Thursday, November 10, 2011

ACT Announces the cast and production team for The Great American Trailer Park Musical

 

Andover, MA November 10, 2011

ACT Announces the cast and production team for The Great American Trailer Park Musical

Show dates January 27, 28, 29 2012

The Great American Trailer Park Musical Music & Lyrics by David Nehls Book by Betsy Kelso

Director: Charles Gracy Music Director:  Mark Mercer Choreographer:  Beth Kennedy

Tickets on sale at www.ACTandover.com

There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres – and she’s wreaking havoc all over North Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband – the storms begin to brew.

NOTE: This play contains adult themes and language and is not suitable for persons under 18 years of age.

 

Here are some quotes about the production -

“Adultery, strippers, murderous ex-boyfriends, Costco, and the Ice Capades. Undeniable fun.” - The New York Post

“South Park meets Desperate Housewives in this big-hearted musical comedy with a cheeky script and an infectious score.  Trailer Park sparkles with treasure. - The New York Sun

“Joyful and unashamedly vulgar, this comic fable about women in a Florida trailer park and their no-account men is more fun than a chair-throwing episode of Jerry Springer set to music. - The New Yorker

The Cast

JEANNIE GARSTECKI.............................LINDA LEE SCALI

NORBERT GARSTECKI...........................MARK GRACY

PIPPI.........................................................JAMIE COOK

DUKE........................................................NICK KALANTZAKOS JR.

BETTY.......................................................SUSAN HAWES

LINOLEUM  “LIN".....................................CARA MARIE KENNEDY

DONNA "PICKLES"..................................CAITLIN HAWES

Audition Notice for The Great American Trailer Park Musical

Audition Notice

WHAT:  The Great American Trailer Park Musical

WHEN:    Thursday, November 10 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

WHERE:  ACT Rehearsal Space

250 Canal Street Lawrence MA 4th Floor

This is an extremely funny and irreverent adult show. The MUSIC is extremely difficult, if you are not a strong parts singer this is not the show for you.

There are 7 parts in total. The roles of Betty, Lin and Pippi have already been cast, all other roles remain open.

Check out the official web site: http://www.trailerparkmusical.com/

Questions?  Email Charles Gracy, Director charlesgracy@actandover.com or call 978-476-1138


A musical written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso.

There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres – and she’s wreaking havoc all over North Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband – the storms begin to brew.

NOTE: This play contains adult themes and language and is not suitable for persons under 18 years of age.

“Adultery, strippers, murderous ex-boyfriends, Costco, and the Ice Capades. Undeniable fun.”

-          The New York Post

“South Park meets Desperate Housewives in this big-hearted musical comedy with a cheeky script and an infectious score.  Trailer Park sparkles with treasure.”

-          The New York Sun

“Joyful and unashamedly vulgar, this comic fable about women in a Florida trailer park and their no-account men is more fun than a chair-throwing episode of Jerry Springer set to music.”

-          The New Yorker


CHARACTERS

THE LOVE TRIANGLE and THE VILLAIN

JEANNIE GARSTECKI (Brenda Brunston)  Jeannie has lived in a trailer at Armadillo Acres for 20 years with her husband and high-school sweetheart, Norbert. A faded beauty, she was 17 when she married, 18 when her son was born and 23 when he got kidnapped. That, coupled with a really bad perm, has turned her into an agoraphobic. She hasn’t left her trailer in all these years, and the man she loves is drifting further and further away and she’s determined to get him back ... that is if she could manage to get out of the trailer to do it…


NORBERT GARSTECKI (Joshua Robertson) Jeannie's husband Norbert collects tolls for a living and tries to be as good a husband as one can be to an agoraphobic. A former high-school football star, he has rugged good looks marred by fatigue and the stress of his difficult marriage. He is a simple man who desperately wishes his wife could get out of the trailer, but he's not equipped with the emotional or intellectual tools to help her do it. He has never loved or slept with a woman other than Jeannie. That is until he meets...


PIPPI . Pippi is a striking beauty with a great body and a taste for clothing that shows it off. Up to this point, Pippi's life has been about surviving. She is a professional stripper who has gotten by on her looks and talents for dancing and petty theft. She means no harm and is ready to stop making bad choices and start making changes, but first she has to get lost in a hick-town trailer park in North Florida so she won’t be found by her last bad choice...


DUKE Duke is Pippi’s obsessive, possessive and excessive Magic Marker-sniffing boyfriend; “ex”-boyfriend according to Pippi. Not so, according to Duke. Not the brightest guy south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Duke leaves a trail of disaster in his wake wherever he goes. His road trip to Starke is no exception and his arrival at the trailer park is full of surprises - even for a group of people who have had their share of excitement…


“THE GIRLS"

BETTY Betty attended high school with Norbert and Jeannie Garstecki and has lived at Armadillo Acres for just as long. She now runs the leasing office and makes it her business to know everything about everybody who passes through the trailer park. Though a self-proclaimed "bad-ass," Betty is really a mother hen to the denizens of the trailer park. Of all "The Girls," Betty is the most grounded, earthy and dry.


LINOLEUM  “LIN"  So-named because her mother gave birth to her on the kitchen floor, Linoleum has a husband on death row at the Florida State Prison.  His fate is an electric chair that doesn’t work properly unless most of the town’s electricity is turned off, so Lin watches everyone's lights and appliances very closely in the hopes that she can keep the chair on the fritz. Sometimes self-absorbed and sometimes just a smart-ass, she hints at a wild, rock-and-roll past and is the fieriest of "The Girls."


DONNA "PICKLES"  A newlywed, Donna is called "Pickles" because she is perpetually hysterically pregnant - that is, she's so convinced she should be pregnant that she's exhibiting symptoms. Her husband is a lot fancier than she is, as he is from the big city of Jacksonville. His parents haven’t been very supportive of his marital choice, so Pickles is desperate to give her husband a family of his even if she has to fake it. The dimmest of "The Girls," Pickles is airy, sweet and blissfully ignorant.



Thursday, October 27, 2011

Audition Notice for The Great American Trailer Park Musical

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WHAT:  The Great American Trailer Park Musical

WHEN:    Thursday, November 10 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

WHERE:  ACT Rehearsal Space

250 Canal Street Lawrence MA 4th Floor

This is an extremely funny and irreverent adult show. The MUSIC is extremely difficult, if you are not a strong parts singer this is not the show for you.

There are 7 parts in total. The roles of Betty, Lin and Pippi have already been cast, all other roles remain open.

Check out the official web site: http://www.trailerparkmusical.com/

Questions?  Email Charles Gracy, Director charlesgracy@actandover.com

Sun comes out in North Andover with 'Annie'

Sun comes out in North Andover with 'Annie' Annie in the Tribune - The Sun Comes Out in Andover

Monday, October 17, 2011

ACT Andover Presents ANNIE, The Musical

ACT Andover Presents ANNIE, The Musical

October 28-30 at Merrimack’s Rogers Center for the Arts

October 17, 2011 -- Later this month, ACT Andover will present its largest cast ever on the stage of the Rogers Center at Merrimack College.  Nearly 80 cast members, ranging in age from six to sixty will assure audiences that “the sun’ll come out tomorrow”!

The cast includes 46 children, 30 adults and one charming canine.  Maggie Budzyna of Newburyport and Mia Campbell of Burlington share the leading role of Annie.  The show also features eleven family groups from the Andovers and surrounding areas, including triplets playing The Young Boylan Sisters, Elizabeth, Taylor and Kristina Day, and their mom Julie in the ensemble.  The Knepper family of Andover has mom Heidi, dad Steve and son Dylan all in the cast, and Peter Anton of Dracut shares the stage with daughters Emily and Yelaina.  Full cast list and town specific performers available upon request and is available on the ACT website at www.ACTandover.com

“This cast is very unique – we are lucky to have not only amazing individual talent, but also mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers all lighting up our Annie stage”, says Co-Director Mark Gracy.  “We’ve never had a cast this family-oriented and it couldn’t be more appropriate for the heart-warming story of Little Orphan Annie.”

The adventures of Annie, her dog Sandy, the orphans and Daddy Warbucks have been beloved by children and adults alike for more than 85 years.  Started as a comic strip by Harold Gray in 1924, Little Orphan Annie later inspired a radio show, film adaptations and a Broadway musical, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2012.  Despite decades of fame, the rags-to-riches story and memorable music of Annie continue to captivate audiences everywhere.

ACT Andover’s Annie is Co-Directed by Charles and Mark Gracy and choreographed by Beth Kennedy. Music Director is Mark Mercer.  Shows are: October 28 at 7pm, October 29 at 2pm and 7pm, and October 30 at 2pm at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover.

Tickets are $18 for seniors and students, $20 for adults. Available in advance through the Box Office:  (978) 276-9568 or online at http://www.ticketpeak.com/act. Tickets to Annie are general admission seating and patrons need to be sure to print out their e-tickets after ordering.

Founded in 2008, ACT Andover provides quality live theater to the Andovers and surrounding communities.  ACT Andover is a non-profit theater company striving to provide an outlet for seasoned performers and new talent.  The theater company recently added its new "ACT Jr." program for 7th-12th graders, which performed "Les Miserables" to rave reviews after an intensive four week program.  This Spring, ACT will offer another Jr. production in addition to "42nd Street." For more information visit www.actandover.com.

 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Announcing ACT's newest venture a join venture with The Center for the Performing Arts in North Andover

We are excited to announce Charles Gracy is now an adjunct faculty member at Center for Performing Arts (CPA) in North Andover. We are forming a partnership with CPA and hope to have crossover between the two groups. We will be offering three sets of acting classes over the next year! Our first class begin on October 15th, 2011. And guess what? It's going to be a class on IMPROV!
Tuition is $120 for six weeks (one class per week)
Children ages 8-11, Saturdays: 2:30-3:30
Teens ages 12-18, Saturdays: 3:30-4:30
Register online at www.CPAdance.com.
*Adults if we have enough interest we could add an adult class in the evening. Please let us know if you are interested.

 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

ACT Theater Company Has Expanded It's Season for 2011 - 2012 Check it Out!

ANDOVER, MA  ACT has a busy year planned.  Currently in production is the musical ANNIE which hits the stage at The Rogers Center for the Arts at the end of October.  Tickets are on sale now!

Up next is The Great American Trailer Park Musical - You don't want to miss this hysterical, irreverant comedy in January.  In March ACTjr adds a new production to our annual season and fills the void left my the departure of MJT (Merrimack Junior Theater) this past year.  Watch for audition and show announcements for this show coming soon!  In May, ACT is back to the Rogers Center for the Arts for our next spectacular production of the award winning showstopper 42nd Street followed by our Summer Dinner Cabaret at The Andover Country Club.  Students don't miss out on this summer's ACTjr Summer Theater Arts Camp which promises to be even bigger than last year's Les Miserables!  Check the ACT website for updates on auditions, our online box office and more.  For additional information or questions email theater@actandover.com.