Many performing arts groups – including Theatre, Music, and Dance – will be represented. 

Central Avenue will be closed to traffic between Girard and Carlisle.  Information tables will provide you a chance to collect literature and talk with representatives.  This is a great way for young people to see what performance opportunities are out there in our local community.

PLAY Conservatory is offering a special contest for all high school Thespian troupes:  the troupe that sends the most members to the info fair will win FREE tickets to the opening night performance of Godspell Jr. (a project going up in March 2010).  All a Thespian has to do is check in at our info table.  ID is required:  either a Thespian card or a note from the troupe sponsor will do.  At the end of the night, we'll tally the attendance and declare the winning troupe on our website.

What’s more is that select merchants will donate 10% of all purchases made that night back to non-profit organizations that the customers have chosen as beneficiaries.  So, if you buy something from Flying Star (for example), you can designate that 10% of your purchase will be given to PLAY Conservatory.  How cool is that?!  Be sure to stop by our table, and we will tell you which merchants are offering those incentives.

Even if you don’t buy anything, performers will entertain you on stage and along the street.  And PLAY Conservatory students from Monkey King and Alice in Wonderland will be strolling in costume.  So come stroll along, chat, shop, and enjoy a lively evening on October 1st among the area’s multitalented performing artists!

In anticipation of its fun-filled summer 2009 production of Disney’s High School Musical 2, Albuquerque Little Theatre in cooperation with PLAY Conservatory will offer workshops for young people to prepare successful musical theatre auditions.  The workshops will be facilitated by veteran teachers Jonathan Dunski and Aaron Howe.

 

In each 90-minute workshop, the teaching artists will critique audition songs for up to five students, and share insights with the entire group on how to achieve a successful audition for musical theatre.  Students may also participate by simply observing.  Some students may even what to schedule a private lesson, or a combination of the above.  The following schedule of training options should accommodate every student’s needs – from beginner to advanced:

 

3 Ways to Learn:	Who/How?	Cost	Time
Workshop Performer	Students, age 13-19, bring at least one song to workshop (one prepared song, 3 minutes or less, with either sheet music or CD accompaniment)	$35	April 4 and April 18 at 2:00-3:30 pm and 4:00-5:30 pm
Workshop Observer	Students (and parents) attend the workshop and participate in the discussion, but not required to perform	$15	April 4 and April 18 at 2:00-3:30 pm and 4:00-5:30 pm
Private Lesson	30 minutes of 2 on 1 coaching of a student’s prepared song.	$60	by appointment

 

Space is limited.  Call to register today!  ALT Box Office:  (505) 242-4750.

 

Audition for Disney’s High School Musical 2 will take place at ALT on May 9&10.  Call for an appointment: (505) 242-4750.  Rehearsals take place 6:30pm-9:30pm Monday-Thursday and 10:00am-2pm on Saturdays, beginning June 29.  The show is in performance August 7-23, at Albuquerque Little Theatre, 224 San Pasquale SW, Albuquerque, NM 87104.  

 

Jonathan Dunski has been directing in public schools and community theatre since 1993, and has directed over 60 productions, large and small.  Credits include:  The Miser, Hamlet, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, Anything Goes, Children of Eden, Footloose, Oklahoma!, and South Pacific.  As director of the Family Theatre Series and Educational Programs at Albuquerque Little Theatre he concocted, among other memorable shows, the inimitable Disney’s 101 Dalmatians.  Recently, as director of PLAY Conservatory, he directed Disney's Aladdin Jr. and Disney’s Mulan Jr. (St. Pius X High School), Lord of the Flies (N4th Theater), and The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod the Nut, & the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree (Auxiliary Dog Theatre).  Acting roles include Cornelius (Hello Dolly!), Herbie (Gypsy), Hal (Proof), Alfie (A Man of No Importance), Snoopy (You're a Good Man Charlie Brown), and The Cat in the Hat (Seussical the Musical).  As a playwright, he has published The Miraculous Journey of Nicholas.  Mr. Dunski is a proud alumnus of the Penn State Thespians.  He will direct Disney’s High School Musical 2 for ALT in summer 2009.

 

What time is it?  Summer time!  School’s out—and the Wildcats are coming back for an all new adventure.  Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan and the rest of the East High gang dive into the enchanted world of Lava Springs Country Club and put their talent to the ultimate test in Disney’s High School Musical 2, based on the Disney channel’s popular movie sequel.  The stage production will make it’s Albuquerque debut August 7-23, 2009, at Albuquerque Little Theatre in a production directed by Jonathan Dunski.

 

Along with fantastic arrangements of the songs from the hit television movie (Fabulous, Work This Out, You Are the Music in Me, I Don’t Dance, Gotta Go My Own Way, Bet On It, Every Day), the score includes a new curtain-raiser (Countdown), two new “Fabulous” reprises, a thrilling “Act One Finale” medley, and a high-octane “High School Musical 2 Megamix” to close the show with a bang! 

 

High School Musical 2 has ten principal teenage characters (5m, 5f), one adult character (1m), and many featured ensemble roles.  With several large group numbers, the show can accommodate a cast of 30 or more.  The community theatre production will hold open auditions in May.  To be notified of the date and time of auditions, please call ALT at 242-4750 or email the director at jonathan.dunski@gmail.com.

 

The last time Dunski directed for Albuquerque Little Theatre was on Disney’s 101 Dalmatians which broke all box office records for ALT’s Family Theatre Series in the summer of 2006.   He is the director of PLAY Conservatory, which will be producing a tuition based summer program for students age 8 to 14 at St. Pius High School, which will perform Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Jr. on July 10-19.

 

Schedule (subject to change):

In rehearsal: (6 week intensive, Mon-Thu evenings, Sat mornings/afternoons)

June 29-July 2 - Music

July 6-9 – Dance

July 11 – read & sing thru

July 13-16, 18 – blocking

July 20-23, 25 – working

July 27-30, Aug 1 – polishing

Aug 3-6 - tech

In performance: August 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23

 

For information about the show, go to www.MTIshows.com and for the production, go to www.albuquerquelittletheatre.org.

 

NEA Report Sees Nonprofit Theaters Strong Heading Into Economic Distress

By Jacqueline Trescott

Washington Post Staff Writer
Printed Monday, December 15, 2008

 

Reports that:

q      "All America's a Stage," a survey of 2,000 theaters compiled from IRS data and other sources, found that the number of nonprofit theaters doubled from 1990 to 2005, and that they held steady financially. However, the study does not reflect the current economic downturn, which has resulted in staff cuts and closed doors for some theater companies.

q      By looking at past troubled times, the NEA report foreshadows what could happen now.  Following the 2001 recession, revenue from ticket sales and contributions dropped nearly 12 percent the next year and continued to slowly decline through 2005, when the reporting period ends.

q      Audiences at all theaters, nonprofit or otherwise, increasingly prefer musicals to spoken-word productions. The survey found that the number of adults attending nonmusical theater dropped from 25 million in 1992 to 21 million in 2005, while the number grew from 32 million to 37 million over the same period for musicals.

 

Click on the headline to read the entire Washington Post article.

 

Word of Mouth Productions of Plano, TX, is producing The Miraculous Journey of Nicholas by Rio Rancho resident Jonathan Dunski.  The play which tells the witty, epic story of the reluctant miracle worker who becomes Santa Claus, was produced by the Rio Rancho High School Thespians in 2002, when Dunski was the school’s resident Drama Teacher.

Presently, Dunski, a producer/director of over 60 school and community plays, works for the Pueblo of Jemez as a technical writer for Health and Human Services, and serves as president of PLAY Conservatory, a non-profit corporation that offers educational theatre programs for children and youth.

The Texas production of “Nicholas” will run December 12, 13, 19 & 20 at 8:00pm, and December 14 & 21 at 3:30pm at The McKinney Performing Arts Center, 111 N. Tennessee, McKinney, TX 75069.  For ticket information, go to www.mckinneyperformingartscenter.org  or www.womproductions.com, or call (214) 544-4630.

PLAY Conservatory Director Jonathan Dunski has been invited to present two educational workshops at the New Mexico Thespians Festival at Rio Rancho High School on January 16 and 17, 2009.  Approximately 300 drama students from 10 high schools are expected to attend.  Dunski will be one of about 20 presenters or adjudicators.

 

This will be Dunski’s third time as a presenter or adjudicator at the annual Festival.  In 2007, he gave the keynote address.  Back in 2002, when he was working as a classroom teacher at Rio Rancho High School, Dunski served as president of New Mexico Thespians and re-invigorated the Festival and its activities in compliance with the International Thespian Society and the Educational Theater Association (EdTA).

 

The workshops he will present are:

 

Auditioning for Musical Theatre

Improve your musical audition skills.  Learn strategies to make a positive impression and practice performing a successful 16 bars (bring your accompaniment: sheet music or CDs).  Ideal for those students with Solo Musical Theatre pieces who want to prepare them as audition pieces.  Also helpful for those who want some exposure to the basics.  Co-taught by Jonathan Dunski and Aaron Howe -- the director and musical director of last summer's hit "Disney's Mulan". 

 

Hot Cold Readings!

Improve your cold reading audition skills.  Get practical experience reading for parts “cold” (with little preparation).  It’s not just about getting the lines right.  Learn a simple technique to offer an authentic character after just a few minutes with a script.  Workshop leader Jonathan Dunski will be using the script “Monkey King” a play slated for April 2009 production.