Eddie Mekka as Nathan Detroit

Rehearsals will begin on Monday, August 3 and performances will be Friday, August 28th (Gala event and show), Saturday, August 29th at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, August 30th at 2 p.m. Actors cast as Sky, Adelaide, Nicely and Benny need to be free during the day on Tuesday, August 25th, Wednesday, August 26th and Thursday, August 27th in order to work with Eddie.

The concert will feature a large chorus, a full orchestra, and a leading cast of local actors. While this will technically be a concert, the leads will need to be off book, and there will be some blocking and musical staging. Gus Gordon will be directing and producing the concert, Gary Shull will be choreographing, Doug Hahn will lead the orchestra and Karen Ferguson will be the vocal director.

People auditioning should sing something from the show or a classic musical comedy number that shows off their range. Anyone auditioning for a leading role will also be asked to read from the script.

Music is available at the Hoogland Box Office (Available during business hours: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.). For more information, click here: GUYS AND DOLLS AUDITION INFORMATION or email: gordon@scfta.org.

* NOW PLAYING
It's theatre under the stars, as Theatre in the Park, Illinois' premiere outdoor theatre at Lincolns New Salem State Historic Site outdoor amphitheatre opens its summer season on May 22md with LITTLE WOMEN. Many of the productions this year will commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Bicentennial. All shows starts at 8:00 p.m. with a free to the public pre-show starting at 7:00 p.m. in the indoor theatre. Box office opens at 11:00 a.m. each day for individual ticket at 217-632-5440.

May 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 2009
LITTLE WOMEN
by Louisa May Alcott, adapted by Scott Davidson
Directed by Kelly Bassett

The story of LITTLE WOMEN, Louisa M. Alcott's famous novel, is so well known and so well loved that it is hardly surprising that many attempts have been made to portray its characters upon the stage. None has yet been so successful, however, as this brilliant dramatization by Scott Davidson. The structure of the play faithfully covers that of the novel, interweaving the lives of the March girls, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and Laurie, the boy next door, as they grow up happily together, yet the action is contained neatly in one set. All the overtones of gaiety and the undertones of sadness are here, bringing the story completely to life in a way which is both accurate and dramatically satisfying.

Cast includes Jo March: Madison Holcomb (Petersburg); Meg March: Amalia Mathewson (Athens); Amy March: Shelby Santel (Petersburg); Annie: Katrina Fricke (Petersburg); Mr. Brooke: Mike Martin (Petersburg); Beth March: Emilie Lohman ; Aunt March: Pat Pennington; Marmee: Lora Beavers; Hannah: Mary Disseler; Mr. March: Chuk Robertson; Theodore Lawrence: W. Forrest Sterling; Mrs. Gardener: Melissa Sterling; Sallie Gardener: Kasey Norman; Belle: Rebecca Davis.

Free Pre-show at 7:00 p.m. before each performance features:
May 22, Paul Ingle, Singer/Songwriter
May 23, Mark Mathewson and daughter, Molly, Singers
May 24, Tara McAndrew, Historical Writer discuses Women in Civil War
May 28, TBA
May 29, Lucas Westcott, Singer/Songwriter
May 30, Scott Smith, Composer/Pianist

For more information, call Kari Catton at 217-241-3241. Visit the TIP Website at www.theatreinthepark.net for more information.

* COMING SOON
The 2009 Muni season will open on June 5th, and close the 16th of August. OLIVER - June 5th-14th. Directed by Carly Shank.
For further details and regular updates on the season, where to buy tickets, how to volunteer or information on how to audition for a role in one of next season's Muni productions, visit: www.themuni.org.

The Springfield Theatre Centre is a non-profit community theater organization, which operates out of the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield. Information on tickets and auditions will be posted at the STC website:www.springfieldtheater.com.

* NEW Here is the cast list for the Jacksonville Theatre Guild production of INTO THE WOODS: Narrator - Darin Harms; Cinderella - Talor Lutz; Jack - Jon Honnen; Jack's Mother - Bailey Brammeier; Baker - Greg Floyd; Baker's Wife - Kristin Jamison; Little Red Riding Hood - Heidi Vandervoort; Witch - Dulcinea Harms; Mysterious Man - Harvey Mack; Wolf - Matt Schwartz; Granny/Giant - Judy McEvoy; Rapunzel - Madison Kauffman; Rapunzel's prince - Luke McQuillen; Cinderella's prince - Will Barnhart; Steward - John Steckel; Stepmother - Dorothy Hutchinson-Gross; Florinda - Rachel Gross; Lucinda - Kristina VanderMeulen; Cinderella's father - Kevin Klein; Snow White - Emily Williams; Sleeping Beauty - Nyssa Watts; Cinderella's mother - Leigh Ann Smith; Understudy - Robert Brammeier.

* NEW The Hoogland Center for the Arts, Over the Moon Production and United Community Bank will present A.R. Gurney's hit play SYLVIA, a modern romantic comedy about a marriage and a dog next November. Here is the cast: Sylvia: Gina DeCroix; Greg: John McAdams; Kate: Aasne Vigessa; Actor #4 (3 roles): Troy Thomas-Pffaffe.

THE REVIEWS: "Dramatic literature is stuffed with memorable love scenes, but none is as immediately delicious and dizzy as the one that begins the redeeming affair in A.R. Gurney's new comedy, SYLVIA NY Times. "I can only call it one of the most involving, beautiful, funny, touching and profound plays I have ever seen" NY Daily News. "Gurney's mad comedy is the most endearing good time to trot down the pike in many a moon. Howlingly funny" �BackStage

* NEW Click here to read the cast lists for recent STC shows: STC Shows

* IMPORTANT INFO For some helpful tips on how to best audition for musical theater, check out this link: AUDITION TIPS

* SPRINGFIELD THEATRE CENTRE
RENT, Stephen Sondheim music and Disney shows top the 62nd Springfield Theatre Centre season. The season begins in October. Details on season tickets will be available in August. The 2009-10 lineup for the nonprofit theater group features: DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, October 2009, directed by Jane Brownback. The musical is a stage adaptation of the Academy Award-nominated animated film about a woman who brings out the humanity in a brooding beast.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT, November, directed by Phil Funkenbusch. The Moises Kaufman drama draws on the reaction to the hate crime killing of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.

DISNEY'S GEPPETTO AND SON, December, directed by Craig Williams II. After Pinocchio becomes a real boy, his father, Geppetto, must learn how to be a parent. Part of the two-show White Rabbit series for young audiences.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, January, directed by Becca Loschen. Oscar Wilde’s comedy involves mistaken identities and deflated Victorian pomposity.

RENT, February, directed by Carly Shank. Newly available to community theater, Jonathan Larson’s rock musical is about young bohemian artists struggling to make it in New York City in the age of AIDS.

THE FOREIGNER, March, directed by Patrick O’Brien. In this comedy, a painfully shy man pretends he is a foreigner to avoid talking to other people — but his silences also invite people living in a small town to spill all of their dark secrets.

COMIC BOOK ARTIST - A TALE OF SUPERHEROES, DREAMS, AND ONE REALLY EVIL VILLIAN, April, directed by Gil and Ann Opferman. The second of the season’s White Rabbit shows brings the comic book genre to life as Stanley Leonardo Sappovitz creates his team of superheroes to conquer the dastardly super-villain.

COMPANY, May, directed by Ed MacMurdo. With music by Sondheim, “Company” is about a perpetually single man, his girlfriends, his married friends and his fear of commitment.

The Springfield Theatre Centre is a non-profit community theater organization, which operates out of the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield. Information on tickets and auditions will be posted at the STC website:www.springfieldtheater.com.

* MUNI
The 2009 Muni season will open on June 5th, and close the 16th of August. Here are the shows:
OLIVER - June 5th-14th. Directed by Carly Shank.
THE PRODUCERS - June 26th-July 5th. Directed by Doug Hahn and Gary Shull.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF - July 17th- July 26th. Directed by Chuck Hoots
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL - August 7th-16th. Directed by Craig Williams.

For further details and regular updates on the season, where to buy tickets, how to volunteer or information on how to audition for a role in one of next season's Muni productions, visit: www.themuni.org.

* THEATRE IN THE PARK
Here is the Theatre in the Park 2009 season:

LITTLE WOMEN: May 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 2009
SONGWRITER'S CIRCLE: June 5, 6, 2009
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS: June 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 2009
THEY KNEW LINCOLN (Monologues): June 26 & 27, 2009
FOREVER THIS LAND: July 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 2009
HERITAGE: July 17, 18, 19, 2009
MOTHER HICKS: July 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, August 1, 2009
ABE: August 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 2009

SHAKESPEARE SHORTS: August 28 & 29, 2009
Visit the TIP Website at www.theatreinthepark.net for more information, or contact Kari Catton, TIP Executive Director at 241-3241.

* SANGAMON AUDITORIUM
Go to their website for more information: SANGAMON AUDITORIUM.

* JACKSONVILLE THEATRE GUILD
Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical, INTO THE WOODS, will be the summer musical slated for production next July 30-August 2 and August 6-9. All shows will be performed on the main stage at Sophie Leschin Theatre.

Click on the website for more info: JTG.

* UIS THEATRE
For more information, go to their website: www.uis.edu/theatre.

* ILLINOIS COLLEGE
Call 245-3471 for tickets. Click on their website for more information: www.ic.edu/theatre

* DECATUR THEATRE 7
Click here for more info: THEATRE 7.

* LITTLE THEATRE ON THE SQUARE
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - June 10-21
THE WEDDING SINGER - June 24-July 5
FUNNY GIRL - July 8-19
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS - July 22-August 2
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL - August 5-16

For a complete schedule and pricing information, visit The Little Theatre On The Square online at LITTLE THEATRE.

* BROADWAY IN CHICAGO:

For more info, visit Broadway in Chicago on-line at: www.broadwayinchicago.com

* ST. LOUIS BROADWAY SEASON:

For more info, visit them on-line at: www.fabulousfox.com