PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE

Diary Dates for you

to note:

Monthly General Meeting - Wednesday 16th May, 2012, at M’Side TAFE

Management Committee Meetings and the Casting Committee Meetings are monthly.

Morningside Festival—Sunday 29th July - Theme—Irish Theatre

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

1

From our President Leo Bradley

2

2012 Productions Monthly General Meeting

2

April Entertainment Snippets/Looking for

3

Maria’s birthday party

4

What’s on 4

Office Bearers 2012

4

Inside this issue:

May 2012

Volume 51 Issue 5

PROSCENIUM Villanova Players

NEWSLETTER

The

Audiences are in for a great treat when they come to see our Play No.2 - Picasso at the Lapin Agile directed by Rod Thompson. The cast is also having a great time rehearsing the play and it promises to be a great run of good entertainment and comedy. Art, science and absinthe in a new century. No topic is off the menu! Ooh, la la! Paris! It is the begin-ning of a new century, filled with promise and prophesy, culture and colour, science and sex. The uni-verse is ours for the taking, if we can only grasp it. In a small cosmopolitan bar, the Lapin Agile ("The Frisky Rabbit"), where artists meet to declare their manifestos, on this particular special evening, the (yet-to-be-famous) Spanish artist, Picasso, walks in and comes face to face with the (yet-to-be-famous) German scientist, Ein-stein.

Both men filled with potential, exu-berance, testosterone, and a sense of destiny. All things come in threes, so they are joined by a person whose fame eclipses both of theirs - deserved or otherwise. Written in Steve Martin's (yes, that Steve Martin) zany, humorous and unpredictable style, the play looks at our hopes and aspirations. It takes a satirical look at celebrity and innova-tion in art, music, science, technology and politics – no holds barred in this quirky, funny and thought-provoking play. Whatever you do - don’t miss this one. It promises to have you laughing so much, your sides will be hurting. The play opens on Friday, 1st June.

CAST Freddy [owner/bartender] ……………………….. Patrick Leo Germaine [waitress/girlfriend] ……………………….. Mary St Ledger Gaston ..…………………….. Brian Cannon Suzanne ……………………….. Noelle Dreves Albert Einstein ……………………….. Trevor Sammon Pablo Picasso ……………………….. Andrew Heron Sagot [Picasso’s Art Dealer] ……………………….. Jenny Brunner The Countess and a female Admirer ……………………….. Robyn Kearney Charles Dabernow Schmendiman ………………………... Leo Bradley A visitor ………………………... Michael McNish

DIRECTOR and LIGHTING DESIGN

Rod Thompson

SET DESIGN AND COSTUME DESIGN Maria Thompson and Leo Bradley

CAST AND CREW

The cast and production team are having a ball with the hilarious Steve Martin comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile. With singing dancing and lots of café business, this will be a very fast-paced, laugh out loud night of entertainment. The play takes a very funny look at the movers and shak-ers of the 20th Century, both the people and the ideas that have shaped our modern world. The cast includes many fa-miliar faces, and it’s is great to see Patrick Leo and Trevor Sammon in another VPs production. Patrick is making the most of Freddy, the barkeeper while Trevor plays the much misunderstood Albert Einstein. Our own Andrew Heron is hilarious as the struggling young Picasso. Make sure you book your seats for this one! The relationship with Heran, the new owners of the thea-tre, remains cordial. The grounds and the buildings are al-ready looking better. There will be a number of people through the building doing maintenance on the electricity and fixing some exhaust fans, and the external lighting, so

finding the building at night should be so much easier, and will have more patrols of the campus to improve security. I am very pleased to tell you that Dan Kennedy has been elected to the Management Committee last month, and many thanks to Mickey O’Donnell and to all the others who were nominated. Mickey will remain as our social convenor. Just an advance date claimer and reminder to members

and subscribers that we will be taking part in the Morningside Festival again this year. The festival continues to grow each year, and we would more than welcome people to join us, par-ticularly for the street parade at 10:00am on Sunday July 29th. It’s great fun and this year we’ll be cele-brating Irish theatre. Cheers Leo

2012 FORTHCOMING PRODUCTIONS

Play No.2 - PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE

by Steve Martin Directed by Rod Thompson

1st June to 16th June The play is set in a small bar the Lapin Agile (the Frisky Rabbit) - where artists meet to

declare their manifestos.

Play No.3 - EN SUITE by Joe O’Byrne

Directed by Samantha Tierney 31st August to 15th September

The skeletons in the closet of a land steeped in Catholic history appear quite literally, when

least expected.

Play No.4 - DIARY OF A SCOUNDREL by Alexander Ostrovsky

Directed by Anne Monsour 23rd November to 8th December

Our hero has a relatively easy time of it, playing off the clairvoyants, charlatans,

matchmakers, matriarchs, grafters and grasp-ers who inhabit his world. Is it any wonder the

peasants revolted?

FROM OUR PRESIDENT—LEO BRADLEY

Page 2 PROSCENIUM

MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING

AT THE TAFE THEATRE

WEDNESDAY 16 MAY 2012 8:00pm

ENTERTAINMENT

At the time of going to press, the feature to be presented at this meeting has not been confirmed, but you can be sure that there will be something new and different showcasing the talent to be found in our Players. However, Rod Thompson has de-feated the demons who live in that hole under the stage with the connections to the projector and will present his ever-increasing digital album of past productions and graffiti. Maria The Casting Committee

[If anyone is interested in presenting an item at our Monthly Meetings, contact a Member of the Casting Committee - phone

numbers are on the back page of The Proscenium]

Page 3 Volume 51 Issue 5

APRIL ENTERTAINMENT

LOOKING FOR

Spare empty wine or spirit bottles for the set of Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Please bring any that you have along to the theatre

any size, any shape, any colour or contact Rod Thompson 3391 7180

Our monthly meeting featured tales of the sinking of the "Titanic" one hundred years ago in April. Casting Committee members Jenny Brunner, Michael Byrnes and Elizabeth Morris found some unusual aspects of the disastrous voyage that are not among the most often reported. We learned that there was a novel written in 1898 called, "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan", which told the tale of the sinking of the "Titan" in the north atlan-tic after hitting an iceberg, and that it was being the first to report accurately the events following the sinking that confirmed the reputation of the "New York Times". Other newspapers were waiting for confirmation of the sinking, but the audacious editor of the NYT played a hunch and reported it. Jenny, Michael and Elizabeth were supported by Anthony Bradley in their dramatic portrayal of these scenes and Heinz Brunner delivered Thomas Hardy's 1912 po-em, "Convergence of the Twain", with great emo-tional impact.

The wedding of Jason and Lyndel King on April 15th , now honeymooning in America. Jason was the romanti-cally challenged bar room pianist, Carl, in Live at the Trocadero as well as a roles in The Chair and The Many Colours of Love at our monthly meetings. We wish them every happiness for their future together.

VILLANOVA PLAYERS Newsletter

Villanova Players INCORPORATED Established 1948

Balmoral Park, Jean Howie Drive off Bennetts Road MORNINGSIDE PO Box 465 Morningside Qld 4170 Email:villanovaplayers@gmail.com

www.villanovaplayers.com facebooks.com/Villanova Players

Theatre Company The Hut: Phone: - 3395 5168 Bookings: Phone: - 3899 9962

2012 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE President: Leo Bradley 3891 5769 Vice Pres: Andrew Heron 0417 793 133 Treasurer: Rod Thompson 3391 7180 Secretary: Anthony Bradley 0424 064 978 Casting Liaison: Liz Morris 0439 670 283 Members: Trevor Bond 3393 6521 Michael McNish 0427 353 639 Dan Knudson 0410 841 495 Dan Kennedy 3352 7717

2012 CASTING COMMITTEE Rod Thompson 3391 7180 Michael Byrnes 3849 4521 Maria Thompson 3391 7180 Jenny Brunner 3398 9592 Liz Morris 0439 670 283

WHAT’S ON IN THEATRE

ST LUKE’S THEATRE SOCIETY presents THE HEIRESS directed by Cameron Castles - 8th to 16th June - Bookings - 3255 6675 ARTS THEATRE presents ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD directed by Natasha Kapper - 28th April to 26th May - Bookings - 3369 2344 CENTENARY THEATRE GROUP presents PERVE by Stacey Gregg - 5th to 26th May - Bookings - 3379 3937 MOUNT COTTON DRAMA GROUP presents A LITTLE MURDER NEVER HURT ANYBODY directed by Linda Groundwater - 27th April to 12th May - Bookings - online at their website TOOWOOMBA REPERTORY THEATRE presents TWIST by Mile Tredinnick - 9th to 23rd June - Bookings 4632 8058 SUNNYBANK THEATRE GROUP presents SAME TIME NEXT YEAR directed by Deidre Robinson - 25th May to 6th June - Bookings 3345 3964 NASH THEATRE presents Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE directed by Brenda White - 12th May to 2nd June - Bookings - 3379 4775 IGNATIANS present THE LAST FIVE YEARS - 20th to 23rd June - Bookings - 3371 2751 IPSWICH LITTLE THEATRE - DUET FOR TWO HANDS - 1st to 9th June - Bookings - 3281 4748 BEENLEIGH THEATRE GROUP presents DINKUM ASSORTED [starring Joe Smith] - [If interested in being a part of VP group for Thursday night, 10th May, contact Leo Bradley on 3891 5769]

MARIA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Family and friends gathered at the theatre last Saturday night to celebrate Maria’s birthday and what a great time was had by all. We were greeted at the door by the birthday girl herself for drinks, nibblies and a great chat with friends. The theatre was then opened up, the band struck up and there was a great time of dancing, which was followed by a presentation by Maria and Leo Bradley, entitled, Little Me which consisted of highlights and happenings in Maria’s stage career. We then adjourned to the supper room for more great eats, chatting and the formal part of the even-ing. A great time was had by all and we wish Maria all the best and may she have many more such won-derful occasions.

[RIGHT] MARIA

CUTTING THE CAKES

[LEFT] FORGET THE

BUCKINGHAM PALACE BALCONY

KISS. ROD AND MARIA SHOW

HOW IT’S DONE

[RIGHT] THE FIVE TWISTED PLUMB SISTERS

ALL TOGETHER