The Allen County Community College 2010-11 drama season will take audiences “Into The Woods” before heading to a “Bus Stop” and finally to Sherwood Forest for the famous archer who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, “Robin Hood.”
“We have some good plays this year,” said ACCC drama instructor Tony Piazza, who will direct “Bus Stop” and “Robin Hood.”
Kicking off the year is the Oct. 7-9 production of “Into The Woods,” a collaboration between ACCC’s drama and music departments.
The story is best described as “a fractured fairy tale,” Piazza ex-plained, incorporating elements of “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk” “Rapunzel” and other classics.
In the director’s chair for “Into The Woods” is Susan McKinnis, English instructor at the college. McKinnis previously directed the ACCC production, “The Boyfriend,” in 2002 as well as “Annie Get Your Gun” for Iola Community Theatre in 2004. She also directed when she taught high school.
“We’re in pretty good shape (with “Into The Woods”) thanks to some really dedicated students,” McKinnis said. “The music department has really done a great job as well.”
The music department, McKinnis said, is more involved with “Into The Woods” than with more traditional musicals because of the play’s structure. “It’s not a typical ‘song-scene-song-scene’ structure,” McKinnis said. “You’ll have excerpts from a song incorporated into the scene, and even the scenes aren’t necessarily separated.”
Pulling off a production with such intricate timing requires hours and hours of rehearsals, McKinnis said, a task met with aplomb so far by her cast of 22 actors, plus many musicians.
“It’s a true ensemble in that you have half a dozen major characters instead of just one or two leads,” she said. “And we have some really strong female characters, which fits our cast quite well.”
Piazza, meanwhile, is serving as the musical’s producer, assisting with behind-the-scenes details.
“Into The Woods” runs at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7-9 at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Tickets for all of the school’s dramatic productions will sell for $6 for adults and $4 for students and will be available at Iola Pharmacy starting one week prior to opening night.
THE REMAINDER of the season’s productions will be in the ACCC Theatre, starting with the Dec. 2-4 production of “Bus Stop,” a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning Kansas native William Inge.
Set in 1950s Lawrence, “Bus Stop” follows the story of a group of bus passengers stranded by a blizzard.
The play evolves into a touching yet humorous look at life through the eyes of the characters.
“You, of course, are at a bus stop, but the characters are at a crossroads, figuratively, in their lives,” Piazza said. “There are some serious moments but with a lot humor.”
The play appealed to Piazza in part because of its Kansas setting, the season — “We’re doing this in December,” he noted, — but mostly because of its rich characters.
A handful of students will sit in directors’ chairs for student-directed one-act plays Feb. 24-26.
Piazza said one or two of the shorts likely will be penned by the students as well.
The 2010-11 season wraps up with the swashbuckling adventures of “Robin Hood” April 28-30.
“This one is going to be fun,” Piazza vowed. “I’d been looking for something with a lot of action and a little bit historical.”
He decided upon Larry Blamire’s adaptation, “which stays faithful to the original story,” Piazza said. “You’ll recognize most of the characters, and there will be several fight scenes, which is fun.”
Piazza’s work won’t end at the conclusion of the school year.
The college once again will present its Summer Youth Theatre in the Park production June 24-25 with Billy St. John’s “Wynn Fairly, Champeen Rassler or …Get A Grip On Yourself.”
The melodrama will again fill the park with bad puns, corny lines and plenty of laughs.
