The flies are here so it must be June! June means the Playhouse is in full swing preparing for the Summer Theater Festival.
Actors are in full workout mode with memorizing songs, lines and choreography. The band is putting it together. Costumers are busy gathering and creating costumes from the ’60s and ’70s, lighting instruments are being cleaned and made ready to be hung in the ACA when we get the all clear to move back into the theater.
The set design is done and beginning to be constructed at homes until we move back into the shop. Longer days are filled with activity and excitement. A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline opens on July 18 at 7 p.m. and The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On opens on July 19 at 7 p.m.
A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline
Created by Dean Regan, an Estate-Approved Production! The show will run July 18, 20, 26, 28, Aug. 1 and 3, and Aug. 10 and 11 Thurs. – Sat. 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Diane Blanchette will play Patsy Cline, and Braidy Powers “Little Big Man,” with Mike DeBevec, Mike Roth, Thomas Stamps, Max Bichel and Russ Vinton as the ensemble cast.
Follow her climb to stardom from her hometown in Virginia to the Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas, and Carnegie Hall!
The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On
By Roger Dean, it will be performed July 19, 21, 25, 27, Aug. 2, 4 Thurs. – Sat. 7 p.m., Sunday, July 21 at 2 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 4 at 3 p.m.
Playing the Wonderettes are: Tina Hegg Raway as Billy Jean; Karina Roth as Cindy Lou; Diane Stoddard as Missy; and Karen Balckburn as Suzy.
It’s 1969 and The Marvelous Wonderettes are back at Springfield High (Go Chipmunks!) to throw a retirement party for their favorite homeroom teacher. As the girls sing their way through the greatest girl-group hits of the ’60s and bid Ms. McPherson a fond farewell, one of the Wonderettes reveals she’ll also be saying goodbye to search for success and happiness on her own.
Act two finds the girls back together as the class of 1958 celebrates their 20-year reunion. The classic pop and rock hits of the ’70s provide the perfect soundtrack for these old friends to catch up on the places life has led them, all performed with their own marvelous spin.
Strategic and succession planning
The Grand Marais Playhouse has been working on strategic and succession planning. With support from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, the Playhouse has worked with consultants to help plot a course toward the 50th season in 2021 and beyond.
The Playhouse board has approved a change in the mission, vision and value statements and they are ready to go before the Playhouse membership for vote. A membership meeting will be held on July 2 at 7 p.m. at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. There will also be a preview from each of the two shows and an update on the strategic planning to date.
Grand Marais Playhouse Artistic Director Sue Hennessy provides this behind-the-scenes look at Grand Marais Playhouse activities.
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