In actions that increased its membership from twelve to sixteen, the City Park Players board of directors elected four new members and a slate of new officers at a June meeting.
The theatre’s board elected Diane Falcone, Maxine Berry Gaines, Laine Berry Miller, and Jim Weinzettle, to serve terms ending in 2012. Retiring board members Dr. Ed Reed and Piper Wilson were reelected to fill vacancies existing in terms ending in 2010. Members also elected to extend board terms to four years.
Diane Falcone has been a fixture in the CenLa theatre community for twelve years. Since moving to Alexandria with her husband, Pete, in 1994, she has acted in, directed or served as a member of the crew for productions by City Park Players, Family Playhouse, or Spectral Sisters each year. She directed City Park Players’ 2008 60th Anniversary Season production of Steel Magnolias, was stage manager for the season’s presentation of On Golden Pond, and, most recently, served as Executive Producer for the theatre’s 2008 summer musical, The Boy Friend.
Maxine Berry Gaines is an educator, businessperson, and community servant. A native of Alexandria and graduate of Peabody High School and Grambling State University, her career as a teacher and program specialist spanned 28 years in Saint Paul, Minnesota public schools. She currently serves as Chief Financial Officer for Gaines & Gaines, Inc., and Vice President of Rachel Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppes. She also serves as president of Sisters on a Mission, a breast cancer survivors’ support group, and member of the Rapides Parish Workforce Investment Board, the Alexandria Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the Alexandria Chapter of The Links, Inc.
Laine Berry Miller’s work in theatre is well known in Central Louisiana. Having grown up acting in musicals on the City Park Players’ stage, Laine has directed and choreographed over 30 musicals and plays, and worked with perhaps every theatre company and actor in the Alexandria-Pineville area. The founding director of Family Playhouse in 1996, she was owner of Laine Berry’s Performing Arts Studio, and has directed shows with Le Theatre des Bon Temps in Avoyelles parish, the Cotton Patch Players, Theatre Louisiana College, and the LSUA Empty Space Players. Currently she is a private drama and voice instructor at Alexandria Country Day School, where she has directed a fully staged musical each year since 2004.
Jim Weinzettle, a partner at the architectural firm of Ashe Broussard Weinzettle, is an avid supporter of the arts and committed preservationist. He currently serves as a member of the Alexandria Historic Preservation Commission, board president of Hope House in Alexandria, and member of the boards of the Red River Chorale and Habitat for Humanity.
Newly elected board officers are Rosa Ashby Metoyer (2011), President; Piper Wilson, Vice-President; Jim Leggett (2009), Secretary; and Kerry Lloyd (2010), Treasurer. Officers are elected to one-year terms.
Other board members currently serving are Michael Davis (2009), Sylvia Davis (2011), Frith Harwood (2011), Susan Hathorn (2010), H. Wendell Isadore (2011), Karen Riley Simmons (2009), and Judge F. Rae Swent (2009).
The City Park Players Board of Directors is the management arm of the Central Louisiana Community Theatre and produces four to five shows each season. Founded in 1938, the Little Theatre, as it was first known, closed during World War and reopened in 1948. The theatre is celebrating its diamond anniversary—60 years of consecutive seasons—throughout 2008.
A premiere community theatre, City Park Players is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to offering quality cultural activities and experiences to the entire Central Louisiana community through live theatre productions, programming, and education.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Auditions for The Dinner Party by Neil Simon on Monday and Tuesday
City Park Players - Auditions for The Dinner Party by Neil Simon on Monday and Tuesday
– August 18 and 19 at 6:00pm at Bringhurst Park Theatre
– 1802 Sylvester Street, Alexandria, LA
– Director – Ed Reed
3 men and 3 women needed to explore the follies of love with all its brittle nuances.
THE DINNER PARTY, Neil Simon’s thirty-first play, is a decidedly French dinner party served up in a chaotic mode that only a master of comedy could create. Five people are invited to dine at a first rate restaurant in Paris. They do not know who the other guests will be or why they have been invited. Tossed together in a private dining room, they have a sneaking suspicion that this unorthodox dinner party will forever change their lives. The evening is filled with playful antics, sudden zaniness and masterful comic dialogue as the mystery unfolds. John Ritter and Henry Winkler starred in the wildly successful Kennedy Center production and on Broadway.
"A blizzard of one liners.... The audience can bank on some good laughs."---N.Y. Daily News.
"Frequently hilarious but also dangerously serious.... An invitation you [will be] glad you accepted."---N.Y. Post.
Contact: Jean Holliday – 442-1800 or email cparkplayers@bellsouth.net
– August 18 and 19 at 6:00pm at Bringhurst Park Theatre
– 1802 Sylvester Street, Alexandria, LA
– Director – Ed Reed
3 men and 3 women needed to explore the follies of love with all its brittle nuances.
THE DINNER PARTY, Neil Simon’s thirty-first play, is a decidedly French dinner party served up in a chaotic mode that only a master of comedy could create. Five people are invited to dine at a first rate restaurant in Paris. They do not know who the other guests will be or why they have been invited. Tossed together in a private dining room, they have a sneaking suspicion that this unorthodox dinner party will forever change their lives. The evening is filled with playful antics, sudden zaniness and masterful comic dialogue as the mystery unfolds. John Ritter and Henry Winkler starred in the wildly successful Kennedy Center production and on Broadway.
"A blizzard of one liners.... The audience can bank on some good laughs."---N.Y. Daily News.
"Frequently hilarious but also dangerously serious.... An invitation you [will be] glad you accepted."---N.Y. Post.
Contact: Jean Holliday – 442-1800 or email cparkplayers@bellsouth.net
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
The Boy Friend Opens August 7
The Boy Friend, a hilarious musical romantic comedy by Sandy Wilson, opens at the Bringhurst Park Theatre on August 7.
Featuring a local cast of 30 mostly teens and young adults, The Boy Friend is the fourth offering of the City Park Players 60th Anniversary Season and the perfect cap on a sizzling summer. Cenla musical theatre veteran Tina Smith directs the production. Diane Falcone is Executive Producer.
In this gleeful song and dance show, British playwright Wilson masterfully spoofs the contrived storylines, generous tongue-in-cheek humor, and happy-ever-after endings of classic 1920s-era musical comedies. As a newcomer to the American stage, a nineteen-year-old Julie Andrews starred in the show’s 1954 Broadway debut. Her performance earned her the Theatre World Award and led to her Tony Award-winning role as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
The Boy Friend cast and crewmembers include: Majorie McBride as Polly; Mark Weinzettle as Tony; Jane Albright, Donovan Baker, Anna Broussard, Alicia Burch, Cade Cascio, Laura Gauggel, Savannah Granger, Torey Hayward, Noelle LeBlanc, Darrah Mannix, Payden Moore, Britton Patton, Roxanne Pope, Caroline Randall, Loren Ryland, Catherine Schneider, Therese Schneider, Shaylah Simmons, Rodney Smetak, Anna Smith, Bradley Smith, Colin Smith, Callie Turner, Megan Voorhies, Marcus White, Mandy Williams, and Joe Wright; Leigh Schneider, choreographer; Jordan Baker, keyboards.
Continuing its 60th Anniversary Season celebration, the theater will unveil a limited edition, frameable poster, commissioned especially for the production and designed with original artwork by artist Marcus James White. White is a rising senior at Pineville High School Center for Creative & Performing Arts and member of the show’s cast.
The Boy Friend opens Thursday, August 7 and runs through Sunday, August 17. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm, with Sunday matinees at 2:30. All performances are at the Bringhurst Park Theatre, 1802 Sylvester Street, Alexandria, Louisiana. Individual tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors (65 and older), and $5 for students with current student ID. Group sales are available.
“Close to Home” promotional packages feature four tickets for $40, each good for any one performance of The Boy Friend or the upcoming The Dinner Party, by Neil Simon, opening October 2. More details are available by calling the theatre. For tickets, reservations, or more information, contact the City Park Players box office at (318) 442-1800 or email cparkplayers@bellsouth.net.
The City Park Players 60th Anniversary Season is made possible, in part, by grants from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, the Arts Council of Central Louisiana, and the Roy O. Martin Foundation.
A premiere community theatre, City Park Players is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to offering quality cultural activities and experiences to the entire Central Louisiana community through live theatre productions, programming, and education. Visit our Website at www.cityparkplayers.org.
Featuring a local cast of 30 mostly teens and young adults, The Boy Friend is the fourth offering of the City Park Players 60th Anniversary Season and the perfect cap on a sizzling summer. Cenla musical theatre veteran Tina Smith directs the production. Diane Falcone is Executive Producer.
In this gleeful song and dance show, British playwright Wilson masterfully spoofs the contrived storylines, generous tongue-in-cheek humor, and happy-ever-after endings of classic 1920s-era musical comedies. As a newcomer to the American stage, a nineteen-year-old Julie Andrews starred in the show’s 1954 Broadway debut. Her performance earned her the Theatre World Award and led to her Tony Award-winning role as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
The Boy Friend cast and crewmembers include: Majorie McBride as Polly; Mark Weinzettle as Tony; Jane Albright, Donovan Baker, Anna Broussard, Alicia Burch, Cade Cascio, Laura Gauggel, Savannah Granger, Torey Hayward, Noelle LeBlanc, Darrah Mannix, Payden Moore, Britton Patton, Roxanne Pope, Caroline Randall, Loren Ryland, Catherine Schneider, Therese Schneider, Shaylah Simmons, Rodney Smetak, Anna Smith, Bradley Smith, Colin Smith, Callie Turner, Megan Voorhies, Marcus White, Mandy Williams, and Joe Wright; Leigh Schneider, choreographer; Jordan Baker, keyboards.
Continuing its 60th Anniversary Season celebration, the theater will unveil a limited edition, frameable poster, commissioned especially for the production and designed with original artwork by artist Marcus James White. White is a rising senior at Pineville High School Center for Creative & Performing Arts and member of the show’s cast.
The Boy Friend opens Thursday, August 7 and runs through Sunday, August 17. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm, with Sunday matinees at 2:30. All performances are at the Bringhurst Park Theatre, 1802 Sylvester Street, Alexandria, Louisiana. Individual tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors (65 and older), and $5 for students with current student ID. Group sales are available.
“Close to Home” promotional packages feature four tickets for $40, each good for any one performance of The Boy Friend or the upcoming The Dinner Party, by Neil Simon, opening October 2. More details are available by calling the theatre. For tickets, reservations, or more information, contact the City Park Players box office at (318) 442-1800 or email cparkplayers@bellsouth.net.
The City Park Players 60th Anniversary Season is made possible, in part, by grants from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, the Arts Council of Central Louisiana, and the Roy O. Martin Foundation.
A premiere community theatre, City Park Players is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to offering quality cultural activities and experiences to the entire Central Louisiana community through live theatre productions, programming, and education. Visit our Website at www.cityparkplayers.org.
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