Click on the following publications to read their reviews of Footlight's "Biloxi Blues:" Lowcountry Stages, Post & Courier, Charleston City Paper
Biloxi Blues
by Neil Simon, directed by Sam Evans
Sponsored by SunTrust Bank
Simon’s semi-autobiographical Tony Award-winning stage play, Biloxi Blues is the second chapter in what is known as the playwright’s "Eugene Trilogy" (the first being Brighton Beach Memoirs and the third being Broadway Bound), the story centers around Eugene Morris Jerome, a 20-year-old "Brooklynite" who enlists in the United States Army during World War II. Jerome is sent to Biloxi, Mississippi for basic training, during which time he learns to cope with fellow soldiers of all walks of life, falls in love, loses his virginity in less than ideal circumstances, and more, all while having to cope with an eccentric drill sergeant. Playing September 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27 at 8:00pm and September 14 and 28 at 3:00pm.
stival....
Crowns by Regina Taylor
directed by Henry Clay Middleton
A moving and celebratory musical play in which hats become a springboard for an exploration of black history and identity. Hats are everywhere, in exquisite variety, and the characters use the hats to tell tales to a young Northerner come South to stay with her grandmother, after her brother is murdered. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing to funerals to baptisms, and the tradition of hats is traced back to African rituals and slavery and forward to the New Testament and current fashion. Gospel music and dance underscore the narratives that concern everything from the etiquette of hats to their historical and contemporary social functioning. Playing October 1 @ 8pm, October 2 @ 8pm, October 3 @ 11am & 8pm, and October 4 @ 3pm. Ticket $25 adutls, $20 seniors/students. To purchase tickets click here.
Puttin’ on the Ritz
Music by Irving Berlin
Written and Directed by Robert Ray
Sponsored by The Hat Ladies
Puttin' on the Ritz will celebrate the life and music of America's most prolific composer, Irving Berlin, and will feature many of his greatest hits like Blue Skies, What'll I Do, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Always, Steppin' Out With My Baby, Heatwave, White Christmas, Easter Parade, God Bless America, and There's No Business Like Show Business, to name a few. This is the latest offering from Broadway performer and New York City award-winning cabaret star, Robert Ray. Ray has presented critically-acclaimed shows at Piccolo Spoleto. Actress/Singer Shawn Megorden whose recent CD, "Cover Girl" has been purchased by an International Recording Label, is set to co-star with Robert Ray in the new musical. Charleston Theatre goers will remember Megorden from her appearances in Ray's highly successful salutes to Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, which played the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in 2004 and 2005. Megorden's trademark blonde hair and bomb-shell figure have become part of her onstage appeal and as usual, Shawn will parade a variety of designer gowns as she "struts her stuff" with fellow cast members Robert Ray, Marsha Dupree, and Lisa Paige, backed by the Damon Goff Trio. Puttin' on the Ritz will feature Robert Ray's high-energy, beautifully costumed production style with tight harmonies and showstopper after showstopper! Forget your troubles, sit back, and escape to the Ritz..
Click here to read the Post and Courier's review
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,
by Bert V. Royal, directed by JC Conway
In this "unauthorized parody," set approximately 10 years after the events in the 50-year-running comic Peanuts, CB's beloved beagle has terminal rabies, and his world is inhabited by a comic strip parade of misfits: a missing pen pal, an abused pianist, a pyromaniac ex-girlfriend, two drunk cheerleaders, a homophobic quarterback, a burnt-out Buddhist and a drama-queen sister. Together, these factors all contribute -- Good grief! -- to this modern tale of teenage angst. Always trying to understand life's darker meanings and still plagued with his endless identity crisis, CB turns to his gang of friends to find answers to his many life questions. Playing November 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15 at 9pm.
Tickets: $10 Thursdays, $15 Friday & Saturday
Inspecting Carol
by Daniel Sullivan, directed by Thomas Keating
This wildly entertaining play offers a different and comedic twist to the Christmas season. Originally commissioned by the Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1992, this fun-filled play is written by Tony
Award-Winning Broadway Director, Daniel Sullivan. The play is set in a Midwestern regional theatre, the Soapbox Theatre Company. Almost broke, the pathetic Company is having a dickens of a time with their annual production of A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim is a bit old, Death keeps getting his chains tangled in the scenery, and there's an inspector from the National Endowment for the Arts expected any minute. The Theatre Company struggles to meet cash flow as its federal funding is cut,
and the only way to get the funds back is to convince the government inspector that the company deserves the government arts funding. When an inept new actor arrives, the stage is set for a
major case of mistaken identity-with horrifying and hilarious results! Part Noises Off, part Waiting for Guffman, this sidesplitting hit is sure to be the funniest Christmas show you'll see all season.
Remaining shows: December 18, 19 and 20 at 8:00pm and December 21 at 3:00pm.
Individual tickets: $22 adult, $20 senior, $15 student, $10 children under 13
Click here to read the Charleston City Paper review!
Autobahn
by Neil LaBute, directed by Franklin Ashley
LateNight starts off the new year with Autobahn, a comical and intelligent show set in the confines of an automobile. Autobahn contains Neil LaBute's witty writing as he cleverly uses the front seat of a car as a platform for personal confessionals. LaBute (The Shape of Things, bash, This Is How It Goes ) reveals a make-out session gone awry, the awkward consequences of blacking out and waking up naked in a hotel room, a daughters long ride home after her release from rehab, much more. This intense short play cycle is a collection of six short plays filled with humor and shocking revelations told with biting honesty. The journey of each couples' lives starts and ends as they travel in their cars.
Playing January 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 at 9pm.
Tickets: $10 Thursdays, $15 Friday & Saturday
Read The Post and Courier's Review for Autobahn by clicking here.
Some decisions are made for life...
Match
by Stephen Belber, directed by Robert Ivey
Match is a cleverly plotted and highly amusing play whose emotional power sneaks up on you. The play centers around Tobias Powell (David Moon), a bisexual, 62 year-old former dancer who is now a choreographer of operas - which affords him a limited amount of work - and a teacher at Julliard. He lives alone in a cluttered apartment in Inwood (Upper Manhattan) and is visited by Mike and Lisa Davis (Patrick Ryan and Bettina Beard), students there to interview him about his life as a dancer and choreographer. However, as the play progresses it is soon evident that Mika and Lisa's agenda is as
multi-layered as the life story that Tobi begins to tell them. Tobi finds that the decisions he made in the past have repercussions in the present and he is forced to consider the age-old question, "If I had to do it all over again, would I make different choices?" The answer will either ruin or inspire them - and definitely change thier lives forever. Click here to read the Post & Courier review as well as the Charleston City Paper.
Patrons have had this to say about "Match:"
“I have enjoyed Charleston theatre for 12 years...without doubt this is the best production I have seen. It is rare I become teary watching a play, it happened more than once at this performance...It should not be missed.”
“Congrats on a shimmering production of MATCH...It was literate, challenging, uncomfortable, funny and finally amazingly cathartic.The actors were extraordinarily affecting and the pacing kept everyone affixed to the story, which is all anyone could ask. Great job by Footlight.”
Playing January 30, 31, February 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 at 8:00pm and February 1 & 15 at 3:00pm.
Single tickets: $25 adult, $22 senior, $15 student
Purchase Tickets Here
OR Call the box office at (843) 722-4487.
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by JC Conway
In this provocative and wild serio-comic play, Jesus' infamous betrayer, Judas Iscariot, stands trial. Set in Hope, a small section of Purgatory where Simon the Zealot is a rapper, a battle rages over the appeal of Judas Iscariot's sentence of an eternity in hell. Figures ranging from Pontias Pilate to Mother Theresa to Sigmund Freud are called to testify inthe trial of "God and the Kingdom of Heaven versus Judas Iscariot." A unique religious and theatrical experience, this thought-provoking and humorous play will have you questioning the continuous battle of forgiveness, mercy, and eternal damnation. This play is "R" rated and does contain profanity.
Check out a video about The Last Days of Judas Iscariot:
2 for 1 deal this Thursday, February 26 at 8:00pm. Enjoy a pre-show concert by Bodies Full of Magic and the show "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" at 9pm for $10! The 2 for 1 deal takes place this Thursday, February 26 at The Footlight Players at 8:00pm. PLUS, $2 beers, $3 wines, and The Hooters Girls as your ushers.
Click here to read the Post & Courier article on the play
Click here to read the Charleston City Paper review
Playing February 26, 27, and 28 at 9pm. Tickets: $10 Thursdays, $15 Friday & Saturdays
Footlight's Hilarious Comedy Continues for its LAST weekend!
Sordid Lives
by Del Shores, directed by Don Brandenburg
The ensemble cast of Sordid Lives puts a comedic twist on a story of unconditional love, acceptance and "coming out" in a Texas family, as they all converge for the matriarch's potentially embarrassing funeral. The colorful family of characters includes: a mother who is wound too tight and in denial over her gay son, a barfly/singer at the local watering hole, a cheating heart whose wooden legs accidentally aid in the death of his mistress, the cheating heart's wife who tries her hand at revenge therapy inspired by "Thelma & Louise" along with her best friend. Lead by comedic voices, their lives intertwine, giving each a new perspective, honesty and meaning. The original stage play premiered in Los Angeles in 1996, and ultimately won 14 Drama Logue Awards. Sordid Lives: The Series currently airs on the Logo Network. Sordid Lives contains mature content, adult language, and loud gun shots.
*Footlight Players will have a bake sale during Sordid Lives on April 4, 2009. Goodies featured from “The Low Ladies Treats” all made from scratch and with love! All money raised will go to the Footlight Players.
Sordid Lives has "style and verve" - Dottie Ashley (Post and Courier)
"Sordidness abounds. The story is such campy fun and this production didn't disappoint." - Charleston City Paper
Sordidness abounds. The story is such campy fun and this production didn't disappoint.
Click here to read the Post and Courier review on Sordid Lives
Click here to read Charleston City Paper's review on Sordid Lives
Watch Sordid Lives actors, Melonea Locklair and Rob Maniscalco, on LowCountry Live!
Playing April 2, 3, and 4 at 8:00pm and April 5 at 3:00pm.
(Only a few tickets remain for Saturday night
Individual tickets: $25 adult, $22 senior, $15 student
Homecoming Hullabaloo
written and directed by Erice Dente & kc keene
Sponsored by Publix, Terrace Oaks Antique Mall
Romance and rigmarole run rampant at San Messina High School. Bevin and Ben brawl. A mysterious graffiti artist desecrates school property. Principal Troutman threatens to cancel the Homecoming Dance. Meanwhile, school gossip columnist, Rachel Jessica Griffin, labors to turn rumors into reality. It's a whole lot of hullabaloo at homecoming in this contemporary comedy of love's labors won, based on William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. This is a great show for all ages. Performances will be August 15, 16 and 17, 2008 3pm.
