Lynn S. Beaver

September 27, 2013 - October 19, 2013

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 2: p.m.

Sam Bass Community Theatre, 600 N. Lee St., Round Rock (in Memorial Park)-- CLICK FOR MAP

Tickets $18; $15 seniors, students, educators, military; $15 all Thursday performances 

Reservations: www.sambasstheatre.org

The Red Velvet Cake War opens the Sam Bass Community Theatre 2013-2014 season on September 27th at Sam Bass Community Theatre. In this riotously funny Southern-fried comedy, the three Verdeen cousins—Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette—could not have picked a worse time to throw their family reunion.

Their outrageous antics have delighted local gossips in the small town of Sweetgum (just down the road from Fayro) and the eyes of Texas are upon them, as their self-righteous Aunt LaMerle is quick to point out. Having “accidentally” crashed her minivan through the bedroom wall of her husband’s girlfriend’s doublewide, Gaynelle is one frazzled nerve away from a spectacular meltdown. Peaches, a saucy firebrand and the number one mortuarial cosmetologist in the tri-county area, is struggling to decide if it’s time to have her long-absent trucker husband declared dead. And Jimmie Wyvette, the rough-around-the-edges store manager of Whatley’s Western Wear, is resorting to extreme measures to outmaneuver a priss-pot neighbor for the affections of Sweetgum’s newest widower.

Raynelle Shelley, Linda Myers and Rhonda Roe as the Verdeen Cousins (photo: Sam Bass Theatre)

But the cousins can’t back out of the reunion now. It’s on and Gaynelle’s hosting it; Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette have decided its success is the perfect way to prove Gaynelle’s sanity to a skeptical court-appointed psychologist. Unfortunately, they face an uphill battle as a parade of wildly eccentric Verdeens gathers on the hottest day of July, smack-dab in the middle of Texas tornado season. Things spin hilariously out of control when a neighbor’s pet devours everything edible, a one-eyed suitor shows up to declare his love and a jaw-dropping high-stakes wager is made on who bakes the best red velvet cake.

As this fast-paced romp barrels toward its uproarious climax, you’ll wish your own family reunions were this much fun!

Cast includes: Anita Tecce, Linda Myers, BJ Machalicek, Frank Benge, Rhonda Roe, Raynelle Shelley, Veronica Prior, Gene Storie, Jeff Sughrue, Lori Iacoletti, Janie Williams and John Iacoletti.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

2013-2014 Sam Bass Community Theatre Season, Round Rock

Announced for 2013-2014 by the Sam Bass Community Theatre, 610 Lee Street, Round Rock:

July 26 - August 17, 2013

September 27 - October 18, 2013

December 6 - 21, 2013

May 16 - 24, 2014

April 11 - May 3, 2014

July 25 - August 16, 2014

Auditions in Round Rock for The Red Velvet Cake War by Jones, Hope and Wooten, July 29 and 30, 2013

Auditions July 29 & 30 for The Red Velvet Cake War by Jones, Hope and Wooten,directed by Lynn S. Beaver

PERFORMANCES: Sept. 27 - Oct. 19, 2013

In this riotously funny Southern-fried comedy, the Verdeen cousins could not have picked a worse time to plan a family reunion. Their outrageous antics have the eyes of Texas upon them. Add a one-eyed suitor, a red velvet cake contest, and a tornado, and you have the makings of a side-splitting comedy.

Click to go to audition form at www.sambasstheatre.org

2013-2014 Theatre Season at the Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock

[Sam Bass Community Theatre, 600 Lee Street, Round Rock - click for map]

announces its 2013 - 2014 theatre season:

The Red Velvet Cake Wars
by Jones, Hope & Wooten - directed by Lynn Beaver

In this riotously funny Southern-fried comedy, the three Verdeen cousins—Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette—could not have picked a worse time to throw their family reunion. Their outrageous antics have delighted local gossips in the small town of Sweetgum (just down the road from Fayro) and the eyes of Texas are upon them, as their self-righteous Aunt LaMerle is quick to point out. Having “accidentally” crashed her minivan through the bedroom wall of her husband’s girlfriend’s doublewide, Gaynelle is one frazzled nerve away from a spectacular meltdown. Peaches, a saucy firebrand and the number one mortuarial cosmetologist in the tri-county area, is struggling to decide if it’s time to have her long-absent trucker husband declared dead. And Jimmie Wyvette, the rough-around-the-edges store manager of Whatley’s Western Wear, is resorting to extreme measures to outmaneuver a priss-pot neighbor for the affections of Sweetgum’s newest widower. But the cousins can’t back out of the reunion now. It’s on and Gaynelle’s hosting it; Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette have decided its success is the perfect way to prove Gaynelle’s sanity to a skeptical court-appointed psychologist. Unfortunately, they face an uphill battle as a parade of wildly eccentric Verdeens gathers on the hottest day of July, smack-dab in the middle of Texas tornado season. Things spin hilariously out of control when a neighbor’s pet devours everything edible, a one-eyed suitor shows up to declare his love and a jaw-dropping high-stakes wager is made on who bakes the best red velvet cake. As this fast-paced romp barrels toward its uproarious climax, you’ll wish your own family reunions were this much fun!

A Christmas Story
by Philip Grecian. Based on the motion picture "A Christmas Story." Directed by Laura Vohs.

Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself, at Goldblatt's Department Store. The consistent response: "You'll shoot your eye out." All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family's temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys' experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin; Ralphie's father winning a lamp shaped like a woman's leg in a net stocking; Ralphie's fantasy scenarios and more.

The Boys Next Door
by Tom Griffin, directed by Eric Nelson

The place is a communal residence in a New England city, where four mentally handicapped men live under the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly "burned out" young social worker named Jack. Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and is unable to resist the lure of the sweet pastries, takes great pride in the huge bundle of keys that dangles from his waist; Lucien P. Smith has the mind of a five-year-old but imagines that he is able to read and comprehend the weighty books he lugs about; Arnold, the ringleader of the group, is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer, who suffers from deep-seated insecurities and a persecution complex; while Barry, a brilliant schizophrenic who is devastated by the unfeeling rejection of his brutal father, fantasizes that he is a golf pro. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these four, where "little things" sometimes become momentous (and often very funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness, we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time that they, like their more fortunate brothers, are allotted on this earth.


The Chalk Garden
by Enid Bagnold, directed by Frank Benge

A story about the need to bring love - real love - to children. Miss Madrigal is a newly hired nanny/companion at the home of Mrs. St. Maugham, a wealthy and slightly eccentric old woman who has been at war with her daughter Olivia for some time. Olivia has a daughter Laurel who has emotional problems, and whom Mrs. St. Maugham has legally taken away from Olivia. The old lady pretends that only she can give the love and care to the girl that her own daughter fails to give, but in reality she allows Laurel to have full freedom. As Laurel is an arsonist and liar this is not the best policy. The household is completed by the wryly humorous butler Maitland. He sees the blundering by his employer, and he would like to tell a few things to Laurel, but he restrains himself because of his status as an employee. Madrigal, of course, having just arrived is more willing to openly confront Laurel. She does so in an effort to understand her. Laurel appreciates having a new person to toy with, and opens up to an extent (revealing a love of old murder cases), but she is trying to find out the secret that Madrigal is holding back on - which she assumes can prove quite wounding if exposed, and she would love to expose it. At points the secret comes near to the surface, but it keeps getting closed as quickly as it seems to appear. In the meantime Madrigal tries to get her employer see the need for Laurel to have her mother back into her life.

Refried Flimflammery
An evening of selected short plays from the playwrights of Loaded Gun Theory's "Slapdash Flimflammery"

Once again, we offer an evening of the most popular of the short plays from the minds of Loaded Gun Theory! These were all done one night only... until NOW!! A riotous evening of adult laughs!!


Jungalbook
Adapted by Edward Mast. Based on the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling. Directed by Nelly Ruiz de Chavez.

Our Youth Guild summer show! This dramatization places the jungle of India on a children's playground. The dialogue and action refer to the jungle, but the play draws color and style from a child's intense world of playfulness, loyalty, adventure and betrayal. Mowgli, the human child, grows up in the jungle, raised by wolves under the guidance of Baloo the bear. The tiger, Sherakhan, killed his parents and wants the boy's flesh, but Bagheera, the lone panther, protects him. Mowgli grows up wild and unconcerned, believing he's a wolf; but the tiger works long and hard to poison the wolf pack against him. With rope stolen from the human village, Mowgli meets and destroys Sherakhan; but his use of "manthing" has broken jungle law. Mowgli must choose whether to defy the law or leave the jungle forever.

Hamlet, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, February 10 - March 3

Why climb a mountain? Because it's there.

Sam Bass Community Theatre in Round Rock is a small, hard working group of friends who know their public and regularly serve up dramatic fare that's been tested and approved in the community kitchens across the country. Those Futrelle sisters of the mythical small town of Fayro, Texas, imagined by the trio of Hope, Jones, and Wooten, for example; or other kinder and more thoughtful staples of middle class dramatic life. The company does a good job on their tiny stage and the familiar faces satisfy and console.

About once a year they stretch. Not a little, but a lot. In 2008 with Romeo and Juliet and in 2010 with Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett's mid-20th century absurdist existentialist masterpiece. In 2011 with Frank Benge's magical steam-punk Tempest Project. This year director Lynn Beaver takes on the Mt. Everest of English-language theatre, the story of the much-wronged and much-haunted prince of a Denmark that never really existed except in imagination.

In the compiled version that has come down to us Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest text, more than4000 lines of unforgettable verse that takes more than four hours to play entire. Just about everyone knows the story. The language, expressions and imagery live deep in the shared culture.

Beaver's version at the Sam Bass plays start to finish in two hours, including an intermission. Key scenes are there but in order to achieve that concision the text has been amputated again and again. Those who know it only vaguely won't be disturbed, for the story remains as strong as ever, but devotees of Shakespeare's language may experience the gaps as disconcerting.

Upcoming: Hamlet, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, February 10 - March 3

Received directly:

presents

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

directed by Lynn S. Beaver

February 10 - March 3, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Old Stage Depot, 600 Lee Street, Round Rock (click for map)

Tickets available on-line via the Sam Bass Community Theatre website or by calling (512) 244-0440

Treachery. Madness. Murder. Shakespeare's masterwork Hamlet comes to the Old Depot Stage! Something is rotten in Denmark, a king is dead. His brother, Claudius, has snatched the throne and the widowed queen. Life goes on-for everyone but Hamlet. The prince, fixated on his uncle as the murderer, is charged by his father's ghost to avenge the wrong. Disconnected from the foul world around him, Hamlet strains under the weight of his task. SBCT's production of Shakespeare's disturbing and psychologically rich masterpiece digs into the enigma of a manics mind.

Auditions for Hamlet, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, December 5 and 6

Found on-line:

announces Auditions for Hamlet by William Shakespeare

adapted and directed by Lynn S. Beaver

Auditions December 5 and 6, 7 p.m. at Sam Bass Theatre, 600 Lee Street, Round Rock (click for map)

Treachery. Madness. Murder. Shakespeare's masterwork Hamlet comes to the Old Depot Stage! Something is rotten in Denmark and a king is dead. His brothe, Claudius has snatched the throne and the widowed queen. Life goes on - for everyone but Hamlet. The prince, fixated on his uncle as the murderer, is charged by his father's ghost to avenge the wrong. Disconnected from the foul world around him, Hamlet strains under the weight of his task. SBCT's production of Shakespeare's disturbing and psychologically rich masterpiece digs into the enigma of a maniac's mind.

Rehearsals January 2 thru February 9, Monday thru Friday - Performances February 10 thru March 3 (14 performances)

Needed are 12 men ages 20 thru 70 and 3 women ages 18 thru 60; there are also non-speaking roles for males and females available.

Secondary Cause of Death, Sam Bass Community Theatre, September 24 - October 16

The Sam Bass players put their energy and ingenuity into Peter Gordon’s Secondary Cause of Death and I did get some smiles from it. The Round Rock thespian crew under Lynn Beaver's direction were performing the equivalent of CPR on a piece that probably should have been selected for unfavorable triage at a much earlier date.

With this play the British playwright wrote the second in his “Inspector Pratt” trilogy, a follow-up to his Murdered to Death, done successfully last year at the Sam Bass Community Theatre. That was a parody of the never-out-of-print-and-ever-popular Agatha Christie’s “Miss Marple” series of detective stories. In addition to “Miss Joan Maple” played by Veronica Prior, the murder-in-the-mansion story featured Frank Benge as Inspector Pratt ( = in British slang, “idiot”), a sort of looming English version of Inspector Clouseau. Richard Dodwell was the old chap retired colonel from India. That play wound up in the classic confrontation in the drawing room, during which (spoiler alert!) Miss Maple herself was revealed to be the culprit and the colonel’s good wife went off to the loony bin.

A general rule of thumb in the cinema is that follow-up pieces, the ones bearing those Roman numerals II, III, IV and so on, are not going to be as good as the originals. The surprises of the initial story become familiar background, the thrill is gone, and one waits to see the ingenuity of the scriptwriters and the director. Infrequently, it works – if one has the resources and the imagination of, say, George Lucas or of Gene Rodenberry and the fleet of creative teams that followed him. Even the playwriting trio of Jones, Hope & Wooton managed it, because the antics of their insane Futrelle sisters have some outrageously silly things to say to us about contemporary small town Texas. (Check out their newest in a Sam Bass exclusive in December.)

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Royal Pretenders at Sam Bass Community Theatre, August 19 - 29

. . . or, perhaps, The Road to Salvation as imagined by Bart Simpson.

The setting is a clichéd and unfunny take on the Day of Judgment, the plot's a mess, the characters are mostly caricatures, and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was LONG -- close to three hours, including one intermission.

A brilliant and moving play was hiding inside this mess, one that came clear in the concluding scenes, after the grunge and cuteness had been burned away.

One had the impression that Stephen Adly Guirgis set out to write a stand-up comedy routine about the afterlife and just couldn't bear to discard any of the many characters that occurred to him along the way.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Royal Pretenders at the Sam Bass Community Theatre, August 19 - 29

. . or, perhaps, The Road to Salvation as imagined by Bart Simpson.


The setting is a clichéd and unfunny take on the Day of Judgment, the plot's a mess, the characters are mostly caricatures, and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was LONG -- close to three hours, including one intermission.


A brilliant and moving play was hiding inside this mess, one that came clear in the concluding scenes, after the grunge and cuteness had been burned away.


One had the impression that Stephen Adly Guirgis set out to write a stand-up comedy routine about the afterlife and just couldn't bear to discard any of the many characters that occurred to him along the way.

Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . .

The Dixie Swim Club, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, January 29 - February 20

The Sam Bass Community Theatre celebrates friendship and nostalgia in The Dixie Swim Club, by that clever trio of writers who dropped out of the big time to devote themselves to crafting vehicles for community theatres.

Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten now have residences in Asheville NC and in New York City, according to their website. After careers in television and regional theatre, they hit gold with their 2005 North Carolina premiere of Dearly Beloved, introducing the formidable Futrelle sisters from the mythical crossroads town of Fayro, Texas. The trio's Futrelle output is now up to a trilogy, and they've branched out to further quirky Southern-flavored comedies.

The Dixie Swim Club opened in 2007 in Wilson, a mid-sized town in eastern North Carolina, halfway between the sophisticated university town of Raleigh and the beaches of the Outer Banks. It's a female Southern Comfort buddy play, portraying summer ritual beach house vacations of five university classmates over 55 years. There's a Big Chill factor at work here -- offering audience members scenes that inevitably raise memories and tug at their heartstrings. This is sure-fire heart-warming stuff.

Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Murdered to Death, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, September 18 - October 10

Click for ALT review, October 9

Update: review at AustinOnStage.com, September 28


presents

Murdered to Death
at Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock

Written by Peter Gordon
Directed by Lynn Beaver
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 2 p.m.

This hilarious spoof of the best of Agatha Christie traditions is set in a country manor house in the 1930's, with an assembled cast of characters guaranteed to delight. The play introduces the inept Inspector Pratt, who battles against the odds to solve the murder of the house's owner. It soon becomes clear that the murderer isn't finished yet, but will the miscreant be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom, or will the audience die laughing first?

Show Rating: May not be suitable for young children - parental discretion is advised.

Sordid Lives, Sam Bass Community Theatre, May 15 - June 6

Round Rock's Sam Bass Community Theatre isn't a formal repertory company. It's a circle of players, techs and supporters who gather for six or seven productions a year in the plain playing space that was formerly a Union Pacific depot.

As you follow the Sam Bass season, you have the pleasure of seeing familiar faces reappear in new guises and disguises. They're friendly folk; the cast always gathers outside the theatre to greet their departing public. As I was driving home afterwards, there popped into my mind all unbidden the scene in which Hamlet expresses his pleasure at re-encountering the band of traveling players.

The final production of the season is set in Winters, Texas. That's a town so small that when I found it on Google Maps I had to back out twice before I could orient myself. Winters is smack dab in the middle of the state, in a largely blank area about 20 miles south of Abilene. The inhabitants of Winters might well be considered "people of the land." That is, echoing Mel Brooks' dialogue for Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles: "You know -- morons."

The characters and incidents in Sordid Lives are ridiculous but very funny. We in the audience laugh with good heart at small-town dumbness, morality and immorality -- in fact, with a certain proprietary affection. We're in Texas and we know those stereotypes, folks who are the focus of many a joke.

This is a revenge play. Shores acknowledges that he grew up in the mercilessly parodied town of Winters.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .