Tag: theatre

KSKA: August 4 at 2:45p.m. Perseverance Theatre of Juneau is bringing another full slate of plays to Anchorage this coming season. Artistic Director Art Rotch, Playwright Lucas Rowley and Anchorage General Manager Josh Lowman join Steve this week on Stage Talk to go through the line-up. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, July 28 at 2:45pm Founded in 1982, The Music Machine has been showing off the talents of young performers on the stage every year as they sing and dance to popular musical theatre and pop songs. And along with it's sister, Dance Machine, it's back again this year for it's 36th show with a cast of over 70. Co-founder and Director Janet Carr-Campbell brings along one of those talented performers Faith Clark to Stage Talk this week to talk about it. The Music Machine performs in the Discovery Theatre August 2-5. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, July 21 at 2:45pm Cyrano's Theatre Company is presenting The Great American Trailer Park Musical, an hilarious romp that takes place in the "Armadillo Acres" trailer park in a small town in northern Florida with characters bigger than life. The musical (with music and lyrics by David Nehls and book by Betsy Kelso) runs July 21st through August 27 at Cyrano's Theatre located at 4th and D street in Anchorage. This week on Stage Talk, actors Jill Bess and Mark Robokoff slip in and out between their real lives and the characters they play while director Teresa K. Pond tries to keep things in control. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, July 14 at 2:45pm Eagle River's Alaska Fine Arts Academy is celebrating ten years of theatre and have announced their upcoming season. Executive Director Lailani Cook, celebrating the start of her second year as ED, comes on Stage Talk this week to give us an overview of what is coming up. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, July 7 at 2:45pm Every July since 2010, Midnight Sun Theatre has joined forces with Anchorage Community Theatre to bring an exciting offering for the summer and this year is no different. Opening July 7th and running Friday-Sundays through July 29 at ACT will be the John Mortimer British comedy The Dock Brief about the hapless barrister Morgenhall (played by Frank Delaney) trying to defend the equally hapless confessed criminal Fowle (played by R. Scott Cantrell). Delaney and director/founder David Block drop by Stage Talk this week to let us in on all the fun. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, June 30 at 2:45pm Blue Chair Productions presented their first play last summer, and this June 30 through July 9 at Cyrano's Theatre Company, they will be mounting their second--Theresa Rebeck's provocative comedy about four young writers who are taking a 10-week seminar with an international literary figure: Seminar. Listen to Stage Talk this week to hear actors Aaron Wiseman, Isaac Kumpula and actor/producer Colby Bleicher go into depth about their roles. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, June 23 at 2:45pm Twenty-five years ago, Jerry and Sandy Harper founded Cyrano's Theatre Company located at the corner of 4th Avenue and D Street in downtown Anchorage. This summer, the Board of Directors announced that the company will be moving to the former Out North Contemporary Art House located on Debarr Street midway between midtown and east Anchorage. This week on Stage Talk, Cyrano's Producing Artistic Director Teresa Pond and Board Member Jay Burns drop by to tell us about all the new and exciting opportunities this will bring to the company as well as a few fond memories of the old space. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, June 16 at 2:45pm Stage Talk continues its summer series of focusing on upcoming seasons and this week we invite Reed Smith, General Director of Anchorage Opera to drop by and let us know what they have in store for their "Happily Ever After" 2017-18 season. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, June 9 at 2:45pm This years marks the 25th anniversary of one of the nation's premier theatre conferences and it's right here in Valdez, Alaska. The Last Frontier Theatre Conference started under the leadership of Dr. Jo Ann C. (Jody) McDowell and has been led by conference coordinator Dawson Moore since 2003. While at the core of the conference is the Play Lab, in which playwrights have their original works read to and given feedback by conference participants, the week-long event also features live performances, workshops in everything from acting and improvisation to playwriting and dramaturgy--and if that isn't enough, there is even a fringe festival that goes way into the evening. Conference Coordinator Dawson Moore joins Stage Talk via a phone line this week to let us in on all the details. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, June 2 at 2:45p.m. Every summer Stage Talk likes to highlight upcoming seasons and this week we begin by featuring Anchorage Community Theatre. Executive Director Sara Athans drops by to give us a report on last year's season as well as a preview into next year's. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, May 26 at 2:45pm Of the three elements that go into making performing arts what it is, one is the space in which both performers and audience share. It is that place where we, as a community, come to share common experiences. Seventy years ago, Cap Lathrop created such a space in the 4th Avenue Theatre. This weekend, a 70th Anniversary Celebration is occurring to commemorate that founding and on today's Stage Talk Sandy Harper and Ron Holmstrom gather to share stories about the theatre and to let us in on some of the goings on of the celebration. The Celebration will happen May 27-29 on 4th Avenue, the Performing Arts Center and the Anchorage Museum. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, May 19 at 2:45pm. If you've ever wondered why "the grass is always greener over the septic tank" all you need to do is drop by Stage Talk this week as we talk about Cyrano's Theatre Company's production of Allison and Margaret Engel's one woman show Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End. Ursula Gould, who plays Erma Bombeck, along with director Krista M. Schwarting are Steve's guests this week. Erma Bombeck:At Wit's End is currently playing at Cyrano's and will continue until June 4th. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, May 12 at 2:45pm Playwright Neil Simon is a master of comedic writing and so even California Suite, a play that debuted in 1976, is just as funny and relevant to today as it ever was. Valley Performing Arts is currently running this classic play of four different stories all connected by one space: The Beverly Hills Hotel suite 203-204. Director Matt Firmin drops by Stage Talk this week to let us know how he approached the show, how he worked with his actors and how he made a few updates. California Suite runs through May 28th. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, April 28 at 2:45pm Though a child may be taught the concept of what is right and what is wrong, it is only through life's specific experiences that she starts to understand what those concepts really mean and how they can affect her and loved ones around her. Such is the story of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird as adapted to the stage by Christopher Sergel and presented by Perseverance Theatre in the Discovery Theatre. Actors Keith McCoy ("Tom Robbins"), Theo Houck ("Dill") and Seth Coppens ("Scout") join host Steve Hunt this week on Stage Talk. To Kill a Mockingbird opens April 28th and runs through May 7th. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, April 21 at 2:45pm In 1980, Robert Pond, candidate for Master of Arts degree in Theatre Arts at Portland State University presented his thesis: The History of Community Theatre in Anchorage, Alaska 1946-1976. Today, as he is preparing that thesis for a book, he drops by Stage Talk to chat about his personal recollections and experiences from his long career of producing theatre. Bob is one of the most recognized figures in Anchorage theatre and currently is one of the co-founders of RKP Productions which is planning on producing two Menotti operas later this year. LISTEN HERE

KSKA: Friday, April 7 at 2:45pm During KSKA's Spring Fund Drive, Stage Talk goes to great lengths... or distances to bring exciting guests to the show. In this case we go to Australia (via Skype) to talk to playwright Timothy Daly about the premier of his play, The Afterlife of J. Edgar Hoover being produced by RKP Productions in association with Cyrano's Theatre Company. Joining Timothy in the studio are Director and Producer Dick Reichman and Producer Audrey Weltman Kelly. The Afterlife of J. Edgar Hoover performs at Cyrano's Theatre Company April 7th through the 23rd. LISTEN NOW

KSKA: Friday, March 31 at 2:45pm Julie Kramer's stage adaptation of Rona Jaffee's ground breaking novel The Best of Everything follows the lives of five women working for a Manhattan publishing firm in the early 1950s and is currently being performed at Anchorage Community Theatre (until April 9th.) Uncannily timely today, this play examines the lives of these women trying to make it in the business world while balancing personal lives and relationships. This week Director Krista Schwarting and actors Kimberly Allely and R. Scott Cantrell drop by the studio to talk about the play on Stage Talk. LISTEN NOW

KSKA: Friday, March 24 at 2:45pm Often considered the greatest play written in the English language, Shakespeare's Hamlet is as complicated it its psychological examination of the particular characters as it is enlightening of the human spirit. TBA Theatre is presenting this timeless work at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium on the campus of UAA March 24th through April 2nd and two of the actors, Wayne Mitchell and Jessica Faust drop by Stage Talk this week to let us know how they are approaching the play. LISTEN NOW

KSKA: Friday, March 17 at 2:30pm Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita) are recognized as two of the most popular musical theatre composer/lyricists today and The Alaska Fine Arts Academy of Eagle River is producing one of their most enduring, and earliest works based on the story of Joseph from the Old Testament, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. On this week's Stage Talk, AFAA's Executive Director Lailani Cook brings two of the actors, Arthur Braendel and Emma Wasko to talk about how this show is as entertaining for the entire family today as it was when it premiered in 1968. Joseph runs March 24-April 1st. LISTEN NOW 

KSKA: Friday, March 10 at 2:45pm Cyrano's Theatre Company is presenting Noel Coward's classic Comedy of Manners, Private Lives about a divorced couple, now on honeymoons with their new spouses, who meet and discover that they are still attracted to each other. Director Teresa Pond and actors Frank Delaney and Stefanie Suydam drop by Stage Talk this week to talk about how this play is still as "fantastically funny" as it was back when it was first produced in 1930. Private Lives runs March 10 through April 2 at Cyrano's Theatre Company. LISTEN NOW