Category — Drama

Please read about the sensational TNCC-Iron Street production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” The musical 10/14 at 8:00 in the Mary T. Christian Auditorium with a Sunday matinee tomorrow at 3:00; it will also run next weekend, Friday-Sunday. It’s an historic first musical for the College and one I guarantee you won’t want to miss.

From the AltDaily review:

If there is one genre of music to listen to for eternity, it’s 60s soul: Archie Bell and the Drells, O.V. Wright, Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Band, Dyke & the Blazers, the roll call could go on all day.

Stepping into the Mary T. Christian auditorium at Thomas Nelson the other night, the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places, I beheld heaven as musical director Michael Sunblad led the Doo-Wop Girls through the first song from Little Shop of Horrors, which premieres Saturday the 14th.

Read full review @ AltDaily

Iron Street Productions brings the play “Pirates of the Chemotherapy” to the stage at Thomas Nelson Community College’s (TNCC) Dr. Mary T. Christian Auditorium, Templin Hall, Hampton campus. Performances begin at 8 p.m. on Oct. 23 and 24, and the final show on Oct. 25 starts at 3 p.m.

In this original dramatic comedy written by Paul Schutte and directed by Brandon Lyles, six breast cancer survivors portrayed by local actresses unite to take on more than just their cancer and the disease’s side effects. They band together to take on life, and in the process they find new meaning for their lives through love and laughter. The women even refer to themselves as pirates and don pirates’ attire complete with scarves and eye patches.

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A multimedia exhibition of individual art portfolios by Thomas Nelson Community College students entitled Play will be featured in Templin Hall (Hampton campus) on Friday, Oct. 24 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibit features the digital portfolios of graduating students Zach Bealer, Michelle Folts, Karen Price, Joe Reedy, Kira Shird and Brittanie Thompson. These advanced art students who are enrolled in HONORS ART 193 have employed the latest technology and design concepts to build unique motion graphics portfolios showcasing their design, video, typography and animation skills. 

Associate Professor Cece Wheeler, Computer Arts Department head, said HONORS ART 193 allows a fuller and freer study of subject matter in various curriculums through exploring different avenues of art making. 

“Art not only provides an avenue for students to express themselves, it also affords special ways of perceiving ideas and mentally organizing and retrieving information, thus allowing and utilizing critical thinking and problem solving skills,” she added.

For more information, contact Wheeler at 825-3608.

Thomas Nelson Community College’s Mary T. Christian Auditorium will be the site of a hilarious play called “Drop Dead” beginning Friday Sept. 12 with an 8 p.m. performance. Brought to audiences by Iron Street Productions, the play is scheduled to run through Sept. 21 with performances starting at 3 p.m. on Sept. 14 and Sept. 21.  Other performances begin at 8 p.m.

This uproariously funny play tells the tale of a cast of has-been actors that are trying to revive their careers in a production called “Drop Dead!” a potboiler murder mystery directed by “Wonder Child of the Broadway Stage” Victor Le Pewe (a psychotic eye twitching megalomaniac). The group’s dress rehearsal kicks off a chain of events that are sure to keep audiences entertained — the set falls, props break, and the producer and an actor are murdered. During the opening night performance, the murders continue and as things progress the remaining thespians must save the show, their careers, solve the mystery and stay alive for curtain calls!

The play is open to the public with tickets available by advance purchase only at Iron Street Productions’ ISP ticket agent located at Going Postal, 1188 Big Bethel Rd. (Hampton Woods Plaza) or online at http://www.ironstreetproductions.com/purchase_tickets_now.htm. Or, to reserve tickets, call 757-224-8937. Tickets are $17 for general admission and $15 for senior/student/military. Groups of 12 or more may purchase tickets at $10 per person.

This opening night marks Iron Street’s second theatrical season. A percentage of ticket proceeds will be donated to EduStar Academy of Performing Arts located in Hampton, Virginia. The academy provides instruction in music, dance and the dramatic arts.

Virginia Premiere Theatre (VPT), the professional company in residence at The Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg and at the Dr. Mary T. Christian auditorium on the campus of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, announces its upcoming season for the fall and winter of 2007.

In September, VPT will mount The K of D by Laura Schellhardt. The K of D is a supernatural thriller that tells the story of skinny Charlotte McGraw, a twelve year old girl from a small town in Ohio, whose twin, Jamie, was killed in an auto accident. With Jamie’s dying breath Charlotte inherits the Kiss of Death and exacts her revenge. The K of D was originally created at ACT Theatre, Seattle, WA. Subsequent development of The K of D was supported by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center during a residency at the National Playwrights Conference of 2006 and at the Kennedy Center. The K of D comes to Virginia Premiere Theatre for its first fully-staged production prior to its Washington DC premiere at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (winner of 16 Helen Hayes Awards). Mary Wadkins plays 17 characters from the ages of 12-70 in an evening of chilling, theatrical wizardry. Rebecca Taylor directs.

The K of D previews on September 11 in Williamsburg and opens at The Kimball Theatre on September 14 for nine performances. The production moves to TNCC on September 25 and runs through October 7 for 14 additional performances.

In November, VPT will mount the world premiere of Robert Ruffin’s stage adaptation of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi for the holiday season. This production will mark the first ever full-length stage adaptation of this great American classic. Set in the early 1900’s in Charlottesville, Virginia and Manhattan, the play follows the story of newlyweds Jim and Della Young who fell in love at the University of Virginia and moved to New York so Jim could pursue a law career. When they fall on hard times, they give up their most prized possessions in a selfless act of true love and devotion that speaks to the very nature of holiday giving. The production will be directed by Mark Lerman, former Artistic Director of the Perishable Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island and a current resident of Williamsburg.

The production opens at TNCC on November 24 and the Kimball Theatre on November 30 and runs through December 23 for 29 performances at both venues interchangeably.

Tickets go on sale beginning August 1. Prices are $9 for previews, $18 general admission, $16 students, seniors and military and $7 for kids 12 and under. For information and group rates call Toll Free 1-866-430-1630. Tickets may be purchased for Kimball Theatre performances by calling 1-800-HISTORY and for TNCC performances by calling 1-800-595-4TIX. Tickets for both venues are also available on the web at www.vptheatre.com.

All Hampton performances are free for staff, faculty and students of Thomas Nelson Community College with proper identification.

The Company

Founded in 2003, Virginia Premiere Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional theatre company in residence at the Kimball Theatre on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg and as of September 2007 the Mary T. Christian Auditorium on the Campus of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton. Its mission is to enrich Virginia and bring national recognition to Virginia’s arts through the creation of new plays. To date VPT has presented eleven world premiere productions and brought to Virginia award-winning writers, Broadway directors and actors.

Laura Schellhardt, playwright, The K of D

Laura Schellhardt received her MFA in playwriting from Brown University under the direction of Paula Vogel. Prior to attending Brown, she headed the playwriting program at Northwestern University. Laura has participated in the new play series at The Goodman, Northlight Theatre and Trinity Repertory Company as a reader of new plays, an assistant director and a director of development. Original works include The K of D, Courting Vampires, Shapeshifter, Je Ne Sais Quoi, and Inheritance. Her adaptations include Creole Folktales, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Mysteries Of Harris Burdick and The Outfit. Laura is a 2007 Jerome Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of the New Play Award from ACT in Seattle, a 2005 Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellow, and she participated in the 2006 SoHo Rep. Writer/Director Lab. Her play The K of D was recently workshopped at both The Kennedy Center and the O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference and will be produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre in 2008. Her play, The Chair, will receive a workshop at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence as part of the 2007-8 TCG Playwriting Residency. She is also the author of Screenwriting for Dummies. Laura has been on faculty at Brown University, University of Rhode Island, and The University of Central Florida. She currently teaches playwriting at Northwestern University.

Rebecca Taylor, director, The K of D

Ms. Taylor has worked in theater, film and television and specializes in developing new work. Her theatrical career includes such theaters as The Goodman, Missouri Repertory, Arena Stage, The Barter Theater, The Coconut Grove Playhouse and The Mark Taper Forum. Ms. Taylor directed the Broadway production starring Hal Linden and the original Off Broadway production starring Theodore Bikel, of Arje Shaw’s The Gathering. Most recently she directed Magic Hands Freddy (Off Broadway with Ralph Maccio) and Having Our Say at the Northeast Theatre. Other NYC directing credits include Strange Snow, Arthur Miller’s The American Clock, The Madwoman of Chaillot, I Never Saw Another Butterfly and A Man’s World, as well as the New York premiere of Caryl Churchill’s A Mouthful of Birds and the New York premiere of Miracles by Frank Higgins. For VPT at the Kimball Theater, Ms. Taylor has directed Joanna’s Husband and David’s Wife, A Woman of Independent Means, Winning Liberty Land and Smith! Being the Life and Death of Cap’n John. She has also directed for such New York theater companies as The Ensemble Studio Theater and The Metropolitan Playhouse of New York and is former Founder and Artistic Director of The Catskill Mountain Playhouse. Internationally she toured and directed with Theater Without Borders. Ms Taylor also worked for New Line Cinema on several feature films, was the acting coach for Malcolm Jamal Warner’s Here and Now and has taught acting at the world-renowned Michael Howard studio in New York.

Mary Wadkins, star, The K of D

Ms. Wadkins is co-founder and producing director of VPT and has performed extensively on stage in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco where she earned two nominations for outstanding performance of the year. For the past fourteen years, she has performed The Belle of Amherst across the country and in Europe and is currently featured in the Virginia Commission for the Arts Tour Directory. In New York, she has performed clown on stage with the all-female troupe “Those in the Nose.” Wadkins studied ballet and pointe for many years at New York’s world-renowned dance studio “Steps” where Kathryn Sullivan choreographed two performance pieces specifically for her. Her film credits include principal roles in independent films On Avalon, Cruthers and American Blue Note and she appeared in several Woody Allen films as well as George Lucas’ Ewok Adventure. Wadkins has performed in a number of Virginia Premiere Theatre’s world-premieres, including Pen Pals, The Waiting Room and A Woman of Independent Means having recently revived the role at the Northeast Theatre in Scranton, PA. Ms. Wadkins is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists.

Robert Ruffin, playwright, The Gift of the Magi

Robert Ruffin is co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of Virginia Premiere Theatre. He has written five plays produced on the New York stage, and authored two one-man shows that he currently tours in Virginia. For America’s 400th Anniversary, he wrote Ba-baaah and the Windigo that toured the East Coast with the Godspeed Sail, We Salute You 1781: An American Symphony for Yorktown’s 225th Victory Celebration, Visions of Democracy for Jamestown’s Grand 400th Weekend Celebration and assisted in scripting the television special America’s 400th Anniversary that was shown on 56 CBS affiliates nationwide. He collaborated on Gloucester County Encounters in History, a recently released documentary, co-authored A Chesapeake Celebration (published by San Francisco Bay Press) and wrote Winning Liberty Land which was commissioned in 2006 by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. As a producer and dramaturge, Robert has guided the development of dozens of new plays to New York stages On, Off and Off-Off Broadway. He is a founder and former Artistic Director of The Metropolitan Playhouse of New York, has taught in numerous universities throughout the east coast and was honored by the Kennedy Center for Meritorious Achievement. Robert is a member of The Dramatist Guild of America and Actors Equity Association.

Mark Lerman, director, The Gift of the Magi

Mark Lerman served as the Artistic Director at The Perishable Theatre in Providence, RI from 1990 to 2005. During his tenure, The Perishable Theatre was at the forefront of introducing new voices to the American Theatre, and became nationally recognized as an incubator for the development of new plays. At Perishable, Mark produced and/or presented over 140 productions. This body of work ranged from new plays to classics and included performance art, puppetry and dance. Mark brought Perishable Theatre’s world premiere production of Only In America to both the Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC and the National Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, and directed the 1999 production of A Christmas Carol at the Trinity Repertory Company. The Mayor of Providence proclaimed June 20, 2005 “Mark J. Lerman” day and presented Mark the Key to the City. Mark has served on grant panels for Theater Communications Group, The New England Foundation for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. He was a board member of both the National New Play Network and Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts, as well as a member of the Steering Committee for the Arts and Business Council of RI. Mark has taught at The Rhode Island School of Design and has served as guest dramaturge for the Brown University Graduate Playwriting program. Mark moved to Williamsburg, VA in the summer of 2005, where his wife is on the faculty of the College of William and Mary.

Thomas Nelson Community College invites the community-at-large to the performance of the College’s Brass Ensemble on Thursday, April 26 and the Choral Ensemble on Friday, April 27. The two free concerts will each be held at the Mary T. Christian Auditorium on the College’s Hampton campus at 7:30 p.m.

The Brass Ensemble’s concert features festive music of the Renaissance, the inspired and heroic music of the Baroque and the lyrical, elegant music of the Classical era. Also included in the program are solo vocal performances of patriotic and hymnal favorites. The Choral Ensemble’s concert features African-American spirituals, the choral music of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart, along with selections from Andrew L. Webber’s, Phantom of the Opera. A brass Quartet will accompany the Choral Ensemble.

The spring concerts are the culmination of two performance-based courses that Thomas Nelson Community College began offering within the last two years. Brass Ensemble (MUS 195) was added in fall 2006 and Choral Ensemble (MUS 137) in fall 2005. This will mark the Brass Ensemble’s second performance and the Choral Ensemble’s fourth. In preparation for the concerts, students have been rehearsing bi-weekly for three months, including numerous hours of individual practice.

“The students in the ensembles are not music majors. Rather, they represent a diverse range of age and musical backgrounds. Some students have had only two years of training in middle school or high school bands. Others have played throughout their secondary school years, and some others are now performing with community bands. However, regardless of their musical experiences and abilities, the players in both ensembles have two things in common; their love of music and a desire to perform in an ensemble,” said John Park, TNCC Music adjunct faculty.

Beginning fall 2007, the College will offer a third performance-based course, Woodwind Ensemble (MUS 175). The Woodwind Ensemble (MUS 175), along with Brass Ensemble (MUS 195) will be available to dual enrolled high school students who are interested in earning college credit as a member of an instrumental ensemble while attending high school.

The Brass and Choral Ensembles are under the direction of John Park. Park, a former conductor of Marine Bands and instructor at the Armed Forces School of Music, holds a bachelor’s degree from Elon University, North Carolina, and a master’s degree from the Teachers’ College, Columbia University in New York City. He has performed as a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which is the chorus of the Boston Symphony and sung under the direction of such renowned conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. He has also been a member of the Virginia Chorale and the Virginia Symphony Chorus.

Photo Caption: The Choral Ensemble presented a holiday concert in December under the direction of adjunct faculty, John Park. (Photo by Marlene Waters)

News Releases @ TNCC – For Immediate Release
For more information please contact the Office of Public Relations (757) 825-2725

Saturday, 07 April 2007 The Seventh Annual Hampton Acoustic Blues Revival, hosted by the Natchel Blues Network, will be presented at the Mary T. Christian Auditorium on the Hampton campus of Thomas Nelson Community College from 4:00 -9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 21. The festival features performances by “Living Legend” and two-time Blues Music Award Winner, Rory Block, with a workshop, “Wild Women Get the Blues” by W. C. Handy award winner, Gaye Adegbalola of Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women. Blues Committee will open the festival. The festival, which is free and open to the public, is made possible with support from the Hampton Arts Commission and the Thomas Nelson Community College Cultural Affairs Committee.

Rory Block

Heralded as “a living landmark” (Berkeley Express), “a national treasure” (Guitar Extra), and “one of the greatest living acoustic blues artists” (Blues Revue), Rory Block has committed her life and her career to preserving the Delta blues tradition and bringing it to life for 21st century audiences around the world. A traditionalist and an innovator at the same time, she wields a fiery and haunting guitar and vocal style that redefines the boundaries of acoustic blues and folk.

New York Times declared: “Her playing is perfect, her singing otherworldly as she wrestles with ghosts, shadows and legends.” Block brought home W.C. Handy Awards four years in a row – two for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year, and two for Best Acoustic Blues Album of the Year. Her 2006 recording, The Lady and Mr. Johnson, is on Rycodisc. In the liner notes, Richard Johnson (great grandson of Robert Johnson) says, “Rory Block should have a Doctorate in my grandfather’s music.” She has two Blues Music Award (formerly W.C. Handy Award) nominations again this year for Acoustic Artist of the Year and Acoustic Album of the Year.

Gaye Adegbalola

Gaye Adegbalola has been singing and playing guitar and harmonica with Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women since the popular acoustic blues group’s inception in 1984. Together they have recorded seven CDs for Alligator Records, and have toured widely throughout the U.S. and abroad, receiving international acclaim. In 1990 Ms. Adegbalola received the prestigious Blues Music Award (formerly known as the W.C. Handy Award) for her song Middle Aged Blues Boogie.

Now through her latest album, Neo-Classic Blues with Roddy Barnes, Adegbalola embraces and redefines the classic style of the great blues divas of the 1920s and 30s – those often fiercely independent “wild women” who were unashamed to lay their souls bare and unafraid to give advice. Adegbalola and accompanist Roddy Barnes conjure up another era and deliver a dynamic cabaret-style performance that is both educational and entertaining.

Blues Committee

The Blues Committee is an acoustic blues trio comprised of Shelly Craig-Potter on dobro, guitar and vocals, Dale Butcher on upright bass and Bruce Kincaid on harmonica, guitar and vocals. A performance by The Blues Committee includes traditional Delta and Piedmont style songs through current blues artists such as Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt with a smattering of swing and ragtime thrown in just for fun.

Kincaid honed his talent fronting the popular classic rock group, “Relic.” There he developed his tasteful and energetic style. Butcher is a talented multi-instrumentalist that has been a mainstay over the last 12 years in many blues groups such as “Black Rose Blues Band,” “Sunnyland Blues Band” and the Cajun fused “Louisiana Mudbugs.” Craig-Potter has been on the Tidewater music scene for over 30 years performing in many different stylized roots. She is currently in a successful children’s musical duo “C.Shells” and has recorded 4 multi-award winning CDs. Shelly learned her blues finger style guitar playing from mentors like Roy Bookbinder, and Paul Geremia.

For information please contact Shar Wolff, Department Head of the Photography Department at Thomas Nelson Community College and Chair of the College’s Cultural Affairs Committee at 825-2775.

News Releases @ TNCC – For Immediate Release
For more information please contact the Office of Public Relations (757) 825-2725