EMACT (Easter Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres) is a great organization dedicated to assisting its member theater groups in various ways. One of which is through an awards program. The DASH (Distinguished Awards and Special Honors) awards are essentially the Eastern MA equivalent of the Tony Awards. I don’t know if other areas of the country have organizations dedicated to recognizing local theater and talent but if not, they should. It’s amazing- here’s why.

Before I begin to address this, there is one very important matter - which I boldfaced above - that I would like to address. Instrumentalists, you are not background wallpaper to us, the singers. Speaking as a professional opera singer who has also done musical theatre and concert work, at no point, ever, have I considered the pit musicians anything less than colleagues and collaborators. This is a disgusting statement to make about highly trained instrumental musicians, and I am very sorry you had to deal with hearing it (and for those who have worked there, had to apparently endure this idiocy.)

I have always been someone who doesn’t only listen to the cast album, but learns everything I can about the show. I watch cast interviews and behind the scene videos on YouTube and if the show is based on a book or a movie, of course I read/watch that too.

There’s a new musical that should really get a shot on the Great White Way, and I’m not just saying that because I’m part of the original cast recording. Well, maybe just a little... I mean I wouldn’t complain if the creative team took me along for the ride to the Broadway. Anyway, Bubble Boy the Musical, written by the writers of the Despicable Me franchise, Cinco Paul, and Ken Daurio is that new musical.

The majority of plays are centered around, as Hamlet put it, “words, words, words.” From Shakespeare’s soliloquies to Mamet’s fractured urban poetry to Durang’s whimsical prose, dialogue is often the most important aspect to any given play. But what happens when your play features almost no dialogue at all? Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds,” which is playing New Haven’s famed Long Wharf Theatre from August 30-September 24, is such a work. It takes place at a silent retreat and only contains a handful of spoken lines, most of which comes from the mouth of actor Orville Mendoza.

It was right after Marya called Natasha a horrid hussy of a girl that the sound cut out in the Imperial Theatre at the Sunday matinee of Great Comet this weekend. Natasha, Marya and Sonya soldiered on; projecting like champs while their mics failed. Seconds later, a voice filled the theatre alerting the audience to something we already knew--that they were experiencing technical difficulties. The show was stopped, and the audience was encouraged to stay put. The actors exited (not pursued by a bear with a policeman on its back) and the theatre erupted with applause.

It was recently announced that a revival production of Mark Medoff's  Tony Award winning play 'Children of a Lesser God' will be opening March 22 2018 at Studio 54. As a supporter of theater and specifically #DeathTalent I am excited and overjoyed to read this news. I am already planning a trip from St. Louis with some ASL using friends. 

So in my last Blog I discussed how there are some major obstacles that school theater programs are facing on a large scale. You were probably left with a lot of questions. What can be done to help remedy the situation? How can I help? What can larger organizations do to help? What can directors do to help improve their programs? I’ve compiled some easy fix answers and thought up some crazy out of the box thoughts that may help improve musical theater education in schools.

Whether it’s crazy high belting, bringing something so unique to every role, or now, replacing (or rather, reinventing), there’s nothing that Betsy Wolfe cannot do. It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of hers—in fact, so much so that I would fly across the country twice in one summer to see her perform—and seeing her in Waitress was everything I imagined it to be, and more. There was just something so utterly magical about Betsy’s take on Jenna that made me see the character differently.

Theatre Folk have… a very unique set of pet peeves. Some of it’s stuff that is just common workplace etiquette for ANY job. But there are a few that specifically bother thespians. Because goddammit Mary how many times do we have to tell you that your spotlight is LITERALLY THREE FEET TO STAGE RIGHT. Obviously they happen enough that it’s a running gag with many actors and crew. But for those of you new to our little profession (hopefully you don’t do these if you’ve been in the process a while) here’s a few tips about what NOT to do after you’ve booked the job.