KRL has been covering Good Company Players (GCP) shows ever since we began thirteen years ago. It has been a privilege and joy! This year GCP is celebrating its 50th anniversary and we took a moment to chat with GCP Creative Director Laurie Pessano, who also happens to be the wife of GCP’s owner Dan Pessano.
Here at KRL we like to shine the spotlight on the talented actors, artists, and musicians in the Valley and take our readers behind the scenes for a chance to get to know more about them. This week we are interviewing local actor/director Darren Tharp, who also happens to be the current Board President and Artistic Director for CenterStage Clovis. Darren has lived in the Valley for 45 years and his current day job is as Regional Sales Manager Northern California for Nilfisk.
This has been a difficult time for everyone. Not only are businesses closed that aren’t essential, but all events have been canceled as well. Many of those events have found creative ways to happen virtually, providing mostly free entertainment for those of us stuck in our homes. Community theatre has been hit particularly hard, canceling their shows has not only been disappointing for everyone, but they also don’t have those ticket sales coming in to help pay the bills.
KRL tries to cover as many theatre companies in the Valley as possible, this week we interviewed one just a bit further way than usual that has been around for quite some time, Playhouse Merced. We chatted with Shawn Overton, who is their Box Office Associate, and whose duties include running the box office, media communications, and photography. She has also written an original play for Playhouse, and teaches playwriting courses for the Conservatory.
If you are a fan of old musicals from the 1920s and 1930s then you won't want to miss the Reedley River City Theatre Company's production of The Drowsy Chaperone! While the Drowsy Chaperone actually debuted in 1998 as a parody of the old musical comedies, it brings back memories of those fun musicals I used to watch on Channel 26 when I was a kid.
Valley theatre always seems to be bringing us something new to see, and this summer has been no exception! Right now the Valley premiere of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story is on stage in Reedley, and next month the Valley premiere of Heathers the Musical is coming to Selma, presented by the Raisin' Cain Players. We took a moment to chat with the show's director Dominic Grijalva about the show!
This has been a slow month for Valley theatre. If you have already seen the shows at Roger Rocka's and 2nd Space, there's not much else to see in January. Well the Reedley River City Theatre Co. has a cure for that--a way to see pieces of a ton of different shows all at once--Legends: Lullaby of Broadway opened this past weekend!
This Valley has an abundance of great theatre, and this year a new theatre company was added to the group, the Blossom Trail Players in Sanger.
Once again, we are pointing the spotlight on one of the Valley's many talented actors. This time we are profiling Fresno actor Brian Pucheu, whom we recently had the pleasure of seeing on stage at COS as Jekyll & Hyde.
This Valley is blessed with so much talent and one of my favorite features in KRL is our local actor profiles--introducing our readers to the people behind that talent. Most of the actors/directors we have profiled have been in theatre for years, but once in awhile we decide to feature a young talent that has caught our eye--one of those was Benjamin McNamara, and this week we are profiling another--Daniel Hernandez, who can currently be seen on stage at Roger Rocka's in Singin' In The Rain.
