Tag "Players Theater"
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Lynne Bernfield sings a song from her CD and explains why she wrote it
I’m a therapist. The first time Sara (not her name) came to see me she was impeccably dressed in a business suit and low-heeled pumps. She sat very straight and described her problem matter-of-factly, showing no emotion, as though she was speaking about another person. She’d mentioned a stuffed animal she’d had as a child that she was very fond of. When she returned the following week, I handed her a stuffed animal. She put her arms around it, buried her head in it and dissolved in tears. Later that day I was thinking about her – and wrote this song. “Behind the woman, there’s a child” click the link to listen
These songs are all on my CD “I Won’t go With a Whimper” which was produced by the ridiculously talented Michele Brourman, who also arranged the songs and played all the keyboards. Michele is a brilliant singer/songwriter/performer/composer/musical director and producer. Check her out at Michelebrourman.com
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Lynne Bernfield sings “The Sweet Single Life”
I spent much of my 20’s worrying about the fact that, although there were always men in my life, I wasn’t MARRIED! When I moved from NY – where I was born and raised – and moved to LA, I began a new life. One day I realized that I was not only very happy, I no longer cared that I wasn’t MARRIED. And I wrote this song in celebration.
The Sweet Single Life is the first cut on My CD “I Won’t Go With A Whimper”
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Interview with Arthur Keyser – Before Steepletop
8/2018 Arthur Keyser is a playwright but he didn’t know it until he was eighty years old. Born to deaf parents who were unable to guide their children, Arthur and his brother had to find their own way. Arthur discovered and fell in love with theater “by accident” when he was fourteen, but never thought of writing for it. A voracious reader and naturally gifted writer he decided on the law as a career. In retirement he volunteered for a senior citizen acting company at the Players Theater. A director, having read something Arthur wrote, suggested that he write a play. With the diligence and attention to detail that made him a successful attorney, he “read every book he could find on the art of play writing.” And it paid off. Some 30- 50 plays later he is being performed all over the country. Now, as he approaches ninety, his play “Before Steepletop,” which won last year’s new play reading festival at the Players Theater, is running there from 8/21- 8/26.
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Interview with theater professional Monica Cross
8/6/18 Monica Cross’s mother loved to sew and she passed her love of creating costumes on to her daughter. But that was just the beginning of a life dedicated to all things theater for Monica. Today, as the Production Manager and Technical Director of the black box theater at Sarasota’s New College, she acts, directs, costumes, creates lights, sound and scenery and teaches. In her spare time she writes. Her first full-length play The Wonder of Our Stage, recently won the competition at the new play reading festival at the Players Theater and will be fully produced next season. Listen to Monica talk about her discovery that theater was where she belonged and her infectious passion for all the things she does there.
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Interview with Kathryn Parks and Allen Kretchmar
Sept 1, 2015 – Audio Interview with Kathryn Parks and Allen Kretchmar
Dancer, singer, actor, writer Kathryn Parks is part of the stand out cast in Tennessee Williams ground-breaking play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Players Theater. Listen to this talented, articulate woman talk about her life, her work and her role as Maggie the Cat, in which she gets to express aspects of herself which she might otherwise keep under wraps. And find out more about her at her website http://kathrynparks.com. Then Allen Kretchmar, who will be playing the patriarch, ‘Big Daddy,’ in the same production, talks the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the roller coaster ride he’s taken to finally wind up back where he started and always wanted to be – on stage.
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Interview with Ann Gundersheimer
Ann Gundersheimer knew from a very young age that she wanted to be an actor; she can still recite a piece she performed in elementary school. Her father, a charismatic lecturer, inadvertently encouraged this impulse by sharing his love of oratory with his daughter. But her parents frowned on the idea of her having a career on the stage so Ann majored in English instead of theater in college, although she “acted all the time,” and then got her Masters Degree in theater. But her life took several other turns so she wasn’t able to purse her passion for acting until she retired. And now she is finally able to act as often as she is cast. Currently she is one of the two characters in a reading of The Guys, a play which will have one performance on 9/11 at The Players Theater, about the impact of the World Trade Center catastrophe on two people who had very different experiences.
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Interview with Elliott Raines
Elliott Raines grew up in what says is “now called the East Village, but when I grew up was called a slum.” Second generation, born to parents who believed in giving their children a “well rounded education,” Elliott studied piano and music theory, spent a year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and most of his high school years in Drama Club, chorus and plays. He got a BA in Theater and an MFA in Acting, taught acting at his alma mater, and had some success as an actor. However at age 28 Elliott realized that the thing he hated most was looking for work, and acting – no matter how successful you are – is always about looking for the next job. Having realized this Elliott promptly went to Law School. He spent a career in law – with forays into acting and directing. And now having retired is once more able to pursue his passion for the theater. Elliott is currently directing The Boys Next Door at the Players Theater.
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Interview with Bob Trisolini
When five year old Bob Trisolini and his cousins entertained their parents by putting on plays, they always ended with little Bobby being stood on his head and pushed over – a perfect beginning for the entertainer that Bob would become. But Bob was concerned about making enough money for the life style he wanted, so he took his talents to corporations and had an overwhelmingly successful career which took him all over the world. Listen to the incredibly long list of companies for whom he created spectacular events which introduced products, celebrated successes, motivated sales forces etc. Now in retirement with a seemingly inexhaustible amount of talent and energy Bob continues to work here, there and everywhere for FL based companies and theaters. He loves to work with children so last year he directed Suessical The Musical and this year he is directing a production of Annie for The Players Theater of Sarasota. Listen to this funny, passionate, engaging man talk about the way he parlayed his talents into an extraordinary career.
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Interview with Jared Walker
Jared Walker began his show business career as The Glum Bunny in a 3rd grade class production. He always loved to sing and make music and the Glum Bunny showed him how much he loved being on stage. But singing and acting were not enough for the talented and flexible Jared; he went on to become a director, lighting designer, and costumer. If you can do it in the theater Jared can do it. Currently he is directing a production of The Full Monty, a play he knows well as having played one of the roles himself, for the Players Theater which opens on April 22nd.
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Interview with Louise Stinespring
At seven, Louise Stinespring played the pregnant Virgin Mary in the 2nd grade Christmas play. Exuberantly improvising her part, she rushed around the stage desperately looking for a place to lie down and have her baby (listen to her re-enactment by clicking on interview at the top of this post). After the play Louise’s mother reported that one of the other mothers had said that “Louise had talent.” Apparently that mother was right as Louise was accepted to sturdy at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse with the iconic Sanford Meisner and one of the few asked to return for the second year. It has not been an easy path for Louise but she is not only a talented actress, director and teacher, she is a resourceful, passionate woman who has faced every disappointment and obstacle and found a way to survive, take care of her family and stay in the theater. Today she teaches acting and directs plays in Sarasota FL her “mini Manhattan home” at the unconventional Home Resource Contemporary Furniture space and the Players Theater where her production of ‘Night Mother’ opens on 4/19. Listen to Louise’s story, laugh out loud at her stint as the “Funny Bunny in a production which toured The Playboy Clubs, and be inspired.
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Interview with Kelly Woodland
To get little Kelly Woodland “out from under foot,” her mom sent her off to visit her cousins. Those cousins were putting on a play and so six year old Kelly made her acting debut as Mustard Seed in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She says it wasn’t hard because she thought “everyone talked like that.” And of course she was “bitten” by the theater bug. After years of playing Louisa, Kelly decided she was actually a director and got a degree in directing. She must have been right because Noises Off which she is directing for the Players Theater in Sarasota is the 98th play that she’s directed. Listen to Kelly describe her philosophy of directing as well as explain why you’d want to see Noises Off which opens on March 22nd.
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Interview with Michael Newton-Brown
Michael Newton-Brown’s Dad was a high school track coach, who might have wanted his son to be a jock. He tried to interest him in golf and put a pole vault in his hands and said jump (listen to Michael’s reaction to that). But Dad was somehow able to allow Michael be who he really is – a deeply creative person who was drawn to and consequently learned everything there is to know, about making theater happen. There were many twists and turns in Michael’s path. He found himself in the middle of several violent eruptions in the 60’s. He went on the road with the newly discovered Bette Midler and Barry Manilow. And luckily for Sarasota finally found a home there. He is currently directing the quirky musical Dear World, at the Players Theater in Sarasota. Listen to Michael’s unusual story and hear a song from the show.
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Interview with Pamela Wiley
Actor, Director Pamela Wiley started her career at the age of 6 when a photographer snapped a picture of her which he sold to a national magazine and which got little Pam an agent. From then till her teens Pam managed to balance a busy modeling/commercial career with her soccer playing/cheerleading/vice president of her class life as a ‘regular girl.” She celebrated her 12th birthday on stage at New Jersey’s Papermill Playhouse, where she had her first professional acting job in Annie Get Your Gun. Knowing that the theater was where she wanted to be Pam got a degree in theater at Dennison College. Once again she handled a difficult balancing act, this time between a busy acting/commercial career and her life as the single mother of three. Pam’s energy, passion and commitment to quality seem inexhaustible. And currently the Players Theater in Sarasota is benefiting from it – as she gets ready to direct “It’s a Wonderful Life” which will open December 2nd. Listen to this effervescent role model talk about life, her career and growing up.
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Interview with KJ Hatfield
KJ Hatfield decided early that she wanted to be a singer. She studied music, played piano and was in many community theater productions before she was in High School. But she also realized that although a life in the theater was her passion, it was an insecure way to make a living and besides, if she were as successful as she hoped, she wouldn’t be able to be at home in the evenings with the children she intended to have. So she found another way to make a living and committed herself to performing in community theater productions everywhere she found herself. Currently she is starring as Kate in the Players Theater production of Kiss Me Kate. She found a way to have her cake and eat it too.
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