Author: Sue Ellen Gerrells

Make a resolution to try something new in 2023: Directing for Community Theatre!

The workshop will be held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons–January 28 and 29, 2023 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. The first session focuses on beginning directing skills: working through the process from choosing a play, holding auditions, scheduling rehearsals and performances. The second session will focus on more advanced skills such as creating characters by working with objectives and tactics, staging meaningful pictures through blocking, and working with different types of personalities using leadership and collaborative techniques. A question and answer period will follow at the end of each session. The cost is $10 per session, per person, payable at each session

To register click here!.

Workshop Leader Sue Ellen Gerrells is an award-winning actress and director whose career spans some sixty plus years and three continents. She is the former Artistic Director of South City Theatre and the retired Executive Director of the Alabama Conference of Theatre.

Now that your bellies are full of food and your hearts are full of gratitude, don’t forget that Christmas is a few weeks away!  Wouldn’t it be great to have something fun for the whole family to look forward to?  Look no further:  A (Not So) Retro Christmas Variety Show will feature professional musicians: Alan Ashman and Ron Bourdages: Carol Burnett skits, a kids’ program; and a holiday sing-a-long! Directed by Lisa Ponder, Donna Williamson, and Jess Smyly. Join us on December 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17 at 7:30 p.m. or December 11 at 2:00 p.m.  There’s no better way to get into the Christmas spirit–get your tickets at www.southcitytheatre.com today!

Auditions will be held on December 12 and 13 from 6:30 – 8:30 at South City Theatre. Need men and women, ages 18 to 80. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.  Directed by Lisa Ponder and Donna Williamson. Performance dates are February 3-17, 2023.

In a series of vignettes and monologues, you’ll meet a variety of Elvis fans, worshipers and detractors, such as: an Elvis impersonator who rises from near obscurity to almost-fame, a family torn apart by the daughter’s love of Elvis, a daughter who shoulders her elderly mother through one last trip to Graceland, a couple who almost get an amazing present from Elvis until they comically ruin their own good fortune, and a Vietnam vet who makes it through a traumatic episode with the help of Elvis. You’ll see how a button torn from Elvis’ shirt comes between a young couple in hilarious and complicated ways, how a snapshot of Elvis brings on a marital crisis, and how a recovered filling from Elvis’ teeth leads to memorabilia collectors debating the meaning of faith … sort of. The play explores a wide range of characters and uses a variety of approaches—from comic to tragic, from realistic to presentational to farce, from scenes to monologues. Elvis, as a character, does not appear in the play, but his spirit infuses the play as it explores the profound impact that Elvis has had on millions of people and on the culture of America. And ultimately, the play explores not just the phenomenon of Elvis Presley but also broader aspects of modern culture, such as celebrity worship and fan obsession.  .