Meet our first author whose book, “Sparrow Being Sparrow” will be performed in part by Open Book Players for the Reading Rumpus event on September 22nd, 2:00 p.m. at Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner…GAIL DONOVAN Gail Donovan was fired from her first job in an ice cream shop for making the sundaes too big. She now works in a library and writes middle grade novels, including Sparrow Being Sparrow, a Junior Library Guild Selection; Finchosaurus, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award winner; and In Memory of Gorfman T. Frog, named to the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list. She has also written for the Rainbow Fish & Friends picture book series based on the bestselling work of Marcus Pfister. Donovan lives on the coast of Maine, where she jumps in the ocean all year round. She has shared her home with a dozen birds, a few dogs, a rat, and a cat named Cookie. Visit her at GailDonovan.com.
And Illustrator…ELYSIA CASE Elysia Case is an illustrator from the Finger Lakes region of New York. When she’s not making things, she can be found spoiling her pets with too many treats and annoying them with too many kisses.
COMING SOON…MEET THE AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS AND THEIR WORKS BEING FEATURED IN OUR READING RUMPUS EVENT ON SEPTEMBER 22ND AT 2:00 P.M., Johnson Hall Opera House, GARDINER, ME.
OUR FIRST AUTHOR WILL BE INTRODUCED ON AUGUST 4TH!
Jocelyn (Josie) Davis has been passionate about theatre as long as she can remember. She has been involved with several Open Book Players productions and is looking forward to many more. She is excited and honored to be the new student ambassador for Open Book Players!
Lianne Davis is just a wicked proud mum! She has been helping her children live their best life and is proud to support Josie in all her theatre experiences. She has started to get more involved with Open Book Players as a performer as well, getting ready for her debut performance in Something Wicked This Way Comes in the Fall.
The winner of our Open Book Players scholarship is…SARAH ROSSIGNOL! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Sarah is planning on heading to the University of New England to get her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Applied Nutrition. She plans to work with cancer patients in the Oncology field as an Oncology Dietitian.
Meet our first 3 actors in our upcoming production of “The Laramie Project” at Johnson Hall Opera House on March 28th at 7:00 p.m. and March 29th at 2:00 p.m.:
RAY FLETCHER…‘A British/American actor’- Ray has performed such roles as; TEVYA, WILLIE LOMAN, FAGIN and BOTTOM. Ray studied theatre at university and was awarded Best Male Musical Performer in a Lead Role by the American College Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. After living in the U.K. for the last twenty-five years, Ray returned home to the U.S.A. and settled down in Maine! Stage, Film, TV – OK, but this Virtual Stuff – Old Dogs, New Tricks!
CHLOE ALLEN…This is Chloe’s first performance with Open Book Players! She has acted all through her schooling but this is her first ‘adult’ role. Chloe is excited to (hopefully) be in more shows in the future. She is a middle school teacher that hopes you learn something new from this show. She wants to leave you with this quote:
“To hate is an easy, lazy thing but to love takes strength everyone has but not all are willing to practice.” — Rupi Kaur
ALEXIS BOURGET…Lexi is in her second show with Open Book Players. She is involved in her theater program at Gardiner Area High School with the most recent role of Cousin Tilly in Its a Wonderful Life. She is very grateful to Lucy for this opportunity and can’t wait to do more with Open Book Players in the future!
We will finally be back performing at Johnson Hall Opera House this fall! More information and performance details will be posted very soon. WE ARE TRULY EXCITED ABOUT GETTING BACK TO OUR HOME BASE!
I have been asked to write about my experiences with Readers Theatre and the Open Book Players. Where do I start? I have always loved everything about theater but never had the opportunity to experience being part of it other than as a patron due to work commitments. When I retired I always thought I would love to be part of the theater community but never had the confidence that I could do it. Then I saw an announcement for a readers theatre workshop. Having no idea what readers’ theater was (do they just read out of a book???), I thought I’d go and observe. Several groups performed short plays and I was wow’d that they could portray a character with just their voices, facial expressions and hand motions. I’ve been hooked ever since and am now on the board of directors of Open Book Players. Whenever there is a show, I always want to audition for what I know will be an amazing experience. Readers Theatre and the Open Book Players have given me the opportunity to express my creativity and to be part of a community that is welcoming, fun to be with and to make lifelong friends. It has also given me the confidence to expand into other acting opportunities with local theaters. Whether you attend a performance (please do!!!) or act in one, you will be glad you did!
Andy Tolman spent his first fifty theater years in the audience, enjoying both amateur and professional performances. He was encouraged to audition for Laughter on the 23 rd floor by his daughter at the turn of the century. That experience motivated him to continue to seek auditions, including one for Lucy for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. After working with Monmouth Community Players for a couple of years, Lucy encouraged him to try Open Book Players. He’s been in dozens of their productions, most notably, the touring version of World’s Afire and several summer tours to libraries and schools. He’s been on the OBP board since 2003 and was recently promoted to President. He particularly enjoys the biannual Reading Rumpus, where we stage Maine Author’s children’s books. The reactions of the audience and authors to seeing their stories performed is always gratifying. Our presentation of Memorial was another excellent experience.
Hammie Award Winner Joins Open Book Board! Bob McIntire has joined the Board of Open Book Players. This isn’t new news. He has actually been serving in the role for several years. It is only recently that the organization admitted it. McIntire has a checkered storied theatrical background. He began acting in middle school when the Mechanical Arts teacher and drama coach/director recognized in him a unique talent but as yet untamed. The teacher/director threw caution to the wind and cast the young McIntire as Lord Fancourt Babberley in a musical adaptation of Charley’s Aunt. This late 19th century farce is about a college student who is persuaded to impersonate an aunt from Brazil. This was just the kind of role he could sink his teeth into, a 9th grade cross-dresser. He is shown in the center of the production promotional snapshot. His memorable performance resulted in the director bestowing upon the young thespian the first ever, somewhat coveted Hammy Award.
This role launched McIntire into a variety of productions including his first nude scene in a Parkersburg Actors Guide presentation of Stalag 17. Having, as a young man, never met a milk shake he didn’t like he apparently cut quite the figure. Fortunately, no photos of that production remain. McIntire experienced early pattern baldness which served him will in the high school production of Look Homeward Angel where he played Will Pentland. His mother was heard to say, “He reminds me of my brother, William. I never remember him with hair.”
Even then he was intrigued by readers theater. “Long ago and far away when I was young and impressionable the first performances, I remember were during church services when my uncles, who took turns being the preacher in the little congregation that worshipped in the church across the driveway from my grandmother’s house, would read from the scripture. Even as a youngster I was impressed that these farmers from the hollers of West Virginia with their unique hill-grown accent could be so possessed by the spirit that they sounded like Shakespearean actors as they read. It wasn’t until later that I realized that the King James version of the Bible, from whence they were taking the verses, was written at the same time as the Bard was busy toiling over his plays and sonnets. This is why the uncles behind the pulpit sounded a bit like Ian McKellen, with a little Appalachian twang, but I digress.
“I was also captured by the romance of radio. I was given a crystal radio kit as a child. I somehow managed to actually assemble it and tune in a local radio station. The transmitter tower was visible out my bedroom window. Sometimes when the atmospheric conditions were right you didn’t even need the radio. You could receive the signal with fillings in your teeth, assuming that you had fillings in your teeth. None-the-less I was swept away by the romance of broadcasting.”
After miraculously graduating from high school McIntire turned down a scholarship to a reputable college just outside of Washington, DC where he would have gotten into significantly more trouble more quickly. He chose instead the bright lights of Morgantown, West Virginia, and the theater department at the state’s flag ship university. He quickly realized, however, that he wasn’t cut out for that program. He was intrigued, however, by one particular course entitled Oral Interpretation that whet his appetite for reading out loud. Then there was the fledgling broadcasting program. He lasted just two semesters in academia before bailing and heading east to begin a career in radio, thus ending his relationship with the stage that was not to be rekindled for over forty years.
“While working at the Maine Department of Education I happened to see an announcement for a readers theater presentation of a radio drama at the University of Maine at Augusta. Following the performance, I learned about Open Book Players from some of the actors. Fast forward another couple of years and I saw a casting call for a production called Worlds Afire in 2008. I read and was given several parts in the production. The cast was great. The script was compelling. It was a great experience. The next production was on my bucket list, Under Milkwood. I was thrilled to get a chance to read that play. Then there was Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine,The Importance of Being Wilde and A Cheever Evening among others. It is always great fun to work with the actors.”
Recently life’s schedule has kept McIntire from performing on stage with the troupe, but he looks forward to getting back in sync with the production schedule. Until then he serves on the Board and strives not to cause too much trouble. He also performs with Marti Stevens Interactive Improvisational Theater and produces local history programming in his hometown of Hallowell.
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