The quality of the work we received is so strong that we already have identified plays for VOLUME 2 of this series which we plan to produce in late Summer.  If you are a playwright who has submitted work for the festival, you will recieve an email from us shortly.  We see the potential here to produce as many as four volumes of work from the material we have.  Our Literary Manager will be in contact with you.

Actors will receive a follow up email soon with more information from your director on the process and rehearsal schedule.

We are thrilled with the material we have and truly excited to work with the casts we have assembled for the launch of The Majestic Lab space!

P3 Plays

Model Behavior

Written By Ben Klingemann

Directed by Dorrie Board

Kimberly Wilson

Rhys Bailey- Tim

Bernadette Feyerherm- Reggie

Couples Therapy

Written by Matt Crowley

Directed by John Carone

Nancy Homan

Arild Leavenworth

People Like Us

Written by Chris Shaw Swanson

Announcement Pending: More information Soon

Fine Romance

Written by Ben Jolivet

Directed by Mio Morales

Julia Edgerton- Woman

Charlie Zunigh- Man

TBA

Bryan Smith

B. Chase Whitted

Roger and Juliet

Written by David Guaspari

Directed by Dan Stone

Announcement Pending: More information Soon

The Sum of Your Experiences

Written by Trace Crawford

Directed by Tina Marie Ivy

Announcement Pending: More information Soon

Modern Dance Technique and Majestic Theatre Management will present the 21 st Annual Spring
Celebration of Dance on Friday June 8 and Saturday June 9 at 7:30 pm and Sunday June 10 at
2:30 pm.

This years’ concert features dynamic works utilizing the wide spectrum of modern dance
vocabulary. The dances, choreographed for the Beginning through Advanced students of Modern
Dance Technique are athletic, emotionally evocative and entertaining. Choreography is by
Artistic Director Donna Blatt Ervin as well as instructors Amy McDonnell, Ivy Farrell and
alumna Mara Bateman.

Tickets are available to the general public at the Majestic theatre box office starting May 28 for
$10.P

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Our Costume Intern, Jess Graff, is working on organizing our crazy costume storage room. She is writing this blog to document the experience. We at The Majestic thank Jess for all her hard work, THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO DOWN THERE! Her pictures really illustrate the chaos that is our basement. Soon there will be more space and more accessibility to some really awesome pieces. Hooray!

Jonathan Larson’s rock opera is a timeless story of young people finding their way in the world. In this telling, the events take place in the early 1990s in a neighborhood on the Lower East Side of New York City. The eight main characters are artists struggling to create and survive during the rise of AIDS. We see the young people making connections with each other and with their society. They think of themselves as a family.

CASTING:

Auditions are open to all.

There are roles for 9 MEN AND 6 WOMEN of different ethnic groups.

The characters range in age from late teens to twenty-somethings.

There are no non-singing roles in RENT.

THE CHARACTERS and Vocal Ranges

• Angel – A transvestite street drummer infected with HIV. Incredible dancer with a magnetic personality. Tenor (C3-A4)
• Benny – Wealthy landlord of Mark and Roger’s building. Wants to start a multimedia studio. Tenor (Eb3-F4)
• Joanne – A head strong public interest lawyer, and Maureen’s lover. Alto (Bb3-E5)
• Mark – A filmmaker and video artist, determined to capture “real” life on film. Roger’s roommate. Tenor (C#3-G4)
• Maureen – Performance artist and Mark’s ex-girlfriend. A diva. Soprano Belt (C4-F5)
• Mimi – A dancer with AIDS and a drug problem. Desperate for a place to feel safe and protected. Alto (F#3-E5)
• Roger – An edgy, struggling musician who’s HIV+. He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. Plays guitar. Tenor (B2-A4)
• Tom – An HIV+ computer genius who has recently returned to New York after an absence. Has a deep capacity for love and understanding.  Baritenor (F#2-A4)

4 Men and 3 women will play a variety of roles: Parents, homeless people, street vendors. police officers, people with AIDS, etc.

NOTE: If you are under 18, a parent is required to sign a permission form AND the parent must attend one night of auditions.

PREPARING FOR YOUR AUDITION:

Everyone who auditions is asked to prepare (memorize) a 1 to 2 minute song of their choice that is appropriate/fitting for the role they are auditioning for.

The musical styles in RENT are rock, blues, gospel, disco and Latin. The audition song should be in one of these styles. OR, The song could from one of the following musicals: “Spring Awakening,” “Next To Normal,” “tick, tick…Boom!, ” “American Idiot,” “In The Heights,” or “Avenue Q”

PLEASE DON’T SING SOMETHING FROM RENT.

Please bring sheet music. An accompanist will be provided. Accompanying yourself on guitar is okay.

No scripts or material will be available before auditions.

THE AUDITION PROCESS:

April 30: People auditioning will be asked to perform their song.

May 1: People auditioning will read material from the script, and participate in theatre and movement work.

Everyone is encouraged to attend the first two nights of auditions. Wear comfortable clothes that allow movement.

There will be callbacks on Wednesday, May 2, by invitation only.

NOTE: Depending on the turnout, there may be additional nights of auditions.  MTM may continue casting after the initial auditions until a complete cast is secured.

REHEARSALS AND PERFORMANCE COMMITMENT:

In May, MTM will hold advanced rehearsals focused on familiarizing the cast with the story, characters and the world of the play.   There will not be formal rehearsals during the summer.   Rehearsals will begin the week of September 16.  Rehearsals will take place in the evenings Sunday – Thursday.  The play will run November 8 – 18.  Performances will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday night with Sunday matinee performances.  There will be eight committed performance dates with the possibility of adding a Wednesday night performance in the second week and a Saturday matinee on the closing weekend.

DIRECTOR:

Robert Leff is a long time mid-valley director.  He has directed at Oregon State, Corvallis Community Theatre and Albany Civic Theatre. Among the musicals he has directed are “Bat Boy:The Musical,” “Into The Woods,” “She Loves Me,” and “A Little Night Music.”

For more information contact opportunities@majestic.org.

Presents

The 1st Annual

Dam Good Music Festival

Sponsored by

Flat Tail Brewing Company and

The Corvallis Advocate

May 18th, 2012

8pm-1am

$15

+18 and over

You can currently purchase tickets at The Majestic Box Office W-F 12-5 or by calling 541-738-7469

Check out some pictures and videos of the bands!

Presents

The 1st Annual

Dam Good Music Festival

Sponsored by

Flat Tail Brewing Company and

The Corvallis Advocate

May 18th, 2012

8pm-1am

$15

+18 and over

You can currently purchase tickets at The Majestic Box Office W-F 12-5 or by calling 541-738-7469

Check out some pictures and videos of the bands!

The $10 ticket comes with a  seat, a piece of pie and a pint of beer (or any drink the ticket holder desires).

The Bonneville Dam

On May 12th, 2012 at 7pm, as part of the Arts Center’s American Spring Symposium. the Majestic will be hosting a video documentary and interactive experience with Michael O’Rourke and Bill Murlin. The video documentary chronicles the remarkable story of Woody Guthrie’s one month stay in 1941 Portland Oregon, and his commission by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia River, its beauty, and its development.

In the mid ‘80s documentary producer Michael O’Rourke worked on projects with BPA employee Bill Murlin, who discovered the previously lost collection of Woody Guthrie’s Columbia River songs. In a 1987 radio documentary O’Rourke traced the story of Guthrie’s time in 1941 Portland, and the recovery decades later of his BPA songs. The program aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting radio, presenting the songs to the world for the first time, and was excerpted on NPR’s “All Things Considered”.

In 2011, the 70th anniversary of Guthrie’s Portland time, O’Rourke returned to this story, this time presenting the material as a video documentary. The video is composed of elements from the original 1987 radio documentary, dramatic footage from the 1948 BPA film “The Columbia” for which Guthrie was hired, Guthrie’s lost songs, and other period footage and photographs.

The documentary includes excerpts from oral history interviews with Bill Murlin, Steve Kahn (Guthrie’s BPA manager), famed folklorist Alan Lomax, Woody’s wife Mary (who accompanied him to Portland), Elmer Bueller (Woody’s BPA driver), Studs Terkel, Judge Gus Solomon (who picked Woody up on the first leg of his hitch-hike back to New York when his BPA work was done), and others.

This story unfolds at a time when Guthrie had just achieved national prominence and was approaching the zenith of his career. In the two year’s prior to Woody’s Portland time he had been the star attraction on two national radio programs, one out of Los Angeles in 1939, and co-host of Alan Lomax’s CBS show out of New York in 1940. Guthrie was famously restless and never stuck with anything too long. This tendency plus his rankling under what he considered excessive editorial interference from CBS prompted his resignation from Lomax’s program and his return to California. It was there when he first heard of BPA’s need for a songwriter and singer for a film documentary on the development of the Columbia River hydro-system and the BPA’s mission of encouraging public power.

Woody and Mary lived in a modest house near 81st and Woodstock during their 1941 Portland stay. Woody would spend his days touring Oregon and the Columbia with driver Elmer Bueller. He visited Grange halls, talked to farmers, dam workers and others, and wrote songs. His BPA manager Steve Kahn required Woody to write something and turn it in each day. He recorded some of these songs in the basement of the BPA building, his voice and guitar captured as a groove cut into an acetate disk by the then modern recording equipment. Woody’s month-long Portland employment resulted in what Guthrie biographer Joe Klein identifies as “the most productive” time of his career, and yielded some of his best known songs including “Roll on Columbia” and “Pastures of Plenty”.

The film is the centerpiece of a multi-faceted experience that includes an introduction and commentary by film-maker and oral historian Michael O’Rourke, a brief on-stage interview with Bill Murlin on the discovery of the lost songs, and a live performance of Guthrie’s Columbia songs by Bill Murlin, closing with a sing-along of Roll On Columbia.

The presentation will include some analysis of historical context and it’s influence on the bizarre twists and turns the story takes, from its genesis during the Roosevelt administration when liberal causes such as public power were ascendant, to the War which interrupted everything, followed by the somewhat more, and much more conservative Truman and Eisenhower administrations. The 1950’s BPA did an about-face on many policy issues.

This was when the songs were lost due to indifference or perhaps even hostility towards the message they carried. Then in the ‘80s the songs were recovered by a one-man crusade, but at a moment when hydropower was viewed in a new and less flattering light, as the costs of diminished fish runs and endangered species were being tallied. Woody, in his songs, reminds us of the ideals and motivations that led us down this path, and that they are worth preserving even as we change course.

The Majestic celebrates Cinco De Mayo, Spring and our Members with The Sugar Beets May 5

The Majestic Theatre proudly presents The Sugar Beets Saturday May 5 at 7:30PM. The Sugar Beets
have elevated audiences to a higher level with their acoustic music dance groves fused with rich vocal
harmonies, infectious beats and dynamic stylistic feats. This is good mood music done right. All ages.

ABOUT THE SUGAR BEETS

Playing their own style of high-energy acoustic music, the Sugar Beets are unlike any contemporary
band on the scene today. Defined by impeccable musicianship, multiple singers and songwriters,
and unbeatable live performances, their soul-empowering groove can convince even the most catatonic
listener to get up and dance. The music draws from the foot-stomping traditions of bluegrass, Celtic, and
old-time fiddle music yet is inextricably woven to the worlds of Motown, gospel, country and pop. Uplifting
and always evolving, it is no wonder that the Sugar Beets have enjoyed an increasing and devout
Northwest following throughout their ten-year existence.

The Sugar Beets fifth album, Sweet Ride Home, recorded by former Windham Hill artist Bill Oskay,
overflows with a myriad of musical styles woven together into a signature sound that is as unique as a
disco house party at the Grand Ole Opry. While the opening track, Higher, an energetic, tightly arranged
soul tune, highlights the powerful lead and harmony vocals of Megan and Brianna Bassett, the lively
calypso jam on Bill Blake, exemplifies the group’s stylistic diversity and the dynamic three and four part
vocal harmonies fans have come to expect at their live performances. Each song represents a new angle
from which to view their cohesiveness and intricate instrumental arrangements.

The Sugar Beets have played together for over ten years, sometimes taking breaks, but all the while
solidifying the friendships and musical bond that inspires them to keep playing. They possess a unique
ability to connect and move their audience. As one fan exclaims, “when you [the Sugar Beets] get on
stage our bad moods disappear along with yours and music, spirits, and festiveness reign supreme!”
Perhaps this is why the Eugene Weekly in their hometown of Eugene, Oregon voted them “best band” for
the past three years.

It may also explain the reason they have become perennial headliners at renowned festivals like the
Oregon Country Fair, Willamette Valley Folk Festival, the Northwest Folk Life Festival in Seattle, Oregon
Folk Life Festival, and the Ollala Bluegrass Festival. Whatever the reason, each Sugar Beets member
is intent on making sure the audience has the time of their lives. What began as a fun-loving college
bluegrass and old-time ensemble in 1990 has transformed into a professional band that may play a major
part in revitalizing the Northwest’s acoustic music scene. And while the Sugar Beats have had the
opportunity to share the stage with the likes of The String Cheese Incident, Peter Rowan, Afro-Celt Sound
System, Richie Havens, Ani DiFranco, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters,Merle Saunders, Robert
Hunter, they show no signs of giving way. With several tours planned in support of the new
album, a growing fan base, and an outlook on life that is tough to beat, they will no doubt secure
themselves as one of the regions’ most revered up and coming live acts.

“With a style akin to Leftover Salmon or Widespread Panic, they issue energetic tunes with the tight
musicianship of a band that includes two female vocalists, acoustic guitar, keyboards, fiddle, mandolin,
upright bass, and drums. They played Appalachian folk as easily as ‘The Commitments’-style soul, and
the crowd loved it. Watch for their return, hopefully soon!”

–The Boise Weekly, Boise, ID

“When they come out on stage it’s like a dancing hurricane.”

–Oregon Daily Emerald, Eugene, OR