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The pavilion was the place to be for memorable WTC show
"One night, we did have quite a few people sitting outside, looking at the stage from the hill after all the chairs had been filled ... they had no place else to go," she added. "I'm telling you, if you were in Washington a week ago, this pavilion was the place to be."
I talked to Verderber on Monday evening while cast and crew for "Beauty and the Beast" were busy striking the set, disconnecting the lights, cleaning the pavilion, preparing the costumes for storage and, as a sentimental gesture, humming tunes from the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman-Tim Rice score.
It wasn't easy, I guess, for everyone to let go of the 40th anniversary production when it did more than generate positive buzz among the patrons behind local entertainment, theater in particular. The "tale as old as time" also sold a near record-breaking 2,402 tickets, the most for any WCT hit since "Jesus Christ Superstar" in 2002.
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Perhaps no one was more surprised by the crowd-pleasing popularity of "Beauty and Beast" than its director, Barry Wood, a longtime theater pro yet a newcomer on Disney's hallowed ground. The morning after the final dress rehearsal, presented to an invited audience, he sent me an e-mail message containing one funny understatement: "Children seem to know this show very well."
Under the stars
Another week brings another play to another park.
On July 9, the Misfits Theatre troupers move to Canonsburg Town Park, though not with the previously announced "Romeo and Juliet." When recent auditions failed to attract men (and is Canonsburg ready for a girls-only battle between the Montagues and the Capulets?), director Matt Grimm managed to change a disadvantage into an advantage.
He threw out plans to revive William Shakespeare's classic love story but kept the Bard close by putting together a collection of women-friendly monologues and scenes from "R & J" and other dramas and comedies by the playwright, including "The Taming of the Shrew," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "As You Like It," Richard III," "Hamlet," and "Macbeth."
Karen Hanes, Carolyn Smith, Jamie Smith, Stacy DiPasquale and Tracey Belle are among the actresses Grimm recruited for the group's park debut. He teasingly refers to them as his "femmes fatales," and like their director, the ladies appreciate the darkness and the merriment in Shakespeare. What else can a "misfit" do?
"Scenes and Monologues" will run through July 18, with performances in the park's amphitheater starting at 7:30 p.m. And you can't beat this deal: Admission is free.
New works
In case you wondered, as I did, "What ever happened to Terra Nova Theatre Group?," Bill Cameron sent a press release last week announcing that his company returns to Inspiration Café on South Main Street this month for a second season of its "Friday Night Wrights" play-reading series.
Five writers from the Pittsburgh PlayWorks' Play Development Lab are participating, including W & J grad Drew Aloe with the first-time reading of his "Love at First Plight" (July 31).
Also on the schedule are Denise Pullen's "Switched at Birth" (July 10), Ginny Cunningham's "Mother Marian" and Sheila Kelly's "Snaketown" (both on July 17), Cameron's "Not Fade Away" (July 24) and Jozef Spychala's "Stilling the Storm" (Aug. 7).
All readings, which begin at 8 p.m., are free to the public. Go!
Doug Shanaberger covers theater for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at ds7f@ andrew.cmu.edu
