Fast times at Theatre Alliance
If you missed your own class reunion, Winston-Salem’s Theatre Alliance has the perfect remedy: its latest production.
That would be Sheila’s Class Reunion, which will open May 15 at Theatre Alliance (1047 Northwest Blvd., Winston- Salem).
If you’ve ever been to one of your own class reunions, then you may feel a tinge of déjà vu as the Class of ’79 of Twin City High School congregate to celebrate their 30th just sparks fly. Tempers flare, old grudges and adolescent lusts are reignited, and long-forgotten rivalries suddenly come to the fore — much to the increasingly exasperated chagrin of the title character, whose best-laid plans for a fun reunion are very quickly dashed.
Sheila’s Class Reunion was written by Larry Pellegrini, a member of the Artificial Intelligence troupe, whose greatest creation was the stage hit Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, which premiered in 1988 and has become one of the most popular interactive stage productions. It’s still going strong in many major cities and has become a huge favorite of community theaters.
Like that show, Sheila’s Class Reunion reunion. But when is interactive in the extreme. That’s right this motley collection of geeks, jocks, — the audience is a part of the show, each member a fellow graduate of Twin City High. Feel free to join in the fun, or simply hang back and be a wallflower.
The
show is also packed with top tunes of the 1970s, including “Turn the
Beat Around,” “Knock on Wood,” “Macho Man,” “Shake Your Groove Thing”
and the immortal “Super Freak” and performed by the immortal Rick
James. Jamie Lawson, the indefatigable artistic director of Theatre
Alliance, will once again be at the helm of this show. Sheila’s Class Reunion will
run through May 24. Showtimes are 8 p.m. May 15-16 and 21-23; 2 p.m.
May 17 and 24. Tickets are $14 (adults) and $12 (students and senior
citizens), and reservations are never a bad idea. Due to adult language
and situations, as well as the interactive nature of the show (since
anything could happen), the show is recommended for mature audiences.
For tickets or more information, call 336.723.7777 or see www. wstheatrealiance.org
If you want to participate as a dealer, sales spaces are available for $25 and you can sell your own items. Or, if you’d like to donate any items to Theatre Alliance for the sale, call the same number as above: 336.723.7777.
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Last year, Wesley Taylor graduated from the School of Drama at the UNC School of the Arts. This
year, he’s the recipient of an Outer Critics Circle award nomination.
Not bad for 12 months’ time! Taylor has been nominated for Outstanding
Featured Actor in a Musical by the Outer Critics Circle for his
performance in the Broadway production of Rock of Ages, which also earned a nomination as Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Winners will be announced May 11. Rock of Ages, which
is being presented at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City
(following a successful off-Broadway run last fall), is set amidst the
Hollywood rock scene in the mid-1980s — a time of hopes and dreams,
aspirations and ambitions, power chords and power cords, stone-washed
jeans and, of course, really, really big hair. The show is filled with
many of the era’s chart-topping hits. (Hey, any show that includes
Journey’s “Any Way You Want It” is already ahead of the game, so far as
I’m concerned.)
Taylor plays Franz, the son of a ruthless
German real-estate developer (played by Paul Schoeffler) with designs
to demolish the Bourbon Room and the rest of the Sunset Strip in order
to build a new shopping mall. Franz, however, falls under the rock ‘n’
roll spell….
Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News called
it “an enjoyable journey…. Factor in a couple dozen feel-good tunes and
a rocking band and you’ve got a cranked-up crowd-pleaser.”
Originally from Orlando, Fla., Taylor plied his trade at the School of Drama in such productions as Henry IV, adapted
from Shakespeare’s classic by Dakin Matthews and directed by Gerald
Freedman, the dean of the School of Drama, in which Taylor played
Falstaff.
Taylor also played “Action” in the school’s 50 th -anniversary production of the classic musical West Side Story, also directed by Freedman. Taylor’s credits also include The Game of Love, and in the 2007 UNCSA Summer Performance Festival’s productions of Two Gentlemen of Verona and Schoolhouse Rock Live!
