Come Check Out GTP's She Stoops to Conquer!

The silence of this blog has not been due to a lack of productivity, but rather an overabundance of it!

There have been many happenings over the last few weeks that have gone by sadly un-blogged. I will try to get to them all very soon. First and foremost though, I must address that after overcoming many obstacles (including actors battling illness, and a change in venue), Gorilla Theater Productions will be opening their third production, Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, THIS WEEKEND At Random Row Books! While this has been a delight put together thanks to an amazing team of volunteers and a wonderful cast, including many close friends and a smattering of delightful newcomers, I think it can also be fittingly called 'the show that wouldn't die.' It's hard to give praise to my wife without it sounding biased, (probably impossible) but I feel it's fair to say that most producers would have canceled a show like this when the going got tough. After all, it is only theater, and shows get canceled all the time by company's much larger and better funded (i.e., not working out of owner/producer/director/costumer/set builder/fight choreographer's home.) However, Anna's kept this show alive long after there was anything to prove to anyone, and as I stood before the stage this evening as the last touches to the set were being hung, I realized she really might have done it again.

Here's a behind the scenes video I put together from some of the rehearsal sessions I visited:

I think this is going to be a blast. As someone admittedly not in love with the play (it just never personally won me over the way my favorites from its period did) I've actually come around quite a lot while witnessing it leap off of the page. It's a reinterpretation for sure, but the heart is all still there. There's a pinch of Antigone in the approach and as I think that was one of Anna's stronger shows, I'm certainly more than looking forward to it.

I really hope people will come out and support this production. If you can't make it, please consider passing the word on to anyone else that might be interested. Tickets are only $5 so that we can provide affordable theater to the surrounding Charlottesville community, but it only works if we have a good turn out. We're especially hoping to pack the house this Saturday with many of our vets (some roles are played by different actors from the first weekend to the second) warmed up and then let word of mouth build up for the following weekend's line up.

Cheers!