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In July, North Fulton Drama Club will be holding open, Non-Equity auditions for a new production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Rehearsals will begin in August and the show will debut on Friday, September 26th, 2008 and run for three weekends, including a Sunday matinee.

Auditions will be held on Monday and Tuesday, July 14th and 15th, from 7pm to 9:30pm. Call backs will be held on Thursday, July 17th.

Show dates are September 19th & 20th, 26th & 27th, October 3rd, 4th, for evening shows and September 28th for our 4pm Matinee.

Actors should come prepared to perform cold-readings from provided scripts. Monologues, particularly Shakespearean, are appreciated, but not required. Headshots and theatre resumes are appreciated, but not required. You can download and fill out an audition form by clicking here. Think people where you work or go to school might be interested? Click here for a black and white poster, or here for a color poster.

Auditions will be held on the property of Barrington Hall in Roswell, Georgia. The Hall is located at 535 Barrington Drive, on the south side of the Historic Roswell Square, near the intersection of GA Hwy 120 and GA Hwy 9. Follow Barrington Drive and turn left on to King Street to access the graveled parking behind the blue barn. There is very limited parking available in the main lot, so please park around back.

Questions? Email us at nfdramaclub@gmail.com or call us at 404-444-4605

If you missed our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Barrington Hall, this weekend offers two more opportunities. And best of all, we’re performing indoors. Come rain, come shine, come anything, we’ll be in Lawrenceville on Saturday and Sunday for a pair of encore Midsummer performances at Aurora Theatre. As one of eight companies participating in the first annual Gwinnett County Community Theatre Festival, North Fulton Drama Club is pleased to resurrect our fifth production … even if it is only for a single weekend.

Where will we be? The Aurora Theatre is in downtown Lawrenceville. There are two theatre spaces and we’re in the larger of the pair, the Strickland Family Stage.

So here’s what you do. Head over to the Aurora Theatre website and visit their virtual box office* (or just give them a call). Per-show tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students. You have your choice of Saturday night at 8pm or Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm. We’d love to have a packed house for both shows, so tell your friends and neighbors.

In other news, we’re still collecting cast recordings for the two remaining cast podcasts for Midsummer. Also, as a little something extra, we’ll be posting the full-length audio from Midsummer’s outrageous show-within-the-show, A Tedious Brief Scene Of Young Pyramus And His Love Thisby. Think of it as our own brand of you-are-there radio theatre. And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be holding auditions for our next show, Romeo & Juliet, in just under a month!

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* - There has been a little confusion about how one goes about buying Festival Tickets, so here’s a brief walk-through.

1. First, select the “Buy Tickets” link on the left-side of the Aurora Theatre website. You might get a Security Alert, but just select Yes.
2. Next, select any of the “Buy Tickets” buttons. This will take you to a log-in page. You need to be a registered user to purchase tickets, so next select the “New User? Register Here.” link.
3. Complete the requested information, particularly the fields marked with asterisks(*), then select the “Register” button at the bottom of the page.
4. Now, you’ll be back at the log-in page, so enter your username and password and select the “Log in” button.
5. On the next page (titled Select Show), select the show you want from the drop-down menu (where it says “choose show” — we’re listed in there as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream - North Fulton Drama Club.”
6. Next, you’ll see a calendar with links on June 20th for 8pm and a link on June 21st for 1:30pm. Pick the date/time you want.
7. On the next page, enter the quantity of tickets you want, then select “Continue.”
8. Review the tickets you’ve ordered, then select “Checkout.” Consider the donation field on the next page, then select “Checkout” again.
9. You’re almost done! On this page, enter your credit card information, then select “Complete Order.”

Since two comes after one, here’s the second of four (maybe five) cast podcasts for Midsummer.

All of NFDC’s podcasts are hosted at Georgia Podcast Network. This episode features Dawn Ogden (Mustardseed, A Fairy), Leah Hayes (Cobweb, A Fairy), Jim Dailey (Peter Quince), Ilene Miller (Hippolyta) and Ben Silver (Demetrius).

The remaining cast podcasts will be compiled and produced over the next few weeks as we prepare to re-stage at the Gwinnett Country Community Theatre Festival.

Our first of four (maybe five) cast podcasts for Midsummer is up and available for your listening enjoyment.

All of NFDC’s podcasts are hosted at Georgia Podcast Network. This episode features Jessica DeMaria (Helena), Larry Ficek (Theseus), Rachel Pendergrass (Hermia), Ron Ogden (Egeus) and Sean Anderson (Lysander). Also in the mix are audio cameos from other cast members and production folk.

The remaining cast podcasts will be compiled and produced over the next few weeks as we close Midsummer at Barrington Hall and prepare to re-stage at the Gwinnett Country Community Theatre Festival.

Our brilliant friends, Rusty and Amber, have rebuilt and reloaded Georgia Podcast Network. Bigger, stronger, faster and prettier. If you’ve never visited GAPN, not only are you missing out on our own wonderful podcasts, but also some of the best podcasts that Georgia has to offer. So go, check them out and let your ears enjoy the Internet as much as your eyes do.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lawrenceville, Ga., (May 12, 2008) – Eight community theatres form all over North Georgia representing 100 years of performance will descend upon Aurora Theatre to participate in the 1st Annual Gwinnett County Community Theatre Festival. This two-week festival will feature a wide variety of ad vocational theatre offerings from Shakespeare to Southern Comedy and even a play in Spanish. Although the participants may vary from beginner to folks who hold advanced degrees in theatre, they all participate for the same reason - a pure love of theatre. All performances will be held in the intimate grandeur of Aurora Theatre the last two weekends in June with shows running in both the Metro Waterproofing Strickland Family Stage and the Discovery Point Studio concurrently. The Gwinnett County Community Theatre Festival offers participants the chance to perform in a world class venue and work alongside professional arts administrators and technicians. All of the groups involved are non-profit and proceeds from the festival will help to fund their future programming. For those who are not able to get their fill of live theatre, we suggest a Festival Pass that offers unlimited admissions to any one patron for one low price. The festival will bestow two awards; Festival Favorite for the group that sells the most tickets and Best Poster for artistic poster design.

“It’s like a pot-luck dinner, only on stage.” Anthony Rodriguez goes on to explain, “We are thrilled to be able to offer such an amazing line up our first year. We are confident that this festival will become one of the best arts events in the state, some might say that it already is.”

Participating in this year’s festival:

• County Seat Players – Gwinnett County’s longest running community theatre
• Lionheart Theatre Company – the resident company of the Norcross Cultural Arts Center
• New Dawn Theatre – performing in Duluth at Red Clay Theater Arts Center
• New London Theatre – just opened a storefront theatre in their hometown of Snellville
• North Fulton Drama Club – known for Shakespeare al fresco in Roswell
• Compañia Teatral Interludio – one of Georgia’s only Spanish Language theatrical performance groups
• Town & Gown Players – the oldest community theatre in Georgia producing continuously since 1953. The company has made its home in the Athens Community Theater since 1968
• Winder-Barrow Community Theatre – now residing in the new Colleen O. Williams Theater in Winder

Festival Schedule

June 20 at 8:00 & June 21 at 1:30

• Discovery Point Studio: New London Theatre presenting the Best of the New London 1 Act Festival
• Strickland Family Stage: County Seat Players presenting A Bad Year for Tomatoes by John Patrick

June 21 at 8:00 & June at 22 1:30

• Discovery Point Studio: Winder Barrow Community Theatre presenting Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling
• Strickland Family Stage: North Fulton Drama Club presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

June 27 at 8:00 & June 28 at 1:30

• Discovery Point Studio: Teatro Interludio La Cuota del 25%
• Strickland Family Stage: New Dawn Theatre presenting Dearly Departed by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones

June 28 at 8:00 & June 29 at 1:30

• Discovery Point Studio: Town & Gown Players presenting Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
• Strickland Family Stage: Lionheart Theatre presenting Radio TBS (Trailer Park Broadcasting Scandals) by Mark L. Smith

Ticket Prices

• $15 Adults
• $12 Seniors and Students

Festival Pass - with the festival pass you may attend as many performances at the festival as you like for one low price.

• $40 Adult Festival Pass
• $30 Seniors and Students Festival Pass

Reservations

678.226.6222 or www.auroratheatre.com

Aurora Theatre
128 Pike Street
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
678-226-6222

Aurora Theatre, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation and is a member of the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts, Theatre Communications Group, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Lawrenceville Tourism and Trade Association, Suwanee Business Alliance and Duluth Merchants Association.

From Thursday night’s final dress rehearsal, we present Pyramus, Thisbe and Wall.

Want to see more?

Weather and outdoor theatre don’t always have the best relationship, so here is our brief policy …

If it rains prior to curtain, then we will proceed with the show, delayed only to make up for lost prep time. If it rains during the show, then we will hold and determine if we are dealing with a small shower or something larger.

In other words, if at all possible, the show will go on.

Additionally, if we call the show and you have paid for a table, we will happily arrange to either set up the table for you on another night we are showing, or we will refund the amount paid for the table.

On days when inclement weather is predicted, we will be contacting food-ordering patrons on the day of their chosen show before 5:30pm. They will be asked if they wish to keep their table and associated food order for that evening, or if they wish to change their reservation to another evening.

In order to re-schedule a table, see a Drama Club representative at the show, or email us at nfdramaclub[at]gmail[dot]com.

North Fulton Drama Club will be re-staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream in June! NFDC is proud to announce that we will be participating in Aurora Theatre’s Community Theatre Festival! The Festival will feature eight local theatre companies and will run over the course of two weekends, starting on June 20th. NFDC’s entry for the festival will be a re-staging of Midsummer! Performances will take place on June 21st (an evening show) and June 22nd (a matinee) on Aurora’s magnificient Strickland Family Stage, a 248-seat venue in Duluth. More details will be announced on our site very soon, so check back often!

So we had a bit of a scare last night. Because this is Georgia and it’s still early spring, the weather can be very unpredictable. We noticed the weather report called for a freeze, which was a cause for worry. If you have seen one of our shows in the past or have taken a peek at our pictures, you will see a large fig tree next to the large porch. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but we also use it as a set piece for our shows. Last year around this same time, a freeze killed off a large portion of the fig’s leaves, leaving a large hole in our set and headaches for our blocking. So when Nikki and I noticed that cold weather report, we knew we had to take action.

I give you: Operation Save the Fig Tree.

At one point for a show, we bought a gross of bedsheets from Goodwill. Armed with only those sheets and our determination, Nikki and I managed to cover the entire fig tree with sheets.

As you can see, the tree is big. Really big. It took the entire bag of sheets, and about 45 minutes, to cover it.

We stuck our heads up inside to make sure that the sheets were actually effective and it was definitely warmer under there.

This morning Nikki went to take the sheets off and check the state of the tree. The leaves looked healthy and non-shriveled, so I believe our mission was successful. We might have to cover it again tonight, but now that we’ve done it once, it should be a much easier prospect.