Archive for the Category »Past Seasons «
All Reader’s Theatres start at 6:00 pm and are held at the Farmer’s Daughter in Princeton, In.
Schedule
- January 17th – A Collection of Romantic Comedies
- February 21st – Musical Comedy
- March 21st - Uncertainty (or Imprecision) - by local playwright Nick Krohn
- April 18th -
- May 23rd -
- June 20th -
- August 15th -
- September 12th -
- October 17th -
- November 21st -
What is Reader’s Theatre?
Reader’s Theatre is when actors read directly from scipts with little use of props, sets, or costuming. The primary purpose is to present the dialogue to the audience in its puriest form. It is a sort of dramatic or comedic story-telling.  Many plays do not lend well to this format because they rely heavily on music, sets, props, physical acting, and costuming. Plays that usually read well are comedies and dramas that rely heavily on the spoken word.
Another advantage of reader’s theatre is that material can be presented cheaply and quickly to an audience for evaluation. The reading can be presented for little cost or time commitment from the actors and production team. Audience feedback can determine if the play will be well received by the public before considerable time and money is devoted to putting on a full-fledged producttion.
And finally, reader’s theater is a great entry point for someone interested in being on stage. Readers can learn many things about theatre without the huge commitment of learning lines and everything else required for a fully-staged performance. Many of the actors you see on stage in GCTC performances got their start in readings.
This is a great way to see what GCTC is all about because admission is free. So, check us out and let us know what you think.
The show revolves around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch” of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts’ victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (a character based on real-life gangland surgeon Joseph Moran) to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff (a self-referential joke, as the part was originally played by Karloff). more…
All of your favorite characters are here including Aladdin, Jasmine, and of course, the Genie. Filled with magic, mayhem, and flying carpet rides, the tuneful Academy Award-winning score will make this musical a favorite for many years to come! more…
It’s Christmas-time and all Alice wants to do is just sing one of her favorite holiday songs, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” But after just a few words, Alice realizes that when she sings, the characters in the popular holiday tune begin to come to life. Alice’s boyfriend has decided to surprise her by sending her all of the twelve gifts mentioned in the traditional carol. With each verse, Alice unleashes a wacky stream of characters that are far from what most people envision when singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” From Turtle & Dove, two attorneys that try to convince Alice to sue Santa Claus for invasion of privacy to milkmaids who have created a union and are on strike because of poor working conditions, the play turns the traditional holiday song into a fast-paced zany collection of characters. This play keeps theatre-goers wondering who will show up every time Alice opens her mouth and sings the next verse. more…
Synopsis
What do you get when you combine classic holiday characters with human frailties – a smash hit that has them rolling in the aisle. These six wonderful holiday scenes use satire and comedy to reveal the meaning of Christmas.
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All of the characters that you love and enjoy are here, starting with the first scene where Uncle Sam, Easter Bunny, Cupid, Ezekiel the Pilgrim, and Hagatha the Witch are envious of the popularity of Santa Claus, only to be won over by a twist of fate. The second scene depicts Donner and Blitzen, who have been exercising during the off-season because they are tired of bringing up the rear of the pack, all because of a song. The third scene depicts Talking Cathy, with four talking dolls ordained to speak “insignificant – one dimensional” phrases. While three are content with their lives, one realizes that they can make a difference in the world, if only they decided to speak out. In the fourth scene we watch two elves on break, as they learn that Santa has decided to hire females in the shop – their transition is revealing. In the fifth scene we join Barbie and G. I. Joe, as they discuss Barbie’s potential break-up with Ken in this love triangle that pits rough and tough against tender and sensitive. And the sixth scene culminates in a trial of the reindeer that ran over Grandma with the entrance of Scrooge as the prosecuting attorney.
GCTC will be producing The One That Got Away, written by Eddie McPherson and directed by Jessie Dyer. Planned show dates are Sept. 24th-26th at the Princeton Country Club. Tickets are $15 per person. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available. For information about how you can be involved, contact Jessie Dyer by email at jessiedyer@hotmail.com.
Synopsis
A headline in the state newspaper reads, “Annual Fishing Tournament Expecting Record Number of Female Participants.” This news is great for women who love the sport of fishing. It’s even better news for men who love the sport of “picking up chicks”. When Brad and his buddies hear the news, they pack their backpacks and head to Weiss Lake where the tournament is being held. Because the guys know that the women at the tournament will be impressed with men who exude expert fishing knowledge, they conduct research by picking up a couple of fishing magazines at the local Seven Eleven. They figure by the time the “chicks” find out the men know nothing about fishing they have already won them over with their “charm and animal magnetism.” But when one of the men’s inept cousin tags along unintentionally and then accidentally spills the beans to the women about the men’s intentions, the weekend becomes more than anyone bargained for. And then Brad’s fiancĂ©e shows up. The women have a plan to put the ego-filled fellows in their place – – and it’s not going to be pretty.
Roald Dahl’s timeless story of the world-famous candy man and his quest to find an heir comes to life in this stage adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. With a flexible cast size, a tour-de-force role for the title character, songs from the film classic and some clever new additions, Willy Wonka KIDS runs about 30 minutes and will delight performers and audiences alike!
The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including the title song “The Sound of Music”, “Edelweiss”, “My Favorite Things”, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “Do-Re-Mi”.
The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in November 1959, and the show has enjoyed numerous productions and revivals since then. It has also been made into an Academy Award-winning 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The Sound of Music was the final musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Hammerstein died of cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere.