Posted on February 23, 2024
Quincy Community Theatre will feature 4 checking out administrators helming the remaining year ticket productions of SHAKESPEARE IN Appreciate, NEWSIES, THE Excursion TO BOUNTIFUL, and RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA.
“Having talked with and individually picked each and every just one of these administrators, I can say with confidence that just about every visitor director will deliver integrity and artistry to QCT. These administrators are committed to their craft and will present our volunteers with a thoughtful, uplifting practical experience. I am so energized for our local community,” claimed QCT’s Artistic Director Brandon Thomsen
Elissa Wolf (SHAKESPEARE IN Appreciate) is a inventive practitioner and actor, splitting her time among the Midwest and East Coast. She has worked as a training artist and educator with organizations this sort of as Chicago Youth Shakespeare, Chesapeake Shakespeare Enterprise, and the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company. Notable new jobs contain her purpose as the Dramaturg for Two River Theater’s fascinating creation of A Tiny SHAKESPEARE: LOVE’S LABOUR’S Missing and her involvement in Assistant Directing and Dramaturging PrideArts’ output of R&J. Wolfe’s passion for Shakespeare extends beyond the phase as she has introduced her research on the use of asides in Shakespeare at many conferences, together with the Wooden O Symposium at the Utah Shakespeare Pageant, the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, BritGrad, the Blackfriars Meeting at the American Shakespeare Middle, and the Australian and New Zealand Shakespeare Affiliation Convention. Armed with an MA in Shakespeare and Creativity from the Shakespeare Institute, Wolfe’s Shakespeare journey proceeds as she plans to pursue a PhD in the British isles this forthcoming September.
Stephen Santa (NEWSIES) is an award-profitable theater director whose operate has been witnessed across the United States and internationally. He is thrilled to make his directorial debut in Quincy with NEWSIES. Santa is the co-founder and previous Creative Director of Leaping Jack Theater- a children’s theater creation company that makes authentic sensory theater ordeals for audiences with developmental disabilities and sensory sensitivities. He received the “Stand Out Moment” Award in 2019 from the Phase Directors and Choreographers Culture for his do the job with the corporation. His most loved new credits involve Attractive: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, Minimal Store OF HORRORS, and Lease, which observed a 7-week marketed-out run at the Omaha Group Playhouse, (for which he is the previous Inventive Director), MAMMA MIA!, HEDWIG AND THE Indignant INCH, and AVENUE Q, which have been voted “Best Local Theater Production” by the Pittsburgh Town Paper a few many years in a row. New York credits incorporate ABDUCTION: A NEW MUSICAL COMEDY for the New York Musical Festival (NYMF) which went on to obtain a entirely produced generation in 2021. Enamel by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson and UNCHARTED: THE Music OF ANNA K. JACOBS, the two at the famed Ars Nova Theater. Santa was the assistant director of the FLASHDANCE National Tour, the North American premiere of THE MONSTER IN THE Hall, and POP! A NEW MUSICAL choreographed by Billy Porter at Metropolis Theatre, respectively. His critically acclaimed DANI Girl A NEW MUSICAL output traveled to the Edinburgh Competition Fringe in Scotland, the place it gained multiple five-star critiques. Santa is a member of Actors’ Fairness Association and an associate member of The Phase Directors and Choreographers Modern society.
Of the possibility to directed NEWSIES, Santa explained, “I am past thrilled to fulfill and collaborate with the incredibly gifted performers, crew, dedicated employees, and volunteers at Quincy Community Theatre. Together, I know we can make a significant-electrical power and really memorable production of Disney’s NEWSIES. Let us get completely ready to Seize the Working day!”
Phil Funkenbusch (THE Journey TO BOUNTIFUL) has been directing community theatre for quite a few years in Havana, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Petersburg & Springfield. Favorites contain Possessing OUR SAY, OUR Town, TO Get rid of A MOCKINGBIRD, THE LARAMIE Venture, Going for walks Across EGYPT, MORNING’S AT Seven, A RAISIN IN THE Sun, WHO’S Fearful OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, THE Entire world OF CARL SANDBURG, DIVIDING THE ESTATE, MARK TWAIN’S DIARIES OF ADAM AND EVE, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, Large RIVER, GODSPELL, GYPSY, and MY Reasonable Lady. Funkenbusch was Director of Theater at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum from 2004 until he retired in 2020. Prior to that, he made theater tasks for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency at the state’s historic web-sites.
When questioned about coming in to direct at QCT, Funkenbusch reported “THE Trip TO BOUNTIFUL is a person of my favorites. This engage in, superbly published by Horton Foote, shows us that no make a difference what our age, or the place we are in daily life, we’re all on a journey to some variety of property-put.”
Alison Shafer (RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA) is the Volunteer Coordinator for QCT and a freelance Director/Choreographer who has worked on 130+ reveals collaborating with substantial university, university, local community theatre and specialist performers from New York to Seattle and all factors in between, primarily in the Midwest. She most a short while ago choreographed QCT’s MATILDA THE MUSICAL and experienced the privilege of directing and choreographing Desire ROLES REIMAGINED for QCT’s 100th Anniversary celebration. For QCT, she has also choreographed PETER PAN, Hire, Minimal House ON THE PRAIRIE, MAME, ELF, SHE Enjoys ME AND Elegance AND THE BEAST and directed STUART Small. Other Director/Choreographer credits involve productions for The Des Moines Playhouse, Theatre Cedar Rapids, Epic Phase Productions and Marketplace Residence Theatre. Shafer has performed with various theatres and choreographers together with Minnesota and Kentucky Operas, On the Boards (Seattle) and in England and Scotland as a member of The Pat Graney Enterprise. Two professional highlights incorporate a Cloris Award for Most effective Choreography for The Des Moines Playhouse’s production of Young FRANKENSTEIN and a collaboration with Director Anne Bogart on MARATHON DANCING, an unique production for En Garde Arts in New York.
“I am thrilled to aid deliver this enchanting story to QCT’s stage. Delightful musical figures, endearing figures and a gorgeous concept of kindness and regard make this a amazing creation for the holiday seasons,” stated Shafer of her forthcoming directorial journey.
QCT Govt Director Burgundy Hill said, “We have selected such a team of top-notch people today to collaborate with in our 2024 year, just about every bringing unique voices and encounters that will reward our future lineup of displays. It is really an incredible chance for the QCT community to find out new methods to tale-telling in the forthcoming calendar year though making superior-high-quality leisure for the Quincy place.”
The administrators will be on web page through the run of every demonstrate, supplying clean, new imaginative eyes though Brandon Thomsen enjoys his sabbatical from QCT.
Auditions for SHAKESPEARE IN Enjoy are March 4-5, with registration at the moment open.