The Bremen Musicians, New London Theatre's "Grimm's Fairy Tales"

The Gwinnett Community Theatre weekend shows roundup is up at my Examiner site!

County Seat Players (full disclosure: I keep their website current and have acted with them) recently presented “Harvey” at the Aurora Theatre’s Discovery Point Studio. The set looked TERRIFIC (if anybody has pics, put a link in comments or send me the files and I’ll put them up here!) and had a level of polish that I thought was “Guyre-worthy.”

“Guyre-worthy” is a term of my own invention. It refers to my friends Mike and Marion Guyre, as well as their lovely daughters Jen and Steph. The first time I worked with them, they did sets for my production of “An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe.” From my vague description (and, need I say, on a minuscule budget) they created a truly magnificent Roderick Usher’s library — professional and polished and scary and gloomy and all the things Poe needs.

I’ve seen other Guyre shows, and they always present plenty of eye candy on stage. It’s gotten to the point that whenever I do a show, if the Guyres aren’t doing the sets, I get a twinge of anxiety: “The Guyres are going to see this! It needs to be great!” They’re an inspiration and a joy.

The Guyres now run their own theatre group, Spotlights On Center Stage. What I learned was, the Guyres also helped County Seat with the set for “Harvey.” County Seat pres Linda Place reports that Spotlights loaned their flats for the show. See, that’s just sweet. Spotlights was in rehearsal for this week’s premiere of “The Money in Uncle George’s Suitcase” and had plenty on their plates. But OF COURSE they took time to accomodate County Seat.

I happen to know also that last year’s New Dawn production of “A Christmas Story” featured New London Theatre’s leg lamp, and New London’s production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” starred New Dawn’s window seat. There are doubtless dozens of instances each year where one theatre goes above and beyond in helping another.

Of course there’s a bit of quid pro quo — theatres give advertising space in the program to thank and promote the other groups. But there’s a spirit of friendship and helping and wanting to make sure things are great involved. We’re all in this together.

Share your stories in the comments!

Fortunately, nobody also told my good pal and fellow Atlanta Examiner writer Mike Yow, so he showed up and we got to chat, and we also messed around with the voice recorder.

So for your listening enjoyment: Brian and Mike discussing New Dawn’s “A Coarse Acting Show.” We also talk a little bit about what might have been, as New Dawn’s “Charley’s Aunt” is NOT to be revived at the Aurora Theatre Festival. (More details on that to follow — basically New Dawn’s got such an ambitious season planned that they want to give all their energy to that. Nothing wrong with that!)

Over to you, Mike! I can’t use this on my Examiner site, but I would guess you probably can!

Mike and Me Discuss Coarse Acting

Master’s Academy of Fine Arts is in a state of emergency concerning their Spring musical production of “The Wizard of Oz”. This school caters to middle and high school kids with a propensity towards the arts.
We had a theatre lined up and then the rug was pulled out from under us. We need to perform it by the end of April so it’s going to take a miracle. These kids have worked SO hard and I hope we don’t have to cancel the performance.
Our school is located in Gwinette county but we are glad to travel. we have used the 14th street playhouse in the past as well as 2nd stage.
Please help our kids out! thanks, Ali

I’ve put out feelers to two of my friends who have venues that might serve — and I wonder, do you have a venue they might use?

Trouble with this kind of request, is, you have to keep your venue busy, with paying customers — and I honestly hope my friends respond, “We’re all booked up!” because that’s what we hope they will be: booked. However, there’s always a possibility that the place might be available a weekend evening or two.

Good luck to Masters kids! I’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Me, I’m going to see Spotlights’ “The Money in Uncle George’s Suitcase.” I was going to go this weekend but then I noticed my pal Stephanie is in it next weekend. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to exploring about community theatre: yes, we go to see great shows — but we also go to see great PEOPLE. I’m sure the young lady who played the role of “Chelsey Bryant” this weekend is terrific, and maybe someday we’ll do a show together and I’ll want to be sure to see the things she does. But for now, it’s all about supporting Steph and the rest of her adorable family that runs Spotlights.

Also playing: New London’s “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

What about you?

UPDATE: Durr. Of course, “The Money In Uncle George’s Suitcase” opens this week, not last week. You’ve got two weeks to see the show! And maybe since I am so silly I will see BOTH Chelsey Bryants

Brian as Hucklebee in Button Theatre's "The Fantasticks"

Hi! I’m Brian Jones, your new Gwinnett Community Theatre blogger. You might have seen me in a few shows around town — I try to keep busy. I’ve also directed some shows, as well as written a couple.

In this blog, I’ll tell you about my own experience in theatre (community and otherwise) as well as keep you up to date on theatre happenings around the county — shows, auditions, etc. I’ll introduce you to some of the amazing people I’ve met in this loving and supportive community. Maybe we can swap some war stories in comments.

I’m basically doing this to have fun and to keep my mind in the game. I just started reporting on Gwinnett Community Theatre for Examiner.com, and was somewhat surprised at their insistence that “this is not a blog.” Well, this is. So I’ll refer to Examiner stories from time to time (such as my recent show announcements and audition round-up.) Here is where you’ll hear about my personal experiences with those shows and auditions. I’ll also track down the answers to the day’s burning theatre questions, such as “How can the audience hear my asides but the other characters on stage can’t?” or, “It’s just community theatre — do I *really need to wear makeup?”

So say hello in comments, and let me know if there’s something you’d REALLY like to see on the site (email is fine too: gwinnettctb@gmail.com)