For Immediate Release


September 5, 2018

Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre opens Shrek the Musical on October 5

Cottage Grove, OR — A fantastic fairytale adventure, Shrek the Musical, opens October 5 at Cottage Theatre. With book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, and music by Jeanne Tesori, Shrek was first produced on Broadway in 2008.The family-friendly musical is the fifth production of Cottage Theatre's 2018 season. 

Based on the Oscar-winning animated film, Shrek the Musical is an irresistible blend of adventure and romance, guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages. The unlikely hero is a hulking green ogre named Shrek, who suddenly finds himself on a life-changing quest through the “Big Bright Beautiful World.” Spurred by his desire to reclaim his swamp from a gang of fairytale interlopers, Shrek strikes a deal with the cruel (and vertically-challenged) Lord Farquaad. If Shrek rescues Princess Fiona, then Farquaad will give the evicted fairytale misfits their homes back so Shrek can reclaim his. Joined by a wisecracking donkey, Shrek eventually frees the beautiful (if slightly temperamental) princess from a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. Much to his surprise, Shrek discovers there is more to this unusual princess than meets the eye! Irreverent and full of fun, Shrek the Musical proves that beauty is truly in the eye of the ogre.

Cottage Theatre's production of Shrek the Musical is directed by Keith Kessler, with music direction by Keri Davis, and choreography by Janet Rust. Costume design is by Rhonda Turnquist, lighting design by Amanda Ferguson, and set design by Tony Rust. The production features Mark VanBeever as Shrek, Melissa Miller as Princess Fiona, Matt Arscott as Donkey, and Joshua Sayre as Lord Farquaad, supported by a large cast of 30 actors.

Shrek the Musical runs for 15 performances at Cottage Theatre from October 5 - 28. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm, and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 pm.

Tickets are available online at www.cottagetheatre.org, by phone at 541-942-8001, or in person at the Cottage Theatre Box Office, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for youth (age 6 - 18). Recommended minimum age for children is six years old, given the length of the show. Box Office hours are Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and one hour before performances. All seating is reserved and advance purchase is recommended. 


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For Immediate Release

July 26, 2018


Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre holds auditions for The Fantasticks

Cottage Grove, OR — Cottage Theatre will hold auditions on Sunday, August 19 at 6:00 pm for The Fantasticks, a touching fable about passion and innocence. This production, the final show in Cottage Theatre's 2018 season, will be on stage for three weekends, November 30 - December 16. The musical is directed by Kory Weimer. Auditions will take place at Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove, and no appointment is necessary. Eight roles are available for men and women ages 16+.

This timeless story has captivated the hearts and imaginations of generations of theatregoers. Written in 1960, and featuring enduring classics like “Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” The Fantasticks is a romantic, allegorical musical about a boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall. The neighboring dads trick their children into falling in love by pretending to feud. Once Matt and Luisa discover their parents’ deception, they reject the arranged love match and grow apart. Following a series of disillusioning experiences, they finally find their way back to each other after realizing that, "without a hurt, the heart is hollow." The Fantasticks is the longest-running musical in the world with good reason: at the heart of its breathtaking poetry and subtle theatrical sophistication is a purity that transcends cultural barriers. The result is a touching fable of love that is both nostalgic and universal at the same time.

Interested actors should prepare 16-32 bars of a song that demonstrates their vocal talents, and bring sheet music for the provided accompanist. If actors are interested in the non-speaking role of The Mute, they should come to auditions prepared to tell a story without using words.

Additional audition details are available at www.cottagetheatre.org, or by calling Cottage Theatre at 541-942-8001. 


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 ​For Immediate Release

June 22, 2018

Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre presents family-friendly melodrama July 20 - 22

Cottage Grove, OR — The residents of Fruitdale must summon up their best flapjack flippers to fight against the dastardly Dr. Jeklyanne Slyde, in Cottage Theatre's 2018 summer melodrama. There’s a Pirate in the Pantry . . . OR The Flapjacks Are About to Flip is a old-fashioned melodrama written especially for Cottage Theatre by local playwright Keith Kessler. The family-friendly production will run for three performances on July 20, 21, and 22 at Cottage Theatre, during Cottage Grove's annual Bohemia Mining Days Festival.

This year's melodrama takes place in Fruitdale, where the mighty Redd Ferret, with her Captain Scarlet O’Haira, has sailed up the Row River just in time for the Annual Fruitdale Flapjack Festival. All of the town’s best flapjack flippers are getting ready to compete. But Dr. Jekylanne Slyde, the orneriest old coot in Fruitdale, has her eyes on the golden treasure aboard the Redd Ferret, and she aims to get it all for herself. 

There’s a Pirate in the Pantry...OR The Flapjacks Are About to Flip features 25 young actors from Cottage Theatre's summer melodrama camp.  This show is appropriate for all ages and includes plenty of audience participation (in the form of booing and hissing and cheering) as well as an old-fashioned sing-along. In keeping with classic melodrama tradition, "Olios" (silly jokes which have nothing to do with the story) will also be performed. There will also be a pre-show performance showcasing some of the music and dance techniques taught during the two-week summer camp.
 
This year's melodrama is directed by Marian Dempsey, with music direction by Catricia Mayhue, and choreography by Madeleine Sisson. The cast includes Laurel Ames, Anya Bartlog, Lafe Bennett, Shyla Browning, Kira Carver, Alexis Christie, Hailey Cook, Bela Dedrick, Aiden Dickinson, Abigail Earlywine, AJ Earlywine, Madisyn Froom, Bryce Johnson, James Kelly, Hannah Mathis, Connor Mayhue, Eliana Piltz, Audrie Sager, Grace Sisson, Nate Steinburg, Lillie Stepp, Noe Valley, Hayes Valley, Maia Wilhour, and Piper Youngmayr.
 
Performances are Friday, July 20 and Saturday, July 21 at 7:00 pm; and Sunday, July 22 at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $7 for all ages and all seating is reserved. Advance purchase is recommended.

Tickets are available online at www.cottagetheatre.org, by phone at 541-942-8001, or in person at the Cottage Theatre Box Office, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove. Box Office hours are Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and one hour before performances. 
  

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For Immediate Release


June 8, 2018

Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre welcomes visiting playwright June 25

Cottage Grove, OR — On Monday, June 25 at 6:00 pm, Cottage Theatre is hosting a special "Meet the Playwright" event in preparation for a world premiere production later this summer.

In August, Cottage Theatre will stage the world premiere of Treehouse by Alabama playwright Joe Musso. The theatre is one of just six theatres in the nation selected to produce one of the winning scripts of the American Association of Community Theatre’s 2018 NewPlayFest. Musso's Treehouse was selected as a winner from a pool of 300 script submissions.

Thanks to a grant from the Lane County Cultural Coalition, Musso will travel to Oregon in June to work with the cast of Treehouse. In conjunction with this visit, the theatre is holding a "Meet the Playwright" event to introduce Musso and his work to the community.

The informal hour-long event will include a welcome reception, a Question & Answer session with the playwright, and a presentation of Musso's 10-minute comedy The Rollercoaster of Love. The short play is directed by Alan Beck and features actors Kory Weimer and Nicole Trobaugh. "This is a unique opportunity for people to meet an accomplished playwright and learn more about the craft of bringing a story to life on the stage," comments Cottage Theatre Executive Director Susan Goes. "We are very excited that Joe Musso is willing to travel from Birmingham to share his work with our community."

The "Meet the Playwright" event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so tickets are required. Tickets to June 25 event are available at www.cottagetheatre.org or by calling 541-942-8001. 


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For Immediate Release

April 19, 2018


Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre holds auditions for world premiere play

Cottage Grove, OR — Cottage Theatre will hold auditions on May 19 at 4:00 pm and May 20 at 6:00 pm for Treehouse, a drama by Alabama playwright Joe Musso. This production, which will be on stage at Cottage Theatre August 10 - 26, is a world premiere of one of the six winning scripts in the American Association of Community Theatre's 2018 NewPlayFest. Auditions will take place at Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove, and no appointment is necessary. The play is directed by Tara Wibrew. 

The plot of Treehouse revolves around Shakespeare's existential line, "To be or not to be, that is the question." Johnny and his pals would be typical 17-year-old boys, hanging out in Johnny’s treehouse and dreaming of talking to the beautiful Alana, were it not for Johnny insisting he is a 53-year-old man trapped in a teenage body. Johnny’s mom is a little worried. Out-of-the-blue her son is suddenly pulling straight A’s, keeping his room immaculate, and reading Shakespeare. As Johnny persists in his claim, and conversations in the treehouse become increasingly peppered by the words of the Bard, Johnny grapples with adolescence, love, and the mind's ability to heal from great loss. Through his budding friendship with Alana, Johnny discovers the life-affirming power of the eternal summer that shall not fade. At times poignant, at times humorous, Treehouse is a compelling drama that bridges the gap between adolescence and adulthood in beautifully unexpected ways.

Playwright Joe Musso lives in Birmingham, Alabama. His plays have been presented in numerous theatres and have won several awards, including the Great Plains Theatre Conference Holland New Voices Award, the MTWorks Excellence in Playwriting Award, and the Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition. In addition to being a 2018 NewPlayFest winner, Treehouse was named the winner of the 2017 Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award sponsored by the College of Charleston. Treehouse also was the winner of Center Stage South Carolina 15th Annual New Play Festival, where the play received a reading last fall. Thanks to a grant from the Lane County Cultural Coalition, the playwright will travel twice to Oregon this summer: in June to work with Cottage Theatre’s Treehouse cast, and again in August to attend the world premiere.
 
Roles are available for 3 men (age 16 - 20s) and 3 women (age 16 - 40s) and auditions will consist of readings from the script. Copies of the play may be checked out from the Cottage Theatre office in advance of auditions. Additional audition details and a character breakdown are available at www.cottagetheatre.org, or by calling Cottage Theatre at 541-942-8001. 


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For Immediate Release


March 6, 2018

Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre opens Legally Blonde on April 6 

Cottage Grove, OR -- Cottage Theatre will be full of pink this spring as the theatre presents the second show of its 2018 season, Legally Blonde, the musical comedy of love, law, and everything pink. Legally Blonde is based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the hit movie of the same name. The stage adaptation features music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and book by Heather Hach. Legally Blonde is the second show of Cottage Theatre's 2018 season, and the first of three musicals to be presented this year. Cottage Theatre's production of Legally Blonde runs for four weekends from April 6 - 29.

Thanks to the movie, the plot of Legally Blonde is familiar to many: It's spring semester at UCLA and Delta Nu sorority president Elle Woods has it all. That is, until her seemingly picture-perfect boyfriend Warner dumps her to move across the country and pursue his calling at Harvard Law. Positive that she can win him back, Elle follows him to law school in an effort to save their relationship. Though at first she faces opposition from her classmates, she soon befriends Paulette, a lovelorn sassy hairstylist, and Emmett, a devoted law student. With their help, along with hard work, perseverance, and a little bend and snap, Elle proves to herself and everyone that she is far more than just another bubbly blonde. 

Cottage Theatre's production of Legally Blonde is directed by Madison Baker, with music direction by Mark VanBeever and Keri Davis, and choreography by Katey Kephart. Set design is by by Janet Whitlow and Tony Rust, with costume design by Chris Carter, and lighting design by Amanda Ferguson. The cast features Autumn Carter as Elle Woods, Peter Wickliffe as Emmett Forrest, Tracy Nygard as Paulette Buonofuonte, Joel Ibáñez as Warner Huntington III, Ward Fairbairn as Professor Callahan, Melissa Miller as Vivienne Kensington, and Nicole Garibay as Brooke Wyndham. They are joined on stage by more than 20 others in supporting and ensemble roles.

Legally Blonde runs for fifteen performances at Cottage Theatre from April 6 - 29. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm, and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 pm.

Tickets are available online at www.cottagetheatre.org, by phone at 541-942-8001, or in person at the Cottage Theatre Box Office, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for youth (18 & under). Box Office hours are Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and one hour before performances. All seating is reserved and advance purchase is recommended. 


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For Immediate Release

February 9, 2018


Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre holds auditions March 3 & 4 for The Crucible 

Cottage Grove, OR — Cottage Theatre will hold auditions for The Crucible by Arthur Miller on March 3 at 1:00 pm & March 4 at 6:00 pm. A large cast of women and men is needed, ages 12 - 60+. Auditions will take place at Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove, and no appointment is necessary. The Crucible is the third production in Cottage Theatre's 2018 season. The play will run for three weekends, June 8 - 24, and is directed by Joel Ibáñez .

Arthur Miller’s powerful play The Crucible, written in response to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, is a partially fictionalized dramatization of the 1692 Salem witch trials. In the play, several young girls and a servant play in the woods, conjuring — or attempting to conjure — spirits from the dead. Rumors of witchcraft quickly spread through the town. Rather than suffer severe punishment for their actions, the girls accuse other inhabitants of Salem of practicing witchcraft. This desperate, dangerous, and childish finger-pointing results in mass paranoia and an atmosphere of fear in which everyone is a potential witch. With neighbor pitted against neighbor, a self-perpetuating cycle of distrust, accusation, arrest, and conviction emerges. Winner of the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play, The Crucible reminds us how intolerance and hysteria can intersect and tear a community apart.

Auditioners for The Crucible should prepare a 90-second dramatic monologue from a published play written between 1930 and today. Monologues will be performed in a closed group style of five auditioners per group. The auditions will also include readings from the script. Additional audition details and a character breakdown are available at www.cottagetheatre.org, or by calling Cottage Theatre at 541-942-8001. 


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For Immediate Release


Januarary 3, 2018

Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre opens 2018 season with Noises Off

Cottage Grove, OR -- Cottage Theatre kicks off its 2018 season in February with Noises Off, an outrageous, door-slamming, backstage farce written in 1982 by English playwright Michael Frayn. Noises Off is the first of six shows in the theatre's 2018 season, which consists of three musicals and three plays, including a world premiere drama in August as part of the American Association of Community Theatre's 2018 NewPlayFest. Cottage Theatre's production of Noises Off runs for three weekends from February 2 - 18.  

Called “the funniest farce ever written” by the New York Post, Noises Off portrays a manic menagerie of itinerant actors presenting a farce called Nothing’s On. With the players’ susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss, and passionate affairs, every performance is a high-risk adventure. This play-within-a-play follows the touring troupe’s production through three stages: the disastrous technical rehearsal, a matinee a month later (as seen from backstage), and a performance towards the end of the debilitating ten-week run. On stage, it’s a whirlwind of slamming doors, missed cues, dropped lines, and dropped trousers. Backstage, it’s a chaotic maelstrom of love triangles and trampled egos, and there’s no one without an axe to grind . . . or swing. Brimming with slapstick humor – and flying sardines! – Noises Off is the quintessential backstage farce.

Cottage Theatre's production of Noises Off is directed and designed by Tony Rust, with costumes by Melissa Cooper and lighting by Amanda Ferguson. The ensemble cast consists of Nikki Pagniano, Phil Dempsey, Autumn Carter, Kory Weimer, Sophie Blades, Mark Allen, Josh Carlton, Melissa Miller, and Ward Fairbairn.

Noises Off runs for eleven performances at Cottage Theatre from February 2 - 18. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm, and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 pm.

Tickets are available online at www.cottagetheatre.org, by phone at 541-942-8001, or in person at the Cottage Theatre Box Office, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for youth (18 & under). Box Office hours are Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and one hour before performances. All seating is reserved and advance purchase is recommended. 


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For Immediate Release

December 14, 2017


Contact:
Susan Goes, Executive Director, 541-942-8001


Cottage Theatre holds auditions January 6 & 7 for Legally Blonde

Cottage Grove, OR — Cottage Theatre will hold auditions for Legally Blonde, the second production of its 2018 season, on January 6 & 7 at 4:00 pm. This musical comedy will run for four weekends in April 2018, and will be directed by Madison Baker. A large cast of both women and men is needed, ages 16+. Auditions will take place at Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove, and no appointment is necessary.

Based on the novel and hit movie of the same name, Legally Blonde is an upbeat, feel-good musical that explodes on the stage with memorable songs and dynamic dances. It's spring semester at UCLA and Delta Nu sorority president Elle Woods has it all. That is, until her seemingly picture-perfect boyfriend Warner dumps her to move across the country and pursue his calling at Harvard Law. Positive that she can win him back, Elle follows him to law school in an effort to save their relationship. Though at first she faces opposition from her classmates, she soon befriends Paulette, a lovelorn sassy hairstylist, and Emmett, a devoted law student. With their help, along with hard work, perseverance, and a little bend and snap, Elle proves to herself and everyone that she is far more than just another bubbly blonde. 

Legally Blonde auditioners should come prepared to sing 16-32 bars of music and dressed to dance. An accompanist will be provided; please bring sheet music. Additional audition details are available at www.cottagetheatre.org, or by calling Cottage Theatre at 541-942-8001. 


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