Subscribers to the platform will be treated to favorite gems from the vast archive of WCT’s video-taped stage performances, including main stage hits, the Speakeasy Monologue presentations, one-act plays by local playwright Don Samson and other delicious performances gems.
In its ongoing effort to expand locally-based community entertainment, Willits Community Theatre has launched its latest offering in streaming video.
The Spoon River Anthology, written by Edgar Lee Masters in 1914 and
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Subscribers to the platform will be treated to favorite gems from the vast archive of WCT’s video-taped stage performances, including main stage hits, the Speakeasy Monologue presentations, one-act plays by local playwright Don Samson and other delicious performances gems.
In its ongoing effort to expand locally-based community entertainment, Willits Community Theatre has launched its latest offering in streaming video.
The Spoon River Anthology, written by Edgar Lee Masters in 1914 and directed and produced by Phaedra Swearengin in 2021, is available for streaming at the Willits Community Theatre’s website: www.wctperformingartscenter.org/spoon-river.
As originally published, The Spoon River Anthology is a collection of 212 free verse poems, each an autobiographical epitaph of a dead citizen, delivered by the dead themselves. They speak about the sorts of things one might expect: some recite their histories and turning points in their lives; others make observations on their lives as if from the outside; some of the more petty characters complain about how their graves are being kept or who is buried next to them; few tell how they really died. Speaking without reason to lie and without fear of the consequences, the characters in The Spoon River Anthology construct a picture of life in their town that is shorn of façades.
Swearengin directed and produced a radio version of Masters’ masterpiece which was aired on radio station KLLG in March. For Willits Community Theatre’s video production of thebook, Swearengin has selected and filmed 25 poems, spoken and acted by 15 of our community’s more accomplished actors. Reciting and acting the poems are: Aris Vellis, August Kaster, Bruce Andich, Earlene Gleisner, Garrett Moore, Henry Shebitz, Jeff Shipp, Jennifer Dulian, Kathy Vellis, Kevin H C Moore, Liz Dellett, Mary Burns, Mike A’Dair, Miranda Swearengin and Virginia Ryan Hanley.
The Spoon River Anthology takes place in a small fictional small town named after the Spoon River, which ran near Masters’ hometown of Lewistown, Illinois. Soon after its publication, the book became a critical and commercial success, selling 80,000 copies over four years, making it an international bestseller by the standards of the day. Playwright Thornton Wilder was even inspired to write his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Our Town” after reading “Lucinda Matlock” in Masters’ Anthology.
“Shake It Loose” Music Concert Series Available For Viewing Online at Willits Community Theatre Website.
article by Steve Hellman
Longtime Skunk Train performer Grey Schindel headlines an impressive list of local musicians offering up their taped solo acts for viewing at the Willits Community Theatre website. As part of the concert series titled “Shake It Loose,” Schindel’s lively guitar and vocal renditions highlight six of his original compositions, all currently available for streaming at: www.wctperformingartscenter.org/calendar.
Second in line for release this Friday, March 18 are Ukiah actress and singer Blare Elliott’s seven vocal favorites from a bevy of Broadway hit musicals, including Hamilton and Cabaret. In the coming weeks, “Shake It Loose” will also present a duet performance of free-form jazz from local musicians Kyle Madrigal and bassist Lincoln Andrews, and a solo show featuring Delta blues by “Shovelman” Isaac Frankle.
Famed for his witty and engaging rail line minstrel act, Schindel says he’s delighted to switch gears and present his own personal material through the WCT online venue. While a return to his live performances remains in the future, he says, “I’m always the showoff, and sharing is really the whole thing.”
Schindel’s song list includes slices of the heartfelt. the comic and the witty with titles: “Praise Something Greater”, “No More Goodbyes”, “Country Girl”, “The Man in the Country”, “Senile Faded Flower Children”, “Broken Hearts On the Mend, and “One Two Three”.
Elliott confides that it has been a whole year since her role in a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Mendocino College was cancelled due to the onset of the pandemic. Ever since she has longed for a way to express herself creatively and the chance to do so couldn’t have come sooner. She particularly enjoys performing “Burn” from Hamilton, a rollercoaster song about a wife’s reaction to her husband’s cheating. “It rides on a wave of emotion,” she says. She also performs “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret about a dancer who—always a loser at love—maybe this time found someone.
Elliott’s added numbers are “Shy” from Once Upon a Mattress, “When Words Fail from Shrek the Musical, “What Baking Can Do” from Waitress, “Fight For Me” from Heathers the Musical, and “I’d Rather Be Me” from Mean Girls the Musical.
The “Shake It Loose” concert series represents the latest effort by WCT to provide streaming entertainment by locals artists for local home audiences. The theatre’s free for viewing catalog also currently includes several plays and radio dramas.
WCT Production Manager Mike A’Dair says of “Shake It Loose”, “Willits is such a talented community and for this recorded production we have gathered some of the most talented musicians in our area. I am really grateful to them for sharing their artistry with our viewers.”
All shows are available at: www.wctperformingartscenter.org/calendar
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