'The Glass Menagerie' will touch your soul

"The Glass Menagerie" is a little more than halfway through its run.
You still have six chances to see this wonderful production of this Tennessee Williams classic, which illuminates the human condition and touches the soul.
The show has earned its rave reviews from critics and audience members ... now it's up to you to REWARD yourself with a ticket to this show, and let this wonderful production wash over you.
Director Rich Repkoe and the creative team have put together a fantastic production that holds surprises for audience members who THINK they've seen "The Glass Menagerie" before. If you love this play, as I do, you will consider it a gift to be able to see these actors bring Williams' story to life.
I felt so privileged to be able to see such a high-quality production of this show, which brings new layers of understanding to these characters and their story, right here in Ephrata. Right here at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre. 
All four talented "Glass Menagerie" actors -- Timothy Riggs, Karyn Reppert, Megan Baum and Brian Viera -- are perfectly cast. They will absolutely transport you to the Wingfield home for a couple of hours, and make you privy to their relationships, challenges and personal concerns. And they will break your heart, get under your skin and have you thinking about their performances for days.   
Tennessee Williams understood human behavior as well as any playwright around; his prodigious gifts are evident in this play. The dialogue will make you laugh, and the story will put a lump in your throat -- and probably tears in your eyes -- before the actors take their bows.
You can read some of the great reviews of the show are the links shared here.
"The Glass Menagerie" runs through Sept. 21, with shows Saturday night, 9/14, at 8; Wednesday and Thursday, 9/18 and 9/19, at 7:30; Friday, 9/20, at 8, and Saturday, 9/21, at 2 and 8 p.m. 
Visit EPAC's newly redesigned website, or call (717) 733-7966 for tickets.
And don't forget your Kleenex!

 - merv wright

"Guys & Dolls": A lively, tuneful, funny American classic

Bob Checchia, Lynne DeMers-Hunt and Nick and Stacia Smith are Nathan Detroit, Miss Adelaide, Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown in EPAC's "Guys and Dolls."

It's no surprise that Entertainment Weekly recently declared "Guys and Dolls" the most popular American musical of the past 100 years. It's no fluke that the show has been revived on Broadway nearly every decade since it opened in 1950. And it's no accident that this lively and tuneful musical has won a bushel-and-a-peck-full of Tony Awards over the years.

As part of its 2013 season of honoring American playwrights and composers, the Ephrata Performing Arts Center is presenting this high-energy, big-hearted show beginning tonight, on stage at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre.

Watching one of the final rehearsals of the show last week – a show I've seen many times on stage and on celluloid – I was reminded what a well-crafted, funny and thoroughly delightful show "Guys and Dolls" is.

I'm glad the cast couldn't hear me quietly singing along with every one of those catchy, clever Frank Loesser showtunes – from the title song to "Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat," and from "Adelaide's Lament" to "Luck Be a Lady."

And despite having seen this show so many times, I found myself laughing at a lot of the dialogue. I was surprised all over again by the clever conversations and assorted bon mots book co-writer Abe Burrows created for gambler Nathan Detroit, nightclub star Miss Adelaide and the circle of colorful characters with whom they pal around. And watching Sarah Brown and Sky Masterson meet cute, flirting as they swap Bible verses, is a delight.

As always, I was reminded how great this theater troupe is at wrapping its artistic heart around a well-worn American classic – putting that unique EPAC spin on the proceedings and bringing out new flavors in the piece. Under Ed Fernandez's direction, with choreography by Irving Gonzalez, this big, talented cast fills the stage with dancing gamblers and slinky “Hot Box Dolls,” marching missionaries and hot Havana couples gyrating to a Latin beat.

The Grand Themes of Relationships are played out in the main couples’ interactions: Nathan and Adelaide, a guy who can’t commit paired with a doll who can’t help lovin’ that man, along with Sky and Sarah, a case of opposites attracting.

 You’ll love the supporting characters, too, from gambler Nicely Nicely Johnson to Big Jule the Chicago thug to mission counselor Arvide Abernathy.

My advice: Even if you’ve seen “Guys and Dolls” before, open your heart to this EPAC production. It’s a feast for the eyes, the ears and the funny bone. And if you've NEVER seen this show before – what in the heck are you waiting for?

Call (717) 733-7966 to secure a seat in the theater and be thoroughly entertained with an American classic in the hands of a committed group of actors, crew and creative team members. Enjoy!

The show runs evenings through Aug. 10, with a matinee added on closing day.
Thanks to 12:34 MicroTechnologies for sponsoring the show; to Dr. Lew and Michelle Storb as opening-night sponsors, and to Drs. Karen and Evan Cooper and Dave Dierwechter and Marcia Stoner for sponsoring  the after party.

- Mary Ellen ("Merv") Wright

Make summer theater memories at EPAC!

The cast of EPAC's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" -- a perfect play to see on a summer night.

When I was a kid in State College, PA, my parents took me to a lot of theater in the summer.  I thank my lucky stars so often that I had parents who gave me such a wonderful gift – a gift that has kept on giving, and led to my lifelong love of theater.  If we weren’t going to see a summer-stock or student production on the Penn State campus, we were headed to the old Boal Barn Playhouse to see some entertaining, community-theater production of a drama, comedy or musical.

 My dad would pick up the tickets in the silo, converted into a box office. We’d sit together in that little theater-in-the-round converted barn, and fan ourselves with our programs against the heat.  If a musical was playing, the pit orchestra would perform from the old hayloft.

 It was magical.

Not long after I moved to Lancaster more than a quarter-century ago, I discovered what was then called the Ephrata Playhouse in the Park – now EPAC.  In its pre-renovation days, the theater reminded me a lot of the Boal Barn -- a converted barn venue that presented great summer fare for the theater lover. I was even lucky enough to perform in the ensemble of one of those shows about 20 years ago, and forged friendships with members of the EPAC family that I treasure to this day.

Now, I’m a volunteer  for EPAC, as well as an audience member. Whenever I walk into the theater – even though it has been renovated and air-conditioned and its season expanded to a year-‘round performance schedule –  the place still gives me a nostalgic feeling about my childhood summer nights, spent at the theater with my parents.

 (Heck – I can even talk about the Boal Barn with folks like Tricia Corcoran, an EPAC regular, and mother of Quinn Corcoran – a cast member in EPAC’s current production, “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”  Tricia performed at the Boal Barn Playhouse when she was a student at Penn State!)

Having a beautifully written play like Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” for older kids and their parents to see together in the summer is a true gift to the community – as is the offering of theater events appealing to a wide range of tastes, from “Guys & Dolls” to “Angels in America,” and from “Fiddler on the Roof” to “Assassins.”

The cast and crew members who volunteer hours and hours of their time to this EPAC enterprise want you to see what they’ve created together. They want you to step up to the ticket window, to buy a cold drink and a snack, to settle into your seat with your friends and loved ones, and to have a shared summer experience around the theater stage.

“Brighton Beach Memoirs” is a perfect summer show – funny and touching, and filled with well-drawn characters, the mysteries of the cusp of adulthood, and familial love and conflict.

You have five more chances to see it, in air-conditioned comfort  – Wednesday through Friday nights, and both a matinee and nighttime show on Saturday. Visit the website, or call (717) 733-7966 for tickets.

Make some summer memories at the theater today. EPAC is the perfect place to do that.

-- Mary Ellen (“Merv”) Wright

EPAC veterans shine at "Pirates" benefit

Johnathan Groff, center, and Eliseo Roman, to the right of Eric Idle, performed at the "Pirates of Penzance" tribute gala in Central Park June 11.

Eliseo Roman is on the right, among those taking bows after "Penzance."

Is Eliseo Roman (center background) having a moment with Glenn Close?

Jonathan Groff takes a bow at the end of "Pirates," and gets some cheers from Martin Short in the background!

Check out these photos of the curtain call of "The Pirates of Penzance" performance/gala/tribute to the late Nora Ephron in Central Park on June 11. Jonathan Groff played Frederick, and Eliseo was in the ensemble.

Both men are Lancaster County natives, and both are alumni of Ephrata Performing Arts Center. 

Jonathan, whose EPAC performances included "Bat Boy" and "Honk," went on to Broadway in "Spring Awakening," and has done film and TV. He'll soon star in a new HBO show, set in San Francisco.

Eliseo, who performed in "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Secret Garden," "The Fantasticks" and "Anything Goes" at EPAC, went on to Broadway, as well, in "In the Heights" and "Leap of Faith." He performs with "Broadway Inspirational Voices," and has done recent performances in L.A. and Atlanta of new musicals "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Zorro."

Meryl Streep hosted the Central Park "Pirates" tribute to Ephron, which also starred Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Martin Short and Eric Idle. Check out additional photos from the curtain call on that magical night!

-- Merv Wright

Terry Bradshaw pays tribute to Ephrata -- AND EPAC!

EPAC got a shout-out from a Super Bowl winner!
At about 1:50 on his "Today in America" segment on Ephrata, host Terry Bradshaw pays tribute to the professional quality of EPAC's performances.
You can see the video here.
You can learn about Terry Bradshaw's "Today in America" series here, and find out when and where it airs on television at this link.
Thanks, Mr. Bradshaw!

'Memoirs' celebrates comedy, drama in family life

"Brighton Beach Memoirs" runs now through June 29 at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre.

There's a lot of drama, and a lot of comedy, in the life of young Eugene Morris Jerome of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

He's a young teen who has started to notice girls, and think about them in a special way. He learns about adulthood from his barely-adult older brother, Stanley. He's kept hopping with family chores, assigned by his stressed-out parents, Kate and Jack, and contend with a crowded house. Because of his uncle's death, his Aunt Blanche and her two daughters Nora and Laurie -- Nora is quite appealing to the maturing Eugene -- are sharing the Jerome residence. 

Eugene dreams of playing for the New York Yankees, but also loves writing -- documenting the everyday dramas occurring in his household. Seen through Eugene's eyes -- as the narrator of the action -- the audience can appreciate how momentous a fight between siblings, a secret about having trouble at work, or even the loss of just $17 in a household on a shoestring budget, can be.

This is the world of Ephrata Performing Arts Center's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," which opened last night and runs through June 29 at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre.

Though the play is set before World War II  -- as I watched the final rehearsal on Wednesday, I kept realizing that the older teen girl in the play is about the age my own mother would have been in 1937! -- many of the familial events it chronicles are universal, and are probably happening in many recession-recovering households today.

Director Michael Swanson has assembled a wonderful cast that brings Neil Simon's well-crafted play to life in a funny, touching, very HUMAN way. They'll have you laughing at their characters'  human foibles one minute, and crying the next as your heart breaks for them in their life struggles.

When "Brighton Beach Memoirs" premiered on Broadway 30 years ago, many critics commented that Simon's writing had turned a corner: He was no longer a writer of joke-after-joke plays; his work had gained a layered maturity and a depth that would carry him through the three plays of his "Eugene" trilogy, and result in his Pulitzer Prize for "Lost in Yonkers" (a recent hit at EPAC).

You won't want to miss this heartwarming play; you just might see a bit of your own family in it!

Call (717) 733-7966 for tickets, or visit the website for more information.

Life and laughter on 'Avenue Q'

You know how every problem that occurs on “Sesame Street” seems to be solved within five minutes? If a Muppet is going through some stuff, there’s a solution or advice waiting just around the corner from a fellow Muppet, a cast member or a visiting celebrity.

Life’s not so simple on “Avenue Q.” Princeton has a B.A. in English, but has not yet found his purpose in life. Kate Monster is a kindergarten teaching assistant who wants to open a school for monsters someday. Rod is a Republican banker who’s keeping a secret even he doesn’t really know. Trekkie Monster likes to spend time surfing the Internet … for porn. And Gary Coleman has long left acting behind and works as a building superintendent.

These and other characters – some of whom are portrayed by humans and some of which are puppets brought to life by their human friends – sing about their dreams and their struggles in the musical “Avenue Q.” The show deals with such issues as sexual identity, unemployment, racism and relationships, but does so in a warm and funny way.

The book, the songs and the puppetry come together to make this an absolutely original, hilarious musical. When I saw it a few years ago, I remember my stomach hurting from laughing so much. I watched part of one of the recent rehearsals of the Ephrata Performing Arts Center’s production of “Avenue Q,” and remembered why this show is so delightful, clever and funny. The cast is doing a fantastic job!

“Avenue Q” opened last night at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre. Be sure to treat yourself to this great (but ADULT) night of theater. Keep in mind that life is full of things that aren’t very pleasant … and that life contains sex. And KEEP THE KIDS AT HOME. This show is definitely about grown-up stuff.

But if you’re a grown-up (and don’t mind puppets having sex, briefly, on stage – it’s hilarious, believe me!), you will love this show!

You can read more about the show here, in today's Entertainment Lancaster section of the Intelligencer-Journal/New Era.

The show runs through May 18. Order tickets on the web site or by calling 733-7966.

                       -- merv wright