Redlands Theatre Festival Kicks Off

Heartbreak, humor, and music will be the main focus of this year’s Redlands Theatre Festival (RTF). Actors and crew members alike will occupy the Avice Meeker Sewall Theater in Prospect Park from now until August 24 as they bring to life five exceptional performances. Now in its 41st season, the 70-plus-member repertory company kicked off its annual celebration Friday, July 12 with a real crowd-pleaser. “Dividing the Estate” featured 13 actors who played the roles of family members divided over the fate of the property owned by their mother. Set in 1987, this play, while heavy on dialogue, had enough humor to keep the audience laughing throughout the show. The play, written by Horton Foote, is one that many can identify with, as the family fights over money and struggles to come to a resolution regarding their uncertain financial future. This season will once again celebrate the old and the new, with four other shows including Oscar Wilde’s comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the musical comedy “The Andrews Brothers,” the Tony Award-winning musical “Hairspray,” and the international hit “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” Festival founder and producing director Cliff Cabanilla explains: “Doing true repertory theater requires a different side of the artistic temperament. Live theater has a certain charm to it.” Nowhere else but in repertory can audiences see five different shows with alternating cast members, many of whom appear in several of the plays, says Cabanilla. While not on stage, actors can be found working in other areas of the festival, from technical crew to musicians to tram drivers. This theater production first began as a summer program back in 1972 at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa. It has since grown, transforming itself into a theatrical institution in the Inland Empire. Over the past four decades, the RTF has produced more than 200 plays and musicals, and staged more than 1,600 performances. Company members come from near and far to take part in these productions, with the most recent coming from Redlands, San Bernardino, Fontana, Rialto, Hesperia, Beaumont, Highland, Crestline, Running Springs, and Riverside. Crew member Eric Barnard has spent most of his collegiate career around theater, but says this experience is one of a kind. “It’s a lot of work and it’s fun because you don’t come to work on the same thing every day. It’s kind of panicking though, because there are so many shows going on at once, so there’s a lot less rehearsal.… It’s fun. It’s kind of a beautiful form of chaos.” Performances are at 8:30 p.m. in Avice Meeker Sewall Theater, Prospect Park, at the corner of Cajon Street and Highland Avenue in Redlands. For more information about the show and ticket sales, visit www.rftseason.com or call 909-792-0562. [END] Dividing the Estate Date: Friday, July 12, 2013 Time: 8:30 p.m. Event Location: Avice Meeker Sewall Theater Address: 101 E Highland Ave. Redlands CA 92373 Description: Join us for this performance of the classic show play. Tickets available for $20 and students are $16 with I.D. CONTACT INFO Phone: 909-792-0562 Website: www.rtfseason.org DIVIDING THE ESTATE By Horton Foote Have you ever fought among family members about money, about who is the favorite, about what everyone else should do in order for you not to go insane and take an ax to the whole clan? Then you will identify with the characters in Dividing the Estate. The play is very funny, while at the same time it is heartbreaking, poignant, and dead serious about American life in the latter part of the 20th Century. The Gordons of Harrison, Texas have always been a greedy, gossipy clan. Now the malcontents from the Huston branch of the family come to the homestead and make pettiness an art form as they tangle over their inheritances. P.O. Box 8055, Redlands, CA 92373 – (909) 792-0562 – www.rtfseason.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Redlands Theatre Festival Opens Its 41st Anniversary Summer Repertory Season in Prospect Park REDLANDS – Theatre has always been a shared vision between playwright and director, between director and actor, and between actor and audience. Now multiply that shared vision by five and you have the ongoing success of the Redlands Theatre Festival, which showcases five productions in repertory this summer, under the stars in Prospect Park in Redlands. Now in its 41st anniversary season, the 70-plus member repertory company kicks off its annual celebration July 12 with shows that promise to deliver high spirits, smiles galore and more than a few surprises, said festival founder and producing director Cliff Cabanilla. This year’s season again celebrates the old and the new, as well as the tried and true, with five shows including Oscar Wilde’s comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the musical comedy “The Andrews Brothers,” the Tony Award-winning musical “Hairspray,” the comedy “Dividing the Estate” and the international hit “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” “Doing true repertory theatre requires a different side of the artistic temperament,” said Cabanilla. Nowhere else but in repertory can audiences see five different shows with alternating cast members, many of whom appear in several of the plays, he said. And when some actors are not on stage, they can be found working in other areas of the festival, including technical crew and as musicians. Some actors even drive the tram that delivers audience members to the theater. “The repertory process is fun and exciting for artists and audiences alike,” he said. What began in 1972 as a modest summer theatre program at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa has grown into a theatrical institution in the Inland Empire and in Southern California itself. During the past four decades the Redlands Theatre Festival has produced more than 200 plays and musicals, staged more than 1,600 performances, featured more than 300 company members on and off stage, and entertained more than 500,000 audience members. Community has always been a major aspect of the annual festival, Cabanilla said, with company members coming from throughout the Inland Empire, including Redlands, San Bernardino, Fontana, Rialto, Hesperia, Beaumont, Highland, Crestline, Running Springs and Riverside. The festival has also expanded into the academic community as well, he said, with partnerships formed with San Bernardino Valley College and California State University, San Bernardino, as well as Crafton Hills College. Actors who attend these colleges and universities, as well as directors and technical staff, in addition to shared equipment, are also helping to make the festival even more of a shared community enterprise. “All the institutions share in the vision of creating challenging and artistic venues for students, and providing opportunities in developing their art and sharing the results with the community.” The festival started as a community celebration, Cabanilla said, and it has continued to be a celebration every summer, where actors and audiences alike come together in a shared human experience and connect in ways that are magical. Opening this year’s festival on July 12 is “Dividing the Estate,” playwright Horton Foote’s poignant comedy about a Texas family that must prepare for an uncertain financial future. The show, which runs for seven performances, is directed by Ron Adams of Highland. Meet the Gordons, a family of malcontents ruled by octogenarian matriarch Stella. The family fortune, due to plunging real estate values and unexpected taxes, has been in much better shape. Now Stella’s grown children debate whether or not they should divide the estate while their mother is still alive. What ensues are squabbles, arguments, jealousies and hurts, with huge helping of greed, gossip and pettiness, as this dysfunctional Texas family takes on much more than just the topic of their inheritances. A USO show during World War II is threatened with cancellation in the musical comedy “The Andrews Brothers,” which takes the stage July 13 for eight performances. It is directed by theatre festival founder Cabanilla. Disaster quickly looms when a certain famous trio of singing sisters fail to appear for a USO show, so three earnest and determined stagehands decide to go on in their place, with plenty of mistaken identities and madcap adventures to follow. With songs made famous by the Andrews Sisters, including “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Slow Boat to China” and “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” this musical salute to the swinging 1940s is filled with songs, fun and laughter as the well-meaning stagehands take aim at not disappointing the troops. One of theatre’s classic stage comedies, Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” opens July 16 for seven performances. Tom Provenzano of San Bernardino directs. Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” this hilarious comedy of manners tells the tale of two young men who bend the truth to escape family obligations and capture the hearts of their true loves. The chaos that results from their web of deceit is full of surprises. Considered to be Wilde’s most brilliant work, “The Importance of Being Earnest” takes on staid Victorian high society, as well as its vision of respectability, marriage and social obligations, and turns it all completely upside down. Big Dreams, big girls and big hair take to the dance floor in the Tony Award-winning musical “Hairspray,” opening July 19 for seven performances. The show is directed by Margaret Perry of Crestline. Meet plus-size teen Tracy Turnblad, who wants nothing more than to appear on “The Corny Collins Show,” a 1960s Baltimore dance show, to show off her dance moves and get close to one of its dancers, Linjk Larkin. Once Tracy gets her wish, stardom follows. The only thing standing in her way is that the show doesn’t allow integration, and Tracy does everything in her power to change that, and ends up changing the face of 1960s Baltimore forever. “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” Nora and Delia Ephron’s award-winning play about women’s relationships and their wardrobes, opens July 20 for six performances. Shannon Galuszka of Riverside directs. Organized as a series of monologues and a cast of six principal women, the play uses clothing and accessories, and the memories they trigger, to tell funny and poignant stories that all women – and even men -- can relate to. The play, based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, uses the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a woman’s life, including past identities, previous body shapes and hopes taken or abandoned. Redlands Theatre Festival “Dividing the Estate”— July 12, 21, 30, Aug. 8, 11, 16, 21 “The Andrews Brothers” – July 13, 23, 27, 2, 7, 15, 18, 23 “The Importance of Being Earnest” – July 16, 26, Aug. 1, 4, 10, 14, 20 “Hairspray” – July 19, 24, 28, 3, 9, 13, 24 “Love, Loss and What I Wore” – July 20, 25, 31, Aug. 6, 16, 21 All performances are at 8:30 p.m. in Avice Meeker Sewall Theater, Prospect Park, Cajon Street and Highland Avenue, Redlands. Single tickets are available in advance or at the door (space permitting) for $20. Student tickets may be purchased 15 minutes before curtain with a valid I.D. for $16. Season tickets are available for $80 for all five shows (pay for four and get one free). Group tickets also are available at a discounted rate. Tickets are available at the Redlands Theatre Box Office at Prospect Park or by calling (909 792-0562. Ticket information is also available at www.rftseason.com. Special deals and offers are available on the Redlands Theatre Festival’s Facebook page. Theatergoers may park on Cajon Street and take the free tram ride to and from the theater. Picnicking is allowed on the festival grounds prior to each show. PLEASE NOTE *A media photography session with cast members from all five shows is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tues. June 18 in Prospect Park. Please contact publicity coordinator Owen Sheeran at (909) 894-8137 or owensheeran@gmail.com for details and to RSVP. *Individual press releases for all five shows in the Redlands Theatre Festival 41st anniversary season will also be sent to media.