A California Online Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal
Steel Magnolias, a witty comedy/drama by Robert Harling, is set in Louisiana in Truvy Jones’ beauty salon, which serves as a gathering place (think Starbucks) for women, more family than friends. Truvy (Leeni Mitchell) employs her magic wand and pixie dust making these women feel particularly special.
{ 0 comments }
The Visalia Players proudly present The Taffetas, those singing sisters from Muncie, Indiana in an encore appearance on the Ice House stage. This time they’ve brought their fiancées, those swingin’ singin’ guys from Alpha Mu Phi Pi, The Cardigans. Together, they are planning A Taffeta Wedding.
{ 0 comments }
“Sitting around” are you kidding? According to director Donny Graham and actors Leeni Mitchell and Susan Mathews, A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking abounds with action and energy, belying its title. Mitchell and Mathews, veteran actors accustomed to the hard work that theater productions require, still find themselves exhausted at the end of each rehearsal from the intensity and action of their characters.
{ 1 comment }
Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang is a zany comedy about relationships. Director Elicia Russell loves the fact that Durang is not afraid to write the words that everyone is thinking, but afraid to say. Russell hopes that while viewers are laughing, they will realize there is something to be taken away.
{ 1 comment }
Director Irene Morse is effusive about Lonely Planet and playwright Steven Dietz. Morse praises Dietz’s ability to depict emotions from grief to giddiness with few words. According to Morse, Dietz had been mulling the idea for a play about friends dealing with crisis when he read Ionesco’s The Chairsand realized that chairs were the perfect vehicle for describing “a horrific time in a light hearted and quirky way.”
{ 0 comments }
Nostalgia galore may be the best way to describe the Visalia Player’s production of My Way, a tribute to the music of Frank Sinatra. According to directors Gary Benjamin and Sylvia Garoian, My Way has been under consideration for a number of years.
{ 0 comments }
With the shopping days until Christmas dwindling down to a precious few, the Visalia Arts Consortium members have ideas that may help. You can never go wrong with gifts of theatre tickets, museum memberships, or handiwork of local artists. The following include possibilities for all ages and interests, and unless otherwise stated, are located in Visalia.
{ 0 comments }
When Leeni Mitchell committed to direct Our Town for the Visalia Community Players, she realized that she needed to know more about Thornton Wilder’s message and reason for writing the play. In her research, she found that the play had layers to be peeled away.
{ 0 comments }
