Final performance of Acting Company's 'Crucible' canceled

It was bad enough that I had to put off to the last moment seeing The Acting Company's production of "The Crucible," one of America's modern classics.

Things got worse when I arrived at the final matinee performance on Sunday only to find that it had been canceled because two of the actors had been hospitalized.

In other words, I missed the boat. What a disappointment.

Ah, but this is show business and the play must go on, which brings us to TAC's new production of the Stephen Sondheim musical "Into the Woods."

Directed by Foster Campbell-McManus, this Tony award-winning musical opens May 1 at TAC.

One reviewer described an earlier production of "Woods" as "Fractured fairy tales of a darker hue provide the remarkable context for 'Into the Woods,' which deconstructs the Brothers Grimm by way of Rod Serling."

"Into the Woods" was developed from Bruno Bettelheim's 1976 book "The Uses of Enchantment." It brings together many characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.

But while the characters of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and others are familiar, in "Woods," they "inhabit a sylvan neighborhood in which witches and bakers are next-door neighbors ... intersect through unexpected new plot twists."

Elizabeth Halvorsen plays Cinderella in the TAC production, and Elizabeth Holcomb is the Stepmother.

Others in the 23-member cast include Anne Marie Pringle as the Witch; Alex Cesena as Jack, Selina Davis as Little Red Riding Hood; Anthony Dost as the Baker, Joe Moye as the Wolf; Heather Young is the Sleeping Beauty; and Gary Conover is the Steward.

Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees. Tickets are $15 at TAC's door, 815 B St., Yuba City.

The show runs through June 7, but get your tickets soon. Don't repeat my error of putting things off, as I did with "The Crucible."

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John Trent, the active local writer and director of children's theater productions, appears to be on a roll.

He has followed up his previous play "Robin Hood" with another production that looks at the bandits of Sherwood Forest from Prince John's point of view.

In "Robin Hood 2: The Revenge of Prince John," the evil prince has vowed to stop Robin Hood from stealing from the rich and giving to the poor who, as Trent phrases it, "Don't need the money anyway."

Trent continues, "Without swords, bows and arrows, what will Prince John do to stop Robin Hood and his gang this time?" And therein lies the tale.

The cast includes Chris Collier as Prince John, Jeremy Trent as Robin Hood, Davey Eaves as Little John, Kathryn Martinez as Maid Marian, Avery Brooks as Friar Tuck and Thomas Hann Jr. as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The show runs May 9 to June 1. Shows are at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Trent likes people to be there at least a half-hour before the show.

Tickets are $5 at the door. Seats can be reserved at 751-1100 or purchased at the TAC box office at 815 B St., Yuba City on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

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The casting call is out for TAC's upcoming production of the prize-winning play "About the Effect of Gamma-Rays on the Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds."

Auditions will be held at 7 p.m. May 4 and 5 at TAC's theater, 815 B St., Yuba City, director Chris Collier reported.

"Marigold" is a 1964 play written by Paul Zindel, a science teacher and playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 1971. The wrenching play garnered several other awards, including the New York critic's top prize.

"Marigolds" basically looks at the troubled relationships between an abusive single mother, frowzy Beatrice, and her two teenage daughters: shy Matilda and submissive Ruth.

This dysfunctional family deals with life's problems and the mother's cruelty as Matilda prepares an experiment for a school science fair involving deformed marigolds raised from radioactive seeds — a plot metaphor, to be sure.

I don't want to reveal too much, but essentially, Beatrice, who had few opportunities in life, jealously seeks to stamp out any opportunities Matilda may have.

The cast consists of five females. Beatrice is a woman in her 40s or 50s. Matilda and Ruth are high school age. Supporting actors include Janice, a classmate, and Nanny, an elderly woman who is a boarder in the home.

Nanny has no lines but appears in three important scenes and contributes significantly to the overall effect of the play, Collier said.

"Marigolds" opens July 10 and runs through Aug. 2.