“May you live in interesting times.” ~ancient Chinese curse

We here with Blaine Community Theater have been quiet about the whole Covid-19 crisis because, for once, us being nomadic and having an inconsistent schedule has been to our advantage. We don’t have any shows currently running or in rehearsals, and we don’t have facilities to take care of, so for us, putting everything on hold at this point in time was almost unfairly easy compared to some of our peers in the local theater community.

At this time, we are currently running forward with our planned calendar until state and health officials announce we need to change that plan. The quickest upcoming events involved in our calendar are the auditions and production of “The Good Deli”.

We are still planning to do “The Good Deli” auditions on the scheduled dates, April 18 & 19. Auditions were already designed to be scheduled one actor at a time, so we feel exposure danger is severely mitigated compared to a standard cattle call audition. We have not yet heard whether the Blaine School District will continue to be able to let us use their facilities, but if they are unable to we will find an alternative venue. The good news about the rehearsal process for “The Good Deli” is that rehearsals were not scheduled to begin until May 25th, so casted actors will have plenty of downtime with their scripts if self-isolation orders are still in play. The show isn’t scheduled to open until late June, so for now we’ll operate as though all dates are still applicable and will make adjustments as necessary. If you have questions about any of these plans, please feel free to contact us.

Anyway, that’s how we look for the rest of the year’s first half. Like mentioned above, we are in a much better position than most of the county’s performance art groups. Most small arts groups depend on being able to put a show up this week to pay for overhead next week, so the necessary closures are a big problem for most of them. Please, if able, donate to a local art group. If you are kindly enough to want to donate to us, it can be done through our digital box office through the “Tickets on Sale” button on the top of the page, but there’s a lot of organizations that need your donations more than we do at this time:

• Sylvia Center for the Arts
• Bellingham Theatre Guild
• Lynden Performing Arts Guild
• Jansen Art Center
• Bellingham Theaterworks
• BAAY – Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth

Thanks,

Nick McDonald
Blaine Community Theater Board Member

Auditions coming up for the Pacific Northwest premiere of a new play by Kevin Cirone.

We’re pleased to announce our next production, “The Good Deli”, written by Kevin Cirone and directed by Jennie Olson Six. Julia, a Boston comedian, is summoned frantically back home by her stepmom expecting to find her estranged father on his deathbed. Instead she finds him seemingly the same wise-ass curmudgeon he always was, if a tad obsessed with the Italian deli the family visited when Julia was a child. When her father’s health takes a turn, Julia and her brother Max attempt to find the place and give their father the sandwich of his dreams. Leaning on an unexpected kinship with an ex-priest and fighting her sense of flight, Julia takes a road trip with the family, hoping to reconnect with her father while trying to realize the memory of a mysterious deli that may not even exist.

The show has roles for 3 men (age 30-60) and 3 women (age 20-60). Rehearsals will start in late May and the production will run in mid- to late-June. Some language and content (this show will rate about a PG-13). Auditions are April 18 from 11 AM to 3 PM and April 19 from 2 PM to 4 PM in the Blaine Middle School Cafeteria. Refer to this sheet for complete audition information. Schedule you audition slot with this calendar. For any additional questions, feel free to email blainecommunitytheater@gmail.com

Tell Us What YOU Want!

The folks here at Blaine Community Theater spend a lot of time tossing around ideas about what would be fun and engaging ideas for the community, and our list is getting pretty long! So we decided that it was time to run these options past the community itself and see what passes muster!

Please take some time (about 3 minutes) to fill out the following survey, and let us know what kind of activities you would like to see Blaine Community Theater produce!

ACTING ISN’T JUST FOR STAGE AND SCREEN

Blaine Community Theater is extremely lucky to be able to offer improv classes by the very talented and exceptionally experienced Jennie and Kevin Olsen Six.

Ever wanted to give acting a try but were too afraid of competitive auditions? Used to act in your youth and looking for a way to get back into the groove? Maybe you just want to learn how to be a better verbal communicator or have more confidence when speaking with strangers? Then improv is a great place to start!

Read below for more informaiton. If you have questions, feel free to contact us or fire a message directly to Jennie. Hope to see you there!

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ACTING FOR FUN

Mondays 8-9:30p.m. February 24-April 13th

This 8-week class will guide participants through the basics of acting and improv comedy in a fun, interactive and supportive class for all levels of ex

perience. If you’ve ever wanted to try acting or improv, ease your way back into performing or improve your public speaking skills you will have fun in this class. Ages 16 and up.

Learn about:

Acting and Improv Fundamentals
Monologues and Scene Work
Physical and Vocal Training
Stage Craft and Presence
Audition Techniques

Some of the little-known benefits of acting and improv are:

*Feeling More Confident in Public Speaking
*Learning to be in the Moment and get out of your head
*Increased Listening and Communication Skills

Cost

$110 General
$90 Students/Seniors/Military/Veterans/Public Servants

SPACE IS LIMITED PREREGISTER TO SECURE YOUR SPOT

About Your Instructors: Jennie Olson Six has recently relocated back to the PNW after spending the last 20 years in Southern California. She is an actor, writer, director and improvisor and loves to share her talents both on and off the camera and stage. Kevin Olson Six is an actor, director, writer and improvisor who has been performing for over 35 years in San Diego. He moved to the PNW and has fallen in love with the woods, coffee and people. They are both thrilled to be working with the Blaine Community Theater and in the community of Blaine. www.jennieosix.com

This might seem like a weird thing to just randomly post, but recently someone sent a question to the website asking about wheelchair accessibility. Unfortunately the return email address I had for them bounced back, so I wasn’t able to give them the answer they needed, so I decided to just post that information here, in the hopes that they and anyone else who had the same question could get the answer they need.

Yes, the Blaine High School Orange & Black Box Theater IS wheelchair accessible. The theater features modular seating and we can easily remove seats from the front row to accommodate wheelchaired patrons. We do advise anyone with mobility issues to try to show up a bit early (the lobby opens one hour before showtime, and the theater 30 minutes before showtime), as the parking lot nearest to the theater entrance is small,  and, unfortunately, is where a lot of the construction equipment for the school’s ongoing renovations gets left, so space is limited and fills up fast.