SENIOR THEATRE COMPANY

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE                                                       For more information:

Now-March 20th, 2005                                                    Alannah Kern (510) 444-4755    

          

 

 

Stagebridge Play Rescues a Young Boy From Being Bullied

at the 14th Annual Family Matinee and Ice Cream Social.

 

 

                 Stagebridge features an original play by Linda Spector, “The Boy Who Lost His Laugh”.  An eccentric grandmother and her zany friends rescue a young boy from being bullied. The play premieres at their 14th Annual Family Matinee and Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social, Sunday, March 20th at 3:00 pm at Arts First Oakland (in the First Congregational Church), 2501 Harrison Avenue (at 27th Street).  Tickets for the play and ice cream social are $10/general and $5/children. There is plenty of free parking and wheelchair access.  Book now!  These events sell out.  Reserve your tickets by calling Stagebridge at (510) 444-4755.

 

              Every year for the past thirteen years, Stagebridge playwright/director Linda Spector has adapted popular children’s books about grandparents.  This year Spector has written an original play for the intergenerational senior theatre company called “The Boy Who Lost His Laugh”.  It features a young boy who feels bullied, doesn’t have friends and stops enjoying life.  His eccentric grandmother and her gang of zany friends are determined to make him laugh again. And do they ever!  This fun-filled play with its cast of charming characters shows children how to stand up for themselves and respect their uniqueness.

        

             Spector has written and adapted more than 30 plays for Stagebridge since its founding in 1978.  She co-directs the company with Dr. Stuart Kandell.  “I wanted to write a play about a boy who learns to accept his own individuality and overcome, not only the bully inside himself, but also the bullies at schools who make fun of him because he’s not like them”.

       

                                                                                                                  

          This year’s multi-cultural cast ranges in age from 10-71.   Fifth graders Creig Turner. Jr. from Oakland’s Fruitvale Elementary School and Zoe Karanfilian from Thornhill Elementary School play the parts of young Timothy and his sister Annie. Newcomer Craig Nevin joins Stagebridge veteran actors Jan Chee, Cindy Carrico, Olithia O’Toole, and Joanne Grimm.   Costumes are designed by Ava Childs, sets by Dave Gardner and sound by Jon Goldstein

 

         The production is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, Alameda County Art Commission, City of Oakland Cultural Arts, Southwest Airlines, Banks Family Foundation, Clorox Company Foundation, GATX Capital Corporation, and Oakland Fund for the Arts.

        

         Stagebridge enters its 26th year as the nation’s oldest senior theatre company, a dynamic group of seniors reaching out through the performing arts to senior and young audiences everywhere. This year Stagebridge premieres another new play, “Being Something - Living Young and Growing Old in Oakland”, at the Metro Theatre in Jack London Square, April 22nd-May 1st.  This is a collaborative work between the senior theatre company and Opera Piccola, award winning director Ellen Sebastian Chang, and celebrated dramaturge/writer Anne Galjour, and others.  In May, the company will announce the winners of its annual “Grandparents Tales Writing Contest” with public performances and a radio show.

 

For information about Stagebridge Senior Theatre classes, auditions, and touring shows please contact Stagebridge at (510) 444-4755 or www.stagebridge.org.