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Home > Blogs > Arts and Entertainment > Archives > 2008 > August > 11
Monday, August 11, 2008
Playhouse announces people’s Futurefest, Blackburn winners
Unlike the judges, who anointed the drama “Heartland” as best play in the recent 18th annual Futurefest, the audience favored lighter fare. The Dayton Playhouse announced Monday, Aug. 11, that their pick for best play in the festival was “Coming Back to Jersey,” by Carl L. Williams, a comedy about marriage and jealousy. It closed the 18th annual new play festival Aug. 1 under Jim Lockwood’s direction.
In addition, the Playhouse has announced its annual in-house honors, the Blackburn Awards for the 2007-8 season.
Lifetime Achievement honors went to Marilyn Knox, longtime box office director, and actress Virginia Garcia, a member of the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame.
The managing director’s award went to Fran Pesch, director, actor, dedicated Playhouse volunteer and founder of the senior acting troupe Young in Heart Players.
“Funny Girl” was named best musical and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” best play.
Design honors went to Christine Stewart, costumes; Terry Ronald, lighting, and Chris Harmon, sets, all for “Amadeus.”
Top directors were Craig Smith (play), “Virginia Woolf”; Chris Harmon (musical) and Lindsay Sherman (musical direction), both for “Funny Girl.”
Casts of “Woolf?” (play) and “Funny Girl” (musical) were voted best ensembles.
Pam McGinnis (best actress), Charles Larkowski (best actor) and Matt Beisner (supporting actor in a play) won individual honors for their work in “Virginia Woolf.”
Becky Barrett-Jones (best actress in a musical), Renee Franck-Reed (supporting actress in a musical) and Jason Collins (supporting actor in a musical) were named for “Funny Girl.” Malcolm Walker earned best actor in a musical for “Pippin” and Amy Brooks best supporting actress in a play for “Amadeus.”
Certificates of achievement were awarded to: Josh Hollister, Terry Ronald, Anita Bachmann, Chris Harmon, Jennifer Shaw, Doug Lloyd, Amy Brooks, Blaire Butler, Leo Geiger, Philip Smyth, Michael Wadham, Bradley Walker, Ron Weber, Terry Lupp, Katelyn Yeager, Alex Brundrett, Roger Watson, Marilyn Knox, Terri Voisard-Gshwender, Megan Cooper, Alex Carmichal, Andrea Young and Nate Stevens.
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Mind-changing leads Theatre Guild to new home
The Dayton Theatre Guild has been a bit like a shopper who buys one item, sees another he likes better on the way to the checkout and later drives past another offer that makes all previous choices seem not so desirable.
Its pending purchase of the Dayton Gym Club 430 Wayne Ave., has made both the former Foundry nightclub and its own vacant lot at Patterson and East Fourth streets expendable.
Leaders of the 63-year-old community theater expected they would be opening the 2008-9 season in the old Foundry, 26 Wyandot St., when they announced a season opening with “Outward Bound.” They had a verbal agreement to buy the place at the time, but no contract ever materialized.
It wasn’t the first time plans had to change during the 11 years they’ve been seeking a way to move downtown.
A placard has identified the lot at Fourth and Patterson as the DTG’s “future home” for more than four years. More than $700,000 was raised to build a new structure there, designed by Dayton architects Dale D. Smith and Joe Mitolo.
But as the cost of that building escalated more quickly than contributions did, the Guild kept looking.
When the Gym Club, with its “Bingo Tonite” sign out front and a façade bearing frescoes of a boxer, baseball player, weightlifter and baskeball player, became available, they jumped at the chance to hang their name on the outside, as shown here in a rendering.
That made sense for a number of reasons. If all goes well, the sale will be final on Thursday, Aug. 14. The Guild will be doing theater there as early as January 2009, or as late as the start of the 2009-10 season. But “Outward Bound” is going to be done at its home of 45 years on Salem Avenue at Elsmere Avenue.
The Guild suffered through a few lean years around the time it began planning its move. But attendance is on the upswing. It has developed a small but loyal audience willing to take chances with seasons dominated by local premieres, plus the occasional modern classic.
Intimacy, a much praised but rarely encountered quality in local theater, has been part of the charm. The building on Salem has just 92 seats, which surround a long, narrow stage on three sides. The new home one the eastern edge of the Oregon District may have as many as 120 in a similar configuration.
That’s a considerable leap that will likely present a challenge similar to the one in the plot for “Outward Bound,” in which a group of travelers board a cruise ship for an unknown destination.
It has already been a long, strange trip, but every stop and non-stop has paved the way. There will be a public open house and season preview at the Gym Club/Theatre Guild at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23.
For more information about the Theatre Guild, call (937) 278-5993.
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