When Ruthie Foster appears on the Whittier THIS Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 pm she’ll bring her powerful blues voice and also a guitar or two.  So, we’re really lucky that Ruthie is going to put on a FREE guitar demo for islanders inside the Whittier at 2 pm that afternoon (MAY 18).

Tell your friends…especially those guitar students of any level….for this great chance to see Ruthie share her musical magic.  Thanks to the Western States Arts Foundation (WESTAF) for helping us to offer this FREE demonstration.

Baby dolls that look real, a not-too-big golden harp, and a white Heifer   OH MY! 

Those are just a few of the challenges that faced property master Ted Soares as he obtained the props for Into the Woods.  Ted has quite a bit experience dressing sets and props from his old days with NBC in Burbank.  Plus, he’s been our  property master here for most of our staged productions for more than six years now and has been involved in SJCT since its beginnings in 1989. 

Ted says he has had to be a bit more creative with Into the Woods and began searching catalogues several months ago to find just the right items for each scene.  He lucked out on the internet with the white heifer—it had to be durable and unbreakable since it has a “fall” during one of the scenes—a company on the East Coast was able to ship out the fiberglass cow.  Then there was the hen…which wasn’t as easy to find as a rooster.  On one of his trips to Palm Springs, friends who had worked on the original production with Bernadette Peters helped Ted shop and they found just the right size to match the golden eggs at a store called “The Cocky Cactus.”  The harp was also difficult…he ended up finding one small enough in a catalogue and then found an angel at the 99 cent store that he could then spray paint gold.

Ted says he continues to enjoy all of the challenges of putting together the props and making them work for actors, so that everything blends right in and matches the period of the show.   “I think it pays off…the shows look great!”

And in addition to finding the items, Ted is there, behind the scenes during every show, choreographing the props—making sure the actors get the props at the right time in the right form.  He even has to make sure the cow gets some padding before her fall so she doesn’t get bruised. 

Penelope Haskew is really getting into her part as Cinderella in Into the Woods, both on and off stage.  With her second, third and fourth roles as set designer, scenic artist and SJCT production assistant (in addition to being a volunteer, she’s also a part-time SJCT staff member), Penelope is finding several connections to the “maid/worker/servant” side to Cinderella.  “I do feel sometimes this character is easy to get into,”  she jokes.

As you see below in the “before” and “after” photos, Penelope got plenty of “Cinderella” practice from helping painting the sets, helping with construction and making sure the crew and knows the technical side of  how the sets work.  Penelope says she’s torn on which side of the theater—back of house versus on stage—she prefers, but says working both sides on one production has been a great experience and something she wishes more actors would consider.  “Acting on the set really helped with the set design because [as I acted and went through the scenes] I was able to figure out what changes were need on the set.”

Check out the photos below but first see just how many islanders are involved in making Into the Woods come to life!

The “Who’s Who” of Into the Woods

 Cast

Baker’s Wife: Deb Langhans
Baker: Scott Mapstead
Witch: Jill Urbach
Cinderella: Penelope Haskew
Jack: Nicholas Zervas
Little Red Riding Hood: Grace Castle
Jack’s Mother: Patti Bair
Rapunzel: Raena Parsons
Cinderella’s Stepmother: Trudy Loucks
Lucinda & Florinda: Bridget Booth & Skyler Moeder
Cinderella’s Mother: Maggie Gallivan
Granny: Pam Gillette
Snow White: Elizabeth Schubert
Sleeping Beauty: Starla Cosgrove
Giantess: Pam Gillette
Cinderella’s Prince: Doug Schirmer
Rapunzel’s Prince: Tyler Strasser
Wolf: Doug Schirmer
Mysterious Man: Doug Rowan
Narrator: Ed Wilson
Steward: Dana Rice
Cinderella’s Father: Bert Dayton

 Orchestra

Jim Collado, Music Director

Noah Atchley, Violin

Dorothy Baker, Piano

Ken Baker, Baritone

John Chessell, Bassoon

Sue Collado, Clarinet I

Wayne Eshelman, Flugelhorn

Matt Frost, Trumpet

Pam Stewart, Flute

Sasha von Dassow, Cello

Dennis Willows, Percussion

Grace Willows, Synthesizer

Designers and Planners

 Kim Burns, Costume Designer

Lisa Duke, Choreographer

Gary Ford, Sound Designer

Penelope Haskew, Set Designer

Lyne McPherson, Scenic Artist

Ellen Roberts, Stage Manager

John Shaller, Lighting and Effects Designer

Amanda Smith, Assistant Director

Ted Soares, Property Master

Anita Welch, Costume Designer

Technical Crew

 Warren Baehr, Crew

Gys Bruins, Follow Spot Operator

Madelyn Busse, Accompanist

Tim Cowell, Set Construction

Tom Donnelly, Set Construction

Duvie Dow, Light Board Operator

Greg Findley, Set Construction

Anna Frampton, Costume Assistant

Patty Francisco, Assistant Stage Manager

Craig Green, Set Construction

Lynda Guernsey, Crew

Sheila Harley, Assistant Stage Manager

Leisha Holmes, Set Painter

Paul Haskew, Set Construction

George Iliff, Crew

Shannon Kelley, Crew

Chloe Klein, Wig Specialist

Julie Laidlaw, Crew Manager/Assistant Stage Manager

Joely Loucks, Crew

Desire McGinn, Make-up & Mask Consultant

Genese McGinn, Seamstress

Kiara McLaughlin, Assistant to Stage Manager

Charlia O’Neill, Rehearsal Secretary & Crew

Betsy Pope, Scenery Painter

Alison Power, Set Construction

Chiara Power, Crew & Set Construction

Fiona Small, Puppeteer

Mickey Wright, Seamstress

Sonja Zarek, Audition Accompanist

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Our big Spring Musical—Stephen Sondheim’s INTO THE WOODS— opens THIS Friday, April 26 at 7:30 pm in the Whittier.  Check out some of the rehearsal photos as well as some behind-the-scenes “building the set” shots.

Several SJCT investors got the chance to check out the Utah Ballroom Dance Company before their CINEMAGIC  performance here on Saturday.  The dancers gathered in the Gubelman and even demonstrated some of their moves.  They also introduced themselves…most are from the Portland area (Utah Ballroom has several chapters around the country) and all are amateur dancers—there was a chemical engineer, a high school teacher, a personal trainer and more!  The free gathering before the show was an example of the special “perks” given to donors (based on their level of giving).

Our Spring musical is right on track…last week it was a traditional “costume parade” at PARC where the cast tries on their costumes for the first time and let’s the director check out whether they’re going to work or not.  So…we don’t know for sure if this is what we’ll see on stage when Into the Woods open on Friday, April 26, but it’s fun to see the process.

The upcoming Friday Harbor Middle School Player’s Escape from Nemotex (Fri-Sun., March 22-24) is a great example of how SJCT partners with other groups to present quality theater events and education programs.

Many may remember the big news last December when our HOliday Festival fundraiser raised money to start a new partnership with the Seattle Children’s Theatre.  That new program…a week long workshop for island students and drama teachers taught by SCT teachers…is going to start coming in July!  PLUS!  We’ll have our own set of new children and youth workshops in our new Summer Theatre Conservatory.

We plan to have the workshop schedules,registration information and lots more stuff on our website by April 1—so stay tuned!

Those SJCT volunteers who ventured into the Theatre Sunday might just be humming the “thank you” song after we celebrated the wonderful islanders who make SJCT thrive!  Thanks to Penelope’s oh-so-cute daughter, Allison, the staff was able to successfully sing their thanks before we sat down to watch a very funny film WHO AM I THIS TIME about community theater featuring the very young Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walken (by the way, thanks Chance for looking it up…the film came out in 1982 for those of you curious  about it).Here’s a few photos of the event…and we’re so glad you came!

We got to add a little pizazz to our most recent Into the Woods production meeting recently…not only did we get to meet on stage (the upstairs office was full of other meet-ers) but we got to sit under the chandalier left over from the recent La Danse et La Musique event. 

Plans are in full swing for the spring musical…the cast is rehearsing regularly, costume and prop materials are being ordered, tickets are now on sale on our website and at the box office and, as seen below, the set is getting started thanks to construction volunteers Tom Donnelly and Craig Green and set designers Penelope Haskew and John Shaller.