from our friends at Spotlight Youth Theatre:
As local theatre learns how to keep creating during the pandemic, Spotlight Youth Theatre is trying new programming formats to keep performers and patrons safe. Artistic Director Kenny Grossman set the schedule only for “Act One” of Spotlight's 2020-2021 season through January, to keep options open for the spring schedule.
"Our theme for the new season is 'Create,'" Grossman says. "Artists create. Through theatre we hope to create joy, fun, peace, understanding, silliness, suspense, vision, and friendship with original works and even an old classic, performed safe and onstage."
This season features more dramas and comedies than usual, with just one traditional musical slated so far: a revival of Grossman's own rock & roll spin on a timeless fairy tale. Premieres of three more original plays are among the other shows this year.
All of the shows are planned for very small casts, and short runs played to physically-distanced audiences. At the same time, these shows will be available to much larger audiences than usual with a new focus on live-streaming the shows as online events.
"Act One" of Spotlight Youth Theatre's 2020-2021 Season includes the following:
Art by Bobby Sample
Oct. 30-Nov. 1:
The Soul of Frankenstein
By Bobby Sample
Just in time for Halloween, Spotlight premieres this spooky drama that closely follows the seminal horror novel by Mary Shelley. Victoria Frankenstein is obsessed with creating life, but finds her own success too horrifying to accept. This play auditions Sep. 28-29, with video auditions accepted. See details at http://sytaz.org/tsof
Poster art by Brianna Fallon
Nov. 20-22:
Emmett's Art Project
By Brianna Fallon and Abbey Yee
When the Black Lives Matter movement dominates the news, there is tension and division among Amirah's mixed group of friends. They are inspired to protest in their own ways when their friend Emmett is shot by the police for defacing public property. This drama is another premiere, written especially to confront issues young people face in today's world.
Art by Robert Waller
Dec. 4-6:
Desperate Housewives of Shakespeare
By Jim and Jane Jeffries
Shakespeare has been manipulating and twisting their lives for six plays now. So now that Shakespeare has been found dead, Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Kate, Rosalind, Cleopatra, and Titania are all the prime suspects. This one-act comedy is planned to be rehearsed as a program geared for home-schoolers.
Art by Robert Waller
Dec. 18-20:
A Charlie Brown Christmas
By Charles M. Schulz and Eric Shaeffer
The classic animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas comes to life in this faithful stage adaptation in which Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Art by Robert Waller
Jan. 2-3:
Cinderella: A Rock & Roll Fairytale
Book, Lyrics and Music by Kenny Grossman
Cinderella needs the magical assistance of a rock & roll icon to get to the Prince's ball. Grossman has adapted a new "Junior" version of his satirical musical version of the classic fairy tale, especially to be rehearsed during a holiday theatre camp.
Art by Robert Waller
Jan. 29-31:
Whatever, Just Wash Your Hands (A Potty Party)
By Kenny Grossman
In this comedy premiere, the “gender inclusive restroom” at a theatre includes six stalls, a stressed out stage manager, a wacky director, a load of actors wanting to unload, and a bunch of unstable techies who bring new meaning to the term “bathroom humor."
