Well the new year is just getting underway, and here at ACE our New Year’s resolution is to have more fun doing what we love!

 We’re charging full speed ahead with work on WHERE THE HECK’S THE PLOT, which opens next week!  The cast has been rehearsing over the Christmas break, including rehearsals on New Years Eve!  How’s that for dedication?  Come to think of it, when was the last time a local theater debuted an original musical?  Oh, wait, that was ACE, just a few months ago when we had the World Premiere of TELL ME!

At the end of the month we open ALTAR BOYZ.  I can’t wait to see this show on stage!  This is one funny show, and the performers are putting in extra time on the song and dance numbers for this one.  You know the actors are serious when they give up cigarettes and start taking up running in order to keep up with the fast paced choreography!  It’s time to “Raise the Praise!”

The work continues in the Annex Theater where we are installing new seats and getting ready for LOVES LABORS LOST.

Several ACE actors are featured in the upcoming film EARTH DAY, directed by Mister Ooh-LA-LA.  EARTH DAY stars ACE actors Gaylord Walker, Rebecca Teran, Maida Belove and Bruce McCarthy.  The trailer for EARTH DAY is now on Youtube - just search for EARTH DAY or Mister Ooh-La-LA.  EARTH DAY is a parody of the horror genre and the preview features some strong language that may not be suitable for kids.  It will premiere here in Eugene on April 22, 2009 – EARTH DAY!

 Last night was the annual ACE Christmas Party!  It was our turn to celebrate our accomplishments over the past year, and of course, an excuse to PARTAY!  We had turkey, ham and all the trimmings - the usual ACE feast prepared by ACE Artistic Director Joe Zingo, ACE Executive Producer Jim Roberts, Box Office Manager Gaylord Walker and ACE Music Director Marc Innocenti.  We had a lot of special guests, including our local playwrights Dorothy Velasco, Greg Foote and Chuck Nathan, all of whom have had World Premiere’s of their shows produced at ACE.  Also in attendance were several members of the local media,  our fabulous ushers and support staff and a large number of actors consuming quantities of free beer!

As always, one of the highlights was showing footage of our last years productions.  It’s easy to forget about the long hours, the stage fright and the hard work when you get to see it all on the big screen with your friends.  And no one who was there will forget the preview of ALTAR BOYZ!  This musical is going to rock the house hard when it opens in January!  Eugene hasn’t seen anything like it!  On a personal note; I liked the Christmas Carol sing-a-long.  Nothing can be more fun than a bunch of actors singing Christmas Carols at the top of their lungs…or maybe you had to be there!

Of course, the party is just a pause in our crazy Christmas schedule.  We have six performances of two different shows coming up this weekend, several of which are SOLD OUT.  Then it’s off to the Hult!  Monday morning we load up the truck and go uptown for our 4 performances of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  This is going to be fun:  Take a show that we’ve performed before sell out crowds for four years running, make the cast even larger, add on a bunch of new sets and props, change the lighting, the costumes, the choreography and the blocking and the theater –  and put it all together in a week!  Yippee!!

Most theaters in Eugene can only manage to do one show at a time.  What’s the fun in that?  Where’s the thrill, the excitement?  What good is it do theater is you’re not always challenging yourself?  I think that’s one of the reasons we keep attracting new audiences and the most exciting actors; ACE is quite simply, the most ambitious theater in town!

“Ace”

 THURSDAY, December 4

The Box Office opens at 11:00 AM.  By noon, the theater is busy with the kitchen, and tech staff preparing for the busy weekend.  THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE has it’s final dress rehearsal before it’s World Premiere.  Five days ago, an actor in the production had to leave the show, due to a family emergency.  Cody Mendonca, an ACE regular, is chosen to fill in.  He’s just one of the many highly qualified volunteers who are always ready to do whatever it takes to make the shows happen.  Thank you Cody!  All is not well however; the sound board for the Annex Theater decides to break down!  A decision is made to purchase a new board first thing in the morning, so it can be programmed and ready for opening night.

FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS has a special Thursday night show for the local branch of The Rotary Club.  Bruce Shaw and Sharon Snow, Rotary members, have been long time supporters of ACE, and thanks to them we have been able to share Actors Cabaret with a brand new audience!  Thanks Bruce and Sharon!  By 11:00 PM, the audiences have gone home, the kitchen has closed down and everyone gets some shut eye in order to get ready for Friday.

FRIDAY, December 5

Everyone gets to work a little early today.  The sound board gets installed.  It’s opening night for THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE, and we have a sold out house for PLAID TIDINGS.  PLAID has a large party from The Lighthouse Temple here for dinner tonight, as well as a large party from the Albany Civic Theater, who are producing PLAID TIDINGS next year.  By noon the theater is kicking into high gear.  Actors Cabaret is one of the few theaters in the state that can produce multiple shows simultaneously, and we’re the only theater that does it with a primarily volunteer work force.  At 6:30, our dinner guests begin to arrive, ready to see a show and have a fantastic meal.  Serving a three course meal to over forty guests in an hour and a half is just another day at the office for the ACE servers, all of whom volunteer as actors in addition to performing other tasks for the theater.  At 8:00 PM both shows begin, and the wait staff retreats to the kitchen to prepare the desserts served at intermission.  Both shows go off without a hitch.  Cody Mendonca has learned his part and THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE has a successful World Premiere performance.  After the shows, volunteers remain working into the early hours of the morning in order to get the theater ready for a wedding tomorrow afternoon!

Saturday, December 6

The day begins even earlier than usual.  Last night, the set for PLAID TIDINGS was re-dressed for a special ACE event:  The daughter of one of our long time volunteers is getting married at the theater!  So in the morning the theater is filled with weddings guests.  On the other side of town, another group of volunteers, mostly the cast of A CHRISTMAS CAROL are gathering for the Springfield Christmas Parade.  And the Box Office is open, and the kitchen is cooking!  Busy!  After the wedding guests leave, the theater gets put back together again for PLAID TIDINGS.  The CHRISTMAS CAROL cast returns to change out of their costumes and the tables are set for dinner.  By 6:30 the dinner guests have arrived, by 7:00 most of the casts have arrived and off we go! 

This was a long day!  A parade, a wedding, two shows and dinner for forty! 

SUNDAY, December 7

The weekend isn’t over yet!  It’s matinee day at ACE!  The kitchen wakes up early to cook “Kentucky Hot Browns,” an ACE favorite, as well as our famous Eggs Benedict.  Both shows are enjoying enthusiastic, appreciative audiences.  For once, the day ends before midnight!

“Ace”

  Actually, it’s just business as usual.  Five performances in 3 days!  We continued our run of PIGS IN LOVE, which SOLD OUT this past weekend!  Tickets are going quickly for the final two shows Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, so don’t hesitate to check it out.  PIGS had three performances this weekend, including a Sunday matinee with a pre-show dessert and reception with the author, Dorothy Velasco.

PIGS IN LOVE was not an easy play to produce (is there such a thing?)  After it’s successful reading at the late Willamette Rep a few years ago, everyone was ready to see a fully produced version of this thoughtful comedy.  However it proved to be a very tricky proposition to find the right actors, at the right time, with the right director in the right theater.  ACE Artistic director Joe Zingo had a lot of faith in the project, and by taking the long road we have successfully produced another World Premiere by a local author.  Like I said, business as usual.

FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS opened this weekend!

Nothing is nicer than waking up to a good review!  Thank you, alan Beck for your great review of PLAID TIDINGS in the Nov. 28th Register-Guard.  I mean, with lines like “This is a show for kids from one to 92…and that means you!” and “A selfless Christmas gift to the audience,” the producers, director and cast had to wake up to smiles this morning!  We opened FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS a week before Thanksgiving, so those folks lucky enough to be at ACE this past weekend got an entire extra week of Christmas spirit!  PLAID plays through December 14.

Get ready for ALTAR BOYZ!

This past weekend also saw rehearsals for ALTAR BOYZ.  This new musical about a Christian Boy Band is without a doubt the funniest thing I’ve heard rehearsing on the ACE stage in a long time.  This show is going to raise the standards for locally produced musical theater in Eugene, just wait and see.  The singing, dancing and comedy from the BOYZ is going to BLOW YOU AWAY!

THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE: in rehearsal:

Just as soon as the curtain closes on PIGS, the lights go up on yet another locally produced World Premiere, Gregory Foote’s Historical Drama, THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE.  TRUCE is based on the true story of the spontaneous, unofficial truce between British and German soldiers along the Western Front in 1914.  This is a moving and insightful drama that provides a good counter-point to the silliness of PLAID TIDINGS in our Cabaret Theater.  THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE marks Mr. Foote’s third production at ACE.  TRUCE opens December 5th, so the actors, writer director and producer have agreed to give up most of their Thanksgiving Holiday in order to prepare for next weeks opening night. 

Like I said, business as usual. 

“Ace”